"okay chicos, we have a very important game tomorrow. work hard during practice today. go start on stretches." xavi said to the boys, who were all circled up around him.
gavi and pedri stood next to each other supporting each other.
"hey xavi? where's the bathroom?" i asked the man.
"oh just go straight down that way to the left." he told me, still watching the boys.
"okay i'll be right back," i told him before getting up and heading to the bathroom.
as i was heading back i realized i was lost. well shit. i was wandering around trying to find my way back when i passed the kids club practice.
"hey you!" one of them yelled. "come play with us."
"i dunno i'm a little rusty," i said while i walked up to them.
"there's some spare cleats over there!" one of the girls said pointing to a shelf.
i found my size and put them on, man did i miss wearing cleats. i walked over to the kids and one of them asked, "what's your name?"
"i'm y/n," i said with a smile.
"well y/n you can be on our team," a girl said and i nodded.
one of the boys started with the ball and passed it to me. i dribbled down field and to my surprise one of the defenders took the ball right out from under me.
he passed it to a midfielder on his team and i waited for a defender to pass it to me, and once i got the ball i faked a few of them out and dribbled around them, i passed to another midfielder on my team when i got trapped by defenders.
he passed back to me once i was clear and i aimed for the left corner of the goal. i kicked with all my might and i made it.
the kids on my team all came and hugged me hard. i laughed at one of the kids who tried to do a cartwheel in celebration but instead fell down.
an hour later we were still playing, and it was tied 1-1. i dribbled the ball downfield and i passed to jorge, one of the midfielders on my team. he aimed for the bottom right corner and made it.
we all cheered and they all came to hug me again. the same kid who tried to do a cartwheel earlier, sebastian, tried again and this time he did it successfully. we all cheered for him too.
"look it's gavi and xavi!" a girl named anna yelled pointing to the bleachers.
i turned and waved at the two and they climbed down from the bleachers. xavi rubbed the top of sebastian's head, and gavi greeted a few of them.
the kids adored him, i could tell by the looks on their faces. and i knew one day they would all be able to play on a professional team like him.
"we thought you were missing kid," xavi said rubbing the top of my head.
"i got lost," i said with a shrug.
"you played good," pablo said giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"all thanks to my team here," i said gesturing to the kids on my team.
"yeah it was all us!" jorge yelled out to which gavi and i laughed.
"isn't it kinda unfair though," gavi said tilting his head.
"hey they still kicked my a-" i said before gavi covered my mouth with his hand.
"no cursing in front of the children," he said calmly removing his hand.
"my bad," i whispered to them.
"gavi you should play with us too!" anna suggested.
"scared?" i asked teasingly.
"pfft no," he said before going to join the other team.
i circled up with my team and said, "okay basically do whatever you can to make him mad. it's really funny when he gets mad."
they all nodded and grinned evilly and i continued, "also try and win, he will never let me live it down if we lose."
they all got into their positions, and me and gavi were both playing center forward. i glared playfully at him, and he stuck his tongue out at him.
"rude!" i said with a scoff.
it was his teams turn to start with the ball, and one of the boys passed it to him. i internally groaned, before attempting to get the ball from him.
we were both fighting each other for the ball, i had never seen this side of him before. at least not up this close. but then again he had never seen the soccer side of me either.
eventually i pulled it out from under him, and faked him out. i dribbled around him and he continued to try and get the ball from me.
i passed it over to anna, and she managed to get past a few defenders, but once she was trapped she passed it over to me. i managed to pass it to jorge, since pablo was doing everything he could to ensure i didn't get the ball.
jorge crossed it over back to me and i charged for it. i ran as fast as i could and kicked it into the top left corner. the goalie assured i was aiming for the right and dove to the right.
"LETS GOOOO!" i bellowed and all the kids on my team came and tackled me in hugs.
pablo looked a little disappointed, but proud nonetheless. i ran over and tackled him as well, and every kid came over and hugged the both of us.
we laughed under their grip, and gavi wrapped his arm around my shoulder, planting a kiss on my forehead.
"ew you're sweaty," i said teasingly, pushing him off of me.
"oh you're gonna get it," he muttered, and started chasing me.
i screamed and ran away as fast as i could across the field.
"help!" i squealed as i passed the kids.
they simply shrugged and went back to talking to one another.
"wow so rude!" i said still running from him.
eventually my lack of stamina caught up to me and i began to slow down. he caught up to me and tackled me down to the ground. he planted kisses all over me, and i tried pushing him off but his grip was too strong.
he leaned in to kiss me and i pushed his forehead away.
"not in front of the children," i laughed, and he huffed before rolling over onto the grass beside me.
i stood up and held out my hand for him, and i pulled him up with ease. eventually when the kids left we did too, and i dreaded seeing the chaos my friends had put my home in.
pablo dropped me off at the house, and when i walked into the house it was eerily quiet. i walked farther into the house to see everyone laying on the couch watching a movie.
they were watching scream, and i saw my opportunity. right when it got to the most suspenseful part, i jumped out and screamed. they all jumped up and yelled out, meanwhile i was dying of laughter.
half of them flipped me off, and some of the boys started fake crying...at least i think it was fake.
i pulled out my phone and texted pablo, asking him to come and watch a movie with us. he said him and pedri would be right over.
i sat down with my friends for the last twenty minutes of the movie, until i heard a knock on the door.
"hey," pedri said as he walked in.
"not even gonna ask if you can come in?" i yelled as he walked away.
"nope!" he said, not even turning around.
"hey," pablo said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"hey," i said smiling at him.
i led him to the living room, and right when we walked in leo looked up at us, and the two glared at each other. well this is awkward.
i sat down next gabby and took some of her popcorn, and she handed me some m&ms. pablo sat down next to me and pedri on his right.
"what movie are we watching?" i asked.
"we should watch the notebook," leo said.
"we should watch footloose," pablo said.
they both said it at the time, and i could literally feel the tension.
"how about 10 things i hate about you?" audrey said, trying to ease the awkwardness.
"yeah," a few of us said in agreement while leo and pablo continued to glare at each other.
"i'm going to go get a water," i told pablo.
"are you sure you don't want me to get one for you?" he asked, slightly concerned.
"i'm fine, promise," i said giving him a kiss on the cheek.
i got up and went to the fridge, i opened the door and grabbed a water. i turned around and walked back to see leo standing there.
"hey," he said.
"hey," i said awkwardly.
"how have you been?"
"oh, actually i've been really good," i said with a smile.
"that's good...look about the breakup. i just-can we still be...friends?" he asked.
it took a few seconds for me to register what he said and when i did i responded, "yeah sure."
we stood awkwardly for a few seconds before i spoke again.
"how's lizzy?" i asked, lizzy was his little sister. we had always gotten along pretty well.
"oh she's really good, she's doing amazing in school," he said.
"what's changed?" i said with a laugh.
"remember that one time that she started laughing so hard milk came out of her nose," he said, and at that we both started laughing so hard, that we had to lean on each other for support.
"y/n?" leo and i jumped apart, i turned towards the voice, and to my complete horror it was pablo.
i knew how it looked, me and my ex laughing and leaning onto each other.
well shit.