MADRID, SPAIN
AUGUST 18th 2022
Throughout the past month of their official relationship, Luca and Sofía hadn't seen each other since he left Spain. Until that week in mid August, when he called a couple hours before he needed to be at the airport to tell her he was coming to see her.
Every August and September, Sofía would go to Spain to visit her mothers family. Every year since her birth, her parents had made it a habit to come here for their summer holidays. And every year since she had moved out, she would meet her parents at their family home on the outskirts of the city and spend those weeks with them.
This year, apparently Luca would be joining them.
It had made Sofía extremely anxious. Yes, she had known Luca for months now. But was it not too early to be introducing him to her family? Were they moving a little too quickly? Would her parents even approve of him or would they compare him to...him?
God, she couldn't even think about his name.
"Are you feeling okay?" Luca asks from the passenger seat of her car, clearly her anxious thoughts had transcribed onto her face and he had noticed.
Sofía swallows the forming lump in her throat, turning quickly to give him a somewhat comforting smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"You're just being really quiet." he shrugs, fully knowing she was lying to him. "And your fingers have been fiddling with the steering wheel for the past ten minutes."
The Spaniard glances down at her hands, realizing that she had in fact been poking her fingers at the leather of the wheel, one of her nails having formed an indent at the top. She takes one of her hands off, clenching then unclenching her fingers, trying to calm herself in any possible way.
"Sof?" Lucas eyebrows furrow, her hand reaching out to hold the one she had stretched out. "Maybe we should pull over."
"No, I'm fine. I promise." her fingers tighten in his hold, "We're almost there, it's just down this road."
Her parents had been the ones to urge her to bring him along for the day, stating that it would be rude for her to leave him alone. Sofía didn't think it was rude, she had her own life and Luca had his. They didn't necessarily have to do everything together.
Right?
Her car pulls up on the small driveway, right next to her fathers car. She had barely had a moment to turn off her engine before the front door was opening and her mother was excitedly waving at them from the front steps.
With a chuckle, Sofía quickly grabs her stuff and exits the car, rushing towards her mother. "Hola, mami."
"Oh mi hermosa chica, te extrañé!" Gabriella squeals into her daughters shoulder, too engrossed in her presence to register the person behind her until her husband exits the house as well.
"Ah, you must be Luca!" Logan Reyes greets the man, letting his wife hog their daughter for the moment.
Luca side steps his girlfriend, approaching her father with his hand outstretched. "Yes, sir. It's lovely to finally meet you."
"You too, we've heard quite a bit about you." the older man pushes a smile onto his face, before turning to his wife. "Gaby, will you hand over my daughter now please?"
Sofía laughs as she lets go of her mother and throws herself onto her dad. "Hi, papa. I missed you, too, don't worry."
"I would sure hope so, I haven't seen you in months."
"I know, I'm sorry. It's just been very busy." she sighs, pressing a kiss to her fathers cheek as they start moving into the house.
"Well, come in. Your fathers already done grilling!"
Sofía gasps. "Aye! You said you would wait for us."
Logan chuckles and shrugs, opening the doors to the back patio. "You said you would be late, and it takes a while to fire up the grill."
At the back of the pack, Luca was just following behind the family, not finding part in the conversation much. Rather, his eyes were glancing around their home, images of Sofías and her brothers through their childhood all over.
What caught his eye though, was one small photo in between all of it. It was his girlfriends family, at what seemed to be a wedding, except there was an addition there. A man Luca had heard of before, and had known too much about. The sight made his heart sink.
Noticing the sudden quiet, Luca turns to find the family already stood outside. He picks up his face and reaches the table quick enough to be able to follow Logan over to the grill and he'll him start piling the food onto serving platters.
"So, Luca, how did you and Sofie meet?" Logan questions, the boy holding the plates as he scooped the steaks onto them.
"We met in New York, kind of by accident really." Luca chuckles lightly, remembering that day so vividly. "She actually bumped straight into me."
"Sounds like my daughter alright."
For all her life, Sofía had been the klutz of the family. Even before she started walking, se would always find ways to drop toys on her head and crawl herself into the weirdest of spots. It drove her parents absolutely insane.
"So, are you happy?" Gabriella inquires as she folds the napkins up and places them across their plates.
Sofía head lifts from where she was setting up their cutlery. "Yeah. Yes, Luca's great. It's been great."
"Why do you not sound so sure?" her mothers eyebrows raise, taking a moment to glance at the man himself.
"I'm just nervous. I haven't brought anyone home before except—" Sofía sighs heavily, why could she never speak his name?
Gabriella's arm wraps around her shoulder tightly as they both watched Luca converse with her dad. "But Luca is here, and he seems wonderful, mija."
"Yeah, he really is."
Shortly after, the group of four are sitting around the table, the sun slowly starting to fade away and dissipate into its vibrant cotton candy hues. Their dinner had been stripped clean off their plates, and their wine glasses were topped.
Lucas arm was rested on the back of his girlfriends chair, her head rested lazily on his shoulder as she sipped at her own cup of water. Her parents had spent the better half of their time here getting to know Luca, interrogating him about every aspect they could.
Her father especially had doubled down on his acting, and his intention with his daughter— which lead to a heated mini argument between the family of three, the Spanish leaving their tongues making Lucas head spin.
All in all, he felt like Sofías parents liked him enough for this being their first ever meeting. As odd and out of place he felt between them, it was obvious he just needed to warm up to them a little.
But for some reason, his mind couldn't stop thinking about that one framed photo. Why would they still have it up?
"Alright, spit it out." Sofía speaks breaking the king silence that had engulfed the car ever since they had left her parents house. They had just started to enter the city again, her eyes glancing towards him for a moment.
Luca hums, his eyebrows furrowing as he twisted towards her. "What?"
"Now you're the one being awfully quiet, what's going on in that head of yours?" her hands start twisting against the steering wheel again, her nerves starting up again.
"Nothing, just that we should probably stop for groceries." he excuses, not technically lying as the cupboards at her apartment seemed overly bare these days.
Sofía tuts, "Luca...did I something that upset you?"
In a blink of an eye, Luca was sitting up straight and grabbing hold of her hand that had moved to picking the skin around her fingers. "No, tesoro, no!"
"Then what's wrong? Because I know you're not missing your cereal."
He could help but slightly laugh at her remark, his fingers intertwining with her own across his lap. Luca couldn't possibly tell her his mind was riddled with her ex-boyfriend, he knew she hated bringing him up— no matter what. He couldn't plague her mind with him right now.
So, he omitted. Excusing his behavior for stress and worry over how much her parents actually liked him, to which she had quickly relaxed and assured him that he was absolutely perfect. Truthfully, Sofías parents did really like Luca, they just had some hope for a different outcome for their daughter.
Without further arguing, Sofía changes their destination to the closest supermarket— which Luca was probably more excited about than he should be.
"What do you want for dinner tomorrow?" the Spaniard questions, resting against their trolley as they perused the pata isle.
Luca places a jar of salsa in their cart before moving in step with her. "How about I cook for once?"
"But you're my guest." she pouts.
"I'm your boyfriend, Sof." the man chuckles, pressing a kiss to her cheek before grabbing a couple packets of different kinds of pastas. "I'll cook for you if I want to."
"That's so unfair, you can't use the boyfriend card for everything!"
"I can, and I have."
The couple laughs as they continue walking along the aisles, picking up their necessary and preferred foods while Luca grabbed the ingredients needed for their next few dinners. While she had insisted on cooking for the past couple of days he was staying with her, his mother had raised him better than to allow her to continue doing it all on her own.
Sofía was looking through the different kinds of chips and salsas on the shelves in front of her when she heard it. A voice she had longed to forget, a voice that she had successfully managed to push to the very depths of her mind for the previous year.
"Sofía?"
It almost made her heart stop straight in her chest. She turned around so slowly, one would swear it was like someone had slowed down time. Her heart had skipped a beat and resuscitated itself at the sight of those beautiful honey eyes, and his smooth chocolate waves.
"Carlos." she breathes, the air knocked completely out of her.
Madrid was a big city, the pair had managed to avoid each other perfectly fine since hat dreadful night. When they both walked out on each other.
"I...uh, it's been a while, huh?" he chuckles nervously, his hands coming up to scratch at the back of his head.
Sofía nods her head rapidly, her nails scratching at the skin of her fingers. "Yeah. Over a year."
"H-how've you been?" Carlos wasn't sure what on Earth he was doing, he just knew his senses were too accustomed to her. That her name had slipped off his tongue with the same ease it had when he was hers.
"Great." the response came out slightly choked, forcing the woman to clear her throat. "Yeah, I'm great."
"That's good. I—"
"Sof, I've just had the best idea for when we get home!" Luca emerging from the opposite isle had stuck the words right in Carlos' throat.
The Italian was none the wiser as he approached them, the grin on his face immediately dropping as he finally registers what was happening. Carlos Sainz was a man Luca never thought he would have to cross paths with, ever.
"What's going on?" he tries to be nice, wrapping a comforting arm around Sofías shoulders.
Something within her was begging her to inch away from the touch, to instead fall into the man across from her. The man who was keeping so much distance between them, a distance that reminded her of the space that had formed between them before.
Sofía musters her best smile, wrapping her own arm around her boyfriends waist. "Luca this is Carlos, an old...friend. Carlos, this is Luca, my boyfriend."
She wasn't sure if she had imagined it, but Sofía could swear she saw a change in his eyes. A slight disappointment that obscured their brightness, but it was gone almost as soon as she had spotted it. Sofías arms were starting to itch, her fingers not forming enough of a release in the awkward situation they found themselves wrapped up in.
"We were actually about to leave." she announces, squeezing onto Luca lightly. "It was nice running into you, Carlos. I'll see you around."
Luca gives the man a tight lipped smile. "It was nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you too, mate." Carlos replies, unable to do anything but watch on as they wrapped their arms around each other and made their way away from him.
He couldn't explain it if he tried, but a pit had formed in the bottom of his stomach. What for, he wasn't certain. He just knew that seeing Sofía with another man was not a sight that he ever wanted to see.
"Carlos? Did you find them?" his own girlfriends voice snaps him out of his daze, his hands quickly fumbling to grab the first bag of chips in front of him.
He holds the bag up with a forced grin, his heart hurting and his guilt building at the sight of Isas soft smile. "Got them, let's go."
To the former lovers, it was only a mere encounter at that supermarket. But in the vast possibilities of the universe, that stark night in the middle of August, would change everything to come for them.
MAYA SPEAKS
oof! former lovers reunite!! (kinda)
this plot line is gonna go kind of fast, i'm undecided yet on how many chapters it's gonna be but it'll most probably be shorter than invisible string. but we'll see!! if u guys know anything about me, it's that i love changing my mind about chapters at the very last moment 🤭
if carlos gets a podium tomorrow i'll update again probably, if he manages to get a win? i might spontaneous combust and you'll never hear from me again probably