"Pablo, I'm here!" I shout as I enter the front door.
"I'm upstairs, wait a sec!" He shouted back so I can hear him. I climb up the stairs and he smiles when he sees me. "Hey Rosalía."
"Hey." I smile back. "Are you ready?"
He nods as he grabs a bang of his and loops in through his arm, before sitting up from his bed and standing with his crutches.
"Let me take this." I grabbed his bag even though he protested, and we climbed into my car after locking Pedri's house.
"So, tell me about who we're playing against today." I asked as I backed away from the driveway.
He put his seatbelt on and make his knee comfortable. "I mean, it's not a great team either, but this season we have to be ready for anything."
"What's their name?" I flick my blinker and turn towards the stadium.
"Rayo Vallecano. We should win." He looked out his window as he thought for a moment. "I think they'll win 3-1." I dont know what to say to that so I concentrate on the road ahead after nodding to his words. "How was your day? Pedri told me you had class."
I sighed. "It was boring, like usual." He seemed to laugh.
"How's it like? University, I mean." He seems to genuinely ask.
"It's fine. Just like school but it seems more chill at first until you realise it's really not." We pull up in the parking lot.
I open Pablo's door even though he scolds at me saying he can do it himself. We head to the stands, after stopping to grab something to eat.
"Wow." I say as we sit down.
I look around and feel that heart tightening feeling of being in a stadium for the first time.
"It's quite cool, huh." Pablo laughs.
"Yeah, it is." I have to force myself to close my mouth. "When does the match start?"
And just as Pablo was about to reply, the players come out on the field and pose for the team photos.
(...)
The math against Rayo was officially finished, and Barcelona had tied 1-1, scoring in the last minutes. Pablo had taught me the offside rule, which was much easier to understand than I thought.
Pablo got up and started walking back up the stadium as I followed behind him. Her lead me to a corridor where a guard let him pass, and then I recognised the locker rooms.
I sat at a bench right next to its door, and Pablo looked at me. "Aren't you coming inside?"
"To suffocate in the smell of sweat, no thanks." He laughed, shaking his head as he pushed the door open and hopping inside.
I grabbed my phone and sent a message to Mika. She was okay with me being friends with Pablo even after what he did to her and I was quite thankful. I did feel resentful at first towards Pablo, but it's not my story and I decided to move forward.
"He said he'd hurry up but I highly doubt it." Pablo said as he plopped down next to me. "Who are you texting?" He asked after I had just hummed at his statement.
"I'm texting-"
But he had already peeped over my shoulder. "Oh."
"Yeah." I sighed as I rested my back on the bench, looking at the ceiling as I turned my phone off.
"How's she doing?" He asked, too casually.
"Great." I felt bad for using that tone, but all I could do was defend my best friend.
"Oh and uh- how's her- how's her studies going?" He brought his hand through his hair nervously.
"You should ask her yourself." I say with a flat tone.
I don't mention on what terms they're on because Pablo's never told me about it.
"Yeah.. I will." He replied hesitantly, before deciding to look at the ceiling too.
"How was Pedri?"
"Well he was alright. Although he was pissed off for drawing on his birthday." My body shot up straight when I heard his second sentence.
"What?" He looks at me and lifts his hands up in défense. "I mean he's just a bit annoyed, he should be fine in a hour or so."
"It's his birthday?" His eyes grew wide as his hand slapped over his mouth.
"Shit." He groaned as he hit the bench with his fist slightly. "Why can't I ever remember to do what I'm asked?" He whined.
"He didn't want to tell me?"
"What? No no. It's not like that at all." Pablo defended his best friend. "He just asked to not bring it up ar.. okay now it does seem like that but it's not!"
I sigh as drag my hand down my face, before standing up and turning towards Pablo to speak. Before I can, I'm engulfed in a big hug from behind and from the smell of perfume I recognise it's Pedri.
"Hey you two." He said as he looked at me and Pablo, I looked over to Pablo and he gave me a 'be calm' face. "Let's go, I'm starving." He helps Pablo up and starts walking down the corridor.
"He's hungry of secrets that's what." I whisper to myself and Pablo laughs, hearing me.
Pedri turned to look at us weirdly before leading the way to the parking lot.
"How was your day?" Pedri asked the two of us as he sat on the backseat in my car.
"Fine." I replied as Pablo started to develop his much better then I had.
I drove us back to Pedri's house, not Turing off the engine as I arrived in his driveway.
"Are you not staying over?" Pedri asked as I lowered my window.
Pablo grabbed the keys from Pedri's pocket and walked to the door, probably to leave us two alone as he gives me a sympathetic smile.
"No.. I wouldn't want to bother your celebrations.." My tone was bitter and sarcastic.
"Oh.." He leaned his arms on the bottom part of my window as he turned my engine off. "Look.. I didn't want to tell you because I don't want to celebrate it." He seemed hesitant as he looked at the ground. "I've always celebrated it in Tenerife and this year I couldn't." He looked back at me and I felt bad for judging without really knowing. "It's going to be the first year I'm not home with my parents for it."
I took off my seatbelt and he opened the door for me, leading me inside as we saw Pablo had gone up to his room. He turned around and hugged me silently.
"I'm not in the best mood, so I get if you'd want to leave." He said as I wrapped my arms around him in a hug.
"What? Of course not." I tried to release from the hug but he didn't, so I continued to hug him back. "We're going to celebrate your birthday as best as we can, even thought it won't top how it is with your family."
I felt him nod against my shoulder, before releasing from the hug and turning around quickly.
"What if I ordered some McDonalds?" I questioned him and he hummed.
"Yeah! That's a great idea." He turned to face me. "I'll quickly take a shower and then we'll order?"
"Perfect."
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(Author's/Note)
Heyyy
I'm sorry for being inactive I have a lot going on atm.
Love,
Pedriittaa <3