"Hurry, hurry, you're gonna be late," Federico tells me.
"Is it like tradition for you to run late for your flights ?" João asks.
"You're late too," I say.
"Okay, how about instead of arguing, you get a move on," Fede suggests.
"Right, right, bye, my sweet boy," I say picking Beni up and hugging him tightly. "Fede, thank you for everything," I tell him, pulling him into a hug, "you too Mina," I hug her. "Just for a couple of months," I say hugging Cristiano, mostly to myself really, I don't like being away from him, "I love you, behave."
"I love you too," he says hugging me tightly.
I don't want to pull away but I know if I don't I'll start crying. I watch on as João says his final goodbyes to them and we head towards the gate.
"You doing okay ?" he asks reaching for my hand and squeezing it.
"No," I admit, "I don't like leaving Cris, like it's one thing for me to leave him knowing I'll see him in a couple of days, but a few months."
"You said you'd be coming like twice a month, you'll see him soon," he says kissing the top of my head as we walk over to the man scanning our tickets to board the plane.
I sigh knowing he's right, lifting our hands to my lips and kissing the back of his. I pull my phone out of my pocket letting my dad know I'm boarding my flight. João practically drags us to our seats while I send the message out to my dad. We take our seats, with João letting me have the window seat. It's the little things that make me fall in love with this man more and more.
I wait for the flight attendants to do their little demonstration before I let João know that I'm going down for a nap, placing my phone on airplane mode and slipping my airpods in. I lean against the window, getting comfortable and I smile as I feel João lay his head on my shoulder.
-
A few hours later, we're landing. I yawn, holding off on the stretching until we actually land as to not wake João. When we finally land, I gently shake João awake. "Baby, we're here," I say.
I hear him groan, lifting his head off my shoulder slightly, stretching and cracking his neck. I side eye him, my neck gets cracked when I go to the chiropractor, I cant do it on my own. I stretch myself and wait until we're allowed off the plane.
Once we all start pilling off, we head for baggage claim in silence, both of us still trying to mentally wake up. I text the group chat asking for one of those losers to pick us up from the airport. Pulisic, the most responsible one from the group texted me back letting me know he'd he here in like 15-20 minutes. I sigh as we head to the waiting area to wait for him in silence.
We sit on the waiting seats, and João lays his head on my shoulder again. I'm just as exhausted as he is, but one of us has to stay awake. I take my phone out again, letting my family group chat know that we've arrived. I take a moment to text João's mom and Hugo as well, knowing João probably wont do it considering his current state.
I shake João again upon receiving Pulisic's message that he just arrived. He wakes up, helping me with our luggage and we head for the exit to look for Christian. Once we find him, he comes pover to us, helping us get our luggage inside.
"Thank you so much," I say, "Kai was supposed to pick us up, but I think the dumbass forgot," I groan.
"Clearly," Pulisic laughs.
"Sorry for bothering you," I say, "you're a real life saver."
"It's no bother at all," he says giving me a reassuring smile.
He drives us over to mine and Kai's place as he makes conversation with me about our holidays. When we arrive, after a quick drive, he helped me get our luggage in and then I had to wake João once again. I thanked Christian once again and he finally drove off after he watched me walk inside my house. I got João to help me roll our suitcases into my room and I pulled the covers off the bed so we can climb under. João pulled the blankets over us pulling me close, "don't wake me up this time," he mumbled nuzzling his head in the crook of my neck.
"I won't," I whisper kissing the top of his head running my fingers through his hair until we both drifted off to sleep.
-
A few hours later, I'm awoken by a delicious smell.
"Oh shit," I hear from the kitchen, "I forgot I was supposed to pick up Sofi from the airport," I hear Kai say.
"Go fuck yourself, Havertz," I groan.
"Sofia," Kai said walking inside my room, "I've missed you, bro-" his eyes go wide. 'Who the fuck ?' he mouthed.
"I don't know," I say, "he was here when I got here," I shrug.
"What'd you make me for breakfast ?" João asks.
"Félix ?" Kai asks.
"Who else did you expect ?" he asks.
"After the World Cup ?" Kai asks, "anyone but you if I'm honest, perhaps Reyna."
"Go fuck yourself, Havertz," João said.
"No breakfast for either of you," Kai said.
"Kai, leave them alone," Sophia says in a warning tone, "they just got in from a flight."
"No," Kai says, "have you possibly forgotten all the times that Sofia drove us insane when we wanted to be alone ? This is payback."
"I'm going to strangle you if you don't get out of my room," I tell him.
"I'm shaking in my boots," he says sarcastically.
"What time is it ?" I ask.
"Close to 9:30," Kai says.
"Fuck," I mumble rolling out of bed.
"No, don't leave me," João whines.
"I have to go," I sigh getting up. I rush towards the bathroom to brush my teeth and rebraid my hair; I had my physical exams today so I can be medically cleared to play again. I walk back into my room to find and outfit and I look over to my bed to see João and Kai talking, as Kai took my spot on the bed.
"Bro where are you even going ?" Kai asks.
"I get cleared today," I explain.
"Ahhh," Kai says, "what time do you have to be there ?"
"10:30," I laugh deciding I don't need to change since I'm wearing sweats and a hoodie.
"I'll come with if you'd like," Joao says.
"It's okay, I'm running late as is, I'll be back later, you can stay here with Kai," I say grabbing my phone and givining him a quick peck on the lips.
"Yeah bro, my Sophia made breakfast, and It's really good, you can hang with us for the time being," Kai tells him.
"I love how you haven't even questioned why he's here," I say.
"I'm not an idiot," Kai says, "there's rumors of him joining us on a loan. Now I can see that the rumors are true."
I laugh walking back out and heading to the kitchen to greet Sophia. "You wanna take some breakfast on the go ?" She asks.
"Sounds lovely," I say, "but I'll eat when I get back."
"Okay, at least take an apple or a granola bar on the way," she says.
"I'll take both," I tell her grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl.
"Now that your boyfriend is here and we're both Chelsea wags, can we have a double date tonight ?" She asks.
"Absolutley," I smile at her going over to the pantry to grab a granola bar. "Okay, I'm off, I'll see you guys later," I say grabbing my car keys and my duffel bag.
"Good luck," Sophia says and I blow her a kiss.
I get in my car heading for the stadium. I greet Emma Hayes our coach and head inside to the doctors. They begin to run all sorts of tests on me to test my speed, my breathing, the limits of my leg and whatnot to see if I was ready to go. I wasn't concerned at all because I had already done all of this with my personal doctor for the Portugal National team and I was told I was good to go.
"I feel like some people wanted you to come back weaker, or not at all," Emma whispers to me.
"And what do you think ?" I ask.
"Stronger than ever," she smiles at me, "that's my girl," she says pulling me in for a hug. "Stay for practice."
"Yes ma'am," I smile at her.
I get ready for practice and greet all the girls, I've missed playing with them.
"I didn't know you were coming back," Tatiana whispers to me. She's on the academy but practices with us from time to time.
"I didn't want to come back," I admit, "I don't fancy riding the bench for the rest of the season."
"I don't think they'll make you a bench warmer, Hayes likes you," she whispers back.
I cringe at the use of our coach's last name because it's my ex's name. "I know, but higher ups can force her to bench me," I shrug.
We get on with practice and I do my best to put on a good performance. I really don't want to ride the bench, and hopefully if I demostraste I did in fact come back better than ever, I'll keep my starting spot on the team; well, the starting spot isn't so permanent, it fluctuates a lot because the higher ups are no longer keen with me.
Practice ends and Emma calls us over to discuss the cancelation of tomorrow's practice due to João's contract signing and presentation. She calls that the end of practice and we head to the showers.
"You did really good," Tatiana tells me, "can't even tell you had an injury at some point."
"And here I thought I wasn't gonna get to play with you again," Sam says, "I missed you kid, it's gonna hurt to watch you leave at the end of the season."
"I know," I sigh, "I've enjoyed playing with you all."
"I thought after the shit that went down, you'd get benched, but they can't possibly bench you when you play like that," Emily our youngest keeper says.
"Thank you," I smile at her.
"Our forwards are all back," Erin cheers, "Sam, say goodbye to the top goal scorer record you were holding."
"I'm not too sure, I'm in the lead by a lot," Sam laughs.
"That sounds like a challenge," I say.
"Some friendly competition sounds about right," she winks at me.
We all get cleaned up after practice and say our goodbyes to each other heading in our separate directions. I call my dad on the way home from practice.
"Daddy, guess what ?" I say as he answers.
"What's up, kiddo," he says.
"I'm back," I squeal.
"Yeah ?" He asks excitedly, "how'd practice go ?"
"Amazing," I smile, "everything went so well, I did good."
"I'm so happy for you, sweetheart," he says, excitement laced all over his tone.
"I'm happy for us," I say, "you're happy in Saudi, I'm relighting my spark before the World Cup and Madrid, and Cristiano is so happy at Madrid."
"I checked in on him this morning, he's settling in well," my dad says, "Mina drove him to practice and he sounds just as excited as you are."
"Daddy," I say, "this is our year !"
"Absolutely," he says, "I gotta go, baby, I'll call you later, I love you."
"I love you too daddy," I say hanging up.
On the rest of the drive home, I call Cristiano to check up on him. Dad was right, he seems so happy. I also got to speak to Mina and Fede, they're happy to have him around, of course it's only been a day, but Cristiano is a good kid.
I arrive home and get out of the car, FaceTiming Gio to see her and my siblings.
"What took you so long ?" João asks.
"I was at practice," I shrug, "hi mommy," I say into the phone.
"Hi baby," she coos, "what do you mean you were at practice ?"
"I'm back on the team," I smile placing my phone on the counter, resting it against the fruit bowl.
"Oh, babe, you're back," Sophia says coming into the kitchen, "I have your food in the fridge, let me get it heated for you,"
"Thank you," I smile at her.
"Bro, does everyone call my girlfriend pet names ?" João asks.
"Yes," Gio and Sophia say at the same time.
"Soooo," Gio says, "how was practice ?"
"Very, very good, actually enjoyable," I say.
"I'm so glad, how's adjusting back been ?" She asks.
"To the team, not bad, although it is only my first day, so who knows," I sigh. "Back home it's like I never left, except João's here now too."
"How's that been ?" She asks.
"Amazing," Kai says, "Sofia used to steal my girlfriend, now I'll steal her boyfriend... and they brought a little wiener ," he says excitedly showing Gio the dog.
"Oh god," Gio laughs, "Raven would eat that poor baby alive."
"I want to see mommy," Mateo says popping his face into the screen.
I got to talk to the for a bit while I ate. After the call ended, João and I spent the rest of the day hanging out together. I got to show him some of my favorite places to go to, well as many as I could because apparently we had dinner reservations.
"Dinner reservations are at 9, everyone get ready," Kai shouts as we walk in.
I laugh at his seriousness as João and I walk into our room. We quickly get dressed and he leaves to the living room seeing as how he's ready and I'm not. He goes over to the couch to play FIFA with Kai as I walk over to Sophia's room to continue to get ready with her. We take a few photos and head out. Kai drives us to the restaurant.
"We're some hot Chelsea wags," Sophia laughs looking at the photos.
"Damn right we are," I wink at her.
We walk inside the restaurant and the hostess sits us dropping off our menus. "Phone away," João whispers to me.
"In a minute dad," I mumble, "let me see which picture I'm posting."
"You really do sound like her dad," Kai laughs.
"That I did get from her dad," João says, "it's nice how he values quality time and prefers the people around him away from the technology for a bit."
Sophia eyes me as she also has her phone out. "Ignore him," I laugh and he snatches my phone. "Rude," I groan.
"You can post it later," he says.
"Fine, fine," I say.
"So, how'd you two finally get together ?" Sophia asks.
"Matilde finally got her head out of her ass," Kai says as I look at the menu.
"Rude," I groan, "but true."
"You're taking my side ?" João asks shocked.
"Not necessarily," Kai says, "I just like to shit on Sofia, but at the end of the day, she's my best friend, and I stick by her. You made her life hell in Qatar."
"She made her life hell in Qatar," João argues.
Kai gives me a look and I give him one back. "Okay, okay, maybe, but it all started with you flirting with your ex," Kai shrugs.
"I wasn't flirting with her," João defends himself.
"I know what she saw," Kai says.
"You're all crazy," João laughs.
"Tell me about it," Sophia laughs.
The waitress comes over introducing herself, and takes both our drink and food order, excusing herself to go put the order in.
"So, how was practice ?" Kai asks.
"Good, actually," I smile at him. "Emma says I'm looking strong, which means I should still have a spot in the starting eleven if I continue to preform the way I did today."
"Hayes," Kai corrects, "Hayes says."
"I'll strangle you," I say as the waitress drops off our drinks.
Sophia laughs, "you must hear some pretty interesting things," she tells the waitress.
"I do," the waitress laughs, "but that's a first, I get a lot of date nights so not much strangling involved, although a woman did find out she was being cheated on here."
"You mean normal people don't threaten to strangle their partners on date night ?" João asks.
"I never," I defend myself although I know I did. "Back to the cheating thing, I'm intrigued, what happened ?"
"The man thought it'd be a great idea to book double reservations for both his girlfriends," the waitress spoke, "they were sat on opposite sides of the restaurant so no one would be able to tell, except women are smart, they noticed. He kept excusing himself to the restroom, and when they both realized he actually went to the restroom this time, they sat together, he came back to quite the surprise."
"Oh please tell me they took revenge," I groan.
"Like you did," Kai scoffs.
"Shut up," I groan.
"Well no, they're not Grammy wining artists who write breakup albums about their cheating boyfriends," she smiles, "but they did in their own way. They had a little confrontational moment here, and he left with his tail between his legs; I learned both women walked out with a victory because he had bought them both houses and were well off."
"Why couldn't you get cheated on by a man like that," Kai laughs, "at least you would've made a bag."
The waitress laughs walking away to retrieve our meal.
I groan, "always making fun of my situation when your new bestie went through the same shit... publicly."
"Why do you always have to drag me into the mud," João groans.
"That was your ex, not me, I just tell the story," I say innocently sipping my drink.
"Speaking of exes, I was not aware you were on speaking terms with yours," he says.
"Emma Hayes is my coach," I inform him.
"Oh," he says as the waitress walks over to drop off our food.
"Have you spoken to Frankie ?" Kai asks.
"No," I admit, "I've been everywhere and no where at the same time," I sigh.
"Wait you and Frankie are friends ?" João asks Kai.
"Why wouldn't we be ?" Kai asks.
"I got the impression he didn't like you," João says, "also got the impression you didn't like me."
"Frankie thinks Kai coddles Mati," Sophia explains.
"I like you," Kai says, "always have, but Sofia hated you and I wasn't gonna admit I liked you," he says in a duh tone.
"This is why Frankie says you coddle her," Sophia says.
"I don't coddle her," Kai defends himself, "do you feel coddled ?" He asks me, "she doesn't feel coddled," he says before I can even respond.
"Kai is very much I'll blindly follow you, we'll discuss everything else later," I laugh. "So is Frankie, but less so when he's under stress and believes I'm in the wrong."
"I don't care if she's in the wrong, I'll fight tooth and nail nail for her, we'll discuss later how two plus two is not three," Kai laughs.
"Did you discuss how I was at the top of your stupid list ?" João asks.
"Vaguely," Kai shrugs and I nod.
"You two are gonna drive me insane," João groans.
"You don't know the half of it," Sophia laughs.