2023
Marc
I wave over at the group of girls who called out my name as I walks back out of the tunnel after freshening up. Those girls have stopped me or called me over a total of 10 times while I've been here. I turn and go into the opposite direction from them and to my girlfriend and mom who stood among the other families on the pitch. I jog up to my girlfriend who had her back to me, before scaring her. She flinches as my hands make contact her waist. She turns her head before playfully smacking my shoulder.
"What the hell." She says before I pull her into a hug.
"Congratulations." She looks up at me. I kiss her forehead as a thank you before pulling away and going to my mom who hugged me and congratulated me.
"Tú papá, told me to tell you to call him when you can." She tells me, reaching up to my face and wiping something off. I nod. "Lo haré." I tell her, as I reach my hand behind me, gripping onto my shirt Anita was wearing and pulling her next to me so I could wrap my arm around her.
Her hand goes to my waist as she leans into me, I could sense that something was wrong but I'm assuming she's worried about her brother. I grip her braid and bend the end up to tickle her nose, she turns her face away and small laugh escaping her lips.
I smile and let go of her hair. "Let me take a picture of the two of you." My mom says backing away slightly while pulling out her phone.
I smile at the camera, holding the girl to my side.
My mom puts her phone down and smiles at us before she quickly gets pulled into a conversation with the other parents around her.
I took it as my chance to lead Mariana a bit sways from the group.
I can hear the calls from the girls in the stands start again when I get closer in their direction but I ignored them and look down at the Spanish girl.
"You weren't at your spot when the game started." I tell her.
"I really needed to use the restroom." She starts to play with the ends of her hair.
I take her hand in mine and eye her suspiciously. "and who was the guy who you were talking too?" I question.
Her eyes widen for a split second. "He stopped to tell me that i shouldn't be here, that I should be at home and that I'm shitty for that." She scoffs. I raise an eyebrow at her. I my mood instantly switch at what she had just told me. I remembered that he was wearing a Spanish jersey with the numbers 10 on the back and from what I could see he hand brown hair and didn't seem to be much taller then Anita.
"don't listen to him...es un gilipollas." I say, slight irritation in my voice.
She nods and twists her her head behind her and looks back at I'm guessing the girls still call for me.
"She stopped me and asked me to tell you if you could stop by over there." She turns back to look at me.
I shake my head at her and curve my lips while slightly shrugging.
"I've already met them... they've stopped me a 5 times after training and a 5 more times in the lobby with the boys." I tell her. I really don't want to go over there, was it a bit rude? Maybe. But I'm just a boy.
I take my hand in hers and start to walk back over to my teammates and families.
Hector walks over and I'm greeted with a small on the head.
"What's up, bro." He laughs he reaches his hand out to dap me up. I roll my eyes and do the hand shake with him.
He turn to my girlfriend and hold his hand out as well.
"How do you do, enana? " She presses her lips in a thin line but dap him up.
That was a new one for her. I don't think Mariana has ever been call short by anyone. "I'm 5'6, that's above average." I let out a small laugh.
"Not my fault the both of you are ridiculously tall."
Hector holds up an 'L' to his forehead. "That's a skill issue for you, enana."
I roll my eyes and my best friend before placing my hand on his shoulder. "We need to go." I tell him.
He nods and slaps my chest as he walks passed me and head to the tunnel.
"See you later, enana." He calls out.
I laugh as I look at Mariana's face. "I don't like him sometimes." She tells me.
I shake my head and lean down to kiss her cheek.
"I'll see you later." I tell her.
She nods. "Adios." She tells me.
I smile softy before jogging to my mom and telling her goodbye then rushing back to Anita.
"Adios, amor." I tell her before I leave for the tunnel.
.
.
.
"She's going to shit herself when she sees this bro." Bernal says over my shoulder. We were all gathered up in Hector and I's room playing a little bit of FIFA before we had to go to sleep. "I just saw her like 20 mins go and she seemed fine..she was on face timing her brother while doing some face mask she bought the other day." I tell him.
All the boys look over at me. "Dude...some of your fans are kinda mean to her. Like really mean." Cubarsi says as he takes my phone out of my hands and scrolls through the comments.
I groan. "I met Mariana Páez Gavira today at the Spain vs Japan u-17 match. I was so excited to meet her but she was incredibly rude and barely talked to me, I had asked her if she wouldn't mind asking Marc if he could walk over to where we were after the game and she proceeded to not tell him then look back at me and my friends with a glare..the most rude interaction I've ever had with someone. She is extremely full of herself. I never believed any of the rumors and thought It was stupid that people said Pablo hates her that's why he doesn't post her but this, this changed my opinion on her." He read out the caption.
"That is absolutely crazy...not only that she has a video of her talking to Mari and she doesn't look very happy but I always wouldn't say she was glaring back at them..that's a stretch." He tries to defend my girlfriend.
I run my hands over my face before taking my phone back from him and analyzing the video. She did in fact did not look happy but i know that, I know that little move where she tucks her hands under her legs. She does it to stop her hands from anxiously shaking but she hasn't done it in a while. Not only that, you can tell in her face and the way she kept pressing her lips together repeatedly. It was something she would do when she was feeling anxious.
"She wasn't being rude..I think she was having a small anxiety attack." I whisper. That would explain why she left before the game started and why she seemed suspicious about the restroom.
All the boys were gathered around me and my phone...expect Prim.
"They work fast." Hector says pointing at the number of likes. I scoff. "Yeah it's like mid day in Spain." Everyone and their damn mommas probably saw this. The account was a Barcelona fan account for crying out loud. The video had been posted a little bit over an hour ago and it already had 179,089 likes. "How'd they find it so fast?" Andres says taking a seat next to me. I shake my head. That a good question.
"Marc go check on her." Hector says. I push myself off the bed, grab her keycard and slip on my slides and walk out of the room just like that.
I make it to her room and open the door, to hear her still talking to Pablo.
"Que pasa, amor?" She asks, confused as she leans forward to look at me from the bed. She no longer had her face mask on but now how a bunch of random things she's bought in front of her.
"I wanted to check up on you." I shrug walking closer.
She looks at me even more confused. "You were just here." She says looking at me.
I kick off my slides and crawl into the bed right next to her. "I missed you." I said to her before turning my head to the laptop in front of her. I lift my hand at the boy on the screen. "Hola, Pablo." I tell the boy, whom I just talked too 20 minutes ago.
"Hi again, Marc." He says.
"He asked me to give him a haul on all the things I've bought...he's bored and I keep getting off topic." She smiles sheepishly. I smile at her before reaching down and pick up the lipgloss she had in front of her. It was a pinkish red color.
"Do you like it...I have it on." I look at her as she puckers her lips.
"I was just telling him how I got our mama and Aurora one, it so good." She says happily.
She gets up off the bed. "Now that you are here..entertain him while I use the restroom." She says walking off.
As soon as I hear the door close I turn back to her brother.
"Have you seen the—-that's why I called her, I wanted to know if she saw it but she seems perfectly fine so I've been trying to keep her off instagram." The boy cuts me off as he whispers through the screen.
I mentally groan. I should've just walked up to those girls and none of this would've happened.
"She going to find out regardless...but I don't want her to be upset..she lets these thing affect her too much." He tells me. I nod my head and turn to the bathroom when I hear the flushing sound then the sink.
"Should I break it to her so she doesn't find out over the media?." I say before the door opens and the girl walks out.
The boy nods and me quickly then I turn over to the girl.
She smiles brightly at me. I was happy she was happy, she's had a rough week and it's literally going to get ruined even more the moment she opens instagram.
"What'd you talk about." She plops down on the bed.
"Football." Her brother tells her. She doesn't question anything and wraps her arms around my neck, placing her cheek to mine.
I wrap one arm around her waist and laugh. "Bueno...I'll let you go and enjoy being with your boyfriend, hermanita." Pablo says a small smile on his face.
"Vale, cuídate Pablito, te quiero." She waves at him.
"Te quiero, buenas noches, adiós Marc." He tells me.
"Adios." I says to him before he hangs up.
A/n: 💀