4TH AUGUST 2016 || NEW YORK CITY
"THIS IS SO MUCH more fancier than I expected," Klara muttered nervously to Raphaël.
There were multiple round tables scattered around the room which had 6 chairs around each. The adults and staff were all together and the players filled the other tables. There weren't any rules on sitting with the players from Bayern or vice versa, but most of the players stuck to themselves anyway due to language barrier.
Isco, Mateo, Álvaro and Jesé were all sat around one table saving a space Raphaël and Klara.
There were menus in each place and they couldn't help but wonder how the chefs were going to dish out around 90 or so separate orders. Real Madrid had a squad of 30 alone and Bayern had 19, but add that onto an entourage of maybe 20 each and then some other guests.
Klara comfortable took the seat between Raphaël and Álvaro. She knew that there was not much tension between her and Álvaro anymore.
"You look great Klara," Jesé complimented kindly. She thanked him quickly with a blush rising to her cheeks.
Meanwhile, the ex-Real Madrid player from Bayern was chatting with his old friend Sergio and Marcelo.
"Oh my, is that Klara? Little Klara?" Xabi watched the vaguely familiar blonde walk in with Raphaël.
Marcelo turned and found her in the room, "Yeah! She's our photographer and filmer for pre-season, but she's just a familiar presence at the club still,"
"I wanna go say hello!" Xabi said excitedly and walked over to the table, "Klara!"
She turned and grinned, "Oh my God, Xabi! I completely forgot you played for Bayern!" She stood up to hug him.
Xabi pouted, "Forgot about me that easily? I'm kidding, i'm kidding! How are you, little one?"
Although she was around 17 when she met the senior team players, most of them were still much older and called her 'little'.
"Not so little anymore, Xab," she chuckled, "But i'm fantastic; I'm supper happy that Zidane gave me the opportunity to come,"
"The man adores you! We all do!" Xabi grinned and his eyes peered behind her to Álvaro, "You and Álvaro are still going strong correct? How long has it been? 8 years?"
The laughter between the table ceased and everyone just looked at each other awkwardly.
"Uh no, we're not," she chuckled nervously, "We broke up when he moved to Italy,"
Xabi's eyes widened in embarrassment, "Oh i'm sorry! Didn't mean to make things awkward!"
Álvaro smiled up at him from next to her, "Don't worry. You didn't know, Xabi,"
"Yeah, well I better get back to the table. I think the waiters are coming soon and I would like some food as quickly as possible," Xabi bid his goodbyes and softly messed up the top of her hair.
Mateo Kovačić was flicking his eyes between Álvaro and Klara confusedly, "What does he mean by are you two still together?"
The ex-lovers almost forgot that not everyone in the team knew of their relationship since it was hardly talked about after Álvaro left and especially not to the new players.
"Erm, Klara and Álvaro used to date way back when," Isco answered for them.
"Really? For how long?" Mateo pressed on.
"About 6 years," Klara shrugged as if it was nothing but the Croatian's eyes widened nonetheless. 6 years was a pretty damn long time for people so young.
He sensed that nobody wanted to talk about it so he stopped with the questions. Thankfully, the waiter came over and took their orders.
-
"This is so good," Álvaro moaned in delight. He had some sort of pasta and meat dish.
"Mine's better," Klara teased with her tongue sticking out at him. She also had pasta, but it was coated with this unique sauce and it was filled with seafoods like prawns and seafood sticks.
If they had still been dating, Álvaro would feed some of his dish to her and vice versa. It was a usual thing they did whilst out in unfamiliar restaurants.
Before anyone could answer, Raphaël pointed out something, "Klara is that your phone?" He noticed the vibrations of her phone on the table which sent the table shaking too.
"Oh yeah," she turned around the iPhone to see Andrew's contact on the screen. She didn't have to think twice about rejecting it since she was having dinner.
"Who was it?" Raphaël tried to peer over, but her phone was on the home screen.
"Just Andrew," she shrugged.
"Just Andrew? Rude," he chuckled, "Are you going to text him at least?"
"Yeah," she pressed on the message app and clicked on his user.
to Andrew :)
Sorry I can't answer! I'm having dinner. Why are you still up? Are you alright? X
"Who's Andrew?" Isco asked with a teasing tone.
"Some guy Klara's testing the waters with. She met him at one of our matches," Raphaël told him.
"Stop exposing me!" she joked with a jab to his arm, "It's nothing serious at all,"
Álvaro stayed quiet. Why was he feeling this weird feeling in his stomach? He was over her.
"Sure," Isco dragged out his word with a smirk.
-
Florentino Perez, Zinedine Zidane, Carlo Ancelotti and Karl Hopfner all conducted speeches in decent English. It was all the same thing really: how well the teams played in pre-season, the hopes for the upcoming season and wishing the teams luck for their respective leagues and cups and all. As soon as that was all over, the plates were cleared away and it was time to socialise between the clubs.
"Hola, Señorita," a player from Bayern Munich approached her with a more-than-friendly smile.
She giggled at his flirting attempt, "That accent isn't working for you. David Alaba right?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. She went in for the handshake, but instead, he kissed the top of her hand, which made he blush bright pink, "Are you one of Madrid's staff?"
"One-off photographer but i'm best friends with Raphaël. I'm Klara Montes," she told him.
"A pretty name for a gorgeous girl," he winked.
"Oh you charmer," she blushed even harder and tried to hide behind her hair.
"I'm just saying fac-" he was soon interrupted.
"David! How are you doing mate?" Álvaro completely ignored the presence of Klara as he bumped in and she knew exactly why he interrupted. Little shit.
David's eyes flicked to Klara who just stayed expressionless, and then met Álvaro's stare, "Erm, i'm good mate. You?"
"Oh fantastic! I see you've met Klara. She has to go though, her phone has been going off like crazy! Her boyfriend's trying to reach her. See you mate!" Álvaro quickly dragged Klara out of the situation and into a corner of the room which infuriated her. She was gone before David could react.
"Álvaro!" she whined angrily, "What the fuck?"
He just shrugged and picket at his nail, "You have a boyfriend,"
"Far from it," she hissed, "And that doesn't mean I can't socialise with people! He's nice!"
"He's trying to get into your pants," Álvaro fired back.
Her angry expression turned into a smirk, "You're so jealous, Ál,"
He scoffed, "Dream on,"
"It's true, it's true," she tutted, "You are so jealous. Why would you drag me away from someone flirting with me if you weren't? You knew Andrew and I aren't serious at all,"
"False!" he shot back.
"But the question, Álvaro, is why are you jealous? You have a girlfriend," she said condescendingly.
Álvaro stayed silent and pictured Alice in his head. Was he jealous? His heart rate slowed down from the mission he just embarked on.
"You're right," he admitted quietly, "I am. And you know exactly why,"
He suddenly looked sullen and down.
"Álvaro, what's wrong?" her hand instinctively went to his arm.
"Can we go talk somewhere quieter? The roof, if they have one,"
"Of course," she muttered, "Let's go,"