Days pass and I haven't heard anything from either Ericka, Jared or Mario. And the last thing surprises me a little, because he seemed to be eager to see me again. I did some googling online and it seems like he is in Dortmund with his friend, Marco Reus. Apparently they are great friends and I haven't heard of that before. But I'm not in Dortmund. He also was spotted with a girl by his side, so that's great for my confidence as well. It could have been his sister or Reus' girlfriend. Mario only has my number and I never asked for his, so I can't contact him. Matthias and his friends have been super supportive of me and practically asked me every day how I was doing and whether I had heard anything about Jared or from Mario. I always had to disappoint them with a negative answer. Viktoria even showed up with another of her girlfriends, Lotte, whose name is rather hard to pronounce as an American, but I'm trying. Lotte is a very pretty girl. She has her hair dyed in all the strangest colors: blue, purple, pink and she told me that her next color would be something green. I wish I would dare to do something with my hair like that. Mine is an ugly shade of dark blonde. It's like a dirty blonde. It's like I rolled in the mud and didn't wash my hair for a few days after. Besides that, it's wavy and medium length. But I wish I would dare to do a new haircut or a new color, but for some reason I don't want to. Viktoria is the opposite of her friend: she dresses nude and has long, very long – probably fake – blonde hair. Which really looks good on her and I do have to admit that I do see her a girl to dye her hair porno-blonde. As in the white-blonde. Which I like to call: porno-blonde. The blonde she has now looks natural and normal and could possibly be real, but I really doubt it. Lotte and Viktoria invited me to go clubbing with them, but I didn't accept the offer and went back to lying down in my bed and being depressed, because that is what I am good in.
And that's when I get a text message. It's the first in more than a week that is not from either one of my parents. I open the message and read it.
“When will I see you again?”
I don't have to think to know who this is from and somewhere in my stomach I feel the warmth spreading through my body. I don't know what to reply to him. He wants to see me. I giggle and feel somewhat happier. I should do something. I should surprise him. But I don't know how. And that's when I got a great idea. Like a fantastic idea. At least that's how I think it sounds in my head.
Quickly I find Jared's phone number and send him a text message like I had done every day this week. It's been more than a week since the date with Mario and the day I heard the news. I could call Ericka and ask him about Jared's situation, but I didn't. I wanted to hear it from himself. My mother told me she heard it was a suicide attempt, but the police officers in my hometown believe there was some sort of deer on the road that he tried to avoid. I talked to Carlie and she hadn't heard of it at all. She bursted out in tears when we were on Skype together. Carlie is extremely emotional and she didn't even know Jared that well. She felt bad for me, but I told her that I'm okay, just feeling a little depressed about it, but I'd grow over it. I have been sending Jared messages asking how he is doing, how did this all happen, please call me when you have time, and more messages like that. But he doesn't seem to answer. I decide to write Ericka to get an update on his situation.
And for the first time in two days, I get out of bed voluntarily. I take a shower and I'm glad to feel the warm streams of water rolling down my body. The shower is a way to call me down and it's a place where I can peacefully think about everything. Steam is surrounding me and before I know, the bathroom is foggy and I can barely see anymore. I must, of course, admit that I like my showers hot, like really hot. So that doesn't come as a surprise to me. I wash my hair and my body and step out of the shower. I wrap the towel around me and use a smaller one to wrap around my hair. When it is dry again, it will most likely be one messy afro, but I think Mario can deal with that.
And yes, Mario. I looked at the times the team is training and I think I'm going to burst in. I'm not sure how, but I could either use my charm or just say that Mario knows me. Maybe Viktoria can get me in somehow, but I don't really want to ask her. I wonder if the trainings are just open to watch. I could always tell them that I'm working on my college application and show them some drawings I made during the game or the ones I made in America. No, I have definitely not worked this plan out yet, but Mario wants to see me and I must admit that I would not mind seeing him again either.
My phone starts beeping. It's a text message from Ericka. I sigh, maybe because I don't really want to know. I open the message. I sigh with relief when I read that Jared is doing much better. He is still asking about me, though.
There I am, sitting in the Bayern München stadium. I'm not sure how I have done it, but I managed to get in somehow. The security didn't speak English and they must have understood something different than I was saying, but it was working. And now I'm sitting, really close to the field and I see some other people in the distance that are also enjoying the sight. I made some drawings and I tried spotting Mario, but I couldn't find him, there were too many players on the field.
I got caught up in drawing and I really thought it was starting to look great when I felt someone sitting besides me.
“Lilly, you didn't tell me I would see you that soon,” he said. A smile forms on my face.
“I didn't, I wanted to surprise you,” I say and I looked at the field where they are still training excessively, “Shouldn't you go back to them?”
“I probably should, but I'm afraid I will lose you again,” he says.
“You never lost me in the first place,” I say. The coach is looking for Mario and he finds him sitting next to me and yells something at him in German and I giggle, “You should really go back.”
“If I go, will you go out with me after the training?” he asks and I roll my eyes. I had other plans after the this training, I would go home and binge-watch a randomly selected TV-show.
“Only if you go back right now,” I say and I look at him sprinting towards the field again, he looks back once or twice, I don't notice, because I'm back to drawing him. I look at him and he looks at me and we smile at each other and I blush. I guess he notices because he makes some signs and that makes me blush even more. He has more eye for me than for the training because he is constantly glaring at me. I think it's funny, but the coach doesn't think so. He scolds Mario for not paying so much attention and that he should do better next time. It's when they go to the showers, that I leave my seat and sign my name under my drawing. I pick up my bag and walk outside, where I will wait for Mario, if he doesn't show up that late. I know it could possibly take some time, because after all, he probably has to undress, shower, get dressed again and he will talk with his team mates.
I sit outside on a bench for about 20 minutes when I see him walking outside. I smile at him and he just winks at me.
“I had to go through a bunch of people wanting to get autographs and pictures before I could finally go to you,” he says and sighs and when he takes place next to me on the stone floor, “I didn't even know where you were going to wait for me. I thought you'd stay inside.”
“Poor you,” I joke, “Be glad that I haven't asked for one yet.” It's true that I hadn't told him that I went outside, but I figured he would find out. “I didn't know there would be so many people drooling over you, otherwise I would've waited inside.”
“I'd feel privileged to sign something of yours,” Mario says.
“Too bad I don't own a Götze jersey,” I say, “I would get it signed by you.”
“Do you even know how football works?” Mario asks. I know how American football works, but I don't know how soccer works. Maybe a little bit, I know that you have to score and that you can't touch the ball with your hands and all, but all the rules...I have no clue.
“If you mean American football by football, then yes,” I say proud. It took me forever to learn the rules of American football and Jared and some of his friends tried explaining it to me over and over again.
“Seriously Lilly,” Mario says laughing, “So you flirt excessively with a German football player and you don't even know how football works?” He rests his head in his palms. “Please remind me to teach you the basics if this thing is going to work out.” I blush. He called what we have a thing. It was nothing to me, the first date was a disaster and the second date, well that started off interesting and better than the first.
“I will try to remind you,” I say, “But I'm a really bad student, speaking of which, I should probably go practice my German instead of going on a date with you.”
“Or we go on a date and talk German the entire time, which would be the same as to study German, richtig?” Mario says as if he knows better.
“Right, yes,” I say, “I guess we should do that.” I try to speak German, but honestly the 'ch' sound and actually all the sounds with the umlaut are a little difficult for me.
“Your accent is adorable,” he says and I smile, “What do you want to do?”
“My plans for today consisted of watching movies and TV-shows and ordering a pizza, so if you have a better idea...” I question him.
“That sounds perfect to me,” he gets up and extends his hand to help me on my feet again. His hand is soft and sweaty and when I'm up on my feet I don't let go of his hand. He doesn't seem to mind and together we walk to his car.