“Junior! Come on!” Arabella shouted at Junior who was at the toilet, something he insisted on doing on his own. However, it took the young boy ages to get back, while Arabella was already running late. She had received a text from Manuel, saying he was done with training in an hour. That however, was thirty minutes ago and the drive alone would take Arabella about 40 minutes.
Finally the boy came running towards Arabella. “All done!” He smiled proudly. She returned the smile and grabbed the keys of Cristiano’s rental car. “Let’s go!” Arabella cheered, grabbing Juniors hands and locking the door of the hotel room behind them.
“Where are we going?” Junior asked as Arabella buckled him in. “Were going to get ice-cream together with Manuel, the German goal keeper,” Arabella explained. Junior clapped his hands in excitement. “Ice-cream!” He cheered, making Arabella smile.
**
Manuel looked at his watch with a frown. Arabella was supposed to be there 15 minutes ago and he started to worry that maybe she wasn’t coming. What if she just set him up? No, Arabella wouldn’t do that. Would she? He didn’t know, he didn’t even know her.
The urge for Manuel to give up on waiting became bigger and bigger, but then he saw the black sports car appear. It was the same one that Cristiano used to pick up Arabella. Manuel held back a sigh of relief as he realized Arabella didn’t set him up.
The window rolled down and an apologetic smiling Arabella appeared. “I am so, so, so, so, so sorry!” She stuttered.
Manuel smiled while opening the car. “It’s fine!” he reassured her, placing his sports bag between his feet. “Traffic here is awful, it nearly got us killed for about 24 times,” Arabella said, driving off. Manuel laughed and turned around in his seat. “Hey Junior,” he grinned. “Hey!” Junior said excitedly.
“So, just the park?” Arabella asked as she exited the parking lot where she picked up Manuel. “Yea, that’s fine by me,” Manuel agreed. He rubbed the palms of his hands against his knees, trying to get rid of his sweaty palms.
He hated to admit it to himself, but Manuel was nervous. He barely got nervous, that’s what made him such a great goal-keeper. However, now that he was with Arabella he was sweating like a whore in a church.
“So, how was training?” Arabella asked, trying to make conversation. Her hands were clamped around the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles had turned white. “It went great, everybody was in a good mood after yesterday’s game.” Manuel realized what he had said and looked at Arabella nervously. However, instead of being mad about yesterday’s loss, she laughed. “Don’t remind me,” she joked.
Manuel smiled in relieve. He liked the fact that she took everything so lightly, he wasn’t used to that. His ex-girlfriends always made him feel like he was walking on eggs, and when one of those eggs cracked it was like WWIII. With Arabella it was different, he felt like he could be himself.
“We’re here,” Arabella announced as she turned off the car engine. Manuel looked around in confusion. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed anything else.
“Is it okay if I leave my bag in the car?” Manuel asked, unbuckling his seat belt. “Why wouldn’t it be?” Arabella asked with a confused frown as she got out of the car. “Right,” Manuel mumbled, opening his door and getting out. He watched Arabella take out Junior and place him on her hip. “Ice-cream!” She cheered as she closed the car door. “Ice-cream!” Junior cheered with her in excitement. Manuel smiled at the two, he loved seeing girls –Arabella in particular- be good with children. It always gave him this feeling that he couldn’t quite place.
“Let’s go,” Arabella grinned, making Manuel smile. “Let’s go,” he repeated her words.