Love in thirds

11.2 Carlos & Marie

You wave at the screen excitedly when the call connects, showing your two brightly smiling friends. "Hi girls!" you say, laughing when you hear Nell tell Daniel that he should go and do something for himself because it's girls time now. "He just wants to hear all the gossip, I told him to call the boys if he wants to know the gossip" she says, laughing when Daniel yells something back. You see that Sofia and Nell are both wearing very similar necklaces to the ones you have, and you gasp when a realisation hits you. "Sof, did Charles give you a necklace with his initials?" she nods with a confused expression. "Did Danny give you a similar necklace?" you ask Nell, who nods before leaning towards the camera a bit to show it.

"Wait, does that mean" Nell says, catching up to what you're saying. You nod, giggling when you see Sofia smile too when she realises what must've happened. "Wait, let me ask Dan, give me a second" you hear Nell say before she disappears from the view. "How adorable is it if they talked about it together" you tell Sofia, who nods with a smile. "It would be quite weird if they just thought about the same thing without discussing it, so they must've talked about it. So cute" she says, and you nod before telling her about the moment Carlos gave you the necklace while you were surrounded by his family. Nell comes back to confirm that the guys indeed discussed what to get you three. It makes you feel fuzzy inside that Carlos wanted to discuss such things with his friends.

You and Carlos spent the first few weeks of the winter break at his home in Spain, enjoying your time together with Piñón and his family and friends. You celebrated Christmas with everyone two days ago, before flying to Vienna to celebrate it with your family. This would be the first time that Carlos is meeting everyone, and he has been a nervous mess since you stepped out of the plane onto Austrian ground. You went back to knitting after you and the girls finished the facetime call, while Carlos is on a run. You wanted to make him a spencer, since he likes to wear those when he's golfing somewhere cold. You were almost finished, it was supposed to be a surprise, but Carlos had a hard time staying away from you when you were together, which means that you have to knit when he's not around.

You look up with wide eyes when he walks into the apartment after his run, panting slightly while he pushes his head back to put the cap on again. "Good morning mi amore, what are you knitting?" he asks, which makes you groan before you tell him it's a surprise. "I didn't see anything yet! Can I give you a kiss before I shower though?" he asks, grinning at you when you walk towards him to peck him on his lips. "When are we leaving today?" he asks, stroking your hips. "Let's leave around 3PM, we'll spend some time together before having dinner and exchanging presents" you tell him, humming when he kisses you on your hair. "Okay, I'll shower now then. I want to make something Spanish to bring to your family, do you think they'll like that?" you nod with a smile, which makes Carlos smile as well.

You're happy that he's in the kitchen the next few hours, which means you can finish the spencer in peace without him trying to find out what you're making. You look at the finished product with a satisfied smile. You chose navy-coloured wool since you love blue on Carlos, with a slight pattern waved throughout the spencer. Folding it neatly you wrap it in the wrapping paper you found before putting it in the bag with the other presents. You walk towards the kitchen, wrapping your arms around Carlos waist before resting your head against his back.

"I'm almost finished mi amore, I only have to change into my outfit then. What are you going to wear?" he asks, stroking your hand before continuing with the final preparations for the dish he's making. "I'm thinking of wearing that new black dress with my Christmas cardigan on top" you say, letting go of him so he can move more freely. He hums, nodding before he looks at you. "You'll look very pretty in that; I like that dress on you. Makes your hair look even brighter" he says, smiling at you when you smile at him. "Okay, then I'm going to get ready now" you peck his lips before making your way into the bedroom to get ready.