No Running From Me

1. The Tour

❝I'll catch you by surprise, I'm coming back to take the rein.❞

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Loud talk. Footsteps and footsteps. People coming and going. The beep of the card machine. The heat. The difficulty of circulation. This store is a real hell, more crowded than the Christmas Eve gift shops, and only because of one person: Jack Grealish.

Yesterday was the announcement of City's newest midfielder and I don't say this with all the excitement in the world because although I work in the stadium of one of the richest clubs in the world, I don't like footballers very much, this one in particular because he seems to haunt me.

I'm not saying Jack is some bizarre version of Joe Goldberg or anything, but by some bizarre coincidence of fate, he always comes my way.

I don't have a certain role, on City match days I usually run the bar or cafeteria in some boxes at the Etihad Stadium, during the week I help Hanna, Park and Trevor run the mega store, located in City Square, as well as guiding tours of the stadium. Today is friday, and I am helping my colleagues in the shop, because after Jack's announcement there was a surge in demand for the shirts with his name on them, and we are packed, selling kits like water.

Luckily it's after four and soon this exhausting day will be over. It's always like this when City sign a new player, but with Jack it's been absurd.

"Please, Trev, tell him we're closing in an hour." I grumble to Trevor, he's kind of our boss. In the hierarchy pyramid he's above me, Hanna and Park, but I think he sees us more as friends than employees.

"In a moment." He answers, taking from my hands the T-shirts I was planning to put back on the shelves. "But you can go now, you have one last tour booked."

"I do?" I frown. "I checked the spreadsheet earlier, and I don't remember there being a tour scheduled for after four o'clock."

"It was a last minute appointment." He tells me and gets up from his seat. Trevor is white and tall, he has black hair filled with a few white hairs, but he has a good shape that supports his thirty-eight years.

"Since when do we accept last minute appointments?" I know around here there are cases and cases where important people are given certain privilege, like club officials and sponsors, but nobody told me about that today.

"This is one of those special ones." He waves his hand, dismissing me. "Hurry up, Joey."

I accept because if the boss says it, you do it. I cross the crowded shop to the counter where Hanna and Park are processing customer payments to get my things. It's been eight months since I started working here and if it wasn't for these two I don't think I would have made it past the first month.

"I can't believe you're getting away with it today." Park says as I pick up my bag. He's half korean, so his hair slides down easily when he shakes his head, indignant. Hanna also looks at me with a frown, reinforcing the frown lines on her fair-skinned face.

"There's a tour scheduled, what can I do?" I say with a shrug.

"God, these things always seem to fall from the sky for you."

I kiss them both goodbye and start to move out of the store. The inside of the stadium has already been evacuated, and now only authorized personnel are inside. Luckily, my badge gives me access to all the compartments of the space. Before going to the entrance, which is where the tour usually starts, I decide to go to the bathroom for a check-up.

Facing the mirror, I confirm: staying in the store has spoiled my appearance. I rinse my face with water and decide to put my hair up. My hair is a very long wavy black, so it's always stuck up, especially when I'm dancing. I don't have a comb here to untangle it, so I can't do any better than that. I decide to put on some mascara and eye pencil. I love black, especially around my eyes, my irises are green, and I think it makes a good contrast.

Before I leave the bathroom, I check that there are no messes on my uniform. Basically I need to wear the sky blue club shirt, a black legging and white Nike Air trainers, but it's cold today, so I also put on the City tribal model jacket. With the badge wrapped around my neck, I'm ready.

"Store full today, Joey?" I hear Sam ask. He's one of the stadium security guards.

"And how, but I had to get out of there, Trevor said there's a customer booked in for a tour."

"Oh yes, you do. Take good care of him, Joey." Sam taps my head and looks at some point behind me. The blonde comes out saying something into his little radio and I look back.

I lock my jaw and clench my eyes when I see him.

"You're kidding me." I say to myself, cursing the cosmos and the cruel fate it has subjected me to.