Young Love (Patri Guijarro x OC)

Roses

We enter the room and sit at our usual spots. Yet, all the Spanish girls stay up and only Ana, Frida, Ingrid, Lieke, Asisat, Caro and I are still sited. We look at each other to see if something is wrong but only Jona starts to speak.

"Today is important for any Catalan, and we wanted to share it with you, our foreign players." Jona smiles.

"This is why we've decided to do something special." Alexia continues.

"We all have a rose that we're going to give to someone special to our heart, and we're going to explain why." Marta explains us how it'll go.

"Then, we'll give a special book to each and every one of you." Andrea proudly ends the explanation.

"Let's start with the oldest one, shall we?" Jona winks at Mel.

"I'll give my rose to Ana, because you deserve to be the first receiver in this very Catalan tradition, as you are the foreign player who has adapted the most to the culture and the Barcelona life." Mel walks to Ana and hands her the rose.

"I knew it'll be worth the effort." Ana proudly smiles hugging Mel.

"Of course, we'll go fast there." Marta continues. "I'll give mine to Caro, for obvious reasons, thank you for your joy, your professionalism and for always being the best version of yourself." She gives her rose to a blushing Caro, and they hug earning some whistles from the team.

"Mine will go to my little sister, no doubt." Jenni smiles and walks to me. "To all the moments we've lived together and to the ones we still have to share. Siempre, hermanita."

"Te quiero." I hug her hard and she kisses my temple.

"Te quiero mucho." She whispers in my ear. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Always." I nod and sit back.

"I'll give mine to Miss Rolfö." Irene chuckles. "To one of the kindest human beings I've met in my life."

They hug and the girls keep on going. Sandra and Leila give hers to Asisat to celebrate her joy and her dancing skills, Mapi and Andrea go for Ingrid, Gemma gives hers to Frida, Jana to Ana, Cata to Caro, then Bruna and Mariona to Lieke because they have spent a lot of time in recovery all together. Aitana gives me her rose to remember our endless coffee session near the beach, Claudia chooses me while saying she considers me a model, a big sister and one of her biggest inspirations, which almost makes me cry.

Claudia and I didn't really start off well, a lot of young French players had bad thoughts about her but when we decided to truly talk to each other, we hit it off really fast and now, we love each other.

"Okay, now Patri, then Ale and we're done." Jona smiles.

"Fun." Patri stands up. "Well, I've hesitated between two people I like a lot. And sorry Ana, I've chosen Julie, because even if she is French and is sure to beat us in the Euro Finals this summer, she is maybe the calmest, easiest to talk to, and most selfless girl I've ever met. So, Julie, thank you for who you are, this is well deserved." She hands me the rose and I hug her.

"To all the cucumbers we'll eat together, Superstar." I chuckle and she laughs.

"I might add, funniest girl to the list, be careful." She hand checks me and I sit back.

"You can stay up, little one." Alexia smiles and walks to me. "I usually don't express my feelings much, but it's Sant Jordi today so I might as well try my best."

"Don't pressure yourself, I'll love you no matter what." I whisper and she smiles even more.

"If you had told me last year, when you signed here that you were going to become one of the most important people in my life, I wouldn't have believed it. Today, I can say I've found my mirror, the one who understands me in most of my moods, the one who can read my face like no one else, the one who has always the right words at the right time, simply the one I'll need to protect with my life no matter what. When Jenni introduced you to me, I was a bit jealous, I admit, she spoke so highly of you, it made me a bit mad. But clearly, I hadn't met you. Everything she told me was an understatement, you are unbelievably awesome, please never change for anyone, stay true to who you are and what you think. Por siempre y para siempre. Te quiero mucho."

Alexia's words leave me speechless. A tear is rolling down my cheek and I can't do anything else but hugging her tightly. We stay like this for a minute before Jona applauds and lets me go back to my seat.