Always, Arlo [Published]

Chapter 1

Rain

Forty-Five minutes, all I get for a break even though I work 9 hours every weekday. I'm on the phone with Marlin, my boyfriend who's coming back to the state after a game.

He's speaking to everyone in the background, as I sit awkwardly at my break room's lunch table. I shift in my seat as I poke at my food. Leftover pasta my mother made for me last night.

She dropped it off at my apartment on a whim, probably in an attempt to comfort me. I'm lonely most of the time as Marlin spends his days playing soccer, or practicing for his games or buying new equipment.

That man's whole life is soccer.

Now, i'm not shitting on him, since High School he's been talking about going professional, and i've always supported him. The only downside is he isn't ever willing on making our relationship public.

I'm all for a private relationship of course. Fans can sometimes cross their boundaries into peoples personal lives. But Marlin has denied all allegations of our relationship entirely.

We barley go out on dates because he might be spotted, we dont post with eachother on social
media, and he doesn't even follow me. He follows his teammates and coaches, but with me it might cause "speculations."

We only do things in the comfort of our homes but everything is with precautions. Simply because him being other women's soccer idol might be tarnished if he has a girlfriend.

I'm a waitress at a fancy restaurant, but the way they treat us here isn't as good as everyone thinks it is. Rich people can be assholes and see their servers as scum. Our tips are way too low for the environment we're in.

Now, that doesn't seem like someone who could be possibly dating the victorious Marlin Morena.

Despite me being his main supporter for years he wont even admit to public that he's at least taken. I even bought him gear and equipment when he was struggling with money when he first started.

My face drops into a frown, my eyebrows furrowed as Marlin talks up a storm in my ear to everyone except me. I breathe in a frustrated breath. He made me sit alone incase of listeners, but won't speak to me.

I stab my pasta noodle with my plastic fork irritatingly. "Marlin, i'm going to call you later." I breathe out roughly, I glance around the break room at the other workers that are chatting up a storm and actually socializing.

"Val? Hello? I'm going to go to a grill with the boys, talk to you later." A beep follows Marlins voice short after, and silence creeps up my ear. Its obvious that he didn't even hear a word I said, or have been saying for that matter.

I bite my lip as embarrassment seeps through my body. Not one word was exchanged between us the whole phone call. After a moment I pick up the plastic lid and pop it back onto my food container, putting my lunch back into my lunchbox.