The journalist's footballer (Rúben Dias)

Chapter Fourteen

Rúben

I see Christina stop moving and I assume hanging up the phone because she lets the arm holding the phone fall to her side. But she doesn't move from there. She's completely still.

I give her a couple of minutes to recover from whatever it is Matty told her until I can't wait any longer.

"Christina", I say when I reach her. And when she turns to face me, I can see the tears in her eyes, threatening to fall. Whatever was said, it wasn't good. "Come here", I say, opening my arms so I can comfort her in some way.

"This might be a very stupid question but are you ok?"

When she lifts her head to look at me, I can see the pain in her eyes. She simply shakes her head.

"Let's go home".

I take her hand and lead her back home. We don't talk during the 15 minutes it takes to walk from the park to my apartment, but I squeeze her hand every couple of minutes to let her know I'm there.

I hate that I only have two more hours before going to training. She needs me here, not leaving her alone in a place she barely knows.

When we get home, she excuses herself to go to her room. And I stand outside not knowing what to do. Until I hear the whimpers and I can't wait any longer. I open the door and sit next to her on the bed to hug her.

"He said the most horrible things to me", she says in such a low voice I barely hear her.

But I hear her, and it only makes me angrier at that fucking Matty. Who is he to hurt her like this?

"If he did, then he's not worth having you as a friend", I say, kissing the top of her head.

When she finally calms down, she gets out of my embrace to wipe the tears from her face.

"I'm sorry. This isn't what you need before a match. Or ever", she laughs sadly. "You probably didn't expect this when you invited me".

"I had no expectations, Christina. I didn't invite you to entertain me. I did it because you needed a break from London. And, I mean, it's clearer now that it was good for you to stay away from that place".

She looks at me for a long moment, as if she wanted to say something. But she only thanks me.

I get up needing to put some distance between us before I do something stupid.

"I need to leave in an hour. Do you need me to do something for you?", I ask her.

"Can I go to your training?", she says, surprising me. I expected anything but that.

"I...I don't know. They don't let the press inside the training ground. But I guess I could ask...", I say, thinking who I could ask. "Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"It's the first thing that came to my mind", she laughs. "I don't know why".

"Ok, give me a second", I say going to my room.

"Hello?"

"John. I need your help".

"With what? Rúben, we are going to see each other at training in an hour, why are you waking me up asking for help", he says, yawning.

"You were sleeping?"

"Keep your judgment to yourself, will ya?"

"Christina wants to come to our training", I say before he hangs up.

"Why?"

"It's a long story", I said, not wanting to share any personal details with him.

"Will it help you get together with her?"

Is John feeling like a matchmaker all of a sudden?

"Yes. It will".

"Ok, bring her with you but don't make any promises. I think I know how to do this".

Christina

"Maybe this was a bad idea", I say, realising what I'm asking of him. "I don't want to get you into trouble".

"You won't", he says. "The worst that can happen is that they say no and you have to take a taxi home".

I laugh. Why do I get these weird ideas in my head sometimes?

We finally get to the training ground and see John Stones waiting outside of his car.

"Hi, I'm John", he says, offering his hand.

"Hi, I'm Christina. Nice to meet you", I say, shaking his hand. "Rúben tells me you might be able to get me to watch the training session".

"Well, yes. But remember it was him who asked me to find a solution so technically it's all thanks to him. I'm just a little helper".

I frown at him while Rúben tells him to shut up.

"Good morning, Tom", says John to City's media director Tom. "You know Christina, don't you?"

"I do. Hi!"

"Hi, Tom. It's nice seeing you", I say.

"What are you doing here?", he asks me.

"Well", says John. "Christina wants to see our training".

"John, you know the press isn't allowed at training".

"I know, but Christina isn't the press today. She's a guest!", he's smooth, I'll give him that.

"She's always the press as long as she works as a journalist. No exceptions!", says Tom, making me realize how much of a silly idea this was.

"Well", starts John again, "you know the channel she works for. They don't use training information for any of the content they do. Plus, she is willing to leave her phone here with you to prove she won't be recording anything".

Am I willing to do that?

"Will you do that?", asks Tom.

"Sure", I say. "As John says, I'm just a guest", I add, showing my little lanyard.

Tom sighs. "Ok. But don't make me regret it".

"I won't", I say with a big smile.

I turn to look at Rúben, who didn't get himself involved in the conversation.

"Thank you"

"I just hope you don't get too bored of seeing us. You can leave at any time, I won't be offended", he says.

"I would be offended by that!", says John. "I worked hard to get you this immense privilege".

I laugh at that. "I'll stay until the end, don't worry".

"We better go, John. Or the gaffer won't be happy", says Rúben, checking his phone.

"Follow me, Christina", says Tom.

"Yeah", I tell him. "Bye guys", I say giving them a little wave.