deep blue eyes // Antoine Griezmann

Chapter 4 - Flying

I run up the steps to my old, brick house, unlock the front door with my key, kick my sneakers off, and run up the stairs to my room. I slam the door shut behind me and flop onto my unmade bed, pulling my cell phone out of my jeans' back pocket. I pull up my call history and dial in Griezmann's phone number with slightly shaky fingers.

After waiting way too long and getting extremely impatient, he finally picks up with a, "Hey, Sage?" The sound of my first name on his tongue is like music to my ears, and it makes my heart beat even faster.

"Yeah, hi. I can talk now," I say.

"What was that all about earlier?" he asks.

"Oh," I chuckle nervously. "Well, I was in the car going home with my friends from the game, and I figured I shouldn't be on the phone, you know? But I'm alone in my room now, so we can talk about the project."

"Oh? Well, first, how did I do?"

"What do you mean?" I can hardly believe I am having a real, civilized conversation with Antoine Griezmann.

"How did I play tonight? You were there, weren't you?"

"Oh, yeah." I accidentally let out an awkward giggle. "You did great!" I say quickly, and a little too loudly. I also think I said that with a little to much emotion. I'll have to be careful now. I can't have him suspecting I like him, because then that will just make things weird.

"Did you see that goal I made in the second half?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, I sure did. It was really impressive, at the angle you shot at and everything." I am fully aware of how much of a dork I sound, and it's painful. I hope he doesn't notice.

"Thanks," I can hear the satisfaction in his voice.

"Anyway," I clear my throat. "What did you learn about the Health project from your football friends?"

"Well, we're supposed to pick a topic on Health, and in two weeks we're going to present it in class. My friend Olivier told me that, and he usually gets that sort of thing right. What did your friends say when you ask?"

"Well, my friend said that we can choose to present it by making a slideshow, poster, video, or giving a speech."

"Oh, well, alright. Sounds good. Do you have any ideas in mind for it?"

"No..." I say quietly, embarrassed. Was I supposed to?

"Alright, well, I just looked up some subjects in Health. Here's a few: Stress management, food and diet, exercise, sleep, and medicine." I can tell when he's reading out loud, because his accented voice goes flat, bored, and blank. Apparently he can't read out loud for the life of him. But I mean, hey, I love learning knew things about my crush, even if it's something like that. "Are there any of those that sound interesting to you?" he asks me.

I feel like he wants me to decide, so I say randomly, "How about exercise?" Hey, that works. He's a footballer, and one of the best on the team, at that. And I like sports all right, too, like volleyball, football, track and field, and basketball.

"Sure, why not? That might be interesting. I mean, as interesting as a project on health can get," he jokes.

And I actually laugh out loud. Well, of course I do. He's my crush. Of course I think he's hilarious. Well, now I know he has a stupid sense of humor, too. I'm learning so much about him. 

"How do you think we should present our project?" he asks, getting serious again.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you should decide this one."

"Are you sure? Because if you want to, you can-"

"No, no. It's fine. You choose."

"Well, alright, then. Honestly, I think we should do a slideshow." 

I smile to myself. "What a coincidence. Just what I was thinking."

"Well, alright, then, that's good. And do you want to know why I chose a slideshow?"

"Why?"

"Because it's the easiest one to do."

I grin to myself again and say into the phone, "You know, that was my reasoning for wanting to do a slideshow, too. I guess we're just both on the same train of thought here." 

I hear him laugh, and that makes my day. The boy I've liked so much for so long just laughed at something I said. This is more than I could ever ask for. "Well," he says. "I guess that's all we probably have to have decided for now, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." I'm still grinning, and I'm sure he can hear it in my voice, but by now I don't care.

Griezmann says, "Well, bye, now. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, you too. Bye." 

My crush just said bye. My crush just said see you later.

"Have a good night." And he hangs up.

My crush just told me to have a good night.

Oh.

My.

God!

Well, my spirits are through the roof right now. Not only today was I paired up to do a project with my crush, but I also got to see him play, and I talked to him on the phone to discuss said project, meaning that now I have my crush's phone number.

God, I'm flying. I'm floating above the stars.

This is amazing.

~Author's Note~

I hope you are enjoying my story so far. I sure am enjoying writing it. If you have any suggestions or if you find a grammar mistake in my writing, just comment it on the chapter, and I will go back and fix it. Actually, as long as it is done respectfully, that sort of thing is really helpful. If you are a writer, too, I am sure you would understand.

Footballer: *on the ground because he got tripped and then pushed on the ground and stumbled forward, flying 10 meters across the grass*

Qatar ref: Not a penalty.

Footballer: *trips on his own feet when there are no players within 10 meters of the ground and falls on the grass, holding his legs and obviously pretending horribly to be extremely injured*

Qatar ref: PENALTY! PENALTY! !!!!!