Dare me - PABLO GAVI

Chapter 14

Dear reader, here I am, after a month, I am back. You probably forgot what the story is about, so let's do a little recap of what happened so far. Our fantastic protagonist Emma Slüss, her niece and Clea had moved to Spain for a job at FC Barcelona. They were welcomed with open arms by all football players. Soon she became friends with Marcos Alonso and Gavi. Everything seemed to be going well until it turned out that there was only one room available for the trio.

Gavi, who likes to flirt with ladies by nature, also did this with our dear Emma, ​​and offered his room as a possible place to sleep. However, Alonso did not pull this 'bond of friendship' with Gavi and after an argument Emma stormed out of a Thai restaurant.

When she thought Gavi wanted to be more than friends, she admitted to herself that she might had feelings for the young footballer after all. But when Gavi asked for a girl's number, she was quite disappointed, later in the evening they got into an argument. It wasn't hatred towards each other, it was just the huge amount of emotions that came with it. Later these emotions were expressed in a good way, they kissed (yeah).

You would say that this is the start of a super romantic story, where they will marry each other in a few chapters (while they have only known each other for 4 months ;0) but no, nothing is what it seems, the day after the kiss Gavi did not speak to her, not a word, nothing. Alonso saw his chance and wanted to make up for their friendship.

Alonso and Gavi met in the hall, as they both want to talk to Emma anyway. However, the question now is who can talk to her first?

"Emma, ​​choose who you want to talk to."

I hated the fact that Gavi wanted ME to make the choice. This was their fight, not mine. I felt the tension rising in the hall, I felt the burning stares of the football players, both convinced that I would choose them. My palms started to feel sticky as my feet sank further and further into the carpet, I couldn't move. The nerves had seeped into my body and I started to pick the dirt from under my fingernails. Luckily God saw that I was super uncomfortable and sent a notification to my phone. My Iphone 8 started to vibrate softly in my pocket.

Thank God, my phone. Okay dear reader just a moment for the two of us, I have an important question. iPhone or Samsung?

My screen lights up and I see a new notification appear in my message center. It was my agenda that indicated that I had to be at a doctors appointment in 30 minutes. Oh yes that was true, I had called the doctor because I had found a strange bump underneath my breast, always handy to have it checked, and in this case it was a good excuse to get out of this.

"Actually, I can't talk to either of you right now, I have to go to the doctor, tell Xavi that I'm going to be gone for a while, I'm guessing I'll be back in two hours." Without looking at either of them I walk to the stairwell. "Thank you, God"

It was not busy on the road, only about 10 cars. I didn't drive myself, in the stairwell I had called Clea who had come down quickly with Nora.

This quick trip to the GPs wasn't special to me though. I have always had Atopic Eczema since birth, meaning the bumps and redness can flare up at any time of the day and is not linked to any specific allergy. It sucks, no it SUCKS. My skin feels like its on fire, and in those moments I would love to dig my fingernails into my skin, so deep that I can't feel anything, so there's no more metal fight against the burning sensation, no more nothing.

I used to really suffer from this, we often bought sudocrem in Germany, mom thought it was cheap and Sophie used it against the pimples, so ideal, this creme eased my pain and ensured that I could sleep at nights.

When we went to France during the holidays in 2006 there was a moment when the bumps didn't go away, my mom who was super worried drove us to the nearest French hospital. 15 minutes later we were in the car with a 100 euro cream that didn't do a turd, but at least mom was calm. That was my first interaction with bumps that didn't want to leave.

If the bumps didn't go away for a while my mother would panic, we drove 100 km/ h to a hospital for help. Now that I live here in Spain with Clea, we drive neatly 25 km / h through the narrow streets of Barcelona for a GP.

"médico de cabecera" hung on the sign attached to the building. According to my google translate this would be the GP. "Should I come in, Ems?" Clea leaned against the loaner car with Nora. "Nah, I'll be right back."

And I was indeed back in no time, the doctor couldn't do much for me, he told me how this often happened in combination with the sun, but that he would still make a scan and send it to the hospital just to be sure. At least that's what I understood, he had a heavy Spanish accent which made his English largely unintelligible.

"When will the results of the scan come in?"

We'd stopped at the McDonalds for a milkshake because Nora just happened to be hungry, so it took me a while before anwsering because I had to get the soggy paper straw out of my soggy mouth first, threads of saliva formed as soon as it left my mouth. Bah, nasty shit, I really hate those paper straws, the first sip is good, the tenth is already more difficult, but at the 25th you have to suck so hard because the entire straw is taped shut, it becomes a sport at that point to get some more of your drink.

"I have no idea, I really didn't understand much, he already spoke such bad English and he also had a large black beard hanging over his mouth that muffled the sound, I understood like 25 to 10 procent of the whole conversation" I spoke very sarcastically and a little satirically, but I knew Nora really liked that. And as I expected, I did indeed hear a burst of laughter on the back of the loaner car.

According to the navigation it was another 10 minutes drive, another 10 minutes until I would again be confronted with jealousy, love, betrayal, quarrel, sweat socks, soccer, romance, sadness, joy, horror, fear and anger. My head hurts. I feel so much love for this job, but I had really underestimated what it would be like to live in a foreign country, with new people, new habits, new unspoken rules and a new language. It's overwhelming, it's a bomb of feelings and it's exhausting me more and more. The hallway that I have to walk to my bedroom is getting longer by the day and the football fields are getting bigger every hour. I have so many beautiful people around me, but I feel so alone.

"I love you, thank you for being here with me." I turned my head so I could look at my best friend, I meant the words, without her I would have been run over by a car the first day in Barcelona, ​​without her I wouldn't even have reached anything in live. "Oh girl, I love you too, you know that, and no problem I will drive you everywhere, that's why I'm your best friend."

"And I also love you very much dear Nora, thank you for taking this giant step with me and wanting to move to Spain." I had turned myself in the most unfortunate position so that I looked her in the eyes, she touched my cheeks and I kissed her little hand.

Once I was back to my normal position I opened my phone. I knew what I was going to do, I opened Whatsapp.

"Can we talk in an hour?" I pressed the green circle and the message was sent.

Author message: As you may know I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer. For some this is easy. They say, "Oh, it's just your grandmother, go on with your life." My grandmother was my best friend, I cried with her, baked cookies, went on a scavenger hunts in the attic, bought crazy cheese at the local market, cut the plants in the garden, gossiped with her, I loved her. This chapter is for her. Grandma always wanted you to appreciate what you had, even though you were struggling. I refer to her character several times in this chapter, such as Emma Slüss telling her best friend and niece in the car that she secretly appreciates them very much.

I would advise all of you to enjoy the ones you love while they are still here.

Thanks to all of you who are still reading this chapter, even though I haven't published anything for a month.

Rest in peace grandma, finally rest, finally no more fighting against Alzeimher. I love you.