There were two security guards outside the room where the event was happening.
Me and Luca took a deep breath and looked at eachother before stepping in. The banquet hall was crowded with people, some that I could recognise and some that I couldn't. There were round tables everywhere, a little performing stage and the lights were slightly dim, giving the air a seductive air.
There were photographers walking around and snapping pictures but not the annoying-invasive-persistent paparazzi kind, but more like the publicity kind.
'Your names, please?' a woman approached us, a smile on her face.
'Davies and Demie.' Luca said.
'Thank you.' she said scanning the paper in front of her. 'Table 7.' she moved to the side and extended her arm towards the table.
I lightly chuckled, Luca's head turning towards me. 'The irony, huh?' he smiled.
'He's probably the one that assigned this table to us.' I shook my head with a smile.
Before getting to our table we decided to greet a few people. All of a sudden someone tapped me on my shoulder.
'Jude Bellingham.' I turned around, a smile forming on my face. 'Are you going to speak to me this time?' I chuckled softly.
'I don't think I'll get a 3rd chance to redeem myself.' he chuckled.
Luca also turned around as soon as he was done with his conversation. Both boys extended their hands towards eachother.
'Luca Demie.'
'Jude Bellingham.' he nodded his head. 'So I see you two are back in business.'
'Yeah...' I smiled.
'A big fan?' Luca asked laughing.
'You have no idea.' Jude's eyes fell on me.
After talking a bit more, and Jude and Luca talking about who they're most excited to be seeing here, we started walking towards our table.
'How the hell did you manage to already pull him?' Luca chuckled.
'I didn't.' I rolled my eyes. 'I was checking in and he was behind me with Saka and Mount staring at me.' I shrugged my shoulders.
'You are a football player magnet.' Luca said chuckling.
'Irina, excuse me, do you mind taking a picture with us?' someone said mockingly.
I turned around, recognising that voice out of a million. My good friend Gavi was walking towards us, accompanied by my lovely boyfriend.
'You guys are here!' I said excitedly kissing Gavi's cheeks and moving on planting a kiss on Pedri's lips.
Gavi then moved on greeting Luca, followed by Pedri.
'Really good seeing you.' Pedri smiled at Luca.
'Same here.' Luca responded.
'You look...' Pedri scanned me, his eyes then falling on mine. 'Incredible.'
I felt my cheeks heat up. 'Thank you.'
After catching up a little bit with them aswell, and reassuring eachother that we'll meet after the event we started walking towards our table once again.
'He looked good, didn't he?' I smiled, still thinking about Pedri in a suit.
'Are you having fantasies now?' Luca laughed, making me turn my head towards him.
'In fact...' my smile grew even bigger. 'I would love to sneak off with him right now.'
'Ew. Gross.' Luca rolled his eyes.
Finally reaching Table 7, my eyes grew wide in excitement. Antonela and Messi, Hakimi and Hiba and Neymar were all sitting at the table. As soon as they saw us, they all got up to greet us.
'Oh my God.' I said excitedly, exchanging cheek kisses with Antonela.
I met Antonela back when I was working for Paris Saint German. She's always been so sweet and warm to me, having coffee when we were free or her inviting us over for a bbq.
'You look amazing.' she said, a big smile on her face.
'Please, so do you.' I gestured towards her.
'Hola niña, es bueno verte.' (Hey kid, it's good seeing you.) Messi said as soon as I moved on to him.
'Ay, cuánto te extrañé.' (Oh, how I missed you.) I said with a soft smile. 'You look so good.' I said as soon as I reached Hiba.
'I was actually wondering if you were going to show up or not.' she said smiling.
Hakimi looked just as happy to see me, dragging me towards him and giving me a cheek kiss. 'It feels like I haven't seen you in ages.' he chuckled.
'Tell me about it!'
Next one was Neymar, who instantly wrapped his arms around me.
'I didn't know you missed me this much.' I chuckled.
'Oh, no, it was only for the cameras.' he winked, a chuckle escaping his lips. 'You look great.'
'So do you.' I nodded my head. 'Where's Bruna?' I asked softly.
'She couldn't make it.' he shrugged his shoulders. 'She has a few things to take care of.'
To being grown ups.
I nodded my head in understatement, all of us taking our seats at the table.
'Where's the Princess?' I asked, looking at Hakimi.
'I don't know.' he shrugged his shoulders. 'He said he was on his way.'
'Probably trying to find a girl to show up with.' Luca laughed, making all of us chuckle.
'Entonces, cómo te trata el Barcelona?' (So, how is Barcelona treating you?) Messi spoke up, a smile on his face.
'Realmente me gusta allí.' (I really like it there.) I nodded my head smiling. 'El clima, la gente, la cultura, la comida...' (The weather, the people, the culture, the food...)
'Pedri...' he smiled sincerely.
'Pedri.' I said with a big smile. 'Todo va muy bien.' (Everything is going really well.)
'No puedo creer que te perdimos en Barcelona.' (I can't believe we lost you to Barcelona.) Hiba chuckled.
'Es raro no tenerte cerca.' (It's odd not having you around.) Antonela joined in.
'Tal vez todos podamos mudarnos a Barcelona.' (Maybe we can all just move to Barcelona.) Hakimi chuckled.
'Y fundar nuestro propio club de fútbol.' (And start our own football club.) Neymar added with a smile.
'No suena como una mala idea.' (It doesn't sound like a bad idea.) Luca said shrugging his shoulders.
We all chuckled, continuing to catch up in Spanish, as we didn't want Messi to feel left out.
