𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎... // 𝙵𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚗 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚜

12

~ Author's Note ~

Guys sometimes I look at Ferran and all the sudden I'm cold and sweaty at the same time and I can't breath i-

am insane.

LOOK AT HIM THO.

Just stop listening to me I'm off the walls

SMILES

Jadrien's Perspective

The autumn of 2021 was a very busy season for me. The going to Manchester was just the beginning of it. After that, it was everywhere. Munich, Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Toledo, Leon, Perpignan, Carcassonne, Toulouse, Monaco, Lausanne, Florence, Luxembourg, Frankfurt... I went all over Europe. Mostly south-east Europe, and mostly Spain and Portugal, so maybe not all over Europe, but still. It was amazing. And awfully tiring. Very awful. Putting on different showy dresses in each city for people to take pictures of me, or to walk down red carpets to have men who wore glittery tuxes look at me, rating me as if I'm a product and not a human.

But it was fun. I saw some amazing things. I saw Marienplatz, Clerigos Church and Tower, Portugal dos Pequenitos, Hotel Pams, Chateau Comtal, Basilique Saint-Sernin de Toulouse, and more. It was a crazy few months.

And then I said, 'Okay, I'm done. It's almost Christmas, I haven't been in Barcelona for way too long, and I miss Eric and the boys so much.' And so that kind of annoyed my agent, Kate, but she always is annoyed at me. What can she expect, though? I want to be home for Christmas!

I arrived back in Barcelona on December 2, and I was excited to surprise the boys. I hadn't told them I was coming home, so I was gonna surprise Eric first (of course), and then the boys at the next training.

I opened the door to our house. It was silent, and I called, "Hello? Eric? I'm home!"

There were about five heartbeats, and I was about to call again, but then suddenly Eric peeped his head in from the other room and grinned, wrapping his arms around me, saying, "Jade!"

I grin at my silly brother, saying, "Surely you didn't expect I would not be home for Christmas?"

He shrugs, squeezing me tighter, "So, did you find a German boyfriend to fall in love with? I saw your Munich pictures."

"Munich was so much fun! Freezing cold, but super fun!"

"Yeah, in all the pictures you were huddled up in a scarf and your jacket and hat. Meanwhile we were enjoying the nice warm weather here. It was around sixteen or seventeen degrees all last week." He pulled away from me.

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure it was. You didn't get to see Munich, though."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he rolled his eyes with a grin. "Jeez, Jade, you should've warned me that you're coming. I would have made sure dinner was ready, and picked you up from the airport. I'll start dinner right now."

"Oh Eric," I grinned, towing my suitcase to my room. "You don't have to."

"Yes I do!" he called back, and I rolled my eyes again, loving my brother so much in that moment.

I changed into an old Barca t-shirt and a pair of loose shorts, wanting to be comfy, after going around wearing pink tight dresses and green backless ones for the last months. I tied my hair up in a messy ponytail, before going in to sit down for dinner with Eric. It was a very humble evening, with fried chicken and chips. Eric was also wearing home clothes- he had his glasses on, a loose white tank top, and loose navy blue Puma shorts. His hair was a little messy, his eyes looked a little tired, and his eyebrows were furrowed as he ate.

"What's wrong, Erico?"

"Huh?" he asked, looking up from his food. "Nothing's wrong, why?"

I smiled. "You seem tired."

He nodded with a shrug. "Xavi has training really early, and then in the evenings either Pedri wants to go out or Gavi wants to vent to me over the phone." We both chuckle at the Gavi part, and I roll my eyes about the teenager.

I gave him a hit on the shoulder, "Sometimes it's good to have a day where you relax. I take it that's your day today?" I left my hand on his shoulder.

"Yep," he nodded.

"Hm... Well, alright, Eric. Do me a favor, though, okay?"

"Sure...? What do you want?"

I grinned at him. "Look alive. You look great with a smile. You look great when you go out to training with a smile and your hair slicked. You look great. I like you happy. I like the way you're always in a good mood. Keeps me going. Don't stop being Eric, okay?"

He grinned back, and all the sudden, the color came back to a black and white version of my brother. Suddenly, his face looked more tan again. He looked good with his glasses on all the sudden, and that made me happy. "Well, Jade, it's a little hard for me to stop being Eric, considering I'm Eric."

I rolled my eyes, saying, "There you are."

And throughout the next year, and what is coming ahead of me, Eric has always been the one guy I can go back to for advice. Or just to hear a joke and see and smile. Just someone to hug, who will say, 'Hey, get off of me!' but not mind. He'll always be someone who will comfort me when needed and tell me to get over it when it's time.

He'll always be my brother.

And it's like that evening when I told him to look alive, he took that and let it go a long, long way, into the years to come.

Sometimes all I needed to do was go home and see his smile.

So he said to me with a smile in that moment, "Ohhhhh, Jadrien, I've got news for you. In fact, I just received it yesterday. Surely you haven't heard it...?"

"No...? I don't think so. I haven't gotten any ground-breaking news lately."

Now the color was fully back to him, and, in fact, he looked excited, which me feel excited.

And then he said the words, just so blunt, no more warning, "Ferran Torres is coming to Barcelona."