ꜰʟᴏʀᴇꜱ [ꜱᴇʀɢɪᴏ ʀᴀᴍᴏꜱ]

THREE

DISCLAIMER: This is all fiction, and I apologize for any inaccuracies or mistranslations, I do not speak Spanish. Thanks for reading!

2009

Life as a Madridista comes with many eyes on you. The press was eating up the new team like a starving lion in the jungle. Anything the players did would make headlines. You could find something small like Cristiano eating an ice cream cone in the morning newspaper and calling him the greatest ever, to people calling for the demise of the entire establishment based off of an old rivalry. Life with that team has and always will have extreme ups and downs.

This week is their first away game of the season, and it's against RCD Espanyol in Barcelona. With all the pressure from the media circus, they have been practicing more and more. Catalina had begun getting familiar with the team during practices, not feeling as tense or on edge as she once was around 99% percent of the team. That one percent of worry came from the one and only, Sergio Ramos.

Catalina had a few run-ins with the long-haired defender during their recent times at practice, and none of them were pleasant. The most recent event came when they collided while turning in opposite directions at the same corner in the training facility.

"¡Puta madre!" Sergio shouts as he feels a head clash into his hard chest.

A startled Catalina stumbles back and glances up at the blonde, whose face stayed in an unpleased scowl. "I'm so s-"

Sergio cut her off before she could even finish "Stop being sorry and start thinking with your head"

With that, he was strutting away before Catalina had time to respond.

Catalina felt like she was sixteen all over again around Sergio. She assumed with age she became more confident and overall was finally coming out of her shell a bit, but this felt like three steps back. Something about him struck her that she couldn't put her finger on. It was a feeling she couldn't describe, nor did she have any interest in exploring it more.

After all, Catalina was there to do a job she was coming to really love so the one-sided hatred wasn't at the forefront of her mind. At least, not until nighttime when the thoughts would creep back up, along with occasionally seeing his smug smile that he always carried with him in her dreams.

It felt like the job was suiting her, so one-speed bump wouldn't deter Catalina from doing what she needed to. A few of Catalina's shots from the game were put into a couple of sports magazines, her name written in tiny writing at the bottom giving credit. When Catalina had first seen it in stores she squealed and bought a copy along with a frame. Now, on top of her shelf rests a still of Raúl scoring a penalty, the goalkeeper on the ground on the opposite side from the football.

With the game coming up, they were spending a lot more time in the training facility.

"Cat I hope you got a shot of that!" Pepe yelled over to the brunette, nodding over to Casillas who landed awkwardly on his face in an attempt to catch one of Xabi's shots.

Xabi was doubled over in laughter, reaching a hand out to steady himself as the laughs kept flowing. Casillas stood up quickly like nothing had happened but the damage was done. A couple of other teammates were chuckling at the goalkeeper who just shook his head in return.

Click click click

Catalina's lips perked up as she watched the group try to regain their composure once again. More and more, Catalina would hear her name called out during practice as a running joke. If someone made a bad shot or did something slightly embarrassing she could hear from the sidelines "Cat please send that to Sports Illustrated!"