𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎... // 𝙵𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚗 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚜

23

EAVESDROPPING

Jadrien's Perspective

Eric was on a video call, and I really should not have been eavesdropping, but I started when I heard my name. His bedroom door was closed, but I pressed my ear against the door to listen to what the people he was calling were saying.

It is not every day you hear your brother and his friends talking about you.

Well, this day, I did. It did not take long for me to piece together that he was on a call with his Barcelona friends, or at least some of them.

"Wait, Eric, she is still into him, right?"

"Yeah... But guys, we really shouldn't be-"

"I think if Ferran would give her a chance, they might actually be a nice couple," Ansu put in, completely interrupting my brother.

My breath caught in my throat. They were literally gossiping about me and my feelings for Ferran, like a bunch of middle school girls! How obnoxious! A bubble of emotion rose up within me, but I held it down, listening further to the conversation being held.

"Dude, you know it'd never work out, though. Ferran isn't into the idea."

"How do you know? Did you talk to him?"

"You don't have to talk to him to realise he doesn't want a girlfriend right now," Gavi pointed out. I recognized his voice.

"True, but I actually have talked to Ferran about it."

"Eugh, that must've been awkward," Gavi said, sounding interested, regardless.

"Yeah, not really. I just was like, you know, 'Yeah man you know that girl, Eric's sister?' And he was like 'Yeah what about her?' I asked like doesn't she like you? And he was like 'I think so.' I asked him if he'd ever be interested in her and he said, 'After something that happened with her I decided I better just stay away from her. She seems nice enough, but either way, I'm not in the place to be dating right now. I have other things to worry about.' I tried to ask her what that 'something' that happened was, but he said it wasn't really my business and that out of respect for Jadrien he wasn't going to say."

The kiss. I knew Ferran was talking about when I kissed him. It felt like someone had just grabbed my heart and gave it a rough squeeze.

"Aw man, I'd like to know... Eric, would you know?"

"None of your business, man. None of this is. You guys shouldn't be going on 'bout it," Eric comments.

"So you know what Ferran was talking about?! Wait, did they have some affair?"

"Not really. And I am just assuming what Ferran was referring to."

The boys kept bugging Eric for answers, but Eric was clear that it really wasn't their business, and he wouldn't tell.

I love Eric.

But I also hated him in that moment for not just shutting them up and closing his computer. Hanging up on them.

After listening more in on their conversation, I picked up that it was Gavi, Pedri, and Ansu who were on the phone talking with Eric. And it was Pedri who had spoken with Ferran about me. Before Eric finally did hang up, it became clear to me their opinions on the situation- Gavi was confident that I should give up on it and that we would be horrible together. So kind of Eric's opinion, but said in a less cushioned way. Pedri thought that I would be good for Ferran, and Ferran should get the guts to at least talk to me and be kinder to me. Pedri thought Ferran would benefit from dating me, because I'm 'such a nice, sweet kind of girl, but also she's pretty tough, too'. Ansu just said he thought we would look good together. A good couple.

I knew that Gavi and Eric were the more correct ones, but I liked the opinions of Ansu and Pedri much better. Ansu had the most appealing things to say.

Still, I felt angry at all of them. This wasn't their business. It wasn't their job to get into other people's business and play matchmaker! They are freaking grown men! It was immature, and it made me so mad.

But then I realised I should be mad at myself. Why were they talking about thinking about the whole thing? Likely because I had poured my heart out to them the other night. It was my fault for opening the door up for them and inviting them to come in and start caring. I knew they cared about me, because I was Eric's sister. Some of them even saw me as a sister, too, I think, even though I wasn't particularly close with many of them. But they liked me. Cared about me. They wanted to see me happy. They wanted to see it turn out, and they knew now how much it was weighing on me. They cared about their teammate, Ferran, too. A few times they mentioned how Ferran doesn't always 'seem real', whatever that means. But they voiced concern for him, too. They care about both of us, and they were just discussing that they think this could (or couldn't, in Gavi's case) help us. Sure, it was gossipy and stupid of them, but I know, despite the action being wrong, the motive behind it came out of concern and care.

I know I get mad, but those really are good guys.

That was one of the last days of the 2021-22 La Liga season that this conversation took place, and before I knew it, I was launched into the horrors of summertime. Warm weather, boys looking my way, jobs all over, constant flashing cameras and plane flights, and hardly any free time to do anything I want.

That is what summer is to me, and it is what it was, and it is what it always be. I mean, unless I get old and ugly and quit being a model, but hopefully that won't happen anytime soon.

I hate and love my job.

Just this summer was awful, because of the emotional pain I was going through with Ferran and everything.