stuck between two // Pedri and Gavi

13 - Ice Cream Outing

Victoria's Perspective

I'm sitting in the back of a taxi. For my ice cream meet up with Pedri, I've decided to wear a tight black strapless crop top, a black skirt that goes to a little bit above my knees, and my sandals. A nice but casual outfit for the scorching heat. As I'm sitting anxiously in the back of the cab, Pedri finally calls. I pick up right away. "Hey, Ped- uh, Pedro."

"Hey, Victoria. I'm heading over. How are you this morning?"

"Uh, I'm better than I was yesterday. Ever since our talk, I've been better. You're amazing." I honestly can't believe how much just talking with this guy makes me feel so much better. He is a charmer. I just hope he's a safe, good charmer. And not a player who uses you.

"Aw, I'm glad. Glad I could help. That makes me feel really happy. So, I as thinking, too, Victoria, maybe we should find some place to just sit somewhere. Or go for a walk. Because if I stay in one place for too long, people start to notice me, no matter how much of a disguise I have. And it's pretty hot, so I don't want to be too covered up. I know of a nice place we could walk where lots of people aren't around, and it's pretty close to the parlor. How does that sound? If you don't want to do that, too, of course, just say, and we can figure something else out."

"Sure... that will probably be fine. But where are you thinking, just to be sure, before I say yes?" It is always smart to be cautious.

"There is this tiny little park between a tiny little pharmacy and a tiny little clothes shop down a smaller street by the sea. It's a beautiful view. It might be private property, but I've been going there for years, and have never gotten in trouble. It will be fine, anyways. There's no private property sign in sight, so it would be easy to get out of. Does that sound okay for you, or would you rather not?"

I shrug. Breaking little laws like that where you won't get in trouble anyway have never been a problem for me. "Sure, why not? Sounds like a nice little spot."

"Alright, sounds good, then. Alright, I'm here at the parlor."

"I think I'm only like three minutes away. I'll hang up now, I guess, and I'll see you shortly."

"Yeah, see you, Victoria," says the man over the phone. I then hang up, sighing. There is a pain deep within me about the breakup, but I also suddenly feel more free. Free from his phone calls and belittling and constant control. And I feel excited about Pedri, even though it's dangerous, and I shouldn't.

When I arrive at the parlor, Pedri is waiting outside. At first, I almost miss him, but he waves to me. He's wearing a baseball cap, shades, and a face mask. I smile, walking over with a laugh as I say, "That's quite the getup, isn't it?"

"I get very easily burnt and I have a really bad cold," Pedri laughs, explaining to me what the story would be if he weren't literally Pedri Gonzalez.

"Wanna go in and get ice cream, now, then?"

Pedri nods, and we walk in together. My favourite flavour is just the very simple vanilla, so I just get a vanilla cone. Pedri also gets his favourite flavour in a cone, and then, we're heading out together out of the shop.

And as we're walking out, though, it suddenly hits me. The familiarity of it all. That only a few days ago, I was walking side by side, next to Luis, eating... was it ice cream? I don't even remember... After everything that has happened with the pool, meeting Pedri Gonzalez and Pablo Gavi, breaking up with Luis, and then now hanging with Pedri, I can't even remember a detail such as that. My brain has been racing so much in these days, and it is hard to keep up.

I walk with Pedri, letting him lead the way, since he knows where you're going. "I'm excited to see this place," I say. "It seems like a really nice place just to sit and eat ice cream and hang out together, you know?"

"I do know, because it is. I've gone here before a lot with my friends. I've also gone with, like, Gavi, or Balde, or some of my other teammates, too." Just Gavi's name, for some reason, strikes some sort of note in me that sends vibrations of feelings all throughout my body, but I decide to ignore them. Being with Pedri is enough to set strange emotions going off all over. I don't have to make it worse by thinking about Gavi.

Finally, we make it to the spot, and your breath catches in your throat. "Wow, Pedri. This is such a beautiful spot. I love all the wildflowers. Oh, and look! There's a nice little stone bench down by the water!" For some reason, I suddenly feel very excited about this as I run down.

Pedri laughs, and I can hear him following behind me. He calls, jogging slowly, "I knew you'd like it here! I just had a feeling you would!"

I smile, plopping down on the bench. Pedri plops down next to me, smiling as he licks his ice cream. For some reason (and for an annoying reason, at that), when I see him licking his ice cream, I have to look away, feeling a little butterfly go up within me, and all I can think is Wow, that's kind of hot.

Suddenly, though, Gavi pops into my head again, and without thinking, I blurt, "Oh, I think Gavi also gave me his number!"

Pedri looks over right away. He has taken his mask off and put his sunglasses on his pushed up baseball cap. "He did? When?"

"Right before I left from the pool. I told him I'd text him, but so much stuff has been going on lately, I completely forget! Oh my God, I feel so bad... I think I've got the paper in my bag... One second, I'm just gonna text him really quickly, because I'm thinking of it right now. I'd hate to leave him hanging!" I ramble, digging in my bag. I finally find the slip and get to typing the number in my phone.

Pedri just nods, looking away, at the water, and mutters softly, "Right." 

I'm so focused on typing in his number and sending a quick text, I don't even catch the slight bit of sadness and disappointment in his tone.

Word Count : 1100