I Told The Stars About You

3. Photos

I was sat on the sofa, literally staring at the floor. My legs bouncing repeatedly, as my thoughts ran through my mind at 1000 miles per hour. I kept my head down, 'what's the worst it could happen?'.
Somehow I tried to be optimistic, 'maybe, this is a joke.' But it was not.
I could recognise my dad's handwriting, but this was different. It wasn't my dad's handwriting, the note was written with a fountain pen, and the person that wrote it, could be left handed as the ink was slightly spreaded. Well, that's what I thought, it was logical.
'Should I call Lucy, Keira or Georgia?' I thought, but I didn't want to worry them.
"Fuck." I said to myself, combing my fingers through my dark brown hair.
I thought the best thing I could do was ignore it, and focus on football, because I was going to start my journey on Arsenal the next day.

I grabbed my keys and walked to my car. I was about to sit in my seat, but for some reason I had the urge to look under my car, as if there was a bomb under it, or something similar. I looked under my car chassis and searched for something, but I couldn't spot anything. I looked around as I stood up again, a lady was looking at me while she opened the door of what I supposed that was her house. She was looking at me confused, and suddenly my cheeks turned red, clearly embarrassed.
It was stupid... 'A bomb? In my car?' I thought as I opened the car door.
I huffed, while putting my seatbelt on. I started driving to the supermarket to buy some food as my fridge was almost empty.

I was driving home whit my groceries already done. I saw that Emilio's café was empty, so I parked my car and walked to the café.
"Alex! You're back!" Emilio cheered as he started preparing a coffee. "Hey, how are you?" I took a seat near the bar.
"I'm good, yes. Oh by the way, do you like my new suit?" He was wearing a dark blue suit.
"I absolutely love it, you looking stunning, Emilio!" I laughed, though I really liked his suit.
"Oh, do I?" He asked as he jokingly twirled, and we both laughed.
"Here you have." He gave me a croissant and a coffee.
"Thank you, Emilio." I smiled. He nodded smiling, as he started to prepare a coffee for him.
"Guess what?" He said as he walked to a small room behind the bar.
"Tell me." I said taking a bite of my croissant.
"Look what I got today." He said showing me an arsenal shirt.
"Do you like it?" He said.
"Of course!"
"I had to buy one, you know... My best client is about to become an Arsenal player, what can I say!" He laughed.
"Wait, how do you know?" I was so confused.
"We'll, it's all over the women's football news as a rumor, you played for Manchester City, right?"
"Yeah, I did." I replied remembering all the good memories I had in Manchester.
The movie nights with Georgia Lucy and Keira, pranking all our teammates with Hempo, and messing around with Leila, or how I used to call her "españolita".
Emilio looked at me concerned, trying to decipher my face, and what I was thinking.
"You okay? You seem... Upset?"
"Yeah I'm okay I was just thinking." I shook my head.

As I drove back home, I thought about talking to Georgia and the girls. 'Should I tell them?'
Finally, I decided to call them. As I was unbuckling my seatbelt, I searched for my phone in my pocket and called Georgia.
"Hey, what's up! Is everything alright?" Georgia said as I opened my house's door.
"Yeah I'm alright, it's just I miss you."
"IS THAT ALEX?" I heard Lucy screaming from the distance.
"No screaming, Lucy!" Keira spit out. I laughed as I walked to the sofa.
"Yeah that's Alex. She just called." Georgia told Lucy.
"Oh, let me talk to her then. Wait no. Let's face time."
"Okay that sounds like a plan!" I said, and soon I could see my best friends in my phone's screen.
"Do you miss us, already?" Lucy mocked.
"Yeah, I do." I said honestly, a little bit upset.
Georgia gave Lucy a look, same as Keira.
"Sorry, sorry."
"Well, eh guys..." I played with my hands nervously.
"Something happened today." Suddenly I found my hands pretty interesting so I was staring at them while talking.
"Is it good or bad news?" Keira asked slightly confused. I just stayed in silence, I really didn't know what was happening, or if it was some kind of joke.
"Al?" Keira repeated, while Lucy and Georgia looked at her worried.
"Alex." Georgia said then, sounding preoccupied.
"Alex are you in danger?" Lucy asked as she spoke softly, trying to cool down the tense up ambient.
"Alex." Lucy said then, sternly.
"I said if you are in danger." She said coldly.
"I... I don't, I don't know...?" I said still looking at my hands that then started shaking as my leg bounced anxiously.
"What happened? Do you want us to go back again? I'll ask for a few days off if you want to." Georgia started speaking really fast and anxiously.
"No, no, no, no!" I looked to my phone's screen.
"It's okay, I'm sure it's some kind of joke or something." I said quietly, but they did hear me.
"Alex, what happened." Georgia said sternly.
"Well, eh... Someone left an envelope in my door." I started.
"An envelope? What was inside it?" Keira asked.
"Eh, well, I mean... This looks like a joke so don't worry about it..." I said trying to avoid the question.
"Alex, spit it out." Lucy said.
"There were photos of me." I said very fast and closing my eyes, not wanting to see my friend's reactions.
"What? Photos? Of you?" Georgia asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, some of them with you, or myself walking down my street, in the cafeteria near my house..." I looked at my hands again as I played with the ring I had in my finger.
"Oh god..." Keira said quietly, like if she just let out her thought.
"Is there anything more?" Georgia asked while she combed her fingers through her blonde hair.
"Yeah. There is a note behind one of the photos." I showed them the note behind the photo.
"We can't read it Al, our service at Lucy's is shit." Keira mocked.
"Well, basically, the note says that they are watching me." I said scratching my neck, something that I do when I get nervous.

"You sure you will be okay? Call me everyday please, I need to know you are safe."
"Fine, I will, no worries."
"Okay good! Al, I have to do a few calls, can we talk tomorrow?" She asked with a smile printed on her face.
"Yeah of course , see you." I hung up.
I looked through the window, it was getting dark.
I walked to my kitchen to make some pasta for dinner. I realised that I still had a few boxes to unpack, so while the pasta boiled I started to unpack the boxes I had left.
As I opened them, I saw some stuff that I had in Manchester. Such as pictures, paintings that Lucy and I had made together... It was a box full of memories of Manchester. I loved it and hated it at the same time, it hurt having them, but I would probably fall into pieces if I lost any of this items.
I watched the painting, it was a portrait of Lucy and I. We had put a lot of effort when we painted it, but the result was not what we expected... Lucy painted me with a huge head, while my body was ridiculously small, and I drew Lucy with some horrible glasses, it really was a masterpiece.
I continued unpacking the box as I sat on the floor, near the sofa and the TV. I grabbed a pile of photos, the first one was of Georgia grinning to the camera, she was on the sofa while I slept snuzzled in her chest.
I smiled while looking at the photo, remembering all the good times I had with my best friend.
I saw another picture of Lucy and me, we were hiking together. We both had matching caps, and I had mine backwards. Lucy had a funny expression, while I laughed looking at her.
The next one hurt. Keira was piggybacking me, after I played my debut for Manchester city at 16 years old. She was looking up at me, a proud smile on her face, while I had my arms around her neck.
I smiled as I saw another picture of Leila laughing at me when I got my first ice bath, I didn't really like it.
My eyes were tearing slowly, as I felt empty. Because yes, I felt empty, completely empty. I felt like if I was waiting for someone to fill the emptiness inside me, but that someone, never appeared.

Author's note:

Sorry! I know it's a short chapter, but I'll try to release more of them often. Hope you enjoy it ;)
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