Sure Thing • Gavi

Chapter 17: Family Time

🎶 Cool for the Summer — Demi Lovato 🎶

On Monday morning, I took the first train to Malaga and arrived in the city after six hours. Even though I was on holiday, I had checked into my work e-mail and answered some of the urgent ones. My Dad was already waiting for me at the train station and I hugged him tightly when I had reached him.
"My girl, you look great, hop in, lunch should be ready when we arrive" Dad said and opened the passenger door for me.
"How are you?" he asked me while we were driving.
"Good, really. I love living in Barcelona again and the job is going really well, I hope to be promoted in the next year. I do have my regular topics to report on, but I want to step up. Our correspondent in Syria might return in a few months and maybe the position will open up" I said.
"You really want to do war correspondence?" Dad asked me.
"Maybe, I'd like to try anyways. But please don't tell Mum, I'll tell her if the time comes, she'd never let me return to my job if I told her now" I chuckled.
"Don't worry. It's dangerous and I'd be worried sick, but if it's what you want to do I'll definitely support you... and facetime you every evening." he said.
I hadn't told Gavi this yet, it had just been a distant idea until I had read about our correspondent returning while reading my e-mails today. I was going to do the same with him like with my Mum, if there was a real chance of me going, I'd tell him.

We arrived at the house and I got inside.
"Vicky!" my brother Enrique shouted.
"Kike!" I shouted and ran into his arms. He picked me up and swirled me around a few times. We had always been close but unfortunately we hadn't seen much of each other the past few years as we had studied in different places. I had moved to Madrid for my bachelor's and he had moved to Barcelona two years later for his. Then I had moved to London and he had gone to Harvard for his master's, so I took over his apartment in Barcelona when I returned to the city. We tried to visit each other often, but I was happy that he was starting in September to also work in Barcelona. He had landed a job as a Junior Associate at McKinsey and I was very proud of him.

My Mum was in the kitchen, finishing cooking our lunch and I quickly greeted her with a kiss on her cheek. She had cooked a Paella and it was delicious as always. Kike and I decided to drive down to the beach in the afternoon and I knew why he wanted to spend some alone time with me.

"Ok sis, spit it out. I haven't told Mum or Dad anything about your football adventures, but you can't escape me" he said as we had laid down on our sunbeds.
"Ok so I... jumped in for Vallés at the Nations League final, I told you that. And... I somehow ended up dating Gavi now" I admitted.
"You are dating WHO?!" my brother exclaimed.
"Shhhh!!!" I silenced him, not wanting anyone to eavesdrop on us.
"Ok, I need more details. Vicky, he's a baby!" my brother said agitatedly.
"Well, he was just very friendly in the beginning. We talked a bit at the Spain after party after the final. Then he followed me on Instagram and he was in Ibiza by chance with his friends at the same time I was there with the girls. We all met up together and... yeah. We... then met by chance at a supermarket, and then also when we were staying at the same hotel during Barca's USA tour while I was at that conference in LA and we spent an evening watching a movie together. Fun fact, I was the one whom the squad got that virus from. Anyways, he then texted me something like 'We should stay away from each other, I have to concentrate'. Then I drunk called him on a night out with the girls, he was furious, picked me up and brought me to his place. And the evening after that we had kind of our first date. He took me out on his boat and... we kissed for the first time. We've been seeing each other since then" I tried to sum everything up.
"Oh my God. This sounds so weird but so romantic at the same time. How is it? Are you happy?" he asked.
"I'm happy. It's actually quite normal, I expected it to be weirder because of the age gap, but in the end our lives are quite similar. We are at our jobs the whole day and travel due to them sometimes and then we spend our free time with friends and family." I said and shrugged.
"Yeah but... in five years you'll be going on thirty and he will be... at his prime. It's just, if you're both serious about it - what's the timeline?" Kike asked the question that I had been asking myself since that evening on the boat.
"Yeah... We'll definitely have to talk about that. We're not even boyfriend and girlfriend yet. We're just enjoying that stage of getting to know each other better without the pressure of any label" I replied.
"Are you telling Mum and Dad this week?" he asked.
"I have to. I don't want the to find out via a tabloid if we get pictured one day, even though I really hope that's not the case" I sighed.

And indeed I did. When we were out at dinner by the sea on Thursday evening, I broke the news.
"Ok, Mum, Dad, I have to tell you something. I'm... kind of seeing someone" I blurted out.
"Oh, honey, that's great! Who is he?" Mum asked excitedly.
"Um... Gavi" I said.
"Please tell me that's just the nickname of a random guy and not the 19-year-old footballer" my Dad said.
I sent him a weak smile and he put his head in his hands. "Ok, you're old enough to do what you're doing, but I don't think this will work out. Footballers are never serious when it comes to women."
"Well, I think he's great, I've seen some TikToks of him and he looks really nice... and hot" Mum said.
"You are on TikTok?!" Kike and I exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah, you're not?" she asked surprisedly and we wildly shook our heads.
"I just wanted to tell you guys in case... any pictures leaked at some point. It's all very fresh and we're not in a relationship yet, but I just wanted to give you a head's up. I'm very happy, he's very nice and yeah... When there will be more to tell, I'll definitely tell you guys" I said calmly.
"Yeah. You'd better not rush into this. Even better, don't get involved with him any more, you'll just get your heart broken. Football is always the priority, and everything that comes with it: fame, money, cars, women. Girlfriends or, let alone, wives are definitely at the bottom of their list" Dad said sternly.
I wanted to argue with him and tell him that there were lots of examples of happily married and scandal-free football players, but he already head a picture in his head that he wouldn't change so easily. And to be honest, he was right about most of the cases, but I really hoped to be right that Pablo wasn't one of those. And to be honest, I had expected way worse reactions from my parents, if we were to become serious, I was sure Dad would come around eventually, he loved me way too much for that to come between us.