Victoria and Pablo meet by chance when she has to interview him after the Nations League final 2023.
He's immediately infatuated by her, but due to a few years age difference, she only sees him as a younger friend.
Will he make it out of the friendz...
"Have fun in New York... but not too much" Pablo said as he had parked at the Kiss & Fly of Barcelona's airport. "It's going to be a lot of running and a lot of working, I hardly see how I could have too much fun" I chuckled. "By the way, I love souvenirs, just so you know" he said before leaning in for a kiss and saying goodbye. "Score a goal tomorrow for me!" I shouted as I had just gotten out the car.
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📍 Barcelona Airport vicky.hernandez Ready for the most stressful week of the year 🇺🇸🇺🇳✌🏼
irene_grc Slayyyyy queen 👸🏻 pedri There are seriously people travelling in anything else than sweatpants? 😅 Replying to pedri: vicky.hernandez There are seriously people travelling in sweatpants? pablogavi Will miss uuuu 😘😘😘😘 Replying to pablogavi: vicky.hernandez ❤️
We arrived in the Big Apple around lunchtime and drove straight off to the United Nations headquarters to get our press accreditations and then we rushed to the meetings we were covering. We had divided them between us two as many were simultaneous - I was focusing on meetings with Spanish politicians or high-profile individuals, while Pedro was covering the international aspects of the conference. The short breaks in between were used to upload our articles. And just as you thought the meetings were over for the day, the evening activities were starting. After a dinner at the Spanish Consulate, I rushed to a reception held by First Lady Jill Biden. When I returned to my hotel room, I still had to write two articles and by the time I was done it was two in the morning and I was worn out. This was how the next four days would be like. I couldn't wait to fly back home on Friday evening.
On Tuesday morning, Pablo and I facetimed in the morning as it was already lunchtime in Spain and he felt ready and buzzed about tonight's game. He told me the name of an app which sent live football notifications so that I could be informed in case I wouldn't be able to actually watch it. Although I had planned on just keeping a small screen at the bottom edge of my computer open with the game. Hopefully this year's CL adventure wouldn't be a fiasco like last year.
And the boys definitely didn't disappoint. I saw Pedri sitting on the VIP tribune in the build-up and really hoped that he could be back on the pitch soon. Pablo always told me how great of a player he was and I wanted to see him play soon myself. We scored three goals in the first half, Joao Felix, Lewy and Raphinha, although apparently the last one was an own goal - I wasn't able to see that on the minuscule screen I had open on my computer while I was wildly typing my next article about new resolutions for refugees. Pablo was playing the perfect midfielder, recovering balls and passing them in all directions, although I was disappointed to see him get the first yellow card of the evening - he really needed to be more careful, especially in the Champions League where every appearance counted. And then in the second half it happened, a perfectly executed goal by my man himself. I let out a small yelp of excitement and my neighbour, a journalist from France, shot me an annoyed look and I excused myself quickly. Joao Felix scored another goal in the 78th minute and we started off the CL journey with a perfect 5-0 win.
Vicky ❤️ First CL goal! I am so proud of you 🤩❤️
Pablo ⚽️ I am SO happy Were you able to watch a bit?
Vicky ❤️ Yes 😘 French guy next to me was not amused
Pablo ⚽️ I have the BEST cheerleader ❤️❤️❤️❤️
After another reception hosted by UNICEF that evening, where I also met my friend Claire, we went to a hotel bar to catch up and have a drink together. "Soooo, how does one actually land a footballer?" she asked curiously and giggled. "Well, so our first meeting, that was just pure luck or fate, that I was called to step in to present the game on TV. And then it just... happened. He was the first one to ask me out and yeah, I fell for him." I said and took a sip at my drink. "And how is it being with a guy so much younger than you? I just... can't imagine. Us girls usually go for the older ones!" she said. "I don't know, honestly, when I'm with him I don't really notice the difference. He travels a lot, sees lots of places and people and we live quite similar lives actually. He goes to training all day and I go to work and we meet in the evenings or on the weekends." I said and shrugged. "And how's the sex? He looks really fit in pictures" Claire giggled and I joined in. "It's really good. He's obviously young and eager to try new things, but we're currently in that stage of finding out what the other particularly likes and... yeah, both just learning" I said and smiled, blushing a bit.
On Wednesday I had a one-hour lunch break and I decided to go buy Pablo's souvenir that he asked me. After having binged the Barca docuseries on Prime, I knew exactly what to get him. I took on the 15-minute walk to 5th Ave and went to the NBA store to buy him a New York Knicks basketball jersey shirt. I asked the saleswoman for one with a number 6 on the back, but without the name of the player who was actually wearing it. She printed me just the 6 on the back, and I left happily, hoping that Pablo would like it.
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📍 New York City vicky.hernandez UNGA 🇺🇳💻
pablogavi So beautiful ❤️ irene_grc Secretly only playing Angry Birds on the phone chiara2203 Blair Waldorf 👸🏻
After five extremely stressful days, Pedro and I boarded the last plane from JFK that would arrive the next day around lunchtime in Barcelona. It was match day and Pablo had offered me to pick me up and drive me home as he would have to arrive at the stadium sometime in the afternoon anyways, and I happily took his offer, eager to see him again and give him his little present from the Big Apple.
