from: martin <3; M.Ø | short story

four

maria heard a few male voices as they made their way to the box. she had a small idea as to who they might be. martin's teammates. did he invite them because he also felt awkward? that's what she thought.

"i can't wait to meet your girlfriend" she heard one of the voices say.

maria then heard martin shushing the voices immediately. she smiled to herself.

the door was then abruptly opened and in came martin and 3 other people.

"maria, these are my friends, bukayo, erling and aaron. guys this is maria, my..friend?"

"would we be anything other than friends?" maria chuckled.

the silence was loud. bukayo cleared his throat to break it.

"well no, i just- nothing" martin said scratching the back of his head.

"anyways, it's good to meet you maria, martin has been talking about you forever, we were starting to wonder if you really existed." bukayo laughed.

martin shoved him discreetly, as if to say 'shut up'.

"it seems i do exist, don't i. it's so great to meet all of you, well most of you" maria shifted her eyes to erling.

"is it just me or is she giving me a look?" erling said, confused

"i forgot to say, she's not the biggest man city fan" martin smiled.

"bit of an understatement" maria mumbled to herself.

"and who do you support may i ask?" erling says

"liverpool, since birth"

the boys all went silent but they soon broke the silence by agreeing in unison.

"all right makes sense" erling said, sitting down.

"yeah i can't blame you on that one," aaron said laughing.

the group sat and spoke for at least an hour. maria told them about how she and martin met, the rest agreeing that martin's plan was a bit weird.

"but you guys don't get it! i couldn't just come out and tell her. like 'oh hey, you're not texting who you think you are by the way'." martin said, defending himself.

"why pretend to be someone else in the first place man?" bukayo asked.

"i wanted to meet new people, i couldn't just use my actual name"

"fair" erling said.

after hours of talking and laughing bukayo, erling and aaron all made their way home. at this point, it was around 5 pm. maria was asleep on the couch. martin noticed the time and remembered he had planned more. he woke her up and they made their way back to his car.

"we've just got two more destinations. there's this movie playing at the theatre and there's an amusement park near the centre of the city." martin said starting the car. "then i can take you back to your hotel. cool?"

"cool" maria was beginning to fall asleep, still tired.

noticing her falling asleep martin tapped her shoulder with his phone signalling that she should put on some music.

"no sleeping today" martin smiled.

they made their way to the movie theatre and once they got there maria saw which movie was playing.

the sign read, 'Singin' In The Rain — Re-run PLAYING NOW'.

'singin in the rain' was maria's favourite movie. martin knew this too as it had come up in conversation not too long ago.

martin pulled the car into a parking spot and he and maria made their way into the theatre. when they arrived the movie had already started.

"for heaven's sake, what's the big idea? can't a girl get a word in edge-wise?" a high-pitched voice shouted from the theatre room. they had already missed so much.

martin and maria rushed into the screening room. when they sat, maria looked around and noticed the theatre was empty. granted it was an old movie but it was still good.

martin noticed her looking around, "i booked it out. unless you like to hear other people during movies because i can-"

"it's fine" maria smiled. putting her hand over his to calm him down. realizing where her hand was she lifted it. "this is perfectly fine"

"oh, okay" martin's demeanour changed.

the movie finished and at this point, it was around 7 pm but martin's plans were not yet over.

"one last stop" he said, holding maria's hand to guide her to his car. she was starting to fall asleep.

the car ride to the amusement park was silent. maria was fast asleep and martin didn't have the energy to put on music.

when they arrived at the amusement park, martin parked the car, got out and made his way over to maria's seat. he opened her door and tapped her cheek lightly to wake her up.

he then turned and patted his back, signalling for her to climb on.

"pardon?" she asked, half asleep but still in shock.

"just do it," he said, smiling as he looked back at her.

hesitantly, maria climbed onto martin's back. granted what he was doing was sweet, she just didn't know if they were there yet.

with maria on martin's back, the pair made their way through the amusement park.

martin had a specific ride he wanted them to try. just 10 minutes on the ferris wheel had been the last thing on his itinerary. 10 minutes felt long enough to talk with her..and maybe more? but it also wasn't too long to the point that things would begin to get awkward.

"two tickets please" martin said, handing the operator some money.

"you sure you don't want just one" the operator said, making a light joke about maria on martin's back.

"oh yeah." maria dropped from martin's back.

as they sat in the little cabin on the ferris wheel martin cleared his throat.

"maria, i have something to say." he was now looking directly into her eyes whereas she was looking literally anywhere else.

"i've spent the past maybe 20 minutes trying to figure out how to say this to you but.." martin sighed. "for these past few months i've known you you've ironically been my best friend. i've told you so much about myself and i've learnt a great deal about you and i guess i just wanted to know what you feel about me?" martin looked at her longingly.

maria knew she had feelings for martin. although they were miniscule they were still there but she also knew who he was and how many other people out there do and will have feelings for him, better people. she had told herself that if she ever began to feel like this she wouldn't let anything happen. no matter how much it would hurt her..or him.

"well what do you mean how do i feel about you? to be fair, i think you might be my best friend." martin inched a bit closer to maria. "i mean if i ever felt like i needed to talk about something personal like my life or..i guess a more romantic topic, i would come to you." maria said, trying to shut martin down.

"romantic topic relating to..someone else?" martin asked, hoping she would say no.

"well yes, who else would it be about" she smiled, acting clueless fully aware of what martin was doing.

martin then moved back to his original position

"i must admit, it's sweet that you care about me" maria laughed as she rested her head on martin's shoulder, taking him by surprise.

"oh, yeah" martin said as he closed his eyes. "sweet"

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A/N: imma have to get creative now. side note: singin in the rain is saur good