timeless | mason mount

vi

MARCH 10, 2024 
AUTHOR POV. 

"I'll have an espresso martini please." Charlotte said to the bartender, sitting down at the barstool. 

"Will that be it, or do you want to start a tab?" The bartender asked her. 

Smiling, she replied, "It's gonna be a long night. I'll start a tab." 

"It's a Sunday night." The bartender said to her, laughing. "No work tomorrow?" 

"The night is but a puppy," Charlotte replied, laughing. "I'll work on Tuesday." 

Charlotte had a lot on her mind, and well, an espresso martini seemed like the only thing that would take these issues off her mind. So here she was, at the bar. 

She was a few drinks in when she felt someone grab her by the shoulders gently. She turned around to see a familiar face. Smiling, she said, "Frenkie! Qué tal?" The two of them spoke in a mix of English and Spanish. 

"Bien bien. ¿Y tú?" He kissed her on both sides of the cheek casually and sat down next to her. He turned his head to the bartender and said, "I'll have what she's having." 

"What brings you to a bar on a Sunday night?" Charlotte asked, smiling a little. "Shouldn't you be, I dunno, not drinking in preparation for practice tomorrow?" 

Frenkie smirked a little and said, "We have an off day tomorrow." He then lifted his glass and said, "Cheers." 

"Cheers." 

"How many espresso martinis have you had?" Frenkie laughed. "You're slurring your words a little." 

"Am not!" She replied, laughing. "Anyways, answer my question. What are you doing in a bar, alone, on a Sunday night?" 

"Difficult times call for such measures." Frenkie replied, laughing. "I'm just being dramatic. I needed a drink on a Sunday night and well, all my friends are married and have kids. So, I can't exactly invite them to drinks." 

Charlotte laughed and replied, "I'll drink to that. All my friends are either in England or busy with work." 

"How is that, anyways? Being so far away from home?" 

Charlotte replied, "I miss my friends, but it's not too bad. I mean, it's the same for you right? You're far away from home yourself." 

"I guess that's true. But us footballers are more used to it, you know. Most of us are away from home since a young age, so." 

"Yeah, I suppose." 

"Do you miss your family a lot? I do. When I'm alone, they're all they think about." Frenkie said, smiling sadly a little and taking a sip from his glass. 

"My parents and brother passed away when I was in college. About three-ish years ago? They were in a pretty bad car accident. It was a drunk driver." She forced herself to smile. 

"I didn't know that. I'm sorry." 

"It's okay. I used to avoid talking about it, you know? Because I was afraid to talk about it, afraid of the way it made me feel." 

"But you realized that you have to talk about it in order to move on. Or else it ends up just building up inside of you until you can't handle it anymore." 

"Yeah. How did you know I was gonna say that?" After a bit of silence she asked, "I guess the better question is, who did you lose?" 

"My grandfather. He was the one who supported my footballing career the most. When I was young, he would alway take me out to the backyard and play with me. My jersey number, 21, is in honor of him. He was born on the 21st of April."