golden blonde¹

new years kisses

late december 2022
immediately after the game, she had to fly over to barcelona. jana would be signing a new contract, and it was tradition for the players' family to be there as the player signed the contract. it felt a bit weird, but it also felt like home as she watched her older sister sign an extension with their dream club.

she saw some of the club officials, some she were pretty sure had a hand in her loan, but elena only ended up making small talk with them.

jana flew out that same night to spend christmas with jill and her family.

elena spent her christmas at home with her parents and family in spain. she spent a lot of time with her uncle to make up for the past few months of not seeing him. beside jana and her parents, her uncle was elena's favorite family member.

the whole fernandez family were huge fans of barcelona, but elena vividly remembers the day her uncle brought jana and herself to camp nou to watch barcelona play against real madrid.

they weren't the best seats, but the atmosphere was incredible. elena savored every memory from that day. she remembered being on her uncles shoulder to see over the towering man who was in the seat in front of her. she remembers chanting for messi after he scored a wonder goal.

she remembers getting ice cream with jana after the match, their faces painted in blaugrana and in their nameless kits.

she remembers her uncle telling her, "you're going to play here one day little star, and everyone will be chanting your name, just like messi."

she remembers grinning back with ice cream on the edges of her mouth.

that never did happen. she was never fully integrated within the first team, not enough to play against stronger opponents at camp nou.

but her uncle never stopped believing in her and jana.

she spent her birthday at home with her family, and that was all elena could have wished for. jana and jill sent her a little video from the netherlands but spent most of the day incognito.

"i tried calling you, don't think i forgot. happy 19th el," lia said endearingly over the phone as elena was on her way to the hotel in paris.

"thank you, i saw the calls afterwards, sorry lia," elena apologized sheepishly.

"don't ever apologize for spending your birthday with your family. you're still a teenager, even if you're a year older."

"thanks for reminding me, next year i'll be twenty and you all won't think i'm the baby of the team anymore."

"somehow, i don't believe we'll see you any differently," lia laughed.

jana and jill had been waiting in the hotel lobby for her.

she instantly recognized her sister's squeal as soon as she entered the room, her eyes finding jana's in a split second.

she grins as she hugs her older sister; she hadn't seen jana in what felt like forever, and she really missed her sisters hug.

"missed you lots," elena mumbled into jana's shoulder. she looks up to see jill watching the two of them with a soft look that she knows is not only for jana, but her as well.

"hey jilly," elena tippy toed to wrap her arms around the dutch midfielder.

"hey little one, good seeing you," jill hugged her tightly, even lifting elena a bit off the ground.

"not little anymore, i'm a year older to being an old lady like you, grootmoeder," elena sticks her tongue out playfully.

"okay, i really need to know who taught you how to insult dutch, was it viv?" jill asks crossing her arms.