Not enough (Fermín López)

Chapter 2

It didn't take long for Fermín to start missing classes due to traveling with the team but Lorena had kept her promise of helping him.

"What is that you're reading?", asked Gavi, trying to see what Fermín was staring at in his iPad while they travelled to Castellón.

"It's uni stuff, you wouldn't get it".

"Ha ha mister smart. Are your professors giving you special treatment because you're a footballer?"

"Not really", said Fermín, thinking about how little his university seemed to care about his other career. "But someone who sits next to me sends me all the notes and keeps me updated on what's going on".

"So you're getting special treatment from a classmate who wants to be your friend to get free tickets for the matches", joked Gavi. And Fermín guessed it wasn't so odd to think that could have been what was happening, but it wasn't.

"No, she actually likes basketball more...".

"She?"

Crap.

He guessed he wasn't going to be able to keep Lorena a secret forever but he expected to be able to do it for a bit longer.

"It's not like that".

"Is she the only girl in your class?", Fermín didn't say anything and Gavi laughed harder. "You're such a cliché. I love it!"

"You don't get it".

Fermín didn't get Lorena either. Not fully. He knew she had been dating that Adrián guy who was in their class and that she seemed to run away from him every time he approached her. That intrigued him. And worried him. It wasn't so hard to guess why a girl would not want to spend any time near her ex.

"Explain it, then".

"She didn't know who I was when we met, so there's that. And she's literally not done anything remotely similar to trying to take advantage of me. Didn't even ask for your number like it usually happens to me".

"So it's you that likes her", told him Gavi.

"I can just be friends with a girl".

"I guess...".

That was the end of the conversation. At least for the moment. So Fermín went back to checking the iPad. He couldn't help but smile seeing all the little annotations Lorena kept leaving every couple of paragraphs. She was a better teacher than all of their professors.

Lorena loved sending all those things to Fermín. She loved feeling useful. But she didn't love not having him around. He was nice, funny, ...and when he was with her, Adrián left her alone.

"Lorena, we need to talk".

"We don't. Can you just leave me alone? I'm getting really tired, Adrián. I'm just here to learn, not to deal with all of this".

"Baby...".

"Stop calling me that".

"But you're really unfair. You made up this stupid story in your mind about us and dumped me. Didn't give me a proper reason for it. Your parents are heartbroken too".

She laughed, and Adrián could hear the sarcasm in that sound. "You can keep them. I'm better off far away from all of you".

That shut him up, for now. And so Lorena picked up her things and left. She hated being alone in her dorm and was secretly looking forward to getting a message from Fermín. She had sent him some notes and he always answered those emails. Sometimes just to thank her or to ask further questions. She loved when Fermín asked her to explain something. She loved those conversations. It made her feel less lonely.