First love (Pedri & Eric García)

Chapter 6

Girona was one of the big surprises of the season. They had finished the previous one playing good football but no one expected them to be fighting for the league title like they were. So what would usually be seen as an easy match ended up being a very big one for Barça. A lot of big teams had lost at Montilivi. But for Pedri and Ferran, it was also a fun day because they were meant to see their friend Eric again, who was there on loan.

Eric had to leave Barcelona because he wasn't getting enough game time. Things weren't going well and so Girona felt like a great chance for him to get back to his best version. And it proved to be because he was having a fantastic season, same as the rest of the squad.

"Hey bro", said Ferran, running to hug his friend. "Good to see you. You've got us abandoned in Barcelona. Why don't you come visit more often?"

"Yeah", said Eric, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "It's just been busy but I'll try".

"We should swap shirts after the match, ok? Unless you want to swap with Pedri".

"No, I'll swap with you".

Ferran smiled, not noticing the way his friend's expression changed when Ferran mentioned Pedri's name, and went back to his teammates.

Pedri was also unaware of what was going on inside Eric's head. He found it strange how little he talked on the group chat lately, when he was usually the one who wrote the most. But he claimed to be busy and why wouldn't it be true? They were all very busy. And it was the week before playing against each other so maybe there were some mind games involved too.

But then the match started and everything was fine. Pedri stood next to Eric at one point and tried to get his attention.

"Hey, long time no see".

"Yeah", said Eric, barely looking at his friend.

"You ok?"

"Focus on the match and leave me alone".

That made Pedri stare at his friend while he left. If the tone had been lighter, he would have laughed at the joke. Just banter between friends. But it didn't sound like Eric was joking. Whatever the case, Pedri followed the advice and focused on the match. Barça were already a goal down and needed to concentrate on getting the comeback.

A couple of minutes later, Barça finally got the ball back and started to threaten Girona. Pedri was one of the players that made a difference and Girona tried different strategies to stop him. It was then he felt the strong tackle and turned to face the player who did it. When you played football, you knew who tried to hurt you and Pedri knew that player tried to hurt him but then saw it was Eric.

"Bro, not you. What the fuck?"

But what was more confusing was the look on Eric's face, the anger reflected in it. But still, he offered his hand to Pedri. When he took it and lifted him up, he felt Eric bring him closer to him to talk so only them two would hear.

"After what you did to me. You don't get to complain. I should break your stupid face".

"What did I do?"

Eric didn't answer, just looked at Pedri with disgust. What could he mean? But even if they were whispering, Eric's anger was obvious to everyone and his teammates made sure he wasn't near Pedri for the rest of the match. They couldn't risk losing a player so early in the game.

When the match ended, Eric still refused to look at Pedri but said hi to all the other Barça players.

"What the fuck is his problem?", said Pedri, tired of it.

"I'll talk to him", said Ferran.

Once they all moved to the tunnel, little groups of players formed. Everyone always knew someone from the other team and they liked to catch up a little after they had to leave the stadium. Normally, one of the groups would have been formed by Pedri, Eric and Ferran. But not that day.

"Eric", called Ferran, making his friend turn to look at him. "Are you ok?"

"Sure. We won".

"I don't mean that. Why are you angry at Pedri?"

"Because he's shown me he's not a real friend".

"Why?"

Pedri was getting closer to them and heard Eric's words.

"What have I done to you, Eric? I don't get it. It must be a misunderstanding. We were fine a few days ago and now you act like this!"

"Stop pretending!"

"Pretending what?"

"Wasn't there anyone else you could sleep with?", said Eric, his tone lower and angry. "You've got thousands of girls ready to do whatever you ask them to do".

"Is this about Laia? Am I supposed to never talk to the thousand girls you follow?", Pedri was half joking, not knowing how to argue with his friend. But it seemed that was the wrong thing to say.

"Fuck you, Pedri. You're the last person I expected this from".

"Eric...", Ferran didn't get the chance to stop his friend from leaving. "Why is he angry about you and Laia?"

"I don't know but it just makes no sense and I'm not letting anyone treat me like that".

The trip back to Barcelona was miserable for Pedri. He wanted to call Laia but she was at work, covering an emergency shift. Maybe she could explain this to him? But...she never mentioned anything about Eric so what could she explain? This was just Eric being a fucking idiot. So he texted him instead. He couldn't leave it like that after everything they had been through.

[Pedrito 🍌]: Eric, I don't know what your problem is but you can't just act like this.

[Eric 🦛]: don't tell me what to do! You shouldn't even talk to me. I can't believe you.

[Pedrito 🍌]: but why?? What is going on? You make no sense and it's pissing me off.

[Eric 🦛]: stop pretending you don't know what you've done! Just own up!

[Pedrito 🍌]: well, I fucking don't! How about you explain it to me and stop bitching?

[Eric 🦛]: sent photo.

Pedri just stared at the photo, not believing what he saw. But also, it all made sense. So many little things that he used to have no explanation for. Finally, he understood everything.

End of part 1