First love (Pedri & Eric García)

Chapter 7

5 years ago

"Question", said Eric, entering Laia's room after her parents told him she was there. "Why are you the most beautiful girl in the world?"

She was used to him asking those questions and beamed. "I don't know. Am I?"

"You are", he said, sitting down on her bed and pulling her closer for a kiss.

"Then you must be very lucky to be dating me".

"Luckiest guy in the world. And I know it!"

She giggled, starting to unbutton his shirt. "I am pretty lucky too".

"Laia...we can't. Your parents are downstairs".

"Please", she pleaded with her eyes and Eric almost said yes. "I've missed you".

"Later, my love. I have to go to the training ground now anyway. Someone from the club wants to talk to me. I'm a bit nervous".

"Why? Is there something wrong?"

"No", he shook his head. "I don't think so. But they were pretty serious. So I'm guessing it's about something serious".

"Well, whatever it is, I'll be here for you, ok?"

Eric smiled at Laia before kissing her again. It was tough to control his teenage hormones, especially when Laia was making no effort to control hers, but the footsteps moving closer to her room made them stop their make-out session.

"Door has to stay open!", said her dad and Laia got up to open it.

"I can't wait to be out of here, living with you".

"I can't wait either. Gotta go now. I'll call you when I know what's going on, ok?"

She nodded, getting on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I love you, Eric".

"I love you too, princess. Walk me to the door? So I don't have to miss you until I leave the house".

He didn't lie when he said he was nervous about what he was going to be told. Everything seemed to be fine, so why did they want to talk to Eric all of a sudden? In such a mysterious way too. But he found out quickly. He was going to be sold to Manchester City. It was...a great opportunity. But he loved Barça and didn't want to leave. His whole life was in Barcelona and he was only 17...and Laia was 17 too, so she wasn't going to be able to move to another country with him. Her parents would never allow it and who could blame them?

"It'll be fine", she said. But Eric could see the worry in her eyes.

"You can come visit...and I'll visit too. But...I'll miss you".

Seeing Eric cry meant Laia could finally stop pretending she didn't want to cry as well. Their parents could see them hugging and crying and felt terrible for them. It was young love. They didn't understand why they had to separate like that and that life placed those hurdles in front of people all the time.

Only a couple of weeks after the move, Laia was already in Manchester visiting her boyfriend.

"This is nice", she said when they were walking around the city but she hated it. She hated the city and the whole time she was there, she felt like a little spoiled girl who just wanted to whine about everything.

"Well, it's not Barcelona...but things are going well. It'd be great if I got to play for the first team soon".

"Would you like to stay here if you did?"

"Maybe".

Laia didn't like that answer. She loved Eric and would move to Manchester for him. But she knew that was going to make her miserable. And how can a relationship thrive if 50% of its components aren't happy? She was willing to make sacrifices for him and had always been. But...this sacrifice felt a lot bigger than she would have expected.