First love (Pedri & Eric García)

Chapter 12

When Laia got back to Barcelona, she took a quick shower and then picked up her book to read it for the 30th time probably. It was her favourite book after all.

And Eric kept it. He could have thrown it away but he kept it...and had it with him in Girona. What was that supposed to mean?

"So clever", she laughed seeing one of her annotations.

Some were theories about the book, some marked important parts and others were just silly comments she thought when she was reading. But...she didn't recognise all of those annotations. Or the handwriting.

"This reminds me of the first time she read this to me. How her beautiful eyes shined sharing something she loved so much with someone she loved. And now that's all gone".

That was Eric's handwriting. He had never written in her books, so this was done after their break up. And now that's all gone... he read the book after their break up and it reminded him of Laia. Was that why he kept it?

She could see a tear falling on the page she was reading, so she closed the book and put it away. It wasn't that Laia expected Eric to just forget her and move on. She guessed he had suffered too but this was proof. And when did he write this? Days after the break up? Years after it?

Seeing him had been the worst idea because it just made Laia realise, even more, how much she still loved him. But...her feelings for Pedri didn't just vanish because Eric was back in her life.

Eric knew things wouldn't be as easy as her sister made them sound. But he agreed with her on something, and that was that he had to try to fix things with Laia. So he invited her to a match and she said yes to the invitation.

"Hey! Did you get into a fight?", laughed Eric when he saw the red stain on Laia's blouse. It was obviously not blood but ketchup. But he couldn't resist the joke.

"Yes. The fries won".

"I thought we could go eat somewhere after the match but you'll probably want to change first".

"Yeah...but it's fine. I can go back to Barcelona now".

"Nonsense. If you don't want to go anywhere, we can order food. I'm not sending you back to Barcelona hungry. Or looking like you're out of a crime scene".

Laia laughed and nodded. She was pretty hungry so the plan worked for her.

Not long later, they were in Eric's room and he took a shirt from his drawer so Laia could change.

"Thanks", she said. "Can you turn around?"

"Of course".

Eric understood that request because they weren't dating anymore. She wanted privacy while getting changed. But he also couldn't stop thinking about Pedri seeing her the way he couldn't now. And it made him feel stupid because of being jealous. He had been Laia's first boyfriend. Her first time. Almost her first kiss but an idiot beat him to that. Still, what hurt was knowing he wasn't her last. That her last was one of his best friends.

Now she had a clean shirt on, they moved back to the living room and ate the food that had been delivered while watching TV. Laia kept laughing at the jokes and Eric smiled at her. She had always laughed so much at the silliest things. Laia always said that it was because she was so happy, anything made her smile and laugh. That she never wanted that to change. Eric noticed she wasn't as happy as before but seeing she could still laugh at really bad jokes made him hope she could be very happy soon. His beautiful happy girlfriend, ...he used to call her that. And she would add being his girlfriend was what made her the happiest.

"I never stopped thinking about you, you know?", he said, making Laia turn to focus on Eric and his words.

"I never stopped either".

"I...I wanted to talk to you when I got to Barcelona but I feared you would just tell me to fuck off".

"I probably would have".

"You're not doing that now. Why?"

"I don't know", she said sincerely.

Eric placed his hand on her face, leaning down slowly.

"You're still the most beautiful girl in the world".

A tear fell from her eye and he wiped it with his thumb. It was too much. She felt too overwhelmed. There had been so many nights when she dreamed of this moment. But then opened her eyes and Eric was still there. This wasn't a dream.

"I don't feel very beautiful at the moment", she confessed.

"Can I try to make you feel better?"

She nodded and Eric wasted no time closing the gap between their faces to kiss her. It felt so easy to go back to that. To kissing, to loving each other. It was maybe too easy. But Laia also felt she needed something easy at that moment. She needed to feel loved. And she knew Eric knew how to make her feel like the most loved person in the world.

So she let him grab her hips to position her so she could straddle his lap while they kissed. They almost felt drunk, all the passion leaving them unable to say anything. Laia took off the T-shirt Eric had given her to wear and he just wanted to stare at her for hours. She didn't look that different but the last time he saw her like this, they were both 17. She was a woman now. A woman who drove him crazy.

"I love you, Laia", he whispered in between kisses. "I love you so much".

Laia didn't respond. She couldn't. But she wasn't going to lie to herself. She loved Eric too. She never stopped loving him. But what about Pedri? Because saying she had forgotten him would be another lie. A big one. So she stopped thinking and just let Eric make her feel good.