Anyone but you (Fermín López)

Chapter 5

The first day in the US was a pretty chilled one. After such a long trip, the players needed to adapt to the time change and recover from the long trip, making sure their muscles didn't suffer because of the altitude.

Victoria spotted what she wanted to do right away.

"I'm going to the pool".

"We'll have a recovery session there today, princess".

Rolling her eyes at her dad, she looked at him showing her annoyance. "So everyone can use the hotel pool but me?"

"You can go now but we start the session at 2 so be done by then".

"Ok".

Placing the towel on a chair near the pool, Victoria took a deep breath and got inside the water. She used to take swimming lessons as a kid because her dad hoped she would be into sports as well. But she never cared about competing, but about how freeing it felt to swim. It was the same now.

She lost track of how long she had been there but a quick look at the clock showed her the players wouldn't show up for another 25 minutes.

However, Fermín got there early and didn't think much of the figure he saw swimming in the pool until she got out of it. He couldn't stop staring at her but Victoria didn't notice him until she reached the chair where her towel was.

"My dad told me you didn't start your session until 2".

"Yeah, I just got here early. I wanted to swim alone but it's fine".

"Don't worry. I am leaving now. Pool is all yours".

Fermín noticed how Victoria held the towel tighter, as if afraid he would see her just wearing her swimsuit.

"You can stay while I'm here. It's fine. The pool is big enough for the two of us".

Victoria still didn't want to stay there. Seeing Fermín half naked was bad enough. But half naked and wet? How was she supposed to see that and keep pretending he was just another guy? And that she wasn't insanely attracted to him? Not to mention the whole having slept together part, which made seeing him wearing so little harder to cope with.

"This trip is going to make me insane. I can't keep doing this".

A big reason why Victoria never wanted to get involved with footballers was that she knew what their life was like. Her dad was one back in the day but it was mostly her uncle she could use as an example. Xavi had been one of the biggest players for Barça and Spain and she noticed the way people acted around him. He'd always been just uncle Xavi to her so it all felt even weirder. She struggled to understand the people who worshipped him and also those who hated him.

But it seemed like now even the not so famous players had a huge amount of fans. So that meant even Fermín had people screaming his name during the tour. He wasn't very famous yet but his friendship with some of the popular players made him be noticed more. And what annoyed Victoria the most was that so many girls looked at him.

"Oh my God, Fermín! Can I have a photo with you?"

Fermín smiled at the girl talking to him and Victoria could see the way she swooned seeing his smile. She was really pretty too so Victoria hated her. And then...then she hugged him. What the...

She put her sunglasses on and looked down at her phone, waiting for the players to be done attending the fans so the bus could leave. When Fermín walked past her seat, she wanted to glare at him but he had done nothing wrong. Neither had the girl and yet she hated both at that moment. She felt so stupid because of her jealous reaction.

"You are excited about this one, right?", joked Xavi and Victoria laughed.

"Yes. This match I care about".

Being part of her family, she obviously hated Real Madrid with all the passion her heart could convey. It was in her blood. So friendly match or not, she wanted Barça to win and to score as many goals as possible.

And many goals there were. Three and one of them scored by Fermín. After the match, everyone was congratulating him for his goal. Xavi was impressed with the way he trained and played and wanted him to stay with the first-team squad. Victoria was happy for him, of course. But a part of her had wondered if Fermín playing for another team would make a relationship with him more possible. But what if he went back on loan to a team far from Barcelona like last season? And his dream was to play for Barça so she couldn't be selfish and should just be happy for Fermín.

Fermín had heard his manager talk to Victoria before the match about how she hated Real Madrid and finally cared about a match. So he expected her to say something to him about the goal...but she said nothing. Actually, she only congratulated Ferran. It seemed he was the only player she felt comfortable talking to, apart from the older guys. Everyone in the squad knew Ferran would rather jump off a cliff than get involved with a manager's family member again, so that probably made Victoria more comfortable around him. The fact that it made sense didn't mean it would stop annoying Fermín.

Because, whenever Fermín was around, she looked away. He got it. He was the one who told her about how her dad couldn't find out what happened between them and especially after the great pre-season he had. But...he wanted her praise. He wanted to see her smile at him, not at Ferran or Gundogan. It was at moments like that one that Fermín thought he could risk it all and ask her out anyway. Her dad and her uncle would understand. But then he realised he was just being stupid and there was no point in being reckless. He couldn't have her. And they both knew it.

"Hi!"

Somehow, Fermín found himself alone with Victoria. "Hey. We have to go to the bus".

"Yeah, I was on my way...".

Fermín kept walking, not looking back to see if Victoria was following. But then, he noticed a hand grabbing his arm and he turned to face her. Victoria looked around to make sure no one was there and before Fermín had the chance to do the same, she hugged him.

"Congratulations. Your goal was great".

She tried to move out of the hug but Fermín didn't allow her and squeezed her gently before letting go. "Thanks. I thought I wasn't getting a congratulations from you. I was very disappointed".

Victoria looked down, blushing. And when she was going to open her mouth to talk, they both heard Oscar's voice calling her name.

"I gotta go".

"Yeah...me too".

Fermín really hated their situation. But there was nothing he could do...for now.