🎶 Hero — Family of the Year 🎶
Pedri and his brother were obviously leaving with a private jet, which led me to have to take a taxi to the VIP terminal where we would depart from. I had gotten a very dry message from Pedri with flight time and parking slot and punctual as I was, Sofi, Blanca and I stood on the tarmac with our suitcases, waiting for the boys to arrive. To say that my daughters were overly excited to spend Christmas with Pedri and his family, was an understatement. They couldn't stop jumping up and down in ecstasy, while I was pissed as hell.
The guys finally arrived, Pedri looking more dead than alive, and I wasn't going to spare him from accusations.
"I... think you need to talk" Fer mumbled as we had departed and involved my daughters in some kind of drawing activities that I had stuffed into Sofia's backpack. Pedri and I were now sat facing each other and we both were looking furious.
"Any NDAs you want to give me?" I asked after my FYP had been full of pictures of Pedri out in a club yesterday night with LOTS of female company.
"Maybe, maybe not" he huffed at me and crossed his arms. We were still making sure to be as quiet as possible, if we had one thing in common, it was to not upset Sofi and Blanca.
"You're behaving like a child! We're back at square one like a year ago!" I hissed at him.
"Good! Because I don't have to behave maturely now that you pushed me away... once again! Let me do whatever the fuck I want" he hissed back.
"You know what the first thing will be your parents will ask me when you're out of sight?! How this happened and why! They were so happy you didn't behave like this anymore and thought it was my influence! And now they invited me for Christmas and I failed at keeping them happy!" I whined, almost crying. I was such a people-pleaser.
"Maybe we should just tell them the truth" he mumbled, not caring about my feelings apparently.
"You want me to get fired and kicked out at Christmas?!" I asked, now starting to get very upset and whiny.
He looked at me with a hurt expression and I saw that this was hard also for him.
"Just... we should just try and stay away from each other as much as we can these days" he sighed and looked outside of the window and with this, I closed the conversation. I didn't want to start crying over Pedri in front of my children. But at least if I followed this rule I would save some money from Ferran - I had already lost 150€, he didn't have to get 300 more after these holidays.
When we finally landed, there was a van already waiting for us on the tarmac and while we all got inside and I strapped the kids into their seats, our suitcases were loaded into the trunk. There was an eerie silence on the whole ride to the house - Pedri and I were definitely not on speaking terms, as weren't his brother and I after his comments a week ago - and my girls noticed.
"Why are you quarreling?" Sofi asked, eyeing us all suspiciously.
"Because-" Pedri started, but I cut him off.
"Adults do that sometimes. Life is complicated and it's hard to take decisions that satisfy everyone" I tried to explain.
"That's stupid. You always tell me that I have to say what I want or else you can't help me. Why aren't you doing it too then?" she asked and I saw both boys' heads turn to me, as well as Blanca. Urgh, why did kids always have to know everything better?
"Because mami is afraid sometimes. Losing daddy hurt her very much" I said and tried to blink fast to not get the tears rolling.
"Oh look, we're here!" Fer exclaimed as we turned into their street and I leaned my head onto the window, trying not to make eye contact with Pedri. His parents were already waiting in the driveway and I let the boys get out first before unclasping my daughters from their car seats.
"Pedri, Pedri, Pedri, you look like you deserve to look! Don't think we didn't see those pictures from yesterday" his mum immediately scolded him and I snickered to myself. There was nothing funnier than a guy being told off by his mother, I remembered Rodri's mum doing that so often and it was incredibly entertaining to watch.
"Ah hello Isa - and you two darling angels, honestly, Isa, I don't know how you put up with this one, you're a Saint" Rosy joked as she pulled me into an embrace, and now it was Fer's turn to snicker and Pedri looked even more pissed off than before. If that woman knew what un-Saint-like things I had done with her son... This was going to be one hell of a "holiday".
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It was Christmas Eve now and I had miraculously managed to stay away from Pedri all of yesterday by just going with my daughters to a huge indoor playground for the whole day and after putting them to bed, I had pulled an excuse that I had a headache and just wanted to sleep. But it was Christmas now and I couldn't pull any more tricks. Breakfast was tense, as was lunch, and I was looking forward to an hour of peace to myself while my girls were sleeping before having to help Rosy in the kitchen to prepare everything. The whole situation felt so weird because we seemed like a little family but... with what was going on between Pedri and me all of this felt so wrong.
"There you are. I was looking for you" I heard a male voice and startled before I turned around and saw Pedri's dad.
"Yeah... I'm here" I mumbled, standing in the garden and looking out onto the sea.
"Ok, I'll cut straight to the point. What the hell is going on? You had him under control, and two days ago those pictures..." he asked and I buried my head in my hands. Tears were pricking in my eyes and of course they started flowing, fuck, I was such a whiny girl.
"He... we... we had a fight. Again. We're either fighting or..." I sniffled and took a deep breath. He deserved to know, I was here in his house, exploiting his generosity. "Something has been going on with Pedri and me. Since this summer" I finally spit the truth.
"You were the boat girl" he said in a tone that I couldn't decipher. His facial expression wasn't any more readable than his tone.
"I was the boat girl" I replied and looked at the ground, ashamed. I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to have a job anymore in a few days' time.
"You must be special" he commented and my face shot up to his.
"What? No "You seduced him", "this is so unprofessional", "What on earth were you thinking? You have two kids!"?" I asked and he shook his head, a small smile on his lips.
"You're both adults. And I've gotten to know you as a reasonable person and as you've seen, you've already commented on it yourself. And as much as Pedri will forever be my little boy, he's grown-up now. And if he spent time with you here, in Tenerife, I'm saying you must be special. In Barcelona, it's fooling around, but here at home... it's serious" he replied and that only made me cry harder.
"But I can't! I just can't! I drag every man around me into an abyss of destruction! He doesn't deserve this!" I sobbed and shook my head, which I held with my left hand. I felt his arm around my shoulder, but was unsure if we were close enough for me to lean on to him for support, but he took the decision on me, pressing me closer.
"I know Isa... You endured so much pain that a normal person can't even imagine, but life has finally given you something good. I know Pedri can be a bit stupid sometimes and I don't even want to know how you feel when you see... those pictures. But he's a good man, I hope that's what I raised him to be. He loves your daughters so much and I'm pretty sure that is because he loves you too. Embrace it, let him make you feel good, let him make you feel safe." he said and I only started crying more.
"But it's not his job! He deserves to have a girl that is... unused" I managed to stammer out in between sobs and frantically wiping away my tears.
"Ok, now listen, this may sound superficial, but we both only want the best for his career, right?" he asked.
"Of course! That's my number one priority and one of the reasons I pushed him back!" I quickly said and nodded.
"Good, then listen: He needs stability, he needs a routine, he needs a home. With all those injuries... he needs someone who looks after him, his diet, his exercises. And when he doesn't do that it would be good for him to have a... duty. Sofi and Blanca can give him that, he can be there for them, for you, lead a calm life and play his football. Everything just... aligns with you two." he sighed and I got what he meant.
"Of course this would be the dream, but the What if? is just so big. What if he wants to be young, go out, find a nicer, prettier, fitter girl?" I sniffled and wiped my nose in a probably very unladylike way.
"Are you kidding? He looks at you as if you were Helen of Troy, he'd go to war over you. But ultimately, you have to decide if you want to leave Greece for Troy" he sighed and that brought out a little smile in me.
"I didn't know you loved Greek mythology so much" I chuckled and he patted my back before going back inside and leaving me alone with my thoughts again.
