Never Let Go (Of Me) • Ferran Torres

Chapter 6: Bad Game

🎶 Est-ce que tu m'aimes? - Pilule bleue — GIMS 🎶

Winter was awful, I hated winter. At least Barcelona was a tad bit warmer than Manchester or Madrid at this time of the year, but still. My life was just upside down, my parents either ignored my calls and messages or replied with short answers that they didn't have time for me, saying that I was old enough to be on my own. Which was true, but it would have been nice to talk about it beforehand instead of just letting me drop out of uni and move cities without any plan.

Work was monotone, but it was well-paid and I had started looking into apartments from March or April on. I was still unsure if to move in with someone or get my own place, on the one hand I was afraid that my flatmate could be a total weirdo or creep, but on the other hand I also dreaded the thought of being alone in an unknown city. Sure, I had Sara and Dan, but I didn't want to third-wheel all the time and apart from them, I hadn't really made any new friendships. Although I had some nice colleagues at work, but all they did was talk about football and since I knew very little about that, it wasn't really my scene.

Shortly before closing the store on Saturday evening, our manager Juan walked up to me and I froze, fearing that I would get fired right now. Panic went through me, had I done something wrong? Folded something badly? Had I been unfriendly to a customer?
"Hey Lina" he said friendly and I shot him a nervous smile. "So, sometimes, when the stadium isn't sold out, the club gives out tickets to its employees for free, just to fill the seats. They gave me two for the game against Sevilla tomorrow, but it's my father's birthday and I can't go so... I'm giving them to you! Have fun!" he told me before patting me on the back.

Great, what now? I contemplated selling the tickets and making some extra pocket money which I could definitely need, but I felt like I was committing fraud and was too much of a good person to actually go through with it. So I turned to the only person who could possibly be interested to go.
"Sara, do you want to watch your boyfriend work tomorrow?" I asked her when I came back to her flat.
"Huh?" she asked confusedly, looking up from her books. Dan apparently had gone for a run, as he often did at this time.

I just threw the envelope with the two tickets at her and she caught it, before opening it up to see what was inside.
"Oh... wow... those are great seats! Category one... so close to where friends & family usually sit" she mumbled. "Did you get them at work?" she asked and I nodded, slumping down on my sofa bed.
"You could surprise Dan, I'm pretty sure he'd be over the moon" I told her, encouraging her to come with me, not that she needed it. She loved Barca and she loved her boyfriend.
"That sounds good! Maybe he can show us - well, more you - around a bit after the game!" she squealed.

"Yeah, maybe another time. When there's no chance of running into people I don't know at all who start fights over me" I replied sarcastically.
"Again with this story!" she chuckled and I sat up straight.
"Yes! That was so embarrassing! How do Gavi, Pedri and Eric Garcia know me as Manchester girl?!" I exclaimed.
"Because Ferran probably told them about you at some point, no? Seems logical" she replied and shrugged.
"But why?!" I asked exasperatedly.
"Because he likes youuuuu" she swooned and I threw a pillow at her.

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"Seat, 13...,14... ah, here we go, 15 and 16!" Sara exclaimed as we were walking through our row in the stadium. She was wearing this season's jersey with Ansu Fati's name on her back, he was her favourite player, while she had decorated me like a Christmas tree with a Barca beanie on my head and a Barca scarf slung around my neck, making me look like a clown.

When we sat down, I had to admit that I was impressed. The seats were pretty amazing, very close to the pitch and the benches and the atmosphere that was building up was... incredible, fans chanting and singing, putting up banners for their players - I had never seen such a thing and maybe now I could slowly start imagining why football had such a strong impact on some people's lives. Sara had both gotten us popcorn and she showed me the line-up on her phone. To be honest, there was only one name that I was interested in, and he was benched. Served him right probably.