PEDRI'S POV
As soon as I got home, I texted Ariana that I arrived safely. I wasn't really sleepy and not in the mood to be alone. I called my brother to see if he was awake by any chance, or alone since he told me that he had a date tonight too.
"Thank God you're awake, what are you doing?" I asked him.
"I was thinking to book a flight to China. What would I be doing at this hour, Pedri? I'm at home, you?"
"You're so funny, I even forgot to laugh. Wanna come over to my place?"
"Yeah, sure. I'm not sleepy anyway. I'll be in 10."
I hung up and I went in the yard, by the pool. I keep thinking about Ariana and her gorgeous smile. I kept repeating the image of her seeing the sky lanterns being lit up to the sky when we both kept watching them. When she hugged me I could feel my whole body melting, I just melted by her touch, like she has this special effect on me that no one ever did. I just wanted to stop the time for a little more this day while being with her.
I heard Fer's car outside and I snapped out of my thoughts and went to open the front door for him.
"Why so grumpy?" I asked Fer as soon as I saw him.
"I'm not grumpy, I'm just, I don't know." he told me.
"Okay, okay. How was your date, Mr. Certified Loverboy?" I asked him and I got a scary look back instead.
"You still keep using that name with the wrong person. But the date was great, I took her everywhere I was thinking at the moment she would love to see, we had a great time, we got the chance to get to know each other better and I was surprised at how amazing she is." Fer told me with a different look in his eyes, how rarely I see him.
"Don't tell me you found the love of your life." I teased him.
"But how about you Mr. Can't Touch This? Did you find the love of your life?" Fer got back at me and I just mocked him.
"Well..." I said as I was trying to figure out my thoughts, "she's amazing. I got the chance to make her happy tonight, I don't know why, but I feel like she craved that feeling for a long time. It was this little gesture that meant a lot to her, more than all the expensive things I offered at the moment. It never happened before." I told him and he got a strange look on his face.
"Dude, you're so falling for her." Fer said and I just froze. "Look at your face."
"Honestly, I might be catching some feelings for her. I try to control it as much as I can though." I told him and he nodded as he understood me.
"I'm kind of in the same position, heh." Fer said and I looked at him confused.
"Why's that?"
"You know who my date was?" he asked me.
"No, I don't know. You didn't tell me."
"It was Sofia, damn." he said while looking away.
"Oh, it makes sense now." I told him as I patted him on his shoulder.
"What do we do now? I mean, they will be leaving at some point we will just go back to our lives like nothing happened." Fer asked me as he was a bit upset about the situation.
"Look, man, just take it slow and see what will happen, let it be. They have some days left from their holiday, it's not like they are leaving tomorrow. Plus it's just a 2 hours flight in the middle if it's the case. Don't think too much." I told him and I could already see a change of mood on his face.
"Nah, you're right. I just like her so much and I don't want to mess it up." Fer told me while still wandering a bit.
"You won't mess anything, the fuck are you talking about?" I said as I gave him a look that told him that he was annoying.
"Sometimes I forget that I'm the bigger brother." he said and I just laughed at him.
"Yeah, you do, more often." I told him and now I was the one in danger.
"Are you free tomorrow?" Fer asked me like he got an idea.
"Besides training in the morning, I'm free. Why?"
"Maybe we can bring the group to my place."
"That would be great, but I don't think I want to see Theo in this kind of context." I told Fer and he furrowed his eyebrows as he was confused. "He was pretty upset that I left with Ariana that night, that I don't spend time with you, the group, that me and he barely talk anymore, like we were that close. Some bullshit." I explained.
"Upset or jealous?" Fer asked me and I could see the point.
"You might be right."
"He seemed pretty harsh lately, it's not the first time he makes you feel like shit. Remember the time when he made fun of that bad injury you had? That your career at Barça end there? Fuck him, he was lucky you told me to ignore him. I have no idea why he still hangs out with us." Fer said as he made some other points too.
"I'll make sure he won't be there tomorrow. And Fer-?"
"Dani too, right?" Fer continued like he read my mind. "I'll take care of that one. Now I have to get home since I got pretty tired. Thank you for the talk, see you tomorrow."
"Good night, Fer."
"Good night to you too, Pedri."
Gabriela and Olivia are our childhood friends, we lived across the streets and went to the same school. They would always come to our games when we were little to support us. During high school, it was a bit hard for us to maintain our friendship since I had to leave for Barcelona and finish school there, but they would catch a flight at times to continue the tradition. While Anto is a friend more of them than to us, they met in high school and we would occasionally meet at gatherings. Dani and Theo came at the same time as Anto, but we got along better with them since we had more things in common, even though, Theo seemed to be a little envious of me, while Dani is just a try-hard.
