Never Let Go (Of Me) • Ferran Torres

Chapter 55: Sweet Return

🎶 Only Human — Jonas Brothers 🎶

Unfortunately, we had absolutely nothing to celebrate though. Sara and I had been crying last night as Barca lost 4-1 to Real Madrid, out of everyone. It would have hurt less losing to Mallorca or... whoever. But I had promised to be there for Ferran, so I had decided to switch shifts and have the morning of his return off. And now I was currently driving to the training center to pick him up as they would be driving back from the airport with the team bus.

"Hello, Miss, can I help you?" the security at the entrance asked me as I pulled up. There were some fans already standing around, filming the cars going in and out and I started to sweat a bit from the nervousness.
"Yes, I'm here to pick up Ferran Torres" I replied and he raised his eyebrows.
"Who are you?" he asked back irritatedly. Maybe weirdos actually tried every trick in the box to get in there and he was just being precautious.

"Lina Ferrero, I'm his girlfriend" I replied and showed him my phone lockscreen which was a picture of me and Ferran on New Year's Eve. "Oh and... this is is his car, so... you can check the plate or I can show you the papers" I quickly added, trying to make my story as plausible as possible and to make my way inside quickly. People were already walking up with phones in their hands, filming the scene.
"I should have checked the number plate first, very sorry to hold you up, Miss. Here you go" the security replied friendly and opened the bar for me. I smiled and nodded at him before rolling up the window again and driving inside, where I parked on Ferran's usual booked slot.

Then, I got out of the car and walked to the bus' arrival parking slot, where I apparently wasn't the only girl coming to pick up someone.
"Hi" I greeted the group of four others shyly.
"Hello!" they replied friendly, but I felt their lingering looks at me.
"Uh... I'm new... erm... I'm... um... Ferran's girlfriend" I stammered nervously to which I heard some "Aaah"s and "Oooh"s as an answer.

"I'm Katrine, Andreas' fiancé" one said and I nodded.
"I'm Taia, Raphinha's wife" another one said.
"Oh, I'm sorry about his injury..." I mumbled.
"Ah, thanks, that's really sweet of you! It shouldn't be too bad hopefully... It's all a part of it" she sighed and I nodded. The two others introduced themselves now too, they were ter Stegen's and Lewandowski's wives.

"I'm here! I'm here! Have they arrived yet?" a blonde pregnant girl panted as she came huddling around the corner.
"No, should be any minute now though" Katrine replied.
"Hey! I know you from our party last year! You're Dan's friend!" Mikky exclaimed when she saw me.
"Yes, right! Great to see you again!" I replied and smiled at her friendly.

"Dan! Such a great guy, Raph rambles about him all the time, he wishes they would make him the forwards' kit guy" Taia rambled. Yeah, Ferran wanted that too, but Dan was having the time of his life with the midfielders, no way he would switch.
"Yeah, I remember him! He once helped me out when I was juggling Ben, the car keys and Marc's stuff here in the parking lot" Dani said and all the girls found something nice to say about Dan and it really warmed my heart that the players weren't too arrogant or stuck-up to talk about their staff at home, with their families.

"He's a great guy, he's marrying my best friend... We've all known each other since we were kids" I mumbled and blushed, looking at the ground.
"That's so cute! I've also been with Frenkie since high school" Mikky swooned, but then her eyebrows furrowed. "Are you here to pick him up? Sorry, have you already told me? I have the worst pregnancy brain and forget stuff after a second" she sighed.

"No! She's dating Ferran!" Katrine told her excitedly.
"Wow! Is your dad a football trainer?" she asked and I laughed, the others joining me too after seeing that I wasn't offended.
"No, he isn't. We first met back in Manchester when he was playing there and I... studied there." I explained.
"How cute! But you live here now?" Taia asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, I work at the Barca store" I replied and felt so... small compared to them. They all looked gorgeous and had their businesses and were pretty and successful - and I just managed to be a store employee and pose for cameras in underwear.