Wrong choice (Ferran Torres)

Chapter 9

The trip to Valencia was pretty hectic for Anna. It was one of those where the moment she got there, she went to do the interview and then had to go back to Barcelona. She didn't mind that per se, but it felt more annoying when it was a nice place she was going to. Also, she got the recommendations that Ferran had promised to send her and she couldn't really go to any of those places. She thanked him anyway but they didn't talk more after that. Not until the match that had to be played on Saturday.

"Are you feeling alright?", asked Santi, one of her colleagues from the radio.

"Why do you ask?"

"You look a bit pale. So I thought maybe you weren't feeling well".

"It's fine, thanks. I think I'm just tired".

"Well, we're off tomorrow so you can sleep in", he smiled and Anna forced herself to smile back.

"Looking forward to that".

But the reason why she didn't look well was that she was nervous about seeing Ferran again and hated feeling like that. Also, she had noticed Cecilia was there at the match, which made sense. But Anna had never seen her when she was there for work and it seemed like a sick joke that she had to see Cecilia on that specific day.

Cecilia was hanging out with other friends and Anna could tell they sometimes looked at her and snickered. Great, she was the target of the mean girls.

"She's not really that pretty in person", said one Cecilia's friends when Anna was near them. "I guess it's mostly filters and make up".

"Girls, don't be like that", said Cecilia, but she was laughing too.

"And you can tell how old she is up close".

"How old is she?"

"25", said Cecilia. "Three years older than me and Ferran. But we should thank her for the reminder to invest on good antiageing skincare".

"She should have added that to her Vogue video".

Normally, Anna wouldn't care about those types of comments but she was feeling vulnerable that day and they really got to her.

"Ignore them. Just a bunch of jealous idiots", told her Santi and Anna nodded.

But she thought about those words more during the match. Even if she didn't want to. And it all resulted in her looking even worse by the time the match had ended. And it wasn't just Santi who noticed.

"Hi", said Ferran when he spotted Anna. But his smile disappeared quickly. "You ok? You don't look well".

"So people keep telling me...".

"Anna".

Hearing Ferran's serious tone made her look up at him. Did he look a bit sad too? "What?"

"Are you ok?"

"No", she said, shaking her head. "Just really tired. But I have a day off tomorrow and will go crazy with the self-care routine. It's fine".

Something that had been a constant in their friendship was how they avoided physical touch. They both feared crossing that boundary but Ferran couldn't stop himself from hugging Anna. She looked like she needed a hug and feeling strong arms around her just felt so good.

"Thank you".

"I'm here whenever you need me. I told you".

But he wasn't. And the reason why was probably still in the VIP area sipping on cocktails while they all laughed at how ugly and old Anna was.

"Yeah. Thanks. I...I gotta go finish work for today".

"Do you want to interview me?", joked Ferran.

"You should have scored a goal if you wanted me to interview you".

"There's always next match".

Anna laughed and started to walk back to where her colleagues should be. But Ferran called her name again before she could leave the area they were at.

"I mean it. I'm here for you".

Not only did Anna not interview Ferran after that match, but she actually had to get ready to be interviewed herself. Another youtube channel that made videos about football contacted her, asking if she was available for a quick interview for their channel. And Anna thought that it could be fun. Those were her colleagues after all.

But being her colleagues didn't mean they were on her side neccessarily.

"Favourite team?"

"Barça".

"Favourite player?"

"Messi, of course", laughed Anna. What a question that was!

The quickfire questionnaire continued with the usual questions...until she got different ones.

"Who do you think is the best looking player in the league?"

What? "I won't answer that, sorry. My job is talking about how footballers play, not about how they look".

"Well, we all know who you would have said anyway...", muttered the guy who was interviewing her.

"Maybe my answer would surprise you", told him Anna, showing how not ok she thought that comment was.

"Really?"

"Yeah".

The rest of the interview, she just gave short and dry responses. Anna had reached a point where she was ready to say enough to all of the bullying she had to deal with. She was tired of people thinking they could insult her and suffer no consequences.

"Sorry if my comment offended you".

"Ok", she laughed sarcastically.

"I just...you know, everyone thinks there's something going on between you and Ferran".

"He's my friend".

"Footballers aren't just friends with girls that look like you, Anna. Be real".

"Believe whatever you want. You're still wrong", said Anna before leaving the studio.

She was so tired...and she still needed to go back to the radio to work for a few hours. At least the place was pretty empty, so she didn't have to deal with comments of any type.

But Hugo was there and he frowned seeing Anna's angry expression.

"Hi. You ok?", he asked, tentatively.

"Yeah. It's just...you know, life".

"Oh, the dreaded life. What did it do to you?", he laughed.

"I was just doing an interview. As in me being interviewed and the guy just said some things about me and Ferran. It was so uncomfortable. I'm so tired of people doing this to me".

"I don't mean to be rude and make you more uncomfortable but is there anything going on between you two at all?"

"No".

"So I can ask you out?"

Anna looked down blushing. "I guess you can try...".

"Let me take you to dinner tonight, Anna. No mentions of Ferran during that dinner. I promise".

Finally, that got a smile from her. "Ok. Let's do that".