Luce di Stella • Kenan Yildiz

Chapter 8: Sleepover

🎶 Secrets — OneRepublic 🎶

As expected, I was tossing and turning in bed for hours, those stupid zombies from the Universal Studios haunting me as soon as I closed my eyes. Fuck, why was I such a chicken?! I reached to my phone on my nightstand and turned it around: 01:23AM. Fucking great.

I put on one of the hotel's bathrobes and left my room, taking my phone and key card with me. I knew it was useless to knock at Dean's door, but I tried nonetheless. Whenever he had to sleep in a bed that wasn't his, he put on a white noise playlist that had to go all night long at full volume - so of course he didn't hear the knocks on my door. My only other option really was the room next to his, and I cursed myself a million times for doing this, but everything was better than being alone in my room right now where zombies could crawl out from under my bed any minute.

Hesitantly, I knocked and one or two minutes passed until I accepted that this door wouldn't open either and was about to turn around to walk back to my room.
"Oh" I heard Kenan say when he flung his door open.
"What?" I asked back.
"Um... I didn't expect you at my door at almost 2AM" he grumbled, still half-asleep.
"What? You would have hoped it would be Alessandra from social media?" I mimicked and he laughed.

"Come in" he just said and stepped aside a bit. After I had entered his room, he padded straight back to his bed and fell flat onto it. I let my eyes wander around and was shocked, it looked like a tornado had hit here - dirty socks and underwear were scattered between Italian textbooks and training gear, I had never seen a place this untidy.

"So, what brings you to my room in the middle of the night?" he grumbled as he sat up a bit.
"The stupid Zombie World you guys dragged me to" I huffed as I was still standing in the entrance of the room while he laughed.
"I repeat my question" he chuckled amusedly.
"I couldn't sleep, ok? And Dean can't hear shit through that stupid white noise he has running all night" I huffed and plopped down on his bed annoyedly.

"Aww, you want to cuddle?" he teased me and was about to wrap an arm around me, but I swatted it away.
"Don't you even dare" I said through gritted teeth and so we just laid there, looking at the ceiling.
"You're the one here making me break the "No girls"-rule, what if you sell me out just to get rid of me?" he asked and I turned my face to him.
"I wouldn't do that, and honestly, I don't believe in those rules. If 5 rounds of sex the night before a game are what a player needs to deliver the next day, then let him. I think that only what's being done on the pitch matters" I mumbled.
"That's probably why you're on the board and not the coaching staff" he chuckled and I found myself laughing too.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.
"You already did when asking if you could ask something" I chuckled, loving how easy it was to tease him.
"Oi!" he protested and I laughed.
"Go on, I'll still be able to decide if I want to answer or not" I chuckled.

"For whom did you buy that t-shirt today?" he asked and I shut my eyes, remaining silent.
"Sorry, I-" he started, but I cut him off.
"For my brother" I simply replied, maybe he didn't know that he... It's normal to just buy a souvenir for a sibling.
"Is this... your, I'm, ritual?" he asked and now I knew he knew.
"Who told you?" I asked.
"Dean, but... he said it's none of my business" he mumbled back and I had to let out a little chuckle at how protective my best friend was over this.

"Edoardo was two years older than me, he... died a year ago. Quad incident in Mykonos" I said, surprised by myself that I chose to share this with him. Not even the press knew the details as my parents had chosen to keep this matter strictly private.
"Fuck... I'm so sorry, Beatrice" he whispered and I nodded as a tear slipped down my cheek. But his hand was faster than mine and wiped it away.

"Was he... drinking?" he asked quietly, and I knew it wasn't meant in a bad way, so I decided to not lose my temper.
"No, my gosh. He knew better than smearing our family name by doing something that stupid. We're car manufacturers for Heaven's sake, that would be the worst publicity" I huffed. "No, he just... It was dark and you know Greek islands, well, they went off-road and... he simply lost control. It was stupid but it cost him his life" I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Beatrice, really... Were you guys close?" he asked.
"Yeah, a lot. That's why I bought him the t-shirt. My parents still left his room untouched at home and I... I buy him stuff, just like I would if he was still alive. I know it's stupid..." I muttered.
"No, it's not. It's... very thoughtful" he replied quietly.
"Thanks" I whispered, as I thought it would be good to be polite. Damn my nice education.

Somehow, I felt sunlight on my face and I thought I was dreaming. My head was resting comfortably on a man's chest and I was safely cuddled up in a warm and strong embrace. Everything was perfect, and I looked up to see the man's face as I smiled.

But this wasn't a dream. And that man was Kenan. How the fuck had we fallen asleep?!
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" I shrieked and his whole body jolted up, making him fall out of bed and I quickly covered my fully clothed body even more with the bedsheets.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" he shouted at me now when he had stood up again.
"How did we end up like this?!" I asked, sounding a bit panicky. This couldn't be true - a board member in bed with a player, fuck, fuck, fuck, if this came out. If my uncle knew.

"I swear that if you tell anyone anything that happened last night, including all the stuff I said, I'll make sure not to kill you, but to let you get you run over by a car that breaks your legs so badly that you'll have to watch football from the TV for the rest of your life" I hissed as I stood up and quickly put on that stupid hotel bathrobe again.
But instead of looking scared by my threat, Kenan was only grinning.

"Your hot and cold moods, it makes the chase just so much more exciting" he chuckled and I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Which chase?" I asked.
"To get you to cave into my irresistible charm" he gushed.
"I've resisted quite well until now, that's not really a challenge for me" I spat.
"Oh, you just wait" he chuckled amusedly and I scoffed before stomping away to his room door.

"Come here and be helpful, if someone sees me here, it's you who gets kicked out of the club, not me" I hissed and waved him over. Of course I'd never allow him to be kicked out over something stupid like this, but my main concern was Dean next door. If he walked out in that exact same moment as me, I'd never live down to it.
"No one's here, it's fucking 6AM" Kenan huffed annoyedly as he checked the corridor.

"Bye" I mumbled as I passed by him, but before I could leave, he trapped me against the wall right next to his door before I could leave.
"If you want to come around again, wear a satin pyjama next time, I love those" he said and grinned down at me. I'd be lying if I said my heart wasn't racing a hundred times faster than usual, being in this position.
"I wear silk, not cheap polyester satin" I huffed as I pushed him away with all my strength. "And I'll make sure you'll get benched tonight" I added before walking out.