Lifeline (Marc Guiu)

Chapter 8

Marc had been asked to join the first team's training once again and he was hanging out with some of his friends in the dressing room. Fermín was there too, by himself. He was putting his boots on when Oscar got inside the dressing room and walked towards him.

"What is going on?", whispered Marc but he soon got his answer.

For a second, everyone present feared Oscar was going to hit Fermín but he just screamed at him. Asking him about his daughter Victoria being pregnant. Marc had know for a while about Fermín dating Victoria but Alicia didn't tell Marc anything about a pregnancy.

"Fermín is sleeping with the manager's niece?", asked Héctor, also looking at the scene in front of him not believing what he was seeing.

"I guess...", told him Marc. He still didn't want to betray Alicia, who had trusted him so much with all that information about Fermín and Victoria.

"And he got her pregnant? Well, he's dead".

"Shut up", was all Marc said.

They all saw Fermín leaving to hide in one of the toilet cubicles. Oscar had left too and everyone left was almost too afraid to talk. There were whispers about what had happened but that was it.

"I can't believe he didn't tell us", was all Lamine said. He seemed pretty offended Fermín hadn't shared the gossip with him. "I bet Gavi knew".

"And Xavi and Oscar knew", said Héctor. "That must have been why Vicky disappeared all of a sudden".

"Yeah. Probably", told them Marc, following everyone to the pitch so they could start training.

Fermín was around, just kicking the ball but not looking up. No one seemed brave enough to approach him so Marc decided to be the one to grow a pair and joined his friend.

"Hey! Fermín!"

"What?", if looks could kill, Marc would have died right then and there.

"You ok?"

"What do you think?"

Marc ignored how rude Fermín was. He got it. Marc could only imagine how it'd be to go through something like that and in front of everyone. But he was itching to call Alicia too. She needed to know about this.

Fermín talked to Xavi, who had missed the whole argument, and then he left the pitch. Not long later, Oscar showed up and he also talked to Xavi and left.

After the training was over, Marc showered in record time and ran back to his car. Once he was alone, he could call Alicia.

"Hi".

"Are you still with Vicky?"

"No. Why?", her voice sounded so worried.

"I think she'll need you now".

"Why? Marc, you're scaring me. What happened?"

"It's about Fermín", he clarified. "Where are you? I just finished training and I'm in my car. Can you meet me now?"

There were a few seconds of silence and then Alicia finally talked again.

"I'm near the training centre. Wait for me and we can talk ok?"

"Sure. I'll drive to the coffee place that's right outside so you don't need to ask for a pass to get to the parking lot".

"Good idea. Be there in 10 minutes".

The wait felt eternal and then Marc finally saw Alicia running towards his car. She opened the door and sat down, trying to catch her breath.

"So what happened?"

Marc took a bottle of water from his bag and gave it to Alicia before talking. "Oscar was yelling at Fermín telling him he got Vicky pregnant and now everyone knows about them being together".

"He's gone mad. What the hell? And how did he know about that?"

"I don't know but is Vicky pregnant?", he didn't want to be nosey but he wanted to know.

"She's not. But she thought she could be. I had to buy a test for her and she took it a couple of days ago".

"Is she ok?"

"No".

Alicia put the lid back on the bottle and looked down. Marc could tell she was about to cry and the need to console her was too strong. He hated seeing her like that.

"Hey! Come here".

Alicia allowed Marc to grab her by the waist so he could place her on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he held her while she tried to control her emotions.

"I don't know what to do to help her".

"You're doing all you can".

"But you don't know her, Marc. I can't remember the last time I saw my best friend smile. How fucked up is that?"

Really fucked up, he thought. "Fermín isn't doing great either. I just don't get it. They know Fermín. They know they can trust him. I could understand if it was another player but Fermín?"

"Oscar has always protected Vicky too much but he's lost the plot now".

"It's affecting you too", his words made Alicia look up at Marc.

"Me?"

"Yes", he said, putting some of her hair behind her ear. "You're sad too. I don't like that".

"It's hard to be happy when someone who's so important to you is being hurt like that".

"I know", said Marc, looking at Alicia in a way she didn't fully understand. "Let me protect you from all of it".

"How?"

"When we are alone, let's not think about any of it. Let's pretend your friends are fine and I'm not...".

"You're not what?"

It wasn't easy for Marc to say it out loud but, once again, it felt easier when he was talking to Alicia.

"I sometimes don't know if I'll continue playing at Barça for long".

"Why?"

"It's a crucial time for my career now. If I don't get game time, I might have to find it somewhere else and I already got a few offers from big teams".

Alicia didn't want to think about that. About Marc leaving. He couldn't leave. He couldn't leave her.

"Ok so...we pretend that's not an issue either. But if you need to talk about it with someone...".

Marc smiled down at Alicia, so grateful that she offered to be for him. "Thank you. I'll keep it in mind. You know you can talk to me about anything too".

"But the rest of the time...we forget about it".

"We do", agreed Marc.

They just held each other for a few more minutes before Alicia went back to the passenger's seat.

"Do you want to go see Vicky? I could drive you to her house".

"I don't know. I'm not supposed to know about what happened".

"What...oh, right".

"She'll call me if she needs me. But...can you...can you stay with me?"

Alicia almost looked afraid of suggesting that but Marc was more than happy to oblige.

"Of couse I can. Let's go to my apartment. No one will bother us there".