Lifeline (Marc Guiu)

Chapter 12

"Who's that girl that's so close to Fermín? If Oscar sees them, he's a dead man".

Marc lifted his head to see who his friends meant and saw who was the girl that was smiling at Fermín like they were best friends. Because they were.

"That's Vicky's best friend", he said and all of his teammates stopped staring at Fermín and Alicia to stare at him instead.

"And how do you know that?", asking Pau, raising an eyebrow.

"You're all stupid", he told his friends, pretending like he wasn't about to start blushing. "I saw her once when she visited Vicky and Oscar said they were like sisters or whatever".

"She's not as hot as Vicky but she's cute", said Héctor.

Now everyone went back to staring at Alicia. Everyone but Marc.

Not as hot as Vicky?, depending on who you asked because Marc never looked at Victoria that way. He was probably the only one of the younger players who didn't care about how pretty Xavi's niece was. And he thought it was probably for the best. Too messy, as Fermín now knew.

He got why the boys liked Victoria so much, though. She was pretty. But everyone had different tastes and Marc's led him more to liking Alicia. She wasn't just cute to him. She was everything he ever wanted in a girl and then some. And she was right there...ignoring Marc.

"Let's go train!"

All the boys got up and, instead of walking towards the door, took the longest possible way to the door so they could get close to where Alicia was. She had now been joined by Oscar too but Marc's friends didn't care. When he saw Lamine pretending to bump his arm against Alicia's by accident, Marc had to take a few deep breaths before he left the dressing room.

"Where is my...", Marc looked down at his arm and sighed.

"What's wrong?", asked Xavi.

"I forgot the GPS bracelet we wear to record our stats for training. I'll run to the dressing room and be back in a second".

"Ok, don't worry. We can't start until Oscar and Fermín finish chatting".

Marc saw Alicia getting out of the dressing room while he was going back. She hugged Fermín and Oscar before she spotted Marc.

"Sorry, I forgot something", he said, looking down and entering the dressing room.

"Bye guys!", he heard Alicia say while he was searching for the bracelet.

Marc didn't turn when he heard the door open, too used to people opening and closing those doors all the time.

"Hi", he heard Alicia say and he had to swallow his nerves.

"What are you doing here? Someone could see you".

When Marc stood up, he could see Alicia out of the corner of his eye. He just focused on putting the bracelet on but his hands were sweating and it kept slipping.

"Let me do it".

Marc didn't have time to react before she took the bracelet from his hands and started to place it on his bicep. Alicia really loved those biceps and he knew it. He wore sleeveless tops around her all the time for a reason. But Marc also knew how much he liked it when she touched his arms. Or any part of his body, really.

"Why are you here?"

Alicia looked up at him and smiled. "I brought something for Fermín. He's planning a surprise date for Vicky and needs my help".

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to bother you", she shrugged.

"You wouldn't have".