Lifeline (Marc Guiu)

Chapter 13

Marc hadn't been able to stop thinking about what he heard Victoria say to Fermín. Or what she didn't say to Marc. Because she couldn't talk about something she didn't know anything about. And she didn't because Alicia didn't tell her.

He spent the night awake wondering how he would talk to Alicia. She had texted him but he ignored those texts. Until the morning, when he told her to meet him after uni.

"Hey!"

"Hi. Come in".

Seeing her beautiful smile when he opened the door made him wonder if he was overreacting. But Marc knew he couldn't continue like that. He couldn't accept the disrespect any longer.

"You ok?"

"I talked to Vicky yesterday".

"Oh", the fear in her eyes hurt Marc so much.

"Are you embarrassed of me or something?"

"What? No. Why would you say that?"

"Vicky doesn't know about me being a part of your life. She was literally talking to Fermín about finding you a boyfriend while I was sitting in front of her".

Alicia closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. This was all her fault.

"I wanted to tell her but...you know with everything going on with Vicky, I just didn't feel like I should tell her about me and any boys. It was like rubbing that on her face when she was feeling so low".

"I get that", said Marc. And he did. He knew that was their main reason to keep things a secret...at first. "But you can't hide behind Vicky anymore. She's fine now. She's with Fermín. They are happy".

"Yeah but you know...".

"I just know you're lying to yourself and I'm tired of it".

"Marc...".

"Your best friend you tell everything to doesn't even know who I am!", Alicia just looked down, embarrassed. "Do you know how that feels, Ali? Do you?"

Marc kept pacing around the room. He hated raising his voice in general, but doing that in the presence of Alicia made him feel disgusting.

"I might leave Barcelona and you don't give a fuck, Alicia".

"Don't say that", she whispered. How could he think that? Everytime Marc mentioned the teams that wanted to sign him, she wanted to vomit thinking about the possibility of him leaving to go to another country.

"It's what you're showing to me. You haven't said that you want me to stay. Not once".

"I can't make you stay or go. I have no right to do that".

"No but you could show you care. At least a little".

It was all so complicated for him. He wanted to stay at Barça but there were a few teams knocking on his door constantly and Barça didn't listen to that. They didn't hurry to give a new contract to Marc. He felt like they didn't value him either. Like Alicia wasn't valuying what they had. Did no one value him at all? Because Marc felt that way and it was a shitty feeling.

"Have the last few months meant anything to you? Because they meant a lot to me, Ali. You've been my best friend. I could tell you what I couldn't tell others and you opened up to me too. I thought you trusted me...but no one even knows about us being...friends".

"I liked having something that was just mine, ok?", she finally said.

"Why?"

"Because it's always been all about Vicky. It's been like that my whole life but especially the last few months. My parents, her parents, ...everyone worrying about her! I mean, you worried too but you were just mine, ok? I didn't have to share you. You cared about me. Just about me. I didn't want to have to share you with her like I have to share everything with her".