Lifeline (Marc Guiu)

Chapter 19

The weeks after finding out Marc was leaving were so full of big moments that Alicia could pretend for a second that everything was fine. Spain won the Euros and the gold medal at the Olympics. Alicia's happiness for Fermín's achievements was genuine but she also forced herself to focus on that more than she would have normally. To overcompensate for how heartbreaking it was to go on Instagram and see Marc wearing Chelsea colours. He looked happy, at least. Alicia didn't want Marc to be miserable just because she was. She wanted him to be happy in London and have a good career. Seeing his smile helped her more than if she had to see him looking sad.

"Why is Marc liking your posts?", asked Fermín while Alicia was hanging out with him and Victoria.

"Which post? Who are you talking to?", asked Alicia.

"Vicky's. I just saw the like".

"Is it my last post?"

"Yeah".

"You're in one of the photos and you shared it in your story. I guess that's why", explained Victoria. "Or maybe this Marc guy likes Ali. She's in three of the seven photos looking gorgeous".

Alicia pretended to chuckle at that comment but she was getting more nervous the longer the conversation went on. Why was Marc liking Victoria's posts all of a sudden?

"I guess it could be any of those reasons...", told her Fermín and then he frowned while he still looked at his phone. "Wait! Ali, why does Guiu follow you? And you follow him too?"

"Me? Umm...yeah. We met at a Puma shoot. So we followed each other".

"Right. Makes sense. But why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Weren't we talking about Marc? Who's Guiu?", asked Victoria before her friend could respond to that question and Alicia sighed. "And which Marc? There are like four at Barça".

Fermín shook his head and clicked on Marc's profile. He opened the first post and showed it to Victoria to jog her memory.

"Oh, this Marc. He's hot".

"Excuse me?"

"No, like, for Ali. He's her type. Right, Ali?"

"I don't know", said Alicia, looking away.

"I could tell him about you", told her Fermín, frowning. "Though I guess he already knows you".

"No need. I'm fine".

"She's blushing", laughed Victoria. "Maybe this Marc guy could make you forget about that idiot who hurt you".

"Who hurt you?", asked Fermín, looking a bit angry.

"No one. I don't want to talk about it".

Fermín was going to say more but Victoria stopped him. "Leave it, Fer. Ali doesn't feel comfortable talking about these things. Let's change the subject".

Alicia offered Victoria a grateful smile. She knew it was frustrating for Victoria how hard it was for Alicia to chat casually about her love life, but she appreciated the understanding.

Meanwhile, Marc was trying to get used to London and to playing for a new team. It almost felt wrong to be wearing other colours and not Barça's but he had to concentrate on getting ready for the season. His teammates were nice too...though he missed his Masia friends terribly. It also felt wrong to not be in the same team as them but he was used to seeing friends from the academy go every season. Now it was his turn.

Preseason went well. Marc didn't play in the Euros or the Olympics like other players, so he was rested and ready to try and show he deserved a spot in the squad. In a squad that was so big, people had a new meme about it every couple of hours.

"Waiting for someone to call you?", asked one of his new teammates and Marc shook his head. "Then why are you staring at your phone like that?"

"I don't know...just bored".

"How about we go out later? Season is still not on so...we can have some fun. And we'll show you a few bars in London that are pretty nice for people like us".

Marc didn't love the people like us comment too much but he wanted to get on well with his teammates. And he was a young man in a new city. Would it be so bad to go out one night?

The expected happened, and that was the reason why he doubted the night out plan was a good idea in the first place. Their group was quickly surrounded by women. And Marc couldn't care less about them. But they cared about him. He was the new boy and everyone was curious about what he was like.

"This is Kelsey", said someone Marc didn't even get to see and then he found a blonde girl sitting next to him.

"Hi! I'm Kelsey".

She was pretty...but Marc wasn't interested. "Sorry, I don't speak good English".

"Oh, I can just keep you company. We don't have to talk. But I can teach you English. Or you can teach me Spanish".

Marc tried to be nice. It wasn't this girl's fault that he was miserably heartbroken. And, normally, he would have been more than happy to have a hot girl like her sitting next to him on a night out...but not now. Not while all she could think about was Alicia.

Kelsey ended up leaving to get some drinks and brought one for Marc, trying to start a conversation again and he kept rejecting her. But she didn't give up easily. Still, she left to go dance with some other girls so Marc got a little break from her company.

"Hey man, why are you being like that to Kelsey? She's all over you and you don't seem to care".

"That's because I don't care", muttered Marc before taking a sip of his beer.

"You're not into blondes?"

He just shook his head and got up to head to the toilet. It wasn't a hair colour issue. He just wasn't into anyone that wasn't Alicia. No matter how hard he tried to get her out of his head.

While he was on the bathroom queue, he checked Instagram and saw another photo of Alicia. She was always with Victoria and Fermín. Marc couldn't help but think about how double dates would have been like. He was friends with Fermín already so that wasn't an issue. And Victoria seemed very nice too so...it could have been great. But he wasn't there. He was bored in a random bar in the middle of London while they played board games.

"I'm going to head home".

"What?"

Everyone looked like at Marc like they couldn't believe him. It wasn't even midnight. Kelsey seemed particularly sad, which almost made him laugh. Did she really think something was going to happen between them? Marc couldn't have been more clear about how little interest he had in her.

"I'm not feeling great. I'll get a taxi and head home. See you tomorrow".

A few of his teammates booed Marc and he laughed at that. Yeah, he wasn't the life of the party but he didn't feel like partying at all. Feeling sorry for himself in his own house felt like a nicer plan.