Somewhere Only We Know • Ruben Dias

Chapter 37: Holidays Pt. 1

🎶 Am I Wrong? — Nico & Vinz 🎶

"You're being fucking childish! Packing your bags on the few days I have to spend with you!" Ruben shouted and I scoffed, raising my head to look at him.
"Spend with me?! You've barely acknowledged me these days!" I shouted back.
"Me? Not acknowledged you?! You didn't even sleep with me! We haven't had sex in two weeks!" he yelled now.

"Does that come as a surprise to you after how you've treated me since the League celebrations?!" I shouted angrily.
"You're being a bitch. Fix your attitude and tell me when you're back to being a supportive girlfriend" he scoffed, yanking his phone away from the charging station.
"How about we talk about you being a supportive boyfriend for a change? You've let me run into your sister's knife and laughed at me for landing on every fucking Portuguese and British tabloid! I'm a laughing stock!" I shouted, my voice cracking as I was breaking down from everything that was weighing on my shoulders.

"You're not a kid anymore. You wanted to get into a stupid argument with my ex, you carry the consequences" he said, pointing his index finger at me.
"Fuck you, Ruben" were my last words as I picked up my heavy suitcase from the bed and dragged it down the stairs, hoping that I would still catch the last flight back to the UK.

But let's start a few days back.

City was painfully defeated by United in the FA Cup final and Ruben had been benched for the whole game. There were whispers and articles on the internet going around that this was because of the situation with Scotty at the League-winning celebrations. But whenever I'd ask Ruben about it - carefully, not wanting to blow it up into a huge argument - he'd dismiss it as "silly rumours".

Me and him were definitely not on the best terms as we boarded our private jet to Ibiza with his family and some friends, with whom we'd spend a week before Ruben would have to join the national team for their EUROs preparations. But I tried to remain positive, these were holidays and maybe Ruben would be able to blow off some steam - and me too. Work had been exhausting these past few months and except for a few days around Easter, I hadn't taken any time off since New Year's.

And when we arrived at the villa, the spirits were lighter and after we settled into our master's bedroom, Ruben asked me if I wanted to join him for grocery shopping, to which I agreed. It normally would have taken about an hour, but we got so caught up in a small bliss of happiness that we spent three whole hours in the huge supermarket, cracking jokes at ingredients that reminded us of some memorable nights in together. We smelled our way through the whole body wash and shampoo section, with Ruben joking about who of his teammates smelled like certain brands.

We returned to the villa with big smiles on our faces, hand in hand and no one would have ever guessed that there was a small crack that had broken into our relationship - that we had only patched up momentarily. Ivan set up the barbecue and I made myself comfortable on the couches outside, only to be pulled onto my boyfriend's lap, who tenderly peppered me with sweet kisses throughout the dinner that we all shared between laughters and jokes.

On the second day, we did a small yacht trip to Formentera. The trip may have been small due to the short distance between the islands, but the yacht definitely wasn't. I got a bit lost between all the chatter in Portuguese which I couldn't understand at all, even though I had been careful not to lose my Duolingo streak these past weeks. Beatriz spent some time with me on the deck while Ruben was singing and drinking with his "bros" at the back.

"You alright?" she asked me, having noticed that my mood was a bit off.
"Yeah... I guess... I just... I know he really wants to spend time with his mates but I wished that we would have some alone time together too, you know?" I sighed, hoping that she would understand and not write me off as a whiny, clingy girlfriend.
"I get it... But he rarely sees them and it's just the first day. You guys will definitely be able to make some time alone too" she replied and smiled at me encouragingly.