Dogs & Pictures - Victoria Pelova

Chapter 39

Me and Johanna left the restaurant as we finished eating. I wanted to go find Vic and talk to her. I didn't know where she was but then I remembered we had each other's location on our phone. Thank god Vic made me turn my location.
I looked at my phone and saw a place I should've known she would've been at.
"where is she?" Johanna asked getting in the car.
showing her my phone I said, "Have you been there before?"
she chuckled.
"of course I have. That's the only place Vic ever wanted to go when we were younger."

It only took a few minutes to get there. Delft was a big enough city with a football park like this one. There were many football pitches beside each other and they weren't just regular grass and dirt pitches but were fancy artificial grass.
"how am I supposed to find her? This place is huge."
"Just try to find someone wearing a grey Nike sweater. I saw her wearing that this morning."
"Okay, thanks," I said, waving, turning around to see all the different ages of football teams playing on the pitches.
I began walking, taking a few seconds to look at each pitch to see if anyone was wearing a grey sweater. There were quite a few people, but none were Vic. Many parents watched their children play football, but still, no Vic was seen. I had passed about three pitches, leaving two to look at. Then remembering I had her location on me I looked at my phone seeing she was close by. Then I saw a figure sitting down with her arms hugging her legs and her head on her knees. It was Vic wearing a grey Nike sweater just like Johanna said. I was on the other side of the pitch looking at her as she was looking at the little kids running around chasing the ball. I slowly began walking around the field towards Vic with my hands in my pocket. It was cold in Delft but only because of the wind.

I was now walking to Vic seeing the side of her face instead of the front. She was in the same position as her head and continued to follow the kids with the ball. She hadn't noticed me yet as I was 5 feet apart from her. I got a little closer not knowing if I should say something to her or if she would look at me.
"Jesus!" Vic said flinching as she finally saw me. "Fuck Taylor you scared me!"
I couldn't help but let out the tiniest giggle.
"Sorry. I'm sorry Vic."
I waited for her to catch her breath.
"what are you doing here?"
"I um. I saw you were here on my phone," I said as she looked at me confused.
"You know. We have each other's locations... remember?"
She lifted her head in realization saying, "Right."
After she said that a few seconds of silence fell on us. She turned her head back to the children running after the ball. I then decided to sit down beside her as I watched them too run after a ball they didn't know how to kick. I looked back at Vic and saw how she looked at them she admired them and I admired her for that. Turns out I was staring for too long because she noticed as she turned to look at me she saw I was staring.
"What?"
I quickly looked away but then looked back at her trying to not make it weird.
"You enjoy being here? I mean I know you do because of how you look at them play but why?"
I could tell she thought about my question as she took her time thinking.
"You're asking why I enjoy watching little kids run around with a ball they can't control or why I enjoy being here in general?"
"Both," I answered not looking a glance away from her.
She sighed and looked back at the football pitch.
"I guess I just see myself in these kids. I remember being there age and having the best time of my life when I got the chance to touch the ball. The nostalgia hits me seeing them play here as well since this is the place I first played football in a real team," She said with a warm smile still looking at the kids. "Except when I look back at this place it wasn't this nice. It was just a big field of grass and dirt that somehow would be used for little kids to play in clubs. I've had many good memories and bad memories playing football ever since I first started but I would never always continue to play."
Vic turned her head at me and I could see in her eyes they were getting watery.
"I miss playing football and I hate that I have to go through this injury. But one thing that has kept me going wasn't just the love I have for the sport but also," she paused then said, "you."
She smiled softly at me as I did the same. I then scooted my body closer to her so that we were now touching side by side.
"I'm sorry Vic for leaving last night. I didn't even let you explain what happened and just left," I said not wanting to look at Vic's eyes. "I made a stupid choice drinking and I could've gotten hurt but I'm mostly sorry for not trusting you when I know I should've as your girlfriend," I let out still looking at the ground.
It was silent but then I felt Vic's hand lift my face now looking at her. She shook her head disagreeing with me.
"If there is anyone who should be sorry it is me, Tay. It was my choice to let Emma into my life again and because of that, I caused her to kiss me. I don't want you to feel bad about the situation I made," she said putting her hands on mine. I held them back squeezing them not ever wanting to let go.
"Don't apologize for not trusting me enough because if I was in your shoes I probably would've done the same. I can't imagine the hurt you felt at that moment, Taylor. I'm truly sorry my love," Vic said putting our four heads together.
That was the first time she called me that. I didn't mind it at all. It was sweet and made my heart warm. Next thing you know a tear came down from her eyes. I noticed it wiping it away from her cheek. I was now caressing her cheek looking at her eyes and leaning in to kiss her. We both knew in that moment we were okay again but there was still something Vic had to tell me.