Unexpected (bayern munich)

Chapter 30

The day of the fundraiser was here once more. After consulting with the medical team, the girls settled on conservative cocktail dresses—no more plunging necklines or designer tags. Plain, simple dresses. Their goal of the evening was "not to end up on the front page of a gossip magazine," as Naomi had so elegantly put it in their meeting a week beforehand.

Natalia's family was coming into town soon, and she spent the last week cleaning her apartment top to bottom, to avoid any criticism from her mother about how she lived in a "pigsty." She even managed to round Thomas into helping her dust her high built in bookshelves.

Natalia sat in Cat's apartment, and for the first time in forever the girls were ready hours ahead of time. They sat with their heeled feet up on Cat's newspaper table, sipping glasses of red wine before the town car arrived.

Wish I was going with you a text message from Thomas read, causing Natalia to smile.

Save a dance for me? Natalia shot back, only earning three smiley faces in response.

"You guys are so cute," Cat said reading their conversation over Natalia's shoulder.

"It's been hard," Natalia admitted adjusting her jewelry.

"How so?" Cat asked facing her.

"I like him, I want to shout from the rooftops that I'm dating Thomas Muller," Natalia said bluntly.

"Well do you think you will tell people eventually?" Cat asked rotating her engagement ring around her polished finger.

"Maybe," Natalia said before they received a call that their car was there.

As they pulled up to the side entrance, the girls gawked at the size of the venue.

"We picked some event to not red carpet for," Cat said under her breath as Natalia nodded, eyes wide at the size of the hotel and the sheer number of people there.

Bright lights lined the red carpet, and members of the team were making their way inside after stopping for a few minutes to talk to reporters. Natalia and Cat were ushered directly into the ballroom, where about 50 tables were set up, and masses of well-dressed people strutted about, heads held high, drinks full, wallets thick.

"Is there anyone here who isn't a football player, rich business person, or model?" Cat asked as the girls made their way over to the bar, a traditional pit stop before finding their seats and eating their fill.

"I don't think so," Natalia said scanning the crowd for familiar faces, before landing on Thomas who was talking to a tall blonde. They were laughing and she leaned over to touch his chest.

"Oh no," Cat breathed noticing the same thing.

Natalia threw back the rest of her drink and walked over to them, Cat trailing behind her.

"Hi Thomas," Natalia said casually, trying to ignore the blood pumping in her ears. Maybe it just looks bad. Relax, Nat. Don't be a green monster of jealousy, it's not very becoming. Good looking international football stars don't like jealous girls...

"Hey Natalia, Cat," Thomas said easily, "This is my friend Alena Gerber, she models—"

"Stop Thomas, Alena is good enough," she said shaking their hands.

"Nice to meet you," Natalia said stiffly, earning a stare from Thomas and a shove from Cat. Yeah well done covering that green monster up.

"How long have you and Thomas known each other?" Cat asked trying to smooth over the conversation.