.vier.
Manuela Reus had a daily routine.
She got up in the morning, took a shower, changed into a fresh pair of clothes, before going out for a morning walk around the park. In the many years that she had done this, she had met many people who greeted her each morning. One of them was a middle aged woman who ran a newspaper stand.
With the growing popularity of technology, business at the news stand wasn't too good. But Manuela Reus always made sure to help her friend out by purchasing the morning paper.
"Goodmorning, Manuela." The woman at the newstand greeted.
"Goodmorning, Lia." Manuela greeted back with a polite smile. She reached into her pocket and got out her money to purchase her copy of the morning newspaper.
She handed the money to her friend and her friend grabbed a copy. Giving it to her friend, she congratulated her with a smile. "Congratulate little Marco on his new relationship for me, will you?" She asked.
Manuela's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Marco didn't tell me anything about having a girlfriend."
"Well he's on the cover of the news paper." Lia told her. Her blue eyes gestured to the picture plastered over the front page. Manuela took one look at the picture to see it was definitely her son, and he was accompanied by what looked like another young man with dark hair and lightly tanned skin. The pictures had been taken at a local park, and they were both smiling, both looked very in love.
"He has a boyfriend." Manuela gasped in surprise.
To her, it all seemed to make sense. Her son had gone a long time without having a girlfriend. It was clear that the reason was because he wasn't interested in women. Marco was interested in men. Manuela, like Marco's friends, was hurt that her son hadn't told her sooner about his preferences. That meant he didn't trust his own mother enough to tell her what was happening in his life.
Folding her newspaper and stuffing it into her purse, she told her friend, "Excuse me, I need to call my son Marco."
Manuela walked off to the side, out of earshot, and got her phone out. She was about to dial her son's phone number when she got a call from one of her daughters. The moment Manuela hit the answer button, was the very same moment she heard Melanie's hurried voice, "Mom, did you see the morning papers?" She asked. "They're making up lies about Marco, claiming he likes men. What the hell is that? We need to call this news station and make them take this article back."
"Do you think its fake?" Manuela wondered. The pictures looked real to her.
"They must be photoshopped." Melanie affirmed. "Marco will be crushed when he sees this. You know how much he tries to have a good reputation."
"I was just about to call him and ask." Manuela informed her daughter.
"Let me know what he says." Melanie pleaded.
Manuela ended her phone call with her daughter and called her son. Marco answered in the first few rings. "Hallo mama." He said into the phone sleepily. She had probably woken him with her phone call. Whenever Marco didn't have something to do in the mornings, he liked to sleep in. "What made you call me so early? Not that I mind..."
"Marco," His mother began, "I saw the newspapers, why didn't you tell me anything?"
He groaned, "Mom, I just didn't feel comfortable talking about my love life with you. I'm twenty five years old."
"Don't you trust me?" His mother asked.
"I do." He assured her.
"But I had to find out through the newspaper." She pointed out.
Groaning once more, he told her, "I'll take Jude over to the house soon. But please let me sleep, I stayed up 'til late playing FIFA with Jude and I'm very tired."
"Alright." Manuela agreed with him. "I'll let you sleep. But just know your sisters and I will support you and we hope you and your partner are very happy together."
She hung up the phone, leaving Marco confused.
"Partner? Why didn't she just call her my girlfriend?"
But he didn't care enough to find out. He was too tired after spending all night on FIFA with Jude, and he closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.
-
When he woke up later that morning, he saw that he had a message from Bastian asking when the double date would be. Instead of replying by text message, he decided to call his friend on the phone.
It rang for a few minutes before Bastian answered. "Hey Marco!" He said cheerfully.
"Hey Basti." Marco greeted back, still sounding a bit sleepy.
"When are we all going out together?" The Bayern footballer wondered. He quickly added another question and Marco could practically see the grin on his friend's face. "How is Jude's mom? Is she hot?"
Marco thought about it. Grace Wopschall was a beautiful woman with ebony black straight hair, porcelain skin, and crimson red lipstick always on her lips. "If you want to be completely honest, she's a good looking woman. But not my type." He was completely in love with Jude. "Grace kind of reminds me of snow white." He blurted out, thinking about making a valid comparison.
Bastian laughed. "You're making a childish comparison. I'm picturing a Disney princess now."
"Grace is very young." Marco told his friend.
"How young?" Bastian wondered.
"I don't know exactly." He sighed. "But she has to be at least thirty five because Jude is twenty."
Upon hearing this, Bastian sounded excited. "So, when can I meet her?"
"Tonight." Marco replied. But he wasn't sure. He would need to consult with Grace and Jude first. And he hoped they wouldn't mind going out that night because Bastian seemed to be very excited to be meeting Grace.
"Alright. Text me the address and I'll pick her up at seven." said the Bayern footballer. "I'll see you later."
Their call ended seconds later and Marco texted Bastian the address to Jude's home. But he still couldn't help but wonder why his friends and now his mother were acting so weird around him. What was so strange about the fact that he was in love with Jude Wopschall?
-
just wanted to post a quick update tonight bc i wont be on all day tonmorrow (or later today actually). because im going to knotts berry farm (its not actually a berry farm, its an amusement park, but it used to be a berry farm) with my friend tomorrow. my cousins were going to go too, but (as always), they lagged it in the end. but whatever, im going to have fun.
thank you all so much for reading this story. it means a lot to me. i love you!
-clary xx
