Something Always Brings Me Back to You

14) No Longer Your Muse

A/N: I'm back!! In this chapter, there's some fishy stuff brewing between Sophie and Cris... and maybe someone else... ENJOY!!

JUNE 2008

Sophie's POV

I glanced down at Mariana and watched her play with the miniature Portuguese flag. We were at a Portugal training session, because ever since the last match Mari had been desperate to see 'Papai' play again. Outside the stadium where the team was working out, business-minded people had decided to attempt to sell national spirit by selling tokens of whichever national team was playing or practicing that day. Today, many vendors were selling scarves, mini felt dolls of different players (which I thought were extremely creepy, and thankfully Mariana didn't ask for one) and of course, this little Portuguese flag which Mari had been desperate to have and fawning over ever since I purchased it for her. After all, she was half-Portuguese, I thought.

I wasn't sure how much this sudden onset of enthusiasm about being in his daughter's life from Cristiano would remain once we returned to England, but if he spent half as much time with little Mari back home as he does here, she would be speaking Portuguese as well. I hoped he would see her a lot. Though I would never consciously admit it, it brought so much warmth to my heart to see them together. To see how much he loved her made me happier than anything before.

I returned my attention to the players, who I saw were jogging over for a water break. Cris was lagging behind, of course, because unlike most of the other players, his main objective was not in relieving thirst, but in continuing to play with the ball and try to not-so-subtly show off his extensive collection of tricks. I suddenly heard him yell something into the stands where I was sitting and use his hand to call someone sitting right behind me up to the boards so they could speak. I turned around and was shocked to see the person he was motioning to was Hannah.

Hannah moved down the steps of the stands, without even motioning or saying anything to Mariana or I, down to the boards to meet Cris. He said something to her, and then, grabbing the ball with his feet, showed her some cool new over-the-shoulder trick he had learned. They both started laughing hysterically, as if this was some sort of inside joke of theirs.

I had noticed that Hannah and Cris had been spending a lot of time together recently. I wouldn't out right exactly say that this made me jealous, but I would say that it made me confused. Hannah had never expressed any interest in being Cristiano's friend.  In fact, after our breakup, Hannah had made it explicitly clear how glad she was that they weren't close.

They seemed to be together a lot, whether they were playing with Mariana together while Cristiano was supposed to be babysitting her alone, or if they were laughing about something together when I returned home from a date with Pepe. I felt out of the loop, and seeing that when it came to Cristiano, I was so used to being in the loop, it felt odd and uncomfortable. I would be the first to admit that I don't think my relationship with Hannah has been the same since they started spending so much time together.

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LATER THAT NIGHT

Cristiano's POV

"Haha! That is so true," Hannah calmed down after laughing hysterically at a comment I had just made. However,  I quieted and didn't respond as I heard the door open and Sophie come in. Unfortunately, I heard footsteps close behind her.

Though Hannah tried to start out conversation up again, I politely shushed her and tried to listen to the conversation. It wasn't eavesdropping if you weren't hiding the fact that you were in the vicinity of the conversation, right? And if Sophie had come into the kitchen, Cristiano would have been more than happy to have a conversation with her as well.