Soul Harbour

0.18|when watching a football match|

0.18|from Sabah's tape-recorder: when watching a football match|

"Its on, the match is on, Carlotta."

Auburn was screeching her head off at my tv and though the music was on so loud and only advertisements had been playing till a second ago, the urgency in her voice was enough to make me put the "Closed" sign on the door.

"I'm coming," I shouted back.

"They're coming out of the tunnel. If you don't come now, you'll miss Anthony. He's here, he's here!"

I walked in just as the camera was panning outwards and I groaned, "Ugh, missed him."

"He's there. Oh my God, he looks so serious and responsible and talented and..." Auburn's eyes were shining with pride and happiness. She was so close to the tv screen that one push and she might have fallen through it.

"The anthem! They better show his face now. I can't wait for you to see him," she smiled at me. "Look, its James, Gareth...Anthony!"

I looked at the tv screen with a crazy smile too. There's the boy who blushes at every little compliment and waits on tables sometimes on national television. Its unbelievable. His wet, blonde hair was combed back tightly giving him a slightly mature look, his eyes looked a cold grey today (or maybe that's how his eyes look from afar) and he looked serious. As the camera stayed on his face, a slight nervousness reached his eyes.

"He's nervous," both Auburn and I noted at the same time.

"Well, he has cause to be," Auburn defended him to no one in particular. "Its his debut and the stupid cameraman is not moving away from his face."

The camera moved away finally and Auburn scowled, "What? That was too soon. Go back cameraman. Zoom on my best friend!"

I laughed quietly.

The match was an extremely exciting one because every time the camera showed Anthony we would begin screaming and cheering. After the first ten minutes, his wet hair had gone dry and begun to fall into his eyes. He was continuously brushing them aside, combing them with his fingers and his cheeks had begun to slightly redden.

"He's lovely to watch, right?" I asked Auburn slyly.

"Yes," she said, glued to the tv. "He's perfect and he runs remarkably well. Its his debut and he is managing to complete most of the passes."

I couldn't help but laugh more.

"What?" Auburn asked.

"You just said he's lovely and perfect," I smirked. "You like him."

"Uh-I did?" Auburn looked at me and looked away quickly. "He's a lovely player and he is a perfect player." She smiled widely at having made that poor save.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not buying that just so you know."

She didn't even bother to argue. Had to be a sign, right? My matchmaking antennae were up and happy.

Fourteen minutes after half-time, Anthony got substituted and as we watched his 13 number jersey with the letters KROFF disappearing with him, both of us booed at the tv and at the coach.

"The coach is so dumb. How can he substitute Anthony for...who is this guy?" Auburn peered at the new midfielder who had been hugged my Anthony at being substituted by. "Rico? What sort of name is that, huh? Anthony was so much better than him. Look, he slipped. Did you see he slipped? Anthony didn't slip. Gah! Bring him back, now!"

I looked at Auburn, slightly scared by her violent outburst, "Is that how you usually watch football matches? They can't hear you. You know that right?"

She huffed, "No. Well, English league is so boring compared to the Spanish league and Anthony is, thanks to the stupid coach, was playing so I just got more excited than usual. And yes, I do know they can't hear me but its no fun watching silently."

"Good," I took a deep breath. "And you do know players get substituted in every match. Its common especially if it's a new and younger player."

"Yes, Carlotta, I do know football but its Anthony!" she said as if that made total sense and excused all her maniacal threats and shouts to the tv. Love, I suppose, makes you crazy. "Wait a second, how do you know so much about football?"

"David was a huge football fan," I smiled tightly. "Barca fan actually. He got me interested in the sport but I liked Real Madrid instead because Zidane...I mean, he had a fabulous butt and-uh-he played great too."

"Zidane does have a great butt," Auburn agreed slowly.

And so we spent the rest of the afternoon discussing Zidane's butt and that led to Cristiano's abs and of course, that led to Anthony.

"What about Anthony's butt?" I asked slyly yet again.

She blushed this time, "What!?" Spying my sly smirk, she covered up quickly, "I mean, what about it?"

I wasn't giving up. Making people uncomfortable is amazing. "Have you ever noticed it?"

"I-I-no, I haven't," she spluttered.

"Abs?"

"He hasn't been shirtless or naked in front of me if that's what you're asking," she laughed.

"But you wish he did, right?"

"Carlottaaaa!"

[i'm backkk from my unplanned mini-vacation and here's a chapter to make you sleep with a smile (hopefully). sorry for the football stuff, didn't write anything technical as such so hope it wasn't boring and even though anthony wasn't there in the chapter, you all got a great view of him and omg who would want to see anthony naked?

(waked, Mum, i meant waked its old english for waking) (she didn't buy it gah)

please vote+comment and if i get enough comments asking me to, i'll write a shirtless anthony scene asap, i promise so go ahead, spam me ;)

ilyall <3]