[ siebzehn ]
Thomas was returning home from practice in the afternoon and opened the front door to his house when he saw Erik and Lolita in the living room, making out on the couch. He had taken a flight to Dortmund right after practice ended because he wanted to be there for Lolita now that her mother was in the hospital. But that was only his excuse to see her. Erik was slowly, but surely, falling in love with Lolita Gallegos. The two stopped and pulled away from each other when they heard the door open. Erik looked embarrassed, a blush made its way onto his cheeks, but Lolita was calm and on her face was a polite smile.
Since they had made their pact to get along better, she no longer had a reason to glare at him or act in a rude way towards him. He was her mother's husband and she was going to make an effort to get along with him.
The seventeen year old didn't seem to notice the way Thomas shot daggers at his team mate from the national team. But Erik sure noticed and he shrunk in his seat on the couch. He figured that Thomas was just being an overprotective step father since Lolita was very beautiful.
"How was training, Thomas?" She asked him, and was about to get up from her spot on the couch to greet him properly. But he just strode past them without saying anything. He went down the hall to his office and slammed the door shut. The Bayern footballer knew that if he said anything, she would become upset with him and he would probably lose the progress he was making with her.
Throwing his training bag onto one of the chairs in front of his desk, he roared angrily. "I hate Erik!"
He had never hated anyone so much before, but Erik was slowly getting on his nerves. He was always there, always around Lolita. And a lot of times when they were together, Thomas would catch them making out. It hadn't really been too long since Lolita and Erik had started seeing each other, but to Thomas it felt like ages.
Lolita was young, and perhaps, he hoped, she would get over Erik quickly. At seventeen, there might have been a chance that a relationship between them wouldn't be entirely serious.
Thomas sat at his chair and brought his hands to his head, tangling into his hair.
He would need to talk to Erik, and really talk to him in order to try to get him to stay away from his step daughter. And he would talk to her as well. Lolita would probably dislike it, she would maybe even hate him for it. But the last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt.
-
The Bayern footballer stayed locked in his office, hoping to avoid Erik and Lolita, until it was time for dinner. By that time, he knew Erik would be gone because he still had practice the next day and had to be back in Dortmund.
He left his office toward the kitchen and saw Lolita sat by herself on the living room couch. Her cellphone was in her hands and she was typing away on it with a huge smile on her face. She looked up from her screen when she heard the footsteps approaching. She set her phone faced down on the couch and smiled at him, "Hey Thomas."
"Hallo Lolita." He said, giving an awkward wave of his hand.
"Why were you so upset earlier?" She wondered. She was still surprised to see him like that, since she had always known Thomas to be a happy person.
Shaking his head, he explained to her, "Nothing. I just had a problem with someone at training." He lied.
"Oh." She raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Lolita..." He began, taking a few steps closer to her. Now he was standing just a few feet from where she was sitting. There was an open spot on the couch, but he didn't know if she would mind him sitting next to her. Just a few days before she hated him. "Can we talk?" He asked her.
