Play like a culé: A Cristian Tello Fan Fic

Chapter 5

María's P.O.V.

Come back to Barcelona with him? Right now? I mean, I thought I'd have time to think things over. But at the same time I was just as desperate to be with him alone. To spend time together by ourselves. A smile erupted from my lips as I chuckled and said: "Yes. Yes, I want to come with you." He took my waist in his hands and spun me around for the second time in a very small period of time. But I didn't care as long as I kept seeing that expression of pure joy and satisfaction in his face. He bent down to kiss me and I kissed him back, overjoyed. "Here. Take this. I'll text you the pin. We'll be staying at another hotel closer to the airport. Take tomorrow afternoon's flight. I'll be waiting for you." He'd reached into his bag and was giving me his credit card. I took it in my hand and, when he finished, said: "I can't take this, Cristian." "It's the least I could do. This is my gift to you for agreeing to come back with me." "The only gift I want is you waiting for me at the gate." I pushed the card back in his hand and kissed him. He took it but wouldn't take no for an answer and slipped it into the pocket of my dress all while not breaking the kiss. "Take it. I'll see you tomorrow." "Fine." I half-heartedly complained. "I can't wait." He pressed his lips against my forehead and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel. 

...

I barely sleep that night as I am incredibly excited about what awaits me in Barcelona. I get ready early in the morning because I don't want to wait a second longer. As I am putting my clothes on, I get a call from Cristian. I can't help but smile from ear to ear as I answer. "Hello." "Hi." He tries a sweet tone, huge noise audible in the background, but my intuition tells me there's something wrong. "I have some bad news." Oh, God. Has he changed his mind? Does he never want to see me again? "What is it?" "I won't be able to make it to Barcelona today. We have to present the trophy to the president of the government and do a couple of interviews. We'll be taking off to Barcelona tomorrow. I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do." He sounds sincere and apologetic. I'm skeptical so I confess: "Oh. I thought you'd changed your mind about me. About us." I hear steps through the phone while I say this and suddenly, the noise in the background diminishes until it is almost gone. "No. Please don't think that. Oh, God. I was afraid of this. I wonder if there's some way to blow it off..." "No, no. It's ok. I believe you. Go show off your trophy. You deserve it." I try to encourage him as much as possible. After a while of silence, I add: "Where are you?" "I'm hiding in the bathroom." I start laughing through the phone. "Have I told you I love your laugh? It isn't the same through a cell phone, though. I wish I could have you close so I could hold you." 

Cristian's P.O.V. 

Oh my God. This is insane. What the hell did I just say? This girl was driving me crazy. I was turning into a disgusting romantic. But it was the truth. I would've given anything to blow this off, go straight to Barcelona and wrap my arms around her. But that would be impossible. We had some international duties to fulfill and I had no choice. I hope she understands. She interrupts my reverie: "I wish I could see you today, too. Is it totally ridiculous to say I miss you already?" "Not more ridiculous than I sounded just now." She laughs again and I wish I could put it on speaker so I could hear her better. Her laugh was what I liked most about her. "Then, I miss you. Get to Barcelona as fast as you can." "I will. See you soon." "Looking forward to it." 

María's P.O.V. 

I shrugged off my initial skepticism about him changing his mind because I knew he was telling the truth and that he was truly sorry for not being able to make it. I went by the day watching pay-per-view movies in my room, went downstairs to the spa at some point in the afternoon and got a lot of areas waxed (eyebrows, upper-lip, my bikini-line). I got the occassional text update from Cristian. "Get me out of here"..."This is so boring"..."HELP!" and the like. I couldn't help but laugh every time I read one. Around 11:00PM, when I was nodding off against the backboard of the bed, my phone started ringing. I picked it up from the bedside table and it was Cristian. "Hi." I said, sounding a little groggy. "Did I wake you? I'm so sorry..." "It's ok. I wasn't asleep yet." I smile at his apology. "I just wanted to let you know that we'll be leaving for Barcelona tomorrow at around 8:00. You can take the afternoon flight if you wanna sleep in." "I already booked the 5:00AM flight. It's going directly to Barcelona. So we'll get there at around the same time." "What? But that means you have to get to the airport in three hours. When are you gonna sleep?" He sounded so worried for me. It made me scoff. "Don't scoff at me. You have to sleep. I don't like this." "I'll sleep on the plane. Don't worry so much. You'll get an ulcer." "Fine. Besides, you can sleep when you get to Barcelona. In my arms, preferably." "I would very much like that." I said, authoritatively. "It's settled." there's a long silence and he's not saying goodbye so I guess there's something on his mind. "What is it?" "I have to talk to you about something serious." "Ok. I'm all ears." I say as I cross my legs and brace myself. 

"I talked to my girlfriend today. Well, my ex-girlfriend. I broke up with her. She took it pretty badly." I think about what I'm going to say and finally: "Maybe you should've done it in person." "I just couldn't keep lying to her. I thought it'd be better if I came clean as fast as possible." "I understand. I sort of agree with you..." I trail off and he can tell I was about to say something else. "But?" "But I'm still not sure you should've done that. What if you change your mind? What if this is temporary and goes nowhere? What if..." "María, stop." He interrupts me with a serious tone. "We've been over this. My feelings towards you are inexplicable but I don't want to let them go. I don't know where this is gonna go. You don't know where this is gonna go. Neither of us know if we'll wake up tomorrow morning. All we know is that it feels right when we're together. And that's all that matters." I'm about to outright burst into tears at his words. He's right. Right now, it seems as though I'll never find anyone that makes me feel anything close to what I feel when I'm with him. "Please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks that." He begs after another long pause. "No." I tell him, my voice breaking because of all the tears silently streaming down my face. "I just want to be with you." "So do I." He whispers and I throw myself on the bed, melting at the sound of his soft tone. "I'd kiss you right now." "I'd kiss you back." "We're so ridiculous." "Agreed. But it's a good kind of ridiculous." I start laughing at his witty remark and his end of the line is completely silent. By now I've gotten the hint that, for some reason, he loves my laugh. "Have a safe flight, beautiful. I'll see you tomorrow." Beautiful. "I can't wait." "Text me when you take off. Bye." "Bye." I whisper at the phone, wondering if and when we'll be signing off with "I love you" 's.