Play like a culé: A Cristian Tello Fan Fic

Chapter 8

María's P.O.V.

I decided to check my phone and realized it was almost 4:00PM. Time had gotten away from us while we sat here talking, laughing, sharing... I felt like I knew all the guys as he described them to me. There was a pause so I interjected: "It's almost four. Did you wanna get going or...?" "Four?! Wow. Time just flew by, didn't it? Yeah. Let's get going." He threw away both our cups, took my suitcase and put his sunglasses back on. He took my hand in his and we were off. We walked towards the parking lot and he went directly to the valet. I wasn't used to this kind of special treatment. I hoped he knew that I wasn't one of those girls.

My hand was getting kind of sweaty as I saw the women and the men that were waiting for their luxury cars in that spot. They were looking me up and down and almost scoffing in my face. I looked down and felt like shit. I was about to cry when Cristian let go of my hand and put his arm around my shoulders. He pulled me close to him, planted a kiss on my temple and whispered: "You're with me now. This isn't a luxury, it's our way of life. Don't look down. Meet their gaze. Show them you're as important as they are." I pulled my chin up at his request and met a ladies' eyes staring at me disapprovingly. I met her gaze and cocked an eyebrow at her. She immediately looked away, taken aback by my sudden confidence. "Good girl." he whispered. He already knew that I wasn't part of this crowd. But apparently, he was ok with that.

He was giving me pointers on how to act around them. I looked up at him and smiled as his car pulled around, a red sports Mercedes. He walked towards it so I followed suit. The valet man took my bags from him so he thanked him and opened the door for me. It was one of those that slides up and I'd never actually gotten in a car with those before. He noticed my hesitation and placed his hand gently on my waist. "Put your left leg in and grab the roof with your right hand." he whispered. I did as he said while he gave me a little push. I was in easier and faster than I thought. He winked at me as he closed the door and came around. Looking at the insides of the car, I could only think: Pinch me. I must be dreaming.  

Cristian's P.O.V.

She wasn't part of our usual crowd. And that only made me like her even more. I was so tired of these superficial women who only looked for fame and money. Our long conversations were proof that she was above that. She decided to come home with me because she likes me for me, not for my money or my fame. I slid into my car and we drove toward my house. She commented that back home most cars were automatic and she didn't know how to drive stick-gear so I was teaching her on the way. She catches on pretty fast. After about fifteen minutes, we're on a straight drive so she decides to look outside and her eyes shine like a child's on Christmas morning. We're passing by what she doesn't know is my neighborhood and it's filled with mansions.

"Fancy, huh?" I try to lighten the mood. "Very. This is just so much for me to take in. I'm not used to this at all. I mean, back then at the valet I was pretty sure you..." "Yeah. I know. You never seemed like that type of girl." I pulled up to my opening garage door and parked inside. Her jaw dropped, her mouth gaping. "I really like that about you." I said as I cut the engine, took her chin between my fingers and kissed her forehead. She could only smile as I got out of the car and helped her out. "This...is...your...house?" she couldn't believe it. "No." I scoffed, messing with her and smiling as she gave me a confused look. "This is only the garage. Wait until you see the rest of it. Come on."  

María's P.O.V.

He had his back to me and bent down a little, inviting me to a piggy-back ride through his house. I jumped on him and he took my legs in his arms as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He showed me his whole two-story house, piggie-back. As soon as we stepped in, his dogs: Pepa, Pepo and Nano greeted us. They just smelled my feet as the hung from the sides of Cristian's legs. They decided to stay in the living room as Cristian gave me the whole tour. His room (which would now be our room) has a balcony that looks over the whole city. The view is beautiful during the day but I'm guessing it'd be better during the night. His pool was also visible from the balcony. We went back downstairs and he let go of my legs so I jumped off his back as he opened the sliding doors that led to the pool. He gave the dogs some food and water and decided to lock them up in the garage for the day.

He came back upstairs from the garage and I was still looking at the view of the skyline in the same spot he'd left me. It was still bright outside right now (it was around 6:00PM) because in Spain during summer, it starts to get dark at around 9:00PM. "What are you waiting for? Come outside." He pushes me towards the pool area and I laugh. I see a football right beside one of the chaise lounges and keep my eyes on it. He follows my gaze and asks: "Do you play?" "Not really. I kick the ball around in my house but I've never actually played." "Then who better to teach you than me?" "No, no. It's ok, really. I'm just...I'm really bad at it." "Oh, come on. You love it. You've seen your fair share of it. You can't be that bad." "Oh, you'd be surprised." I scoff. He takes my hand and pulls me to him. "Surprise me." He whispers in my ear and kisses my cheek. I smile and blush while he passes by to get the ball. He rolls it to his feet and starts kicking it, controlling it with his chest, his knees... He kicks it up and takes it in his hands.

He looks over at me and I deliberately roll my eyes: "Show-off." He laughs and hangs his head. He lets go of the ball again and passes it to me. I stop it and look at him. He nods at me, raising his eyebrows and beckoning with his hands: "Pass it to me." I do as he says and he stops it and kicks it to me again. We do this back and forth for a while. "Ok, now take five big steps back." I do as he says and he steps back too. He passes it to me but instead of it rolling by the ground, he kicked it in the air. I tried to grab it as best I could and somehow managed to control it. I tried to kick it back to him the same way but it was a huge failure.

The ball passed way over his head and landed on the bushes. He smiled at me before he ran off to go get it. I put my hands over my eyes in shame, hanging my head. "I told you I was bad." I mumbled under my breath. He's closer than I thought as he says: "And I told you that you couldn't be that bad, which you aren't, and that I would teach you." He takes my hands off my eyes and smiles at me. "Here, I'll help you." He puts the ball on the ground, kneels beside me and takes my leg. "Hold on to me." I do as he says and he demonstrates the movement of the leg and the foot to strike the ball correctly off the ground. His touching my upper-thigh is kind of distracting but I try to concentrate as best I can. As soon as I say I got it, he goes back to his spot. "Kick it. I know you can do it." I go over his lesson in my mind and somehow the ball flies and lands right on his raised foot.