I Was Just a Janitor [A Lionel Messi Love Story]

Chapter 1: Every Penny Counts

Alyssa walked down the sidewalk, she was coming back from an interview for a janitor position at Camp Nou, a football stadium not too far away. She was sure she'd done well but she wasn't sure how many others were also interviewed so she really didn't expect much. She needed work, horrible bad. Right now, the only money she made was from waiting tables and very recently, she'd been fired for showing up late 3 days in a row. It wasn't that she was lazy, she just lacked motivation and felt that she deserved better. Of course she was wrong, all her life she was treated like just another person so why she thought she deserved better was completely stupid looking back on it.

Later on that evening, Alyssa recieved a phone call. She crossed her fingers and answered the phone. "Is this Alyssa Grayson?" The voice asked. "Yes, this is she." Alyssa replied, biting her lip. "We'd like to inform you that weve accepted your application and thought your interview was superb." The voice continued, rushing. "Oh my god! Thank you! When do I start?" Alyssa asked.

Alyssa's alarm went off at precisely 5:30 A.M. "Why?" Alyssa mumbled, grabbing around with her hand for the alarm. Once she found it, she hit whatever buttons possible until the alarm shut off. "I hate you." She growled at the alarm, and as if it heard her, it's screeching began again. "Ugh you stupid broke piece of crap." She said, getting up and unplugging it. Alyssa picked up her glasses from the bed side table and put them on her face. 

By the time Alyssa had finished her coffee and was ready to head to work for her first day, it was already 6:45 A.M. which wasn't that bad but she had to hurry. She made sure that she wore a black T-Shirt because she only had a few white ones and the last thing she wanted was to mess them up because she wouldn't b able to go to the cleaners until she got paid. Alyssa walked out of the door with her purse over her shoulder, it was an old, slightly torn pick bag. "I definitely need an upgrade..." She mumbled to herself, flinching as the itchy strap dug into her shoulder. The walk to Camp Nou was rather short, only crossing 2 major roads. 

Shortly after getting there, she was given a key to a locker that she was to keep her bag in and a uniform to change into. There was a list of tasks in her locker waiting for her. She placed her bag into the smelly locker and grabbed the paper. It included a small map of the stadium and another tiny paper filled with her chores for that day. She quickly found the changing rooms, deciding not to use the teams changing rooms despite the fact that they were extremely close to her. After putting on her uniform she grabbed the paper and looked for her locker on the map. It wasn't that bad of a walk and it took her about 3 minutes to get there. She dropped off her clothing as soon as she got there and looked back at her map and sticky note with her tasks. 

- Wash Uniforms.

- Take New Uniforms From Laundry Room and Place Them in the Proper Locker.

- Check Balls.

- Clean Bleachers.

"God this sounds more like an equipment managers chores..." She thought to herself. On the very top of the paper it also read: Tonight there is a game that you will be required to attend. It is at 6:30 P.M. Please bring your badge and enter the same way you came in today. You will be in charge of preparing the tape of the players and you will also clean the locker rooms during the 2nd half and take the used uniforms to the laundry room after the game. "Ugh..." She thought to herself. 

Alyssa made her way to the team's locker room and found a ton of smelly uniforms all over the floor. She picked each one up, breathing only through her mouth. After she'd collected each one and placed them in the laundry bin nearby, she brought them to the laundry room. She placed the basket on the floor. She would surely have to do two separate loads, there was a lot of stuff to wash. She walked over to the washers and noticed, to her horror, a list of specific wants for the players jerseys. Luckily, upon further investigation, the only one that was harder was washing the goalie shirt and gloves. 

After she'd put all the uniforms into the washers, cleaned the gloves and goalie shirt, she picked up all of the new uniforms and started to bring them to the locker room. The first one read Iniesta and had an 8 it. She placed it under the locker labeled with his name and picked up the next one. After about 10 minutes, she was on her last one. The jersey read Messi and had a 10 on the back. She gently placed it inside of the locker. She looked around for the ball bag which she had been informed was also located within the locker room and found it rather easily. She picked up each ball and made sure they all had a decent amount of air and placed them neatly back into the bag. After doing so, she returned to the laundry room. 

Once she got there, the clothes were all ready to go into the dryer so she carefully put everything in and picked up her paper again. There was one thing left. Clean the bleachers. Alyssa had never actually seen the stadium so she had no idea exactly how large it was but she figured that she'd wait to start until the club there were done drying because she didn't want to cause a fire or anything because she left them in to long. About an hour later, the clothes were done drying and she pulled them out and began folding them which took her another hour and a half.

By the time she'd found all the cleaning supplies, it was about 10:30 A.M. Alyssa looked back at her map and found the stadium entrance, noting that she'd have to enter the same way as the fans or else she probably wouldn't be able to reach the stands. When she walked out into the stadium, her jaw dropped. It was massive. There were about five other people in there cleaning as well but her sections was filthy. 

By the time her lunch break came, she was so starving that her stomach felt like it'd been torn into. She walked down to the cafeteria. Her paper read: You'll be eating with the players as of now unless you wish to get food elsewhere, please avoid bothering them although we trust you won't. "Oh great..." She thought as I walked into the cafeteria. Every head turned. "Ohhh." A man with darker skin and a Mohawk said. I blushed and walked over to the counter. He walked up to me. "Are you the new janitor?" He asked me. "Yeah..." She said mumbling. He walked away grinning which she didn't understand. 

*Sorry I keep switching POV... I'll try to stay in her POV for now*

I asked for a burger and some yogurt which the chef gladly handed to me. As I walked back to my chair, I felt eyes on me. I turned towards them and saw a very handsome man looking at me. His eyes were a deep brown and his hair was parted to the side. I blushed a bright red and sat down.