Play like a culé: A Cristian Tello Fan Fic

Chapter 17

María's P.O.V.

Ale and Álvaro had invited both of us to have breakfast at his apartment in Badalona. We arrived at around ten and they were both playing FIFA. They barely noticed us when we came in and we just stood behind de sofa. I knew very little about video games but, from what I could infer, Ale was Barcelona and Álvaro was Getafe.

Álvaro was making a scoring play and Ale shoved him to make him lose the ball. He lost it and she took it from him. “You dirty little cheater.” He accused, shaking his head after she’d scored a goal from stealing his ball and was celebrating in his face. “I’ll be your dirty little anything.” She whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He kissed her back; all was forgiven.

Cristian cleared his throat loudly and they stopped kissing, Ale burying her face in Álvaro’s neck. “Hi, guys.” He greeted us as if he hadn’t noticed we were here. He took Ale’s hand and made his way to the kitchen. “I guess I’ll pour us all a bowl of cereal and take out all the fruit I have in the fridge because I can’t cook to save my life.” “He really can’t.” Ale agreed and he playfully messed up her curly red hair.

While we were eating, I noticed Ale sneaking continuous glances at me as if she was worried about something. I shrugged it off. When we were done, Cristian volunteered to clean the plates. Álvaro helped him. Suddenly, I felt Ale’s hand grip my elbow and pull me to her: “I need to talk to you.” I followed her outside to the huge backyard and we hid from view. She waited to see what they would do once they saw we were gone. They decided to play FIFA for a while and Ale thought that was good enough.

“Listen, I don’t know what else to tell your parents. They keep calling me asking me where you are, what you’re doing, why you’re not with me… I honestly can’t come up with any more excuses.” I nodded. These lies were all blowing up in my face and I had to come clean. “Cristian heard me lie to my mom the other day and he wants me to tell them the truth, too.” She nodded sympathetically. I took my phone out and decided it was time. “I’ll tell them now that I have you here for moral support.” “Okay.”

She looked sad because she knew how strict my parents were and how this could all end up in pain. My mom answered and I started to explain all that had been going ever since the tournament in Israel. “I really don’t approve but what’s done is done. So when are you coming home?” I bit my lip and confessed: “That’s the thing, mom. I want to stay here.” “What?!” She started telling dad about everything and they started arguing but at the same time agreeing that there was no way I would stay here. “You have no job, you have no way of studying there… No. You simply cannot stay there.” “But mom, dad…I love him. I think he might be the one.” They both scoffed as if on cue. “Stop living in a fairytale, sweetheart. We tell you this because we love you: he’ll find another girl as soon as you leave.”

The tears started slipping down my cheeks because they didn’t understand. I knew they wouldn’t. Ale rubbed my shoulder with her hand, not needing me to explain, as I hung my head propping my forehead on my palm. “You’re coming back home tomorrow morning. I don’t want to hear any more of this.” They hung up and threw my phone on the ground out of rage. 'd been sitting on a rock so I slipped to the grass and wrapped my arms around my knees, crying like a baby. I was being forced to leave him. They had control over me. I couldn’t believe I’d finally found the man of my dreams and I was being forced to leave him.

Cristian's P.O.V.

The second she came in, I knew she’s been crying. I don’t think Álvaro had noticed how long they’d been outside but I had. And whatever happened, it hadn’t been good. She put on a brave face, nonetheless, and sat on my lap as I played the game. I kicked Álvaro’s ass, as usual, and he was now in the kitchen with Ale ‘looking for snacks’. I put the controller beside me and wrapped my arms around her. I kissed her cheek and asked her: “Is everything ok? What were you doing outside?” “Yeah, everything’s fine. We were just both missing our families.”

She kept drawing patterns on my chest and she couldn’t look me in the eye...She was still acting weird when we got home and quickly got in the shower without saying a word. I kept asking if something was wrong but she kept denying it. I'd doubted her once before and I didn't want to fight. There was not much more I could do if she didn’t want to talk. I made love to her like I hadn’t done with any woman in my life. Whatever was bothering her I counted on relieving by making her mine and reminding her how much I loved her.

I had my arm around her and my breathing was steady so she thought I was sleeping. She stood up and went to the bathroom. She locked herself in there and I could swear she was crying. I quietly stood up and brought my ear to the closed door. Yes. She was crying. It was almost physically painful that I couldn’t wrap my arms around her and comfort her. That she didn’t trust me enough to be honest with me and tell me what was bothering her.

I reluctantly went back to bed and waited wide awake for, as I saw on the clock on the nightstand, fifty-two minutes until she came out. She came back into bed and was still sniffling. I pretended like I’d just awakened from her stirring and turned to her. “Hey. What is it? Are you ok?” I felt like I’d asked those questions a thousand times today and that I hadn’t gotten one honest answer. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.” She was still lying to me. She pressed her lips softly against mine and whispered: “I love you.” “I love you, too.” There wasn’t much more I could do so I just held her in my arms and feared the worst.