While getting himself ready for the annual dinner party his club held that evening, he was unaware of what events were about to go down as soon as he was to enter the venue's doors. He did not have any idea that perhaps an old memory that had turned into surpressed daydreaming over the years along with the very man involved were lingering around the corner.
Daley looked at his watch as he knelt down to tie his shoes. The shoes that his long-time girlfriend Candy had bought for him that week, when he was too busy helping his friends set up their own clothing brand. Although he had been focusing on clothes, he had almost forgotten to pick up his tailored suit earlier that day, which would certainly have inflicted another discussion between him and Candy. Their relationship had been pretty solid up until they moved from Amsterdam to Manchester for his unexpected transfer almost 2 years ago. But now that they had finally settled in together things were starting to get messy. While they cared alot for eachother and had been bestfriends from the moment they met, as ambitious as they were, started to get in eachother's way. Or rather, not enough. At first they had managed pretty well, with Daley coming to see Candy dance when she had gotten another job and Candy bringing her friends to Old Trafford when Daley was in the starting selection for United. But the harder they tried, and the more they both started becoming more succesful, the less time they had for each other. Tonight was no exception. While his teammates were bringing their wifes and girlfriends, he would have to go alone. Not that he minded it that much, would it not have been for all the questions he would get thrown at him about her absence.
Daley tousled his hair as he looked back at his reflection. His eyes were puffy and red and his face screamed exhaustion. With this year's Premier League season coming to an end, he had been playing in the XI for as many matches in a row as he could remember. He never complained to Van Gaal about this, and whenever he felt like doing so he reminded himself of Memphis's situation. His fellow dutch teammate had had a rough start at the club and it wasn't just twice that he had to sit the full 90 minutes on the bench. The poor guy had been posting videos on his Twitter talking about how he wished he would get more playtime, to no avail. No, Daley was not planning on ending up in that position anytime soon. Or atleast for as long as he had it in his own hands.
He checked his teeth in the mirror and after deciding he looked decent enough to be photographed, he sat down on his bed, opening his phone. Mindlessly he scrolled through his instagram feed which once he had used to post photos on without thinking. Nowadays he had to carefully sort out the pictures he posted in an attempt to decline the number of hate comments he got on his photos. Now everything he dared to put online was critically analysed, inspected and discussed. He had learned this after posting a picture of himself on his dutch bicycle in Manchester, which caused a huge riot about his bicycle not being safe enough both in England and back in his home country. After scrolling down a bit he stopped at one particular photo. It was one of the pictures he had posted during the 2014 World Cup in Brasil. It was the only picture he did not take during the tournament, but instead was an old picture of himself modelling for menshealth. Daley swallowed, eyes focussed on his phone screen. After that picture everything had changed, forcing him to keep a secret from the rest of the world, most importantly his girlfriend. He locked and tossed his phone away as he dropped himself on the bedsheets, rubbing his eyes in frustration. That was something he always did when he tried to force a certain thought out of his head. Not that it ever helped. He moaned in frustration as the memories flashed before his eyes. Back then he had hoped he would forget the details over time, but he had to discover the hard way that something like that was not forgotten so easily. He had even had a small amount of hope they would meet again. That their paths would cross. But none of that had happened. It had been almost 2 years, but the memories and emotions were still raw and tugged at his heart no matter how hard he tried to push it away. He had considered talking about it to someone, maybe a therapist, but that just made it seem all the more real than he wanted it to be. Besides that, even if he actually managed to forget it for a day, he would be reminded the next when switching on the television as his summer fling was none other than the oh-so famous Cristiano Ronaldo. The Real Madrid striker had ofcourse represented Portugal during the World Cup, but never would Daley have expected he would run into Cris when he went clubbing neither would he ever have imagined he would end up in bed with the world famous footballer. He had never even liked the bastard as Daley had always presumed Cris was a self-centered jerk who cared for none other than himself. Until he met him, and even worse, fell for him. Daley groaned as he slapped his cheeks. No, not fell for. Just was attracted to. That's all.
After forcing himself off of his bed, he closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. He bend over the bed to grab his phone and checked himself one last time in the mirror. While the official dinner party was going to be uneventful and most possibly boring, atleast the after party would be the most fun he was going to have for the next couple of weeks.
