When Does the Pretending End?

Chapter 86- Now Who's Pouting

  Lucy's Pov

"Hey" Cris says resting his chin on my shoulder as his arms come around my waist. "Hi" I say flicking through the newspaper as I sit on a stool at the kitchen island. "What's the matter?" he asks worried. I sigh. He's getting better at reading my mood a lot lately.

"You forgot to mention how buddy buddy Hugo and Zé are" I say turning to face him. Zé had arrived shortly after Cris left for practice. Hugo even went to collect him from the airport. "They do get on. I guess" he says. "Well they're both jackasses so it's understandable" I say turning back to the newspaper. "What did they do?" he asks turning me around. "They both like the sound of their own voices" I say. "I told Hugo to keep his mouth shut" Cris says angrily moving away from me.

"Hey" I say grabbing his arms and pulling him back to me. "It doesn't matter. They were only saying that I have bad taste in football teams and......."Boyfriends" he says finishing my sentence. "Ya. But as we both know I have fantastic taste in football teams" I say grinning. "Better taste in fake boyfriends though" he says touching our noises together. "Maybe" I say. "So did Jorge get away ok?" I ask.

I had forgot Jorge was coming this week. Cris had mentioned it in passing a while ago but it totally went out of my mind. Yesterday had been such a busy day. I didn't want to leave the bed when I woke to find Rodrigo cuddled onto of me with Cris running his fingers through my hair. By the end of the day I was so exhausted all I wanted to do was get into the bed.

Cris had seemed surprised when I told him that I was taking the rest of the week off. Rodrigo and I had such fun though. We played football, painted pictures, made cupcakes and went swimming. He's such a sweetie. All he wanted was for me to chase him around the pool. I was surprised to find Rio and Wayne at the poolside with Cris when I got out of the pool. I wouldn't have worn a bikini if I had known that I would have had an audience. Although Cris was quick to find me a towel.

"Ya he was at Carrington this morning before he left. He seemed happy. Although he kept saying something about how he hadn't seen something coming. Which was strange" he says. "He's a man. Your gender can be odd at times" I say. "As opposed to women being odd all of the time" Cris says. "He must be have been happy that you got a lot of fan mail done last night" I say.

I was surprised by the amount of letters Cris received from fans. And that he replied to them. I actually learnt a lot about him thanks to those letters. Jorge told me about all the charity work Cris did and about hospital and hospice trips that he made. It was nice to see that he didn't like bragging about his good deeds. Some people do things like that to be seen but I got the impression that he wasn't like that. When he came upstairs after I had left, he got embarrassed when I told him he was sweet.

"My hand is a bit sore from all the signing of the autographs but Jorge is happy. And if he's happy, I don't have to listen to him complaining" he says. "Bet it's better than your mother complaining though" I say. "Yes. I actually sent some tickets to the family in that letter last night" he says.

I knew what letter he was referring to. I had read it and it left me feeling so sad.

Dear Mr. Ronaldo,

I going to tell you the truth. I have never liked football. I have never understood why people like watching overpaid pre Madonna's running around with a ball. I still don't really.
But I want to thank you. Thank you for bringing so much joy to my brother. My brother died last month of leukemia. He was only 15. He was the best big brother ever. He loved watching you play.
He thought you were amazing. He was so happy when he got to meet you last month when you came to visit the hospice.

It was so nice to see him happy. I just wanted to thank you.

Rosie

P.S. I'll try to be a fan in place of my brother.

Cris had known it had upset me. That's why he came after me. He seems to know when I'm feeling upset. "I remember Jackson saying when I met him in the hospice how much his dad and other family members would love to see a match. It's a shame he's not going to be with them when they go" he says. "But Rosie will try and support you for him. That's a lovely gesture Cris" I say. "I don't know how the nurses and doctors deal with kids been sick. I hate seeing them sick. They shouldn't be in those places" he says.

"No one does. But you visiting them makes them feel better. You make a lot of people happy" I say. "Everyone?" he asks. "Most people anyway" I say. "Where's Maé?" he asks. "Cleaning the dining room" I say. "What?" he says. "I know but she won't listen to anyone. Katia reckons she's trying to take her mind of things. So we decided to leave her be" I say.

"She wasn't happy today though" I say. "Why?" he asks. "Well apparently there was no ice-cream in the fridge when she wanted some today" I say smiling as I remember last night. "I told you I was liking strawberry more and more last night" he says and licks my neck as he had last night. I laugh at his silliness. It's weird as Elma had told me that he didn't really like strawberry.

"You look very pretty" he says taking in my red blouse, black skater skirt and ankle boots.

"Thank you. I had lunch with Coleen today" I say. "Did you brag about how great I am again" he says. "What did I say about that big head of yours the other night" I say laughing. "Where are Zé and Hugo?" he asks looking around. "They're here somewhere. Did your previous girlfriends really like Hugo as much as he says they did?" I ask. "He likes to think they did. I know Merche only acted happy to be around him to annoy me" he says. "Apparently Merche knew when to let you all have boy time" I say mimicking Zé. Cris laughs. "That's a really bad impression of Zé by the way. And you should listen to some of your own advice and ignore them" he says.

"I was thinking about going the let's annoy them route" I say grinning. "I'm listening" he says. "Well says Hugo doesn't like, how did he put it. Oh ya us sucking face. That man is watching too much tv by the way" I say and Cris gives me a get on with already look. "I was thinking we're going to do a lot more of that" I say. "Fine by me. Especially since you like when I kiss you" he says winking. "I only said that to shut you up" I say crossing my arms in front of me. "Now who's pouting" he says.

"Hey......." I say but he cuts me off with a kiss.