Just Friends

Part 8

Sergio looked at all of his friends, taking a slow sip of his beer. Wondering what he did wrong, wondering why Aleana was acting this way towards him.

"So, are you going to mourn all day after a victory? Or are you going to tell someone what's going on?" Sergio heard Gareth ask him, the last person Sergio wanted to see was him.

"What's it to you?" He asked

"Look, Sergio, I know you're still mad at me. But I want you to know I didn't have any bad intentions with Aleana. If I'm being honest, maybe at first, but it's just because she's fit as fuck." Gareth said with a smile looking over to Sergio as he shot him a death glare. "You have eyes, don't act like you haven't noticed."

"That's not the point."

"Exactly, that's not the point. I actually wanted to get to know her, but I'm willing to put that aside because you're a close friend. I wouldn't want to put a strain on our friendship just because of a girl." Gareth said patting Sergio on the back. "Now, back to the previous topic, what's going on with you?"

Sergio knew that Gareth's apology was true, he actually meant that. He took a deep breath and decided to explain to Gareth his friendship with Aleana.

"Gareth, look, to understand my friendship with Aleana, you have to understand something first, Aleana and I have known each other since we were four years old. She knows everything about me and I know everything about her. Our families, always used to joke about how we would get married and how we would be the perfect couple since we know each other so well. She was my first girlfriend, my first love. Every Friday I would go and wash my fathers car and do the dishes and finish my chores all before four in the afternoon just so I would have time to go buy a single white rose for Aleana. She once told me, that she had discovered her love for white roses instead of red roses since she saw it in a film. We would spend the whole day together, laughing and having an amazing time." Sergio said with a smile, remembering those times.

"We ended things because she said that she wasn't ready to have a relationship. And I said I agreed, but the truth is I didn't stop loving Aleana, and I soon realized that our agreement had an advantage on my side. I could have Aleana's love as if we were in a relationship without the title, so I could go sleep around with other women but when I came back to my house I always knew I could go with Aleana to talk about the things that really mattered. Soon enough she was leaving to England to study and I was left here, with a football career to attend. I realized that the seemingly perfect life I was living wasn't what it looked like. I was hurting the person I loved the most, and I was hurting myself. I promised myself that I wouldn't play with Aleana's heart like that ever again. The 'agreement' we had was just damaging both of us, living a lie, acting as if we were together when we weren't."

"So when Aleana got back from England, she heard the news about her parents. About how they passed away. And I was there, the whole time. Helping her through her mourning and trying to make her smile, because God that smile. It just makes me so, so happy." Sergio said, remembering how Aleana's face used to light up every time Sergio said a stupid joke or did something just to make her laugh. "I was there through the whole process, until Pilar arrived. And I loved Pilar, don't get me wrong, it's just. She wasn't Aleana, no one is like Aleana. And every woman I will be with, will be in a constant competition against her. My first love. Pilar noticed this, and pulled me away from Aleana. I didn't see or hear from her in almost a year. And every day it killed me not to see my best friend. And now that we're finally friends again, we're back to that moment where were acting as if we were a couple and we're just damaging ourselves. And I know she's realized this, but I just don't know what to do about it." Sergio finished and looked at Gareth, he was left speechless.

"Sergio, I thought I was going to be able to tell you something. Answer your thoughts but I can't, you've let me absolutely speechless." Gareth said and he saw Sergio nod.

"Well, the only thing we have left to do, is drink our sorrows away and celebrate our win." Sergio said changing the subject. He didn't know if it was the five beers he had already drank, but his eyes were starting to water talking about the subject of Aleana. The last thing Sergio wanted was one of his teammates seeing him cry. Gareth noticed this and brought over a bottle of whiskey and another one of tequila. Gareth called the rest of his teammates over to where they were.

"Both bottoms up!" Gareth was the first one to yell, signaling Sergio to drink one bottle of tequila and another one of whiskey back to back. So, instead of thinking what he was going to do about his problem with Ale, he decided to drink, and drink, and drink some more.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, Gareth and Sergio escaped the private club and decided to wander around the streets of Madrid. In between some sketchy streets, there was a hair salon open.

"You know what would be funny!" Sergio said already laughing.

"What?" Gareth asked gripping the wall nearest to him.

"What if I dyed my hair blonde. No one would recognize me!" Sergio yelled laughing some more.

"And when you play next time everybody is going to be like 'what? Who is this guy playing in Sergio's place'." Gareth said. "That would be awesome, let's go!"

One hour later, Sergio was done, had payed and now the men were calling a taxi.
"Do you think the taxi will recognize me?" Sergio said in a whisper as he got into the car and gave the man Aleana's address

"Mister! What would you do if I told you this guy is Sergio Ramos!" Gareth told the man before letting out a long laugh. The taxi driver said nothing.

Aleana was rudely awaken by what sounded like someone was trying to get into her apartment. She got out of bed and turned on all of the lights. She got to her living room waiting for the intruder to barge in, with a letter knife in her hand. When the door opened she saw a blonde man and a brunette man.

"Aleana I'm home!" Sergio yelled, Aleana just dropped her knife in shock of seeing Sergio with platinum blonde hair.

After what seemed like forever, Aleana put both men to sleep. She had decided to let Gareth stay in the guest bedroom and Sergio in hers. She both took proper care of the men in the drunken state that they were in. She would deal with them later.