Just Friends

Part 10

"I'm sorry. I just didn't know who to go to. I just- I'm really overwhelmed and I needed to talk to someone who didn't know the whole story." Aleana said taking off her jacket and placing it on the couch.

"Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea?" He asked motioning for her to sit on the couch.

"Coffee would be nice. Thank you." Aleana said taking a seat. "Again, I'm sorry, I know we don't know each other that much. You know, for me to come to your apartment and throw my problems on you."

"Really, it's not a bother." Gareth said shooting her a sympathetic smile. "So, tell me what happened.

After about twenty minutes and two coffee cups, Aleana had finished telling him her story about her friendship with Sergio. "So, René basically told us to date."

"Were those his exact words?" Gareth asked.

"Well, no, but basically." Aleana said rolling her eyes and standing up.

"And what do you think about that?" Gareth asked.

"About what? Dating Sergio? I mean I don't even know how to feel about it- he's amazing, yes, he's my best friend, yes, would I be risking a lifelong friendship if this goes wrong, yes-"

"But would you gain a lifelong happiness if this goes right, yes." Gareth interrupted making Ale stand there baffled. In that second, something in her head clicked.

She hadn't thought of it that way, she had previously had bad and shitty boyfriends and Sergio could actually be her first successful one and maybe THE one.

"I guess you're right." Aleana said with a huge smile on her face. "I've got to go, thank you so much Gareth!"

And with that she left Gareth's apartment not before giving him a huge hug.

On the other side of town, Sergio had gone out with Isco Alarcon. Both of the men a bit heartbroken. Isco's girlfriend had told him that she was taking their daughter and that they should take some time apart, they had been constantly fighting.

"She looked so, repulsed by the fact that we would date. It was like it was disgusting for her. And I just, I love her so much. Most of that love is love from a friend but I feel some of that is becoming into a love of something more, not just fiends." Sergio said before taking another shot.

"Tequila is our only girlfriend right now." Isco said as he too pushed back another shot.

"In that moment I felt my heart shattering." Sergio said as he wiped some of the tears falling from his eyes. There was so much alcohol in his system, he didn't know how many shots he had drank.

"But look, there are some lovely ladies over there checking us out. We should go say something." Isco said pushing back his shoulders and standing up, taking Sergio with him to talk to the girls.

~•~

Aleana couldn't believe she was barely figuring this out. Sergio and her were perfect for each other, and she was about to tell him. Opening the front door to her apartment, she let out a gasp.

There was Sergio, sleeping soundly with a woman on her couch. Neither of them had tops on and a throw blanket was on both of their waists. It dawned on her, she had taken too long to realize that Sergio was perfect for her. And in that time that she took to figure it out, he had lost interest in her.

Aleana quickly closed the door behind her, not wanting to wake the couple up. She leaned on the door and slipped down, breaking into a cry. She picked herself up after some minutes and decided to return to Gareth's apartment.

"I'm so sorry." Gareth said, holding Aleana as she cried. "You are more than welcome to stay here."

Aleana nodded as Gareth grabbed an extra jersey that he had lying around. "You can sleep in this."
She had insisted on sleeping on the couch, so Gareth grabbed an extra set of blankets for her not to get cold.

"Try to get some sleep." Gareth said as he kissed her forehead and left her. Gareth couldn't believe what Aleana had told him, just a few days ago Sergio had preached his unconditional love for Aleana and then he does this. He decided to go to sleep since he had to get to training early in the morning.

Aleana felt exhausted the next morning, she hadn't rested at all. Tossing an turning in between her crying. But in the morning she finally got herself together. She had come to the conclusion that she and Sergio were nothing, and he has proved the night before that they would never be anything more than just friends. Aleana knew that Sergio would be training since Gareth had already left. She grabbed her things and left, making a mental note to buy a gift for Gareth.

Arriving to her apartment, Aleana immediately had flashbacks of Sergio and that woman on her couch. After declining Sergio's calls and texts asking her where she was, she grabbed her phone to send him a message.

-Aleana: this is the new couch you are going to buy.

She attached the picture of the couch and the link to the page. She couldn't even look at the couch without feeling disgusted.

In between one of his training breaks, Sergio went to check his phone for the thousandth time. But this time there was actually a message from Aleana. Reading the message he realized that she had seen him.

"Sergio what's wrong?" Cristiano asked as he and some of the other guys approached their teammate.

"It's Aleana, I fucked up last night. I slept with some random girl, she must have seen us and left. I haven't seen her since yesterday morning." Sergio said running a hand through his hair.

"She, she slept over at my place." Gareth said quietly and everyone looked over at him. "We didn't do anything. She even insisted on sleeping on the couch. Sergio, can I talk to you, in private after training?"

Sergio nodded letting out a sigh, he knew that he had messed up. Sergio didn't know how he was going to ask for her forgiveness.