Play like a culé: A Cristian Tello Fan Fic

Chapter 20

María's P.O.V.

My parents looked at each other and smiled. “Everything sounds very plausible and logical. Plus, you two have a tangible love for each other. It’s a little overwhelming.” My dad interrupted and smiled at us: “Yes. You can go.” I jumped from the couch and hugged them both. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” They laughed but my emotions were getting the best of me and I was crying, now out of happiness. I ran back to him and hugged him but didn’t have the guts to kiss him in front of my parents. He didn’t dare either, given the circumstances. He kissed my cheek and seemed on the verge of tears also.

He stayed for lunch, I packed my bags and didn’t want to wait a second longer. I said goodbye to my parents who warned me to be careful and to keep them updated on everything. I promised I would and we got on the cab we had called earlier. He took care of my bags and opened the door for me. I didn’t dare kiss him here either because it was deathly quiet. What he did do was pull up his sleeves so I could see his tattoos with the excuse that it was hot. I loved his tattoos and he knew it. He had done it on purpose. We only held hands until we got to the airport.

He bought both our tickets and paid for all my extra baggage. I insisted on helping but he was having none of that, as usual. We were walking toward the gate hand-in-hand. I only had my purse hanging across my body and he had a bigger carry-on that he used the same way. He suddenly pulled on my arm toward a section of the airport that was pretty empty. He pushed me against the wall and smiled before pressing his lips against mine urgently. I held his head with both my hands and pulled him closer. I kissed him like I hadn’t for a month when we’d made love just the night before last. But the fear of losing him in between had made me appreciate him even more.

We kissed for a long time, taking breaths in between just so we could keep kissing. He was groping my shirt in every possible way, ruffling it and pulling it up a little occasionally so he could touch my bare skin with his hands. When he started pulling away, I stood on tiptoe and kept pecking him. “Our plane’s about to board." "I don't want to stop." I kissed him again and he pulled back reluctantly. "Me neither. But we have to go." He gave me one last kiss on my forehead and took my hand in his to lead me to the gate. The flight went by pretty fast because all the emotions I’d gone through had taken their toll on my body. I fell asleep almost as soon as we took off on Cristian’s shoulder, feeling safe.

After I’d woken up, Cristian tried to teach me how to use a PSP to no avail. I tried to warn him I’m no good at video games but he said I had to try. It went horribly as expected but, thankfully, we landed... In the next few days, I went to three interviews for three different sports journals. I went to Mundo Deportivo and the AS.com and Marca headquarters in Barcelona. They all seemed to go great but I had still gotten no answer.

We were having lunch in his house when my cell phone rang. It was an unknown number but I took it without thinking. “Hello, Miss María.” I walked away from where he was sitting, closed my eyes and silently hoped it was a correspondent from Mundo Deportivo. “This is Diario Marca in Madrid. We’d like to offer you the position of Junior Editor inside the European Football section…” the rest he said was all a blur. All I could think of was the fact that, a few days after being reunited, I’d have to leave Cristian for who knows how long.

“As I understand, you’re still in Barcelona. We need you on the first flight to Madrid tomorrow morning.” I was speechless. What? So soon? I thought I’d have a few days but now I have to leave first thing tomorrow. “Do you understand, miss? Are you willing to accept the position?” “Uuuhhh…yes. Yeah. I’ll be on the first flight tomorrow.” I had to hold back my tears as I said this and then hung up. I turned around to go tell Cristian but he was standing under the doorframe.

“I got a job.” My voice broke on the last word and I burst into tears, hanging my head. He ran over and took me in his arms. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong with that? I thought it’s what we wanted.” “Yes but...it's Marca. I have to be on the first flight to Madrid tomorrow.” “Oh." He stayed quiet for a few seconds as I just supported my whole body weight with him. “It’ll be fine. You’re just one very short plane ride away.” I winced at his words because it seemed so real now. There was no going back. I had to take this job and it meant being away from him.

“Hey. Look at me.” He separated my body from his and made me look into his eyes. “I love you. Nothing’s going to change that. We’ll be fine.” I started shaking my head, closing my eyes to evade looking into his, the tears rolling down my cheeks. “No. No we won’t. It will be so hard. I can’t expect you to…” “Open your eyes.” His tone was serious and I took his request as an order. I looked into his determined light-brown eyes and waited. “Do you love me?” “More than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life.” “Then it can’t be hard. It’ll be easy because nothing,” he took my chin in his hand and tilted my head up. “nothing is going to get in the way of that.” I finally smiled and resolved to press my lips against his. We shared a sweet kiss and hugged but I still felt like this would be hard; almost impossible.