| sergio ramos |
'sergio what are you looking at?' asks gareth sitting next to me. i quickly close the page and go onto twitter.
'oh you know, just twitter.' i say shrugging scrolling through my timeline.
'do you want to play some fifa with me and raphaël?' he asks.
'sure, give me five minutes i just need to answer some emails.' i say. he nods and gets back up and lives the room. i open back the page i was on earlier and look down the page.
flights to liverpool.
i recently got injured during our game against dortmund so i'm out for three weeks. it's going to be annoying not being able to play or captain the team. but it'll give me a small break and a chance for the other players to play.
i pick the best flight time and book it and smile to myself. i close my laptop and go into the other room with rafaël and gareth.
'grab a remote, we're gonna do france against wales.' says rafaël. i grab a remote and sit on the sofa next to gareth.
'can you both do me a favour?' i ask.
'yeah sure.' they both reply, still focusing on the television screen.
'if zidane asks where i'm going can you both cover for me and say sevilla for me? he's been really nosey about what i'm doing lately and it's annoying.'
'okay sure but where are you going?'
'liverpool.' i say and they pause the game and both look at me.
'what?'
'man, you are so whipped.' says rafaël laughing slightly and shaking his head.
'what do you mean?'
'it means you're somehow obsessed. you met her on a plane sergio, be glad you weren't wearing the same clothes as us. you said so yourself you hate lying to her about being a footballer. you can't keep lying to her, it's not fair.' says gareth, 'but do you like her?'
'yeah, i do.' i say nodding and smiling.
'then you have to be honest! trust me, one day she is going to find out who you really are. rather through a friend or a news article or something like that. she isn't going to want to talk to you again if she finds out you lied about something so big. just tell her sooner rather than later. and if she really likes you, she'll hopefully be understanding.' says gareth.
'thanks gar, that really helped.' i say with a smile.
'well it's nice to see you like this. the old sergio was a jerk. plus adira seems really nice.'
'trust me, she's amazing.'
//
the next day, i'm all packed and ready to go. gareth is taking me to the airport and thankfully him and the others are going to cover for me if zizou asks.
'you're going to have to introduce her to us one day.' says gareth, hands on the steering wheel and focusing ahead.
'one day, but not yet. we're not even anything serious. when it gets really serious i will.'
'it'll be like meet the parents!' says gareth laughing making me roll my eyes.
'but a hundred times more annoying.' i say as he pulls up to the drop off point.
'have fun in liverpool! but not too much fun.' he says with a wink.
'see you in three days gareth.' i say laughing and getting my bag from his car. i walk into the airport and check in, thankfully no one recognises me when i'm by myself and not wearing all the matching outfits they make us wear when we fly out for a game.
'flight hz18y to liverpool is now boarding.'
i grab my backpack and walk to the boarding area.
//
i'm finally in liverpool and the flight was extremely short. now i need to get a taxi and get to adira's work. she did say she was working today so it's highly likely she's there.
my english is fairly limited but i can get by when i have to. but when in liverpool, you have to understand the accent.
finally a taxi pulls up and i give him the address of adira's work. i look out the window and look at liverpool. when playing matches you don't get to see much because you're told to stay in the stadium or the hotel room which is extremely boring.
it's very different to madrid but it's a nice different. it's cloudy but surprisingly not that cold for late october.
'here we are.' says the taxi driver. i thank him and pay him with the money i exchanged yesterday from euros and get out of the car. i walk into the big department store and spot the sign that shows which department is on which floor. if he remembers correctly she works in make up which is on this floor, on the yves saint laurent and dior counters to be exact.
i walk towards the make counter and see the familiar curly hair with her back turned to me. it looks like she's restocking the counter. i walk up behind her and put my hands over her eyes making her jump a little.
'guess who?'
btw bc it's election day fuck donald trump
