Fame.| Manuel Neuer Fanfiction

Chapter 22

Seconds turned to minutes as I sat in the car. I had instantly hung up on Brooke. It was happening, my attacker was leaving jail. I knew the day would come, but I didn't think it would come this fast. I had to keep it together for now, I had to get through Christmas. The anger that would be brought to the table by Manuel and Thomas would ruin the evening. I had to pretend I was okay and tell them tomorrow. When Jacob had first attacked me, it brought Manuel and I closer. Now that we've been together and were practically living together, who knows what kind of strain this would put on our relationship.

I let out a deep breath, I couldn't let myself spiral. Not right now. I was pulled off to the side of the road just around the corner from Thomas and Lisa's house. I put the car in drive and safely made it to their driveway. Before I got out, I flipped down the mirror and inspected my makeup. I had only released a couple tears, so my face was salvageable. I applied a new layer of lipstick, put more powder on my face, and got out of the car. I did a slow shuffle in my heels up the stairs to their front door. There was just enough snow on the ground for me to slip. I rang the doorbell once, and let out another deep breath.

"Izzy? Come in!" I heard Lisa's voice from inside. I opened the door and stood inside.

"Hey Lisa! I have the dessert and a whole bunch of presents inside the car, I'm just going to borrow a pair of your shoes to make the few trips." I said, kicking off my heels and replacing them with a pair of Lisa's Adidas running shoes.

I made the required two trips until I was finally able to lock the car. We had five presents: Manuel and I both got our own presents for Thomas and Lisa, and I brought my gift for Manuel. I took off my coat, scarf and running shoes and used my feet to push all the presents under their tree. I went back to the front door and picked up the dessert, and walked into the kitchen. My eyes met with a disaster. There was no counter space, the room was filled with smoke, and Lisa was frantically mixing a bowl of something brown.

"Lisa!" I let out a little laugh, "what happened in here?" I said as I opened the fridge and pushed my dessert into an open space.

" I think I bit off a little more than I could chew for Christmas dinner this year." She laughed. I then noticed her 5 recipes lining her counter of what she had to make.

" You should be lucky I came early, then!" I chirped, rubbing my hands together.

— —

Around 5 pm we had just put the last dish in the oven.

" If we put one more dish in there, the oven racks will break" I laughed.

"I can't believe we pulled it off, thank you so much" Lisa said, looking around the spotless kitchen.

I spent the afternoon doing dishes and cleaning up after Lisa as she made all the food. Speeding up her process by 50%.

" Now I actually have time to get ready!" She exclaimed, I let out another laugh.

"Just in time," I said, checking my phone," looks like the boys will be here in 20 minutes"

Her eyes lit up, " Shit, I have to get ready now, they can't know I wasn't overly prepared for Christmas!" and before I could laugh again, she was gone.

I decided to take the rest of the tasks in my own hands. I turned on Jazz Christmas music on the speaker and set the table. The dining room was connected to the kitchen and living room where the Christmas tree was. The dining room itself was elegant, the dark mahogany table could seat probably 15 people, but I only set the table for four at the closest end. The walls were filled of images of Lisa's family, and Thomas' family. My favourite picture of him and I from a couple years ago hung high, of when I went to one of his matches. I had one arm around him and his arm was making bunny ears behind my head. We both had enormous smiles. I laughed at the memory. I longed for the days where it was just him and I against the world, now it was much more complicated.