16 years | l. messi

6. you, I and nothing in between.

L E O

Leo: Would you come to my match today?

No reply for a whole hour from her side assured me an answer. I really wanted her to see me play live, I wanted her little boy to come too, so at least he can try to like Barcelona. I mean— things would be really awkward between us if she ever decided to be more than something she was right now to me.

After all, I could not imagine myself chanting Ronaldo's name at my television screen just to show my fake dedication towards the little boy's favourite club.

I didn't know what we were. Were we fading lovers? We kept wasting colours, did we even care anymore?  Did she even care about me? Even a fraction bit of how much I cared of her? Even after all these years.

Questions and more questions, yet, no answers.

A sigh escapes my mouth and I find myself bouncing on the balls of my feet. Tomorrow we leave for Barcelona but I'm not sure if I want to leave Paris just yet, not only does it hold immense beauty but also Aphrodite herself, to me at least.

"Are you going to keep looking at your phone or bless us with your presence at training?" Coach tells me, and i hurriedly put the phone in my duffle bag after turning it off, joining the others at training. Piqué looks at me and gives me a once over.

"Stop looking at me. What's you're problem?" I grumble and he holds up his hands in surrender. Ivan jogs up to some, "Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."

"More like, someone's childhood sweetheart didn't text grumpy face back." Piqué says with a smug look etched onto his face. That makes me tear my gaze away from the ball I was passing, making it roll into my feet and causing me to tumble. "Why are you such an expert in all this women stuff?"

"I always knew Piqué was a woman." We all turn around to see Jordi mumbling a little too loud.

"Oh dear lord, no, it's just that Shak and I have gone through these phases together so yeah, I really have a lot of experience in that shit. If they call you sweet on your face, it probably means that they're calling you a bitch behind your back. I don't know man, it's really complicated." He sighs and I join in.

"Know what? Let's just get this training down. We have a match in a few hours." I tell them and they all shake their heads at me.
____

The breeze hitting my face seems oddly comforting today, it was the only good thing about today, quite possibly. We lost 1-0 but we always have the second leg back at the Camp Nou, so that's no problem. I saw Neymar today and he looked happy, we exchanged a few words and hugged once. He really did look happy, which made me wonder if he even missed us and life in Barcelona anymore.

"It's good to see you, champ." I smiled one last time and went off before I could shed a tear or two even, for the matter. The sight that greeted me in the dressing room was beyond shocking.

Leon and Lana standing right outside my locker. Leon smiled at me happily and practically ran to my legs, hugging the skin. On cue, I picked him up in my arm. "Hey little buddy, how are you? Did you watch the game?"

He smiles at me. "Yes! You were great!" Lana stands in the corner, watching our little exchange, she looks at me and then at Leon, "You wanted to see the game so we saw the game now we are going back. Come on, Leon."

Leon frowned at his mother's words, the reason being unknown to me. She hadn't even looked at me once, I wonder why.

"But it was you who wanted to see the game in the first place." The little lad told her making me widen my eyes at Lana who looked adorably embarrassed right now. The look on her face just gave off her whole demeanour.

"Wha- no, you wanted to see the game." She argued. It was like Leon and I had been teamed up against the most important woman in our lives.

"Mum, I'm a Madrid fan." And that was it, the facade totally crumbling right in her feet. Leon would never want to come to a Barcelona game, that much I can decipher of a Madrid fan.

So it was her, she did see my text.

"Why didn't you answer my text?" I asked her, putting the little boy down and walking over to where Lana stood. She was clutching too tightly onto her cardigan wrapped around her body. Her blue jeans defined her legs and gave me all the inappropriate thoughts right then and there to rip them off her body.

But I had to earn her trust.

Again.

"I wasn't planning on coming." She tells me almost in a hoarse whisper. "I didn't want to come but it would be my first and last time to see you play right before my eyes. How could I miss that?" A smile formed on her face and without thinking of the consequence, I leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips, earning a small gasp from the background— from Leon, of course.

Lana stood still, she didn't move her head or even her body for a couple of minutes but it was like something finally registered in her brain and she kissed my back, moving her lips in a perfect sync with mine.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes? I really don't know how long the blissful moment lasted.

"Too much PDA for the child to bear if you ask me." I voice boomed making Lana and I pull back simultaneously. "Don't worry little one, you'll get used to it." Gerrard stood in the doorframe and patted Leon on his head, almost feeling sorry for him to witness such a thing at this early age of his.