World Cup Romance

Football and Dinner

Marco and I proudly stood up tall and recited the national anthem of Germany with the rest of the German supporters and players. The noise made my heart thump with excitement.

It would make this trip even better if Marco was on the pitch and helping his country move on to the quarterfinals.

He looked rather sad standing next to me and looking down at his teammates. I took his hand and squeezed it. He shot me a look of disappointment.

It hurt me to see Marco injured.

Marco's POV **

Germany won the match 2-1, with goals from Andre Schürrle and Mesut Özil. I took Nicole's hand and started leading her out of the arena.

"Where are we going to dinner?" Nicole asked.

"A place called Pão da Nona," I responded.

We had to walk a great distance to get to our rented car, and once we were finally in, I told Nicole what we were going to do.

"The restaurant is fairly nice, so we'll need to go back to the hotel and clean up," I pulled out of the parking structure. "Mario will meet us there."

"Sounds good," Nicole fidgeted with the scented tree hanging on the mirror.

It took a solid half hour to get back to our hotel, with traffic and many Brazilian football fans crossing busy intersections.

"oh, that was stressful," Nicole shut her door and started walking into the hotel.

Nicole's POV **

I was ready in twenty minutes. It took Marco forty minutes to get ready.

He needed to shower, gel is hair, and try on three different suits before becoming ready to go.

He came out of the bathroom leaving a scent of strong Versace cologne behind him. He wore a grey suit with a black tie.

"Easy on the cologne," I covered my nose and moved away.

"You look nice," Marco looked at my black lace dress that reached down at mid-thigh.

"Danke, Marco. Ready?" I twirled in my dress for effect.

"Ready," he held his arm out and I took it.

We began walking down to our car. It was a rented Mercedes-Benz SLK250 convertable.

"Put down the hood, Marco?" I held down my freshly straightened hair to keep it from getting tangled. He pressed a button above him and the car top was covered.

"My hair couldn't take that either," Marco said. He smoothed and re-positioned his dirty blond hair.

Marco and I had the same hair color, and same blue eyes. We definitely looked related.

"I forgot to tell Mario that I was bringing you," Marco tapped the steering wheel.

"I'm sure he won't mind," I stated.

"Stay where you are!" Marco had pulled in and parked. He quickly got out and came jogging to my passenger side and opened my door.

"Why thank you," I took his hand and stepped out.

"Shall we walk in together, Queen Nicole?" he laughed.

"Yes," I winked at my brother and placed my left hand over his right arm.

The restaurant was very dark, with little lighting. But there was an extravegant stature in the middle with multi-colored lights that lit up the small restaurant.