A Typical Love Story

Chapter Eight: Friendly Warnings

“How long is he staying for?” Aisha Tyler asked looking at Penelope, she was worried for her friend and she feared what having Cesc live with her would do to her.

Aisha knew all about the feelings that Penelope had for the footballer and she worried that Penelope was only setting herself up for heartbeat.

Penelope sighed setting down her coffee, she could understand why her friend was worried about this and she didn’t want Aisha causing any trouble for Cesc.

“Indefinitely,” Penelope said sending her friend a warning look, Cesc would be home at any moment from training and she didn’t want him feeling uncomfortable around Aisha.

Aisha pursed her lips, she couldn’t believe that her friend had done this and she wasn’t even surprised; Penelope was always doing things like this for Cesc and he was taking advantage of her.

“Pen… we have talked about this,” Aisha said with a sigh, she shook her head wishing that Penelope would see that Cesc was never going to fall in love with her.

Aisha hated to think about her best friend being used by Cesc, she wanted Penelope to be happy and she was only going to get hurt by the footballer.

“Please don’t start this again,” Penelope said checking on Lia, she didn’t want to fight and she didn’t want to hear what Aisha was going to say; she wished that they didn’t have to talk about this.

Aisha pursed her lips, she wasn’t going to let this ago until Penelope agreed that Cesc needed to move out; she didn’t want the footballer around and she wanted him to disappear and never speak to Penelope again.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt… I have told you Pen, he will never love you and he’s taking advantage of you,” Aisha said trying to convince Penelope that Cesc living with her and she didn’t care that he would be alone with his daughter; she wanted Penelope safe and that was all that mattered to her.

Penelope opened her mouth to reply when she heard Cesc come through the front door, she glared at Aisha wanting her to be nice; she didn’t want anyone fighting in her home right now.

“I’m home…” Cesc called unaware of what had been spoken about while he was gone, he smiled happy with how the training had been; he was looking forward to the match that weekend even more so since Penelope and Lia would be there.

Cesc came to a stop when his eyes landed on Aisha, he swallowed knowing that the woman didn’t like him and never had; he didn’t know why and he hoped that she wasn’t going to be causing trouble.

“Hola Aisha,” Cesc said politely, he didn’t want to fight and he was hoping that they could move on from the past; he didn’t want to make things hard on Penelope after all that he had done.

Aisha snorted as she looked away from Cesc, she wasn’t going to exchange pleasantries with him; she didn’t care what he thought of her, he was trouble and she knew it.

“How was your day?” Cesc asked turning his attention to Penelope, his feelings for her were slowly growing over the past few days and he loved just sitting around and talking to her.

Aisha frowned, she didn’t believe for a moment that he really cared and she couldn’t believe that Penelope thought that anything was going to change.

“We talked about you moving out,” Aisha said smiling at Cesc, she wasn’t going to let him think that this was permanent; she was already planning to set Penelope up with from one of her friends from work.

Cesc stared at Aisha, he felt his chest ache wondering if he had outstayed his welcome; he was sure that Penelope would have said something if he had.

“Ignore her,” Penelope said smiling at Cesc, she couldn’t believe that Aisha couldn’t at least be nice to him after he had been dumped at the altar; it was only at Aisha’s insistence that she went to the wedding.

Cesc nodded his head, he looked at Penelope wishing that he had something to say thank you with; she was doing so much for him and he didn’t want her to feel used.

“Anyway do you remember Zack from work?” Aisha said turning to Penelope, she was going to make sure that Cesc knew that he wasn’t going to be the top dog here.

Penelope looked at Aisha, she had a bad feeling about where this was going; she didn’t want to be set up with another guy from Aisha’s office, they were all boring and dull.

“The one from accounting?” Penelope said moving to make Cesc a drink, she ignored the smug look on Aisha’s face; she had been on the odd date since she had broken up with Dylan but she hadn’t found the right guy yet.

Cesc frowned, he didn’t like where this was going and he hated Aisha for doing this especially when he had started to have feelings for his best friend.

“That’s him… I told him that he could take you out on Saturday,” Aisha said making Cesc feel like someone had kicked him in the stomach; he couldn’t believe that this was happening.

***

“She looks like you,” Aisha mused walking into the kitchen, she had stuck around to make this awkward for Cesc and she hadn’t been able to stop talking about Zack and his date with Penelope.

Cesc peeked back at Aisha while he fed Lia her dinner, he didn’t know why she had come to talk to him; she had never liked him and had always made him feel like he had done something wrong.

“What do you want Aisha?” Cesc asked looking back at Lia, he was sure that Penelope was busy if Aisha had come to bother him while he was feeding Lia.

Aisha smirked strolling over to Cesc, she didn’t care that he didn’t like her only that Penelope would be away from him; she wanted to speak to him alone so he didn’t get any ideas.

“Don’t get too comfortable… you won’t be staying long,” Aisha said eyeing the little girl, she did feel bad about what she was doing and her heart felt for Lia but her main concern was Penelope.

Cesc closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he wasn’t going to allow Aisha to get under his skin; Penelope said that he could stay and he was going to.

“Penny said I could stay as long as I liked,” Cesc said looking back at Aisha, he didn’t care what she said and he was still angry that she was setting Penelope up on a date.

Cesc was struggling with his feelings and the last few days had been hard on him, he didn’t understand how this had happened and what had changed everything for him.

“She doesn’t mean that… you are only going to break her heart,” Aisha scoffed not realising her little slip, she stared at Cesc wishing that he would just disappear; he was trouble and Penelope didn’t need that.

Cesc stared at Aisha wondering what the hell she was talking about, he couldn’t break Penelope’s heart especially since he doubted that she was in love with him. 

“Just get you act together and get out Fàbregas,” Aisha said hearing Penelope coming, she would do anything to make sure that Penelope wasn’t going to get hurt even if it meant dealing with Cesc herself.

Cesc watched Aisha leave the room, his mind racing at the thought of what Aisha had just told him; he wasn’t sure what to believe but he was sure that he had misheard.

Lia looked at her father, she might have only been a toddler but even she could work out that Penelope was in love with Cesc and had been for a long time.