Meant To Be (An Antoine Griezmann Fanfiction) [BoyxBoy]

Fancy Him, Not Stuff

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It had been a couple of weeks since Caleb last saw Antoine. Since the season started, Antoine had barely stepped a foot in Madrid; he had been traveling the world, signing book deals, filming interviews and doing fashion photo shoots. And, while the world was falling in love with the French world champion, Caleb felt lonelier. Antoine had unprecedentedly launched into stardom, his name was everywhere and everyone was talking about him. France and the rest of Europe craved to know everything about him: he had turned into a national hero and a worldwide phenomenon.

Weeks turned into months and autumn turned into winter. The end of November meant the beginning not only of the holidays, but also Caleb's 28th birthday. Antoine promised to make it up for Caleb once he was back in Madrid, but his schedule just wouldn't let him go. Caleb pretended he would be fine but secretly hoped Antoine would make it for his birthday. However, Caleb's hopes finally died as he opened his eyes on the cold morning of his birthday; he checked his phone and saw a handful of birthday messages but no sign of Antoine's. He gasped sadly as he stood up and left his phone over the night table. He checked the digital newspaper as he drank a cup of tea when he was dragged out of his reading as somebody knocked on the door.

"Hey birthday boy!" Erika exclaimed carry a birthday cake with a lot of candles on top of it. "I know Antoine is abroad, so I didn't want you to spend this day alone."

"Thank you, Eri" Caleb smiled weakly and invited her in. "That's very thoughtful of you."

"Any plans for the big day?" Erika asked as she sat down on the loveseat in the living room.

"Not really" Caleb shrugged. "I'm not in the mood of going out."

"Oh, come on" Erika complained. "Get dressed. I'll take you out on a birthday date with me."

"You know I'm dating your ex boyfriend, right?" Caleb chuckled, Erika rolled her eyes. "I'm joking."

"Just dating?" Erika frowned. "After all this time I thought you guys had finally made it official."

"I don't really know" Caleb sighed. "He's been away for so long that I don't even know where are we right now."

"His schedule's been crazy" Erika agreed.

"Very" Caleb nodded. "I don't know. Why if he meets someone better than me? What if he's getting bored of me?"

"I don't think so" Erika smiled.

"How can you be so sure?" Caleb scoffed.

"Because I have never seen him so nervous about having dinner with somebody" Erika wheezed. "You would think that he's pretty confident and quite cocky, but there he was, crying like a baby deciding if taking you out to eat was a good idea."

"Really?" Caleb giggled. "Tell me about it."

"Yeah" Erika laughed. "He put a lot of effort on everything he did for you, he even gave up his hotel room so you could stay in there."

"I can't believe it" Caleb sniggered.

"For real" Erika wheezed. "He crashed in his teammate's room since everything else was booked.  He didn't want you to stay away from him. He's a good guy, but he's better when he cares about someone."

"I have been dying to ask you, but I didn't want to make things awkward" Caleb commented, Erika raised her eyebrow.

"Hit me" Erika replied.

"How did you get over him? How did you move on?" Caleb asked.

"The feeling just went away" Erika sighed. "He had me hooked; he was a dream, but I always knew he was not the one for me."

"I once told him that he was a caring and loving boyfriend, I felt protected and loved, but I felt his love was more like a brother than a lover" Erika added. "He is the best thing that will ever happen to you. I know he's been very busy, but the wait will be worth."

"Thank you" Caleb held her hands. "I needed a reassurance of faith."

"Anytime" Erika smiled. "I hope you guys are very happy together."

"I really admire you" Caleb smiled back.

"How come?" Erika narrowed his eyes.

"The way you handled this whole situation" Caleb said. "You're the most caring and loving ex girlfriend that exists, I wish Gabriel could understand that."

"I love Antoine, but I'm not in love with him anymore. It has transformed into another type of love" Erika replied. "Your ex needs time to process everything, he was hurt by someone he cared about. It may take a while."

"I get that, and I don't blame him, but he's not mad at me" Caleb commented, Erika frowned. "He's pretty mad at Antoine and thinks he will win me back."

"He should be mad at both of you, not just Antoine" Erika whizzed. "But I get where he's coming from, he still loves you and hopes everything would go back to normal. You need to stop it."

"But how?" Caleb inquired.

"You need to rip off the bandaid" Erika sighed. "It will hurt him, but it will allow him to finally move on."

Erika took Caleb out and gave Antoine's team enough time to settle everything for Caleb's surprise party. It was late in the afternoon when they got back to the apartment: all the balloons and decorations had been arranged in Caleb's honor and Caleb's friends had hid wherever they could. They all surprised him when he opened the door and saw a bunch of people coming out of the curtains and behind the furniture. Caleb looked everywhere hoping to see Antoine, but there was no sign of him within those friendly faces. Every second of that party Caleb waited for Antoine to come out wherever he was hiding, but that time never came. They toasted and sang him happy birthday, but he was left all alone after the last of his guests left his house.

Caleb picked up the trash around the loving room when his phone started vibrating inside his pocket. As he saw Antoine's name on the lock screen, he recalled the time when it was drunk Antoine on the other side of the phone. He took the call as he gladly smiled at the memory, but unlike last time, no loud music made it hard for him to listen to Antoine's voice.

"Happy birthday, Caleb" Antoine uttered.

"Thank you" Caleb replied gracefully without hiding the fact that he was expecting a more touching message coming from him.

"I know you are wondering why it has taken me so much to reach out to you on your birthday" Antoine said, Caleb was surprised at how he had read his mind.  "The truth is that I was trying to find the right words to tell you what I am about to say."

"Is everything alright?" Caleb asked worriedly.

"Yeah, everything is fine" Antoine replied immediately. "The thing is just that this couple of months that I have been away from you have made me realize how much I'm used to have you around."

"It's pretty obvious that I miss you every second of the day and I would give up anything to be you right now" Antoine added. "But I actually never thought that I would need you so much in my life."

"I..."

"Just let me finish, alright?" Antoine gasped, cutting him off in mid-sentence. "Even though a call doesn't make up the fact that I couldn't be with you in your special day, I wanted to express my best wishes to you."

"Caleb, you are an incredible and inspiring man. Your strength, courage and fearlessness had inspired me to do things I never thought I would. You make me wanna be a better man and make me want to grow everyday" Antoine continued. "I want to be able to tell you how much I love and admire you not only every year, but everyday of your life. I've come a long way to expressing my feelings and finding myself, I may be insecure and naïve when it comes to my feelings, but what I feel for you is the realest and most secure thing in my life right now."

"Caleb Brown, would you be my boyfriend?"

"Oh hell yeah, I'd be my honor..."