Off the Deep End (Cristiano Ronaldo / Lionel Messi)

Chapter 6: Si No Te Enamoras

Saturday 7th February 2015

Leo was quite nervous, when the taxi pulled up at the restaurant Zalacaín in Madrid. He didn't exactly know, what to expect. He glanced at Luis, who gave him a thumbs up and then the trio exited the car and started to walk quickly toward the entrance to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

But the paparazzi wouldn't be paparazzi had they not the instinct of hungry shark and - sooner than the Barcelona stars could say 'World Cup' - they had already been encircled by them.

"Messi, Messi, why are you celebrating Cristiano Ronaldo's birthday, why are you here? Are you friends? Are you rivals? Do you hate him? What do you think of him? Is he better than you?"

"Messi, una foto por favor! Solo una foto!"

"Is Cristiano Ronaldo going to be transferred to Barça, is this why you're here?"

It was an endless avalanche of stupid questions pouring over them.

"Get the fuck off my face or I'll bite yours off!" Luis yelled and indeed managed to scare off a few of them so that they could make it inside.

The restaurant was beautiful and decorated all over with golden ribbons and chandeliers, balloons, pennons, flowers and blue spotlights. There was a lot of well-dressed guests strolling around holding wine glasses and getting acquainted with each other. A waiter greeted them heartily and they picked up glasses of champagne from the tray she was holding.

"Not bad", Luis said approvingly after tasting the wine. "How old were you again, Neymar, all you allowed to drink this?"

Neymar shot a dirty look at him.

"Shut up."

Then he suddenly froze. Leo turned around to see, what the problem was and grimaced inwardly, when he spotted an all-too-familiar figure grinning at them maliciously.

"Look what the cat dragged in", Pepe sneered, quickly dispelling any hope of having a sophisticated exchange of words. "I didn't know there was going to be a Catalonian clown show too. I'd love to see your skills, Neymar, but you'd need a pool for that."

"Oh, shut it Pepe. That's enough."

Marcelo – who was standing right next to Pepe – gave him a jab with his elbow, but couldn't resist a little grin forming on his face.

"Ignore him", Leo whispered to Neymar's ear. "He's just trying to get under our skin."

"It's such a great thing you've some dick in your personality, it must feel awful to miss one in your pants", Luis retorted and now it was Neymar's and Leo's turn to crack up. Pepe's mouth tightened into a line. He was about to launch himself at the Uruguayan and let him have it, but Sergio Ramos (!) grabbed him and held him back.

"Don't be an idiot, Pepe. Be civil just once."

"That guy is an animal", Neymar said and rolled his eyes, when they had walked out of earshot. "Why he is still allowed to exercise the fine art of football, beats me."

"Yeah, me too. But isn't that just priceless though", Luis laughed, tears in his eyes. "Sergio Ramos telling someone to calm the fuck down! I just wish I had caught that on tape."

***

They proceeded further into the restaurant and under the largest chandelier of the whole place came across with the birthday boy himself. Cristiano Ronaldo was looking nothing short of perfect of course: his hair was arranged in flawless curls and he was wearing a stylish short-sleeved black dress shirt that hugged his muscular arms, shoulders and chest. When he smiled his white teeth made a beautiful contrast to his glowing tanned skin.