[ five ]
The flight to Madrid wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be. But sitting in the airplane for so many hours wasn't the most pleasant thing. We arrived the night of a Saturday in Madrid. James brought his parents along with him, as well as me and his siblings.
We arrived at a nice hotel where we could see all of Madrid from our balcony, but we were all too tired to really enjoy it. I fell facefirst onto the bed when I entered the bedroom and fell asleep the moment my head came into contact with the pillow.
I awoke to find James gone, but he left me a sweet little handwritten note with a rose resting on top of it.
buenos dias, mi hermosa arista, he wrote in Spanish. Which translated into 'goodmorning my beautiful Arista'. I smiled to myself at the little romatic details he still had with me. But there was still more writing on the slip of paper. i'm getting my physical exams done this morning, so don't be alarmed if i'm not there when you wake up. i didn't want to bother you. but they tell me if all goes well, my presentation will be this friday! with love, james.
I climbed out of bed, got into the shower and changed into something comfortable. I didn't know what James had planned for us while in Madrid, but whatever it was I knew we would be doing it happy and together.
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The dealings for his new contract with the Spanish club had gone by very quickly. So quickly that by Friday there was already a home kit made for James and we were informed the stores would be stocked with his jersey by tomorrow.
When word got out that James would be joining Real Madrid, the tickets for his presentation ceremony sold like hot bread. Colombians, as well as fans from around the world came in hundreds, taking over the city and it was all to see the beginning of my boyfriend at his football career with the merengues.
The ceremony was beautiful.
First they had him sat in one of the skyboxes while people gave a few speeches on James and how talented he was. When the speeches were done, he was given a Madrid home shirt which he posed with next to the club president.
James even had me pose with him in some of the pictures and I tried to decline. This was his moment and I wanted him to live it without worrying about me. There was also the fact that I didn't really like to be in front of the cameras much.
Before having him go down onto the pitch where he would show off his skills, the club had a surprise for him. With the help of his mum and I, they created a video of James with memories of his childhood and his beginnings with football. The videos and pictures continued, showing him with his first club team Envigado, then Monaco and eventually there were picture with him representing the Colombian national team.
The last images were of him at the world cup. How proud he looked wearing the jersey, the happiness reflected on his face each time he scored a goal, and there were clips of his celebrations. The way he and the other boys danced while the entire world cheered him on.
And finally there was a video of his goal against Uruguay at the round of sixteen which was deemed the most impressive goal of the entire tournament.
When the video ended, the crowd errupted into cheers. But that wasn't the end of his presentation. James got up from his seat and pecked me on the lips before being led down to the changing rooms where he put on his brand new Madrid uniform.
I got up from my seat when I saw him emerge from the tunnel, my eyes pooling up with tears of joy. Amazingly, his eyes found me despite the elevation of the skybox and he waved, blowing me a kiss. Photographers snapped so many pictures of him in his new uniform that he looked slightly disoriented as me made his way onto the lush green grass of Santiago Bernabeu. He was handed a football and everyone awaited in anticipation for him to show off his skills.
