Off the Deep End (Cristiano Ronaldo / Lionel Messi)

Chapter 14: Phony Life

Monday 23rd March 2015

The bright rays of the sun traveled through the green curtains of the master bedroom and hit Leo's eyes, slowly waking him up from his deep sleep. He rolled around in the sheets, fumbling for his mobile phone to see what the time was. 10:30 already. He groaned and pushed the blanket off his lap, shivering at the chilly air of the room.

With heavy limbs he dragged himself to the bathroom and sat down on the toilet seat, trying his best to adjust to the upright position again. Tiredly he pulled out his phone again to check the news and new messages.

HASTALAVISTA – or Sergio – had clearly been missing him. Or rather he had been missing Miguel, because that's the name Leo had come up with for himself, when Sergio had asked about it a couple of weeks ago.

HASTALAVISTA: Good morning, Miguel! Did you go to sleep early last night? You sleepy head! Wake up asap, I have big news for you!

FOOTBALLFAN87: What is it?

Leo knew he was being kind of curt, but he really wasn't a morning person.

HASTALAVISTA: I got a new job and this is the best I've ever had, I'm telling you! Remember the interview I had last week? They just called me and – tada! – you are talking to the brand new sports journalist of Marca! Can you believe it! This is by far the best day of my miserable life!

FOOTBALLFAN87: Oh wow... congratulations!

The real-life Leo was cursing under his breath. This was such a farce: the last person he could think of to pour his heart out to was some Marca's reporter and that's exactly what he had been doing ever since he started this stupid chat with Sergio.

Nevertheless, he was happy for him and – a journalist or not – Sergio had been nothing but extremely attentive and supportive towards him all the time.

HASTALAVISTA: Thanks! I'm over the moon, this is a long time dream come true! And finally I get to see all the matches I want and even get paid for it! And they are going to pay me quite handsomely...

FOOTBALLFAN87: That's great, good for you!

HASTALAVISTA: ...which by the way brings me to my next point: the first match I'm going to write a report about is - insert drum rolls - Barca vs. PSG in Champions League Quarter Finals! How cool is that!

Leo sighed and slapped his hand onto his forehead. Great. Now please why don't you tell me you're going to do an exclusive interview with me next?

FOOTBALLFAN87: Nice!

HASTALAVISTA: It is! And that's not all: I'll get a couple of press passes to the match and – since you live in Barcelona and this match is played at Camp Nou – I'd like to invite you to the game with me! I would really like to meet you in person after all this time. What do you say?

'Indeed, what can I say?' Leo chuckled. He couldn't recall the last time he had found himself in a more hilariously absurd situation.

FOOTBALLFAN87: I'd love to. But unfortunately, I'm on a work trip that day so I can't make it.

In a way, he wasn't even lying.

HASTALAVISTA: Are you? Oh crap! I really hoped you could come. Next time then, huh?

FOOTBALLFAN87: Maybe. But you know what? I think you're going to be an amazing sports reporter. For real.

HASTALAVISTA: Aww, thank you so much! I'm going to work my ass off if I only can keep this job for as long as possible. But that's enough about me, amigo, what about you and your man?