[ nine ]
I drove to the training ground almost an hour away. I left my car in the lot after showing the security my press pass and grabbed the manila folder with the information I needed for my first interview as a sports reporter. According to my new boss, there would be a camara crew already waiting for me. And before heading into the building, I peeked into the folder to read the name of the player I would be assigned to.
I realeased a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding in when I saw the name.
Toni Kroos.
A sense of relief rushed through me when I realized I wouldn't be facing James, at least not today. I was met at the entrance by a member of Real Madrid's staff who smiled at me. He was a friendly middle aged man who led me out to the field where the players were alerady getting started with their training.
Gesturing Toni over, who was among the rest of the footballers which paused in their training when they saw an unfamiliar face, the man told me, "Toni's the blonde haired one over there. He's all yours." He patted me on the shoulder reassuringly when he noticed I was looking nervous. And with those last words he left me standing completely alone with my camara person who was a few feet off, fidgeting with come knobs and buttons on his heavy looking camara.
As if knowing I was here to see him, Toni jogged over to the bench area where I was standing. The rest of the camara crew was also close by, setting up to film the interview which would be shown on national television later that afternoon. A smile lit up his features and as he reached me, he spoke to me in English with his thick German accent, "I didn't know you were a reporter."
I nodded slowly. "Coincidentally I get to interview the same guy I almost killed yesterday. I'm really sorry about that, by the way." I offered an apology once again.
From behind him, a few yards off, I could see Cristiano and his group of friends watching us with curious looks in their eyes. And off to one side, all on his own, was a James who looked so much more different than he did the last time I saw him. For one, his eyes were different. Sure he was the same in appearance, but there was hurt mixed with anger in his eyes. This was something I'd never seen in James. Happiness, compassion, and love were things absent in his brown eyed gaze.
I tried to avoid his eyes as they burned into mine. He wouldn't look away, even when he knew I caught him looking. Toni chuckled at my comment, pulling my attention back to him. The camara person announced he was ready to start filming and I got back on my feet. I was handed a microphone and some news cards with questions to ask the Madrid footballer.
As the interview began, I found my words coming out robotically. My eyes wouldn't stop glancing occasionally in the direction of James, only to find he was already watching me. Toni was friendly and helped me throughout the interview by making an effort to continue conversation. But he was naturally a man of few words, it was obvious in the way he spoke. It was almost a half hour of filming when our interview was over. My camera man shut off the camara and gave us a thumbs up, indicating that we had been great. I gulped back my emotions and turned to look at Toni.
He was quick to notice something was wrong. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Uh...yeah." I lied, looking past him to see James running some drills.
The German footballer opened his mouth to speak when James kicked the ball with surprising strength, sending it flying in our direction. Somehow I had just enough time to pull him out of the way and the football hit one of the plastic chairs on the bench, making a crack in it.
"Sorry!" James called, although it was evident his words meant nothing.
"What's his problem?" I gasped.
I didn't know if he was aiming for me or Toni. But I knew a ball with that amount of speed could have easily knocked one of us unconscious. Shrugging his shoulders, Toni turned towards James with a grimace. "I don't know." He explained to me. "I met him very briefly. On the first day he was a friendly guy; happy and everything. Then he was sulking and sad all the time. From there he became a bitter person. Honestly no one on the team can stand him. His name is James."
The crew put everything away and let me know they would be heading out. I nodded my head and said to Toni, "I need to get back to my job. Thank you for letting me interview you." I extended my hand out for him to shake.
"I hope we'll meet again." He smiled at me as we shook hands and strangely, his smile sent a dozen butterflies fluttering in my stomach.
.
.
.
.
I was back at the news building an hour later and watched while my tape of the interview was edited by experts. Despite the fact that the editing crew continuously complimented me on doing a good job, I wasn't happy with the way it turned out because I looked nervous, unprepared and distracted. If I could easily notice it, I was sure my boss would too. I didn't want to be sent back to Colombia on my first day in Madrid.
The next thing after it was edited was to send it to the boss for him to check before it could be on the sports program that afternoon at seven. I went to my assigned cubicle and waited for any news.
Ten minutes later, I was called into his office to find him with a blank expression on his face.
"You wanted to see me sir?" I asked shyly.
He nodded ad gesturing to one of the chairs, he said, "Sit Arista." I did as I was told. My legs were shaking so much I might have dropped down to the ground if I had remained standing any longer. He took a deep breath and began making comments on my performance. "I noticed you were a bit nervous and distracted there." He pointed out.
"I'm sorry." I quickly apologized. But I thought it was the end for me in Madrid.
"But," He paused and a smile appeared on his face. "You looked really good on camara and seemed to have great chemistry with the German footballer. We all know Kroos isn't the most social guy, but you got him to talk. Hopefully you can have the same amount of chemistry with the next footballer."
His words brightened my mood. "I'll do my best."
"Perfect." He said. "So tonight you'll present your first interview on Deporte Caliente. And tomorrow will be your next interview will be with the team's badboy..."
Oh no, I thought.
"James Rodriguez."
The one person I was trying so hard to avoid.
-
update for you guys.
now we have badboy james trying to half-kill toni.
arista and james will soon see each other again and will be forced to interact with each other. lets see how that turns out for them.
thank you all so much for reading.
i love you.
-clary xx
