The loud ringing of your phone causes you to about jump out of your skin as you’re launched out of your deep thoughts. When you see the name on the screen, you groan loudly, already knowing exactly what will take place in the conversation.
“Hey, Y/N!” Richard exclaims, not wasting a second before continuing, “Would you mind checking on Erick? He’s been acting weird lately. We invited him to go out with us tonight and he said no, which he never does. He won’t tell us what’s wrong, so I was wondering if you could ask him for us?”
A sigh escapes your lips as you agree to Richard’s statement. You can practically see him beaming from your hotel room as you kindly finish the conversation before hanging up. When you applied to be an intern for Clara on CNCO’s management team, you never thought you’d become best friends with the band members, nor did you think you’d become particularly attached to the young Cuban member.
As soon as you both met, you knew he was going to be special to you. There aren’t enough words to describe what it felt like when you met him, but the one feeling you remember was tranquility.
The whole day leading up to meeting the management team members and CNCO themselves, you were freaking out. You didn’t eat, you hardly slept, yet you had so much nervous energy. When you first met Clara, her gentle smile and personality took a weight off your chest, but the nervousness was still there when you met the boys.
Thank god they were nice, incredibly nice, yet you were still incredibly anxious. Ever since day one, Erick has been able to sense your discomfort, or any feeling really besides happiness, and goes out of his way to make it better. Of course, that day, he began talking to you, asking you questions about your life and schooling, and the anxiety completely melted away. His presence was, and is, soothing.
From then on, you two were pretty much inseparable. If you didn’t feel like going out at night, he wouldn’t leave the hotel and vice versa. Before each show, he always gives you a “bueno suerte besito”, as he likes to call it, on the cheek, still to this day making you as red as a tomato.
It’s no secret to anyone, including Clara, that he likes you. It’s so obvious that random people ask you in public if you’re dating. Even the fans like you, which is crazy. Everyone wants you to date so bad, and the only one holding back the relationship is, well, you.
You like him, you sure as hell do, but you’re afraid of risking your job. Clara already said it’s okay since the fans support it so much and because he really likes you. The issue arises after this internship. When you apply for an actual job with another company and they see you’re dating or were dating one of the members, the question of how well you actually did your job will arise. Anyone could think it was a publicity stunt.
And anyway, once the tour is over, so is your internship. There are merely a few months left, so would he actually want to stay with you after it all?
Keeping it private is a longshot since Erick already said he doesn’t want to keep you private. He wants to post about you on Instagram and hold hands with you in public, actually, he already told you that a while ago. Still, your fear keeps him locked away in the friend zone, even though your heart is aching for him.
Even now, your heart is aching for him, but for a different reason. You already asked Eric what was wrong, but he wouldn’t tell you. Instead, he shut the door of his hotel room in your face a few days ago and hasn’t spoken to you since.
It’s incredibly odd to suddenly have someone that was such a constant in your life suddenly disappear. Even the air seems different; you almost feel completely out of place even in your own room. Normally, you and Eric would be snuggled up in someone’s room talking, watching a movie, or he would be singing to you, something he knows you love.
You know exactly what you have to do as you collect all your things together, before heading out into the eerily quiet hallway of the hotel room. Each step and breath you take is completely audible until you finally reach your destination.
Softly, your knuckles tap on the door of your friend, Erick’s hotel room door. The closer he gets to the door, the louder the thuds are echoing from inside, until the door swings open, revealing an anything but happy Erick. For a second, you two just stare at each other, no words being exchanged, but then, he begins to shut the door.
Not this time.
You push the door as hard as you can, causing it to fly open and for Erick’s grip to be released on it. As he stumbles back, you walk into the room, before softly shutting the door.
Spinning around on your heel, you face a very startled Erick, who just stands there, staring at you with wide eyes. A sigh escapes your lips as you cross your arms over your chest, meeting his intense gaze. As soon as his lips part, you cut him off.
“We need to talk and you’re not slamming the door in my face again,” You state sternly, trying to keep a poker face. In reality, you’re about as threatening as a rabbit, which Erick finds adorable. The anger you’re trying to put into your face makes you look like you have puppy dog eyes, completely tearing down the wall he put up around himself.
“Lo siento carino Dime todo y piensaré sobre perdonándote o. Perdóname.” The honesty that’s evident in his voice causes you to drop the anger you’re attempting at portraying. With another sigh, you walk over to his bed, inviting yourself to sit on it and pull your knees to your chest.
“Dime todo y piensaré sobre perdonándote,” You say with a small smile, letting him know you’re kidding. This seems to relax his mood a bit, causing you to pat the spot next to you on the bed. Your fingers play with the edge of the sheet to distract you from staring at him and forgetting why you're here as he walks over. to sit next to you. Once he sits, crossing his legs, you dare to meet his gaze, which you find already on you.
“What’s going on amor?” You ask him, using the pet name you know he loves.
“Me extraño mi familia, en Cuba y en Florida mucho. No sé por qué ahora pero, por alunga razón, he estado triste por los últimos días.” You know it sometimes hard for him to express himself completely in English, so he always switches to Spanish when something serious is going on. The light that used to rest behind his bright green eyes has been dimmed, breaking your heart completely. His eyes disconnect from yours as he stares down at the comforter, trying to hide his apparent sadness.
In an instant, it hits you what’s wrong with him. Excitement runs through your veins, making you smack his arm to get his attention.
“Ow!” He calls out, rubbing his arm and staring at you with his eyebrows knitted together.
“You’re homesick!” The word doesn’t seem to resonate in his brain, causing his eyebrows to furrow even more than before as his head cocks to the side slightly.
“Estoy triste porque llego a mi casa enfermo?” It takes all of your willpower not to laugh as you stare at him.
“No, no! La palabra significa cuando extraña malo a tu hogar o su familiar in inglés,” He raises his brows a big as he draws his lips downward slightly out of embarrassment for his bad English. You can't help but giggle, causing his eyes to meet your gaze again. The sound of your laugh always ignites something in him, drawing out a smile he didn’t know he could make based on the current feeling he was holding.
“It’s true though. They can’t come up to visit, they’re too busy. Every time I call they aren’t home or are sleeping because of the time zone differences. Lo que debo hacer?” He asks sadly, looking at you with hope-filled eyes. It seems for the second or third time today, you’re heart physically aches for the boy in front of you. He’s so attached to his family, which is something you love about him.
“Well, why don’t you text them and tell them you really miss them and want to see if you all can set up a time to FaceTime this week? I can’t see them saying no, they love you so much, Erick.” Within seconds, the boy is back to beaming at you, causing a sudden warmth to spread through your veins. At first, you don’t even realize his smile has made you smile the same way back at him.
“Eso es una buena idea! Gracias, Y/N.”
Before you can even respond, he’s already on his phone, fingers flying across the screen ecstatically.
“Sent!” He calls out excitedly turning back to you. You smile at him happily, since his happiness seems to only enhance your own.
“Thanks for everything,” He begins, gazing at you, “I’ve been a really bad friend this week. I’m really sorry about that. I promise next time I’m hurting, I won’t push you away.”
“I forgive you, Erick. It’s okay.”
“Good! Cuddles and Netflix?” He asks, causing you to grin, nodding excitedly at him. This is what you do for each other each time your down. It’s always cuddles and Netflix, no matter what.
Instantly, he’s pulling back the covers for you to get in, which you do, before sliding under them himself. Before you can even begin to lie down, his arm wraps tightly around your waist, yanking you into his chest. Your laughter rings out through the room, causing his heartbeat to skip a few beats, but when you smile up at him, it stops completely.
God, you have him so whipped, and he could care less.
With his arms wrapped around you and your head on his chest, you watch a random Netflix movie, unmoving. The coolness of the AC works in Erick’s favor, thank god, since you keep yourself tightly pressed into the side of his body for warmth. Knowingly, he doesn’t offer you a hoodie to put on over your tank top and shorts, even though he loves when you wear his hoodies. Right now, he wants to keep you as close as possible.
When the movie ends, neither of you dare move, not even to start the next one.
“You should FaceTime my family with me,” Erick finally says, shattering the peaceful silence of the room. The statement causes your breath to hitch in your throat, which Erick hears, causing him to grab your hand.
“Why?”
“Cause they love you so much! You know they always ask me about you and if we are dating yet,” He says matter-of-factly. The whole room goes completely silent, only the AC running in the background, and for a second, you can’t even hear him breathe with your head on his chest.
“You know we can’t.” Your voice is so quiet, you aren’t sure if he can even hear it. The confirmation he did comes in the form of a sigh.
“You know we can. The only person holding us back is you. I’m not sure what you’re afraid of. I mean god you know Clara is already talking about hiring you as a full-time member of the management team. She’s literally making a job for you right now.” You gasp loudly, lifting off his chest to look into his brown orbs to see if he’s bluffing.
“You’re kidding.”
“You didn’t know? Oh! I may have just spoiled the surprise... surprise nena?” He smiles cheekily at you when he says this causing you to grin back at him before excitedly bouncing up and down on the bed. His laughter sounds throughout the room at your excitement, but really his heart is beating twice as face as yours.
“Oh my god, Erick! You’re gonna be stuck with me!” You scream loudly causing him to burst out laughing yet again.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Well, now will you date me?” The statement stops your excited actions as you spin to face him. Your heart is dancing around in your chest, yet you feel constricted of oxygen. For a moment, you simply stare at him, contemplating the question.
