Opposites Attract - Chapter 12
My limbs felt like cement as I put down all of the shopping bags in my hand. Lana was still somewhere in one of the shops. I had told her I would sit in a cafe, waiting for her. Now I realized that that wasn't a particularly good idea. Once I had ordered a small coffee I could hear the whispers around me.
People know your face now honey.
Crap. I had totally forgotten that my face had been on nation wide television for the last week. As I turned my head to look out for Lana, I saw a mob of people cramming towards me. Some of them were paparazzi. I tensed up and let out a sigh of frustration over my own stupidity. When the first flashes blinded my eyes, I remembered what our press guy had said to us.
“Try to look your best in all photos! Even if you don't feel like it!”
Yet again, I let out another sigh and put a smile on my face. My body slowly relaxed, the tension flowed off me. A girl, about fifteen years of age maybe, walked up to me. She just silently held a picture of me. Her mom stood behind her, pushing her to go further.
God, this all seemed so unreal. How did famous people deal with all of this? I sure was lucky that the World Cup would end some time.
“How can I help you little Miss?”, I asked her in a gentle voice. Her face shot up to mine, her eyes big and round.
“C-Could you...maybe, uhm, like, sign this?” her voice was shaky and my heart felt warm. “Well, of course!”, she handed me the picture along with a pen.
Okay, phew, just write your name Ana, you can do this. You really need to practice your signature again.
I handed the picture and the pen back to her, she was now smiling from ear to ear.
I returned the smile. “I want to be just like you when I grow up Ana!”, she exclaimed. I chuckled and told her: “Well, if you train a lot and do good in school, you will surely reach great success!”
Her mom smiled at me and told the girl that they had to go. I waved her goodbye and sipped on my coffee. The other people soon started talking after my encounter with the girl. They asked questions, took pictures, and I felt as if they would never leave me. I signed countless stuff, smiled for photos and answered all the questions calmly.
When I saw Lana scouting over to me, I felt a little less intimidated by all the people, because half of the mob just went over to her. She was visibly more excited than I was. I took her at least half an hour before she sat down next to me. She ordered something with a name way too long for me to remember. “So, was that fun?”
She sipped on her mug and started blabbering at me. “Holy shit, Ana. That was so awesome, we need to go out more, like these people are sooooo interested in you, it's insane. I never want this thing to end, and it hasn't even fully started yet!”
Sheesh, was she excited. But she was kinda right. Some part of me didn't want this World Cup to end, another part of me just wanted to flee back to Malaga, into my nice little flat and just forget everything. I wondered what he was doing right now. I looked on my watch. It was about half past two. My hand was on my cellphone in my pocket, but I snapped out of it. Don't get yourself into more trouble Ana.
“Well, I don't think Alexander would just let you roam around Madrid on your own. You need to focus on this competition.”, whoops, I think that came out a little too harsh. Lana looked at me with big eyes. “Okay, okay Mom. Jeez, don't be so uptight Ana!” she hissed at me.
I put my hands up in defense. “Sorry Lana, wasn't meant that way, okay? The stress is just talking through me. Sorry again.”
Lana laughed and took another sip. “It's okay, I see that you're not to happy about all these people questioning you.”, she said. I checked the time again. 2:41 pm.
“Well, you know, I do like that stuff, kind of. But I know what the press delivers about people. I just don't want any false information to be spread. I'm only here to dance, just because that's what I do best.”
Lana patted me on the back and nodded understandingly. I sighed and took another sip from my coffee.
“Do you need anything else, or are you done?”, I asked Lana. She drank the last of her coffee and stood up. “We got the left side of the road, now off to the right one!” she pointed into the distance and charged away. I payed for her and my coffee, signed an autograph for the waitress and excused myself. Didn't Lana already have enough stuff? I loved her to bits, but no one told me shopping was part of that love. But it was no use whining, so I just called after her and followed her.
-
I fell into the seat of the cab and flung my arms to my sides. Next to me, Lana was rummaging through her bags, like a kid on Halloween. I looked on my phone. 3:45 pm exactly. Nothing from him, but a missed call from my mom. I called her back, it took her quite some time to answer.
“Hola Mama, what's up?” I yawned into my phone. “Oh Ana, do you know how proud I am of you? You were so fantastic yesterday, I'm speechless. I bet your Dad is jealous of your success.”
We were driving through the old part of Madrid, Lana was still all up in her bags.
“Yeah Mom, I bet that fucker is biting himself in the ass somewhere. Thanks for calling, kinda needed that.”
Mom chuckled at the first part of my sentence and asked: “Why? What's wrong honey?” My bag fell off of my lap and on the floor. I bend down to pick it up, grunting in to the phone: “Oh, nothing really, just felt a little down yesterday. But that's not important, how are Sara and Nuria?”
“Oh honey, it will be okay. Just enjoy life right now! Sara is okay, she came over yesterday to watch you dance. Nuria is also fine, her kids are just wearing her out. I'm happy that at least one of my daughters is doing something with her life.”
We turned around a corner and I could see the Bernabeu in the distance. Lana was staring at her phone now, pretending she wouldn't listen to me.
“Well Mom, is it that bad that she got married? Isn't that what Moms always want? Find a good man and settle down, build a home and a family! And besides, Pedro is not a bad man. He's got a good job and all that stuff, and he's a good father.”
Lana tapped my shoulder and asked who I was calling. I mouthed the word Mom and she nodded understandingly. Her eyes fixed themselves on her phone again.
“Yes, you're actually right honey. Well, I gotta go now, need some shopping to do! Have a nice day Ana, besos!”
“Love ya Mom.” I said and hung up.
Lana looked up at me from her phone and when I raised my eyebrows, she just shook her head and looked outside the window. Minutes later we were at the circle and got out of the cab. As we stood in the middle of the circle some of our teammates came in behind us. “Were have you been Lana?”, Julia asked loudly. “Oh, just shopping, you know. They've got great stores here! And oh, that one in particular...”
I took this as my escape to get into my bungalow. My shopping bags were left behind at my closet, I just wanted to lay in bed and think about nothing.
Well, that lasted for about ten seconds, my phone beeped.
Fat chance Ana. You'll never be able to rest...
Sometimes I just wanted to take this goddamn phone and throw it out the window. But when I saw the name of the text message, my heart turned in my chest.
How is my little girl doing today?
I fell back onto my bed and grinned like an idiot. And then a noise, that I hadn't heard myself making for at least ten years, came out of my mouth. I giggled. I giggled so much that my stomach started to hurt. I rolled to my side and had to start laughing at myself. I got excited over a text message, like I was a little schoolgirl. Why did everything feel so easy when it came to him? When in reality it wasn't easy at all. I got my phone and replied to him.
Pretty good. What about you? And what's that with the little girl thing supposed to mean?
Just when I had hit send, there was a knock on my door. I rolled off my bed and walked up to the door, already knowing who it was. Lana rushed into the room as soon as I had opened the door. She spined around, only as gracefully as she could. Her light pink dress flung around her and she looked like a cupcake for a second.
I smiled at her as she came to a halt and she asked: “So, what do you think?”
“What, about your dress, or about the fact that you're standing in the middle of my room for some reason?”, I asked, fake shock swinging in my voice.
She opened her mouth way too far for it to be real and stared at me. “Well, the dress is really pretty. And you don't bother me too much.”
I closed my arms in front of my chest, and then we just stared at each other. Suddenly Lana burst into laughter and I couldn't help it, I just laughed with her.
“Well, I just wanted to make sure you liked it, I want to ask David if he wants to go have a drink, non-alcoholic of course!”, she had noticed the look on my face. She suddenly got really quiet and looked on the ground. “And, you know...uhm, could you like, uh, tell me how I should ask him?”
I blinked. What? “Well, go up to him, ask him if he wants to have a drink with you sometime and then that's it.”
She squirmed and kneaded her hands. “You say that so easily, I can't just do that!”
“Well, of course you can! What's the worst that could happen?”, I asked her, moving closer. She sighed and it took her a little while to answer. “What if he says no? What if he doesn't like me?”
I was baffled. Not like Lana? Was that possible? The bubbly, cute little Lana I had learned to love over the last couple of months looked really small and sad right now.
“Lana, listen. If he says no, which I assume he won't, so what? You deserve better then. You can move on, there are thousands and millions of boys out there that would love to have a drink with you!”
I patted her on the back and she sighed again. “But you seemed so comfortable with him, I think he likes you more than me!”, she exclaimed.
I couldn't help myself, but I had to laugh a little, which earned me an angry frown from her. “Well, he's cute and all that, but believe me, you two fit together way better.”
She looked up at me, a little more relaxed now. “How do you know that?”
I smiled warmly at her. “I see how he looks at you Lana, at practice, when we're in the bus, and everywhere else. He likes you!”
She sighed yet again and hugged me. We stood in silence and I just held her, until she stood back and smiled at me. This was the Lana I knew, and I was happy that I could help her.
“Thanks Ana, thank you so much. Actually, how come you don't have a boyfriend? I mean look at you!”, she said while scanning me.
“Psch, I don't have time for boys now, and it's quite nice not having someone that clings to you wherever you go, you know?”
She giggled at me and we both laughed for a couple of minutes. “Okay, I gotta go now, my brother said he was gonna call me.”, and with that she rushed out of my room again.
I sat down and got my phone again, Sergio had replied about 20 minutes ago. I opened his message and my heart sped up immediately.
I'm good, thanks. Well, if I'm honest I don't know myself, all I know is that I want to see you again, and touch you, and maybe lick and bite and nibble a little. Tell me when you have time for me little girl, I'll be right there and distract your mind for some time. Love, Sergio.
Love. Love. Love. Love. That word ran through my mind as I put my phone down, trying not to pass out.
