see you later // Pablo Gavi

Chapter 23

𝑶𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒅, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐃, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐘𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐑 𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐎𝐑 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮. I don't really know; I wasn't listening when they were told. As far as I'm concerned, it didn't concern me, so why should I bother caring? Either way, I can't stay with them for now. Before I leave, Gavi makes sure to remember to give me my ticket to the game. I thank him, and tell him I'll get a hotel. He gives me money for it, even though I try to decline. But there isn't enough time to argue with him, so I reluctantly take it. He tells me to text him what hotel I end up staying in, so him and the Barca players can stay in the same one.

Which means I have to choose a hugely rich hotel. Especially so, going off of the amount of money Gavi gave me for a single hotel room alone.

I'm glad when he suggests one. I have never been to Madrid before, so it is a relief that I won't have to be wandering the city, looking for a nice enough hotel to stay in.

I ask him how many nights. He says three. I say okay, give him a hug, and get going.

I get a cab, and tell the cabbie the address of the hotel. I also text Gavi, telling him I'm just going to the hotel he suggested.

I am really worried about that picture Torre took. I look it up, and there are already articles and videos with titles like 'Famous Football Star Pablo Gavira Has A Girlfriend?' or 'Young Barcelona Golden Boy Gavi Seen Kissing A Girl'? All of them are trashily written or badly made. But it still makes my stomach sink way down within me. Luckily, none of my features are clear at all. It isn't a very good picture, when it comes to photography. It's blurry. You can tell it is Gavi enough, of course, but my face isn't facing the camera.

I text Gavi, although I know he won't respond to it in a while. But I still have to.

𝖬𝖾:
𝗉𝗉𝗅 𝗋 𝖺𝗅𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗒 𝗈𝖻𝗌𝖾𝗌𝗌𝖾𝖽 𝗐/ 𝗀𝖺𝗏𝗂 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺 𝗀𝗂𝗋𝗅𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽. 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝗍𝗁 𝖺𝖻𝗍 𝗎𝗌

I sigh. I don't know if I'm stressing too little or too much about this.

I arrive at my destination, pay the driver, and go inside the hotel. I get myself a room, and set all my stuff down in there, sighing again as I flop on the bed.

And his name floods back to me.

Pablo Gavi.

Him.

The way his hair sticks to his forehead when he has worked hard. His dark, thick eyebrows. How much fun his eyes can be to me. The silly little things he does. Our quiet little teasing to each other. The way he is prone to getting so moody about this teammates unwanted teasing. The strength of his arms I have felt personally the few times he has put his arms around me.

I want to date him.

I don't think any guy has ever been right for me. And probably Gavi isn't either, honestly. Which worries me about my obsession for him. I don't know why I'm putting him above school, success, and classes. I have always been so focused on those things.

It's like he's my new obsession. I could let all of those things go, if only I could have Pablo Gavi as my own. Which feels so weird to say. I never, ever would have imagined myself thinking things like that over a guy. And I don't know exactly if I like it, either. I don't think I do.

I wish I had never fallen for him, but now that I'm in love, I never want to let it go. I want him to be mine. I wish he could be. But I don't know if that is where he's at. I think some part of me likes me in that way. But not a large enough part. Maybe he's like me. Maybe he doesn't want a girl. Maybe he doesn't want anything to get in the way of his football success.

I think I think about Gavi too much. Way too much.

I just hang out in the hotel room for like two hours, watching telly in boredom. Then, though, Gavi texts me back.

𝖦𝖺𝗏𝗂:
𝗐𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗍𝖺𝗅𝗄 𝖺𝖻𝗍 𝗎𝗋 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗂𝗋𝗅. 𝗐𝖾 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗁𝗈𝗍𝖾𝗅. 𝗐𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗀𝗈𝗍 𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗋𝗈𝗈𝗆𝗌. 2𝗆𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗈𝗐 𝗂𝗌 𝖺 𝖻𝗎𝗌𝗒 𝖽𝖺𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗎𝗌. 𝗎 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖻 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝗅𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝗆𝖺𝖽𝗋𝗂𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌𝖾𝗅𝖿 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗐𝖺𝗍𝖼𝗁 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝖺𝗆𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀. 𝗇 𝖾 𝗐𝖺𝗒, 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗋𝗈𝗈𝗆 𝗇𝗎𝗆𝖻𝖾𝗋?

𝖬𝖾:
667

𝖦𝖺𝗏𝗂:
𝖨𝗆 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋

𝖬𝖾:
𝗌𝗈𝗎𝗇𝖽𝗌 𝗀𝗈𝗈𝖽

I smile broadly, simply because I'm going to be with him alone again. I'm going to see his face. He is going to talk to me. He'll likely plop on the bed next to me, and we'll simply talk.

In a few minutes, there is a knock on the door. I have changed my clothes from the clothes I was wearing in that picture from Torre, so now I am wearing a casual red dress, my hair in a braid over my shoulder, and I have done my makeup differently.

Gavi is wearing different clothes, too, probably because they might have been training or something. Now he is wearing a blue sweatshirt with a white stripe across the chest, that is too big for him. He looks adorable in it. He looks comfortable. So nice to hug.

Ugh, shut up, Ember.

I can't shut up, though. I would love to shut up, but I can't. Oh, how I wish to just shut my silly little thoughts up.

My thoughts and feelings. The yearning in me to be in his arms, him in mine. The want to lean against him, listen to his heart beat, and love him. The wish to go on long car rides together into the sunset, hands clasped, with the knowing of the love between us.

"Why are you just looking at me like that?" he smiles. "You're not going to let me in or anything, weirdo?"

I snap back into reality, and my face gets warm at the mention of me staring at him. I think I catch myself staring at him more often than I'd like to. I'm also sure he catches me staring at him more often than I'd like him to. "Right, yeah, sorry," I say, opening the door wide for him to come in.

He looks around as I plop on the bed, muting the telly, which is play some random uninteresting cooking show with some ugly French chef or something. "Come sit down, Gavi."

He sits down next to me on the bed, leaning back, before saying, "There was something you wanted to talk to me about, that you mentioned in your text?"