see you later // Pablo Gavi

Chapter 27

𝑺𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒚...

𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐄𝐃𝐑𝐈, 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐆𝐀𝐕𝐈 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘. He picks up with a sleepy, "Hello?"

I laugh a bit, still not out of bed myself. "Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah. Yesterday was tiring. Luckily, my leg felt better after I came home and rested myself. It was a lot for me, physically, yes, but mostly mentally. I guess the rest of my body just couldn't take it. My leg, in particular. Anyway, I'm sorry I couldn't make it last night..."

"Oh, it's... fine. Don't worry. I'm sorry I didn't come over. I would have. I would have loved to, actually. I love being at the bar, but I would have come over."

"You don't have to say that," he says simply.

"Can you put on your video?" I suddenly ask.

"Huh?"

"Can we video call? I want to see your face. Your... expression."

He sighs, muttering, "Really, Ember, I look bad right now. I just woke up."

"You think I didn't just wake up? My hair isn't even brushed."

"Okay, good point," he says, and turns on his video as I do.

His head is laying against a white hotel pillow, his hair is a little tangled, but somehow, it doesn't look bad. I don't think Pablo Gavi is capable of looking bad, actually, when  I think about it. His dark eyebrows, which are usually thick and straight, are in a slightly weird shape. I giggled, and without thinking, I say, "Do you shape your eyebrows?"

"What do you mean?" he says, rubbing his tired brown eyes.

"Just what I said!"

"If they look bad, I fix them. What's so wrong with that?"

"I don't know. It's funny."

He looks amused. "How come?"

"I don't know," I shrug. "Anyway, Gavi, I wasn't just saying that I would have gone over. And I wouldn't have just because I knew you wanted me over. I would have because, despite how much I love being drunk in the bar, I like being with you more."

He stares at me through the screen with those brown eyes for a few surprised seconds, before finally saying, "Aren't you lying?"

"Of course not!"

A smile appears in his eyes and his mouth goes up. I love his perfectly imperfect smile. "I like being with you as much as I like playing football. And I love football more than you love getting drunk, I'm sure. I love football with all my heart."

And suddenly, it hits me what he is saying, and a million butterflies fly up within me. My face feels so warm, and my heart is pounding in my chest, it might just fly right out. My hands, which are holding my face, start sweating like crazy. It's like I washed my hands in sweat, for goodness sake!

Because he just said he likes me like he likes football. And he said he loves football. He just said he loves football with all his heart.

Does that mean he just said he loves me? Did he just say he loves me with all his heart? Or am I taking it wrong, just hoping to find something when it isn't even there?

I focus back in on his face. He is smiling. Eyes warm and shiny. Eyebrows slightly together. There may or may not be a slight pink tint to his face, but maybe that's just natural color. His lips... His lips look soft and pink and...

I am literally going crazy with love.

Save me, God.

Gavi opens his mouth, and he looks like he is about to cast another love spell on me with his wonderful words, but then those lips go back together again.

I clear my throat, before saying awkwardly, "Pedri talk to you about the art gallery?"

"Yeah, his phone call is what woke me up. So it wasn't you, actually. You called right as I was trying to get the will to actually get up."

I laugh, because I like him, and he's funny. "I'm excited for it..."

"Yeah, me too... I was wondering... Well, Pedri said 2:00 P.M. is when we'd go. So maybe... after the tour or whatever, can I take you out to dinner?"

I beam at him, and I want something to happen between us. I want him to do something. I want him to... At this point, he has to like me, right? There is no way he doesn't, based on his words to me just now! "I would love to go out to dinner with you, Gavi."

"Good. There is a really nice place here in Madrid. Anyway, I got to go now... Better get ready for the day, you know? Finally pull myself up out of my bed."

I nod, still beaming, before saying, "Oh, one more thing before you hang up!"

"Huh?" he asks, looking interested.

"I never actually got to say this, but... In the game, yesterday... You were extraordinary."

His eyes shine like they do when I mention football and his performance. I love that. I love him. My God, Ember, you need to stop this...

"Thanks, Ember. See you later, then."

"Yeah, bye, Gavi." I wait for him to hang up, and lay in bed. But really, I'm laying in a bed of clouds. The smell of roses around me, up in the air, captivated by him... Everything... Him.

Him.

In the most innocent possible way, I want to sleep with him. I want to lay in the clouds with him, and let him hold me. Lean against him, and have his arms around me. And just talk to him. Here his voice deep within me as if it were my own. Enjoy him as closely as I possibly could.

I want him.

I want to have Pablo Gavi so freaking bad.

So why doesn't he just ask me already?

I pray to God that tonight, at this dinner, he does it. He holds my hand. He tells me straight up, with no unsure flirting, that he loves me. That he wants me. That we really do belong together. And then he would hug me. And finally allow me to kiss those lips... Those lips that I have imagined kissing, so, so many times.

My freaking God. I need to figure myself out. What has Gavi done to me? Certainly something... I have never cared about boys before this. Sure, I'd go to bars and kiss them and have fun with them. But of course I'd never go home with them. Nothing long-term. Nothing risky. I never wanted them. I don't want guys. I only did that because I used them for my enjoyment for a short time.

But this is so, so different.

I want Gavi.

All of him.