I turn the corner and bump into Gio. Thank God it's only him and not Jude.
"Is Jude around?" I ask him quickly so I can hide in case he comes too. "He's already down at the training ground. But what are you doing here?" he asks me tensely. "I'm on holiday here?" I say innocently. "Yeah, sure," he says. I don't think he believes me.
"You happen to be in the same hotel as Jude and the whole other team?" he asks me suspiciously. "Yes?" I try to talk my way out of it. "I don't believe you. Now tell me what you're doing here," he says with a serious face. "Are you sure Jude won't come or something? I mean, you're still here." "I'm 100% sure he's not coming. I just forgot something. Now tell me."
"Yeah yeah. Chill. I'm here with his mother. She asked me if I wanted to come here with her and I didn't say no. But please don't tell him, Denise wants it to be a surprise. Do you understand?"
"Sure. I won't tell him." "Then go on, go to training, you have to be well prepared after all," I urge him. "Don't worry, I'm already gone," he says and disappears on it.
I continue to our room and knock twice. Shortly afterwards, Denise opens the door and I quickly go into the room. "What took you so long?" she asks a little impatiently. "I ran into someone," I say and there is clear panic in her expression. "You don't mean... You didn't see him...did you?" she asks cautiously, probably afraid of my answer.
"No. It was Gio. He promised not to say anything though." "Gio is a good boy. I'm sure he'll keep his promise," she assures me. "I should hope so."
"Look. Your room is over there, okay? If you need anything, just knock." "Yes, I will," I answer her and then go through the connecting door to my room.
It actually looks exactly like Denise's room. It's really nice and even quite big. I put my suitcase in a corner, take out some new clothes and take a shower. After such long days, I always feel so dirty and disgusting.
After I'm done, I lie down in bed for a while to get some rest.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a loud call from outside. It doesn't sound as if anything bad has just happened, but more like loud orders. I open my balcony door and look to see if I can see anything from up here.
I look from left to right until suddenly the football pitch right in front of me catches my eye. How could I not have seen that earlier? I sit down on the balcony chair and watch them all training for a while.
I just hope no one sees me from below.
After half an hour, there is a knock at my door. I quickly leave the balcony and at that moment Denise comes through the connecting door.
"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come into town with me. We can look at it a bit and go out for a bite to eat," Denise suggests. "Sure, but what about Jude? They're training outside, he'll definitely recognise us if we walk past there." "No, don't worry. I saw a back exit. We can go that way." I nod in agreement.
"Should I change my clothes before we go?", I ask Denise. "No, you don't have to. You look great." I smile at her, take my bag and shortly afterwards we both leave the room.
We successfully leave the hotel and are now on the train, heading for the city centre. "What do you feel like eating?" Denise asks me. I have to think for a moment. "I don't know. I actually like to eat everything. You can choose." "Okay. Then let's go out for pizza. Agreed?" she asks. "Agreed," I say and we both get off at that station.
