Looks can be deceiving (Mapi León x OC)

Chapter 26 - the calm before the storm

Just a little over 24 hours left until the kickoff of our Champion's league game against Bayern, which meant less than a day until I'd have to face Sydney and Klara again. In fact, the latter had just sent her third text message of the day, letting me know that they'd already arrived in Barcelona, in a desperate attempt to get my attention before our encounter tomorrow.

[20.10.2024  17:16:59] Klara <3: Wir sind gerade gelandet. Können wir uns heute noch sehen oder erst morgen? ("We've just landed. Can we see each other today tomorrow?")

Sighing, I put my phone aside, trying to concentrate on Jonatan's game strategies for tomorrow. He'd been going on for over an hour and kept on repeating himself, leaving me guessing that he was just as nervous for the game as I was. Having to face the thoughest opponent of your group as a first game in the group stage was never easy, especially with all the new recuts Bayern had made this summer. Even before I had left we'd always been a strong team with players such as Giulia Gwinn, Georgia Stanway, Hanna Glas and of course Klara and Sydney, but with Sara Doorsoun, Lynn Wilms and Bethany England joining the squad for this season they had been unstoppable so far, currently leading the German league after beating Wolfsburg 3-1.

While I had already been unbelievably nervous about tomorrow, sitting here and listening to Jonatan going on and on about pointless stuff was definitely not doing any good. To make matters worse, I wouldn't even be starting tomorrow. On one hand I hadn't really expected to be in the starting line up for such an important game anyway, but on the other side if I was forced to play against my old teammates I subconsciously wanted to impress them. Anxiously, I started chewing on my nails, when I suddenly felt a firm grip on my hands bringing them back down to my lap.

"What's wrong, princesa?" Mapi whispered curiously as she knew I only chewed my nails whenever something was wrong.

"I'm just nervous about tomorrow" I shrugged, anxiously bouncing my legs.

The Spanish defender threw me a condescending look. "When this is over, wanna come back to my place?"

"Wanna help me relax?" I winked, looking straight into the Zaragoza native's eyes.

Her jaw dropped as her eyes scanned the room, worried one of our teammates had heard my words. "I-I... Emi" She finally hissed, her cheeks colored bright red.

"I'll take this as a yes" I awkwardly grinned, trying to shift my focus back on Jonatan, who was thankfully bringing this meeting to an end.

"We're going to win this tomorrow!" the short Spaniard ended his speech enthusiastically. "Adiós chicas, hasta mañana!"

"Finally" I grumbled, hastily getting up, wishing I was at Mapi's apartment already.

"Vamos" the blonde clapped her hands, following me outside the meeting room, when I suddenly bumped into Alexia who was stood frozen in the doorway.

"Shit, I'm so sorry Ale" I quickly apologized, but soon realized the Catalan woman hadn't paid attention to my words, but was instead throwing death glares at Jenni and Ingrid.
The two were standing extremely close to each other on the other side of the hallway, engaged in a seemingly captivating conversation.

"Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me" Mapi sighed, harshly pulling her best friend away.

"What if Jenni has replaced me already?" Alexia whined, looking like a lost puppy as she threw a last glance over her shoulder at the two dark haired women.

"Ale, first of all, you know Jenni. Even if she was kissing someone else, it wouldn't have to mean anything. Heck, it might even be her brother or best friend that she'd be kissing, you never know with her. Secondly, aren't you the one kissing other people?"