twisted » á. morata & p. dybala

siete // spin-off

"Good morning shithead," Valerie's voice rung in my ears, and I saw her entering the room when I peeled my eyes open.

I groaned as my reply and didn't say anything further because I wasn't in the mood to talk.

"Don't worry, Álvaro told me everything. I'm pretty sure you were drunk last night. Here," she handed me a glass of green juice that I definitely didn't have the intention to drink.

"I'm pretty sure I wasn't, because I can remember everything," I sighed and tried to sit up on my bed, but my head was pounding, so I stayed down. "Did he stick around last night?" I asked, wide eyes expectant for an answer while trying to look casual.

"He wanted to, but I told him I could take care of you," she sat on the edge of my bed by my right leg.

"And here you are, judging me," I shook my head.

"I'm not judg-"

"Oh shut it. I can see it in your eyes and your sulky face," I half-spat, knowing that I shouldn't have been to harsh on her.

"I know that you go through a lot of problems everyday. We both do. But that doesn't mean that doing drugs is okay!" My own sister yelled at me, but I knew she did it out of worry and fear for me.

"I know it wasn't okay. It was a big mistake. I'm really sorry, Valerie. I know I'm not a good example for you. You are strong, you face every problem instead of running away from them," this time I succeeded in sitting up, and I sat there looking at her with admiration.

"Not really. Let's not talk about me. What about Paulo? What's going on between you and him?" She wiggled her eyebrows teasingly.

"Oh my Lord! Paulo!" I jerked up from my bed, and it seemed like I completely forgot about my headache in the midst of the panic. "I just remembered that he's going to pick me up in... shit. Twenty minutes. I don't have time to get ready," I rummaged through my closet, trying to find something suitable to wear.

"Where is he taking you? Here, let me help," Valerie stood up from the bed to help me pick something out.

"His house. The guys are gonna play some video games and I was invited," I said, my focus completely on putting on the t-shirt that I picked out. "Shit!" I shouted loudly, cursing myself as I remembered something else.

"What now?" Valerie's face was blank, her eyes darted with my body, moving across the room.

"You're also invited."

"What? Me?" She pointed a finger at herself, her mouth slightly gaping open.

"Paulo said he wanted to introduce you to someone. Now go," I pushed her out through the open white door.

"Who? What? Uh, why?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, she still stood up outside my room to ask me questions.

"I don't know, just go get ready or Paulo is going to kill both of us," I wanted so badly for her to get out of my sight, so I closed the door and went back to getting myself ready.

"Is Claudio Marchisio going to be there?" I heard Valerie's voice ring out again, this time muffled due to the closed door, and I swear I wanted to claw her face right there and then.

"I don't know, just hurry!" I yelled back from inside my bedroom, and soon enough I heard footsteps going further away from my room.

I got ready, but there was no covering up the hangover symptoms. My eyebags were huge and dark, imitating the sky when it's about to rain. My eyeballs themselves were bloodshot, my voice was raspy and it cracked here and there. All the signs of a hangover.

After deciding that there was nothing else I could do to improve my appearance, I put on a pair of sunglasses and went down the stairs to find Valerie already looking presentable. So unfair.

"I still don't know what you're getting me into," she shook her head, but she didn't question it again.

I opened my mouth to answer, to assure her that everything's going to be a blast, but the doorbell rang before I could.

"Let's go, it must be Paulo," I beckoned for her to walk out of the house, and I opened the door before her.

"Hey, let's go," Paulo stood there, smiling giddily.

"Someone's excited," I chuckled at the little bubble of joy in front of me.

He only chuckled in reply to my comment. "Oh great, she agreed to this," Paulo looked at Valerie who was standing behind me.

"Oh no no no, I never agreed to anything," she savaged like the savage she was.

"Oh please, she would never say no to meeting a whole bunch of Juventus players," I said to Paulo, completely ignoring my sister.

Paulo laughed at my remark, and Valerie blushed madly. Oops.

Paulo opened the doors to his car for both of us, and he started driving through the bright afternoon of Turin. The sun was shining madly upon the city, making us all squint. During the whole car ride, all I could think was what had happened the night before that. I was certainly hoping that Álvaro wouldn't be coming to Paulo's house. I was embarrassed, scared, angry, among other things. I didn't want to meet him or talk to him. Hell, I didn't even want to see his face.

"This is it," Paulo said as we screeched into a halt in front of a big house. The exterior of the house in front of us was modern and astonishing, to say the least. But what the hell can you do when you are a famous football player with too much money and not enough people to pay for?

We all got out of the car and Paulo walked us through the wide concrete driveway and through the gigantic, white front doors.

When we walked in, there was a lot of light to illuminate the room, seeing as Paulo had a lot of big windows. Picture frames filled with pictures of Paulo and his family lined the walls.

As we walked further inside the house, the yelling and cursing of some guys began to grow louder. When we got to the living room, it was a shipwreck. Pillows on the floor, snacks everywhere, drinks spilled, more pillows being thrown, et cetera et cetera. A few guys were sat on the couch playing FIFA. I recognised them as Juan Cuadrado, Mario Mandzukic, Sami Khedira, Leonardo Bonucci, Paul Pogba, and Simone Zaza.

"I leave you for thirty minutes, and you turn my house into... this?" Paulo said a little loudly over all the shouting.

"Your house is our house too, amigo," Juan shouted from where he was sitting on the couch, then continued on playing FIFA against the other guys.

"You're the one who said this was a video game party. Hence the name, party," Simone stood up from the couch and walked over to us, then I realised he wasn't playing, he was just watching.

"Simo, this is Isabella and her sister, Valerie," Paulo introduced us to each other.

"Hello, pleasure to meet you both," Simone went in for a hug from each of us. How very polite of him.

"Ah, Zaza. I'm a huge fan," Valerie said with a surprisingly calm tone, but her beaming eyes told otherwise.

"Thank you, and please call me Simone," he smiled brightly, and they continued their conversation, but soon every sound became distant to me as I zoned out.

Please don't be here, please don't be here. I kept replaying the mantra again and again in my head. My eyes kept darting around the house and so far, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Oy, Bruno!" Someone with a hoarse voice shouted from the kitchen area, then he started walking over to us. Shit shit shit.

"Ah, finally. Valerie, I told your sister that I wanted to introduce you to someone," Paulo smiled and scooted over to make some space for Valerie. "Val, this is Álvaro. Álvaro, this is Valerie."