twisted » á. morata & p. dybala

ocho // fifa party

"Val, this is Álvaro. Álvaro, this is Valerie," Paulo's voice kept ringing in my head and the words kept spinning in it.

Oh God, I don't want to see him, not after what happened last night, I talked to myself mentally.

Also, was Paulo serious? He wanted to introduce my sister to him? 

"Isabella? Are you okay?" Paulo asked, completely snapping me out of my thoughts. I didn't realise that I had been staring at Álvaro the whole time. Paulo and Valerie were staring at me, but Álvaro's gaze was fixed on the floor.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay," I tucked my hair behind my ear and stood up straighter, although it was kind of hard to do since my confidence had just been squashed.

Both Paulo and Valerie eyed me suspiciously, but to my relief, they didn't say anything about it. We all walked to the sofas and Paulo introduced us to everyone.

Everyone was super nice, friendly, and also incredibly funny and entertaining. They made us feel really comfortable and they taught us how to play a video game called Call of Duty. Paulo and Álvaro disappeared into the kitchen and left us to bond with the other guys.

"I'm so hungry," Juan started whining.

"Me too, where's Paulo?" Sami started whining too, and I suddenly felt like the responsible mother of the many hungry children in front of me.

"That man-bitch. He dares to leave us without food," Paul crowed in, and I knew I had to go fetch Paulo to feed us all.

"I'll go get him," I stood up and walked towards the kitchen, which is separated by a wall from the living room. I overheard Paulo and Álvaro talking to each other and I saw serious expressions on both their faces.

"Really? Her sister? You think she'll let me date her sister?" I heard Álvaro ask Paulo, whisper-yelling.

"Just go with it, okay? I can handle Isabella," Paulo replied, seemed to be frustrated at Álvaro, and dismissed him.

I walked in casually like I hadn't heard a single word. "Paulo, they're asking for you. Paul called you a man-bitch for leaving all of them without food," I said. Álvaro immediately turned into stone once he saw me.

Paulo groaned and walked away towards the living room. "Those children," he said before disappearing again. Then I realised that I was standing awkwardly in front of Álvaro, and we were left alone.

"Are you okay?" He finally looked at me and asked. "About last night, I mean," he then added. 

I didn't have to think hard before answering. "I am, thanks to you."

"Good," he tapped his foot on the floor and I'm sure we both knew that the situation was really awkward. "I'm not going to tell anyone, I promise," he said again.

"Too late. You already told my sister," I said bitterly to indicate that I did not approve of his decision to tell my sister.

"She deserved to know, Bella," he reasoned.

"No, she doesn't deserve to know any of those things about me. I'm supposed to be a good example for her, a good role model. But you ratted me out," I said impatiently while trying not to yell. It wasn't entirely his fault anyway. It was mostly mine.

"Well, I'm sorry for worrying about you," he snapped sarcastically, making me scowl. We were quiet for a while, sulky expressions plastered on our faces. I prayed hard that Paulo would come back soon and get me out of that situation.

Suddenly, Álvaro spoke up again. "Just so you know, I didn't know that Paulo was going to set me up with your sister. I don't even want him to set me up with anyone," he shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest, showing that he was annoyed by Paulo's doings.

"Don't worry about that," I could only shrug and wave a hand lazily.

"It's okay, I'll back away from her," he said in defeat.

"Do me a favor Álvaro? Don't. She deserves a guy like you. I know you're a good guy. Well, at least I knew after last night," I chuckled nervously, my cheeks slightly burning at the prospect of my embarrassing activity last night that he had caught me doing. "You'll be good for each other, I know it."

He stood there in disbelief and at a loss for words. "Uh, okay, I guess," he nodded slowly. "I'll give it a try."

"Thank you," I flashed a smile his way.

"No, don't thank me," he almost smiled back. Almost.

"You know, I never properly thanked you for last night," I felt my cheeks burn again when I brought up the topic.

"You don't have to. Just don't buy anymore drugs, okay?" He said, and this time he actually smiled.

"Alright boss," I grinned.

"Come on kids, the pizza's here," Paulo called us to go back to the living room, so we did.

We spent the rest of the afternoon laughing, bonding, and playing video games. We had a Fifa tournament, and in the finals were me and Paulo against Valerie and Álvaro. They ended up winning, and I saw them getting to know each other, slowly but surely. I also found myself growing closer and closer to Paulo, and for once, my life didn't seem as bad as it always had been.