I couldn't believe Mapi was making out with the Leah Williamson. Not wanting to witness this any longer, I hastily turned around in an attempt to go back inside, but in my hurry, I walked right into a small table standing on the balcony.

"Ay, puta madre" I scolded loudly, which obviously alerted the two love birds behind me.

Fuck.

"Emilia?" An unknown English voice asked.

Confused, I turned around and starred right into Jordan's face, Leah's arm still resting on her shoulders.

"What the... wait. You two?" I exclaimed, my heartbeat slowly going back to normal.

"You didn't know?" Leah laughed, her cheeks blushing slightly. "We've been dating for 6 years!"

"But... but Mapi" I stuttered embarrassedly, sounding like the biggest idiot on the whole planet.

Jordan raised an eyebrow, inspecting me closely. "What about Mapi?"

"I thought you were her" I admitted, covering my face with my hand in embarrassment. This whole situation just couldn't get any worse.

Meanwhile, Leah and Jordan both burst out laughing.

"It's not funny" I complained, my lips however were forming the tiniest smile.

"Well, would it matter if it was Mapi instead of Jordan?" The English captain wondered curiously.

I starred at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"She wants to know if you like Mapi" Jordan intervened. The mere thought of them thinking that caused me to laugh.

If there really was someone I fancied, Leah would be my first choice, but I couldn't really tell Jordan that.

"No, definitely not. I just thought it was her because she has a reputation" I tried to explain myself while thinking of a way to get out of this awkward situation, but the two of them weren't going to let me go any time soon.

"Any other special someone in your life then?" The small midfielder curiously asked.

My thoughts shifted to Antonia. "I'm kinda seeing someone, but it's nothing serious. I don't do relationships" I shrugged, instantly realizing it made me seem just as bad as Mapi.

"Are they a footballer as well?" Leah asked, leaning her head against Jordan. Honestly, I had to admit that they were a beautiful couple. How did I not see that at dinner?

Just when I wanted to reply, I felt a strong arm around my shoulder.

"¿Quién es una futbolista?"

"Mapi, English! And no one" I blushed.

"Me llamaste Mapi" She noted excitedly, completely ignoring the fact that Leah and Jordan couldn't understand a word she was saying.

"Yes, I called you Mapi and now speak English!" I laughed.

"I'm sorry, princess" Mapi grinned and gave me a little kiss on my cheek.

"You smell like wine and you're drunk" I complained. "How am I supposed to get home now?"

Mapi stopped in her movement, seemingly trying to come up with a solution. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.

"It's no problem, you can stay at my apartment" She offered proudly as if she just had found a cure to cancer.

Leah, Jordan and I burst out laughing.

"And how do you suggest we get to your apartment, María León?" I questioned her, still laughing.

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. I'm gonna ask Keira and Lucy if we can stay here" I sighed as I made my way inside.

Luckily, the Arsenal girls were staying at a nearby hotel, so Lucy and Keira happily offered to let us sleep on their couch.

"Here you go" Lucy threw a blanket on the couch shortly after the English girls had left. "We're not equipped for guests at all, so you'll have to share mine and use the pillows on the couch, I'm really sorry."

"But I got you some clothes to sleep in" Keira entered the living room with a small pile of clothes in her hand.

"Tía, I'm not wearing that" Mapi resisted as soon as she saw what kind of clothes the red-haired midfielder had offered us.

"It can't be that bad" I mumbled sleepily, already laying on the couch. As I said that, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt landed next to me.

"Keira, you've got to be kidding me!" Now it was my turn to deny the clothes. "I'm not wearing your stupid Lionesses stuff!"

"Well, you have no other choice" Keira smirked before she and Lucy headed to their bedroom, leaving Mapi and me all alone.

"I hate them" Mapi murmured as she grabbed the Lionesses clothes that Keira had left for her.

Out of the corner of my eye I watches as she took her t-shirt off to change into the Lionesses one and I couldn't help but think back to last weekend.

All the tattoos.

Her soft skin.

Once again, that moment between us left me all confused.

"Are you going to sleep in your jeans or...?" Mapi's question pulled me right out of my thoughts. The tattooed defender had already changed into the Lionesses outfit which made me cringe.

"Look at you in the England clothes while you can't even speak English" I teased her, taking my own top off.

"Not true, as a matter of fact I even had a long conversation with Leah and Jordan at dinner while you were speaking Spanish with Alexia. I only had to use Google translate two times" Mapi announced proudly.

"Did you know that they were dating?" I wondered as I pulled the t-shirt over my head. The fabric was soft, yet it felt like it would burn my skin any second due to the rivalry between us Germans and the English. However, we've beaten them once and we'd do it again next summer, I was sure of that.

"Of course! Did you not know that?" Mapi crawled onto the couch, and I joined her shortly after, now also wearing the Lionesses shorts.

"I actually didn't, but I stumbled upon them tonight when I was looking for you" I admitted, still kind of ashamed of what had happened. Carefully, I laid down next to Mapi, one of her hairs softly brushing against my skin.

"Why were you looking for me, princesa?"

"Because you were supposed to take me home!"

"Oh, true" Mapi chuckled. "But I prefer this. Good night, princesa."

"Sleep well, María."

Trying to find a comfortable position, I turned onto my right side, facing the living room. While I was tired, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened on the balcony  tonight. There was one thing that kept on bothering me and it was the feeling in my chest when I witnessed Leah and who I thought to be Mapi making out.

Stressed, I turned onto my left side again, hoping I could finally fall asleep.

But my thoughts kept on circling back to that feeling. I thought I had been jealous of Mapi, because she was making out with Leah who I found absolutely breathtaking. But then again, why did that feeling stop when I figured out it was Jordan instead of Mapi?

Annoyed by my own mind, I roughly turned back on my other side. It was just way too hot in here, so I got rid of the blanket, hoping the fresh air could help me sleep.

However, once again, my thoughts prevented me from that, this time remembering what Jordan had asked me.

"She wants to know if you like Mapi."

No, I definitely didn't. Mapi was everything I wasn't looking for in a woman, she was a chaotic and cocky player. Yet, she seemed to be one of the only people to truly care about me here. She made me feel safe.

Angrily, I kept tossing and turning. I would never be able to sleep.

I couldn't like Mapi. After all, she was my teammate and probably the worst person on earth to fancy. It would be like voluntarily signing up to have your heart broken.

Suddenly, I started freezing without the warm feeling of the blanket and I tried to pull a bit of it back to me, but apparently Mapi didn't feel like letting go.

"Mapi" I hissed annoyedly but got no reaction. "María León, give me the blanket, now!"

"Mhm" Mapi murmured in her sleep, leaving me with no other choice but to nudge her in the side with my elbow.

"Mapi!!!"

She slowly opened her eyes, staring at me with sleepy eyes. "What?"

"You stole the whole blanket."

"Lo siento. Are you cold?"

"Yes." Annoyed, I turned on the other side, now facing away from her.

I felt Mapi moving and suddenly she was pulling the blanket over me, almost hugging me in the act.

"Better?" She asked in her sleepy, rusty voice.

I nodded, expecting her to now remove her arm as she was practically spooning me from behind now, but instead she scooted even closer to be. Her body felt warm, but also tensed up as I was sure she was expecting a reaction from me.

My heart started beating faster again, but at the same time I finally felt calm and safe after all the tossing and turning of the last hours.

Fuck. It shouldn't feel that good, but at the same time I didn't want to end it, so I slowly brought my hand up to hers. At the beginning, I only brushed it slightly, the mere touch being enough to set my whole body on fire. As I felt myself longing for more of that feeling, I slowly intertwined our fingers which led to her letting out a relieved sigh, scooting even closer in the act. 

While I listened to Mapi breathing softly in my ear, I could feel my body relaxing more by the minute and I finally fell into a deep but short sleep.

emiliacortes20's story 7 hours ago