A/N: as this story, and therefore the relationship between Mapi and Emilia, as well as the drama, processes, I want you all to remember that while this story is of course inspired by real people, it does not correspond at all to reality. The people in this story are all made up characters, even if they're inspired by real people, which I find important to remember in some scenes. In no way, I want to imply that some people, such as Ana, Ingrid and Sydney, are like this for real. Furthermore, there might be some mature scenes, which I, as a writer, choose to include, however I personally cannot write such things about real people, so please keep in mind that these are just characters of this story.

Now... are you ready?

***

The day after, both Mapi and I avoided each other at practice. It seemed as the whole team helped us in doing so, as by now they had probably had all heard of what had happened yesterday.

After an exhausting session, I just desired to be home, but then Jenni excitedly entered our changing room. "Hurry up guys, the live stream of the Champion's league draw has already begun."

With all that had occurred over the last week, I had totally forgotten about the upcoming draw, which was happening pretty late this year due to an issue at one of the qualifiers between FC Servette and Levante UD.

We all hurried into our common room, where the UEFA live stream was already being projected on a huge, white screen, where Nadine Kessler had just finished explaining the complicated rules of the draw.

I knew that as winners of la Liga F, we were put into the first pot, together with Wolfsburg, who had won the Champion's league last year, PSG as the winners of the French league after Lyon's rapid decline over the last two seasons, and last but not least, Arsenal, who had beaten Chelsea in the WSL once again. This meant that we wouldn't have to play against them in the group stage but would instead be divided up into four different groups.

Nadine Kessler started the draw with the first pot, us being put into group B.

The next group consisted of Lyon, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

I nervously started chewing my nails, praying that we wouldn't be put into the same group as Bayern.

Lyon was the first one to be allocated to group A, Chelsea following with group C shortly after.

I instantly knew what that meant.

The UEFA split teams from same countries into group A or B and C or C, leaving Madrid no choice but to join group D.

This meant Bayern Munich would be in our group.

Nevertheless, I didn't want to believe it until I saw it happening on screen, my heart beating faster as I intently observed Nadine slowly pulling out the next paper chip.

"Bayern Munich" she called out. "Bayern can only go to group B, joining FC Barcelona in there."

"Wow, Emilia!" Lucy exclaimed happily. "We're playing your old team, that's so cool. Now I'm just waiting for Manchester United to join our group and it will be perfect."

"We're gonna prove them who's the better team, right Em?" Alexia grinned.

I barely heard them talking to me, the only thing I could think about being Sydney. After having avoided seeing her at camp, I just pushed the thought of ever having to face her aside but playing against her took everything to another level. Quite frankly, it scared me to death.

Meanwhile, my friends concentrated back to the screen as pot 3 was being allocated to the groups, when I hastily excused myself and stormed outside, heading directly to the bathroom. I didn't bother to lock myself into one of the stalls as I knew everyone was currently busy with the draw, so I just let myself sink on the cold bathroom floor, covering my face with my hands while slowly starting to sob.

I couldn't possibly play Bayern Munich.

Not, if it meant seeing Sydney. And Klara. Together.

Suddenly, I heard the door being opened and someone stepping inside.

"Emi?" A familiar voice asked unsurely. Even if I hadn't recognized the voice, there was only one person who called me Emi and right now, they were the last person I wanted to have to face.

"Go away" I sniffled, still hiding my face, when I felt an arm around my shoulders, a summery scent slowly spreading.

"I definitely deserve that after yesterday."

For the first time, I lifted my head, angrily staring at Mapi with my puffed eyes. "Seriously, is that all you've got to say?"

She let out a loud sigh, her gaze focusing on the grey floor as she quietly spoke up. "Of course not. Listen, I-I wish I could just tell you that... that I'll protect you from anything bad happening to you when we're playing against Bayern. Or ever, for fuck's sake, because believe it or not, I actually care about you, but I know that it's hard to believe after what happened yesterday. I'm so sorry for that, Emi."

"If you're trying to protect me from people being mean to me, maybe start with yourself" I chuckled lightly, knowing I should be mad at her, but her presence was helping me to come down at the same time.

Mapi's fingers slowly caressed my back as she cleared her throat. "I think I really owe you an explanation, but I'd rather not discuss it on this disgusting bathroom floor. Can we go somewhere else?"

I nodded indifferently. "Sure."

We got up and I wiped my last tears away, before we headed to Mapi's car.

After sitting in the car in total silence for a while, I suddenly had an idea where we were heading to and sure enough, I soon found myself stumbling down the same path to the hidden beach as I had a few weeks ago. Just like last time, Mapi jumped down the small cliff, handing me her hand to help me down afterwards.

"So, how do you want to justify basically telling me to leave Barca?" I teased her as we sat down in the warm sand.

"There won't ever be a justification" Mapi admitted honestly, letting some sand rinse through her fingers. "First of all, I'm so unbelievably sorry for what I said to you yesterday. I was absolutely furious with everyone, especially with myself for scoring a stupid own goal, and I let it all out on you. My performance sucked and unfortunately, you really hit the nail on the head when you said I was letting myself be distracted by my ex."

She stopped for a moment, picking up more sand to play with as she stared intently at the sea, trying her best not to make eye contact with me.

My thoughts circled around what she had just admitted to, did that mean that there was still something going on between Ana and her? I couldn't help but feel a lump in my throat, the mere thought of it bothering me that much.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't just one ex. There's nothing between Ana and me, trust me" Mapi interrupted my thoughts, her statement confusing me even more.

"Well, who else is your ex?" I wondered, even though it probably shouldn't surprise me that Mapi had dated a bunch of girls.

"It's Esther."

My jaw dropped after her confession. "Esther? As in the Esther González?"

A small giggle escaped Mapi's mouth. "Don't be so shocked, as you said yesterday, we all make mistakes. I had just turned 19 when I joined Atletico while Esther had been playing there for a year. She was my first love, but she hurt me so bad and we ended on really bad terms. After her, I didn't let myself fall for anyone again, not until Ana anyway. Even with her, it took me almost a year to let her in and much longer until I trusted her. We dated for over three years and I thought that was it. In my mind, I had found my soulmate and I wholeheartedly believed I was gonna marry her someday. Until one day, a little over a year ago, she announced that she'd transfer to Real Madrid as they offered her way more money, giving me a fucking week's notice. I loved her so much and I desperately wanted to fight for our relationship, even if it meant she was playing for our biggest enemy, hours away. But because of the whole Barca Madrid rivalry, we decided to take our relationship off socials. At least, I thought that was the reason."

I could see how she struggled to continue her story, so I softly put my hand on her arm, making small circles with my thumb.

After throwing me a thankful glance, she continued to speak quietly.

"There's another reason why I despise el Clásico so much and the loss hurt so much. About a year ago, we had an away game against Madrid. I was so excited to see Ana, but she left the pitch so quickly after the match, so I decided to wait for her. I waited for almost an hour until I stumbled across Athenea, asking her if she knew where Ana was. Athenea, not thinking anything of it as she thought Ana and I had broken up, took me to their changing room, where I walked in on Ana and Esther making out."

Mapi's voice broke as she said the last sentence, the memories from that terrible moment coming back to her.

"Mapi, I'm so sorry" I softly spoke, putting my arm around her shoulders and pulling her into an embrace.

"You don't have to be sorry" The blonde stated, leaning her head against my shoulder. "It's just... after what happened, I didn't want to speak to Ana for a long time, but obviously I had to face her again last season. A day before the match, when we were already in Madrid, she texted me, saying she wants to see me. I was still very much in love with her, even after everything she had put me through, so I snuck out and met up with her. The whole time she was flirting with me and I thought that maybe I still had a chance with her. Of course, that was until I saw her with Esther on the day of the match, just shortly before the game. I had never played so poorly before and ever since it's become kind of a ritual for them trying to confuse me before games. After we played Switzerland a few weeks ago, she came up to me after the game as we were walking to our team buses, saying how she couldn't wait to see me again at el Clásico. That was when someone took that picture of us walking next to each other. However, I obviously know her ways by now, and even if I didn't, I don't love her anymore, so her tricks wouldn't work on me anyway. But even so, today still brought back so many bad memories and all of the pain she has put me through. She turned me into I am today and I hate her for it, because it's not who I want to me. I'm always aggressive, I don't trust anyone and I never really regained my happiness as I couldn't just live in the moment anymore, as if I had left a part of me in the past."

Mapi slowly lifted her head from my shoulder, making eye contact for the first time since we had arrived at the beach.

"That was until I had met you. I feel safe in your presence and I can let go of any negative thoughts, being truly happy for once. I wish I could just show you that side of me all the time and I'm truly sorry you had to experience my bad side as well."

Shocked by her honesty, I returned her gaze, getting lost in her big, brown eyes which were filled with sadness and hurt, the usual spark nowhere to be found.

As my arm was still wrapped tightly around her shoulders, pulling her closer to me by doing so, her face was only a few centimeters away from mine, in fact, so close that I could hear her breath. Neither of us dared to move out of fear it could ruin the moment, even though all I wanted to do right now was kiss her.

But it was definitely not the right moment.

Plus, the only reason she was looking at me was because she probably still waiting for me to reply.

I softly cleared my throat, therefore breaking eye contact as I had closed my eyes for a split second.

"I-I I'm glad you f-feel that way" I stuttered, instantly wanting to face palm myself. What kind of answer was that?

Mapi's lips formed a little smile. "It's good to have someone to talk to again after Leila left."

"Who's Leila?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Leila was my best friend. She left to play at Manchester City two years ago, leaving me alone with no one to talk to about the whole Ana thing."

Oh. I was the replacement for her best friend.

What a way to get friend zoned.

Not knowing what to reply to this, I laid down in the soft sand, removing my arm from her shoulders in the process, my thoughts going crazy.

Best friend.

Really?

Out of the corner of my eye, I witnessed Mapi laying down next me, her head turned into my direction.

"I just opened up to you more than I have to anyone, not even Alexia knows the whole story" the Spanish defender admitted. "So, now it's time to talk about you?"

Surprised, I shifted my head, now looking to her as well.

"I'm always there for you" I smiled softly.

Just what a best friend would do, right?

"But what do you want to talk about?"

"Don't act like I didn't find you crying on the bathroom floor two hours ago" Mapi chuckled lightly. "It seems like I always find you crying somewhere, doesn't it?"

"Hey!" I playfully punched her into her arm. "It's just... I'm really not looking forward to playing against Bayern. Being on the national team with them is one thing, but playing against them... It scares me. My two former best friends are Midfielders too, just the thought of having to go up against them makes me sick."

Mapi nodded slightly, her hand slowly moving to my face as she brushed a strand of hair out of my cheek, her fingers still lingering on it as she spoke up. "I get that, but as I said earlier, I won't let anything bad happen to you. Hopefully you can believe me now."

I could do nothing but nod as her touch on my face seemed to have erased my ability to think properly, all I could think of was the gorgeous blonde in front of me.

My eyes wandered over her whole body, from her cute freckles down to that neck tattoo of hers, a little further down to the black bra whose tip was now visible due to her top slightly shifting, over to her toned arm with all those tattoos, eventually stopping at the one of the compass.

"I really love that tattoo" I whispered, my fingers gently brushing over it, shifting my body towards her in the process.

"Thank you, princesa" Mapi mumbled in a low voice, her thumb making small circles on my cheek, causing shivers to run down my body. "I really love your eyes. It's like they're made to get lost in them."

My breath hitched at the compliment and I could feel my stomach tighten.

Is that how you talk to your best friend?

"Gracias" I murmured, my gaze making its way back to her beautiful face, pausing on her lips, before finding her eyes which were now sparking again.

It felt as if the tension between us could be cut with a knife, asking for us to do something to make the tension stop.

There was only one way for that to happen.

I slowly moved my hand, which had still been on her tattoo, down her arm, slowly making its way to her waist, her toned abs being exposed due to the short crop top she was wearing.

As my hand was slowly moving around, I could see how Mapi closed her eyes for a split second, them being way darker as usually when she reopened them. Her gaze went straight to my lips, which made me bite them to stop myself from doing something I shouldn't.

Suddenly, I felt Mapi's hand on my cheek wandering to the back of my hair, gripping it firmly and moving my face closer to hers. My heart, which had already been beating unbelievably fast, was now racing as if its life depended on it as my forehead rested on Mapi's, our noses slightly touching.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blonde's tongue wetting her pink lips, which was too much for me. I automatically closed my eyes as I leaned in a little closer, our lips gently touching as I did so.

Mapi let out a surprised moan, her hand gripping my hair even harder as she hungrily answered the kiss.

My body felt as if it had been set on fire, a feeling I had never experienced before.

My mouth opened slightly as her tongue was asking for entrance, leading in a battle for dominance which the blonde won by turning me on my back and laying top of me, her hand now wandering all over my body.

Her tongue removed itself from my mouth, giving my lips a goodbye bite, which caused me to let out a soft moan, before crashing onto my neck.

I tilted my head to give her a better access to my neck, to which I could feel her lips form a little smile against my sensitive skin as they made their way down to my décolleté, placing soft kisses all over it.

My hand, now pulling her hair, tugged her head back up, my lips crashing onto hers in a desperate kiss, wanting more, but at the same time knowing that it'd be a bad idea.

When our kiss slowly broke apart after a few minutes, Mapi placed a last, soft kiss on the tip of my nose.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time, mi princesa."

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wchampionsleague: ⭐group B⭐ predict the group B winner! #uwcl #uwcldraw