A/N: happy new year<3

Nervously, I took another glance at my watch, stepping from one leg to the other to keep myself warm. Winter had finally reached Barcelona and while it was not comparable to the German equivalent, the temperature on this late November night had dropped down to under 10 degrees making my wait anything but enjoyable.
According to my watch, it was currently 18:12 and we were supposed to meet at 18:00.

Why were Spanish people always late?

I would need to leave in a little over half an hour to make it to our team bonding night in time, but I was sure my plans wouldn't be taking that long anyway. However, I didn't want to risk being late as I had been putting on my best behavior in front of Jonatan over the past 10 days that we had been back at training, still anxious that he'd call Mapi and me into his office for our behavior at the game versus Spain.

Finally, I noticed a blonde girl walking towards me, my heart beating anxiously at the sight of her. A part of me had thought she wouldn't show up because the Spaniard had been avoiding my texts and calls ever since I returned to Barcelona.

But here she was.

"Hi, Antonia" I greeted the familiar face coldly, avoiding all forms of physical contact.

"Hola. Lo siento, I'm so late. I missed my metro and- " Antonia nervously blurted out.

"It's okay, don't worry about it" I quickly interrupted her, gesturing to the entrance of the bar that we had chosen for our meeting. "Let's go inside."

The bar was nothing compared to the one Antonia had taken me to on our first date, the interior being dark and run-down.

Luckily, I wasn't here for the bar anyway.

We sat down at a small table next to a tinted window, Antonia anxiously staring at me from vis-à-vis. I hadn't told her the reason why I wanted to meet up, but given the fact that she had been mostly ignoring my attempts to reach her, she probably knew I was onto her.

"Long time no see" the light blonde smiled shyly, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks. But listen, I'm here because-"

"Are you ready to order?" a small, chubby woman suddenly appeared beside our table, looking at us expectantly.

"I'd like a Sangria, por favor" Antonia ordered, sending the grumpy woman an unrequited smile.

"Mhm," our waitress murmured, turning her head towards me. "And you?"

Annoyed, I threw another glance at my watch, making me realize I only had 20 minutes left. "Just a water, please."

"Nothing to eat?" the waitress asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, thank you" I sighed, fearing that we wouldn't have enough time.

"Hm," the grumpy woman mumbled, leaving our table without saying another word.

"She doesn't seem too happy with our order" Antonia joked.

"No, definitely not" I replied with forced laughter, inhaling deeply to prepare for what was about to follow. "So... I wanted to talk to you about-"

"My boss says you have to order food" a grumpy voice suddenly sounded next to me.

Would I ever be able to finish my sentence?

"Do you want to share some patatas bravas?" Antonia wondered to which the waitress's eyebrow stayed raised as she still didn't seem to be all too content with our order.

"Sure. Let's also get some croquetas de jámon." I threw the waitress a questioning smile. "Is your boss going to be happy with that or...?"

After taking her sweet time writing down our order, she nodded slowly before disappearing back into the kitchen.

There was no way I'd be able to leave in 15 minutes now.

"So, what I was saying..." I tried bringing up my original reason I came here again. "I- I think you know why I asked you to come here tonight, don't you?"

"Uhm. No. No, I don't" Antonia nervously replied a little too quickly without lifting her gaze from the table.

"Let me help you out then" I sighed, realizing this would most likely take more time than I anticipated. "Do you remember Ingrid from my birthday party?"

"I- I- I don't know... There were a lot of different people" Antonia stammered helplessly, her quiet voice almost drowned out by the loud music.

"She definitely remembers you though, but not only from my party" I continued while closely watching her expression turn more and more scared. "And you too should remember who let you into the Barcelona training center, because this was the first and last time something like this happened."

Antonia's cheeks flushed red while she was cracking her knuckles without saying a word. "If it helps to bring back your memory, you also took an interesting picture that day and sent it to me?" I added coldly.

"I- I didn't-" Antonia's stuttering was once again interrupted by our waitress harshly putting two plates and glasses on our table.

"Here you go" She mumbled annoyedly, studying me closely. Suddenly, her face lit up as she pointed to me. "I know you! You're that new Barca player, Emily Cortes!"

"Emilia" I corrected her amused, throwing Antonia an excusing glance. "But yes, that's me."

"You're doing amazing things for our club! But listen, Chiquita..." the older woman got closer to my face, lifting her index finger. "We all saw that little altercation you had going on with María León, trust me, it was all over the news here. Let me tell you something, you better stay away from that girl. She's no good."

Scotching a few centimeters back with my chair, I raised an eyebrow, not interested in discussing my life with strangers. "How would you know?"

"A year ago, she was involved with the daughter of the sister of my son's friend's aunt's butcher's brother's gardener." the chubby woman announced knowingly, suddenly not so grumpy anymore. "She showed up in our village, la Magina, twice and then never again. Dumped that poor girl within a week."

I threw Antonia a glance, both of us trying hard to suppress our laughter until we weren't able to hold it in any longer. "The daughter of who?"

"A ver, the daughter of the sister of my son's friend's... aunt..." the woman stopped, seemingly having forgotten the complicated connection herself. "It doesn't matter. You seem much nicer in the interviews anyway."

"Thanks...?" I grinned, watching the older woman angrily waddle back into the kitchen.

"Old people just really like to gossip here, I'm sorry" Antonia giggled, grabbing a piece of potato with her fork.

Not only the elderly.

"And the younger ones bribe me with pictures they secretly took" I shrugged. "Come on, Anto, what was that about?"

The gorgeous blonde almost choked on her patatas bravas. "It's not like that...I mean..."

"I might need a little more than that," I said, trying a bite of the croquetas. The small, stuffed balls reminded me of the time Mapi took me to a restaurant.

To be fair, everything reminded me of her.

"Look, I know I fucked up. On that day I finally got accepted for my new job in the private clinic and I had been celebrating with my friends since the morning and... I don't know, I was absolutely wasted and I guess I wanted to celebrate with you as well... It's embarrassing" Antonia confessed, hiding her face behind her hands. "I still had your location on Snapchat so I drunkenly got into a cab and went to the training facility without a plan. Then, I ran into Ingrid and she told me where I'd find you, and well, you know the rest."

"No, I don't think I do" I negated as I threw a quick glance at my phone, making me realize I should have left 11 minutes ago.

Jonatan would murder me.

"I- I don't know, I got to the changing room and I saw you with María and it made me so mad. I was there for you when you were sick and I really liked you, Emilia, but the night of the party I realized that you had lead me on" Antonia stammered helplessly.

Could she not speed this up a little?

"So, I got home after taking that picture and sent it to you via a fake E-Mail address, but once I sobered up I instantly regretted it and-"

"Give me your phone" I interrupted her, moving my hand in her direction as this whole situation was taking way too long for my liking.

"What? Why?"

"I need to leave and honestly I don't really want to listen to you acting as the victim for longer, so I would like to simply delete the picture myself and forget this ever happened" I shrugged, my hand still waiting impatiently for her phone.

Antonia looked at me with a shocked expression, slowly handing me her black iPhone. "But I-"

"Save it" I mumbled as I was scrolling through the thousands of photos she had, mostly of herself. On some, she was even completely naked, providing me with the perfect opportunity.

Was it ethical? Definitely not. But sometimes, unethical problems require unethical solutions.

"Okay, listen Anto," I said after finally having deleted the photo of Mapi and me. "I sent myself one of your pretty photos. If you ever end up finding another copy of my photo and show it to anyone, I'll make sure everyone sees your nudes."

"You can't do that!" the blonde angrily hissed, her eyes sending furious sparks in my direction.

"Why, because it's blackmail?" I smirked, getting up and putting some bills on the table. "Here are 30€, that's more than enough for the food. Leave the rest as a tip, so maybe our lovely waitress won't end up gossiping about me too."

And with that, I rushed out of the bar, hoping I wouldn't be too late for our team evening.

15 minutes later, and unfortunately almost half an hour too late, I arrived at the bowling place. Of course, the Spaniards had chosen this day to be on time for the first time in their lives, Jonatan angrily staring in my direction.

"You're late" he simply stated with a loud sigh.

"I know, I'm so sorry" I apologized, looking at him with big puppy eyes. "I just couldn't find the way and I got lost and-"

"Quit your excuses" my trainer laughed friendly, gesturing to the bowling alleys where my teammates were already playing their first game, divided up into small groups. "Join one of the groups, okay?"

I nodded as I was letting my gaze wander over the different groups, unsure which one to join. Alexia wasn't here due to her injury and Jenni had partnered up with Patri, Claudia, Mariona, Aitana, and Mapi, meaning the group was full. Oshoala, Geyse, Marta, and Sandra seemed to have a spot left in their group, but as I didn't know them well I found it weird to ask them if I could join.

"Emilia!" a familiar voice suddenly shouted just when I was beginning to feel a little lost. "Come here."

When I turned around, I saw Ingrid waving at me. The dark-haired midfielder was sharing her alley with Frido, Laura, Keira and-

"Lucy!" I exclaimed loudly when I noticed the injured English sitting next to her fiancé, a pair of crutches placed next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you not want me here?" the goofy defender joked, pulling me into a quick hug.

"Of course! But I thought you had retired and left!" I hastily explained myself, taking a seat next to Ingrid who greeted me with a quick smile.

"I retired from playing" Lucy stated mysteriously.

It took me a second to understand what she meant, my jaw dropping when I finally realized. "Wait, does that mean...?"

The dark-haired English nodded as she sent Keira a happy smile. "Barcelona allowed me to do my rehab here if I stay as an assistant trainer."

"That's great news, Luce! It will be great to have a former player as an assistant" I smiled, throwing Keira a questioning look. "So, you're not leaving for Arsenal then?"

The red-hair's jaw dropped as she looked at me in total shock before bursting out laughing. "For Arsenal? I wouldn't set a foot in that club!"

"See, I told you it wasn't her!" Laura triumphed before getting up as it was her turn.

"How many rounds are left in this game?" I wondered as they needed to finish it before I could join.

"Four, but I'm winning anyway" Frido grinned, taking a seat next to Lucy. "We could end it right now if it was up to me."

"She's imagining Athenea's face on the bowling pins" Ingrid teased her friend with a small nudge to her side.

"I'm gonna try that with Antonia in the next game" I laughed as I was getting up to go to the bathroom. "I'll be right back."

My gaze wandered through the modern bowling bar in search of the bathroom, finally finding it hidden next to a big vending machine. When I opened the door, the first thing my eyes saw was a certain blonde washing her hands at the big, white sinks.

This was my chance.

"Hola" I mumbled nervously, forgetting the reason I came here originally.

Just like Mapi had done over the last two weeks, she wanted to ignore me by hastily leaving the bathroom, but I stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"I really need to talk to you" I begged the Spaniard, still holding her arm. Apart from the game, it was the first time that our bodies had made contact in almost four weeks, her bare skin tingling on my fingers. "I know who took that photo of us!"

"Wait, what? How?" the blonde defender exclaimed confusedly, finally giving up on leaving.

"It doesn't matter how" I quickly said, not wanting to throw Ingrid under the bus. "But it was Antonia."

Puzzled, Mapi stayed quiet for a split second, a million thoughts seemingly running through her mind before she suddenly frowned. "How did she get into our training facility?"

"As I said, it doesn't matter" I murmured unsurely, knowing my answer wouldn't satisfy the Spaniard.

"Except it does!" the Zaragoza native replied angrily, running her hand through her already messy hair. "It's a serious security issue. If you know something about it, I need you to tell me, Emi!"

Emi.

Just the mere sound of her calling me by this name was enough for shivers to run down my spine again. My gaze fell down on my hand which was still resting on her arm.

It all felt so familiar.

"I've already handled it. The picture is deleted from Antonia's phone, and I've ensured she won't be releasing a possible copy. And for the other thing... please just trust me" I pleaded with Mapi, my eyes finding hers.

The blonde defender let out a loud, unsure sigh. "I- I don't know if I can do that right now" she admitted quietly, her eyes looking at me sadly.

"Please, just trust me" I begged her one more time, my thumb subconsciously drawing circles on her skin.

Mapi swallowed audibly when her lips suddenly formed the tiniest smirk. "Would that perhaps... please you?" the Spaniard asked with a voice so low that it made my heart skip a beat.

With my mind completely blank, I tried to read from her eyes how serious she was being, but all I found were the so familiar sparks in them, causing shivers to run down my whole body. "Uhm.... yes?"

"That's good to hear" Mapi grinned jokingly as she was taking a step back, seemingly getting ready to leave the bathroom.

I didn't want this moment to end.

Subconsciously, my fingers grabbed her arm even tighter, making her look at me confusedly. "My waitress gossiped about you earlier" I quickly shared this totally useless information with her in an attempt to prolong our interaction. "Apparently you're the talk of her village because you broke some poor girl's heart."

"What's the village's name?" Mapi wondered laughingly. It came as no surprise to the Zaragoza native that people she hardly knew or never even met were talking about her. These days, it seemed as if everyone had an opinion on the way she was living her life.

"La Magica or something like that" I shrugged, trying to remember what the chubby lady had told us.

Bursting out laughing, Mapi brought the palm of her hand to her face, knowing exactly who the woman had been referring to. "Some time ago, I hooked up with a girl from la Magina" the blonde explained to me, still laughing while the thought of her sleeping with another woman turned my stomach.

Even though I had no right to be jealous. She wasn't mine anymore.

In fact, she had never really been mine.

"After the second time, she told me she had a fucking boyfriend" Mapi continued her story. "I might have to pay that restaurant a visit, the waitress seems to have gotten the story a little wrong"

"Oh my..." I giggled. "I'd absolutely love to see that."

An uncomfortable silence fell over us as soon as the words had left my mouth, both of us knowing that the chances we'd go to a restaurant together any time soon were pretty slim if not nonexistent.

"I'm so-" I wanted to apologize when suddenly the door to the bathroom was opened, Mapi and I both hastily jumped away from each other when Bruna entered. The younger forward threw us a cheeky smile, having probably heard about the rumors.

"I'm heading back. Don't follow me right away" Mapi hastily murmured when Bruna disappeared into one of the stalls. As I watched the blonde defender storm out of the bathroom, I couldn't help the growing smile on my lips.

At least she was talking to me again. 

It was a start, right?

emiliacortes20's story 2 hours ago