It's A Game, But Who's Keeping Score?

I didn’t hear Olalla shriek and say yes and then launch herself at Fernando. In fact, I couldn’t hear anything; I was focused on Fernando’s face that was telling me once and for all that we were finished. We broke eye contact and I numbly walked over to Pepe and Yolanda, somehow asking to go home.

The car ride was dead silent, even the kids stayed quiet. Pepe nervously looked at me in the rear-view mirror, trying to determine how I felt. True be told, I didn’t even know how I felt, I just wanted to fall into bed and sleep forever.

The next morning I woke up with a killer headache, probably a combination of the champagne at Fernando’s and the bottle of SoCo I had downed when I got home. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and groggily walked into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and wasn’t surprised with what I saw.

Dark bags lined my dull eyes, my face pale and blotchy, my hair straw-like. Simply, I was hollow.

All because I finally realized what I had ultimately wanted to achieve by coming to Liverpool; Fernando. And last night had put an end to that forever.

I slipped off my pj’s and climbed into the bath, soaking in scalding hot water that barely felt lukewarm to me. I laid in the bath for what seemed like hours, contemplating my reasons for coming to Liverpool and what was keeping me here. Several times I had considered just slipping under the water and staying there. That way all my problems would be gone, but then I thought back to Vienna and knew that wasn’t the solution.

I slipped on my bathrobe and walked out into my room to see Pepe sitting on my bed with his head in his hands. I silently walked to his side and sat down.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, lifting his head. “I had no idea that he was planning on doing that, otherwise I would have taken you home earlier.”

“I would have found out somehow,” I said, looking straight forward.

“But still, that was cruel what Fernando did,” he said, pulling me into his side.

“I find it funny that last year on his birthday; Olalla cheated on him and then this year, he proposes to her,” I choked out.

Pepe nodded and pulled me in tighter, placing a delicate kiss on my forehead.

“I-I just thought that we’d have the fairy tale ending where we’d both realize how much we care about each other and run into each other’s arms,” I cried.

“I know mi querido,” Pepe whispered.

That day I stayed holed up in my room, Yolanda brought me up lunch and dinner. Even the girls made me get well cards, thinking that I was sick. I only wish that I had the flu or a cold, it would be a lot better than this heartache.

The one thing I hadn’t planned on after Fernando’s party was how close our stalls were in the dressing room. As I prepared for our match against Aston Villa, I had to listen to almost the entire team congratulate Fernando on his engagement.

We walked out onto the field, I scanned the Kop and then landed on the boxes where the families of the players often sat. I smiled weakly and waved at Yolanda, Grecie and Alma. And then I saw a face.

It was a glimpse, but my heart almost stopped.

“You okay?” Steve whispered from behind me.

I nodded and turned back to the crowd. It couldn’t be him, he should be on International Duty.

The game started and we were off to a commanding start; it was 3-0 after the first half. Rafa subbed me on just after the second half had started, telling me to take it easy. Except easy isn’t part of my vocabulary. I assisted on the last two goals, giving Stevie the hat-trick, but no more goals for myself. We were all in happy moods, making plans to go out to celebrate when one o f the stadium workers told me I had a visitor.

I walked out into the hallway and felt the air catch in my throat, “Lukas?”

Lukas stood in all his German glory, a simple white button down shirt under his National Team jacket, dressed down with a pair of jeans and sneakers.

In the time it took me to exhale, Lukas had crossed the hall and stood mere inches from me, my face in his hands, “Miss me, liebling?”

I practically collapsed into his arms, burrowing my head into chest, wanting to feel safe and wanted again. “What are you doing here?” I mumbled.

Lukas laughed, his chest heaving up and down, “We have a game in a week against Wales. So I thought I’d fly in early and visit an old friend.”

“I’m glad you did. Sorry for the crappy performance on my part.”

“You played amazing, scoring goals isn’t everything,” Lukas said reassuringly.

“Let me go get changed and we can head back to my place,” I said, before heading back to the dressing room and jumping in the shower quickly.

I went back to the house in Lukas’ rental car and we talked as if we hadn’t even missed a day. Not once did he mention what happened in Vienna and how I basically left him without a goodbye. We headed straight up to my room, Lukas nodding to Pepe, Yolanda, Xabi and Nagore. Just as I was heading up the stairs, Pepe pulled me back, “Please don’t tell me this is a plan to make Fernando jealous?”

“No, we’re over,” I snapped. “Lukas came by himself, he wanted to see me.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid tonight, please?” he pleaded.

“Okay,” I said and headed up to my room where Lukas sat quietly. “So we’re heading to a club called Toxic, if you want a shower go ahead, I’ll just change out here.”

Lukas nodded and gracefully crossed the room to the bathroom, in the process pecking my cheek and telling me to relax. As I heard the shower running, I quickly dried my hair just enough to let the curls come through. I changed into a bit sexier bra and underwear, and then went to the closet to grab my favourite yellow dress. As I walked out, still half-naked; Lukas walked out in only a towel.

I immediately started blushing while Lukas said, “Don’t forget, I’ve seen this all before.”

I swatted him in the shoulder, but he saw it coming and pulled me into a huge. Then, a cough came from the doorway. I gasped and looked up to see a clearly not impressed Fernando.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything?” he spat.

“No, we just finished,” Lukas replied, equally as harsh as I slipped on my dress.

“Good, then we’re almost ready to leave.”

“I’m going with Lukas,” I said confidently, closing the door on Fernando. I walked back to Lukas and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you,” I whispered.

Lukas and I arrived at the club about an hour after everyone else. Thankfully, the team was in good spirits from the win that they graciously accepted Lukas. Every once in a while, we would steal a kiss or two, earning smiles from the ladies and some scowls from the men.

A familiar song came on and I pulled Lukas to the dance floor and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Remember this song?”

“This song was playing when we first met,” Lukas replied with a grin.

“Very good,” I said turning so my back was pressed firmly against Lukas’ chest.

“Are you going to tell me what the deal with you and Fernando is, because he’s giving me the death glare.”

“He’s getting married to Olalla and she’s expecting their first child,” I said all too calmly.

“So he wouldn’t care if I did this?”

Before I could reply, Lukas had already started attaching my neck with kisses and then moved up to my lips. I responded immediately by bringing my hands back around his neck. I pulled away, “Let’s get out of her.” Lukas responded by grinding his hips into mine, which earned a groan from me.

We weaved our way through the crowd out towards the exit; I looked back and saw a familiar pair of hazel eyes staring at me. I was in a trance and the Lukas’ tugging hand pulled me back. We quickly made our way back to my house where we would recreate our first night together in Vienna.

And I didn’t regret it at all.