Let Go

“We don’t want this night to end. We won’t sleep, then we’ll do it again!”

Tori, our friends, and I shouted along to the lyrics of one of our favorite 3OH!3 songs. We were standing in front of the stage with our favorite band singing in front of us. I had been to a few of the boys’ shows as a photographer but this was the first time I had got to enjoy one of their shows from the front row. The show ended an hour later and the six of us headed down to Mood, knowing the night wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me for good tomorrow!”
“I’ll still come to visit so it’s not like you’ll never see me again.”

“Was Sergio happy when you told him you took the job?” Caitlin, one of my friends, questioned.

The question made my thoughts drift off to that day two weeks ago and the conversation Sergio and I had had that afternoon.

“Sergio, I think we need to talk.”

A worried expression settled upon his face at my words and I could tell he was hesitant to take a seat.

“You’re worrying me Gabriella.” he confessed.

“I’m not breaking up with your or anything. Mourinho called, he offered me a job as the team’s professional photographer.”

“Baby, that’s great! You can finally move here and we won’t have to be so far away from each other.”

An awkward silence fell over us when I didn’t respond and I could tell Sergio became uneasy when he saw my reaction.

“You don’t know if you’re going to take the job do you?” he wondered.

“No, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Sergio, I love you, don’t think I don’t but I’m not sure if we’re ready for this. I don’t want our relationship to move to fast and just a little hesitant to pack up my life in California for a relationship that’s only existed for four and a half months. I’ve made too many mistakes in past relationships and I don’t want to make a mistake with ours because losing you would kill me.”

“Gabriella, our love doesn’t have to follow a timetable. I’m not going to give you an ultimatum and tell you if you don’t accept the job there’s nothing left for us. It doesn’t matter to me what your decision is, it’s not going to change my feelings for you.”

My eyes filled with tears at Sergio’s endearing and heartfelt words and I wrapped my arms around his body.

“That’s all I needed to hear from you. I’m going to take the job. I don’t care about moving halfway across the world. I just want to be with you all the time.”

Sergio grinned and he pressed his lips to mine, all of my worries washing away after making one of the biggest decisions of my life.

“He was pretty much speechless. He texts me and calls me everyday, telling me how he can’t wait until we get to wake up to each other every morning. I can’t wait to see his face when he gets home from practice tomorrow and I’m already there. He thinks I’m coming Friday but I’m going to surprise him and have Margarite pick me up from the airport tomorrow. I definitely know that the outfit I have picked out to wear will be a welcomed surprise too.”

“You’re going to make that poor boy wet his pants.” Tori laughed.
“Enough serious talk. This is your last night in LA, let’s party!” Caitlin exclaimed.

+ + + +

“Why did I let you drag me out last night?” I groaned, my head falling against the window of Tori’s car.

I was pretty sure we hadn’t gotten home until three in the morning and I was forced to wake up at nine so I could finish packing. I was taking three suitcases with me and Tori was going to ship the rest of my things over to Madrid in a few days. I was in a less than cheerful mood with sunglasses covering my eyes, the lack of sleep having an effect on me.

“Because you love me and I wasn’t going to let my best friend leave the country without one last night of partying.” Tori answered.

We arrived at LAX a few minutes later and I frowned when I realized that this was going to be one of the hardest goodbyes.

“You better call me every week missy. Otherwise, I’m just going to have to fly all the way to Spain and knock Ramos up in the head for keeping my best friend locked up all the time.” she joked, though I knew it was a possibility.

I was more than excited to move to Madrid but I knew nothing would ever replace my friends here and California would always be my home. It had taken a few days for it to settle in that I was finally moving halfway across the world but I knew that this was the right thing to do.

“I will, I’ll text you to let you know when I land.”

She nodded and we hugged each other before I hitched my bag over my shoulder, waving back at Tori before walking into the airport. I checked my suitcases and made it through security rather quickly before arriving at my gate. I was happy when I boarded to plane to see it wasn’t anywhere near full and no one would be sitting next to me. I pulled my phone out of my purse to turn it off and smiled when I saw the text Sergio had sent me.

‘Four more days and I’ll finally have you all to myself.”

I quickly replied and shut off the device, leaning back in my sleep with the intent to catch up on some sleep during the eleven hour flight. I finally landed in Madrid around noon and after going through customs and collecting my suitcases found Margarite sitting in Cristiano’s black Audi. I put my suitcases in the back before slipping in, Margarite speeding off before I barely had the door shut.

She nodded and I gave her one last smile before slinging my bag over my shoulder and walking through the doors ready to be on that plane heading to Madrid. After checking my two suitcases, going through security, and waiting for the plane to board an hour and a half passed before I was sitting in my seat, nervously shaking my foot. I was happy to see there wasn’t a large number of people on the plane and no one would be sitting next to me so I could be comfortable without having to worry about pissing off my neighbor.

I pulled my phone out of my purse to turn my phone off and smiled when I saw a text for Sergio on the screen, his words only making my smile widen.
“You know, I’m surprised Cristiano hasn’t let it slip that you were coming today.”

“Cristiano? You’re the one I’ve been worried about.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m extremely good at keeping secrets.”

“Name one secret you’ve kept.”

“I can’t think while I’m driving.”

I shook my head as she pulled up to Sergio’s, punching the code in for the gate and pulling up to the front door.

“I’ll text you to let you know when practice is over.” Margarite said.

“Thanks.” I yelled, pulling my suitcases inside behind me.

The next two and a half hours I spent tidying u the house, unpacking, and cooking Sergio’s favorite dish, pollo con arroz. I was folding clothes in the laundry room when my phone buzzed beside me, a text from Margarite appearing on the screen. She told me that practice had just ended and Sergio should be home in an hour or so.

I finished up with the clothes and rushed upstairs, needing to shower before Sergio came back. I quickly showered and shaved, putting on the outfit I had purchased just for tonight, and sprayed Sergio’s favorite perfume on, Vera Wang’s Rock Princess. I pulled one of Sergio’s jerseys on to cover my lingerie and stepped into my new black heels before heading back downstairs.

Just as I hopped onto the counter with a glass of wine the garage door opened and Sergio’s footsteps were heard on the tile floor. I smirked when his bag dropped to the floor upon seeing me sitting on the countertop with my legs crossed.

“Hi baby.”

I didn’t even get a reply as he crossed the room and pulled me to the edge of the counter. His lips immediately pressed against mine and his hands gliding along my hips, grabbing my ass with both of his large hands.

“I made dinner.” I breathed when he picked me up and headed towards the stairs.

“Fuck dinner.” Sergio growled.

“I really rather have you fuck me instead.” I whispered, nibbling at his ear.

I knew my words got to him because he nearly tripped over the stairs, taking a few seconds to get his footing before continuing to his, well now our room. He didn’t hesitate to pull his jersey off of me and his eyes went dark with lust when he saw what was underneath.

“You know what the sight of you in lingerie does to me.”

I eagerly pressed my lips to his letting my heads roam over his chest wanting to feel his bare skin against mine. Our clothes were soon forgotten and as our bodies molded into one I got the feeling that this is where I was supposed to be, this is where I belonged.

I could tell my words got to him as he nearly tripped up the stairs before regaining his balance, nearly jogging into the bedroom where he carefully tossed me onto the bed before covering his body with mine.

+ + + +

“I never thought setting up an office would entail this much work.”

“What we should have done was have the boys carry all of this stuff inside, instead of doing it ourselves.” I thought.

Margarite and I had been setting up my office at Ciudad and doing this made me cringe at the thought of still having to set up my office in the Bernabéu in a few days. Mourinho had insisted I have an office at both the team’s training facility and the stadium to make it easier to photograph at both locations.

“At least we’ve made some progress. Hopefully, we’ll be able to go home soon.”

“Thanks for helping me, I can’t begin to imagine how long it would take me to do this all by myself.”

“It’s not a problem. I didn’t exactly have tons of other things to be doing. I thought being a footballer’s agent would be exciting but I swear, Iker leads the most boring life.”

The time for us to leave didn’t come a moment too soon and I was ready to drop after dropping Margarite off at Cristiano’s an hour later. I finally pulled up to my new home and couldn’t have been happier at the thought of finally relaxing. I dropped the keys to Sergio’s Audi on the island and collapsed next to him on the couch seconds later.

“I missed you.” Sergio said.

“I missed you to baby. I’m so worn out. I didn’t think I would have this much trouble setting up my offices but I’m so excited to finally get to shoot you guys. I’m ready to see you all up close and in action.”

“I can show you some action right now if you’d like.” he grinned.

“As tempting as that sounds, I promised we’d meet Cristiano and Margarite for dinner later. You and I both know that once we get started we have a hard time stopping.”

“I can’t help it that I can’t keep my hands of my unbelievably sexy girlfriend.”

“You know, sometimes I really hate you.” I muttered.

“Why is that mi amor?”

“You can get me to agree to just about anything with your sweet talking.”
Sergio grinned and pressed his lips to mine and I knew I could no longer resist the urges coursing through my body. I just prayed Margarite wouldn’t be too angry when we showed up late for dinner.

+ + + +

“You did so good tonight baby!” I exclaimed.

Sergio smiled and pulled me to his arms, the sweat and dirt not bothering me one bit as his lips made everything seemingly disappear.

“It helps to have a beautiful woman cheering me on from the sidelines. I’m going to go shower off and we can head home. Unless you want to go downtown with a few of the others.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, we can do whatever you want to Sergio.”

“We’ll just go home. I don’t particularly feeling like going out tonight. I’d rather spend my night cuddled up with my beautiful girlfriend instead of in some rowdy, noisy club.”

“You’re too adorable. I’m going to head down to my office and transfer the shots I got to my computer.”

“Ok, I’ll come get you when I’m done. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

I turned and walked in the opposite direction my boyfriend was headed and headed to my office that I had just finished moving into this morning. I was almost to the door when I was grabbed by the waist and pulled into a hallway, a surprised yelp leaving my lips as my eyes were met with complete darkness.

“Relax, it’s just me Gabriella.”

Iker’s voice surprised me to no end when it resonated through the empty hallway. He had been pretty much MIA in the past month and a half and I found myself missing him as the days passed. I knew things would most likely be awkward between the two of us but missed him nonetheless.

I knew the words he had spoken that morning in Los Angeles were a complete lie when his lips pressed to mine. As odd as it sounds, I couldn’t help but admire his determination to win me over. I still didn’t let the kiss continue and pushed him away from me, moving a good distance away from him so he would unable to corner me like that night so many months ago.

“Iker, you have to stop doing things like this.” I breathed.

“I can’t Gabriella. I can’t keep denying my feelings for you. I’ve been avoiding you for months and I can’t keep pretending my feelings for you are nonexistent. Look me in the eyes, tell me you don’t have feelings for me and I won’t burden you any longer.” he pleaded.

I gazed into his eyes and upon doing so realized I couldn’t deny it. The love I had felt for him years ago hadn’t disappeared and my thoughts on Iker and I could have had were still lingering in the back of my mind.

“I can’t do it Iker. I can’t lie and say my feelings for you dissipated but I can tell you that this is wrong. We can’t be together Iker. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t even listen for a reply, opting to turn around and walk to my office as fast as my nimble legs would carry me. I slammed the door shut and all but collapsed into my chair, resting my head in my hands as I sucked in lungful after lungful of air. I faintly heard my door open sometime later and saw the smile on Sergio’s face falter when our eyes met.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just tired.” I said, faking a smile.

His smile soon returned and he effortlessly pulled me up to stand, pressing a small kiss to my forehead.

“I can’t tell you I don’t still have feelings for you Iker, but I can tell you that this is wrong. I’m sorry, we just can’t be together.”

I didn’t even wait for a reply before turning on my heel and walking out of the hallway, making my way into my office as fast as my legs would carry me. I allowed the door to slam shut and collapsed into my chair, my head falling into my hands as I took deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself. I faintly heard the door open minutes later and looked up to face Sergio whose smile faltered when our eyes met.

“What’s wrong nena?”

“Nothing, I’m just tired is all.” I replied with a shake of my head.

The smile returned to his face and he effortlessly pulled me to a standing position, pressing a small kiss to my forehead. I did my best to forget about my encounter with Iker but as hard as I tried the words he spoke kept replaying in my head.

“Let’s head on home. We’ll pick up something to eat on the way and veg out the rest of the night.”

I felt like smacking myself upside the head as we walked out. I couldn’t fathom how I managed to think about Iker while the most perfect man in the world held my hand, a man who did everything in his power to keep a smile on my face.

+ + + +

I would never understand how sometimes life can be absolutely perfect, and then fate throws you a hardball and everything seems to start falling down around you.

“Cristiano, I know it’s extremely late for me to be calling but Sergio’s not home yet. Have you heard from him lately?” I asked, holding back a yawn.

“The last time I talked to him was around ten. When I left to come home he was still with a few of the guys down at Kapital.”

“Thanks Cristiano. I’ll talk to you later. Sorry for waking you up.”

“It’s okay. Goodnight Gabriella.”

I placed my phone back on the nightstand after glancing at the time, silently wondering what Sergio was doing at three in the morning that was keeping him from coming home. The team had gone out for dinner and Sergio had made sure to tell me they would probably head out to a club afterwards but I wasn’t expecting him to stay out well into the morning. He never stayed out this late, even when I was with him, and I couldn’t help but worry about that something had happened to him.

After tossing and turning for another thirty minutes, I headed down to the kitchen intending to make myself a cup of tea in hopes it would lull me to sleep. I was patiently waiting for the water to heat up when I heard the garage door open. Sergio had barely shut the door before my arms were wrapped around him and I had my head buried in his neck.

“I’ve been so worried about you Sergio.”

“I’m sorry Gabriella. I lost track of times and I tried calling you but my phone was dead. I didn’t mean for you to stay up all night worrying about me.”

“You’re home now and that’s all that matters.”

I woke up surprisingly early the next morning, smiling when I turned over to the site of Sergio fast asleep, snores escaping his slightly opened mouth. I climbed out of bed without disturbing him and headed into the bathroom to go through my daily routine: going to the bathroom, washing my face, brushing my teeth, and combing my hair. I grabbed the clothes Sergio had left on the floor to put in the clothes hamper and noticed a small piece of paper fall onto the ground. I quickly opened it and saw a phone number written on it in a woman’s handwriting but didn’t really give it a second thought before throwing it in the trash.

I headed down stairs and made myself comfortable on the couch, watching the morning news. Everything was calm for a few minutes until my jaw hit the floor at the story that was being covered.

“Real Madrid’s very own Sergio Ramos was spotted last night in downtown Madrid in the early hours of the morning. He didn’t seem to mindful of current girlfriend Gabriella Rivera when he was seen leaving Kapital with yet another bronzed beauty. Sources report that the world famous defender for La Roja that he didn’t return to the home he shares with Gabriella until four this morning after leaving the mystery woman’s house.”

Tears filled my eyes as pictures of Sergio with this woman and leaving her house appeared on the screen. I realized all of the shit he had fed me last night was nothing but lies and could feel my heart breaking as the story continued to play on the television screen. I turned my head when the sound of footsteps came to my attention and turned to see Sergio standing behind the couch. His expression was blank as he took in the story playing on the television, realizing he had been caught.

“I can explain.” he muttered.

“I don’t even want to hear your voice Sergio. I think the pictures did all of the explaining.” I sneered shoving past him and running upstairs.

“Gabriella, please listen to me!” I ignored Sergio’s pleads and slammed the bedroom door shut.

I blocked out the sound of his voice as I threw clothes into one of my bags, getting as far away from Sergio Ramos as possible the only thing on my mind.

“Gabriella, please hear me out.” Sergio immediately pleaded when I opened the door.

“I can’t even look at you right now Sergio so just leave me alone.”

I hurried downstairs and slammed the front door shut making it to the corner of the street before realizing I had no clue where I was headed. I sat on the curb with tears rolling down my cheeks before I thought of the one place I could go. I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and dialed the number of the person I knew I could trust in any situation.

“Iker, I need you.”