I Woke up Next to Lukas Podolski and Holy Crap We're Married

*Reyna POV*

I closed the door behind me and threw my bags on the floor, too tired to do anything but grab the ice cream from the fridge and slumped into the couch in the living room. I switched the TV on and laid my head down on a pillow thinking about my day. I had gone with Lukas to the airport to see him off to Spain and to keep the pretence of our marriage up. Then I had gotten into his car and driven to work. It had been very frustrating as everyone kept honking and speeding by me. I had been going at the speed limit for pit sakes! But no, the German population had to drive super fast! Not only that but I didn’t want to crash Lukas’ freakin’ Ferrari! He would be really pissed if he came home to find his baby all crushed up and dead looking. I had gone to work and then went to visit Denis and Julia before coming home. I hated to admit it but I already missed Lukas and wanted him back. As my mind turned to last night I couldn’t help blush. I had been so close to kissing him, I had want him to so badly. Plus, I kept seeing his penetrating blue eyes on me with almost no clothes. I shivered in delight, Lukas was driving me mad and he wasn’t even in the same country as me! The house phone rang making me jump and almost drop the ice cream on the probably thousand dollar couch. I reached over and grabbed the phone. It might be Lukas!

“Hello,” I said wanting so bad for him to be calling me.

“Reyna! How are you holding up?” said Sarah.

I sank a bit in the sofa disappointed that it wasn’t him. However, I didn’t want Sarah to notice so I said in false cheer, “I’m great but I little bored.”

“Good. Get dressed we’re going out.”

“What?”
“A few times a month when the guys are away us WAGs go out to eat together.”

“But I’m not---”

“You are to the world Reyna and some of then are really looking forward to seeing you tonight. It would be weird if you didn’t come.”

“Yeah I guess your right,” I said defeated. How in the world was I going to be able to talk to these women? They were mostly beautiful famous women, very intimidating. And if they didn’t like me then it was going to be hell. When you get a whole bunch of women together there is always bound to be drama.

“Don’t worry, most are really nice. Besides, I’ll be there to help you,” replied Sarah most likely noticing the tone of my voice.

“So where are we going and what should I wear?” I asked, getting up and walking up the stairs.

“We're going to a Chinese restaurant named Shang Li and we’re meeting there in an hour. Do you need a ride?” she asked.

“Yes!” I practically screamed not relishing the idea of driving at night on the crazy roads of Germany.

“Alright then I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes. Oh, about what to wear…something stylish but not to fancy. We tend to dress in our best during these outings,” Sarah explained.

“Okay thanks for the tip. I’ll see you in a bit.”

We hung up and I turned into my room heading straight for my closet. I picket out my outfit and then jumped in the shower. Feeling refreshed I dried my hair and then reached for the dress I had picked out. I honestly felt that I would never live up to the women I would be dinning with so I had decided to just go in what I felt comfortable in. Many things had changed since my marriage to Lukas but I was still me inside and would not feel like me in any designer outfits. Even the gown I had worn to the Euro ball had made me feel out of place. I always felt that people knew that I was just faking my way through this whole charade. So I pulled on a plain brown cotton dress that fit snugly against my form and made my boobs look fabulous if I did say so myself. I went natural on the make up adding just a bit of eye liner and gloss. Then I stuck two dangling brown earrings in my ear and put on my brown pumps that complimented my long, lean legs. My heart bounded as I heard the horn hunk in the driveway. I wobbled my way downstairs petrified. I would not have Lukas to back me up this time. I was on my own.

*Lukas POV*

After the horrible lost against Barcelona I didn’t really feel like doing anything. I lay in the hotel with the TV on, thinking. I was really trying to concentrate on the weird Spanish game show on but my mind kept going back to the horrible loss and the red card that Franck had managed to receive. Everything had started okay with Miroslav opening the score with a magnificent header and then a second goal a few minutes later from Mark. But afterward everything went downhill. None of our defense were able to keep up with Messi and he scored twice. Then in the last fifteen minutes Franck made a tackle inside the box. The damn referee gave him a red card and a penalty. Barcelona made a goal, ending the night 3-2. All in all it wasn’t thatbad as we were still in the UEFA championship but we didn’t have Franck for a few games. I wonder if Reyna had watched the game? I thought. Probably not, she wasn’t into football. I wonder what she did today? Did she miss me? Is she lonely with--. Stop it! You have to think of something else. Lately every thought was about the violet eyed beauty. I new I was getting attached and was worried about the day I would have to let her go. My mind turned to last night and the poker game. I smiled as I thought of her shyness but at the look in her eyes. Reyna was breaking out of her shell and I was glad. She had to let lose more and enjoy life. Losing the battle not to call her, I flipped my phone open and dialed her number. She picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Reyna, it’s me.”

“Lukas! I’m so glad you called. You have to help me!”

“What ’s wrong?” I said noticing the tone of her voice, something was scaring her.

“Sarah is forcing me to go meet the other footballer’s wives,” she said in a horrified voice. I could hear Sarah laughing in the background and couldn’t stop a small chuckle from escaping. “Lukas, this is serious!”

“I’m sorry but your making it sound like they’re going to eat you alive,” I said with a small smile on my face as I stretched out on the bed.

“They might, you have no idea what girls can do. We gossip, a lot. If I don’t make the cut they might just kill me.”

I held the phone away as I laughed, not wanting to make her angrier.

“I can hear you!” she said and I could tell that her brows were wrinkled in frustration. Strange how I knew these things.

“Just calm down Reyna, some of them are really nice people,” I tried to reassure her.

“I don’t know about this. What if they ask me something and I blow our cover?” Reyna said in a small voice.

“You won’t. You know our story and we’ve gotten to know each other so you should be fine. Just relax and have a good time.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“ How was your day?” I asked changing the subject.

“I hate driving in Germany,” she said instead.

“What has this got to do with my question?” I asked confused.

“Well I had to drive your dang Ferrari all the way home and I got a whole bunch of people honking and speeding by me.”

I laughed picturing it in my head and felt a strange satisfaction that she had called my house home, “I told you everyone drives over the speed limit.”

“Well that’s just dumb. If it says 160 km/h than that’s what speed you should be driving at,” Reyna replied and then seemed to turn to address Sarah. “Jeez slow down.” I heard something like ‘no backseat driving’ from Sarah and smiled. “Anyway I’m sorry about the match.”

“You watched it?” I asked surprised.

“Well no, but I did record it and was going to watch it when I got home but Sarah ruined it for me.”

“Oh, well it’s okay. Thanks.”

“So….when will you be back tomorrow?”

“Around three. I’ll take a cab to the house and then come and pick you up at work,” I responded.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

“Okay then but I’ll probably be at Julia and Denis’ bookstore.”

“Got it. I’ll pick you up there,” I told her just as the door opened and Luca came skipping in.

“Oh, is it your lovely wife?” he said playfully in German, jumping onto my bed and tried to reach for the phone.

“Shut up Luca!” I said holding the phone away from him.

“Who’s there?” asked Reyna.

“No one special, just Luca,” I said holding Luca off as he swung his arms everywhere in a pitiful attempt to grab the phone.

“Like hell I’m no one special,” he said and then screamed loudly in broken English to Reyna. “Hello baby! I am the one you should have married! You got a bad deal in Lukas.”

I pushed Luca off the bed and he toppled to the ground, “I have to go. Have a good girls night out.”

“Thanks. Bye Lukas.”
I hung up the phone and looked over the edge to find Luca eating the candy bar I hadn’t finished, “Hey that’s mine!”

“Not anymore,” he said with a grin, chocolate all over his face.

“Your such a child,” I said putting my phone back in my pocket.

“You were a child a few weeks ago but your wife has changed you,” he said standing up and sitting on Bastian’s bed---we were roomed together but he had gone down to the bar with some other guys from the team to cheer up a bit.

“What do you want?” I asked ignoring the remark.

“Bastian said to get your lazy ass downstairs for a drink to drown your sorrow and Willy says hurry the heck up and some other gibberish in French,” Luca said wiping his mouth on the covers. Bastian was going to get him for that. Luca had a huge smile on and had mostly likely been the one sent up to get me so the guys didn’t have to see his happy face. Out of all the players, Luca was the best at getting over defeats. He was usually sad for an hour and then back to his cheerful self. It was a great skill that the rest of the team lacked and Luca’s attitude bother us when it was a bad loss. But his grins always did manage to cheer us up in the end.

“Although, you don’t seem so sad anymore,” he added standing up and walking to the door

“Stop grinning,” I said annoyed, pulling my shoes on.

“I bet she promised you hot and lustful se---.”

“Just walk,” I said pushing him out the door.

*Reyna POV*

Take slow deep breaths, I told myself. It wasn’t like I was entering a cave, it was a restaurant and it wasn’t like I was meeting huge man-eating bears in there, just WAGs. But my hands were sweaty in fear and I kept twirling Lukas’ family ring around my finger, wondering if he was having a better time than me.

“Don’t sweat, I’ll be there to help you,” Sarah said taking my arm and walking up to the little Chinese man at the podium.

He looked up and didn’t even wait for us to speak before saying, “Miss. Brander, Mrs. Podolski, this way please to your party.” We both followed the very short man as he grabbed two menus from his podium.

“What language are we speaking in exactly?” I asked, the WAGs were from all different parts of the world.

“German, so I hope you learned enough,” she said.

“So do I,” I replied. This would be my first opportunity to try out my German and it was one more thing added to my list of problems. We approached an area where two tables had been pushed together to accommodate all the women sitting around and there were two seats still open. I swallowed trying to wet my dry throat.

(me: Hey guys, so form here on out all the conversation is in German but I‘m going to write it in English. Okay back to the story!)

“Sarah! There you are! You’d think the way you drive you would have been here sooner,” said one of the women. She was a red head with long wavy hair and high cheek bones. She stood and moved over to where we were standing.

“Haha. Very funny Marta,” Sarah said giving her a peck on each check before turning to introduce me. “Marta this is Reyna, Reyna this is Marta Luca Toni’s girlfriend.”

“Hi,” I said timidly.

Marta, however, had no such problems and gave me a kiss on the cheek in greeting and then exclaimed, “It is so nice to finally meet the women who has managed to capture Lukas’ heart. We feared for a long time that he would be dating dumb blondes for the rest of his life. Thankfully you are neither blonde nor dumb I think.”

“Ummm…thank you?” I responded not sure what else to say. I like Marta immediately.

“Come Reyna sit next to me and than I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Marta said with a smile, steering me to the empty seat beside her. Sarah took the seat next to me. Marta than preceded to go around the circle and introduce everyone. There was Wahiba (Franck Reibery’s wife), Gwendolyn (Willy Sagnol’s wife), Sylwia (Miroslav Klose’s wife ), Andra (Mark van Bommel’s wife), Dione (Lucio’s wife), Lena (Tim Borowski’s wife), and finally Saskia (Michael Rensing’s girlfriend). They all waved to me as they were introduced and said some small pleasantry. They were all wearing very stylish clothes and ready smiled on their faces. I picked up my menu and looked over it trying to decide what to get.

“We’re all dying to know, how did you meet Lukas?” asked Wahiba with a French accent.

“In Chicago. He was there a few years back and came on vacation. We meet and hit itoff,” I explained, I should have known it would be the first question out of their mouths. “Lukas came back here and when I came a few weeks back we meet again and decide to get married. It was a bit sudden but---.”

“It was love at first sight,” finished Andra with a sigh.

“You are such a romantic Andra,” laughed Dione.

“Hey,” Andra said in playful indignation. “I can’t help if I’m a sucker for love and destiny.” Just then the waiter came to take our orders. I decided on fried rice. When everyone had given their order they turned back to the subject of me and Lukas.

“You guys make such a cute couple,” said Lena, leaning over so she could talk to me.

“Thanks,” I replied with a blush.

“Did you know the news is calling you the ‘Golden Couple?’” stated Saskia, taking a sip from her water.

“No,” I said surprised. “That’s embarrassing.”

“You are so different than the girls Lukas has dated before,” said Dione.

“You’ve meet some of the girls he’s dated?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah, they were---,” started Marta.

“Marta, she doesn’t want to hear about those--those women that I was about to call a bad name,” said Wahiba.

Marta smiled and turned to me, “Wahiba, our saintly mother here, doesn’t like to swear.”

“Oh, that’s good for her. I wished I didn’t swear as much,” I said giving her a smile. Wahiba smiled and stuck her tongue out at Marta. I laughed at the child-like antics and couldn’t believe I had been worried about meeting all of them. They were all so nice and down to earth.

“Anyway, I’m sure you want to hear about his bitches,” Marta said, I nodded. I was very intrigued about learning of Lukas’ past girlfriends. “Well let me tell you that there were a lot!” Crap, that wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wonder if Lukas cared for any of them? I thought. I bet I didn’t stand a chance next to them. Beautiful blondes or country girl. That was a no brainer. “Just listen and wipe that frown off your pretty face. Like I said, there were a lot but all of then had a huge problem, they liked Lukas for their fame. They were all superficial with their manicured nails and Gucci purses. And not one of them had a brain. Let me tell you, it’s not fun to have a conversation with a dumb girl.”

“Remember Natasha?” said Lena. They all shivered.

“Oh, but the worst has to be Monika,” stated Andra. They all nodded.

“What was so bad about her?” I asked. She was the only girlfriend I knew of Lukas and from what I had seen of her she wasn’t someone I saw myself talking to.

“Can you say bitch?” said Saskia.

“Slut,” added Sylwia.

“Hoe!” said Gwendolyn.

“A vile woman,” Wahiba said refusing to use foul language. We burst out laughing. At that moment the waiter returned with a tray full of our food. He passed them out and we all inhaled the spices and foreign smells.

“She sounds horrible,” I said as I started eating.

“All she talked about was herself, fashion, and shoes,” said Gwendolyn. “I couldn’t believe Lukas fell for her.”

“Thank god they broke up,” said Sarah. “Or I might have killed her.”

“You guys are very protective of Lukas aren’t you?” I said. They all nodded with a smile.

“He’s a charming young man,” Dione explained. “He could get a sober man to jump of a bridge if he wanted to. He helped some of us who weren’t use to Germany adjust. Lukas is like a little brother to all of us. Which is why, if he hadn’t broken up with her highness Monika, we would have done everything possible to make her miserable.” I was happy that all of these women thought well of Lukas and knew that their words would mean much to him.

“Please, let’s not talk about her, it’ll give me nightmares,” said Lena trying to eat with the chop sticks but failing miserably. I laughed as I saw all the women trying to eat with them and getting nowhere.

“This is hilarious,” I said chuckling at Andra’s attempt to grab as much rice as she could and shove it in her mouth as fast as possible.

“You’re just mean,” said Saskia with a smile as she watched the easy in which I handled the chop sticks. I laughed so hard my sides hurt and then helped them out.

“Seems living in Chicago helped me to learn an important skill,” I said wiping my hand on the napkin. They all grinned.

“By the way, your German is excellent. I remember when I first came to Germany and I couldn’t say one word to save my life. It took me months to learn,” Gwendolyn complemented.

“Thanks, I’ve been working really hard on it,” I said finishing my rice.

“It amazing that you learned so quick,” said Sylwia.

“Lukas helped me,” I replied. After we were all done eating, we ordered desert and talked about other random things. The night flew by and I had tons of fun. I really connected with all of them which made me sad. I realized as Sarah drove me home, that they would be another thing that I would miss when I returned back to my normal life in America.

*Lukas POV*

“I love you guys I really want you all to know,” Franck slurred. He wasn’t very good at keeping down his liquor. “And pickles but you guys come at a close second.” Like I said, drunk after one cup of wine, you'd think a Frenchman knew how to hold alcohol down.

“Shut up Franck,” Miroslav said hitting him in the head. Franck almost fell over but thankfully Luca caught him just in time.

“And cheese, I love cheese too,” continued Franck head on the counter because he was so wasted.

“So when are we going to meet your wife Lukas?” asked Michael.

“Yeah, I only saw her for a minute at the party a few weeks back,” added Tim.

“And mint ice cream,” said the drunk Frenchman.

“Sorry, we’re not social much,” I said in response.

“Bullshit, I saw tons of pictures of you guys in the paper out and about,” objected Miroslav taking a bit of some pretzels on the bar’s counter.

“Stop hogging her, she’s part of the family now and I for one want to get to know her,” stated Luca. “So I have decide to have a party at my house tomorrow at eight.”

“Tomorrow? Are you crazy? We have practice the next day!” I argued trying to get out of this potentially dangerous situation. It was one thing for me and Reyna to be seen out by the paparazzi but my friends knew me. They might be able to figure out the scam.

“And beer,” listed Franck.

“Shut the f**k up Franck,” screamed Bastian but it was too late. Franck was asleep on his chair with his head on the counter and hand around his empty glass. The guys burst into laughter before turing back to what we had been discussing.

“That’s why it’ll be only until midnight and not too crazy,” said Luca with a grin.

“I don’t know…” I said trying to come up with an excuse. I shot Bastian a look but he only smirked.

“Come on Lukas! You can stand not having sex with your wife for one night,” Luca said causing the guys to laugh. “Besides if you really want it you can do it after my party---at your house of course.”

“One more remark about my sex life and you’ll be sorry,” I said trying to keep a straight face.

“I won’t say another word tonight and you come with Reyna.”

“Deal.”

“Yes!” cried Luca in a loud voice.

“Shhh! People are sleeping!” yelled Miroslav.

“Than why are you yelling?” asked Bastian with a cocky grin.

“Be quiet Bastian,” Miroslav retorted throwing a pretzel at him.

Before a pretzel fight could irrupt, I told the guys goodnight intent on heading to my room. I was walking across the lobby when a familiar voice stopped me.

“Lukas! Lukas is that you?” came a female cry.

I groaned in anger but turned knowing that I couldn’t escape, “Hey Monika.”

“Hello darling,” she said with a beautiful smile that use to make my heart flutter---now it just made me cold inside. Monika didn’t seem to see the frosty look in my eyes and kissed me on the cheek in greeting. “It’s been so long!”

“It has,” I responded. Not interested in being polite I asked, “What are you doing in Spain?”

She folded her arms in front of her and responded, “I came here for a job opportunity.”

A lie. I had known her long enough to know her tell. The way she had put her hands in front of her was the position she took when she was lying. She said she wanted to try us again but we hadn’t even tried and already she was bending the truth. Most likely she was here with another man, why else would she be coming back to her hotel at three in the morning.

“Really, I hope you got it,” I said clenching my teeth so that what I was thinking wouldn’t spill out.

“I miss you Lukas,” she purred putting a hand on my shoulder and moving closer. “I wish you would give me another chance.”

“I’m married,” I reminded her.

“Right, and I should offer my congratulation but I won’t,” Monika said with a steel look in her eyes. “It won’t last long and I’ll be there waiting when it’s over.”

My hands balled into fists and I tried to control my rage, “Goodnight Monika.” I didn’t wait for her reply but moved to the stairway, deciding to cool down by walking. I pushed open the door with the sign ‘stairs’ and took the steps two at a time. How dare she?How had I ever fallen for her beautiful face when such ugliness was behind it? I heaved myself over the next few steps. Reyna was such a better person. While Monika had been the a star in the night sky, Reyna was the northern lights. Monika was a tease while Reyna was true. Reyna was so amazing I can barely describe her. She is funny, shy, innocent, beautiful, outgoing, caring, and compassionate all wrapped up in one. When I’m around her I feel like the world has been set right and that my life had meaning again. But I didn’t have much time left. Soon she would be gone. The question was would I be able to let go? Crap, I thought. I’m fucked.