French Kisses

I stepped off the plane and immediately turned my phone on, an old habit. Almost immediately I received a text message that had been sent by Shaun soon after he had dropped us off. I opened it and a picture of a guy popped up, who, I admit, was quite attractive, and under it the words, I found a picture of Gerard. Oh and by the way, he's a soccer player.

Oh great, I thought to myself. An athlete. Of course I'm aware that Shaun and Louie are two of my best friends and they're athletes, but it's different if you know them before the fame and everything gets to their heads. I would die if Gerard was conceited. I wasn't sure what emotion to be feeling as I walked slowly toward the meeting area. Leigh, beside me, was beside herself with excitement. I guess it really sunk in on the plane ride that she was finally going to Spain. She was all but dragging me along, to my annoyance. Finally we left all the gates and flight attendants behind, and we began searching for Gerard.

Within a few minutes I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to see a tall guy with blonde hair, who looked to be in his late twenties. "Are you Nicole?" He asked.

"Depends on who you are," I replied.

He smiled. "I'm Tony, Gerard's friend. He asked if I could come and pick you girls up?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, and nodded before following him to baggage claim. Stupid soccer player, can't even do favors for his friends on his own.

We followed him outside and to a very nice and obviously expensive Porsche. Tony took our suitcases and managed to stuff them in the small trunk before sitting in the driver's seat. I had gotten Leigh to let me sit in the front so I could fully appreciate the beauty of the car. And Spain, too, of course. I couldn't help my love of cars, it's all my dad's fault.

Tony decided to take us the long way to Gerard's house, opting for the scenic route, amongst all the historic buildings of Barcelona. Leigh, the architect, was especially fond of them. An hour later we pulled into a gated driveway, which opened immediately, and we passed under all the trees and past the huge front lawn. The house was massive, much bigger than any single bachelor could ever need, but still beautiful. I actually really liked it. It somehow blended historic architecture and modern, which I liked.
Tony gave us half an hour or so to change into something nicer before we headed back out to the car. "Gerard's practice should be ending in about twenty minutes. That's why he couldn't come get you, you know that right? Well, that and he would get mauled if he went out to the airport without any security or anything. But anyway, he said he wanted to take you two out to a nice dinner or something. Hopefully you can take me a little longer, I'm coming too," he grinned.

I already knew Leigh was crushing on Tony. But then again, she crushes on most guys she meets. Not that she's a slut or anything, definitely not, she just...likes everyone. She doesn't always realize soon enough that she only likes them as a friend and nothing more, which sometimes gets her into trouble, but she knows I always try to help her out. Even knowing this, I think she might actually really like him, as in more than a friend. Which was fine with me, he at least seemed nice, for now anyway.

We arrived at Camp Nou in thirty minutes. Leigh and I followed Tony inside, no one stopping us for any identification or anything. Apparently Tony was pretty popular. When I mentioned this to him, he said, "Oh, I organize a lot of things at Barcelona, and I help Gerard out a lot, too. They know me well here."
We emerged into the sunlight with another few steps, and for the next few minutes we watched about twenty nasty, sweaty guys run around and kick that ball before a whistle was blown and they stopped and headed towards a doorway. Which coincidentally happened to be right next to where we were sitting. Lower, of course. Field level, but still.

"Hey Gerard! Say hi!" Tony stood up, getting Gerard, and many of his teammates' attention.

Holy hell, he is tall! I thought to myself as he approached, leaving his teammates behind, though they were still watching as they walked.

"Hola! Soy Gerard!" He smiled, sticking a hand up to us.

Leigh smiled and shook his hand. "Leigh," she replied.

I forced myself to smile as much as I could and shook his hand as well. "Nicole."

He continued smiling as he said, "Pues, yo necesito ir, pero-"

"Gerard. English, idiota," Tony shook his head.

"Oh, sorry. I'm gonna go get a quick shower, I'll be out in a few minutes, okay?" We nodded, and he was gone just like that.

"He's really cool, very chill. I think you girls will like him a lot," Tony told us, grinning. "Although he can be forgetful sometimes. Well, more than sometimes. A lot, really."

He kept telling us a little about Gerard until the actual guy reappeared next to us. "Sorry about that, you girls ready?"

We nodded and followed him, although Leigh walked a few steps back with Tony, leaving me to talk to Gerard, although I was still really wary of him and everything I'd heard about athletes, especially soccer players in Europe. He asked me questions about myself, which to me sounded really boring as I replied, but he seemed to be genuinely interested.

As we approached Gerard's Audi SUV, I was planning on sitting in the backseat, to discourage any more one-on-one conversation with Gerard, at least for a while, but he prevented that by walking to the passenger side with me and opening the front passenger door for me. I quietly thanked him as he walked around to the other side and Tony opened the door for Leigh. Twenty minutes filled with talking about myself later, we arrived at a cute little restaurant, although it was obviously nice, but not overboard. We were taken immediately to a table for four towards the back, where Gerard and Tony wouldn't be noticed as easily. Of course, Gerard and Tony pulled out our chairs for us, which, though we weren't remotely used to it or expecting it, we thanked them anyway.

Thankfully Gerard didn't make me tell him any more about myself, allowing us to ask him and Tony questions instead, though Leigh did more talking than I did. By the end of the night we all knew each other much better, and I even found myself liking Gerard more, though I knew I shouldn't. He was just too damn nice! I couldn't find any faults with him as hard as I tried. Aside from the being a professional athlete, of course.

By the time we arrived back at Gerard's house, Leigh and I were completely exhausted. Tony had to wake Leigh up to go inside, since I warned him against carrying her. She was such a light sleeper that she would probably end up waking up as he was halfway up the stairs and make them both fall. It's happened before.

It was only ten when we got back, and I wanted to get my body used to the time here, so after changing into something more comfortable, I went outside to call Shaun.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Shaun."

"Nicole! Hey! How's Spain? Is it everything you thought it would be and more or what?"

I smiled. "Yeah, it's definitely amazing. Really pretty."

"And are you happy with your rooming arrangements?"

I shrugged, though I knew he couldn't see. "Yeah, he's cool. So far, anyway. I haven't gotten lost in the house yet, though. That's a start."

"That's awesome! But Nicole, don't hate the guy when you barely know him. He's really cool, or else I wouldn't have asked him to let you two stay with him. So don't be a bitch like I know you can be, okay?"

I almost didn't know what to say to that, Shaun had never said anything like that to me. Instead of telling him about our first day in Spain and everything else I was planning on telling him about, I hung up and sat on the tree roots, happy for the peace and quiet for the first time that day.

I must have been sitting there for twenty minutes before I heard Gerard come and sit next to me. At first, he didn't say anything, but then he said, "Que esta haciendo?"

I scoffed. "Don't speak Spanish to me, Gerard. You know I don't understand a word of it."

I knew he grinned without looking at him. "What are you doing?" He asked, this time in English.

Glancing at him, I replied, "Sitting. Under a tree. At night."

He just sat and looked at me for what seemed like forever before asking, "Why do you hate me? What did I do?"

"I don't hate you."

"Don't act like you don't, I know you do. Tell me what I did. I'll try to fix it."

"You didn't do anything, Gerard. Not you, personally."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I knew he was completely confused by now.

"It's just...I've known too many athletes by now to think any of them are any different. They're all conceited bastards."

"What? What about Shaun? And Louie? Aren't they like your best friends?" I couldn't tell if Gerard was more confused or insulted.

"I've known both Shaun and Louie my whole life. It's...kind of different for the two of them. I can't help it. I wish I could just make myself forgive and forget, but I can't. And I don't know that I ever will be able to."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

I shook my head. "No. Only Leigh knows."

We stayed quiet for a few minutes before Gerard stood up and offered me his hand. I shook my head again and before heading back inside, he said, "Well, I only hope that while you're here I can change your mind."