Status: Active, updates may be very slow though, but bare with me

Shoulder to Shoulder

Four

Elena woke to the near panoramic view of London from the windows in Juan’s living room. As she stretched, she realised that she’d slept there all night. Standing up, and letting her joints do all of their normal early morning time clicking, she picked up the blanket that had fallen off of her body and onto the floor. She smiled at the thought that Juan had put the cover over her as she’d slept.

“Juan?” she called into the apartment while walking into the kitchen. As she received no response she looked around for a moment longer before seeing a message left on the fridge in magnetic letters.

Gone to training
Back at 2
Feel free to stay x


Glancing to the clock that hung above the stove, Elena saw that it was just after midday. She had no plans for the day, and so decided to hang out at Juan’s and wait for him to return. After grabbing a banana and a bowl of muesli, Elena made her way back into the front room and turned on the TV.

After polishing off the muesli, and watching two episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Elena suddenly felt bad for staying at Juan’s – she felt she had maybe overstayed her welcome.

Quickly she shook off the thought and, as a small thank you, she tidied his front room. Straightening cushions and moving the few used bowls and glasses that sat around, she felt a little better once the room was clutter free.

Hoping she wasn’t being too forward, Elena decided she really needed to shower. She went into the en suite that adjoined Juan’s bedroom, and stripped down. Carefully folding her clothes and placing them on the closed toilet seat, she stepped into the shower, of which three of the four walls were glass from ceiling to floor. Unused to the new fangled shower and how to use it, she fiddled with the settings for a good five minutes before she finally got a steady stream of hot water coming from the shower head.

As the water cascaded down around her, she hummed a low tune that only she knew. She was unable to hear the front door open and close. Juan returned from training and dumped his hoodie and messenger bag down on the floor before venturing into his room to put his shoes away. He could hear the faint sounds of movement from the bathroom; he quickly went inside intent on turning off the shower, which had a tendency to begin leaking even when the faucet was off.

When he stepped into the room, he saw Elena’s naked body underneath the spray of water, washing her hair. She let out a small shriek when she opened her eyes and noticed she was no longer alone. Juan’s hands whipped up to his eyes, covering his line of vision completely. He pointed to the far left corner of the room before stuttering, “the clean towels are in that cupboard over there.”

He then slowly backed out of the room, leaving Elena blushing from head to toe. She walked over to where Juan had pointed and pulled out a large turquoise towel, after wrapping it around herself, Elena couldn’t help but giggle at what had just occurred.

After drying off and putting her clothes back on, Elena walked back into the kitchen to see Juan. She hadn’t even fully entered the room before he began apologising.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to walk in like th-”

Elena stopped him, “It’s fine, nothing to worry about.” She laughed, walking over to him, she placed a hand on his cheek. “Plus, you look adorable when you blush.” Her lips brushed over his, and she pecked them eagerly. Juan couldn’t help but blush again at her words.

“To make up for sitting in your house all day, let me cook you dinner.” Elena demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

“What are you making up for? I should be apologising for walking in on you in the shower!” he exclaimed.

“Fine, lets make a deal; you can take me shopping for ingredients, then we can cook dinner together?” Elena compromised, leaning on the worktop.

After agreeing, Juan took Elena to the nearest supermarket and while they were there they picked up all of the necessary groceries to make sweet and sour chicken and egg fried rice. They were walking towards the checkout when Juan took his phone out of his pocket and took a picture of the food in the basket.

“What are you doing?” Elena asked, bemused at his actions.

He showed her his phone; “I’m uploading it to Twitter. For the fans.”

It took a second for it to sink in; he had fans. People actually cared about his life, and something as mundane as what shopping he was buying. It felt weird that people would be interesting in such uninteresting things that happen in his life, all because he was a successful footballer.

A few hours later, after they’d cooked together (which was mostly Elena doing the cooking, and Juan passing her ingredients whenever she asked for them), the two sat on Juan’s balcony overlooking a part of London.

“Why do you do it?” Elena asked out of the blue.

Juan turned, looking away from the view and back at the young woman who sat to his left. “Do what?”

“Why do you play football, and put up with everyone wanting to know what’s going on in your life?”

He couldn’t hold back a small smile. “I do it because I love it. If I couldn’t play football everyday – I don’t know what I’d do. My father was a footballer, so it’s been in my life from a very young age. And about the fans, I do it because I love them. Football is about being loyal to your club and the fans, they are the ones who put you where you are – if you’re at the top it’s because of them. It would be hard to ignore them and I don’t really think I could, I love talking with them as often as possible.”

Elena didn’t even respond to his heartfelt response, she just pressed a kiss to his temple and held him close.
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A little bit of a filler, but I thought it was kinda cute, so I hope you like it! I'd love to know what you all think of the story!