Forgive and Forget

The siblings having had dinner in the kitchen together, Simon had left after they cleared up to go to his room and Skype with his girlfriend of two years, Sara, whilst Elina retreated her own room and then the living room once she’d showered and changed into comfortable sweats and a simple tank top.

Lounging in the sectional sofa, one of her bare feet resting on low coffee table as she flipped through the channels on the television, she glanced up once her brother shuffled over and literally fell down into the other end of the couch.

“How did it go?” she asked after a moment, having turned her gaze back to the flat screen TV, but watched him from the corner of her eye, seeing the emotions playing out across his face.

“I'm not sure I can do this,” he admitted softly, causing her to stop her channel surfing on SkyNews and lower the volume as she turned to look at him. “I'm not sure how long I'm going to be able to string her along and not feel...guilty about it.”

“Are you stringing her along?” she questioned, arching a brow slightly.

“No, I mean...” he trailed off, sighing heavily and reaching up to run his fingers through his unruly hair. “I love her, I want to be together with her,” he said softly. “But...”

“Then no buts,” she interrupted him, causing him to look over at her. “You’ve made the choice to do this, to come here and take the chance to become an even better football player, you knew that leaving Sara behind was a part of that,” she reminded him. “And I know that you two talked about it, and that you agreed to stay together, despite the distance, and that once you both are older she could move out here.”

“It’s just hard,” he admitted, his gaze firmly fixed on the flat screen. “I mean, I love her and I trust her, but she’d over there and I'm over here.”

“Obviously,” she commented, only to apologise when she saw the look he sent her. “Sorry. But that is what long-distance relationships are, and if you love her you should be together with her.”

“I'm just worried that she’s going to think it’s too much or that she won't trust me and think that I'm cheating on her or something,” he revealed softly. “I worry that she’s going to break up with me when she realises she can have someone else, someone who closer to her, who’s there for her.”

“I know Sara,” she pointed out softly. “And I know that she loves you,” she continued, “cause there’s no way that she would put up with your sorry ass otherwise,” she quipped, squealing slightly as she deflected the pillow he threw at her, laughing slightly as it landed on the floor at the end of the couch. “But I'm serious, she loves you, you just have to trust her like I know that she trust you,” she told him seriously. “If you do that, it’ll be fine, you two will get through this,” she assured him.

“Yeah, cause we all know how great those relationships usually work out,” he scoffed under his breath as he looked back at the TV where SportsLine was on.

“What was that?” she glowered at him, not giving him the option of not answering her as her previous smile quickly disappeared.

“Long-distance relationships,” he spoke up, turning to face her again. “I mean, it didn't work for you,” he pointed out, seeing a very dark look pass over her blue eyes as her hand squeezed the remote a little too hard.

“That was a completely different thing,” her response was stiff and she could suddenly feel a headache coming on.

“Yeah, how do you figure?” he demanded to know.

“It just was,” she retorted. “We didn't know each other that well,” she practically gritted her teeth as she forced the words out.

“Yeah, but...”

“Drop it!” she snapped at him and he wisely shut his mouth as he watched her closely. He’d learned the hard way through the years that it was usually a good idea to not poke her when she was already pissed off.

A strained silence spreading between them, Elina sighed softly and licked her lips as she knew that it was time to take that annoying high road again.

“If you want this relationship to work out, you make it work out,” she forced herself to say. “Yeah, it’s going to take time, and it’s going to take effort, and I'm pretty sure that at points, like right now, you are going to want to break up, you might even hate each other, but...” she trailed off, once again licking her lips. “If you stick it out...” she was unable to form a coherent thought as a number of memories assaulted her at one.

“I can’t promise you that a couple of years from now you two are still going to be together,” she pointed out, “but you're not exactly the first guy to move countries because of a career in sports.”

“Yeah, but I'm only 16,” he reminded her softly.

“If you love her, you make it work,” she said softly. “You just...you can’t worry about things you don't have any control over, you just have to have faith in yourself, in her and in the two of you together and your relationship.”

Not wanting to continue the conversation, at least not on that particular topic, any longer, she raised the volume slightly on the TV and turned her attention back to the evening news from around the country, and the world.

It was easy telling her step-brother how to successfully keep his relationship going now that it had suddenly become a long-distance thing, but...but was it really that simple in reality? Or had she just lied to him?

Forcing all those kinds of thoughts from her head, she cleared her throat slightly, immediately catching his attention as he glanced over at her. “So what was it that had you all excited when you came home?” she questioned, not having had any chance to ask sooner.

“It’s nothing,” he shrugged it off as he looked back at the TV.

“Yeah, you want to try that again,” she dared him, eyebrow arched.

“We’re progressing really well and we’re doing good in our games, so the academy, well the club really, wants to treat us and give us a glimpse of where we might get if we continue,” he began explaining, both of them fully aware that he was stalling, only Elina didn't know why he was. “They’re giving us tickets to watch this week’s Champions League match against Besiktas,” he finally blurted out.

“That’s exciting,” she replied evenly, not quite sure how she should respond to those news. A year ago and she would have been green with envy, but now...

“We get two each, so I was kind of hoping that you would come with me,” he carefully watched her from the corner of his eye as the words registered with her, having picked up on her strange behaviour concerning the club they had both been following for years.

“It’d just be going to Anfield for the match, right?” she asked evenly, well aware of his blue eyes on her.

“Not really,” he reluctantly revealed. “After the game we’ll get a chance to meet most of them and have a bit of a chat,” he continued as he saw the pointed look she gave him. “Obviously our guests are going too.

“I can’t go,” she announced simply.

“You're turning down Champions League tickets?” he questioned disbelieving. “You're turning down the chance of watching Liverpool play Champions League at home, at Anfield?” he checked, looking at her with incredulity shining in his eyes.

“I can’t go,” she repeated. “I have... I just can’t,” she insisted, happy that he seemed to drop the subject after that as he pulled out his phone from his pocket and seemed to be texting someone as she turned her attention back towards the TV.

Watching her from under his lashes, he weighed his options, knowing that if she didn't go, she would regret it. But also knowing that if he brought up the subject of her old vacation fling again, she might just bite his head off...

“It was Torres, wasn't it?”

Practically jumping at the sound her brother’s familiar voice, Elina froze as she processed the words he was saying.

“It was Fernando Torres that you dated that summer a couple of years ago,” he pushed, remembering the blonde haired guy his sister had brought around and who had taught him and their brother more football tricks than Fifa ever had managed. “Right?”

“Yeah, yeah, it was,” she confirmed evenly, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Are you really going to let a summer fling keep you from going to a football match?” he baited her, knowing that he was playing dirty.

Refusing to look at him, knowing that he was both right and very wrong, he didn't know the whole story, he didn't know the kinds of feelings that had been there, she sighed heavily. He was just as stubborn as she was, if he wanted her to go to that stupid game, there was no way she wasn't going.

“Fine, I’ll go,” she surrendered, knowing that it was a bad, a very bad idea...