‹ Prequel: A Summer Romance
Forgive and Forget
Six
June 14, 2006
Germany
The atmosphere around them as they made their way across the crowded town square was indescribable. People were happy and chatting to everyone around them, no matter their home country or what coloured jerseys they were wearing.
Zigzagging their way through the crowd of likeminded football fans, the four of them stopped pretty much in the middle of the large square where big screens were showing the games and food- and beer-tents were erected around the whole place.
“So who’s up for pizza?” Timmy questioned as he looked over at the friends he’d graduated with just a short year earlier.
“My tickets, I get to decide,” Elina interrupted with a wide grin as she saw the argument that was about to erupt between her second cousin and their friends Michael and Patrick. “And we, are having pizza,” she added simply, only to stick out her tongue at her friends who weren't exactly the pizza-lovers the two cousins were known to be.
The four of them had landed in Berlin late the previous evening and had spent most of the morning exploring the areas around the Bed & Breakfast-style hotel they were staying at, meeting other fans that had travelled down to watch their national teams play in the World Cup.
Elina having applied for tickets long before Christmas, she never actually thought she would be getting her hands on them, but then one morning, she’d had a new email waiting for her in her in-box, congratulating her on “winning” the raffle and getting the tickets she’d wanted. Deciding on whom to bring with her had been harder than getting the tickets, but in the end she’d decided on some of her closer friends in high school. Friends who were very interested in football and who was free to travel down to Germany with her.
Managing to place their orders in some sort of mix between English and what little German they still remembered from school, they were soon handed their orders and balancing the two trays with drinks and plates of pizza on them, they went to find places to sit in the crowded square.
Sitting sideways on the bench, Elina helped Timmy divide the drinks and the plates before they dug in and only half-watched the match being shown on the big-screen.
Leisurely chatting as they ate, Elina glanced up on the big-screen as she took a bite out of her pizza slice and tried to hear what the presenters’ were saying about the match. It was half-time and the presenters in their studio away from the arena were discussion some situation that had taken place during the first half.
“Anyone know which match this is?” she questioned as she turned back to look at her friends.
“I think its Spain VS Ukraine,” Patrik said after a moment as he tried to remember what he’d been reading about the day’s matches the same morning.
“Hm,” she nodded as she glanced back at the screen, watching a collage of saves made by what appeared to be the Spanish goalkeeper.
“Are either of them any good?” Michael wondered as he came up for ait between devouring his pizza slices.
“I have no idea about Ukraine,” Timmy said honestly before taking a sip from his beer. “But Spain is obviously still suffering from something,” he continued as the other three turned their attention towards him. “They have a bunch of great players, I mean some of them are really amazing, but they just can’t seem to win anything. They sail through the qualifiers and then as soon as they get to the tournaments, they choke and go home without accomplishing anything,” he shrugged slightly. “I don't know, but they do have a pretty young squad this time so maybe this will be the years.”
“Yeah, who knows, right?” Elina rolled her eyes as she reached for her plastic glass that was almost full. The same words were used every year when their own national team was concerned, no matter which sport was up and the stars never seemed to be aligned for them, she wouldn't put money on them being so for Spain either.
The four of them sharing a laugh they continued eating and chatting in the bright sunshine, talking about Sweden’s game against Paraguay the following evening, the game they would be going to.
Getting some more beer after they’d finished eating, the four friends decided to stick around and watch the rest of the game and despite the bright yellow jerseys they were wearing – all donning the names of Swedish players – they found themselves cheering for Spain.
Swearing and flinging their arms in the air as one of the Spanish players were brutally tackled in the penalty box, they all cheered when he – rightfully so – was awarded a penalty.
Turning back to the table and taking a sip from her still chilled beer as the fouled player was taking his merry time getting back up on his feet, Elina froze with her plastic glass against her lips once she looked back up on the big screen. Her eyes widened slightly and for a moment it felt like her heart stopped, or at least skipped a beat or five, as she saw the player still sitting on the grass, his name, number and a bunch of his stats in the tournament appearing at the bottom of the screen.
9 Fernando Torres...
Slowly lowering her glass, her eyes never leaving the blonde man on the big-screen, she couldn’t help but feel like the ground beneath her feet shook a little, like the world as she knew it had shifted slightly on its axis.
Her thoughts disappeared so far into her mind and her memories that she didn't even notice as David Villa went to take the penalty, much less when he put it in the back of the net, giving the Spaniards a three nil lead.
Returning back home with her family after the vacation that almost never was, she’d been uncertain whether or not she and Fernando would be keeping in contact like they had agreed to do. When you meet someone like that, in such a short, constricted amount of time and it’s time to leave, you say that you're going to keep in touch, for sure, and you exchange all the details. But it’s what you say; it’s what you're expected to say. More often than not, you don't keep in touch.
Maybe there’s a few letters or emails the first few weeks, months, but that’s it. Three weeks on an island with no friends around and normality so far away...it isn't exactly the foundation for a lifelong friendship.
But like so many other times in her life, she’d been proven wrong as the two of them kept in touch long after they both departed from Menorca.
They had occasionally talked on MSN and using other forms of instant messaging, and they had frequently emailed each other, telling each other about their lives and what was happening in them. She wouldn't say that they were in a relationship because as far as she knew they had both been on dates with other people during the years they kept in touch and as far as she could remember, she’d always been honest with him.
Clearly that wasn't a trait he’d shared with her...
The last time she’d heard from him had been a little over a year earlier, when he’d congratulated her on graduating from high school.
A hand on her tanned forearm shaking her out of her thoughts, Elina placed the beer-glass back on the table and snapped her head up to look over at her cousin.
“Are you okay?” Timmy asked, concern for her shining in his green eyes as they were the only two not cheering after the penalty was converted.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” she assured him with a quick smile, which he returned before looking back at the game playing out across the big screen.
Glancing down at her left thumb where that plain silver band was still resting, she couldn’t ignore the words of the commentators as they raved on about the rising star in Spanish football. The man they called El Niño, the kid, who was the youngest to be named captain for Atletico Madrid in years, who’d made his international debut two years prior in the Euro 2004’s in Portugal....
Spinning the ring around her thumb, she couldn’t help but feel betrayed.
Utterly, and completely betrayed.
They might not have been best friends and she lived in reality where fairytales weren't real. You don't meet the person who you’ll marry, who you’ll spend the rest of your life with on a beach in Paradise, you just don't.
But...but she’d been honest with him.
So she didn't exactly share her whole life story with him, but she had never lied to him and... and for some unexplainable reason she’d trusted him from the very start. She’d trusted him a hell of a lot more after just a couple of days than she had ever trusted her boyfriend of over a year whom she’d known for a lot longer than that.
She’d trusted him enough to give up her virginity to him...
When he gave her that ring, the one that was now resting securely on her left thumb, he’d told her that it was because he didn't want to risk her forgetting about him, or the time they spend together.
Slowly slipping the ring from her thumb where it had sat pretty much every day since he placed it there just as Spain scored again, she held it between her thumbs and forefingers, thinking about everything it had represented in those past two years. The things it had reminded her off.
Only now she wasn't so sure that she wanted to remember any longer....
Germany
The atmosphere around them as they made their way across the crowded town square was indescribable. People were happy and chatting to everyone around them, no matter their home country or what coloured jerseys they were wearing.
Zigzagging their way through the crowd of likeminded football fans, the four of them stopped pretty much in the middle of the large square where big screens were showing the games and food- and beer-tents were erected around the whole place.
“So who’s up for pizza?” Timmy questioned as he looked over at the friends he’d graduated with just a short year earlier.
“My tickets, I get to decide,” Elina interrupted with a wide grin as she saw the argument that was about to erupt between her second cousin and their friends Michael and Patrick. “And we, are having pizza,” she added simply, only to stick out her tongue at her friends who weren't exactly the pizza-lovers the two cousins were known to be.
The four of them had landed in Berlin late the previous evening and had spent most of the morning exploring the areas around the Bed & Breakfast-style hotel they were staying at, meeting other fans that had travelled down to watch their national teams play in the World Cup.
Elina having applied for tickets long before Christmas, she never actually thought she would be getting her hands on them, but then one morning, she’d had a new email waiting for her in her in-box, congratulating her on “winning” the raffle and getting the tickets she’d wanted. Deciding on whom to bring with her had been harder than getting the tickets, but in the end she’d decided on some of her closer friends in high school. Friends who were very interested in football and who was free to travel down to Germany with her.
Managing to place their orders in some sort of mix between English and what little German they still remembered from school, they were soon handed their orders and balancing the two trays with drinks and plates of pizza on them, they went to find places to sit in the crowded square.
Sitting sideways on the bench, Elina helped Timmy divide the drinks and the plates before they dug in and only half-watched the match being shown on the big-screen.
Leisurely chatting as they ate, Elina glanced up on the big-screen as she took a bite out of her pizza slice and tried to hear what the presenters’ were saying about the match. It was half-time and the presenters in their studio away from the arena were discussion some situation that had taken place during the first half.
“Anyone know which match this is?” she questioned as she turned back to look at her friends.
“I think its Spain VS Ukraine,” Patrik said after a moment as he tried to remember what he’d been reading about the day’s matches the same morning.
“Hm,” she nodded as she glanced back at the screen, watching a collage of saves made by what appeared to be the Spanish goalkeeper.
“Are either of them any good?” Michael wondered as he came up for ait between devouring his pizza slices.
“I have no idea about Ukraine,” Timmy said honestly before taking a sip from his beer. “But Spain is obviously still suffering from something,” he continued as the other three turned their attention towards him. “They have a bunch of great players, I mean some of them are really amazing, but they just can’t seem to win anything. They sail through the qualifiers and then as soon as they get to the tournaments, they choke and go home without accomplishing anything,” he shrugged slightly. “I don't know, but they do have a pretty young squad this time so maybe this will be the years.”
“Yeah, who knows, right?” Elina rolled her eyes as she reached for her plastic glass that was almost full. The same words were used every year when their own national team was concerned, no matter which sport was up and the stars never seemed to be aligned for them, she wouldn't put money on them being so for Spain either.
The four of them sharing a laugh they continued eating and chatting in the bright sunshine, talking about Sweden’s game against Paraguay the following evening, the game they would be going to.
Getting some more beer after they’d finished eating, the four friends decided to stick around and watch the rest of the game and despite the bright yellow jerseys they were wearing – all donning the names of Swedish players – they found themselves cheering for Spain.
Swearing and flinging their arms in the air as one of the Spanish players were brutally tackled in the penalty box, they all cheered when he – rightfully so – was awarded a penalty.
Turning back to the table and taking a sip from her still chilled beer as the fouled player was taking his merry time getting back up on his feet, Elina froze with her plastic glass against her lips once she looked back up on the big screen. Her eyes widened slightly and for a moment it felt like her heart stopped, or at least skipped a beat or five, as she saw the player still sitting on the grass, his name, number and a bunch of his stats in the tournament appearing at the bottom of the screen.
9 Fernando Torres...
Slowly lowering her glass, her eyes never leaving the blonde man on the big-screen, she couldn’t help but feel like the ground beneath her feet shook a little, like the world as she knew it had shifted slightly on its axis.
Her thoughts disappeared so far into her mind and her memories that she didn't even notice as David Villa went to take the penalty, much less when he put it in the back of the net, giving the Spaniards a three nil lead.
Returning back home with her family after the vacation that almost never was, she’d been uncertain whether or not she and Fernando would be keeping in contact like they had agreed to do. When you meet someone like that, in such a short, constricted amount of time and it’s time to leave, you say that you're going to keep in touch, for sure, and you exchange all the details. But it’s what you say; it’s what you're expected to say. More often than not, you don't keep in touch.
Maybe there’s a few letters or emails the first few weeks, months, but that’s it. Three weeks on an island with no friends around and normality so far away...it isn't exactly the foundation for a lifelong friendship.
But like so many other times in her life, she’d been proven wrong as the two of them kept in touch long after they both departed from Menorca.
They had occasionally talked on MSN and using other forms of instant messaging, and they had frequently emailed each other, telling each other about their lives and what was happening in them. She wouldn't say that they were in a relationship because as far as she knew they had both been on dates with other people during the years they kept in touch and as far as she could remember, she’d always been honest with him.
Clearly that wasn't a trait he’d shared with her...
The last time she’d heard from him had been a little over a year earlier, when he’d congratulated her on graduating from high school.
A hand on her tanned forearm shaking her out of her thoughts, Elina placed the beer-glass back on the table and snapped her head up to look over at her cousin.
“Are you okay?” Timmy asked, concern for her shining in his green eyes as they were the only two not cheering after the penalty was converted.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” she assured him with a quick smile, which he returned before looking back at the game playing out across the big screen.
Glancing down at her left thumb where that plain silver band was still resting, she couldn’t ignore the words of the commentators as they raved on about the rising star in Spanish football. The man they called El Niño, the kid, who was the youngest to be named captain for Atletico Madrid in years, who’d made his international debut two years prior in the Euro 2004’s in Portugal....
Spinning the ring around her thumb, she couldn’t help but feel betrayed.
Utterly, and completely betrayed.
They might not have been best friends and she lived in reality where fairytales weren't real. You don't meet the person who you’ll marry, who you’ll spend the rest of your life with on a beach in Paradise, you just don't.
But...but she’d been honest with him.
So she didn't exactly share her whole life story with him, but she had never lied to him and... and for some unexplainable reason she’d trusted him from the very start. She’d trusted him a hell of a lot more after just a couple of days than she had ever trusted her boyfriend of over a year whom she’d known for a lot longer than that.
She’d trusted him enough to give up her virginity to him...
When he gave her that ring, the one that was now resting securely on her left thumb, he’d told her that it was because he didn't want to risk her forgetting about him, or the time they spend together.
Slowly slipping the ring from her thumb where it had sat pretty much every day since he placed it there just as Spain scored again, she held it between her thumbs and forefingers, thinking about everything it had represented in those past two years. The things it had reminded her off.
Only now she wasn't so sure that she wanted to remember any longer....
♠ ♠ ♠
ElinaPlease comment to let me know if you liked it, what you didn't like, etc.
At this point I'm ready to accept comments about the weather's like where you are :)