‹ Prequel: A Summer Romance

Forgive and Forget

Seven

Smiling at the customer on the other side of the counter, Elina handed over the two mugs of coffee they’d ordered with a “have a nice day” before spinning around to glance back at where one of her co-workers and closest friends in Liverpool, Nikki, was standing, holding out the cordless phone.

“What?” Elina asked as she walked over, glancing over at their other friend Caroline was standing by the coffeemaker, making sure that she wasn't about to get swamped.

“Phone for you,” Nikki smiled as the blonde the phone.

Frowning slightly, Elina took the offered device and moved further away from the front of the coffee shop and towards the back-room as to not disturb the customers. “Hello?”

Hi,” came the voice of her youngest brother.

“Hey, is something wrong?” she asked as she leaned back against the wall, gazing out over the small, but successful coffee shop. She knew that he should still be at training...at Melwood...again. She was obviously proud of him, but...but all those treats and all that time spent in the same facilities as he-who-shall-not-be-named was not good for her psyche.

No, no, nothing’s wrong,” he replied quickly, causing his sister to frown suspiciously. Out of the three siblings, he was the one who couldn’t lie to save his own life...

“Yeah, right,” she replied sceptically. “What is it?” she questioned suspiciously, reaching up and running her fingers through her blonde hair that was pulled up in a ponytail.

Some of the lads asked me if I wanted to go with them after practise,” he revealed slowly. “Just hang out, kick some balls around.

“Who?” she pressed, trying to ignore the way her heart sped up slightly. She had always had an overactive imagination, but for some reason she didn't think that the thoughts that flew through her mind were all that imagined.

I don't really know whose going to be there,” he tried to sidestep.

Rolling her eyes at his lame attempt at dodging her question, she shook her head slightly; crossing her arm over her stomach, wrapping her fingers around her other upper arm. Knowing he was a bad liar, Simon didn't try to lie or dodge questions if it wasn't completely necessary, but she also knew that he never wanted to see his siblings hurt, meaning that if someone would be going who she didn't want to see around him...he might just attempt to lie about it.

“Who invited you?” she specified, closing her eyes as she heard the name that passed his lips.

Fernando.

She couldn’t control who he hung out with, much less who he clicked with. Since that Champions League game just a week earlier, she knew that her brother, as well as a number of the other academy players had felt a lot more comfortable in the presence of the first team, and that Simon had talked quite a bit with the blonde-haired Spaniard. He’d tried to hide it, for her sake obviously, but then again, he couldn’t lie...

“So where are you going to be?” she wondered, deciding to not say anything about it. He was almost an adult, she couldn’t decide things for him, and he could make friends with whomever he wanted. Even if they happened to be an ex of hers. “You know what, just text me when you get there and don't get home a second past eleven,” she stated, using the same rules he’d had when they’d still been living at home. “And call me if something happens.”

So I can go?” he checked, almost sounding surprised.

“Yeah,” she confirmed simply. “Just make sure to be home by eleven.”

Great,” she could literally hear his smile through the phone. “And I don't need you to pick me up,” he added.

“Great,” she returned, her nails digging into her palm.

I’ll see you later,” he said before hanging up.

“Bye,” she said under her breath before slowly moving the phone away from her ear and ending the call.

“Is everything okay?” Caroline asked concerned as she walked over to her.

“Yeah,” Elina nodded slowly, still clutching the cordless phone in her hand. “Simon just wanted to let me know that he was going to be hanging out with some of the lads from the club,” she revealed as she pushed herself away from the wall and she along with Caroline walked back in behind the counter. “Apparently they asked him to come with them and of course he wanted to go. I mean, who wouldn't?” she asked rhetorically.

“You obviously wouldn't,” Nikki smirked amused as she turned her back against the store and looked back at her blonde friends.

“Don't,” Elina warned her with a dark glare. She hated her own low tolerance for alcohol; she’d gotten a bit more than tipsy the last – and first – time they had properly gone out to a club together and during their midnight-snack of fish & chips she’d ended up spilling the secret about her past with Fernando Torres.

“So you were together with the guy a bunch of summers ago,” Nikki stated. “You didn't even end on bad term and for some reason that I can’t comprehend, you refuse to talk to him, even though he clearly wants...”

“It’s a lot more complicated than that,” Elina interrupted her. She’d spilled the secret about their short relationship, but not every little detail about it and she certainly wasn't about to do so now in the middle of a downtown coffee shop.

“What is so complicated about it?” Caroline naively asked with a wide smile. “Fernando Torres is one fine piece of Spanish hunk, he obviously wants to re-connect with you,” she hinted. “There are no complications, just go there,” she added with a smirk.

“You know what I say,” Nikki smiled. “Boy, girl, sex,” she continued with a smirk that caused her newest friend to roll her eyes at her. “I mean, have you seen him walking across the pitch after a match. He takes off his shirt and he’s all sweaty and yummy and just abs full of deliciousness,” she sighed dreamily.

“Yes, I actually have seen him like that,” Elina replied neutrally, refusing to think all the times she’d seen him just like that, and the few times when she’d seen him in even less...

“There’s something wrong with you,” Nikki stated frankly as she pushed herself away from the counter and moved towards the backroom. “There is something clearly wrong with a woman when she doesn’t even blush at the mention of a half-naked El Niño,” she stated, glancing up at Caroline as she passed her.

“Yes, there is,” the other blonde agreed with a nod, her eyes never leaving Elina.

“You two, officially crazy,” Elina pointed between them as she grabbed a plastic tray from beneath the counter. “And I'm working,” she added with a cheeky smile as she walked out between the tables and began clearing off the handful of paper cups and plates that had been left around by careless costumers.



Having changed out of her uniform shirt – a glorified word for a grey t-shirt – and having removed her apron back at the shop, Elina had gone out for a late dinner with Nikki at a small Thai restaurant just a block from where they were working and returning back home to the flat, she was beyond tired. Chucking her keys into the bowl on the table just inside of the door, she dropped her bag on the floor outside the door to her bedroom before toeing off her sneakers and shrugging off her coat, draping it over a chair in the living room.

Walking around the flat, turning on a couple of lamps as she went, she switched on the TV before heading into the kitchen and fixing herself some hot cocoa.

Pulling her hair free from the ponytail she’d had it in since she arrived at work almost twelve hours earlier, she ran her fingers through it and sighed softly before grabbing the steaming cup from the microwave after the beep managed to startle her slightly. Taking a sip from the warm liquid, closing her eyes for a moment, she smiled softly before walking out into the living room.

Sinking down in dark grey couch, she stretched out her legs and placed her feet on the coffee table before beginning to flip through the number of channels they had. Finding nothing in particular to watch, she frowned slightly and settled for a re-run of “The IT Crowd”, finding herself lightly chuckling occasionally.

Sipping her hot drink, she pulled her phone from the pocket of her jeans and checked the time, sighing softly as she saw that it was twenty minutes to eleven. Her shift at the coffeehouse had ended at eight, two hours before they closed and it felt like it was just a moment ago.

Shaking her head, she also hoped that Simon would be back before eleven or she was going to have a hard time actually enforcing the rules her mother and father had out down when they had all moved in together all those years ago.

Despite the many channels they had at their disposal, there was absolutely nothing on to watch so with a sigh she stood from the couch and rinsing out her cup in the kitchen sink before placing it in the dishwasher, she shuffled into bedroom.

Slipping off her jewellery and placing everything but her watch on top of the dresser, she walked over to the window and was about to close the blinds as she saw a silver-metallic sports car pulling to a stop at the curb below, in front of the large apartment complex. Not moving, she watched as a very familiar form emerged from the passenger seat before with a wave over his shoulder jogged towards the front door.

She didn't need to be a genius to deduct who the flashy car belonged to.

Fernando Torres wasn't someone she’d spent much time thinking about since that June day in Germany when she learned exactly who he was and how he’d lied to her. Well, when she returned home from the trip she did Google him and finding his official website, reading about him and all his accomplishments in the sport of football, it had felt as if the metaphorical knife in her back had gone in even deeper.

After that she avoided thinking about him more than necessary, and she made damn sure that all those memories she’d cherished for close to two years were securely locked away in a box far, far back in her mind.

She still didn't want to let him in; she didn't want him in her life. But no matter how hard she tried, it just didn't seem like it mattered, he was weaselling himself in no matter what she did.

And now Simon was friends with him...

Letting out the breath she’d been holding with a huff, she closed the blinds as the car pulled away and she turned around, heading towards the bathroom as the front door open and her brother call out a hello.

Returning the gesture, she grabbed a pair of cotton shorts and a ribbed tank top from her dresser before heading straight for the bathroom. She needed a long hot shower and to forget Fernando Torres ever existed.
♠ ♠ ♠

Elina