Forgive and Forget

“Yeah, and that wasn't me,” Elina stated frankly as she manoeuvred the large car through the small streets of the calm neighbourhood that was starting to become more and more familiar with each week. “That was Julia,” she pointed out.

“Like hell it was,” Johanna disagreed loudly from three countries away, her familiar voice filling the inside of the vehicle as Elina rolled her eyes with a smile. “You were sleeping up top and she was on the floor and I remember this because you stepped on my hand when you were climbing down to sneak into their room.”

“Well, I did that,” Elina coincided as she pulled her ID from her bag and turned up to the gates. “It was Julia who snuck in and scared them and then got caught doing it,” she continued as she showed the plastic card to the guard and with a smile drove into the parking lot. “I was a lot more stealth than that,” she added with a smirk, clearly remembering that weekend’s school trip.

“Yeah, yeah,” Johanna rolled her eyes.

“Are you going to tell me how the hell you started to think about that weekend out of the blue?” Elina questioned as she searched for a parking space and slowly reversed into it once she found one.

“I was over at my mum’s place, going through all these boxes of stuff I haven’t picked up yet and there were all these old photos,” Johanna revealed softly as Elina killed the engine and undid her seatbelt but stayed seated in the comfortable leather seats.

“Feeling nostalgic again?” Elina questioned, refusing to acknowledge all the nostalgia she herself had been experiencing in the past couple of days, weeks as she reached for her bag and pulled out a chap stick, quickly applying it to her lips.

“Yeah,” Johanna sighed heavily before doing what sounded as if she fell back on a bed or possibly a couch. “But I can’t help it,” she complained. “All this medical talk and all the what-if’s are scaring the crap out of me,” she admitted softly.

“You're a nurse,” Elina pointed out.

“And that just makes it all so much more worse,” Johanna pointed out frankly. “Not to mention, some of this stuff is too advanced even for me to understand it,” she huffed slightly, causing her childhood friend to chuckled at her.

“Be glad that you’re not a complete novice then,” Elina pointed out softly; knowing exactly what that was like. “Hang on a second,” she said before disconnecting the phone from the car’s Bluetooth system and pulling her key from the ignition before climbing out. “And you have to stop feeling like this,” she put the phone to her ear as she closed the door and dropped her keys in the pocket of her trench coat. “The doctor said that it was perfectly normal if it took some 6 months to a year till something, anything happened.”

“But I’m 21, almost 22, things shouldn’t be taking this long,” Johanna complained as Elina slowly rounded the large car and stopped once she reached the front, leaning back against the hood as she enjoyed the surprisingly warm November sun against her paling skin. “I mean, I should get knocked up if a guy as much looked at me in that way.”

“And millions of women across the world are forever grateful that that doesn’t happen,” Elina shook her head slightly.

“You know what I mean,” Johanna whined.

“You’ve been trying for...what, now? Three, four months?” Elina asked, receiving a somewhat positive response from her friend. “Remember how you were the one to tell me that it takes two months, sometimes even more, maybe even as much as six months for all the hormones from the pill to fully leave a woman’s system,” she reminded the brunette whirlwind who wasn't exactly know for her patience and never had been.

“You're my friend, you're supposed to be on my side,” Johanna sulked stubbornly.

“In a fight between you and Mother Nature, I'm on Nature’s side every day of the week,” Elina retorted simply. “Besides, you’ve heard all the stories about people who’ve been trying to get pregnant for years and as soon as they give up trying or whatever, they get knocked up faster than you can say quickie,” she reached up and ran her fingers through her long hair that was hanging in lose waves around her shoulders. “I am not saying give up here, but I am saying that you have got to stop stressing about it.”

“But I am stressing about it,” Johanna complained. “I want to have a baby and to do that I have to get pregnant.”

Suppressing the urge to point out that there were other ways of having a baby and the fact that she was years away from even having to think about that, Elina stuck her hand into the pocket of her white coat. “And to get pregnant you have to have sex,” she deadpanned, glad that no one was around to overhear this particular conversation. “Sex is supposed to be fun and exciting and...” she trailed off with a sigh, refusing to think about who had taught her that, “and without pressure,” she added softly.

“I know, but...” Johanna sighed heavily. “I can’t help but think that I'm doing something wrong or that we’re not having sex when we should to conceive or that...”

“Stop it,” Elina interrupted her, traces of a smile across her plump lips. “You have sex because it’s fun and you have sex because you want to, not because you have to,” she reasoned. “You need to have good, no great, sex to get pregnant and if you force it, or plan it, or schedule it or whatever else you’ve already started doing you crazy girl, you definitely don’t have great sex and then you won't...” she trailed of hinting.

“I won't get pregnant,” Johanna reluctantly agreed with an eye roll which her best friend obviously couldn’t see all the way over in Liverpool.

“You won't get pregnant,” Elina nodded in agreement. “But seriously,” she sobered up, “you worry about things you shouldn’t worry about for...I don't know, two, three years or something. Maybe even more,” she pointed out seriously. “It’s been three months, just go with it.”

“This, right here, is why you aren’t allowed to be this far away from me,” Johanna replied pointedly, a smile flickering across her lips.

“Phuket is a hell of a lot further away then Liverpool,” Elina pointed out with a smirk.

“Don't remind me,” Johanna groaned, thinking about all the crisis’s she’d had to go through alone, or over the phone whilst her best friend had been half a world away, enjoying her life on beaches and by picture-perfect pools....

“Listen to me,” Elina said as she glanced down at the watch that was loosely wrapped around her arm, silently wondering where the heck her brother was, he was supposed to have been there already. “Be patient and you’ll get pregnant before you know it, trust me,” she smiled into the phone. “And when you do get pregnant, I have to be the first one to know,” she announced frankly.

“I think I should tell Tom first, don't you think?” Johanna smiled amused.

“No I have to listen to all this complaining, I should be the first one to find out the good news,” Elina disagreed, a teasing note to her tone.

“Fine,” Johanna surrendered, “you’ll be the first to know.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Elina replied. “Look, I have to call you back; I'm picking Simon up from the training grounds right now.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Johanna pushed herself back up. “How’s he doing by the way?”

“From what I know, he’s doing great,” Elina couldn’t help but smile proudly as she thought about her youngest brother. “And, I mean, anyone can see it in his game. He’s a lot quicker, faster on the ball...”

“Football novice right here,” Johanna interrupted her with a laugh.

“Shut up,” Elina rolled her eyes at her. “He is doing great thought.”

“I'm glad,” Johanna said seriously. “Tell him I said hi.”

“I will,” Elina promised before they said their goodbyes and she promised to call again soon.

Ending the call, she checked her texts on her phone and frowned slightly as she found her brother to be close to half an hour late. Shaking her head slightly, she slipped her phone in her pocket and continued waiting, leaning against the car as she glanced around the parking lot. It was an intimidating sight, that was for sure, with all its Range Rovers, Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes-Benz’ and even an Aston Martin or two.

Shifting her stance slightly, her hand buried in the pockets of her coat, she watched as a dark Audi Q7 drove into the parking lot and parked in a spot a couple of spots away from where she was parked, in the opposite row. Carefully watching the large vehicle, she felt like legging it once the driver climbed out and there was no denying who those blonde locks belonged to.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she silently hoped that he would ignore her, that he would simply continue walking to wherever he was going and pay her no attention, but feeling his penetrating gaze on her, she knew better.

When she opened her eyes again, there was no doubt about it, he was heading straight for her and there was no way for her to get away.

Ignoring him, turning him down whenever he tried to talk to her, or simply forgetting him, would have been so much easier if he wasn't so attractive. If she didn't know exactly how good looking he was, down to practically every inch of his body. If she didn't know how sweet, and loving, and tender he could be, and probably still was. If she didn't know what it felt like being held by him and feel like there was nothing in the world that could harm you, or get to you. If he didn't have that annoyingly sexy accent of his....

Taking a deep breath to force all those thoughts away was all she had time to do before he slowed to a stop a couple of feet away from her, his brown eyes firmly set on her.

“Elina...” he began saying, her name sounding both strange and perfect coming from his lips in that surprisingly deep voice of his and wrapped in that thick Spanish accent.

“Please don't,” she had to force herself to keep her voice even as she refused to look over at him.

“Look, I'm sorry,” he began saying as he took two steps closer to her.

“No,” she snapped her head to look at him. “Don't you dare apologise, don't you dare,” she glowered at him. “You lied to me, more than once you lied to me,” she reminded him, daring him to disagree with her. “You lied to me for years. Don't you dare apologize to make yourself feel better. No matter what you say now, all I'm going to see when I look at you is that guy who I met on that island, lying straight to my face.”

“I didn't...” Fernando began again, only to quiet down as they heard footsteps approaching, both of them looking over to see Simon approaching them, a confused look across his face.

“I don't care,” Elina stated frankly as she looked back at Fernando. “Get in the car,” she ordered her brother who was about to greet the taller striker. “Now!” she practically growled at him and knowing her, he only sent her a confused look before doing what she told him and she waited till she knew that he was inside the vehicle before she stepped even closer to the handsome Spaniard.

“I don't care, you're going to say you didn't mean it and all that crap and I just don't care,” she told him seriously. “I don't care about that, because I don't care about you,” she added frankly, ignoring the way the outer corner of her right eye twitched slightly. “You are in my past and that’s where you’re going to say,” she told him simply before turning on her heel and stalking around the car before climbing in behind the wheel. “Don't say anything,” she glared at her brother in the passenger seat who was looking highly amused.

Pressing his lips together as she started the car and drove out of the parking lot he watched her from the corner of his eye as he caught Fernando walk inside of the large building that was becoming very familiar to him.

He was 16 years old, turning seventeen in just a couple of months and he certainly didn't know all there was to know about love and heartbreak or even everything in between, but he could see attraction as well as the next person. And he might be a bad liar, but in that moment, his sister was even worse.

When it came to Fernando she was about as transparent as glass.

She always had been...

It was obvious to him that she was still as attracted to that Spanish football players as she had been those years ago when he’d still been just a normal Spanish boy with amazing footballs skills to them.

Now they just had to open their eyes and see that for themselves...