To France With Love

When I woke up, Rafa was still sleeping pretty heavily. I decided to go out for a run on my own. I put on my athletic clothes and grabbed my iPod and headed downstairs.

I was having a pretty good run, until I came across a booth on the street with magazines and newspapers. There was a paper with a picture of Rafa holding his trophy, but there was a picture next to it of us kissing last night in the pool! The headline said "L'amour à l'Open français! Rafael Nadal remporte le huitième temps, mais les gains amant cette année" I used a translator app on my phone to figure out that that meant "Love at the French Open! Rafael Nadal wins eighth time, but gains lover this year."

What the fuck? Who could've taken that picture? I paid for the newspaper and sat down with it on a bench. I looked at the whole article. I couldn't read the French, but I could see pictures of me holding Rafa's hand and me with his family at the finals yesterday. I threw the paper away and ran back to the hotel.

I didn't really know how to feel about being the cover story on a French newspaper. It was cool, but my private life was being plastered all over Paris for everyone to see.

When I got back to the room there was a paper in front of our door, as well as in front of everyone else's doors. I picked up ours and went inside. Rafa was awake and watching tv. I threw the paper into his lap. He picked it up. It took him a few seconds to get past the picture of him with his trophy, but soon his smile turned to a frown. “Yeah.” I said. “I went for a run and was greeted by that.” I laughed. I guess I didn’t really care what they had to say about me.

“I’m really sorry.” He said. “Are you okay?” I started laughing.

“Actually, when I found it I was really pissed off.” I said. “Now, I don’t really care. I’ll be on the cover a few more times. First when I win the whole thing, and when we win the mixed doubles.” He laughed too.

“Okay.” He said. “Then I don’t mind either.”
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Rafa and I spent the day wandering around Paris, being in love, and enjoying our last day together. Now it was time to shower and get ready for the dinner party held for the winners of the French Open. I let Rafa shower first because I would need to be in there for longer, but thankfully, the bathroom had his and hers sinks and mirrors just in case. When Rafa was done, I showered and blow dried my hair. Then I did my make up and put on my dress.

I had a long sleeved coral maxi dress that was fitted down my thighs and began to flare out above my knees. I paired it with some gold dangling earrings, a gold cuff bracelet, and some gold heels. I dried my hair so that it was wavy and had some texture that was different than the usual mass of straight blonde hair that almost touched my waist. It was a wavy mass of blonde hair that almost touched my waist.

I came out of the bathroom and Rafa was sitting on the bed trying put on his cuff links. "You look beautiful." He said as I walked over and buttoned his cuff links. They were the ones l got him for his birthday. He kissed me quickly. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." I said as he took my hand and led me out the door and downstairs to the ballroom. When we got there we were greeted by a sort of red carpet with photographers. I elbowed Rafa and gave him a nervous look. He put his arm behind my waist and led me through he stopped to take pictures alone, then he put his arm around my waist again and made me pose for one with him. When we got inside the ballroom, I glared at him. “You didn't tell me I had to take pictures." He rolled his eyes.

"You only had to take one!" He exclaimed while poking my side. I squealed. Then he wrapped his arms around me, and kissed my forehead.

When we found our table we sat down. The other name cards at our table were for Uncle Toni, Serena Williams, and Patrick Mouratoglou. I sat down next to Rafa for a few seconds, but soon he stood up to introduce me to all of his friends.

We walked to where everyone was mingling and he introduce to me to tons of people, retired players, sportscasters, and various coaches. I got to talk to Chris Evert, who I had known as a child from training at her boarding school's summer program.

I was standing with Rafa during a brief moment to ourselves, when I heard a familiar sounding voice. "Hey table mate." Said someone behind us. I turned to see who it was. Serena Williams was standing right in front of me. I did a quick double take and my heart began beating faster.

"Hi." Said Rafa. I just stared at her. Her pretty purple flowing dress and her gorgeous and natural looking hair and makeup. I couldn't believe that I was standing in front of my childhood idol, the woman I considered the greatest female athlete of all time. She was younger than I am now when she won her first grand slam.

“And who’s this?” She asked looking at me. I couldn’t speak yet. I was still too overwhelmed.

“This is my girlfriend, Emelie.” I smiled and took a deep breath.

“Its nice to meet you.” I said. She nodded.

“Yeah. Same.” She said. “Didn’t I see you on court with another player?”

“Yes.” I said, much calmer now. “I came here to be Maria Kirilenko’s hitting partner. I met Rafa here.” Serena cracked a smile.

“Thats a cool story.” She said. “Are you going to be with her all year?”

“Hopefully.” I answered. “Maybe longer.”

“No.” Said Rafa. “You’ll be playing next year.” I smiled.

“Well then I hope I see you playing here next year.” She said.

“I think people are starting to sit down.” Said Rafa. So he lead me to our table and we sat down.

The rest of the dinner went by in a flash. The food was good and the speakers were good as well. When the dinner was finally over, Rafa took me back upstairs. He immediately sat down and took off his shoes, tie, jacket, belt, and pants, before I could even get my earrings off. When I finished with my jewelry, I walked over to Rafa. “Can you unzip me?” I asked. I lifted up my hair and turned around as he nodded.

He unzipped my dress slowly, and when he was done, I felt his hands on my hips, then they moved up my back, finally reaching the bare part of my lower back. He reached his hands in where he had just unzipped. I felt them move up and down my sides from my hips to my chest. His hands came out of my dress and I quickly slipped my arms out of the dress, and turned towards him. I put my hands on my chest and kissed him. Next thing I knew, his shirt was off as well as my dress, and I was being pushed onto our bed. I ran my hands through his hair, and down his back. Rafa was gentle and passionate. He always made me feel like a princess, his princess.

Tonight I let go of absolutely everything. I didn’t think about leaving. I didn’t worry about what things were going to be like after tomorrow. I didn’t even think about the fact that I hadn’t even packed to leave yet. I lived completely in the moment, and it was magical.