Through the Dark

We walked back to Leo’s house in silence, him keeping a protective arm around me. When we reached the house, he gave me a long, meaningful kiss on the forehead.

“Stay safe, nena. Call me if you need anything, okay?” he smiled at me. I nodded and gave him one more hug before thanking him for the ride and walking in the house.

“Ariana!” I heard him call, turning around I gave him a small look. “You looked gorgeous tonight.”

I blushed and quickly ran inside the house. I discarded my shoes and ran upstairs, checking if Leo and Anto were home yet—which they weren’t.

I smiled, walking back to my room. After changing into my comfortable PJ’s, I logged onto Skype, hoping my best friend Miranda was online.

I smiled when I saw she was online, I quickly clicked call and soon, her face popped up on the screen.

“Hola, chica!” she smiled.

Miranda Spencer was half Spanish and half English. Her mother was Spanish and her father was English, we first met when we were freshman in college. She lived in Manchester at that time, fully moving to London when she enrolled in the college.

We first met when I heard her speaking rapid Spanish to her phone, and I knew I had to get to know her since she was one of the only students there that spoke my language.

She was gorgeous with a petite figure, wavy light brown hair, warm brown eyes and a stunning smile.

We got really close and soon enough, we were best friends.

She’s lived in England her whole life, but she visits Spain at any chance she gets with her elder brother, Rafael and her younger sister, Alyssa. She was actually going to visit Barcelona in a few days since she had an internship at a fashion magazine.

“Hola! I have so much to tell you, Miranda!” I grinned. “Si, si. Tell me everything! How’s Barcelona?” she grinned, I giggled and started telling her everything. From reuniting with my brother’s teammates to playing at Camp Nou, to meeting Pep Guardiola, to getting into Femenì and finally to meeting Lucas at the club.

“That bastard! I’m going to kill him the next time I see him.” Miranda snarled, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, but the pros of him coming was that Gerard Pique spent the whole night trying to cheer me up.” I grinned.

Miranda’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she leaned forward, gasping. “No way! Tell me everything. Did you guys kiss?”

Miranda was one of the few people who knew about my celebrity crush on Gerard Pique that eventually turned out to become a real life crush.

I told her all about our ‘eventful’ night and how we took a walk on the beach together.

“Chica, I’m so excited to be going to Barcelona. Are there any cute guys around?” she giggled.

Then, it seemed like a light bulb appeared on the top of my head. I started imagining the two of them together and I grinned.

“There is one…” I winked, “Google Ibrahim Afellay, now.”

She rolled her eyes at my bossy attitude and pulled up her phone and searched for Ibrahim.

“HOLY SHIT!” Miranda yelled, “He’s so cute!”

I grinned, “Yeah, when you come here I’m going to introduce you to him.” I winked at her. “But, what if he has a girlfriend? People get those you know.”

I chuckled, “Not him. We’ve been talking and he told me he’s single and ready to mingle.”

After we talked for another half an hour or so, she had to go and sleep since she had to wake up early the next day.

I laid down on my bed and texted Leo, asking him where he was. When he didn’t reply, I let him enjoy the night with Anto. I smiled and turned the other way.

I was so confused.

Did Gerard like me? Did he return the feelings I had for him? I needed to know. Badly.

But in the meantime, I just closed my eyes and fell asleep.