Half a Heart

-Maria:
Leo called as soon as I got to the hotel, asking if I made it there safely. I smiled as I thought about him, I truly was lucky. I spent the entire night worrying about the next day and didn't get that much sleep. So I wasn't that happy when I was awakened by someone sitting on my bed. Now I'm an extremely light sleeper, so a tiny movement can wake me up. Has to do with me stressing all the time I suppose.

I opened my eyes to see Leo sitting at the edge of my bed. I sat up and looked at him, however I didn't like the frown that was on his face.

"What's wrong Leo?" I asked my voice still raspy from sleeping. He looked up at me and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving tonight." he said looking at me seriously, frowning at me a little. I sighed and made my way closer to him and wrapped my arms around him. He leaned into my touch as he waited for me to answer.

"I got caught up with what was happening between us and then the game, I simply forgot Leo, I'm sorry." I whispered, burying my face into his back, inhaling his cologne.

"There's no need to apologize amor, I'm just sad that we don't have that much time left together." he said sadly and turned around so he was facing me.

"So you don't want to try long distance?" I asked sadly and looked away, feeling a little hurt. He turned my face towards his and looked at me.

"Of course I want to try nena, I meant that we have little time to be with each other physically." he said, wrapping his arms around my waist. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Ok, so what do you say to spend today together?" I asked and he immediately smiled and kissed me. I giggled and shook my head at his eagerness.

"I guess that's yes." I laughed and got up to take a shower and change. As I got up Leo followed me.

"What are you doing?" I asked and giggled.

"Following you." he said smirking at me. I blushed and looked down.

"I'm going to take a shower Leo, you can't follow me in there." I said blushing crimson.

"But you said that we'd spend the day together." he said, smirking and pulling me closer. I blushed and pushed him away.

"Only joking amor, I'll never force you into something you're not ready for yet." he said, kissing my cheek. I smiled and went to take a shower.

I got out of the shower, finding Leo laying on the bed, looking through my book. I laughed and plopped down next to him.

"What took you so long amor?" he said turning to face me. I laughed and pushed him playfully.

"I'm a girl, why do you think I took so long?" I said smirking at him and he just rolled his eyes and muttered "women" quietly in spanish. I shifted closer to him and laid my head on his chest.

"I'm going to miss you, you know." he said softly stroking my hair. I sighed and cuddled closer to him.

"I'm going to miss you too." I said and we were both silent after that. Taking in each others company.

"Have you ever dealt with long distance before?" I asked him, looking at the ceiling and listening to his heartbeat.

"No, what about you amor?" he asked and I chuckled.

"No, you're my first everything, I've never even been in a relationship before.!" I confessed laughing lightly, he must think I'm so boring.

"I like that I'm your first, you might think of it as possessive but I like the idea of being the only guy who's ever been with you." he said and I laughed, punching him playfully in the stomach.

"A girl's not a possession hombre." I said firmly, looking up at him. He laughed and nodded. Suddenly I remembered Anna and panicked, where was she?

"Leo, do you know where Anna is?" I said feeling bad, I had been so wrapped up with Leo that I'd forgotten about her.

"Don't worry about it, I came here with Xavi and somehow they'd met before, so he took her out." he said calmly and my eyes widened.

"So he was the guy that told her about the club, she hasn't shut up about him you know." I said smiling at him.

"I know, it's something about us hispanic men, we can't seem to stop attracting female tourists." he winked and I gasped playfully.

"If I recall, you were the one attracted to me, since you saw me and made your creep move at the café with that cap and those ridiculous sun glasses." I said poking his chest. He laughed hard and nodded.

"I guess your the only exception then." he said cheesily and I rolled my eyes. Suddenly he rolled over so we were facing each other and he pressed his forehead against mine.

"Do you think your parents will accept us?" he asked softly, looking at me.

"Honestly, no Leo, I don't think they ever will, there's only one kind of guy they'd possibly see me with and that's a guy from Iran, but that doesn't matter to me Leo, at the moment you matter a lot to me and I won't let you go, unless you don't want this." I said looking at him seriously.

"I want us more than anything, and I won't let them hurt you in anymore, they've done enough already." he said angrily at the thought of my family.

"Leo, unfortunately it doesn't matter how much they've hurt me and will hurt me, they are my family, now my stepfather isn't that important but my mother is, no matter how she's been treating me she's still my mother and I love her, I don't really know why, but I do." I said and he smiled and shook his head.

"You're incredible you know that?, you see beauty in what's ugly and never pay attention to yourself, you amaze me everyday." he said and I blushed.

"Now if my dad was alive, he'd probably love you." I said quietly.

"Why?" he said curiously.

"Because you make me happy, and that's all he ever cared about, my happiness, even in the end." I said, smiling sadly. He just smiled and kissed me. We stayed like that for a long time, until we decided to have some lunch. As we walked out of the hotel room, hand in hand, we saw Anna and Xavi.

"Aww you guys look so adorable together!" Anna said, smiling at me and Leo. I blushed and Leo smiled proudly, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"So, what's up with you and Xavi here?" I asked, smirking and wiggling my eyebrows at her. For the first time ever, Ana blushed, and I laughed.

"Must be something if that's making you blush." I teased and she smacked my shoulder playfully. I could tell that there were something going on between them, although it didn't seem as if they were together just yet, judging by the fact that they kept some distance from each other.

Xavi and Anna joined us, and we all went to a nearby restaurant to have lunch. At the restaurant I sat next to Leo and Anna and Xavi sat in front of us. Leo kissed my cheek as I grabbed the menu and I smiled. I was really going to miss this, I thought and sighed softly.

We ordered food and chattered about life and me and Anna's departure tonight.

"So you're leaving back to cold Stockholm?" Xavi asked, smirking at me and Anna. We laughed loudly, nodding.

"I just hope the snow has melted by now, it would be ridiculous to have snow in april." I said and sipped at my water.

"Yes, it would be terrible to go back to snow, it's supposed to be spring now." Anna agreed, and we sighed at our country.

"They say that the people in Sweden are as cold as the weather, but somehow I don't think that's true with you two, you both have fire within you." Xavi said and Anna blushed. I just laughed.

"Well since I'm not fully swedish, there's bound to be a fire in me considering my family, I'd like to say that we're different." I said, smiling.

"Yeah, the first time I met Maria was last year, and she was probably the most warm, open person I've met in my entire life, she's honestly a big reason for me being warm and passionate, she melted my ice." Anna said and I laughed at her choice of words.

"Well imagine how difficult it was for me, coming from a warm family and from a school that had zero full swedish people, and suddenly entering high school with only swedish students, it was such a cultural shock for me." I said and she nodded.

"I mean it's weird, we're both born in Sweden, but there's still so much differences between us and our friends, I had for instance never even heard of where Maria lives, since it's been classified as a suburban dangerous place, filled with criminals, but when I went there myself it was so different than the rumors." Anna said and I nodded.

"Well unfortunately that sort of class difference exists everywhere." I said and they all nodded.

"You both share this maturity when you speak, you seem beyond your years." Xavi said and Leo nodded, putting his hand on my knee and smiling brightly.

"Well thank you." I said shyly, not really knowing how to respond, hiding behind my hair for a moment. Leo pulled my hair out of my face and leaned close to me, making me blush.

"Never feel the need to hide your beautiful face from me." he whispered in my ear and I blushed hard. I cleared my throat and took another sip from my water.

"So how do you feel about going back to school?" Leo asked, making me and Anna groan. Truth is, I really didn't feel like going back home to study, especially now that mom expected me to "focus" on my studies more.

"It's ok I guess, but not really looking forward to it." I said quietly and Anna nodded. Leo looked at me, knowing that something was wrong, and gave me a look that meant he wanted to know later.

"So you guys obviously did great on the past two games that you had, are you looking forward to the rest of the season?" I asked smiling brightly at Leo and Xavi.

"Well it was amazing having you both there, and I think I speak for both of us when I say that we'll miss you, and yes we're definitely looking forward to it, I'm always excited for football." Leo said and Xavi agreed. We had our lunch, continuing the conversation and then Xavi and Anna left, probably to spend some time together, leaving me and Leo alone.

"I want to hear about why you dread school so much, but right now let's just enjoy our time together, and leave that for later." Leo said and I smiled, relived, I didn't really feel like talking about that right now.

"So, I know about how you feel close to one of your stepbrothers and your little sister, but is there anyone else in your family that you feel close to?" Leo asked as we walked around the area together.

"There's my cousins in Iran that I feel somewhat close to, but I haven't seen them in 6 years, so I don't know if I feel as close to them anymore." I said simply and he nodded.

"How come it's been six years since you visited Iran, doesn't your mother miss her sisters?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She does, and believe it or not I actually do miss some of my family, it's just difficult as a woman to travel to Iran nowadays considering the laws, and we've had some legal issues regarding the custody of me and my sister every since my dad passed away, making us unable to travel." I said and he nodded.

"Do you like it there?" he asked curiously, and I sighed.

"I like to visit family sometimes, but I don't really enjoy having to cover up entirely because some stupid laws, when it's so hot." I said and looked at him.

"Understandable, besides it isn't that safe there right?" he asked again, making me smile at how much he seemed to care about me.

"No it isn't, specially not for women." I said curtly and he nodded.

"Well if you ever plan on going, I'm coming with you, to make sure you get back ok." he said and I giggled at him being protective.

"I can handle myself you know, I'm a big girl." I said and he laughed.

"I know amor, but still I can't help but feel protective over you." he said and I rolled my eyes and kissed him.

"What are we gonna do when I leave?" I asked, deciding to stop avoiding the huge elephant in the room. He sighed and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I don't know yet amor, we'll Skype I guess, and use every opportunity there is to see each other, I can fly over and you can come visit, besides I want you to come to Argentina with me once, I want to introduce you to my family." he said as we reached the hotel. I smiled, family seemed incredibly important to him, I just wish my family could accept him.

"I always wanted to visit Argentina."I said and he smiled brightly.

"Well, we'll make sure to make that happen soon then querida." he said and I smiled. With Leo it really did seem like living a dream. And I was in no way stopping this.