Half a Heart

-Maria:
I woke up groaning as Anna was speaking with someone loudly over the phone. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. I barely slept anything that night, thinking about what happened.

"I think you need to let her decide herself, she's probably the most selfless person I've ever met in my entire life, and this time I told her to think of herself for one time and so I think you need to give her some time, she freaked out when she found out who you are last night." Anna murmured into the phone and my eyes widened as I realized who she was talking to. I sat next to her and decided to listen.

"I know you care about her, and I think she does care about you too, but the way you approached her obviously scared her, she's never been flirted with or kissed or been with anyone ever before, so she's terrified, please try to understand." Anna continued, sighing and looking over at me.

"Look, I'll try to talk to her and see what she says, and I'll let her decide then I'll call you back and tell you." she finally said and hung up the phone. I looked at her, frowning a bit but feeling giddy inside.

"You called him?!" I almost shouted, my voice still laced with sleep. She shook her head and stared at me.

"Yes I did, only because I wanted to hear what he had to say about what happened, so I could help you!" she said, looking at me pleading with her eyes.

"What did he say?" I croaked and looked away, playing with the hem of my shirt.

"He wants to see you, just have coffee or something so he can talk to you, he only wants to talk Maria." she said softly, looking at me.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked softly, my eyes filling with tears, I was tired of thinking about this.

"I think you should give him a chance Maria, even if you don't want to pursue anything with him, just let him talk and listen." she said softly rubbing my head. I thought about it for a minute, he deserved to explain and besides, it's just a conversation, it doesn't mean anything.

"Ok I'll let him talk, but let me call him, I don't want you to be in between all this." I said mustering up some courage as I went to grab the phone, and she just smiled at me and sat next to me for support.
I dialed the number and held my breath as it began ringing, waiting for him to answer.

"Hola?" he answered and suddenly mi lips were dry, I couldn't say anything. I spent a while silent, but to my surprise he didn't hang up. It's now or never I thought as I took a deep breath and Anna squeezed my hand.

"Hi, umm you just spoke with my friend, Anna, and I just wanted to say that we need to talk, meet me at the same café in an hour?" I said, feeling a bit nervous. I heard him sigh at the other end, and for a minute he didn't answer and I considered hanging up, but then he cleared his throat.

"Yes, I'm very glad that you called, I'll meet you there then, and thank you." he said and I visibly relaxed.

"Ok I'll see you there, bye." I said and hung up before he could reply.

"I'm proud of you!" Anna said and hugged me tight, I hugged her back feeling nervous already. I gout up to get ready, I didn't want to look like a walking zombie in front of Lionel Messi. After taking a shower, I braided my hair and put on some makeup. I ended up choosing a simple black t-shirt and some blue jeans with converse, I did want to look ok, but not impress him. No, today was all about talking, not flirting. Besides, the last time I wore a dress around him, he couldn't keep his hands to himself, and I wasn't going through that again.

"I'll leave now and be back soon so we'll make it to the game." I said and Anna nodded and wished me luck. I left the hotel and with each step I took, I felt more and more nervous. I took deep breaths as I neared the café, everything was going to be ok.

At the café I looked around until someone cleared their throat from behind me, and I turned around to see Lionel smiling at me shyly.

"Hola." he said, looking anywhere but in my eyes, and I nodded.

"So, we should sit somewhere." I said and he nodded eagerly, I noticed that he was decked in match clothes, I guess he was heading straight to the stadium after this.

"Can you tell me you're name please?" he asked as soon as we sat down and placed our order. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Maria." I said simply, looking away.

"Te queda bien, hermosa Maria" he said and smiled at me shyly again. I sighed loudly.

"Look, I know enough spanish to understand what you just said, and please cut the crap, we're supposed to be talking, not flirting!" I spat, glaring at him. He looked down and didn't say anything. We sat there silent for a while as our coffees came. I sipped on my coffee, calming down.

"Lo siento, but you have to understand how confused I feel when I'm around you." I said softly blushing, he looked up and smiled a little bit. I couldn't believe that I let that slip.

"It's ok Maria, I feel just the same, one minute I feel crazy about you and the next utterly confused." he said looking into my eyes.

"Can't we just start over?" I asked shyly, looking at him fully for the first time without looking away and a smile spread across his face making me blush again.

"I'd like that." he said simply. I nodded and took a deep breath.

"So I'm Maria Tabrizian." I said reaching out my hand for him to shake. He laughed a little and met my hand.

"It's nice to meet you Maria, I'm Lionel Messi." he said as he shook my hand. I smiled and leaned back, sipping some more of my coffee.

"How old are you Maria?" Lionel asked curiously. I smiled and sighed.

"Just turned 18 yesterday Lionel, what about you?" I said looking at him, he didn't look that old to me, so naturally I was curious, besides this was the best opportunity to ask.

"About to turn 26, and happy belated birthday Maria" he said and I paled. I had reckoned he was older than me, but eight years? I know love knows no age and all that, but is eight years to much?

"Don't disappear on me again Maria, please, I know the age difference is shocking for you, it is for me as well, but please don't go away again." he whispered reaching across the table, softly stroking my hand, as if he was afraid to touch me.

"It's ok, I won't run away again I promise, it's just a lot to take in." I breathed out giving him a weak smile, assuring him that it was ok.

"Good, because I honestly don't know what I would do if you decided to run away again." he said softly looking down. I suddenly realized how much I'd probably hurt him by treating him the way I have. I looked at him and slowly reached across the table and grabbed his hand and stroked it.

"I'm sorry for how I've treated you, I know there's no excuse for it." I said softly making him look up and slowly, put his other hand over mine. He smiled goofily and stroked my hand.

"It's ok, don't worry about it." he assured and I couldn't help but smile back at him, feeling genuinely happy for the first time ever.

"So, have you lived here in Barcelona all your life?" I asked keeping my hand where it was, looking up at him shyly.

"No, I moved here from Rosario in Argentina when I was thirteen years old and joined the club." he said and I smiled.

"What about you, you obviously don't live here in Spain, where do you live?" he asked seeming genuinely curious about me.

"Well I'm born and raised in Sweden so I live there, and I came here for my birthday with my friend." I answered, looking down at our hands. His grip on my hand tightened a little and I smiled, for some reason it didn't feel uncomfortable to speak with him, it felt natural.

"I'm sorry to ask, but you don't really look swedish, where are you from originally?" he asked shyly and I laughed at his shyness around the question.

"It's ok I get asked this all the time, my mom and dad emigrated to Sweden from Iran about 24 years ago, they met in Sweden , got married and had me." I shrugged and glanced at him to see his reaction. He smiled widely.

"So you speak persian?" he asked smiling and I nodded.

"Are your parents still together?" he asked eager to get to know me. I sighed and looked down, that question always triggered something inside me.

"Hey are you ok?" he asked me, pulling my chin up making me look into his eyes. I closed my eyes and gulped.

"When I was three my dad was diagnosed with cancer, they were together for a long time but then they divorced because my dad changed because of the cancer, my mom remarried and my dad died two years ago." I answered holding back tears. It was always difficult to speak about my dad with someone, he meant a lot to me.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly bringing his hand up to stroke my cheek. I leaned in to his hand and closed my eyes.

"It's ok, he's in a better place anyways." I said shrugging and smiling at him. He took his hand away and placed on top of mine again.

"So how did you feel about your madre remarrying?" he asked and I looked away for a second.

"Honestly, at first it was really difficult, but my mom and my family changed after my dad died, now all they care about is me getting straight A's in school, I honestly don't know what I feel about them anymore, I'm tired of always being controlled and isolated from everything and everyone." I answered, a little bit shocked at my own revelation, I had never told anyone about how I felt ever, it just felt natural around Lionel for some reason. There was something about him that I couldn't quite place.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through, if you'd let me I'd try my hardest to make you feel better." he said wiping away a tear that had escaped my eye without me noticing.

"I wish it was that easy Lionel, but it isn't." I said smiling at him sadly.

"Call me Leo, Lionel is such a mouthful don't you think?" he said obviously noticing I wanted to change the subject.

"Ok Leo, now you practically know everything there is to know about me, tell me about you!" I said smiling at him widely.

"Well I know a lot about your family, but not much about YOU, but I'll learn to know that eventually, what do you want to know about me?" he asked and I giggled.

"Everything." I breathed out and he smiled. He told me all about his hormonal disease that he was diagnosed with as a child, his family and his passion for football. With every thing he told me, I found myself wanting to get closer to him, and I smiled at this new feeling. It wasn't appropriate to my life right now at all, but let go, let flow right? And I definitely wanted to let go of all my walls when it came to Leo, I cared about him way too much already, to just forget him.