Half a Heart

-Maria:
I laughed loudly as Leo told me about all times with his friends. We've been talking for what feels like forever, and he's been telling me everything about himself. Every since I put my hand on his, he hasn't let go, and our hands have been entwined together with him tightening his grip now and then.

"So Maria, you know everything about me, tell me more about YOU hermosa?" he asked, his beautiful eyes shining at me. I blushed as he called me beautiful for the millionth time today and smiled.

"What exactly do you want to know?" I asked, suddenly feeling shy again. He grinned and stroked my cheek.

"I want to know everything about you, but start with your favorite color?" he asked, knowing that I needed some help from him. He smiled at me, encouraging me to answer.

"Well I don't really have a favorite color, I love all colors and it usually depends on my mood." I answered and he smiled.

"What color suits your mood today then?" he asked, keeping up the conversation.

"Well today I feel like red best describes my mood, even if I'm not sporting any red on today." I giggled and looked at him. He grinned widely again and made my heart melt.

"Tell me about school?" he asked curiously, brushing a piece of hair out of my face. I closed my eyes and secretly enjoyed his hands on my face, even though it was brief.

"Well, I go to a high school in Stockholm, I'm reading the social science program, and I think I'm going for political science and human rights after graduation." I said looking at him, for some reason it felt important for him to approve of me, as if I was afraid that he wouldn't like me.

"That's amazing amor, it suits your character you know, your friend was right, you are the most selfless person I've ever met." he said and my eyes widened and blushed at the nickname, butterflies going crazy in my stomach.

"It's just I feel like I have to give back, I've been blessed with life and a good life, granted my family's not the best, but I still feel guilty every time I see children and women starving and suffering from diseases, when I'm over here being perfectly fine." I told him, this was another thing that I'd never told anyone, I seem to be breaking a lot of firsts with Leo, and I couldn't be more happy about it.

"Wow, you never fail to amaze me amor, you'll be a great at what you want to do because your corazón is at the right place, what you said was simply beautiful." he answered awed, and I smiled feeling giddy and a bit dizzy at the nickname again. We continued talking a bit more and I loved every second of it.
It was about an hour left until the game started, and we decided to leave so he could make it to the game and I make it back to Anna so we could go watch the game.

"I'm very happy that I met you Leo, and I don't regret anything." I said softly and kissed his cheek. Suddenly he smiled brightly and picked me up, twirling me around.

"I'm incredibly happy that I met you as well preciosa, and I cannot wait to see more of you, you mean very much to me amor." he said and I melted at his words. I pressed my forehead against his and looked into his eyes.

"See you at the game Leo, and good luck!" I said and pecked his lips lightly blushing crimson. He let go of me reluctantly and I slowly started to move away.

"Amor?" he called suddenly and I turned around smiling

"Yes?" I said walking back up to him.

"Wear my jersey?" he said sincerely and pulled a spare jersey out of his bag, I smiled at him widely and nodded. A child like smile spread across his face and he grabbed my face before pecking my lips and then turning to leave. I stood there for a while, holding a finger to my lips and smiling like a crazy woman. Eventually I walked away and left to get ready for the game.

As soon as I opened the hotel door, Anna squealed and pulled me in for a hug.

"Tell. Me. Everything!" she practically yelled and sat me down next to her. I smiled goofily and told her everything and how I felt. She hugged me tight and I smiled at her.

"I'm glad you followed your heart and made the right decision midget, he is something special that you really should be careful of, he might have changed your life forever." she said and I nodded. Now that I allowed him in my life, there was no way I was letting go, even though it would be difficult, and we technically haven't said anything about what we are yet.

We got ready for the game and I wore Leo's jersey proudly with some ripped black jeans and decided to add red lipstick and blue eyeshadow to represent the team. Anna smiled at my eagerness and we were off to the game, both smiling like idiots.

At the game we sat down and I enjoyed the atmosphere yet again. This was truly an amazing place to be, and specially now that I have figured it out with Leo. I couldn't wait to see him play again, and this time be genuinely happy about it.

The game started and my eyes immediately searched around the pitch looking for Leo. When I spotted him, I smiled brightly and cheered loudly. I continued like this until Leo scored once more and I squealed and cheered for him. Suddenly he turned towards me and smiled brightly when he noticed I was wearing his jersey and cheering him on. I winked at him and turned my attention elsewhere for a minute, so no one would find out. The last thing we needed was the press having a field day.

After the game, that they won, I waited a bit with Anna so the crowd would disappear, admiring the stadium for the last time. Unfortunately my days in Barcelona was soon to be over, we were leaving late tomorrow night. I sighed when I thought about leaving Leo and wondered how he would react.

As we were about to walk out, someone grabbed my hand from the back and turned me around. In front of me was a sweaty, grinning Leo. I smiled at him and hugged him tightly, even though he was completely drenched.

"I had to see you one more time tonight amor." he said and buried his face in my hair and wrapped his arms around me tight.

"I'm glad you came Leo." I said, relaxing in his arms and holding him tighter. Suddenly I looked up at him and into his eyes, I closed my eyes and gently pressed my lips against his. This time it wasn't forced and it felt right. He stiffened for a second, before smiling into the kiss and kissing me back passionately.
As cheesy as it sounds, it felt like time and place had frozen as our lips moved against each other. He ran a hand through my hair and deepened the kiss, sweeping me off my feet. After kissing for what felt like a lifetime, we gently pulled away to catch our breaths.

"I need to know something amor, I know that we've been going backwards but this feels so incredibly right, so even though it's so soon and we probably need more time, will you be mine?" he asked me and I smiled brightly.

"Yes, but only if you'll be mine!" I said jokingly, kissing him lightly on the lips. He grinned and kissed me again, this time spinning me around.

"Ok hombre you need a shower." I said poking his chest and he laughed loudly before nodding and letting me go, but not before kissing me again. I blushed, I really couldn't get enough of those kisses of his.

I looked around and saw that Anna had left us alone, she probably felt a bit awkward standing there, and i felt a bit bad. As happy as I was, I knew I had to tell Leo that I was leaving tomorrow, the sooner he got to know, the sooner we could tackle this. I'm ready to tackle long distance, but is he? I wondered to myself as I walked back to the hotel.