When Does the Pretending End?

Cristiano’s Pov

Hey where did you go last night” Elma asks as I walk into the kitchen after training. “Out” I say. “When the cat is away, Cristiano will play” Hugo laughs from the table. “Shut up Hugo. You better not have done anything stupid, Cristiano” Elma says.

“Let him alone. If his bird doesn’t want him. He might as well find someone who does. Well until they realize how selfish he is” Hugo says.

“I was with Lucy” I say to Elma. I ignore Hugo. I’m not in the mood for dealing with him today.

“Good” Elma says. “Jezz running after her. Wimp” Hugo says. “More like he wanted to spend time with her. Alone” Elma says. “I’m going to get ready for the train” I say and head upstairs. The last thing I wanted to do was spend a couple of hours on a train with the rest of the lads on our way to London for tomorrow’s game.

“So what happened?” Nuno asks closing the door after him. I lay on my back on the bed. “You were right. It was a bad idea to go to her office yesterday” I say. “I’m going to skip the I told you since you seem so down” he says.

“She is 100% angry with me. And the most annoying thing is she’s angrier with herself” I say. “Why?” he asks confused. He wasn’t the only one.” It’s a long story” I
say.

My phone rings. “Guess what’s sitting on my desk” Lucy says when I answer. “Well hello to you too” I say. Why do I have a feeling this isn't going to be good.

“Do you honestly think you can buy me off with a dress” she says. “What are you talking about?” I ask. “I’m talking about the dress that is currently laying on my desk” she says.

"Shit" I say. How could I forget about the dress. “I forgot about it” I say. “What do you mean?” she asks.

“I ordered it on Tuesday. I forgot I asked for it to be sent today” I say “But how?” she asks. “I saw you looking at it in a magazine last week. I thought. I don’t know what I thought” I say.

I thought she deserved a treat. I knew she was feeling bad after the what Rio said about the blonde at the dinner. And she was going to have to deal with Hugo. I forgot to cancel the delivery. And after yesterday she has every right to think I was trying to buy her off.

“Cris” she says. “Ya” I say. “Thank you for the dress. It’s gorgeous” she says. “Your welcome” I say. Wow she likes it. “Are you still angry?” I ask. “More like mad” she says.

Well that went better then I thought. I’ll take mad over angry any day.

"Everything ok?" Nuno asks. I nod. "First a necklace now a dress. When did you start buying things for your girlfriends" he asks.

Well normally they use my credit cards to buy themselves stuff.

“So do you guys reckon we should be worried about the girls and tonight” Wes asks sitting opposite Wazza and I on the train later on in the day. “What about the girls?” I ask Wazza. “Coleen organized a girls night out tonight. Didn’t Lucy tell you?” he asks.

“I haven’t spoken to her since lunch” I say looking out the window. “Wait Lucy is going tonight” I ask. Wayne laughs. “Ya. Coleen said she was. I think it’s the main reason Coleen wanted to have the night out. They all really liked Lucy” he says.

“Ya your in trouble now Ronnie lad” Wes says. “You just have to realise you are going to have to learn to share Lucy with the women now. Welcome to the club” Wayne says. “You can’t keep her all to yourself anymore” Wes says.

Just what I needed. Just when I thought Lucy might calm down. This happens. She wasn’t happy about going to the dinner last week. She’s hardly going to like this I think. I rummage through my pockets for my phone.

“You can’t be angry with someone for someone else’s fault” I text her.

A minute of two later, my phone beeps. “Can you translate that for me please or ask the doctor to look at your head cos I didn’t understand any of that” she replies.

I excuse myself from the guys and walk through the train. “Hello” she says when she answers my call. “Hey” I say. “What was that text about?” she asks. “Wayne told me Coleen asked you to go out with her and the others tonight. I didn’t know I swear” I say.

“It’s fine. I’m actually looking forward to it” she says. “Wait, what? I say. I wasn’t expecting her to say that. She laughs.

“I know. I don’t get it either. But I could use a night out. Plus the girls are really nice” she says.

“I thought you didn’t want to spend time with my friends” I say. “Your teammates. Well maybe one in particular" she says. "Oh" I say. "Well Elena made me realise that I needed a bit of fun so I'm going to have some tonight" she says.

"Good you need to have fun" I say. "More like relax and cool down" she laughs. I'm glad she is laughing again. "Did you hear anything about Tina today" I ask. "You remembered" she says. "Ya" I whisper. "Her day went really well. But it's early day so i'm not getting my hopes up. But her Dad sounded really happy with her so I guess that's another reason I'm sort off happy" she says.

"I'm glad" I say. "Right have a safe journey and get back to your teammates. I'm trying to get ready. Coleen should be here really soon" she says. "How ready are you?" I ask. "Nearly" she says and I could tell she was smiling.

"Nearly like before we went to dinner with the others last week or nearly like you were before you went out with Josh last week" I ask. Trying not to think of her in my closet that night running around in her underwear.

She laughs. "Well I have a lovely new dress that needs to be worn. Bye" she says.

"Everything ok" Wayne asks when I sit back down next to him. "Why are women so complicated?" I ask. "Because they can" Rio says and the lads laugh.

"They best ones always are" Wayne says. "You might be right" I say.