Keep Cool, Stay Tough

“I could slap you so hard right now!”

“What, are you serious? Why, what did I manage to do to you?” I demanded, unsure of whether a week’s worth of missed calls and unanswered texts was a legit reason to get slapped over.

Mina had a hand to her hip as and a scowl on her lips, “Were you ever planning on telling me at any point that your mystery guy is Cris?”

“What?” I felt like someone just ripped the ground out from under me.

“What?” She gruffly mimicked my surprised tone and dumbfounded expression, “Don’t act dumb, it doesn’t suit you.”

I stared, unmoving, and fully aware that my mouth remained wide open from the shock of her question as she continued to glare at me.

“Cristiano showed up in Barcelona not even an hour after you left us on Sunday night. He didn’t tell you? You know what, I don’t care if he doesn’t want you to know, I’m telling you now,” Mina continued to glower as her voice swelled with anger.

“What?” My brain felt like it had stopped working. It just could not compute what Mina was trying to convince me of.

“He chartered a private fucking jet immediately after the Celta Vigo game and flew to Barcelona specifically to see you and your father, Senna, to make sure that you were holding up okay, because apparently you couldn’t be bothered with answering any of his calls either,” She was pointing at me accusingly as she delved into more details that I could not bring myself to entertain as reality.

I wanted to ask ‘what’ again, but I was convinced that if I did, Mina would most certainly slap me. I had never seen her in such a fit of fury before in my life. She was actually kind of terrifying and vaguely reminiscent of her mother.

“I get it, Senna, believe me I do, we lied to you. And it doesn’t matter on whose say so we did it, my mom and I lied when we should not have.”

I didn’t know whether I could trust the sudden lull in her temper to speak, so I decided to keep quiet and see where she was taking the conversation.

“But what did Cristiano do except try to be there for you? Even in all that chaos from the press about the quarterfinal against Atheltico and the draw against Juventus, he still tried to make time for you, and you just couldn’t be bothered,” Mina’s voice was raised and her palm looked as if it was itching to make contact with my cheek. I was already preemptively flinching.

I knew I couldn’t trust the lull.

“I’ll talk to him,” I eventually mustered as the smartest course of action, hoping it would be enough cool down her temper.

“I really don’t care what you do at this point, but thank you for hearing me out, I know how busy you are with antagonizing the people that care about you.”

The sarcasm didn’t go amiss as she stormed back out.

“So your daughter is really angry with me,” I announced just before I pressed my lips together and took my spot in the front office.

“Yeah, she really is,” Martha agreed.

I looked at her in mild shock, my lips pulled apart with a quiet ‘pop’, “Really? That’s all you have to say?”

“What else do you want me to say?” Martha waved her arm dismissively, “You made her mad, you fix it. I’m not getting involved in your squabbles. I have more than enough on my plate at the moment, thank you very much. Oh and speaking of, take those files I left on your desk to one of the assistant coaches.”

“Brilliant advice, thanks,” I muttered and picked up the small stack of folders on my desk and went back outside.

I found Paul with a clipboard scribbling notes and observing Gareth and James running exercises and handed him the small stack which he gratefully clipped to his board and made sure to tell me to tell Martha how grateful he was.

I smiled, nodded vague hellos to the guys, and went back on my way to the clinic trying to figure out how to prioritize my workload while also wondering how long Mina was going to be able to stay so furious with me. I was so caught up in my thoughts; the shouting of the players practicing on the field next to me didn’t enter into my attention span. Neither did the muffled footsteps following from behind me.

“Hey Senna you’re back! How are you, how’s your dad?” Sergio wrapped me up in a sudden tight hug from behind making me nearly jump out of my skin.

“He’s fine, I’m fine,” I gasped, half laughing, half stammering from the shock of the gesture.
“Are you sure?” Sergio let me go and I turned to face him. This was the most serious I’d ever seen him. It was kind of unsettling.

“Yes,” I assured, hoping to bring a smile back to Sergio’s face.

“Good, because I also wanted to let you know that I’m really mad at you,” Sergio crossed his arms over his chest as my eyes bulged in indignant astonishment.

“You too?!” I exclaimed and actually stomped my foot, “What the hell? What could I possibly have done to you?”

“If you needed a getaway ride last Wednesday, I was available. Why’d you have to disappear into the night with Cristiano? I thought you two hated each other,” Sergio listed his grievances.

“You were a little drunk Sergio,” I reminded; pointedly ignoring the second half of his list.

“We could have called a taxi together,” He retorted.

I knew there was no point in arguing about this, so I conceded defeat with the softest of smiles, “You’re right, Sergio. I’m sorry, next time though; for sure you are my ride.”

“That’s all I ask,” He acquiesced immediately and opened his arms to envelop me in another hug, “I’m relieved your dad’s okay.”

“Me too.”

After Iker yelled at Sergio to stop flirting and to get back to work, I resumed my walk back to my own work space, wishing it was time to leave so I could get home and look over the notes for the classes I had missed.

A soft breeze blew past me, and I paused to enjoy the calming spring weather. I decided after working all morning, and working through my lunch, I deserved a little break. I spotted the table and bench where I had sat and watched Cristiano’s independent free kick session so many weeks ago and walked over to take a seat, wondering where he had been all day, and on a level from Sergio to Mina how angry he was with me.

“You seem better,” Cristiano greeted with the strangest look on his face. He had a ball at his feet that he was absentmindedly dribbling as he walked towards me.

“I was actually just thinking about you,” I smiled and it didn’t feel forced. Maybe I really did feel better.

He pointed towards the building across from us, “Me, Karim, and Marcelo were inside the gym today doing strength exercises – per doctor’s orders.”

“Ah,” I nodded in understanding, only now remembering that Martha had mentioned that to me earlier in the morning. That’s where Mina had been for most of her day as well.

“So my tendon didn’t throb much last night,” He almost smiled in return, pulling me away from my thoughts.

Even now I waited for his usual blank expressions and flat tones to appear, but the way he looked at me went beyond indifferent and into something I couldn’t quite comprehend.

“That’s good.” I didn’t get it quickly enough and by the time I did catch on to what he was referring to, Cristiano was frowning.

“Are you mad?”

I shook my head, contemplative, but honestly I didn’t feel mad, “I’m not mad at all, I’m more curious than anything else honestly. Are you mad?”

He shook his head equally as uncertain in return, “No, I guess I’m just curious too.”

“What are you curious about?”

The strange look didn’t disappear off his face, rather it grew stranger and more perplexed by something I didn’t see or feel as our conversation progressed and picked up its pace, until I simply stopped noticing it.

“About London,” He specified.

“It went,” I answered, mulling over my words before tacking on with a small shrug, “About as well as I could have expected it to, but it went, and it’s over.”

“It’s really over,” I emphasized, and I could feel my eyebrows furrow, almost as if the news surprised me as much as it would him.

He continued to frown.

“So what brought on the hotel rendezvous with Irina?” I asked, ignoring his frown that most likely stemmed from lack of details.

“Ever since the pictures of Gemma and me got published and the rumors started circulating, she’s been calling, and I just decided that maybe I should hear her out,” Cristiano answered, being just as sparing with his details as I was with mine.

I could have sat there and I could have word for word repeated all of the outlandish and crude accusations and insults Irina had thrown around that first night I had seen her at Chloe and Zoe’s house, the night after they had broken up and that would have easily been the end to this new beginning of theirs.

But I am not a vindictive person. I refuse to allow my circumstances to ever make me vicious with my words again.

“And why exactly did you feel the need to lie to me yesterday?” I asked him instead.

“You were going to walk away without hearing me out the minute I told you she was in there, kind of like exactly what you did end up doing.” Cristiano reasoned.

“I’m pleading temporary insanity, Cris,” I half smiled at his immediate confusion, “It’s a real thing I promise, and I honestly wasn’t myself last night. I was running on no sleep and jumping from time zone to time zone.”

“You weren’t thinking clearly, and the first thing you decided to do was come see me,” He spoke slowly, making sure he understood me correctly.

I nodded insistently, “Really, truly, not thinking clearly.”

His expression opened, he laughed, it was loud and it echoed against the building’s walls. I couldn’t pinpoint precisely what he found so amusing, but I didn’t ask. I just wanted the last week behind us both by any means necessary. I needed things back to normal as quickly as possible.

“So next time you decide to bail on a party, I’m not going to be your ride, huh?”

I laughed, “You were listening?”

“Sergio’s not that quiet.”

I lay back on the table tossing the football he had been dribbling from hand to hand, while he sat on the bench with his back to me and just kept going on and on about all the stuff that I had missed while I had been away. He kept glancing behind to check my expression, and his grin grew wider each time he glanced around, and I couldn’t comprehend what he saw that made him abruptly perk up his mood. Whatever it was, I was genuinely grateful for it. I very nearly asked him about his surprise visit to Barcelona, but something kept me back each time. More often than not, I wondered why he wouldn’t bring it up himself.

When I finally announced that I should really get back to the office, Cristiano volunteered to walk with me. I dropped the ball down to his feet and led the way, happy for the company. I also hoped that Mina would see that I had kept to my word and in fact talked to Cristiano, and there were no odd feelings to decipher between us.

“At least this way, you’re technically working,” I pointed out with a brief laugh, while I checked around disappointed that Mina wasn’t a witness to our casual stroll.

“Technically,” He agreed with another booming laugh and gently wacked the back of my thigh with the ball.

I turned around to throw him a dirty look and he gave an innocent shrug, “I’m practicing my aim.”
I rolled my eyes and found myself smiling instead, “Of course you are.”
Neither of us even bothered to worry about what anyone would say if they were to notice us walking together.

Now that things with Cristiano seemed to be panning out, I found it a little easier to stay focused on work, although I was still trying to figure out a way to assuage Mina’s temper towards me, which was proving to be trickier than I thought it could be. Why were girls so much more complicated than guys?

I heard footsteps clambering outside in the hallway accompanied by low, urgent and slightly argumentative voices. I didn’t glance away from my computer. Instead I pulled up the schedule to see who had an afternoon checkup lined up.

“I know something you can do,” A voice proclaimed rather dramatically.

I twisted around and saw Mina flanked by Sergio and Karim standing in front of the clinic’s glass door.

“Yes?” I asked forcing my voice to ring with sugary sweetness.

“Come to Seville,” Sergio beamed with Mina giving one slow, stiff nod beside him and Karim giving an encouraging smile on the other side.