We Took the Fall

47: He Could Be

Pulling her hair into a loose ponytail, Catalina padded into the kitchen, her blue eyes lighting up slightly as she spotted Fernando sat at the table, the newspaper sat in his hands. It had been a few days, Fernando had been a little quiet since he had accidently proposed, but it was nothing less than Catalina had expected. It had been a big deal, his proposing to her, and it was going to take a little getting over, even if she had assured him that there was nothing to be sorry for, it was going to stick with him for a little while. Smiling, she bounced into the room and padded over towards the table, sitting on the edge of it and just within his line of sight.

“What are you reading?” she posed.

“The paper” Fernando replied, not shifting his eyes away from the printed pages.

“Is it interesting?” Catalina posed, tilting her head.

“As interesting as it ever is” he replied before he lifted his head, his eyes peering up at her “You’re in a strangely good mood this morning” he noted.

“Can’t I just be happy to see you?” Catalina replied.

“You could be, but we’ve been back together for a while now and you’ve given me that look once, the first morning we were in Italy” Fernando pointed out.

“That was a good morning” Catalina smiled fondly.

“It was” he agreed gently “But I am a little curious as to why you’re making the googly eyes at me right now. Don’t you have a meeting with Esther in an hour or so?” he posed, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. He was grateful to her, ever since his little outburst, Catalina had been wonderful, and he was thankful. It would have been easy for her to freak out, to yell and scream that he was putting too much pressure on her too soon, but he was pleased that she hadn’t. The last thing he wanted was to fight with her over where they were going.

“She can wait” Catalina shrugged, gently pushing herself off of the table and pulling his hand “I kind of woke up this morning with a want for a certain striker” she mumbled, pulling him to his feet.

“You’re serious right now?” Fernando chuckled, following her movements swiftly.

“No, I thought I would lead you on” Catalina replied sarcastically.

Fernando laughed gently before he took a couple of long strides, catching up with her easily so that he could scoop her up into his arms. Catalina let out a small yelp as he lifted her up, her little hands lightly slapping his back. “I was supposed to be seducing you” she complained.

“Well, consider yourself successful, I am pretty seduced” he quipped, carrying her towards their bedroom.

Catalina giggled. She doubted she had been happier in a long while.

~#~
“At last” Esther huffed. It was mid-morning and with only a couple of weeks before the new school year started, Esther wanted to make a start on her wedding plans. Between her and Alex, they had decided that they wanted to get married on January 1st and that meant there was a lot to plan in a little period of time.

“I’m sorry” Catalina mused, brushing her fingers through her blonde hair.

“Where’ve you been?” Esther pressed.

“I overslept” Catalina replied.

Esther snorted. “That mark on your neck says otherwise” she noted, her hand gesturing to the small red mark which was just visible beneath the shoulder of her hoodie. Catalina blushed a little, but made no attempt to defend herself. There was no sense in denying what was quite evidently true. Esther shook her head. “You couldn’t have waited?” she teased.

“I wasn’t particularly keen to” Catalina smiled “It’s been a strange couple of days and I wanted to make sure he knew that we’re perfectly OK” she explained.

“Why has it been a weird few days?” Esther posed, leading her friend into the small café where she had set up base. She wanted to run through a few preliminary ideas before she suggested them to Alex and to the wedding planner that he’d insisted they hire.

“That’s a story for a later date” Catalina replied.

“That’s not fair” Esther protested “You can’t hang something like that out there and expect me not to ask” she added.

“You can ask” Catalina shrugged, sitting at the table “But I am not going to tell you” she added.

“You’re a mean woman” Esther pouted.

Catalina giggled. “Didn’t you want to talk about the wedding?” she posed, shaking her head a little at her best friend.

“I did. I have a couple of ideas that I wanted to run past you, but first, would you be bringing blondie?” Esther posed.

“If we’re still together, then yes, I would be. Why?” Catalina posed.

“Because Jonathan has a problem with it. I told him that I wasn’t going to tell you not to bring him, I also said that I would probably want him there, but he wasn’t happy about it. Have you told blondie about him yet?” Esther posed softly.

Catalina shook her head. “No” she noted “I don’t want him freaking out. Do you think Jonathan could be a problem?” she posed, nibbling on her lip slightly. She knew that it was wrong, she should have told Fernando that Jonathan was going to appear on the scene once more, but she hadn’t found the need to. As soon as she mentioned the name Jonathan, Fernando was likely to revert to the jealous version of himself that had appeared in response to the other man’s presence and that wasn’t something that Catalina wanted. She liked the version of Fernando that she had and she didn’t want to ruin it by bringing up her ex.

“I don’t know” Esther replied honestly “The way he was talking, he could be” she added, offering Catalina a sympathetic look.

Catalina sighed. “I will talk to Nando” she mused gently “But I would want him to come to the wedding with me, providing that we’re together of course. I hope that isn’t going to be an issue” she added.

Esther smiled. “I will have Alex talk to Jon. If I am getting married, I want you there and if you want blondie there, I want him there too” she grinned.

“That’ll mean a lot to him” Catalina mused.

“He’s a nice guy and he makes you incredibly happy” Esther quipped.

Catalina nodded. “He does” she enthused.

Esther watched her friend’s face light up and shook her head. “I highly doubt that you and Fernando are going to be slow in following us up the aisle” she mused.

Catalina smiled. “You used his name” she giggled.

Esther nodded his head. The smile on Catalina’s face meant that Fernando had earned it.
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Thanks to FootieJo and Jayme112234 for the comments :)