The Things That You Do

25: Something Like That

Tossing his bag down onto the floor of his hotel bedroom, Lionel quickly padded towards the bed, his ears filled with the sound of his phone vibrating in his pocket. He knew who the call would be from, with Argentina having won their first group match a couple of hours previous, he knew that the phone call was more than likely to be from Alexa, wanting to offer him her congratulations, and a part of him was excited to answer it, something which had caused a fond smile to appear at the corner of his mouth. It was still a little strange between them, despite their frequent phone calls and video chats, their conversations still seemed a little disjointed and uncomfortable, but they were getting better, something which pleased him.

Shrugging out of his jacket, he placed it down onto the dresser before he sat down on the bed, quickly pulling his phone against his ear. “What took you so long?” he quipped teasingly as he shuffled up the bed, resting comfortably against the headboard.

Alexa scoffed playfully. “Were you waiting on my call?” she poked.

Lionel shrugged. “Perhaps” he quipped “I mean, you texted me this morning to tell me that you were going to be watching and so I figured that you’d probably call. I wasn’t wrong” he pointed out.

Alexa let out a small laugh. “I did watch the game” she mused “I thought you played very well” she added, her voice softening a little.

Lionel smiled a little at her compliment. “Gracias” he mused “But you know that you don’t have to watch them, right?” he posed.

“I do” Alexa confirmed in tone which convinced Lionel that she was shyly messing with her hair on the other end of the line. “But Poppy was pretty insistent. She showed up about half an hour before kick off with a pizza and a bottle of wine and insisted that we watch. I don’t mind watching them, even if you’re not quite Spain” she added.

Lionel breathed out a soft laugh before he shook his head, allowing a silence to lapse over the two of them for a couple of seconds before Alexa cleared her throat. “I spoke to my mother about you” she noted.

“You did?” Lionel posed “Should I be worried?” he added, his voice caught between teasing and curious. He wasn’t surprised, when Alexa had mentioned a few days previous that she was going to spend time with her mother and brother, he had been almost certain that the topic of their relationship would arise in conversation, but he was curious as to what she had said about them, even if he was convinced that she would have opted against saying too much. He was curious how she had defined their relationship.

“I didn’t say too much” Alexa mused after a moment of quiet “I mean, there’s not really a lot to say, but I told her that we’d been out once and that we’d had a good time, and she seemed pretty excited for us” she added, her voice soft and bashful.

Lionel smiled a little at the shyness in her voice, allowing a silence to hang over them momentarily, before he shook his head, pushing a hand back through his hair. “You know” he noted “I am kind of looking forwards to getting home. I’m excited about the two of us having that second date you promised me” he mused, his voice warm and teasing.

Alexa let out a small noise, something which made Lionel’s smile widen, almost certain that she was blushing. “You’re really looking forwards to that?” she posed.

“Of course I am” Lionel insisted warmly.

Alexa was quiet for a moment before she let out a small breathy laugh, something which made his smile widen a little more before the sound of a tap at his door reached his ears, causing him to look up, his dark eyes settling on Sergio Aguero who stood in the doorway. Offering Alexa a quick apology, he pulled the phone away from his ear, he offered Sergio a frown. “You need something?” he asked.

“Coach has called a meeting” Sergio noted.

Lionel let out a small sigh, biting back the groan which itched to fall out of his mouth, before he nodded his head. “I’ll be with you in a second” he noted.

Sergio offered him a small nod before he stepped out of the doorway, allowing Lionel to press the phone against his ear once more. “I’m sorry about that” he noted.

“It’s fine” Alexa replied “I know that you’re probably busy. I should let you go” she added.

Lionel let out another soft sigh before he nodded. “I do need to go” he noted “I don’t want to, but my coach has called a meeting and I can’t skip it” he insisted. It wasn’t what he wanted, if he had had his way, he would have spent a lot longer talking to Alexa, but he knew that he couldn’t skip the meeting, even if he was tempted to, he knew that his absence would be easily spotted.

Alexa let out a small laugh. “You don’t have to apologize” she quipped “I mean, I doubt it will be too long before one of us calls the other again. I am sure I can cope with you cutting this conversation short” she insisted warmly. She was a little disappointed, a part of her had been hoping to speak to him for a little longer, but she didn’t mind him cutting the conversation short. She was sure that it wouldn’t be too long before they found themselves on the phone to each other again.

Lionel shook his head. “I’m still sorry” he noted.

“Don’t be” Alexa countered “I’ll speak to you soon, Leo. Buenos noches” she enthused warmly before she hung up the phone.

Lionel smiled a little at the warmth in her voice before he pulled the phone away from his ear, moving to stow it in his pocket as he pushed himself up to his feet, padding out of the bedroom into the hallway of his hotel room. Sergio, who was pulling on a pair of shoes, looked up at the sound of his footsteps before he shook his head, offering Lionel a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry for disrupting your phone call” he noted “Your girlfriend?” he posed.

Lionel, who’d moved to pull on his own shoes, stilled a little at the word ‘girlfriend’ before he quirked a boyish smile. “Something like that” he quipped impishly before he pulled the door open, padding out into the corridor.

He knew that it was too early, with him and Alexa having only been out on one date, it was far too soon for him to start thinking of her as his girlfriend, but he had to admit that he liked the sound of it. He wanted to be careful, with Alexa having had feelings for him for a long time, the last thing he wanted was to try and force things between them only to realize that he didn’t quite feel the same way about her, but he liked the idea of her being his girlfriend, even if he did want to take his time. He liked the idea of the two of them reaching that point in their relationship.
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Thanks mslou1 and FootieJo for the comments :)