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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


 

CHAPTER 2

 

 

Driving Action-Man to his football match (as in European football) was a task in itself - the boy just wouldn't keep still.

Strapped in his seat, he was describing all the ways he was going to tackle, mark the players, dribble the ball and then pretending to take a shot, he curved his leg before making a fist pump in the air.

“GOAL!”

I jumped in shock as his voice vibrated around the car. Yes it was inspiring to see how much confidence he possessed at such a young age, but there was a very thin line between confidence and downright arrogance.

“Pepito,you need to remember that you have a gift from God and He can take His gift back when and how he pleases.”

That got him – faith, family and football were the most important things to Pepito.

Ten minutes later of silent driving, we finally reached the football field. Parents were already seated on the chairs of the ample sized pitch. With a quick bye to me, Pepito eagerly got out of the car and ran over to his teammates and his coach. His energy had made him the captain of the team, but still it was to no surprise that the coach had had words with his parents concerning him not always following instructions.

Going over to where the seats were, which was on the edge of the freshly cut green grass of the pitch, I unfolded one of the blue plastic chairs and got myself comfortable. The weather was still as hot as ever but there was a light breeze that accompanied it that didn't make it irritatingly hot.

As I sat for over half an hour looking over at Pepito doing his stretches alongside his teammates I was overcome by a great sense of pride as I knew I was watching a star in the making. The dedication in him was like no other for a boy his age. His mother had told me how he'd been scouted out the previous year to join the football academy for under-tens.

'Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best,' his parents had that saying drummed in Pepito's and his sister's head which was clear by the passion they each had in whatever they did. Little Miss Diva, Candela, was a ball of fire once she was in her tutu's and ballet pumps. The kids' parents were very keen on them having a strong work ethic despite them having more than enough disposable income to provide for their children. But often at times I worried that Pepito was a little bit too hard on himself.

¿Cual es tuyo?”

Not expecting the person that sat next to me, I gasped in surprise and twisted my neck so fast that it ended up hurting me. I regretted gasping too because as soon as I had a taste of the air, it made my eyes water. He stunk. I couldn't really pin point what exactly it smelt of, the closest description would be like a mixture of piss and goat cheese

Oh, lo siento, yo no hablo español,” I said keeping a sly distance away and half-registering it was a guy before glancing back to the field where the referee had just blown a whistle to signify the end of training.

“But you speak Spanish now?” he asked confused by my contradicting statement.

It was only after making sure that Pepito was following the referee's instruction that I gave my attention to the guy next to me.

And my oh my was he completely and utterly ruggedly handsome. His off-blonde hair was shaved round the sides and then in the front part he had a top knot and he had green eyes that reminded me of mint leaves.

He looked awesome but he smelt awful...and he was doing some weird shaking with his legs and tapping with his feet- it was a little unnerving.

Before I could allow my staring to go any further, I told him I spoke little Spanish in Spanish and that I could speak English.

“Okay, I say, which one,” he pointed out to the field, “ is for you?”

“Red top, number four,” I said pointing to a Pepito who was putting his captain armband on whilst calling his teammates to gather round for a moment of prayer. “You?”

“Green top, number seven.”

My eyes scouted the boy who fit that description on the field, playing as a defender.

“My name Gabino. You?”

“Luciana.”

The whistle was blown again and the players now gathered around the referee who was initiating the coin toss. I couldn't make out what was being said but the the ball being passed to Pepito spoke louder than words.

When he played I felt like I was playing with him, shouting out to him like it'd make all the difference, so it wouldn't come as a surprise that when the whistle for kick off sounded my nerves were shot. My heart was at a stand still as I watched Pepito make a pass to his teammate.

A few weeks back I had accompanied his father to do his medical and the doctor had said he had a heart like that of a horse. That was no lie. Pepito was a thunderball on the pitch.

Unfortunately within a few minutes the opposition had scored a goal, parents of the opposition clapped and jumped up in celebration including the guy next to me.

When I looked at Pepito there was a sullen look on his face but also determination as he jogged back over to his starting position. I feared that he might have pulled a tantrum - see that was something his parents and coach were still working on with him, as there had been one or two occasions that the opposition scored and he'd had a full-blown tantrum and argued with the referee and everyone knows not to argue with the referee. His passion was evident, but he needed to get it under control. 

His parents and coach had had a serious talk with him last time and said if he behaved that way again they were going to ban him from playing until they saw positive changes in his attitude.

From where I sat I knew the fact that the other team was ahead was eating him alive, but I was glad he could control his temper.

So after fifty minutes, a yellow card and a score of 2:1 in favour of the opposition, it was safe to say that Pepito was in the least bit in a good mood. It would be the second match of the season and his team had lost one, which in Pepito's eyes was unacceptable.

“He very good player.”

I felt really bad saying this but I really wanted to throw up from Gabino's body odour.

“Who?” I asked putting a little distance away subtly as I grabbed my bag to leave.

“Your son?”

“Oh no, I'm his au pair.”

“Oh.”

The grounds where they played football had a one storey building where the changing rooms were. Gabino followed me and as much as I hated how mean I was being, I really didn't want him to get too close to me in fear of others thinking I was the one with the odour, I was already too self-conscious as it was, I didn't need something else to add to it.

Fortunately as I waited for Pepito to get changed, I caught eye contact with the coach and I excused myself from Gabino to have a little word with him. In scrambled English he'd told me how proud he was of Pepito that he'd had stayed focused for the remainder the rest of the game despite them not winning.

Between us and everyone else, Pepito was the coach's favourite, and even though he'd threatened to ban him from further games, he was less convicted than his parents were. Pepito was becoming more and more notorious for his excellent delivery on the pitch and his temper and his parents wanted only his football talent to be the one emphasised.

After the talk with the coach, Pepito walked out of the changing rooms and strolled over to me, with his gym bag off his shoulders. He only gave a half-hearted responses as his teammates said bye to him. Boy, was he one sore loser.

Vamos al parque después de recoger a su hermana,”I said to him as I opened the car door.

I knew he was behind me, before he even spoke. His smell was just overwhelmingly bad, I held my breath as I swivelled round to meet him face to face.

“Oh hey.”

“Ciao, I hear you go park.”

I asked God to forgive me as my initial reaction was to lie, but nobody was perfect and I was far from it. I willed myself not to be like Jacey from high school.

“Yeah, we're going to Buen Retiro, but I'm going to pick up his sister first, so you can just meet us there.”

 

Presenting an old phone, with the green screens, he said, “You put number here and I call you, so you have my number, when you enter park you call me. Okay?”

After swapping phone numbers, he'd introduced me to his rather quiet brother, standing next to him shyly, who was called Manuelo.

I waved bye for the time being and watched as they entered a old silver wagon car. I felt some type of way as I turned seeing the black jeep that I was driving which reminded me of why I had sold Angelo's gift to me.

Entering the car, Pepito was still in a mood and I knew better than to try and entertain him in conversation. Within twenty minutes, we'd reached where Candela held her ballet classes and picked her up.

One thing about Candela was that she could be really mischievous, and she just loved provoking her brother especially when he was in a sulky mood. Even as I placed her in the car seat, she kept on kicking her brother's seat at the front and giggling to herself.

“Candela, stop that right now or as soon as we get home, you're going to bed and I'll tell mummy and daddy.”

At hearing that, she immediately stopped. I never knew that white parents hit their children, until I saw Pepito getting smacked after several times of not listening to his mother. It wasn't like their parents disciplined them whenever they felt like it just when it called for it.

I ended up taking the kids to a little cafe to have lunch. Pepito's mood hadn't really changed, the only action I saw from him was when Candela had asked him to open her iced tea can for her.

It was times like that, that I thought of Angelo, he had a magical way with children. I'd messaged him in the morning, but he hadn't responded as I'd figured it was still early in the morning in the States.

It was just past one in the afternoon but now the gentle breeze that I had been clinging on had disappeared and in its place was sticky, suffocating heat. The kids obviously in their native land, were fully evolved to deal with the weather but I didn't deal well with it. I'd had a little case of the sciatic nerves where the sensation was my ass cheeks being set on fire, and as I sat on the metallic chairs of the cafe I could feel it kicking in again.

Ignoring the pain in my butt, I watched the interaction between the siblings; even as much as his sister got on his nerves, he loved Candela fiercely and took the role of big brother seriously. It brought a nostalgic memory of my brother. I missed him a lot and remembering how his smile had been the light I needed through my times of darkness made me miss him even more. I had already made plans to fly him out to Paris for Christmas if my parents allowed him to.

Smiling to myself, I remembered when I'd confronted Bobby after the barbecue party about giving my very private poem to Angelo without permission, he acted as if I'd done him a huge favour – which truthfully he did but I wouldn't admit that to him.

 

The other week he'd asked me when I was coming back to the States and my heart broke hearing his voice. Luckily he'd been having plenty fun with all his friends so he was pretty much busy.

The summer had been pretty eventful, the most eventful that it had been in years. The last time my summer had been this height of eventful was when my dad had first been incarcerated and then all the bureaucracy of changing schools and moving house made the days go quicker.

All the other summers from then on had basically been me staying indoors most of the time except when I took Bobby to daycare and when he evolved into a social pedigree I would chaperone him to his and his friends' outings.

Two months of independence and I was still finding it strange how much had changed over the last year. Needing to take a break from memory lane, I stood up but as soon as I did so it was as if someone had set a match on my butt. The pain was bad.

When I eventually sat in the drivers' seat, my butt's pain silenced to a humming sting and I knew when I got out of the car it'd get worse. It had been something I'd been dealing for over a month now on and off which I noticed that it only happened when the weather was especially hot. I thought it was an embarrassing thing to be suffering from and one I didn't think anyone would take seriously, so it was something I had to nurse myself with painkillers and some massage oil, but it didn't really help.

It was a silent drive to the park, which was unusual but highly welcome. It was only a ten minute drive and I'd already texted Gabino that we were on our way.

When we got to the park, Gabino was already there with his brother who was kicking a ball by himself near their beat up car. As soon as Pepito saw the ball the eagerness was bright in his eyes but he was still fronting and stuck to my side as I approached Gabino

“Hi, you take long to find here,” he said I couldn't help but detect the little agitation in his voice.

“Oh no, I just had to let the children have their lunch.”

Speaking of children, Candela had her hands in mine and I was growing more and more worried that her and her brother will say something out of turn concerning Gabino's smell, but so far and so good, they hadn't said anything.

“Oh okay. You want boat?”

At the mention of boats, there was no way I could have said no, with the excited yeses that came from the children, especially Little Miss Diva, who then started jumping up and down in my face.

We eventually rented out boats for an hour. It was one the things I enjoyed about being in Spain, the beauty in the simplicity of the scene.

Gabino being the man, steered the boat out into the lake and also allowed Manuelo and Pepito to have a go after much pleading.

Gabino's smell was still pungent and there'd been a few times I'd held my tongue when I really wanted to tell him to jump in the water. I hadn't missed Pepito wrinkling his nose a few times when Gabino was showing him how to row the boat.

 

Little Miss Diva hadn't been so reserved in letting known her feelings over the foul smell. But I was thankful that instead of her telling Gabino to his face,she'd said it quietly as she lay against me, as we rested at the back of the boat, whilst watching the guys do all the hard work. She had told me that he stunk and I told her it wasn't a nice thing to say and she should keep her thoughts to herself.

Needing to adjust my position due to the incessant stinging in my butt, I told Candela to sit up a little. Within me, I knew she was right and Gabino needed to so badly do something about it, but I didn't think it was my place to say anything to him because I'd only just met the guy.

From onlookers we looked like a young couple on a family day out with our kids, but I imagined that a reality with only one person. But it was such a shame with Gabino's body odour because he was honestly gorgeous and he seemed like a pretty chill guy.

After the boat ride, we walked along the long path, that led back to the grassy area. We found a place where to settle, Gabino and myself sat on the bench whilst the kids played football.

Even though Candela acted like a princess who only walked on ground made of gold, she was pretty much sporty and for a four year old, she didn't play so bad at football.

There were times when she so decided like a typical diva that she didn't want to adhere to the rules of the game and instead picked up the ball and made her brother and Manuelo chase her for the ball.

“So you with them for long?”

“No, not for so long, just until September.”

“Okay. You Americana?”

“Yes, you Espagnol?”

“Yes,” he replied grinning which made me fall in a full out laugh and he soon joined in. Nothing funny had been said, I just felt there was some unspoken connection there. It was weird.

After our laughing died out we engaged in a couple minutes of polite conversation before we entered into a comfortable silence and I took it as my opportunity to study him properly as he quietly looked over at the kids playing.

First thing I noticed was that there was a hole at the front of his black worn-out converse. The black chinos he wore were ill-fitted because he appeared at least two sizes too big for him. The white plain top was probably the only article of clothing that appeared to be in good condition. And round his neck he had a wooden bead rosary dangling in the middle of his chest.

“So erm you work?” I asked after a stretched out silence.

He then proceeded to tell me about how he had been working as a bartender in Ibiza three months before working in the strips, but then he quit after his brother was invited to join a football academy. His single mother worked all the time so she wouldn't have had time to take his brother to training, so he stepped up and came back to Madrid.

 

His openness kind of threw me off guard and when he was just going to continue, Candela, hands folded and an unhappy pout dressing her face came stalling to me telling me that the boys wouldn't allow her to play. That was the indication she'd reached her quota for the day.

Without hesitating she climbed onto my lap and expected me to wrap my arms around her so I could cuddle her, which I did. Within three minutes, I looked down smiling, seeing her already sound asleep. Her auburn curls were a wild mess, but because she was Little Miss Diva, it only made her look adorable.

“You like bebe?”

“Si, but Candela is a lot to handle,” taking a moment to look over the grass where the boys were playing, I briefly watched Manuelo show Pepito a ball trick. “So is your brother always quiet?”

“He likes no talk.”

I really wanted to ask him if he was aware of his body smell, I just didn't understand how someone as gorgeous as him could smell so bad.

Lost in my thoughts, I barely registered my phone ringing. Taking one arm that was holding Candela, I reached into my bag and fished out my phone.

“Hey.”

“Hi, how are you?”

I don't know what it was but anytime Angelo called me, my voice would get all low and girly and soft, it was something I did without thinking. Either way hearing his voice did nothing to quench the ache to see him in the flesh.

“I'm okay, I saw your message, what have you been up to?”

“I'm just in the park with the kids,” whilst I was talking Gabino shouted for his brother to come over and Pepito followed too.

“Who's that?”

“Oh, a guy I met at Pepito's match today, his brother played for the opposition. We decided to meet up at the park.”

At this moment, Gabino was passing a bottle of water for Manuelo to drink, my heart tendered seeing how grown and parental he was. Besides me, Pepito was digging out his own water bottle from my bag.

“Interesting.”

“What's interesting?”

“This guy you've just met.”

I could only roll my eyes at him. “I thought being insecure was my job?”

“Some may think that people with looks have it easy, but what about, God forbid, you find someone who completes the package?”

“You'll get over it.”

“That's not funny,” he said and in my head I could just see the pout he would have had if he was with me. “Promise me, you won't go looking for the complete package.”

I laughed at this. “Angelo, are you being serious right now?”

“Yes,” he said before I heard him curse to himself.

“What's wrong?”

“These fourteen year olds who are unable to wait for the traffic lights to go red before crossing.”

“Wait, hold on, are you driving?” 

“Yeah, I'm on my way to the hospital.”

Now it was my time to get annoyed. “Angelo how many times am I supposed to tell you to stop taking calls whilst your driving?”

I hated when I felt that I was mothering him, but I didn't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times in the past month I'd told him not to call me whilst driving.

“Yes, but you also know this time is the longest time we have to talk on the phone.”

“There's always something called text messaging,” looking over my side Gabino had a concentrated look on his face on the boys but I knew he was also taking in my conversation on the phone.

I didn't want to be having an argument with my boyfriend infront of others. “We'll talk later.”

Before Angelo could respond, I cut off the phone on him.

 

 

 

 

 






Chapter End Notes:

A.N: Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter.

 

 

 

I recently went on holiday and it was extremely hot like 36-38 degrees Celsius everyday. My body does not cope well in the heat and because where I live is never ever that hot my body didn't have the best reaction, more specifically my butt.

 

My ass hurt soooo bad, the pain was real intense when I walked or sat down and I didn't understand why and I had to look it up on Google whilst taking a break from walking in the middle of nowhere and I found out I was experiencing something called sciatica.

 

 

 

So there's a little explanation as to why I included the whole thing with Luciana having the same condition, just in case anyone was wondering (or not lol).

 

 

 

Anyhoos, I wish you all a great week and God bless :-).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.