unbearable, trent alexander-arnold

bonus³ (part two)

together.

TRENT STOOD NERVOUSLY beside tosca on the landing of her childhood home, a bouquet and a bottle of wine in hand. all sorts of questions were running through his head, stupid or not, about what was going to happen in the next few hours. the girl had to admit that the footballer's state made her laugh, although his stress was legitimate, given what he was about to experience.

"so," he took a deep breath, "smile a lot, shake their hands, offer them the presents, take off my shoes, say how much i love their house, compliment the food, talk a lot about football with your dad even though he speaks a quite broken english and pray for your mom to be nice so that dinner will go well, right?" trent repeated his mental list aloud to make sure he was ready for what was ahead.

with her finger ready to press the doorbell to tell her parents they had arrived, she suspended it in the air to approve of the boy's words before turning to him to add something she seemed to have forgotten to explain, "just one last thing, my mom is super religious so she might talk about marriage, but don't worry, i'll handle it," and she pressed the doorbell.

trent's face changed in a second and he thought he was dreaming. marriage? "what the fuck tosca?" he muttered in case her parents opened the door at the same time.

a simple apologetic grimace made its way onto the girl's face before she planted a quick kiss on the boy's jaw, wrapping her hand around his opposite cheek. comfort came over the footballer for a split second before stress overcame him again, and he grabbed tosca's hand to feel that feeling again. her touch always had that calming effect on him.

the door finally opened. just as his girlfriend had described perfectly, her mother stood before her father a little further back in the shadows, a cold stare on her face and an almost impressive frame as she towered over them on the steps. fair hair fell to her shoulders and trent glanced at tosca's dark brown hair, confused. then, when her father made his appearance alongside his wife, he understood where the girl's curly hair and freckles that he admired so much came from; she was the spitting image of her father. it felt strange to see the male version of her.

"ciao papà," tosca said with a small smile and trent detected the affection she had for him despite herself, "ciao mamma," her smile had fallen as quickly as it had appeared and trent also detected perfectly all the resentment she bore for her mother.

after the greeting from his girlfriend, the player realised that it was his turn to show politeness by first extending his hand to tosca's father, and then, once his hand was shaken, to her mother, who took it with more reluctance.

"piacere di conoscerti," trent stammered in broken italian, feeling the pink rise to his cheeks. nice to meet you.

"anche per me è un piacere conoscervi," his parents simply replied, "entrare." nice to meet you too; come in.

shyly, trent handed them the gifts they had bought earlier in a palpable feverishness. it was tosca's father, mario, who took them with a small smile. her mother, on the other hand, only gave him a small nod that he wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't been focused on her. continuing to check off the boxes on his mental list, the player removed his shoes in unison with the young woman, who gave him a discreet thumbs up, indicating that everything was fine for now, before glancing around. the ceilings were so high that trent almost thought he was going to dislocate his neck. the comfort in which she had grown up was not something that tosca had hidden from him, but he only now seemed to really realise the kind of childhood she had experienced.