Looks can be deceiving (Mapi León x OC)

Chapter 41 - un dia de partit

"Are you excited for the game?" Mapi asked curiously as she was sitting next to me on the bench in the changing room of the Estadi Johan Cruyff where we'd play Villarreal in about 10 minutes. It was the last home game before winter break, the only remaining match afterward being the Champion's league game against Bayern on Thursday.

Hopefully, today would be an easy match, but I learned the hard way not to count my chickens before they were hatched.

"Yes, of course," I smiled at the injured defender, putting my hair up in a tight ponytail. "I can't believe it's our last league game before the winter break already!"

It's been two weeks since Mapi's injury and I hadn't spent a single night at home. The Zaragoza native never even bothered to ring her mother as everything just fell right into place with us.

Well, almost everything.

Both of us meticulously made sure to keep a physical distance between us, apart from an occasional hug or an accidental touch. And of course, there hadn't been a night when the Spaniard didn't fall asleep in my arms.
But that was due to her needing a little bit of extra support due to her injury, right?

At least that's what I was telling myself.

"Yeah, time flies when your life is falling apart," Mapi joked, gathering her crutches to prepare herself to join the other injured players in the stands, one of them being Alexia who was set to return right after Christmas. I was happy for my friend, but unless our squad changed during the winter transfer window it meant I would most likely lose my starting spot.

Quickly putting my thoughts aside, I jokingly nudged the blonde into her side. "Don't say that. You're gonna be back on this pitch in no time."

"Hopefully, but...," the tattooed defender sighed, scanning her surroundings. When she realized our teammates were busy preparing themselves for the upcoming game, Mapi gently took my hand into hers, our gazes finding each other immediately. "But if not... score for me today, Princesa, will you?"

Princesa.

She hadn't called me like that since before the international break. As my eyes searched for answers in hers regarding the sudden change in her vocabulary, my thoughts shifted back to the conversation we had last week. We spoke about everything that went down since the break, however, it quite frankly didn't change anything between us as it felt like we had forgiven each other at that point. At least as friends.

"I- I'll try my best," I mumbled nervously, my thumb running over the back of the blonde's hand.

After all, it was an easy game. Hopefully, nothing would go wrong.

"I believe in you," Mapi smiled at me, letting go of me as she took one crutch in each of her hands to which the Spaniard had gotten quite used to at this point. "Buena suerte, Emi."

"Gracias," I said as my eyes followed the blonde limping out of the room, on her way to join the bunch of other unlucky injured players. She seemed sad which was understandable considering it was the first game she'd be watching from the stands since the last two games had been away games, one for the Spanish league and one for the UWCL.

Trying to put my mind into game mode, I stood up and joined my teammates who were already standing in a tight huddle, listening to today's captain Sandra's last encouraging words.

The Spanish goalkeeper ended her speech by shouting the famous line "Alé, alé, alééé" and after we had all repeated it, we were finally allowed to leave the changing room to line up.

Now, un dia de partit could really begin.

I walked on the pitch behind Geyse, the Brazilian international, the crowd's cheers almost drowning out the Barcelona anthem that was blasting through the speakers. As I turned around, I was now facing the second-floor stands as well and my eyes automatically searched for a certain blonde who would be sitting in a secluded area. My body could already feel her gaze resting on me and as soon as I saw Alexia's Nike cap from far away, I knew where she'd be as well, trying to remember the exact spot.