him and i - joão felix

thirty eight

it's been a super chill day, we wanted to just relax before the game. we decided to sleep in today since joão didn't have practice.

neither of us felt like cooking and we didn't we have anything that we wanted to eat so we ordered some lunch to the house. it was pretty good and we finished eating quickly, going back upstairs and into our room.

"i just realized," joão started and opened one of his dresser drawers. he has a two whole drawers dedicated to just practice gear and uniforms. he picked something out and handed it to me. "i didn't give you my atletico madrid jersey. you only have my portugal one."

"thank you." i smiled and folded it up, putting it on top of my dresser so that i could wear it to the game tonight.

-

getting ready was easy because i've done it so many times before. i wore the atletico madrid jersey that joão had just given me earlier and paired it with jeans, bringing a hoodie because it was a bit cold outside.

we arrived to the stadium early, like always, and walked to where i would be sitting. since it was so early, lina wasn't there yet. she told me that mateo would be coming as well so i was excited to talk to both of them.

"good luck." i smiled. "i know you'll do great." i said.

"thank you." he smiled and leaned down to kiss me.

he turned away to go to the locker room and i sat down. a few minutes later, lina and mateo arrived so i stood up and greeted them with a hug.

"hey guys." i smiled.

"hey bea, how are you?" mateo said. "i haven't seen you since your birthday."

"i'm good, how are you?"

"doing well." he smiled as we all sat back down.

the stadium started to fill up as the teams filed out onto the field and began to warm up. they were playing against elche so they had a good chance of winning.

-

the first half went smoothly and ended still at 0-0. not much happened but lina and i cheered the whole time, having a lot of fun.

not to far into the second half, joão recieved the ball from greizmann and headed it into the back of the net. he slid on his knees to the corner flag and pointed in my direction. all 3 of us were cheering so loud for him, i almost fell over the railing.

"do you want to come get drinks with me?" lina leaned over and asked a few minutes later. "mateo won't and i don't really want to go alone."

"ummm." i started.

"please." she added, smiling.

"okay sure." i really couldn't say no to her. "mateo, fill us in when we get back?"

"will do." he said, still focused on the field.

we walked up the steps in the stands until we were inside of the stadium. we got in line at one of the concession stands which, thankfully, was short. after a few short minutes of people ordering, it was our turn.

"hi, can i please get two waters." lina smiled. "and whatever you want." she looked at me.

"i'll take a water too please."

after i said that, i heard the whole stadium gasp. i wondered what had happened until i heard the announcer speak.

"oh no, joão felix down on the pitch. it doesn't look like he's getting back up."

the concessions worker was taking forever getting our waters and lina looked over at me. i had a worried expression on my face as i started to tap my foot impatiently.

when we finally got our drinks, lina and i walked as fast as we could, pushing through people until we were back at our seat.

"what happened mateo?" i asked, looking at joão who was still on the ground.

"nasty tackle. right into his ankle." he looked over at me briefly and then back on the field.

the sub his coach had prepared to go in for him went onto the field as joão slowly started to get up. with the help of the trainers, he limped back over to the bench.

the game started back up again but i wasn't paying attention because i was only focused on joão. i could see him from where i was sitting since i was so close, basically right next to the bench. but if i tried to yell, he wouldn't be able to hear me because of how loud everyone was.

i saw joão look back and point at me. one of the trainers that was helping him was looking too. the trainer walked over to a security guard, saying something to him before walking over to me.

"joão wants you to come down." he smiled.

i climbed over the railing as the trainer helped me down. i walked with him over to the bench, sitting down next to joão.

"hey, are you okay?" i asked him.

"i think so, just a bad tackle. did you see it?"

"no, lina and i went to get drinks. i saw your goal though. that was pretty awesome." i smiled.

"thanks. the trainers suggested we go to urgent care after the game. i'm sure it's nothing but just to be safe, you know?"

"okay, yeah, i'll drive." good thing i just got my new license. i had to get a new one since i moved to a different country.

"thank you." he smiled.

i returned to lina and mateo after a couple minutes because people that aren't on the team aren't normally allowed on the bench. i told them about how he has to go to the hospital and they said that they'd meet us there.

we finished watching the game, atletico madrid won 2-0. i was really happy but still worried for joão.

-

hey guys 😜 i go back school tomorrow which is so not exciting. i've been dreading this since i went on break 😀 and sports start up again this week too but i'm still gonna try to update at least once a day though. i love you guys and thank you for reading this story 🙏🏼🙏🏼