fresh air | pulisic

05.

Christian doesn't really remember what they do that day, but the sun eventually sets, the moon rises high into the sky and Christian is left with his thoughts while Nia takes a shower, staring blankly at his phone.

The last thing he remembers is having dinner with Christian at a little cosy, dimly lit Italian restaurant they'd found near their apartment block, sitting by the window while talking about how cream sauce pasta is so much better than ones with tomato sauce. But then Nia asks him about tomato cream sauce pasta and they get into a heated debate about which one is better because Nia eats everything and anything and Christian just doesn't like tomatoes.

He sighs, tilting his head back to rest against the wall behind him, staring up at the dark ceiling. He doesn't want her to leave. He doesn't want to go back to his normal (that isn't so normal) life, training every day, but he has an important few months coming up and this is huge for him. He just wanted to play football.

Maybe he can't.

His eyes slide shut as he heaves another sigh and he's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't hear the door to his room creak open and then click shut, only noticing Nia's presence when the bed dips under the blonde's weight. "You spend a lot of time up there, you know," Nia says, sitting next to him so that their knees touch. "I can almost hear how hard your brain is working."

"Shut up," Christian mumbles, opening his eyes again when he feels Nia's hand rest on his thigh. Looking towards the blonde, he watches as Nia scrolls through the files on his phone. "What are you doing?"

"I just thought of something I wanted you to hear before I leave." is the response and without looking up, Nia hands him an earbud. Wordlessly Christian takes it, pressing it into his ear as Nia's hand drops back down to rest on his knee this time, his thumb idly swiping across the fabric. They sit in silence for a few more moments before Nia releases a quiet ah! and then there's the sound of a piano playing through the earpiece and after the intro, Nia's voice comes through and Christian's breath catches in his throat.

They're quiet for the first minute or so, with Christian listening to the lyrics while Nia is humming along, her fingers tapping against Christian's knee as if she's playing the piano.

"Originally, I was going to name this 'A song for me'," Nia says after the first chorus, a gentle smile forming on her lips. Christian only looks into his lap, picking at his nails while listening to her and to the song. It's not about him and it's not his story, but somehow the song calms him and at this point, he's not sure if it's really the song or if it's because of Nia.

Because somehow, Nia always knows what he needs in that moment. "Maybe I should name it 'A song for Christian' instead."

"Why are you showing me this?"

Nia hums. "Just thought you needed to hear it."

And that's all they say about the song for the rest of the night.