score - Pablo Gavi

chapter 12

The next morning I woke up at 7:30am. I could barely sleep, I kept thinking about Gavi and the party, even though it wasn't until 11pm. I put on a pair of jeans and a nice sweater that made me look like a church mom. I had a bit of time, so I made a smoothie, then left.

Once I got to the fields, I said hi to Raphinha, Pedri, and Lewy, who had a new haircut. I would have content for days thanks to him. When I had nothing to do, made a mini schedule yesterday. First thing, post about the game. There was a home game at camp nou in two days. I made a tweet and instagram story with all the details.

Next on my list was filter out comments. There were so many mean comments, funny, but mean. Then, I checked my email. I had one from Xavi, which was just the contracts and passwords, and one from Frenkie De Jong asking me to post him for Dutch history day. I emailed him telling him to come to my office so I can take a picture of him. I had nothing to do for the next hour, so I just read.

Eventually, Frenkie came to my office.

"Hey, Cleo," Frenkie said sitting down across from me.

"Hi, stand against that white wall."

"Why?"

"For a headshot."

"No, I want to talk about the holiday."

"Is it a holiday? And no, denied."

"That's so insensitive, do you know how many dutch fans would feel seen by this? Xavi won't be happy to know that-"

"Fine," I said, giving in. I didn't get paid enough to listen to him. I grabbed my camera and a stool, then went out to an empty field, "follow me."

I set up the stool on the field, then told him to sit.

"Ok, you're going to say hi, I'm Frenkie De Jong of FCB, and I'm here to tell you about dutch history day."

"No."

"Yes, or leave."

"Fine is the lighting bad out here?"

"Horrible. 3,2,1 go."

"Hello culers, I am Frenkie De Jong, and I am here to tell you about a holiday important to me, Dutch history day." He said, then cut the camera.

"Thats not what I told you to say. You've got 30 seconds to tell us about dutch memory day or whatever, wow me." He went on for about 5 minutes talking about dutch stuff. I'll narrow it back down.

"Ok, now look cool while you kick that ball around." I said, throwing a football at him.

"Ouch." He did a few cool tricks, but the rest of the time he was just showing me weird stuff and falling over.

"You're not funny, thats all I need. I'll finish it by dutch day." I grabbed the stool, then went back to my office. I spent the next 20 minutes contemplating how to edit it. I started with his intro, then put him playing football in the back talking about dutch-ness over it. I liked the way it turned out, all though I was certain nobody would watch the whole thing. I kept him falling at the end just out of spite. I wanted to be funny, but professional. Then, I posted it to instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Just as I was about to leave for my lunch break, Gavi came in holding salads.

"Hey Cleo, I brought you lunch," he said.

"Aw, you shouldn't have."

"Yes, I should've, so how's it going?" He asked. He was wearing his practice clothes, but he smelled like cologne.

"Good, you?"

"Good, what were you doing with Frenkie?"

"He asked me to film a video for dutch day. He's super strange." I told him. The way Gavi asked me what we were doing almost made him sound jealous in a way, or maybe just over protective. Either way, I kind of felt flattered.

"Post a picture of Lewy's new buzz cut," He said, laughing. I told him about all the rude and funny comments, and we had a laugh over them, but then he had to go. The rest of the day I just edited a match day roster and the schedule. Finally, it was time to go home.

I sat on my couch watching TV until 10pm when I decided to get ready. I chose a pair of black jean shorts, my coral colored swim suit, and a pinkish tan tank top. I did my hair in two dutch braids for Frenkie, then packed my tote. I put my phone, hoodie, wallet, and water bottle in it. I put on my Birkenstocks then went to meet Gavi, Pedri, and Raphinha in the parking garage.

"Hey Cleo," Gavi said, Raphi and Pedri were both in the car, "You look nice."

"Thanks, Gavi." I replied. I sat in the back seat next to Pedri, Gavi driving, and Raphinha in the passengers seat. We all talked on the way there and I felt really comfortable around all of them. I had a feeling tonight was going to be good.

Once we got there, Pedri and Raphinha left us, and Gavi wanted to introduce me to some of his friends. When we walked down on the beach, some guy in black swim trunks stopped us.

"Yo, Gavi, what's up, dude?" The guy said.

"Hey, Alex, this is Cleo." Gavi told him. Alex looked at me like I was an alien, then smiled.

"Hey, Cleo," He said. handing us both glow bracelets. I put some up my wrists, and one around my neck like a necklace.

"Hey, Cleo, follow me, I see Annie, you will absolutely love her." Gavi said, walking over to a fire. We walked over to a group of three boys and two girls. There were also about a million other people around.

"Annie," Gavi shouted.

"Hey Gavi, you must be Cleo?" She asked, which made me think Gavi must have been talking about me.

"Yes, hi!" I smiled. Annie was short, but beautiful with a slim figure. She was wearing a white bikini.

"I'm sweating my tits off, I'm going to go find someone to go skinny dipping with," she said, which made me laugh as she walked away.

"She's drunk. Want me to get us something to drink?" Gavi said.

"Sure, but the least alcoholic thing you can find, please." Gavi nodded, then walked away. I stood by the fire waiting until someone came up to me.

"You here with Gavi?" A boy asked. He had dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and was a bit shorter than me. He had well sculpted muscles, and was wearing pink swim trunks.

"Yep," I replied.

"He's hot, isn't he?" Uncomfortable, I laughed it off, "you don't have to answer that, I'm Jake."

"Cleo," I replied. Before he could say anything else, Gavi came and grabbed my hand.

"Hey, it's hot here, wanna get the boards?" Gavi asked, pulling me away from Jake. He was holding a red cup.

"Sure," I said, walking with him. "Who's that?" I asked once we were in the clear.

"A bitch. Stay away from him." Gavi said. I grabbed the cup from him and took a drink.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Its almost midnight," Gavi remarked.

"So?" I said.

"So we better get on the water," he said. I set the cup down on the ground and grabbed the pink surf board. We walked through the beach and into the water. It was cold, but nice. we paddled to a little ways.

"I'm sorry," Gavi said. I laid down on my board.

"What for?"

"Acting like that about Jake. He's just not a good person."

"Gavi, don't feel sorry, it doesn't matter." We both lay there for a moment. The water was fairly still, and we were far enough from shore it wasn't as loud. All of a sudden, fireworks filled the sky. We both looked up in awe for a moment, then Gavi leaned in towards me. Suddenly it was the two of us.