love on the brain-pablo gavi

chapter thirty-five

The hot Barcelona sun beams down on him, making it even harder for Pablo to concentrate to score. After not scoring any goal today and not being able to shoot one ball perfectly, the preassure is even worse now.  A sheen layer of sweat on his forehead, making his hair, that he let grow out a bit stick to it. He remembers how much Bella loved his long hair, a nostalgic feeling washing over him as he thinks about her.

Her face being always in his mind, he can't imagine to forget her.

"Pablo, concentrate!"

Fuck, he whispers to himself, probably for the hundreth time this training, looking at the ball that bounced off the goal. Kicking it away from him, not wanting to see his miss, he walks away from the goal, giving the guy after him a chance to shoot. 

"Hey, Pablo wait". Pablo keeps walking, even though he heard the scream behind him, knowing he will catch him up. As he hears footsteps close behind him, he makes his hand into a fist trying to let his anger out on himself. "Ey, muchacho". The strong hand of Xavi stopping his action and making him turn around. Pablo tries to look as calm as possible, but he can already tell that something is wrong with him. 

"So, whats wrong?". He shrugs, scrunching his nose and shaking his head. "Nothin' why?".   "Pablo do not play with me, I'm your trainer and I need to make sure that you stay in form, so whats wrong?". 

Everything is wrong. I'm a mess, apparently I forgot how to play football, but the most important, Bella isn't with me no more.

"Like I said, I'm good, just a little off". A forced smile on his sweaty features, trying to convince Xavi that hes doing good. "When players have problems in their life, they won't be able to concentrate on football. We both know that you aren't doing good, I'm worring about you". Pablo clears his throat, looking around trying to find an answer and avoiding Xavis gaze. "Now stop avoiding me and tell me whats going on". Pablo finally giving up as he turns his head back to him again. 

"Yeah its been a bit stressy between me and Bella, but nothing that we could-"   "You know, I was at Robert's a few days ago. She moved out?", Xavi interrupts his lies; Pablo nods as he looks down to his feet. Swinging his arm across Pablos shoulder, he drags him away from the other players, knowing that some of them are nosy enough to listen to them talking. 

"When did you two fight?", Xavi asks as they sit down on the bench, being watched by some of the players, but no heard. "Like three weeks ago?", he says, sounding almost like he asks a question. He can't remember how long he had to be without her, it felt like years. "I just came home, I was exhausted after the game and all of a sudden she started to scream at me and then she just left". He left the part out as they made out on purpose. "You didn't spoke to her since then, called, texted her?". He shakes his head. "I didn't know what to say, she just said that she doesn't trust me and I figured that after she left we were done". Pablo shifts uncomfortably in his seat, not knowing why he tells his coach about his problems. 

"I'm so stressed because I want to know the reason why she left me. Was is her herself, or was it because of how I was acting. I mean I hav-"

"Pablo, stop". The look in Xavis eyes not only made him stop talking, but also made him stop thinking about what he could have done wrong. He looks more worried than Pablo and probably all of the other teammates have ever seen him. "Bella broke down, Pablo, shes in hospital".