falling for you // Pedri Gonzalez

Part 7 - Hanging Out

ᴵ ᶜᵃⁿ'ᵗ ᵗᵉˡˡ ⁱᶠ ᵗʰⁱˢ ⁱˢ ᵐᵒʳᵉ ᵒʳ ˡᵉˢˢ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ᴵ ᵃˢᵏᵉᵈ ᶠᵒʳ.

Francesca's POV

𝐒𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 in for dinner, and I end up sitting in between Ansu Fati and Gavi with Eric Garcia and Pedri across from me. It takes a while, though, anyway, for Pedri to even sit down, because of all the serving he's doing. In fact, in order to get him to sit down, I say, "Hey, Pedri, we're all sitting here happily eating our food, while you're rushing around serving and making sure everything's in order. Why don't you just sit down and relax? If anyone else wants something to eat or drink, can't they get it themselves?"

Pedri smiles suddenly at me, wiping the sweat and hair away from his forehead, saying with a shrug, "Yeah, I guess you're right, huh?"

"Yeah, so sit down!" I order with a playful smile, pointing to his chair. He nods, goes to the kitchen to serve himself, and then finally sits down next to Eric Garcia.

We all talk about anything under the sun, basically. Mostly just silly small talk about little things that don't really matter, then, though, Pedri suddenly brings up, "Francesca, why are you always zooming up on me with that damn camera of yours?!"

I laugh and say, "I'm like your personal photographer! I just do it because I know how much it annoys you, Pedri."

He rolls his eyes with a grin as Ansu asks, "Wait, what do you do, Francesca?"

I snort, rolling my eyes. "I always zoom up on him with my camera because I know full well how much it annoys the crap out of him. Oh, by the way, Pedri, these mashed potatoes you made are really good."

"Oh," he smiles. For some reason, I only care to keep my eyes fixed on Pedri, and only give small glances to Ansu, Eric, Gavi, and the others when they speak. "Well, I'm glad you like them!" I love the way that sometimes Pedri just starts to beam at the littlest things- a nice compliment, a goal in training, or some silly phrase that might escape from his friend Gavi's lips. He just seems like such a happy person. I love being around him, because his smile and his laugh is so infectious. Just his presence lifts the feeling in a room, making everything have a much more lighthearted colour to it. "If you want seconds of the potatoes, or any of the other food, for that matter, you're welcome to them."

I smile back at him, mostly because I can't help it, and respond back simply, "No, thank you. I don't want to eat too much, and I've already had a lot. Besides, I need to save some room for desert, right?"

Pedri nods at this, saying, "Good point. And I've got three really good options for desert, too. Cheesecake, pudding, and cookies, but these aren't the cheapo kinds, either, that you can pick up at any old five-and-dime. Like, this is some good deserts."

"Shut up, Pedri. You're making me want to skip dinner and go straight to desert," Gavi says, threateningly aiming a spoon full of mashed potatoes at his friend, an evil grin painting across the eighteen year old's face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Gavi, don't start a food fight again," Pedri laughs. "I'd rather not be covered in potatoes today, thanks." I'd hate to see him covered in potatoes, too. He looks just fine with his white dress shirt with the first few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up and buttoned. He looks more than fine, in fact. He looks very nice right now.

I laugh, saying, putting a hand on Gavi's shoulder, "Please, Gavi."

Soon, the desert is taken out, and I decide to try the cheesecake. It's really good, and just the right level of sweetness without being overbearing. I get what he means when he says it's expensive- this cake tastes expensive. Like, I'm eating up euros here, and apparently, euros taste crazy good.

Finally, after we're all finished our desert, Pedri says, "So what do you guys want to do now? I could put on some music and we could just, well, you know-"

"Dance?" I grin.

"Sure, I guess that's what I was trying to say. We could do that. Or we could play a drinking game... or watch a movie... I've got like Charades or Mad Libs and those awful kind of stupid games, if anyone wants to do that," he laughs, glancing at Gavi, saying in a teasingly belittling voice, "Gavi, do you want to play some of the games while all the big kids play a drinking game?"

"Shut up," he snaps. "You can't even make those jokes anymore because I'm legal now."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just know how much it bothers you." Pedri grins, nudging his friend.

Gavi promptly flips him off, giving Pedri that pouting annoyed signature Gavi face. I personally think this whole thing is hilarious, and especially Pedri's teasing sense of humor.

People just kind of end up doing whatever they want, including most of those things and just hanging out. I end up lounging on one of the couches with a glass of wine that I asked Pedri to pour for me. There's music playing, just because Pedri likes to listen to music in the background apparently. Sira, Ferran, Ansu, Mikky, Frenkie, Gavi, and Alejandro are all in here, too, hanging around. Suddenly Ansu grins, looking at Sira, Ferran, Mikky, and Frenkie, "You all should have a dance-off."

"I'd lose," Ferran and Frenkie say at the same time.

"Why, Ansu?" I ask.

"Because they're the couples so we should all sit on our asses and make fun of them as they trip over their own feet."

"Ferran is just saying he's bad," Sira smiles evilly. "Ferran is great at danc-"

"I'm really not at all," interrupts her boyfriend.

"Boy, well, Frenkie and Mikky are pretty silent about this," Alejandro laughs, nudging Frenkie, who laughs, shaking his head.

"No way. The Dutch don't dance," Frenkie jokes, shaking his head.

Soon, I have the urge to use the toilet, so I go to do that, and when I come back into the room, it's a little bit different. The first thing I notice is the absence of Pedri, so I ask, "Where is Pedri?"

I'm confused as to why a few of them snicker to themselves before responding to me.