Maisie 'Baby' Bronze

32. Tiredness

"Ok, right, you ready mum?" I lean against the door frame as Narla jumps up at me, causing me to coo over her. 

"Yeah, I'm ready" She says, grabbing her keys and phone off the bedside table. We eventually make it out the apartment, and downstairs onto the streets of outer Barcelona. Mum had brought an apartment that was close by to the training ground, so that meant that we were only a short drive from the centre of the city and the beaches.

As I hopped in the car, not before I did my typical habit of going to get in on the left before realising again that we were in Spain and that the left was where the driver's seat was, I quickly scanned my phone before tapping the restaurant's location into the Satnav. Turned out we'd be arriving bang on time. Perfect. 

One short drive later, and we'd pulled up in a carpark, along the beach. The sun shimmered against the waves below it, not long until it would start to slip away underneath the surface. Small crowds of people still scattered the beach, with couples walking hand-in-hand dotted in-between the groups of teenagers playing football. I was yet to make any proper friends in Barcelona yet, however I just accepted that with time, I was sure I would. 

The paella restaurant wasn't far from where the car was parked so soon enough, mum and I were stood outside of it. 

"Maise, what if they don't speak English" Mum questions me, "neither of us speak Spanish, yet alone Catalonian."

"Hadn't thought of that" I shrugged, "Tengo un table pour dos?" I frown, knowing full well that must be incorrect.

"Mm, sounds about right" Mum shrugs, before opening the door and leading me in. We stand at the door for a moment before a waitress comes over to us.

"Hola!"

"Hola" Mum replies in a thick English accent.

Here we go... "Tengo un table pour dos?" I quickly spurt out.

"Nearly, I think you've got a bit mixed up with french there" The waitress suddenly says, an english accent peeping through.

"Oh thank god" I hear mum mutter as I turn red with embarrassment. 

"It's fine, don't worry about it, I do it all the time too" The waitress smiles at me, "So you have a table for two booked?"

"Yeah, under the name Bronze"

"Perfect, follow me then" The waitress starts walking off, leaving mum and I to follow after.

"Where bouts are you from then? England?" Mum asks.

"Well I was born in Manchester, but I moved to Liverpool before moving out here a year ago"

"That's where we're from too, or at least that's where we moved from"

"Ah, small world, how come you moved out here then?"

"For work"

"That's a win win then, money and a great place to live" She laughs

"Yeah, you could say that" mum laughs back.

"Ok, here's your seats, I'll give you some time to decide on your food and drinks and then I'll be back"

"Ok, thanks"

The waitress goes off and I'm left sitting at the table wandering when on earth I'd get the text. 

There it was.

"I'm gonna go to the loo" I say, getting up as mum nods, still trying her best to scan the menu with her phone to translate it into English.

I get up and race over to the waitress who'd served us before and quickly explained everything that was going to happen before I left the restaurant before mum saw me.