Chapter 31: Fati's Birthday Dinner

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🎶 Casanova — Soolking, Lola Indigo, Rvfv 🎶

📍 Barcelona, Catalunya, Españaclara_1106 Ready for your bday fatimarin

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📍 Barcelona, Catalunya, España
clara_1106 Ready for your bday fatimarin

fatimarin ohlalalaaaaaaaaaaaa 🔥🔥🔥🔥
cristoml10 Petition to be invited, sign here: ✍🏼
Replying to cristoml10:
aleroldan1_ ✍🏼
lamineyamal ✍🏼
pablogavi ✍🏼
aurorapaezg I'm invited 🤩


Unfortunately, Fermín continued bombarding me with messages and calls throughout the days leading up to his cousin's birthday and I was starting to get fed up. The voice announcing the next metro station snapped me out of my thoughts and I quickly walked to the doors as it was time to get off the train. I walked upstairs, to daylight and found Pierre already standing on the other side of the street, looking for, I believed.

"Hey!" I exclaimed from a few feet away as I was walking towards him.
"Hi, Clara!" he replied happily and waved at me before greeting me with kisses on my cheeks. "I brought your brother's girlfriend a bottle of wine from back home, I felt bad showing up without nothing..." he said and showed me the small wine bag he was holding.
"Oh that is so nice of you! She'll love that, she loves wine, she actually loves every type of alcohol. I probably shouldn't tell you this because you French think wine is holy, but she'll chug it all down in one evening from a plastic club" I chuckled.
"You're right, you shouldn't have told me!!" he exclaimed exasperatedly. "What did you get her?" he asked as we were walking through the streets of Barcelona.
"Oh, just matching bracelets, she's a sucker for cheesy stuff like this" I chuckled. My phone started ringing and I scrambled through my purse, stopping in my tracks trying to find it.

"Hold on a sec..." I said, continuing to look through my bag, it must be here somewhere. When I finally found it and looked at the caller ID, I scoffed and threw it back into my bag.
"They guy you're rejecting?" Pierre asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah... He's annoying as hell" I replied annoyedly.
"Is he going to be there tonight?" he asked, with no particular tone in his voice. Shit, I was about to be busted, but I couldn't lie.
"Yeah" I mumbled. We continued walking a few steps, when he suddenly came to a halt and I did too, two steps ahead, with me turning back to look at him.

"Oh my God! You invited me to make him jealous! You actually like him!" he exclaimed, a smile starting to form on his face. Fuck.
"Pierre... I..." I stammered, but he cut me off. Why did he see through me in a millisecond?
"You should have told me sooner! I would have worn a linen shirt which is more see through revealing my abs!" he chuckled.
"You're not... mad?" I asked.
"Hell no! Us French love the drama! This evening is going to be so much fun!" he said excitedly and slung an arm around my shoulder. Wow, this... I hadn't expected.

I had planned our arrival exactly 15 minutes late, knowing that Fermín always arrived 10 minutes late and I wanted to show up after him. You know: him turning to the door when he'd hear it open and see me walk in, his jaw dropping... cheesy movie stuff.
"Wait a second" I said as we had almost arrived. I threw my hair down and shook it a bit, before throwing it all back, hoping to have achieved a "just had a hot session with a guy" look. I pulled out my red lipstick, re-applied it and smudged it a bit with my finger over the border of my lips. Then I took my dirty finger and wiped it at the edge of Pierre's lips, making him laugh.
"You came prepared!" he laughed and accepted his fate for tonight.

And it happened exactly as I wanted. Pierre held the door open for me and me and my red dress attracted the attention of the restaurant as I walked to our table that was a bit more secluded at the back of the room. Fati stood up with a huge smile on her face and I hugged her tightly.
"Happy birthday!!!!" I squealed.
"Thanks for coming!! And hello, friend" she said and wiggled her eyebrows at me as she stepped aside to hold out her hand for Pierre, but French as he was, he immediately went in for the kisses.

My eyes scanned the table and met Fermin's who was looking at the scene with a clenched jaw. Success. Unfortunately, I saw that there were only two seats left, one next to Fermín at the other end of the table and one in front of him. Pierre was quick to take the seat next to him, his French inner compass had apparently singled him out immediately as "that guy" and I sat down next to my friend, in front of Fermin. He was quick to pull out his phone and type something and when my phone dinged seconds later, I rolled my eyes and pulled it out quickly.

Fermín ⚽️
That dress is not fair
And a French guy? Really?

I looked up from my phone at him and faked a "boohoo", pouting and acting to wipe my left eye. In response, he showed me his middle finger in a very prominent manner, face lacking of any expression or emotion.
"Fermín and Clara, behave now, just for once at my girlfriend's birthday dinner!" Carlito shouted angrily from the other side of the table.

The dinner got going as we ordered food and drinks, and Pierre and I talked to the girl sitting next to me, her name was Laura and she was studying with Fati. Aurora was sat a few seats up next to Javi and I waved at them, which they reciprocated with smiles.
Pierre pulled me closer and whispered something into my ear: "Just giggle now." I did as he said and tried very hard not to look at Fermin's reaction to all of this, but I could definitely feel the tension coming from him.

"So, Fermín... right? What do you study?" Pierre asked curiously, turning to him.
"I'm a professional football player. For Barca. Where Messi play-" he said sternly but Pierre turned to me, interrupting him.
"Oh my God, I forgot to tell you: my uncle works at PSG, you like football? I could definitely take you to a game, maybe we could go for a whole weekend to Paris?" he said ecstatically, making sure to accentuate his French accent a lot.
"Wow! I love football! And Mbappe is so good!" I replied, leaving my answer open, but winking at him.
"Fucking hell, I want a French lover too who takes me to Paris for a weekend" the girl next to Fermín huffed and he just rolled his eyes.

The food arrived and I actually had a great time, apart from death stares that Fermin sent my way every time Pierre touched me. At some point, it was time for me to go to the loo, as the four cocktails I had drowned made my bladder work extra hours. After finishing my business, I was about to walk out when a strong arm yanked me away into a corner of the restaurant's back. I was met with Fermin's face just inches away from mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked angrily, trying to get his hands off my body.
"Nice show you're pulling off" he hissed angrily and I rolled my eyes.
"What show Fermín? Not everything is about you. He's a guy from my class, we get along well, he's nice and he actually shows up when we agree to meet up!" I scoffed.
"I'm sorry, Clara! I just... needed some time at home!" he tried to explain himself but I wasn't having it.
"You left Barcelona the evening before, you could have shot me a message then, not seven minutes before you were supposed to show up!" I now almost shouted, feeling the tears shoot up into my eyes. No, no, no, no, no, get your grip together. I wiggled myself free and wanted to walk away, but he yanked my arm back, making my chest clash with his.

I looked up into his eyes and saw them actually tearing up.
"If you had let me in that night or replied to any of my calls, I wouldn't have to cry and spill out my heart to you in the dark back of a restaurant. After that loss... I felt empty. I felt as if I hadn't performed well enough, I'm just a second-tier player on this iconic team full of stars like Gavi or Pedri. I fled. Because I felt that I wasn't good enough, not only for the team, but also for you - yes, I chickened out and felt so bad about it that I didn't even dare to tell you. Hence my stupid and cowardly message. I am sorry, really and I understand if you never want to see me again but I just wanted to explain myself and hope that you would listen and build me up. Like you've done every summer since I went away and I cried about the bad stuff that happened at La Masía. But apparently you prefer listening to French guys promising you the world now" he said as a year rolled down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away before loosening the grip around me and walking back to our table, leaving me behind completely confused.

Teenage Dream • Fermín LopezWhere stories live. Discover now