Unexpected Love

A Chance Encounter

The sun shone bright blinding me as I sat on top the picnic table with my group of girlfriends beside me. "Krystina!" A random guy yelles my name from across the field as he waved at me. I waved back before bringing my hand to my forehead at an attempt to shield my eyes from the sunlight.

"Remind me why we come to these soccer games again?" I asked not speaking to anyone in general as I moved to tie up my long curly locks of hair.

"We come to watch the cute guys" my friend Monica replied. I nodded in agreement while peering out in to the distance and saw the groups of guys outfitted in their soccer gear.

This was our normal Sunday afternoon. The three of us would always met at that same picnic table in the park every weekend and spend hours watching our guy friends play soccer as we sat there rooting them on. Occasionally one of us would get out there and show off our own soccer skills.

I laid back on my elbows and turned my attention to my friend Victoria, "hey who's that with your man over there?" I asked redirecting Victoria's gaze. Victoria shrugged her shoulders, "no clue". "He's cute", I said explaining my curiosity. Victoria looked over at Monica. "Do you know who that is with your brother?" Monica shook her head no, "why don't we go find out?" she asked as she stood up from the table. The three of us agreed and headed over to Victoria's boyfriend who just happened to be Monica's brother.

Giovanni caught sight of all of us and waved us over. "Hey!" he spoke a little out of breath but otherwise happy. "Did you see that badass goal I made?" he questioned as he went around giving quick hugs out. Victoria nodded her head "you were kicking ass out there babe" she spoke before touching her lips to his. Everyone started talking about the soccer games that we had watched while I stood there not interested in what was being said. Instead my interest was on the person standing next to Giovanni.

I would nod and smile as if I were paying attention to the conversation. Instead my attention was focused on this mysterious friend of Giovanni's. "So who's your friend?" I heard myself blurt out in the middle of the conversation. "I didn't just do that did I?" I thought as heat rose to my cheeks from embarrassment.

Giovanni gave a quiet chuckle, "this is Nicolas" he gestured towards the guy standing next to him. "I forgot you all didn't know him". Nicolas looked at me with a smile, "I can see that Gio is horrible at introducing people". We all laughed in unison before individually introducing ourselves.

"So how do you know my brother?" Monica asked looking Daniel up and down. "I met him a while back when some friends and I come out here to play." She nodded her at his reply. Victoria chimed in with the next interrogation question, "So what part of town are you from? I haven't seen you around before." "I live across the tracks" he answered. His answer needed no further explanation because we all knew what across the tracks meant.

Across the tracks was the town's way of saying the wrong side of town, the projects, the hood, in other words it was considered the bad side of town. It was the side of town that this group of friends never adventured to.

"So what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Giovanni asked as he threw himself down on the picnic table that held all his stuff. I watched as Daniel sat next to him. My eyes followed his every movement as he began peeling off the long sleeve dry fit shirt from his chest. Once it was off his body he crumpled it up and shoved it inside his duffle bag. My eyes drifted over his chest and arms, I was definitely liking what I saw. Every inch of Daniel seemed to be muscle. Then I noticed that he had several tattoos on his arms chest and sides. Could this boy get any sexier, she thought. Krystina was completely caught up in her own thoughts regarding Nicolas that she hadn't noticed the full conversation being had.

"Uh Krystina." The sound of her name being said finally jolted her out of her thoughts. "Huh?" "We're waiting for you to answer us", Monica said with a small giggle. "I don't think she was paying attention to anything we said", Giovanni chimed in. "She was definitely paying attention, just not to us", Victoria said giving her a wink. Nicolas caught her eyes and gave flirtatious smile causing her to blush.

"Umm if everyone is done picking on me can you please tell me what needs to be answered." "We asked if you had any plans after this." Krystina shook her head no, "then it is settled", replied Giovanni, "we're all going out to eat because we are starving." He looked back at Nicolas and he nodded in agreement with the statement made.

"So do you go to the soccer games every Sunday?" Nicolas asked Krystina trying to start up conversation. The moment they arrived at the restaurant Krystina knew her friends were up to something. Once they were seated and had ordered drinks Victoria, Monica, and Giovanni had all found reasons to get up and leave the table. The three had been gone for what seemed forever and Krystina had suddenly become very shy.

"Every Sunday. Yeah." Krystina replied awkwardly. A slight smile played at the corner of his lips, "I can't believe I've never noticed your gorgeous self before today". Krystina felt the blush rush to her cheeks. Before she could muster up a response to Nicolas' comment the voices of her friends caught her attention. "So has the waitress come by with our drinks yet?" Giovanni asked. Both Krystina and Nicolas shook their heads no. "Wow I thought she would've brought them by now-" Monica said looking around for the waitress, "I know we took long enough out there", Victoria spoke finishing Monica's sentence. Krystina shot glares at both of her friends, "yea you did take long enough!" They both shrugged their shoulders as Giovanni changed the subject, "sooo what did you two talk about while we were gone?"

Krystina had shed her shyness as the time passed during their dinner. She hadn't gained the complete confidence needed to flirt with Nicolas but she had managed to hold small conversation with him. Victoria and Monica managed to help her out a lot with gaining information on Nicolas. "So I'm assuming you're over the age of twenty-one since you're ordering a drink" Monica spoke as she stirred her drink with the straw. With a nod of his head he answered "yup, I just turned twenty-one a couple of weeks ago." "Ohh now we have someone to score us alcohol!" Victoria giggled. Giovanni and Nicolas laughed in unison. "Maybe one day I'll get to buy you a drink", Nicolas spoke looking directly at Krystina.

She could feel all eyes on her as heat rose to her cheeks. She was sure everyone could see how bad she was blushing at what he said. Quick think of something to say, she thought to herself. "Umm I'm not old enough to drink" was all she could manage to say. Nice going! Now he's going to think I don't know how to have fun! Both Monica and Victoria both shot her looks and she knew they were thinking the same thing she was.