serendipity ≫ mario götze

012

        My phone beeps, I sprint towards the bed from the kitchen where I am making pancakes for breakfast and open the text message. My heart skips a beat when I see that it's from Mario. I'm sure it's just him saying that he has arrived safely in Brazil. According to my calculations he should've arrived while I was asleep, but I'm pretty sure he just forgot to text me, or something. I swipe the screen to open the text messages and my eyes scan the screen as I read the few words he texted me.

        “I arrived safely. In the hotel now. I wish you were here.”

        I grin as I read his words and I take my phone back to the counter in the kitchen. I google, while baking pancakes, when the first game of Germany will be played. I just want to surprise Mario by coming to him in Brazil. I don't want him to know it beforehand. Yet I'm not sure how to do so. He did give me the information if I did decide to go. He told me I should let him know so he'll come to the airport. He would probably also pick up his parents and siblings so I didn't bother to let him know that I was coming to Brazil. Last night, when I wasn't able to sleep, I had already started packing up some things. Picked sets of clothing that I liked and shoes that I thought would be handy to take with me. I googled the temperatures in Brazil and noticed that it is way to hot there, so I didn't really pack any super thick clothing.

        Before I know I am texting Mario back, something to make him think that I am not going to Brazil to support him and his team.

        “Poor you. Another month and you'll be back here. But please, do come back World Champions, will you?”

        I am racing through the apartment to find the right stuff to put into my suitcase. Mario should be glad I helped him pack, he isn't here to help me pick clothing. I had called the number Mario gave me to inform them that I was definitely going and I would most likely sit with all the families and the real girlfriends and I probably felt really out of place. But they seem to be okay with it and they said that Mario had let them know that there would be a chance that I would come too. I smile as everything is arranged for me. But the downside is of this entire journey is: we would be leaving in 2 days. I am not even done yet.

        “So you're really going to Brazil for a guy?” Viktoria says, with Lotte sitting next to me, a few hours later. They just burst into my apartment again and I told them the full story.

        “Yeah, I think I am yes,” I say when I realize how stupid it sounds.

        “I think it's romantic,” Lotte says while she is swooning over a picture I showed of Mario. She didn't even know who he was, so we googled him and found some really cute pictures.

        “I'm actually going as just a friend you know, not as anything romantic,” I say to Lotte and she looks at me, stunned.

        “So you are not going out with this super hot, rich football player who is totally into you?” she asks. I laugh and sit down next to them.

        “No, I'm not going out with him,” I say, “At the moment.”

        “So he is single?” Lotte asks.

        “As far as I know, he is single, practically,” I answer.

        “Can I come with you to Brazil?” Lotte asks, whipping her now-blue hair back. Viktoria and I burst out in laughter.

        “Of course not, you are practically dating...what is that guy's name again...Leonard or whatever his name is,” Viktoria says and playfully nudges her in her side.

        “Leonard, Dennis and also that guy from Spain, Fernando,” Lotte says and she gives me my phone back. She had been staring at pictures of Mario for quite some time now and I click the pictures away. I walk to the kitchen and offer them some pancakes that I left over from breakfast and they eat them. All. Super quickly. I'm surprised. I did assume both of them (really skinny girls) barely ate and especially don't eat anything greasy like American pancakes with maple syrup. But they do. We ended up discussing Lotte's love life and I'm glad they left the fact alone that I would be going to Brazil.

        It is the morning of my trip to Brazil. Mario doesn't know anything yet, at least that's what I think and he still thinks we are going to Skype tonight, my time. Timezones are really confusing, I wish all of the world somehow had the same time. Lars and Andreas picked me up at my apartment and took me to the airport of Düsseldorf hours away. The trip to the airport was tiring and relatively boring. Andreas listens to music that I can't relate to. Some sort of hip hop and rap, while I prefer listening to rock and pop. I slept a bit on the backseat of the car, at least that's what they tell me. Because now, Andreas, Lars and I are waiting in at the airport until we can find some familiar faces. I don't know exactly whom I had contact with, but it was a male, probably mid-thirties and he said he would let me know where he would be. So I'm either waiting for a call or a text or something. Meanwhile, we spend our time at the Starbucks of the airport and I drink a nice latte. Beep beep. Both Andreas and Lars shoot up from their conversation about the barista that works at Starbucks.

        “What does it say?” Andreas asks. I swipe so the message pops up and I read that I have to be at some place (I honestly have no idea what or where it is) in about 20 minutes.

        “So, I suppose we have to go find this,” I say as I show both the guys the screen of my cell phone. They get up and Andreas takes a last look at the cute barista and I pull him with me to find either a map or a person that knows this place. We run around the place, unsure where exactly to go and Andreas is asking a woman at the reception to see whether she knows and Lars is trying to find it on his own. And what am I doing?

        Exactly. I'm texting with Mario. We talk about everything and I just want to tell him what's happening and that I am going to Brazil. But I can't tell him yet. He does say that he is excited to see his parents and that they've been training really hard to win the first few games. And he reminds me that we should play football together sometime.

        “Lillian! Come on, we only have five minutes to get to the gates,” I hear Andreas yell and I wake up from my thoughts. I throw my phone in my bag and pull my suitcase behind me, following Andreas and Lars who probably figured out where it is.

        Almost out of breath, I arrive at a group of people who seemed to be going to Brazil, seeing the huge suitcases. One of them is now looking at me, and walks up to me. Yes, it's a man in, I guess, his mid-thirties.

        “Lillian? Lillian Hathaway?” he asks.

        “That's me,” I say, in German. I have been speaking German a lot and I hope it's improving.

         “Ah great, yes, you're the last one, we can board the plane soon,” he says, like he is the traveling guide of the group. I don't know who exactly in the group are Mario's family, but I try to spot people that have the same faces, but that's hard. I wonder if they put me together with them on the train. You know, some kind of bonding. I hope not. I wouldn't know what to say. I say goodbye to the guys and look at Lars once again before I leave. He seems a little sad that I'm leaving. I still think he fancies me. I promise that I'll be texting them, like I promised Viktoria and Matthias. I follow the group of people into the plane, heart beating loudly in my chest.