Methis Delis POV
“Alright. Make another guess.” I crunched my face, forcing myself not to laugh at whatever he would say next.
“Ehh. Let’s see.” He raised his eyes to the ceiling, thinking of his next guess. “YES!”
“Don’t!” I exclaimed still trying to force myself to stay stoic. If I laughed again, my tummy might hurt.
“I thought you wanted to hear it?” he whined like a little girl which was even making his whole act funnier.
“Alright. Bring it on.”
“You have a hot crush on one of the footballer in the city team we are reporting on and you are to interview him today.” A crooked smile crawled up the side of his mouth. “You are nervous, are there butterflies in your tummy?”
At this point gripping the table was all it took me from not screaming the laugh I was holding. “There are no butter – “ I began laughing again. Some of the waiters who must have noticed my mood earlier were not giving me looks.
“Please don’t woo him.” Xander continued talking. “Those professors giving you the eye might not find it amusing.”
“No one is giving me any eye, Xander.”
Xander bulged his eyes open and gasped. “They are giving you something more?”
“NO!” I fell off my chair and had to stand back up to avoid attention, not like I had not already attracted enough.
It took about five whole minutes for all the laughing gas to clear in my head.
“So what is it about?” Xander asked again.
I played with the idea of telling Xander. But if I had to tell anyone, it would be Sophia. As of now, only me and my dad knew about it and perhaps anybody my selfish stepmother had told. Maybe I should just form a story and tell him. No. That would lead to too many complications later on. Because one needed a lie to hide another lie, and another lie to hide the previous lie. In the end, I would be harming myself more with the layers of lies.
“It really is nothing, Xander. Thank you for your concern.” I said with a little smile.
He nodded back, respecting my privacy. We ate and Xander chivalrously paid for both of us even though I told him that he did not need to.
From there, we headed back to my home where Xander waited for me in my living room as I took my bath and changed into clothes befitting the cold of the city.
I came out shortly after in a tootle neck black shirt, a striped skirt, long socks, a white canvas, and a thick jacket in my hand. Xander folder his brows, “Are we going for a winter party?” he joked.
“It’s cold and if you have any sense. We’d stop at your place and pick you a jacket.” Xander had only a T-shirt and a casual trousers on.
“Nah. No thanks, we’d be late by then,” he said.
“Well you better not fall sick,” I cautioned. I noticed him still staring at me and I asked. “What?”
“Nothing,” he mocked our earlier conversation.
“Stop. What’s wrong?”
“You are really gorgeous in that outfit.”
My smile was so wide and bright it almost tore my face into two. My cheeks blushed red. It was the very first time he had complemented me and it was one I knew would continue ringing in my head like a church bell at 12 noon in the Vatican City.
Of all the girls that he was affiliated with, he found me gorgeous. Or was it the outfit because he said ‘gorgeous in that outfit’? I snapped myself out of it. Why was I thinking so much on a compliment? I needed to focus on more important things.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I told him and we both left the house.
We took a cab and arrived at school rather than going straight to the stadium. It was an important protocol to follow to make sure that we had checked in for work officially. We went to the registrar were we signed the attendance and recorded our days before going through a quick brief with our supervisor. When all that was over, it was time to head to the stadium to begin reporting the stories. Tomorrow was Matchday so we had to come in today to record training sessions and interview players and coaching staffs before the match tomorrow just to give the fans a what to expect talking point. I was not very good at sports, but Xander was a huge fan of the club so he could do most of the technical stuff.
We took a cab to the bus stop nearest to the pitch and begun the dreadful walk to the stadium.
“They call it ‘nearest bus stop’ for a reason,” I complained.
“Don’t be like that,” Xander said. “The walk is not that far.”
“For a physically active boy, it is not.” I rolled my eyes. Whoever thought it a good idea to have the bus stop this far from the stadium was mental. “Why is it even this far?”
“I told you. It dates back to the year 1888 when the first founders of the club had to trek insanely long distances from their home to get to where the facilities to play were because they did not have any in their neighbourhood when the club earned promotion to the First Division, they had to rent an affordable stadium and the only one available was the one miles away so every match day, the players and fans gathered as one and made the long walk there.
“That’s why the motto of the club is ‘Just a March Away.’ So eventually when they made it big, to preserve the tradition, they made the bus stop a little away from the stadium so fans can feel closer to the club when they make the march. That way, only the most dedicated fans show up to home games.”
I stared at Xander in awe. All that plenty history just to explain an unbearable walk. And here I was thinking the bus stop location was an accident.