Chapter Two

                                    

                                          
"Should we have another glass of wine before our desserts are served?", she asked them.
Pep laughed, looking from her to Rúben and then back to her.
"What?", she asked, curious about his reaction.
"You'd love to have Rúben on your team. Not a drop of alcohol for him during the season".
"Oh my God, you're perfect", she blurted out before she could stop herself. Clearly, those two glasses of wine had affected her ability to stop talking. "I mean, I'm always fighting the players because of that. It's ridiculous. Why are professional players so obsessed with getting drunk?"
Rúben didn't answer but smiled at her. 
When the desserts were served, she noticed Rúben ordered the smallest and healthiest on the menu and it was her time to smile at him. 
"You'll probably burn that off with just 5 seconds at the gym", she told him.
"I don't have a sweet tooth anyways", he shrugged, but she didn't truly believe it.
They all kept chatting while eating their food and she quickly realized she had ordered too much, once again. 
"Pep, do you want some of my cake? I'm really full".
"Sure", he said, and she put a piece of the chocolate cake on his plate.
When she was about to put her plate back on the table, she decided to cut a small piece to put on Rúben's plate.
"No, don't!", he said. But she had seen him eyeing her cake since she started eating it. He clearly wanted to try it.
"Burnt off in 10 minutes at the gym. Or less", she winked.
He just laughed and had a bite. "This is really good. But are you trying to boycott my diet to help your team?"
They all laughed at that. "Guilty!"
Throughout the rest of their time at the restaurant, Lucía could feel Rúben looking at her. Trying not to be seen but he was doing a pretty bad job. And so was she. Pep either was oblivious or just decided not to make a comment about it.
"I need to go to the bathroom", she said when they were all done eating. "Don't leave without me".
After washing her hands, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her face looked a bit flushed and normally she would assume it was because of the wine or too much laughing but right now she wasn't so sure. This time it might have been because of a certain Portuguese who made her feel a bit nervous. But it wasn't the type of reaction she'd been getting since her breakup. This felt...different. She still didn't know whether that was good or not but she'll take it for now.
"I'm back. Should we share a taxi, Pep?"
"We've been talking about that while you were gone. Rúben will drive you home".
"What? No, honestly, let's just call a taxi. I don't want to take advantage of you".
"You won't", said Rúben, "I just discovered we are actually neighbours".
"We are?", she asked, not knowing how to feel about this news.
"Yes, Pep told me. We live in the same building. So it's stupid to make you pay for a taxi when I'm literally going to the same place. And I didn't drink, so I can drive".
It was then that she looked at her friend and saw the way he was looking at them both. He had noticed the looks, then. And was trying to play matchmaker? She didn't know how to feel about it but refusing Rúben's offer would make her look rude so she accepted.