POV: Aurelia
"You know, you should come to the café, Kate and Iris want to meet you"
Kai and I walk with intertwined hands along the beach where we met for the first time, but this time with Koba and Baloo. It's reasonably sunny and there's almost no wind.
"Really? Do they know we're together?" asks Kai to me with his other hand in front of his face to prevent the sun from getting into his eyes.
"No, but the group chat was exploding one day and they thought I had an admirer, so then I had to explain that I met some footballers and now they want to meet you, even though they don't know who you are".
"Interesting, I'll ask the lads if they want to come along one day" he says with a soft laugh.
We walk on quietly, because I can't really answer that. Kai and I make these walks regularly with our dogs. It is a nice way to spend time together.
"Kai?"
"Hmm" Kai stops for a moment and turns his head to me "What's wrong?"
"I do want to tell Claire that we are together, but tonight is their moving party already and I want it to be about them, you know, I don't want it to be about us". This had been in my head for a while and it had to come out.
He takes my chin between his fingers and looks at me intensely "You don't have to tell her yet, if you'd rather keep it quiet for a while it's okay with me, I'm always on your side".
I take his face between my hands. "Thank you, I really appreciate it".
He smiles and then gives me a kiss, which shows that he is always there for me.
"Come on, let's go home, or we'll lose Baloo and Koba if they run any further" he takes my hand and walks closer to the dogs, who wander freely in front of us.
•••
This is the last time we will be in Timo's house before they move. I am going to miss Claire terribly, but she had promised to visit me often. Which is very good.
"If you need me, know that you can always call me" Claire says as she hangs up the last of the decorations.
She asked me if I wanted to help prepare the party, and who says no to planning a party. "I know, I'm just going to miss you a lot" I sigh and plop myself down next to her on the couch.
"And how is it with you and Kai and don't lie, because I know how you two look at each other" my best friend says as she changes the subject.
A pink blush works its way up my cheeks. She must have noticed, because she starts screaming like crazy "I knew it, I knew it! Are you two together?" she says super excitedly.
So much for my plan not to tell her yet.
I say nothing, so the silence gives it away, what is the point of lying about it?
"Since when? Omg, I still need to recover from this shocking news. Why didn't you tell me?" Here's her dramatic moment, I'll miss that side of her too.
"Because you were in the middle of moving and you might have been busy and I also didn't want to say it today, because today is all about you and Timo, I'm sorry" I say as I give her an apologetic look.
"Girl, don't worry about that. You could have said it at any time, but I'm so happy for you!" she gives me a hug and asks me something more "Does anyone else know?"
I shake my head no. "The intention was to keep it quiet for a while, so nobody knows, except you".
"Okay, wow, I'm still not over this confession, but let's get ready, because the party is going to start in an hour!" she shouts as she dances around happily.
•••
"Who is coming?" I ask her as I take some soda from the fridge.
"A few of our old friends and Timo with the Chelsea boys and also some lads from the England national team. Oh, and also some old friends of Timo's, a few have come here from Germany, really crazy" she says while texting someone on her phone.
"Wow, that's a lot of people" I take a sip of my Ice-Tea and then look at the clock. "They'll be here soon, I think".
"Yeah, Timo just sent me that he is on his way" she holds up her phone with the message.
•••
"Come in!" shouts Claire a little further away, already half drunk. The music is playing loudly and there are lots of people. Lots and lots of people.
I am standing in a corner somewhere, looking for Kai.
"Are you looking for someone?" I hear a voice behind me say. It is a boy about 18-19 years of age with dark brown hair. He doesn't wait for my answer and continues "I'm Jude, uhm, Jude Bellingham" he says somewhat shyly.
"Hey, I'm Aurelia and yes I'm looking for someone. Do you happen to know Kai Havertz?"
He seems distracted and looks into the distance behind me. I want to look behind me too, until I feel a familiar arm over my shoulders.
"I think you found him" Jude says as he lets out a laugh. "I'd better go, it's been nice getting to know you" he says a little nervous. I look up at Kai, who is looking at him strange. Jealousy? I frown for a moment "Yeah, I'll see you later Jude!" and smile at him.
"Seriously Kai, don't tell me you are jealous of an 18 year old boy".
He narrows his eyes at me. "I'm not jealous, but I didn't come here for that. How does Claire know we're together?"
"Come with me" I take his hand and lead him to a place where there are not many people.
"She only knows today and I didn't want to tell anyone, but she is my best friend and she already knew somehow. She had also promised not to tell anyone".
"And how do you know Claire knows we're together?" I ask him after the explanation I just gave.
"When I came in she took me aside and said that she knew and she wasn't going to tell anyone. Can I tell Timo? Since Claire knows. If only those two know, there is nothing wrong" he nods his head to Timo who is dancing and twirling his shirt.
"Uhm, maybe not now, since he's a bit... drunk. Tell him when he's sober" I answer him.
He looks at me with such a strange expression "What?" I ask him a little irritated.
"Nothing, you're just very beautiful" he puts a strand of hair behind my ear and gently brushes my jaw with his knuckles. Only now do I realise how close we have become.
I stare into his eyes, those eyes in which I easily get lost. "As much as I want to kiss you now, here is not the ideal place" I mutter as I still look at him in these beautiful eyes.
"As much as I would like to, you are right" we both take a step back. "Hey, Aurelia, come here!" shouts Ben, waving his hand.
That was a bit of a scare, hopefully he didn't see our intimate moment.
Kai walks towards his German friends before giving me a wink. I just shake my head and walk towards Ben.
"How are you?" Ben asks me, because he hasn't seen me for a long time. "I'm fine and how are you?"
"I am doing well! Oh, this is Trent, John, Kyle, Kalvin, Declan, Raheem, Phil and Emile" he says as he points to who is who, one by one.
"That's a lot of names, but hey guys" I say as I look at everyone individually.
They all greet me back and soon we have a conversation.
"Really? Declan can do a footballskill with his bum?" I say with disbelief. Phil has just told me this and I break out in laughter. "And you're telling me there's a video of it?" I say between laughs.
Trent shows me the video. "Wow, that's really impressive!" I still can't believe it he can do that. Declan really looks like a funny guy.
"Yes, I know, I'm very talented" says Declan, who then also starts to laugh.
This conversation is very nice, but the glances Kai is throwing at me from the other side of the room are not helping me to concentrate.
I quickly grab my phone and send Kai a message. Don't look at me like that. Take a picture, it will last longer.
I press send and look at Kai who grabs his phone. We make eye contact and he shakes his head after reading my message.
I already have lots of pictures of you, just be careful my love x he responds.
I blush at Kai's text message and continue listening to what Emile has to say.
•••
I am now talking to Claire, who has recovered a bit from all the alcohol she has consumed.
"So I can't start shouting that you and Kai are together?" she asks me, still drunk. And I thought she had recovered from the alcohol.
"No, I want to keep it quiet so-"
She starts yelling, so I quickly hold my hand over her mouth.
"Shut up, stop shout-" I try to say until my phone goes crazy with notifications.
I take it out of my bag and see something I'd rather not see.
"I don't think you can keep it quiet now" Claire says as she turns her phone and shows the Instagram story of Olivia, Kai's ex.
There she has shared a message from a gossip account that has a photo of Kai and me at the beach this morning with the words: I can confirm that this is indeed @aurelia.brown xx.
I may die, or start to cry, take a trip around the world and never come back.
"This bitch, I'm going to remove her fake eyelashes from her face and-" Claire is suddenly sober again and starts talking angrily, but I stop her talking "Maybe violence is not the best idea" I mutter while my head is bursting with thoughts.
"You know, in some cases violence is the answer and in case you didn't know, this is one of those cases" she clarifies.
Although it sounds tempting to ruin her lashes, it is not really the best idea and certainly not something I would do.
"Fuck, what can I do. It's not as if I can delete everything, because by the time I do, everyone will already know" I run my hands through my hair in frustration.
"Your account is private, so that's a good thing. And I'm afraid you're going to have to make your relationship public, because ignoring the subject is even worse" she says in a worried tone.
I sigh and look at her "But I don't want them to know who I am at all".
I look around and see many people from the party looking at their phones and at Kai and me. This is scary.
How could this happen? I am just afraid that the media will ruin our relationship and our lives.
It went from not telling anyone at all to the whole world knowing about it. I feel guilty, this evening was supposed to be good for Claire and Timo.
Author's note:
This story is not set in covid-19 times, so don't worry.
I painted with my bestie today and it was fun haha. I have nothing else to say, bye!
Lots of love
-Camille