[ nine ] 

He changed out of his training uniform quickly, as he didn't want to keep her waiting. When he returned to meet her, she was in the same place she had been standing. By now the training grounds were empty. Her father and the other members of the coaching staff had gone into the officed to get the last details ready before their upcoming game. 

Without saying a word, he gestured for her to follow and he led her to his car in the parking lot. Upon looking at the new sports car, she let out an impressed gasp. Erik reached into the pocket of his jeans and grabbed the car keys, hitting the unlock button and the headlights turned on, signaling that the car was now unlocked. Trying to be a gentleman, he went around to the passenger side door to get the door for her. After thanking him, she asked him, "What happened to old Beetle McLennon?" 

Erik was taken by surprise. That had been so long ago that even he had forgotten about it and he didn't expect Arabella to remember either. 

McLennon was Erik's first car, a nineteen sixty-four Volkswagen Beetle that has belonged to his father. His father had been a big Beatles fan and had named his car after the song writing duo, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Erik had gotten the old car as a present for his fifteenth birthday. And often when Arabella was a child, he would babysit her when her parents went out. She always loved his old car.

"Its just sitting at home gathering dust since I got this new one." Erik informed her with a shrug.

"Oh," She said, climbing intot he passenger seat. She added, "That was a beautiful car. It was the loveliest little thing."

Erik got in the car as well and started the engine after buckling his seat belt. While backing out of his spot in the parking lot, he thought about dropping her off at her house. Knowing her father, he would be a while at the training camp. Erik didn't want to leave her at home by herself. "Hey," He started, thinking up a suggestion, "Do you want to get something to eat? Or maybe go have some coffee?"

Her eyes lit up with excitement. "No one's invited me to have coffee before." Her smile dropped slightly as she added, "Everyone thinks I'm a child. I'm almost eighteen."

"I'm twenty-two and I still get treated like a child by most of my team mates." He pointed out. 

"Maybe we should hang out together more." She said. "Then we can feel like the adults we are, together."

Erik chuckled. "That would be great. And as adults..." The Dortmund footballer spoke, trying to sound casual. "You should be able to tell me what was upsetting you earlier."

Arabella bit down on her lip. "I didn't get anything from my secret admirer today."

"Have you figured out who this person is?" He asked nervously. They had already left the parking lot and Erik drove down the street in the direction of the nearest cafe where they could have something to eat as well as a cup of coffee. 

The girl sitting in the passenger seat beside him giggled, hitting his shoulder lightly, "Do you think that if I knew who he was, that it would be a secret?" Before giving him a chance to reply to the question, she continued, "I have been observing all the players and I can tell which of them are not sending the presents. That gets me one step closer to finding out the identity of my secret admirer."

Subconsciously, he took a hand off the steering wheel and stuck it into his pocket to feel the note he hadn't been able to give her. Concealing the truth from her made him feel as though that small scrap of paper were burning through his skin. But he wasn't ready to tell her. He needed to be sure that her love for him wasn't just a sibling love, like the one they had shared when she was ten years old. Focusing his attention back on the road, he pulled into a cafe that looked suitable to take Arabella. He parked his car in the first available spot and shut the engine off. 

Erik saw her pull her phone out of the pocket of her school cardigan and click on the camera button. She snapped a picture of the outside of the cafe and posted it onto the social media. 

From what he could see over her shoulder, on her profile were mostly pictures of beautiful scenery and art she had found around town. Clicking out of her instagram account, she turned the camara to front face mode and turned to Erik. "Hey, lets take a picture together so we can remember this moment." She told him. "I don't really get to go out with friends much. Only with mum or dad and it isn't as much fun as it used to be."

He moved closer to her in the small space of the car and propped his chin on her shoulder. A smile made way onto his face and in the screen of her phone he could see she was smiling too. She quickly snapped the picture and opened the door to the car, jumping out into the early afternoon light. 

He locked his car and she followed him into the cafe. Since there weren't many people, they were able to find a table easily and ordered their drinks. They had decided to get sandwiches and frappés. Though she hadn't even gotten coffee, Erik didn't point it out. He only liked seeing how happy she looked and he was also glad she was finally opening up to him again.

While they waited for their order to be brought to them, Arabella started out a conversation with Erik. "You know, at first I suspected Mats of being my secret admirer because he was one of the first to spproach me."

Erik scoffed. "Mats couldn't write a poem to save his life."

She nodded her head in agreement and giggled. "That's exactly what Pia said!"

"Pia only dates him because they were made for each other." Erik said, "Two peas in a pod."

"Then I suspected Marco." She shrugged, "I thought maybe he felt sorry for me because I was such a loner."

"Marco is too self-absorbed to write something like that." Erik argued once again. The only poems his friends ever wrote were perverted joke poems they belted out in the locker room to get everyone laughing. Erik remembered the ever so popular; roses are red, bvb is yellow, open your mouth, and say hi to my fellow, at which time they would point to their crotch. When Erik asked him if he would ever dare say that to Pia, he said she had helped him compose the poem. Though when Erik asked what his mother would think of his poetic abilities, Mats had replied with: she would knock my teeth out with a loaf of stale bauernbrot. "Besides, the only other person he has eyes for, other than himself, is Jude."

Arabella went through another list of guys she suspected, with Erik scoffing at each one. But Erik was never mentioned. It wasn't that she didn't suspect him, but how could she tell him that she did? If he wasn't the one, she would feel too embarrassed to face him again. She relied on Mats to find her some more information about her secret admirer.

Halfway through their meal at the cafe, she excused herself. The moment she left the table, Erik reached for her school bag and stuffed the note inside as quickly as he could before she reuturned.

He dropped her off at her house over an hour later. She waved goodbye from the front door and watched him drive off. The house was quiet, her father hadn't arrived. She locked the front door and went up to her bedroom. 

Dropping her bookbag onto her bed, she saw a slip of paper fall out. Her blue eyes lit up with excitement as she grabbed it and opened it up.

It was another poem from her secret admirer.

-

yay, an update after two weeks. i've been way too busy with school. but thank you all so much for reading. it means so much to me. and there aren't many chapters left to post on here, so i hope you enjoy them.

thank you.

-clary xx