Cristian pulled out his jacket from the closer. It was red, blue sleeves, and he bought it just the day before at an exclusive boutique. The jacket's colors were debatable, but the fashion designer's name on it wasn't. He wore it and turned towards the woman who was getting dressed in his room.

"If you want you can stay for breakfast" he told her.

"With you?"

"I must go to my training session".

She raised her eyebrows imperceptibly, but Cristian noticed. It wasn't believable that a soccer player would go to work without eating anything.

"Maria, my housekeeper, can cook something for you". Cristian pulled his zipper up.The woman put on her shoes quickly.

"I'll go to the coffee shop, thank you. Are you free tomorrow?"

"I'll be busy with the team. I'll call you. Anyway, didn't you tell me you were planning to get away with that actor for the weekend?" He was correct. She told him that, but she expected a different reaction. Jealousy maybe or any other sign that would make her understand he cared.

"You are busy every time we leave the bedroom", she said.

"That's not true, we have known each other for a couple of weeks, and..."

"Look", she interrupted him. Don't bother to call me when you are free".  She exited the room slamming the door.

Cristian went downstairs. Maria glared at him. Perfect. Now his housekeeper thought he mistreated his girlfriends, but that wasn't the case. He didn't avoid Sabrina outside the bedroom like she accused him to do. He was just really busy. He decided to send her flowers. Fuck, he didn't remember her address because when she told him he wasn't listening. He focused on the day ahead of him.

First thing there was a training session he had to attend. The sports centre was outside the city, surrounded by green hills. It was the 2nd of October, the sun was less warm, the air crisp, and he felt a weird nostalgia for the last summer that seemed so far away. So far away were the stars, the yacht, the sea. And him. Samir.When he entered the building he noticed a small group of people and heard a loud chatter. There was a guest, no doubt.

Among the voices of his teammates he recognized a different accent, a bit French a bit Arabic.

"Cristian", Sayid called him. Their friends moved, and Cristian saw Samir, standing there.

"Hello, Sayid invited me," Samir said, with a bright smile on his face.

Cristian hugged him like he would have done with one of his old friends. He didn't smell the sea anymore nor the brackish air, but Samir's woody and musky smell was still there, and Cristian thought that he would have recognized it everywhere, even among a crowd. He still felt intoxicated by it. He moved away.

"I didn't know you would come," Cristian said and hoped that his voice wasn't revealing the storm inside him.

"I came to see you on the pitch," Samir answered.

Cristian explained to him that he wasn't going to play because of a recent injury. Nothing serious, but he needed to rest. So Cristian ended up with Samir by his side on the bleachers. He couldn't focus on the match nor on his teammates. Marc who was behind him asked something about the players, but Cristian didn't understand what. The only think he could focus on were Samir's knees touching his own. Samir, instead, had fixed his eyes on the pitch, a serious expression on his face.

"Please, smile," Cristian told him.

"What?"

"If you keep looking so serious, the paps will say I annoy my guests", Cristian joked.

Samir bursted out laughing, and Cristian couldn't help but notice how his black eyes sparkled. "I'll do my best to save your reputation".

"Do you have you a car waiting for you after the match?," Cristian blurted out before the referee whistled. Before he lost his courage.

"Yeah, why?"

"I thought maybe you'd like to see where I live".

Samir got closer. "Why not?," he whispered into Cristian's hear.

They didn't exchange another word until the end of the match. Outside the stadium they meet paps, as always. Cristian lifted his jacket's collar as if it could hide him. What did he want to hide anyway? The desire that was devouring him? Samir, instead, looked so calm, happy to offer his face to the flashes.

"Is your son here?" It was the first thing Samie asked when they arrived at Cristian's villa.

Cristian shook his head. "He stays with his mum when I play".

"I didn't think you wanted me here, I didn't think you wanted to be my friend".

"You are correct," Cristian breathed on his mouth.

It took a moment. Their lips met. Samir's lips were warm and soft. God, Cristian thought.

"I guess your friends don't do this to you," Samir said and lay over him on the sofa.

Shut up, Cristian thought, but all he did was grab his face and get closer to him. Then he led Samir to his bedroom where he had everything they needed for the night. Lube. Condoms. In the bedroom he could do everything he had wanted to do with Samir since they met. He tasted every part of his body, licking, sucking, biting. His chest, his nipples, his stomach.

"Cri...," Samir whispered as if it was too much pleasure all at once.

Cristian lowered himself until he was between Samir's legs and took Samir's member into his mouth. But Samir grabber his hairs."I want to fuck you," he said.

Cristian was thinking the same thing since their knees touched at the stadium. He didn't want to wait any longer. He felt like he could explode at any moment now. He took the condoms and the lube from the drawer and laid on his back, waiting for the other man's fingers. He felt them moving inside him.

Samir knew exactly what he was doing to him, and Cristian felt the need to be taken by him.

"Please," he pleaded with a voice he himself didn't recognize.

"Are you ready? Don't you want me to prep you better?" Samir smiled.

"Fuck you Sami", Cristian blurted out. He kept to himself that he was ready because he spent the last night touching himself, sliding his fingers in his body while he fantasized about Samir.

Samir moved swiftly, opened the condom and then, while he looked into Cristian's eyes, he entered him roughly. Samir thrusted into him and kissed him on his lips, on his neck. Cristian got scared by his own feelings. He felt complete, a new kind of wholeness he had never felt before, but as Samir thrusted into him he couldn't think of that anymore. His mind was just full of pleasure and of Samir, Samir, Samir. His name echoed inside his head like a mantra. He listened to Samir's moans who mixed with his own, to the Arabic words that were escaping from his mouth and that didn't make any sense to Cristian. Then his stomach became warm, he clenched and trembled and came. Don't move, he wanted to tell Samir when the man slipped away from his hold. He was scared Samir would leave, but Samir just covered both of them with a duvet. They both fell asleep.

It was Samir who woke up first. He opened his eyes slowly and slowly he recognized the room, the furniture. The light of the lamposts of the park that surrounded the villa filtered through the linen curtains. For a moment the fluttering shadows seemed terrifying to him then he realized it was just the wind moving the leaves. He should move too. Run away as he always did. Cristian's body kept him there like a prisoner between the sheets. He observed his plump lips, his chiseled cheekbones, the peaceful expression on his face. That was the face of a guy who could hurt anyone on purpose, a face so different from the ones he was used to.

Suddenly their body pressed against each other seemed a too intimate contact to him. It's just fucking around, he said to himself. He tried to turn on the table lamp, but he hit something that crushed on the floor. The light and the noise woke Cristian up.

"Damn, I'm sorry," Samir cursed.

"What have you done?," Cristian asked, while he leaned towards the night table.

"Well, first time in my house and you are already destroying pieces of art"."I'm so sorry. I'm going to repay it, I promise" Samir said mortified, then he spotted a glint in Cristian's eyes. "You are taking the piss, aren't you?"

Cristian suppressed a chuckle. "It's just a souvenir. Arturo brought it from one of his trips around the world".

"And do you keep it here so you can think of him before sleeping?"

"What? No, but Martin likes it so much so..."

Samir laid on him with a swift movement. "You sure? Have you been with him or Marc?"

Cristian's expression tightened. "Not everyone jumps in his friend's bed".

"You're so right. You now my friends on the yacht? I fucked them one by one," Samir said slowly, punctuating every word. He studied Cristian's reaction. He was sure Cristian was hating him in that moment. He grabbed the lube and slipped a hand on Cristian's belly.

"Do you think I'm like that?" He saw Cristian wincing at contact with the cold lube and then relaxing under his touch.

"I think you are a jerk," Cristian moaned before a second orgasm ran through him.

"I need a shower," Samir said afterwards.

"Do you really want to get up?"

No, Samir wanted to say to erase the disappointment of Cristian's face, but he needed to go. There was a flight waiting for him, ready to bring him back to Tunis, to his boxing training. To his life made of lies.

"Are you still in a relationship?," Cristian asked after they showered together. Cristian wondered if Samir did this with his other lovers, if stayed enough to take a shower, to smell like their shower gel.

"Yes, I am. Her name is Maha," Samir replied while getting dressed.

"And you and Maha are together for real?"

"Do you want me to say we are just pretending for the fans and the paps?"

"You are?"

"Like what? Like you do when all those women threw themselves at you?" Samir hissed. "I like women too. I don't pretend to like them," Cristian explained to him. Samir fixed his shirt collar in front of the mirror. "I like women too, OK? It's just... it's not the same".

Their eyes met through the mirror. "And you love her?" Cristian regretted that question the moment the words left his mouth. What's difference would it make?

"I do, maybe not like other people think, but I really love her. We grew up together in Tunis before my dad took me away from there. She knows everything about me".

Cristian decided not to ask if by everything he meant his sexual encounters with other men too. He stroked Samir's back. "I know what it feels like when you can't be yourself".

"It's different for you".

"Why? Just because I really like women too?" Cristian didn't agree. He was bisexual but he had to hide exactly like Samir.

"For many reasons I don't want to talk about. Look, we can talk about anything, just not this. There's no need to do it". His eyes darkened, and Cristian knew the conversation was over.

They went downstairs. In the kitchen Maria was cooking something. She didn't turn around to look at them, but heard their footsteps.

"The orange juice is ready, Cristian. What does Sabrina want for breakfast?" She turned around when she heard Cristian coughing. She blushed when she saw Samir. "Oh! I'm sorry."

Samir smiled. "I'm Samir not Sabrina as you can see. I'm very happy to meet you".

Maria smiled and quickly served the breakfast, then she left the room still embarrassed, her cheeks red.

Samir took a sip from his glass. "Sabrina?"

"Do you think you are the only one who has fun?"

Samir thought that he didn't have that kind of fun with Maha. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"I wouldn't say so."

Samir looked at Cristian, the way he put sugar in his orange juice. Two spoons. The way he spread butter on his bread. Carefully. He was gathering all this new information about him and he didn't know what to make of them. There was something he wanted to tell him. "My manager decided to open a new gym here in Rome," he told Cristian. "He is looking for someone who can give boxing lessons and he thought of me".

Cristian smiled.

"What?" Samir asked.

"I was just thinking. You used your precious time to come here and see a soccer match. Didn't you think soccer was overrated?"

"Sayid insisted".

"The same way your manager will insist to make you come here to give boxing lessons in his gym? You'd need to come here often for that".

"And would you like that?" Samir bit his lips, and Cristian found him adorable.

"Maybe you would like it more," Cristian replied.They fell silent. While they were eating they could hear the bird in the park chirping.

Samir finished the breakfast quickly, then got up. "I have to think about it". His playful smile wasn't there anymore. Cristian felt confusion at his change of mood. He saw Samir taking the jacket he had left on the sofa hours ago.

"I need to go now," Samir added.

"Have you ever read that book you were flicking through in New York? How was that called? Pride and Prejudice?" He was near the door, his eyes veiled in melancholy.

"To be honest I didn't". Cristian got closer to kiss him. It was a quick kiss on the lips, and Samir smelled like his honey, musk and rose shower gel. Cristian saw him every morning in his kitchen for a moment. He saw Samir that greeted him with that same smell. Idiot...He observed Samir through the screen of the CCTV cameras, and when Samir exited his property the park seemed to him bigger and empty.