For Molly:

Pulling your sleeves up, you ate your dinner. You sat with your mother and your mother's best friend, who happened to be the mother of your childhood best friend. "So what have you been up to these past few years? The last time I saw you, you had just turned twenty four," Maria stated.

"I've mostly just done art shows with my art. It's tedious but I love it," you smiled. You enjoyed talking about your passion to anyone that would listen. Fifteen years ago, it was only Cristiano that would listen. Cristiano Ronaldo, your childhood best friend. You two had been inseparable since diapers; that is until he made it big. It wasn't his fault. He tried to always keep in touch but once your art career started to gain ground, your individualized schedules made it impossible to get a phone call going let alone a relationship. You had both just grown too busy for each other.

"How's your art career been going? I heard you had a piece in a prestigious festival a few weeks back."

"Yeah, one of my paintings. It was about growing up in Santo António," you explained. You had loved growing up in Portugal. You loved Spain too but Portugal was forever your home. "How's Cristiano, I haven't seen or heard from him in forever," you asked, your curiosity getting the better of you.

"Oh he's doing so well. He loves what he's doing, you know. He was obsessed with that football growing up. It all paid off for him in the end." You smiled. You had missed him dearly and hoped to be able to talk to him again in the future, though you had no idea of when that exact day would be.

"Is he coming to our get together Thursday?" your mother asked.

"He should be," Maria responded.

"What get together?" you asked, confused as to how this event had been planned out and made without your knowledge of it.

"Oh it's just a small gathering between our family and the Aviero's. Did I forget to mention it?" your mother asked, seemingly to have not even realized how confused you were about the whole situation. Your two families had been close ever since your mother and Cristiano's mother were little girls in school.

"Just a little bit, but I was probably too busy to even acknowledge it," you sighed, finishing your meal. You and your mother paid, bid Maria goodbye, and left to the car.

"Are you excited to see Cristiano again?" your mother questioned as you sat in the driver's seat.

"Yeah. Well, I haven't seen him in years but it'll be fun to reconnect with him after so long."

"Reconnect on what level?"

"Well, we were best friends growing up. It's kind of hard to just imagine how far apart we grew," you commented, talking mostly to yourself.

"I was talking about a love connection," your mother muttered.

"Mom! Will you stop trying to marry me off!" you sighed loudly as you drove down the dark streets.

"Oh please, (Y/N), humor me. You aren't getting any younger. You're an only child and I want grandkids," your mother replied.

"I'm twenty eight, with the way you're talking you'd think I was nearing forty," you rolled your eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me. When was the last time you were in a serious relationship, (Y/N)?"

"Marco," you pointed out.

"Two months is not serious," your mother said, exasperated.

"I don't know what you want from me, mom. I just haven't met a guy I would want to spend copious amounts of time with," you stated.

"Because you already have," your mother fired back.

"Who?"

"Cristiano of course! Don't tell me you don't find him attractive. And don't think I didn't hear the two of you up in your bedroom on your birthday—"

"—Mother, please," you begged, your cheeks tinted a deep shade of red.

"Fine, fine. I'll stop," your mother conceded. The day of the get together had arrived and you pulled on a sundress your mother had bought you for Christmas two years ago. It was the first time you wore it. Braiding your hair back, you walked downstairs and helped your mother set up. A knock on the door alerted you that your guests had arrived.

"I'll get it," you called, walking quickly in your nude pumps. Opening the door widely, you greeted the Aviero's warmly. Noticing Cristiano was missing from the group, you sighed to yourself.

"Oh Cristiano's on his way, he just had to pick up Junior," Maria told you, walking inside. You held the door open for the Aviero's before following them into the kitchen area. You and your mother had set everything up outside on the patio. Just as you were about to sit down you heard the doorbell ring. Walking back over to the front door, you opened it to see your childhood best friend standing there. A small boy hid behind his long legs.

"Cris," you smiled before pulling him into a hug. He hugged you back tightly. "I haven't seen you in ages," you gushed.

"It has been too long," Cristiano agreed. "You've definitely grown from the last time we've seen each other."

"Might just be because I'm wearing heels," you smiled. Your height difference had been a long running joke between the two of you. It started out when bullies at school had taken to calling you short stack. You had been a little chubby and their mean words often reduced you to tears. That is, until Cristiano stepped in. He towered over the bullies and shooed them away from you every single time. They had later called him 'short stack's tall bodyguard'. The short and tall adjectives had stuck as puberty hit and he shot up while you still remained relatively short. "And who's this?" you asked, looking at the little boy still hiding behind Cris's legs.

"This is Junior, he's my son," Cris introduced. "Come say hi," he told his son. Junior peeked out from behind his father's leg.

"My name's (Y/N), I'm an old friend of your Papi's," you said.

"Nice to meet you," he replied quietly.

"Hard to believe he's your son. You were always the more outgoing of the two of us," you joked, leading them through the house. You opened the patio door and led them to the party. Cristiano greeted your mother and his family as you sat down. Junior sat next to you, which was one of the only two available seats left out.

"Did you know my Papi before he played football?" Junior quietly questioned.

"I knew him since we were both in diapers. I have a picture if you don't believe me," you smiled, showing him the old photo you had on your phone. "That's your dad and that's me," you pointed out, handing Junior your phone so he could look at the picture.

"You're not passing that old photo around again, are you?" Cristiano teased.

"Please, everyone should see baby Cristiano. But you'd probably sue me for all I'm worth if I posted the picture," you returned fire. Junior handed you back your phone. Food was served and you helped Junior grab his food.

"Thank you," he thanked as you handed him some bread.

"You're welcome," you smiled. You could see Cristiano smiling out of the corner of your eye which widened your own smile. The party slowly ended and you saw off Cristiano and Junior.

"We had fun. Thank you for having us," Cristiano thanked.

"It was no problem. And you're always welcome back," you responded, waving as they walked to Cristiano's car. Junior waved through the window opening until Cristiano put up the tinted windows. You smiled to yourself as they drove away, walking back inside.