41

i groan tiredly as someone shakes my shoulders in attempt to wake me up.

"hey wake up."

"five more minutes?" i plead.

"no silly we have to go now, so get up," joão says as he walks away.

i resist the idea of sleeping for a few more minutes because if i do, i know that i'll fall asleep completely.

i get out of bed and brush my teeth and get changed - joão is already changed so he is sitting on the edge of the bed on his phone.

"i'm done," i say and he looks up.

"finally, you always take so long to get ready." he comments as i roll my eyes.

we've already packed our bags so i follow joão outside the room as he closes the door. we make our way downstairs and see the rest of the team in the lobby looking very tired.

i nod at joão and i make my way over to rosia, who looks miserable.

"what's up with you?" i ask while sitting next to her.

she rubs her eyes, "i wish we could stay here longer, i don't wanna go back to portugal."

i shrug. a lot has happened in qatar and me personally, would be quite happy to leave.

everyone has returned their room cards to reception as a coach pulls up outside. rosia and i stand up with the boys following us. the driver of the coach takes everyone's baggage and puts it in the storage area while everyone sits down.

i sit next to joão and prepare myself for a long journey.

-

i wake up and i'm laying on someone's lap, i panic before i realise it's just joão.

"good morning," he smiles as i lift my head from his lap. i rub my eyes and try to remember where i am - and it suddenly hits me that we are on a plane

"what happened?" i frown in confusion.

"you wouldn't wake up, so i had to carry you the whole time."

"oh, sorry," i say awkwardly. "i wasn't too heavy was i?"

"you were very heavy." he laughs as i push him playfully. "no i'm just joking, you weren't,"

"anyway. life is going to be boring again when we get to portugal.." i sigh.

"it won't be boring if i'm there," he winks.

"oh yeah i'm going to be with you all the time now," i pretend to groan.

"don't complain, you love me," he says and kisses me.

"you're not wrong," i smile.

joão is staring at me with a somewhat nervous face, like he's contemplating on a decision.

"you good?" i ask him.

"yeah, of course. why would i be?" he smiles, but i can hear the uncertainty in his voice. i shrug and pull out my earpods to keep me occupied.

-

a few hours later and i am so so glad that the plane had finally landed. i quickly got out of my seat and pulled joão along with me to exit the airplane.

"it feels so good to be home again." rosia says excitedly. "i can't wait to sleep on my own bed."

i laugh at her and join hands with joão as we board another coach to take us home.

"i'm so done with coaches," i say as joão nods.

the rest of the ride was short so me and joão just played games on my phone or took snaps on his phone, he could never fail to make me laugh at anything he did, and as we made eye contact i thought he was perfect.

"your eyes look so pretty in the sun." he compliments me.

"haha, my brown eyes?" i laugh.

"i'm being serious," he says. "brown eyes are beautiful."

i blush, "thank you.."

-

when the coach stops and we enter joão's house we both immediately flop onto his bed.

"i'm exhausted," joão yawns.

"get some rest then." i smile as he closes his eyes.

i had already slept on the plane so i wasn't tired anymore. i leave joão's room and close the door very quietly so i don't wake him up. i go downstairs to see his mother.

i approach her in the kitchen and give her a hug.

"eleanor!" she smiles. "how was qatar dear?"

"it was great, i loved it." i smile back.

"yeah.. i'm so proud of joão. even if they didn't win he tried his best," she says sadly

"i know.." i agree. "he tried and that's what matters."

"anyway! let's not talk about sad things. come daughter, let's sit down!"

i follow joão's mum into the living room as we both sit down on the sofa.

"you know.. i haven't seen joão be this happy." she starts. "he tells me you're the best thing that has happened to him, and even i can see it in the way you look at each other,"

i can't help but smile at his words, he talks to his mother about me?

"he talks about me?" i ask curiously.

she laughs, "24/7. this boy is always talking about you. he loves you very much, eleanor."

my heart warms and i look at her. "i love him too."

"so what do you want in your future?"

"a family." i smile. "with him.. but i don't know if it's too soon."

"if you love each other then it's never too soon. trust me."

i smile.

-

few more chapterss