Chapter XIX. Risky Business

Pedri González is someone who's proud of his patience.

An exemplary demonstration of his patience is on the field, when all the odds are against him and his team, even then Pedri is able to remain calm and collected and work with patience. He can patiently take in all the teasing Gavi puts him through (along with his incessant whining over every little thing that doesn't go his way). He can patiently wait in a line for half and hour and even more just to get a bag of soggy popcorns for the movie. He can patiently listen to his brother go on and on about his love life crisis.

So yeah, he's a very, very patient guy.

But right now, seeing Vivienne intently listening to whatever Ferran is telling her with so much attention (he has a gut feeling that Ferran is rambling about why her song August deserves more recognition from both critics and the fans), Pedri can feel his patience hanging on by a thin string that's about to tear at any moment. 

Pedri had known that his teammates and friends would get along with Vivienne very well. She had a way of charming people with her golden hair and bright smile that shines with all the positivity in the world even in the worst situations. So, it had been no wonder that each and everyone of his teammate (except Lamine, Pau and Hector because they're still not allowed to drink and thus are absent from the party) had gotten along with her quite well almost immediately after meeting her.
 
And most of all, it had been Ferran who seemed to get along with her the most as he has not left her side after meeting her some hours prior (along with Gavi who has taken the place of her self-proclaimed best friend). Moreover, both of them having been throwing alcohol shots down their throats without mercy. 

Pedri almost spits out his drink when he sees Vivienne patting Ferran's head from his peripheral vision and if that's not enough the next words to come out of Ferran's mouth have him on the verge of a breakdown.

"I want Vivienne." 

Pedri's eyebrows shoot up at Ferran's statement, "Excuse me?"

Ferran raises his hands in mock surrender after hearing Pedri's borderline homicidal tone, "I meant for beer pong." 

"What?" 

He rolls his eyes at Pedri's dumbfounded expression, "I don't want to be stuck with you as my partner because you suck at beer pong and I also don't like you. I want Vivienne to be my partner."

"Vivienne? With you?" Pedri questions in disbelief, pointing his finger between her and Ferran with an incredulous expression on his face, "No way. She's my girlfriend. Absolutely not. You guys aren't compatible. I won't give you my blessings."

"Why do we need your blessings for beer pong?" Vivienne scrunches her nose at him.

"Exactly." Ferran shows his support while nodding furiously. 

"And it's not like we're getting married‐" And then she cuts herself off and her eyes widen as if she's gotten hit by an excellent idea. Turning to Ferran, she bounces on the heels excitedly like a golden retriever, "Do you wanna get married? I always wanted to get married!"

Alcohol makes Vivienne Leclerc confused and extremely loose-tongued. That's the conclusion Pedri has reached to after seeing her get drunk thrice during this fake relationship. She's a lightweight by all means and she definitely can't hold her liquor. Give her a few shots of vodka or even beer and after a few minutes you'll see her spilling her deepest desires and darkest secrets to any poor soul she comes across.

Pedri usually thinks that it's adorable but not right now especially not when it looks like she's going to propose to Ferran and he's going to accept her proposal. 

"And that's our cue to leave." Pedri declares as he intertwines his hand with hers and pulls Vivienne towards him while also giving a scathing look to Ferran which makes the said boy snicker as he mumbles something along the lines of you're so jealous under his breath. 

The two walk through hoards of bodies, occasionally throwing in hello and hi to the people they're acquainted with before finally reaching a spot that's a little secluded from the crowd and all the raucous around them.

They sit on a couch placed in the corner and Pedri picks up two cups of beer for them to drink.

With a sigh, Vivienne closes her eyes and lays her head on Pedri's shoulder. She feels him stiffen for a moment before he relaxes completely and even puts one of his arms around her shoulders causing her to cuddle closer into his side.

Laughter echoes from the crammed room, the smell of vodka and expensive colognes intoxicating her mind, sweaty bodies pressed tightly against one another, a pro footballer seen at every corner ─ Vivienne never thought she'd find herself in a place like this partially because even though João had been a footballer, the two had scarcely attended any events together especially if the party was thrown by a footballer.

But here she is, with her head resting against Pedri's shoulder, eyes closed and relishing in the feeling of intoxication, with him beside her, sipping some beer from a red solo cup silently. Even with all the loud cheers and blasting songs around them, it feels peaceful.

If someone had told her that she'd been sitting beside Pedri at a party that was being thrown by one of his best mates, she would've laughed at them.

She still remembers the day when she had met him, the seemingly awkward yet incredibly charming and flirty Spanish footballer. She remembers how coincidental it had been for both for their worlds to collide.

He's someone raw, someone who goes against the flow of the world with his beautiful grins, tousled hair and deep brown eyes to drown in. He's so different from her with his intoxicating smiles, crooked fingers and lips belonging to a greek god.

Whereas she had been carefully crafted by the gods, with her reputation of a privileged child, an immaculatly crafted personality by the industry and Pedri González is the boy made of bones and all with wilted flowers growing in between the cracks of his ribcage.

The two had been worlds apart but a single moment had tied both of them into this messed up fake relationship that has transformed into something more than just fake.

Unbeknownst to Vivienne, Pedri has been gazing adoringly at her face from the very moment she had layed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. This gives him an excuse to admire the painting of a goddess besides him. This gives him an excuse to gingerly gaze at her relaxed figure.

"What are you thinking about?"

The question slips Pedri's lips before he can stop himself, internally he chastises himself, scolding himself for breaking the tranquility of these fleeting moments, for reverting Vivienne from whatever had been going through the pretty head of hers. And as Pedri is silently cursing himself, Vivienne opens her eyes to look at him.

The way her lashes flutter like a newborn butterfly makes Pedri's breath hitch. The way her eyes open just enough to still be hooded by her eyelashes, makes him forget everything. The motion in which she smiles at him, slight and soft, the vulnerable kind one gives someone when their defenses have been torn apart. The corners of her lips are quirked slightly, a crooked grin takes place of her previous smile.

"Have you ever tried a baguette?" She asks while one of her hands play with the hair on his nape.

Suppressing a shudder at the feeling of her fingertips on his neck, Pedri chuckles, "That's what's you were thinking about?"

She nods with a pout.

Shaking his head with an amused smile, he answers, "Yes, I have tried it before."

"Thoughts?"

Instead of answering her, he places his hand on Vivienne's shoulder, a millimeter away from her exposed neck. The sweet smell of her perfume enters his nose and he feels himself getting lost in an euphoria that's so hard to explain in words. He's once again reminded that she's a sweet addiction to a bitter thing, a phantom of the future he wants, a gift found through millennials of love affairs.

Slowly leaning forward, he also lets Vivienne bask in the euphoria of what is to come. And then his lips are brushing softly against hers. Yet, it isn't a kiss, just two people close enough for their breath to mingle with one anothers.

"Were you really thinking about that?"

"No. I was lying." She admits silently when Pedri doesn't move or say anything else for the next five seconds.

"About what, mi vida?" He murmurs.

"l was actually thinking about you." She answers truthfully this time while slightly biting her lip.

Suddenly, her mind goes back to the first kiss they had shared on that fateful night some months ago. Their first kiss on that sidewalk when they knew nothing about each other except each other's first name, the one where they had sloppily kissed each other, all tongue and passion or their most recent almost kiss that had been interrupted by Gavi. 

The leftover beer falls onto the floor as Pedri mindlessly drops the cup to free his previously occupied hand because he firmly believes that his hands were made to hold Vivienne, to make love to her not to hold some cheap liquor.

His hands cup her cheeks as his thumb make gentle circles on her cheekbone. Unconsciously, an undignified sound leaves her mouth when Pedri rubs his ring cladded thumb on cheek. The noise, albeit dirty, makes him smile at her. With their faces just millimeters apart, Pedri gives her another smile.

Vivienne thinks that's when he's about to kiss her because he's looking at her with so much longing but he surprises her when he suddenly pulls back from their intimate position and stands up and even though she's confused, she silently stands up after him.

"Do you wanna go outside? It feels suffocating in here." He says as his right hand lands on her waist to her balance when he sees her wobbling slightly in her heels.

Wordlessly, she nods. He's right. It is suffocating in here.

Once again, hand in hand, the two trek through drunk bodies as they make a beeline towards Ferran's backyard.

They're almost there when Vivienne suddenly stops.

Pedri turns to face her with a frown on his face, confused as to why she has suddenly stopped only to be met with a sheepish expression.

"What happened, Vivi?"

"I don't think I should go out dresses like...this." She points down at her attire with an embarrassed shrug. "And it's also cold outside."

Pedri's eyes land on her attire or better yet her choosen Halloween costume for this party and his mouth goes dry as he realises once again just how beautiful she looks right now.

He can still recall just how speechless he had been left when Vivienne had first stepped out from her room in her Playboy Bunny bodysuit. She's truly a sight to behold and any man would be lucky to have just an ounce of her attention.

Shaking away all the unholy thoughts that seem to invade his brain the longer he looks at her, Pedri clears his throat, "I brought a spare dress for you."

Her head snaps up in shock.

"What?"

He nods his head while rubbing the nape of his neck nervously, "Yeah, I um thought that the bodysuit might get uncomfortable after a little while so I brought a dress. Though, its sleeveless so you can take my jacket if you get cold."

There aren't many instances when Vivienne Leclerc is left speechless but it seems like she always gets speechless whenever she's near Pedri.

And when Vivienne sees the dress he has brought, she remembers that it's the same dress he had bought for her when she had gotten drunk for the first time in front of him.

And when she has changed into that dress and is also covered with his jacket that's too big for her and they're both outside laying on the grass, she asks him a question.

"What were you before you met me?"

Vivienne asks Pedri, laying on the ground of the Ferran's backyard beside his pool beneath the starless sky while sharing a can of beer with him.

"I think I was drowning." He breaths out the words simultaneously with a gulp of the drink.

Vivienne watches as his Adam's apple bobs up and down as he drinks and then turns on her side so that she's facing him.

"And what are you now?"

He closes his eyes and whispers, "Water."

He says it so lowly, so faintly that if Vivienne hadn't been giving his words her full attention, she would've lost them as the wind carried them away from prying ears. He's breathing calmly, his eyes are closed and the almost finished beer can is laying forgotten somewhere away from the two.

She scoots closer to him and raises her hand to trace his features. Her fingers slowly drag down from his forehead to the upturn of his nose then his cupid's brow and lastly, they settle on his lips.

He's smiling, she notices, even though his eyes are still closed.

Her fingers gently traces the crevices of his lips. Vivienne traces it all; first upper, then lower, the upturn and the downturn, the chapped lines moistened by saliva and the barely there stubble.

Something soft presses against her fingers.

He's kissing her fingertips. Pedri is kissing her fingertips, Vivienne belatedly realises.

Those lips which deserve to have heaven lay underneath them are bending to worship the fingers of a sinner like her.

In a life like hers, where everyday is filled to the brim with giving fake smiles to the hoards of paparazzi who swarm her like vultures, shouts of people who hate her through their screens and the wails of an aching heartbreak, Pedri is a breath of fresh air for her. He's the breeze in her Austin nights, the feeling of coming back home from a long walk, he's the little spoon whose back she can kiss forevermore.

Vivienne thinks that she can suffer hell if he'd tell her to.

"You're staring." He speaks up with a teasing smile.

Her fingers never leave his face, opting to settle on his jaw, stroking his jugular vein making him shudder.

"Admiring." She corrects him with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh really?" He moves closer to her and she let him until both of their chests are touching and breaths mixing with each other's.

"Hmm," She hums out, "You deserve to be admired, don't you? With such soft beauty of yours..."

With each word her voice gets lower and lower till Pedri can barely hear her.

Pedri wishes that Vivienne asks him to kiss her, he prays to the unknown gods that she asks him to kiss her so that he can slot his lips against hers and breath in the air in your lungs. But she doesn't and so, neither does he. But he wants to, he wants to kiss her so much.

Its a silent game of cat and mouse. 

"I'm beautiful?" He asks again in a soft whisper, eyes darting between her eyes and lips.

"You're like a sunset to me," She replies gently, thumb stroking his cheekbone, "I cannot even describe how beautiful your colours are."

He smiles at her again and kisses her forehead even though his lips still ache for her lips but he'll wait, the two of them have all the time in the world. Vivienne relishes in the feeling of his lips on her skin and when he leans back she laughs at the giddiness of his expression.

Pedri smiles at the sound of her laughter as he sits up and takes another sip of his beer.

Somewhere in the universe, some star dies and its surroundings become white from the explosion. Scientists say that a star is the most beautiful, most ethereal just before its death. Vivienne thinks that when Pedri smiles at her, in that moment, with his face so close to hers, hidden by the shadows of the nights, he looks far more ethereal than any dying star.

She still doesn't ask Pedri to kiss her.

Instead, she grabs him by his collar and gently puts her lips upon his, discarding the empty beer can somewhere beside them. He's so much more addicting than some alcoholic drunk that fucks up one's liver. 

He's surprised. Vivienne can feel it from the way he has stiffened and is not responding, as if his fantasy is finally playing in front of him and he's so overwhelmed that he can't do anything.

It's only when her hand sneaks up to his hair that he breaks apart from his frozen stupor and kisses her back just as softly, with the gentleness of a Victorian man who has become weak just after catching a glimpse of his beloved's ankle.

His lips are barely moving against hers yet the whole situation is too intimate. Even more intimate than their first kiss. His hands are settled on her waist, pulling her closer to him until there's not even a nanometer of stardust left between their bodies. Vivienne thanks the universe that she's sitting down and not standing for her knees are too wobbly right now to support her weight. Seeing his vigour, she decides to test the waters and deepen the kiss a little and he melts right then and there, reciprocating it with the same fervour.

Pedri's tongue invades her mouth as she grabs a fistful of his shirt and makes an almost lewd sound in the back of her throat. Half a moan, half a whine. His hands on her waist, firm enough to leave bruises, fingers grabbing on to her like she is his lifeline. In this moment, it feels like everyone had vanished except for Vivienne and Pedri. It's like only her and him exist in the whole damn universe. His tongue fights with hers for the dominance, his mouth sucking on her bottom lip, sometimes biting onto to it gently. There's such an intimate feeling in her gut as Pedri's mouth moves skilfully on hers, fingers bruising her waist while she's almost on his lap, straddling him and her hands now grabbing onto his hair, tugging them with a desperation she has never felt before. 

The heat of her breath in his mouth; she's alive, she's alive, she's alive.

And as for Pedri, he has never been much of a strawberry enthusiast and neither has he ever understood the hype behind them but tonight, when Vivienne's lips taste of nothing but ripened strawberries and everything sweet and unholy, he falls in love with strawberries.

He's never had a favourite fruit but he's so darn sure that if someone asks him, after tonight, what his favourite fruit is, he'll reply, without hesitation; strawberries.

He nips at her lips softly between the kiss and Vivienne laughs, the precious sounds resonates between his ribcage and settles in the cracks of his pericardial membrane.

And if someone glances at the two of them from afar, they'll see nothing but two lovesick idiots seemingly in love truly and deeply. 

Though, that's not the truth because whatever that is between Vivienne Leclerc and Pedri González is fake...or is it?

Because there's a very thin line between what's fake and real when emotions are involved.

vivienneleclerc ✔

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vivienneleclerc crazyyyyy nighttttt 🍾

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user1 HELLO DRESS CHANGE ?!
⤷ user2 she slays in both ✊

lamineyamal i'm so jealous right now
⤷ user3 lamine is so real for this
⤷ user4 not him representing all of us
⤷ user5 BYE LMAO 😭😭

user6 oh how i wish to have been a part of this party

user7 MADREEE MIAAA 😣✨

user8 i'm sorry but is no-one gonna talk about THE LAST TWO PICS
⤷ user9 i was waiting for someone to say this because i thought i was seeing things
⤷ user10 pedri you motherfucker i'm never gonna forgive you (i'm the captain of their ship)
⤷ user11 i still can't believe we got them kissing before a hard launch

user12 why are people saying it's pedri ??? like chill the face of the man isn't even stop assuming

rl_9 crazy is one way to say it lol
liked by vivienneleclerc

user13 HER AND PRDRI ARE SO CUTE

user14 OMG is that anna (lewa's wife) and mikey (frenkie's wife) in that 3rd pic???? Y'ALL VIVI IS FRIENDS WITH THE BARCA WAGS I'M SO HAPPY

user15 THE HAND PLACEMENT ON THE LAST PIC I'M GOING FERAL

user16 the fact that whenever vivi and pedri are spotted or soft launch each other she's dressed so beautifully and he's just there in a white shirt 💀

user17 fucking slut

user18 i can never understand why people like her ??? she just flaunts her body and her boy toys like the desperation is real

user19 eww pda (give us more pls 😔)

user20 day 234 of begging for the love album