My Goalkeeping System

The sun was already up in the sky as a brand new day for people to get up and go about their businesses had come up.

While there were people who had gone to take care of the things they had to take care of that day, there were also those who had no particular thing to do for that day.

Mateo was lying on his bed and since there was really nothing for him to do that day, he didn\'t really feel like getting up.

He wanted to sleep in a little longer but after getting up, he couldn\'t get himself to fall asleep again so he just lay there with his gaze on the ceiling and a lot of thoughts going through his mind.

He stayed like that for a while without saying anything until his phone which was lying behind him began to ring and vibrate at the same time.

He didn\'t react to it immediately as he kept his gaze on the ceiling for a few more seconds before he turned to check who was calling him.

"Hmph, it\'s been a while." He said as soon as he found out who was calling him.

After saying that, he pushed the answer button.

"Hey, girlie, how\'re you doing?"

"Girlie?" Sofia said as her voice resounded through the phone\'s speaker.

"Yeah, how\'re you doing?"

"I\'m doing fine, what about you?" She replied after letting out a sigh.

"I\'m doing great, thanks for asking." He said before stretching himself on the bed. "You haven\'t called for a while but somehow you seem to know when I have nothing to do and that\'s when you call."

"Yeah, and you never bother to call during those free periods."

"Sorry, it\'s just that…."

"Oh, don\'t worry, I wasn\'t complaining or anything, if you were avoiding my calls that would be a problem so it\'s okay." She expressed.

"Oh."

"So, I\'m guessing that you\'re still in bed now."

"Yeah," Mateo replied. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I\'m in the shop, I told my dad I was going to help him today."

"Are you sure that\'s really the reason why you\'re there?"

"What do you mean? I don\'t have any ulterior motives."

"You said it yourself, what is it this time? Socks…."

"I need new boots." She said before he could finish asking what he wanted to ask.

"New boots again? What happened to the ones you took last time?"

"It makes my feet feel stuffy now so I can\'t keep on using it, this time I\'m actually working for the boots so like I said, there is no ulterior motive." She explained.

"Oh, I see, that\'s good."

"I heard you guys trashed Lazio four goals to nothing yesterday."

"Yeah, it was a tough match but we did our best and got the result we wanted."

"Who in this world wins a tough match with a four-goal margin? You guys are starting to grow some massive wings."

"Massive wing? Maybe."

"You guys are coming to Villarreal for your next match, right?"

"Yeah, what about it? Are you planning on coming there?"

"Actually, that\'s part of the reason why I\'m working in the shop today."

"Huh?"

"I told my dad to go watch the game with me since he doesn\'t allow me to go to far places on my own but he said he wasn\'t going to be busy, but we made a deal. If I work full-time in the shop three times this week, then he\'ll allow me to go see it with my uncle who is going over there next week." She explained.

"Oh, and I take it that you\'re coming there to support your Spanish brothers."

"No, I don\'t really like Villarreal C.F. so I\'m going there to support you."

"Oh."

"Um….I have to go now, a couple of customers just walked in."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye, have a nice day." She said before ending the call.

After ending the call, the winger rolled away from his phone and turned his gaze back to the ceiling with a warm smile on his face.

_______ _______

Dave had just returned from doing his morning exercises and returned to the house to find his nose filled with a spicy and delightful aroma.

He made his way straight to the kitchen to find Emma there as expected.

"Something smells nice, what are you making, babe?" He asked as he slowly made his way to her.

"It\'s a new recipe I learned yesterday, you like the aroma then you must surely like the taste." She replied.

"Yeah, the smell is a representation of the taste in most cases." The goalkeeper said.

<Yeah, in most cases, in a couple of cases the smell attracts you but the taste leaves you disappointed>

"You should go take a shower and dress properly, my dad will be here any moment now."

Hearing that, Dave\'s cheerful face suddenly turned gloomy.

"Yeah, I\'m going." He said before he turned around and made his way out of the kitchen.

\'Can\'t that old man just stay in his house and leave us alone.\'

<Well, you are married to his daughter so I don\'t think that\'s possible>

\'I\'m just glad Emma is nothing like him attitude-wise.\'

<Are you sure about that? I\'m sure she finds it fun to troll you whenever she gets the chance>

\'Yeah, that\'s true but that man takes it to the next level.\'

It took him about twenty minutes to do everything he needed to do upstairs and when he returned to the living room, he found the old man sitting on the couch while Emma was setting up the table.

\'Oh, he\'s here already, great.\'

"Hey, Mr. Smith, how\'re you doing?" He asked as he made his way to him.

"Emma told me that it\'s been thirty minutes since you went up there, what were you doing up there, practicing what performance you were going to give me?"

"Performance?" Dave said with a confused expression on his face.

"Yeah, a clown performance."

"Dad," Emma stressed from the dining area. "I never said he has been up there for thirty minutes and quit calling my husband a clown."

Dave only forced out a little laughter before he slowly retreated to the kitchen to grab a drink.

<Clown performance, that was a good one>

\'Keep quiet, Catherine.\'

Emma had just finished setting up the table now and that meant that it was time for the three of them to sit down to a nice meal.

Dave sat near his wife because there was no way he was going to sit near that man.

The three ate quietly for a while until Johnson decided to say something.

"So, you\'re two months gone now, right?" He said after turning his gaze to Emma.

"Yes," Emma replied with a nod.

"Looks like my little girl is going to be a mother very soon." After saying that his voice suddenly changed as he turned his gaze to Dave. "And you\'re going to be a father."

Dave just ignored him and focused on his food.

"I just hope my granddaughter or grandson gets most of his or her features from the mother, especially the face, you\'re not very good-looking," Johnson said before pointing his fork at the goalkeeper.

\'Okay, that does it.\'

"Not good-looking," Dave said with a little chuckle. "Big words for someone whose daughter found me to be good-looking enough to date me, marry me, she\'s quite happy with me and she\'s carrying my child."

"Eh, sometimes I question her taste."

"Dad."

"Well, she doesn\'t really look anything like you, she has your eyes but she looks more like her mother, I guess that\'s why she\'s beautiful, I\'m glad she doesn\'t look like you."

After saying that, Johnson didn\'t say anything and just stared intensely at the goalkeeper who stared back at him while Emma kept looking back and forth between the two.

Dave expected him to say something but he was shocked as he broke into a feat of laughter instead.

\'Hmm, what\'s going on?\'

"Well, you do have a point there." He said. "I thought you were just going to bend your head and not. The trolls out of the way for now let\'s talk about something useful."

"Okay," Dave muttered.

He was quite confused by how fast things switched up.

"I watched the match against Lazio yesterday, you guys sure showed them what you\'re made of." He expressed. "I\'m quite surprised by how fast you\'ve improved, Dave, I thought you were going to remain a wimpy goalkeeper your whole life at some point and was starting to feel sorry for my poor Emma."

"You said trolls out of the way," Dave grumbled.

"No, no, it wasn\'t my intention I just said it like I thought," Johnson said.

"No, Dad, I know you meant to say that."

Johnson just smiled at her before turning his gaze back to Dave.

"The talk of beauty out of the way, it\'s quite nice to know that there\'s a high chance that my grandchild will have good football genes."

"Yeah, our son is going to be a pretty good footballer if he chooses to be a footballer that is," Emma said.

"You mean our daughter," Dave said.

"Arguing over the child\'s gender is pretty pointless because it will end up being what it is supposed to be but you can keep arguing," Johnson said before taking a sip from his drink.

It was clear that Johnson enjoyed making fun of his son-in-law for fun but today also made it clear that he also enjoyed his company.

The two spent the day together talking about a couple of things together.

They shared a drink and even ignored Emma most of the time but she didn\'t mind since seeing them together like that was a first for her.

As evening approached, the old man had to get going and the couple were seeing him off at the door.

"Alright, Dave, Emmy, I guess I\'ll get going now."

"Alright, Dad," Emma said before stretching her hands to hug him.

"My daughter seems to be really happy so it\'s obvious you\'re doing a good job, just don\'t fall off or you\'ll get to see my bad side."

"I\'m looking forward to seeing it," Dave said.

"Oh, I see," Johnson said with a nod. "You two should come visit sometime, bye."

The two kept their gaze on him until he was out of the area before they decided to go back inside.

Dave slowly made his way to the couch and crashed down on it before letting out a deep sigh.

"Behind that scary glare of his, he\'s pretty nice when he wants to be." He muttered.

\'But still, I feel relieved that he\'s gone.\'