the box

05 may 2015.

karlie made a mental note to try and remember the spanish obscenities that were being yelled around her after the soccer ball was caught by the back of the goal's net for the third time.

the sevilla fc fans around her may have been upset but she was the exact opposite. her hands clasped together and she pressed her nose against them as she tried to hide her excitement that another point was put up on the board. her excitement was caused by not just the fact that real madrid was winning but because of who scored the goal.

cristiano was her best friend who knew secrets that no one else knew and who always managed to make her feel better when she didn't think she could. however, she hadn't always imagined herself at his games cheering him on as more than just a best friend.

the excitement of watching a game and seeing your team win was now combined with the newfound butterflies that karlie has begun to experience every time she saw cristiano. they only grew more intense when she saw him doing well in the thing he loved the most. the swell of pride that came along with every goal scored was more intense with the added fact that the one scoring it said before the game that he'd score a goal for her.

the excitement and butterflies continued through the last thirty minutes of the game, through the flight to madrid and the night spent watching catfish and eventually when she fell into bed with him.

the next morning, karlie rolled over and buried her face into cristiano's shoulder before propping her chin up on it so she could look at him. she silently thanked whatever it was that gave her the opportunity to be this close enough to him to see the freckles that she hadn't noticed before, how long his eyelashes and all of the other small details that only someone who this close got to notice.

"good morning," she mumbled when he woke up and almost hesitated for a split second before leaning up to press a kiss to his lips quickly. that was something she could definitely get used to. "i don't know if i told you this yesterday, but you're incredible when you're out there."

she was sure she had said it a million times in the past 12 hours, but it was true. cristiano was incredible in a million ways and she couldn't feel luckier that she was able to see it first hand. this, she decided, was what pure happiness felt like.

august 2015.

"i like him."

those were the words that tracy said to karlie as they walked through the royal palace on the trip that cristiano had set up for them. her mom had put her hand on her arm to make them walk slightly slower than the group before hooking their arms together for a moment of mother daughter time.

in all honesty, karlie had been nervous about bringing her family to madrid to meet her boyfriend. it hadn't been since joshua that she had thought someone was good enough to meet the whole kloss family. neither liam or finn had met any of her family and she never saw them meeting them which should have been a sign they weren't the right people for her. but now, her parents and sisters were staying at her boyfriend's house celebrating her birthday with his family and making everything feel so much more right in her world.

"isn't he great?" she asked her mom with a bright smile on her face that earned her a pat on the arm and a nod.

"it makes me happy that he makes you this happy, kar," her mom started as she watched kimby and cristiano share a laugh, "but tell me something."

here it was. karlie knew they were coming - the concerns that her mom always had about any boyfriend that her daughters brought home. it was what moms did, she assumed, to make sure that their kids wouldn't call them crying because they picked someone bad and their mom didn't try to help before it happened.

"are you ready to take on him and his son? you've never dated someone who ever had a kid and that's a huge responsibility. you're not dating only cristiano, but the little one, too. it'd be exactly like when jourdan has a new boyfriend only you're the new boyfriend and he's jourdan."

"mom, i kno-"

"let me finish, karlie. this is going to be a lot more than joshua was and those other boys. you need to be ready for that."

with a deep breath, karlie squeezed her mom's arm before starting to speak. "i have never wanted to be in a relationship more than i do with him and if i get a bonus boyfriend with junior than i couldn't be happier or feel more secure about a decision ever. more than i am about anything lately," she said simply then looked her mom in the eye to let her know she was serious.

tracy looked at karlie for a few seconds before a smile spread across her face. she nodded once and let go of her daughter to catch up with the man in question and hooked her arm around his to walk with him instead. and with that cristiano got the stamp of approval from the matriarch of the kloss family. there wasn't any turning back now and that was just fine with her.

"I'll see you on Monday," he said, returning the hug with intent. After a moment they parted ways, and she prepared to leave. "Sloane," he called out, picking up her bear from the table in the process.

03 may 2016.

after almost a decade of walking shows karlie had always assumed that she wouldn't be nervous before them anymore. she had walked what felt like thousands of shows and worn thousands of outfits she didn't completely understand just like today.

it felt good to be back at paris fashion week after having taken a season off to focus on school. the backstage chaos continued as the time continued to tick on and on past the time it was supposed to begin. that was one thing she never understood about fashion shows which was why they never began when they were supposed to. the versace show she walked in the week prior started almost an hour late and now the balmain show was getting close to hitting that.

they were finally being called to line up when she saw her phone screen light up with a message which she assumed was cris telling her that he finally arrived. it was the first time he could actually make it to one of her shows and it kicked her nerves up a few more levels. today was going to be the first day that she was going to fall flat on her face or something, she just knew it.

the thoughts of tripping or falling disappeared as she stepped onto the runway and focused on getting from one end to another. her focus was broken only a few times as she tried to some how figure out how to keep looking forward without breaking her straight face and find cris at the same time. it was a difficult feat and one that she failed at because she felt her the corner of her lips curl up slightly on her way back down the runway and she got a glimpse of him a few seats down from where she currently was walking.

all she wanted was to make him proud of her and proud of call her his while she walked down the runway in her jelly fish pants and weird choker that stabbed her in the chin whenever she moved her head. she wanted him to feel as proud as she felt whenever she watched him on the pitch and she only had around a minute to make him feel all of that.

when the show ended and the backstage hub bub started again but this time instead of the frantic getting ready it was a celebration of a show well done. she took her pictures with the other girls before moving through everyone to find cristiano and when she did her hands went to either side of his face to press a kiss to his lips a few times.

"you proud of me?" she asked, knowing she probably sounded like a five year old after her ballet recital looking for validation from her parents that she did good but that didn't matter in the moment. all that matter was the feeling that came after he told her of course and another kiss was shared. knowing he was proud of her made her world brighter.