Chapter 55

His eyes wandered between the clouds in the beautiful American sky. This went on for almost one hour, he was only thinking. The horizon passed before his eyes, and he seemed to not care.

Two days went by without hearing from Samanta, that made him very cranky, also, all those tedious norms he had to keep up with to avoid suspension for any additional time.

As soon as he arrived to Santa Clara, Friedrich rushed him to the conference hall at the local Hilton, where the German Football Federation along with the team to discuss certain aspects of the players' behavior. Specifically, Dominik. Threats were very clear. Weigand would be suspended for the rest of the season if he committed another fault against the team. Although Friedrich and Ewald tried to mediate between the players and the board, but they still suspended him for a game.

That same day he attended the corresponding practice, where he did double the usual workout as long as he could prove Ewald what he could do when it came to fighting for the World Cup.

Although he could not play the quarter finals game versus Uruguay at the Citrus Bowl, he had to travel with the team and abide by the rules the federation had reinforced. Unfortunately, the people of Orlando wouldn't watch the German star footballer play which caused big disturbance amongst fans who came to the city to watch the game. To them, watching the team play without Dominik, was the same as drinking decaffeinated coffee. What was the point? But such was the price to pay for Dominik's rebelliousness.

“Do you plan to stay there the whole flight?” Friedrich's question brought him back to reality.

“What else can I do?” Dominik shrugged. “They are discussing strategies for the next game. Which I will not be playing.”

“Don't say that. You're still part of the team.”

“The part of the team that got, suspended”.

Friedrich could not hold back his laughter.

“You brought it on yourself.”

“I know, I did, and I still don’t regret anything. Have you found anything yet?”

Dominik asked Friedrich to find out who was the culprit for divulging such sensitive information about Samanta to the media, he also asked him to contact her. However, Treadaway did not move a finger to do either of his clients requests. For obvious reasons. He made him think he was his ally on this madness, but the truth was different. For every step Dominik took to approach Sam, Friedrich made sure she stayed three steps away.

*****

“This is really dumb” yelled Rodríguez, referring to Dominik being suspended. “He is fundamental for all this.”

“Suspending him for falling in love?” Brauer said, upset.

“He was suspended for avoiding, in two separate occasions, his responsibilities to this team” clarified Ewald.

“Bullshit. He got suspended as a fucking tantrum” shouted Degener.

“Language” warned Metzler.

“What? We can get suspended for cursing, too?” Rodríguez intervened.

“Boys! I know you're upset, but you should not take it out on me. The federation have their rules. Friedrich and I did everything we could…”

“Dominik must play. Otherwise we could…”

“Lose?” Ewald interrupted Brauer, before he could finish his phrase”. The team is all of you, not only Dominik Weigand.

“We made it this far thanks to him” said Rodríguez. Let's make that clear.

“Sorry I am the only player in our team. Maybe If I was bad, the federation would have looked the other way and not had me suspended” Dominik's voice made them all turn towards the cabin, where he stood.

Everyone laughed from Weigand's joke, they were very happy to have Dominik back, with his peculiar comments.

Truth was, he stayed away from the rest of the team the past few days. He was ashamed because, somehow, he knew he had failed them.

“Welcome back, Dom. We missed you” commented Rodríguez.

“Guys” Dominik got serious. “The federation is doing this to teach me a lesson, and only I am to pay my forfeit. I had this coming. I apologize to all of you for it. Had I not acted so recklessly…”

“Shut up, Weigand…” interrupted Kasch Scheider, the offense middle-fielder, “just share a couple tips to beat those Uruguayans.”

A half smile showed up on Dominik's face. If there was something he was also excellent at, apart from turning any pass into a goal, that was coming up with offense strategies with Ewald. Maybe he could not play actively, on the field, but he would show the world Dominik Weigand was still in each and every one of the moves his team mates did.

*****

For the next couple of days, Dominik dedicated himself to help the Head Coach in anything he needed, planning, studying the other team, etc. Ewald was surprised by Weigand's incredible intellectual capacities. He was creative when it came to planning an offense, not to be surprised, really, he knew his peers to perfection. For years he had watched them, understood their strength and their weakness. He knew which was Brauer's receiving leg, how Rodríguez reacted to sideways passes, that Delch had amazing chemistry with Scheider, and that, in his absence, Gilbert Milch, another middle-fielder, was the best stand in for him. The 19-year-old had proven himself a good player under pressure. The best of it all was, all of Ewald's assistants agreed on one thing; if Dominik Weigand decided to retire from the field, he'd make an excellent head coach.

The last elimination match began a half hour late, due to rain, but, as soon as it started, the Germans proved why they were favorites to win the World Cup. A team that started the championship playing defense for the first half, to then turn things around on the second half and attack, totally aggressive at all times on the field, they managed to own the ball for a good 83%, versus 17% the Uruguayans did. Also, they achieved 8 shots to goal, with two scores, compared to the three attempts the southern-Americans failed to accomplish.

The game ended after 94 minutes, effective time, with a result favoring the Germans 3 to 1 that passed them through to the next round.

Dominik was satisfied to realize he was not irreplaceable, that he could retire in a couple years and the team would still be great without him. He could do whatever he wanted … and hang out with Samanta for as long as he wanted.

Five days and corresponding nights passed.

The city of Chicago welcomed them with open arms. And the Soldier Field witnessed the German team defeat the Neerlandish team on overtime, 2-1, assuring their spot in the quarter-finals.

Regarding Samanta, Dominik preferred to take things slowly, otherwise his head would explode from over thinking. Samanta's phone was cut off all of a sudden, and, the one time he tried calling her to work at the Starbucks in LAX, he was told Sam no longer worked there. He thought maybe she was resentful he left the hotel the way he did, without allowing her to even explain what had happened, and then he left town just like that.

Truth was, he chose to relax and focus on his job. He was very close to achieving his priced goal already. He had to be strong, for her and himself, too. During the last days, he seriously considered taking a vacation, to hang out with Samanta and make plans for their future together. He wanted it all with that woman, although she was too stubborn to even answer his calls. He thought of many ways to surprise her and make her forgive him for judging her without even listen to her side of the story. He wouldn't have to wait much longer, the plane he was on would land at LAX in a couple minutes. Blessed fate. Germany would be disputing the World Cup semi-finals against Argentina, repeating at the Stub Hub in Los Angeles.

*****

Flight 231 of Virgin America touched ground on the landing strip at 1:45 pm, and, as soon as the flight attendant's voice started giving indications through the plane's sound system, Dominik signaled Rodríguez to have him and Brauer distracting Ewald and Friedrich, in order to sneak out of the plane and stop by the coffee shop before everyone else got off the plane. That would give him an edge to make it in and out of the coffee shop in time, to see Samanta, even if just for a couple minutes, to calm his anxiety and manage to board the bus expecting them even before anyone else did.

The plan worked just fine. Dominik mixed in with some other passengers and, in only 10 minutes, he was out of the landing area. He was thankful there was a team in charge of picking up everyone's luggage, so he wouldn't have to waste any time waiting for his bags.

Dominik took one step after the next, headed for the place he thought he would meet Samanta, but even from afar, he noticed something strange. Samanta was nowhere to be found. He figured, maybe she could be in the stockroom, or maybe out on her lunch time. Either way, he would come in and ask where he could find her.

He put on his hoodie and fixed his shades. By any means, he could not allow nobody to recognize him. He walked up to the bar and waited for Carlos to dispatch his costumers. As soon as he was finished, Dominik rushed to him.

“Hello” he greeted.

Carlos had his eyes locked on the computer register, finishing to capture the previous purchase.

“Good morning. Welcome to Starbucks. What would you like, sir?” He said, with his eyes still on the screen.

“I would like to know where I could find Samanta.”

Carlos lifted his eyes and set them on Dominik. He was speechless. He didn't know how to answer.

»Please, Carlos. I need to speak with her. I left so suddenly and I did not even tell her I would be back. I have been trying to get a hold of her. She blocked my number. One of the girls here said she did not work here anymore. If she is avoiding me, please tell me. I need to know.”

“Ehmmm… uhmm… Sam…” Carlos was very surprised by the presence of Dominik. He could not pronounce any words, just mumble.

“I understand if you don’t wish to tell me, but, please, put yourself in my place. Have you ever been in love?”

Carlos rolled his eyes.

«If you even knew», he thought.

»Is she out on her break? At the food court? In the back” He pointed at the door leading to the stockroom.

“No, Dominik” he managed to say. “Samanta is not here.”

“Please, Carlos.”

“It's true. The person who told you she doesn't work here anymore told you the truth. She quit one week ago.”

“What? Why?”

“She's gone.”

“Where?”

“To Egypt.”

“Egypt? Why?”

“To study.”

To Egypt. To study.

Those words resonated in his head like an echo.

He felt his heart skip a beat and break in half.