1 YEAR, 67 DAYS LATER - PARIS - TOUR’S FINAL SHOW

“Set the lights- where the fuck is Gabriella? Maggie?” Maggie raised her head from the phone, her eyes betraying her nerves. The concert director shook her head “She has 5 minutes”

“She will be here in 2” Assured Maggie and ran down the long halls of the stadium. You could hear the screaming, the anticipation, everyone’s energy from the other side of the stadium. They were yelling Gabriella’s name, they were cheering and jumping while Maggie was trying to find her- “FUCK!” Maggie bumped on a small figure and looking up her face got calmer, her heart returning to normal “Where the hell have you been?”

“I was on the control room- “Maggie grabbed her by the hand to get her under the stage. “Messi’s here. With the kids.”

“Is that who you were looking for?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer. Gabriella didn’t respond. The tour director saw them, running to them and grabbing Gabriella from her other hand, pulling her on the right spot. She fixed her hair, untying some of her curls and examined the black dress she was wearing. It was only one of the outfits she would be changing into tonight.

“We go live in 3, do not fucking move Hamill.”

“Be honest you’re gonna miss this.” Gabriella teased, poking her on the shoulder.

The tour director didn’t say anything at first. Then she hugged her. “Thanks for not being a drunk fucking moron all the time. It was a good tour!” Gabriella laughed by the embrace, her eyes widening while she looked over at Maggie who seemed to be surprised as well. “Would have been nice if you let me do the final show in LA.” She backed away “Just have fun out there. Prove to those French guys they are getting the best fucking show of tour.”

“I will.” She smiled

The director started looking around nervously “Where the fuck is Marc-“ She pulled out her microphone, speaking on it “Marc you fucking piece of shit, get your ass on your position-“ she left, leaving Maggie and Gabriella laughing.

“And she’s back”’ Singed Gabriella.

“Never thought I’d meet someone more Nervical than me.” Said Maggie. Gabriella smiled, one of the assistants handed her the microphone, wishing her well. Maggie looked at her, making sure everything was set. “You good?”

“Sure.”

“What were you really doing up there?”

“You know exactly what I was doing.” She huffed “What if he shows up? What If he comes with his girlfriend?”

“He wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I kinda wish he would. It would make hating him easier.”

“You don’t have to hate him.”

“You did.” She smiled.

“Just take a deep breath. Do the show. Alright?”

Gabriella noted, she heard the drum role from over the stage. She smiled. It was time. The director was counting down the seconds on her ear and before she knew it, she was up on stage, welcomed by the crowd. She found herself searching for him during most of her acts. When she sat down to play “define me” on the piano, she was examining the entire crowd, waiting see him there but he wasn’t there. He was nowhere.

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“ELLA!” The kids ran up to her, she tried to pick them both up at the same time but she fell backwards on the couch behind her. All three of them laughing while their mother and father, Antonella and Messi watched them laughing. She hadn’t seen them ever since the final. She could still remember the feeling, the thrill of watching Leo scoring and in the end winning.

She got up from the couch, throwing herself at him to hug him. Antonella joined the hug, smiling. The sat backstage for almost an hour, talking about the good and the bed of the previous year. All the time Gabriella wanted to ask about a specific someone but she was hesitating, asking anything but that. She told them stories of her time on tour, of every country she had been and of course Argentina. The kids drifted off to sleep just an hour later.

“They are adorable.” Said Gabriella, standing across from the wide couch they had taken shelter on. She was standing by the table with the drinks, Messi and Antonella were sitting together on a wooden chair, Antonella on his lap, arms wrapped around him. Gabriella smiled at the sight “You’re adorable as well.” She said, making them laugh. Antonella kissed Leo on the cheek. This was a different kind of love. One that Gabriella had yet to know. It wasn’t just passion and hunger, it was comfort. It looked comforting. But she knew it had it’s hardships as well. And if that kind of love had it’s hardships then how could there ever be a love for her that wasn’t just pain and heartbreak.

Messi got up, Antonella standing up with him. He went to wake the kids while she made her way closer to Ella.

“How is it?” Asked Gabriella, a question that slipped of her lips before she could stop it. Antonella gave her a look of confusion before realizing the question, her expression changed to something along the lines of pity. She reached for her hair, her fingers untangling them, Gabriella closed her eyes. Taking in the feeling.

“It’s not easy. But it’s worth it in the end.”

She gulped. She was thinking about him again, she wanted to stop it. “What happens when he is not there? When he has long trainings or long trips? What happens when he doesn’t show?”

Antonella let out a loud breath. Thinking about it. She bit the inside of her cheek “You learn to live with it. You know he’ll show up next time. So, keep his place on the table and you wait”

Gabriella laughed “if lose is setting up a place in a table for someone that’s never coming home, I think I’ll pass”

“This is not about a place in a table though, right?” They looked at each other. Gabriella felt like a kid, being told off by her mother. “This is about an empty seat in a crowded room.” she smiled. Gabriella looked away anxiously, looking at her half empty glass. She bit her bottom lip, tabbing on her glass with her finger.

“Is he happy? With her?”

“I feel like any answer I may gave you will still hurt you.” She wasn’t wrong about that. “He wanted to come. He’s been debating over it for weeks.” She tasted a tear on her lips, wiping it away quickly “He was scared it would do more harm than good.” Gabriella nodded. Sniffing back whatever tear might escape her eyes next.

“Yeah.” Was all she said, she faked a smile.

After that Antonella and Leo left with the kids and Gabriella got up on the stage again. The employees were taking down all the fancy decorations but there was glitter and confetti on the floor. The piano was still up there, she hit a few notes on it while walking past it and sat on the edge of the stage, looking over at the empty stadium. A bottle of beer in her hands, she took a sip. She liked seeing the stadium after the concerts, enjoying the silence. There was beauty in the chaos after the party, it made her feel so ordinary. Her legs didn’t even reach the ground, that’s how tall the stage was. She would swing them back and forth on the beat of a tune in her head, humming along.

She sensed someone standing behind her and she twisted her body to see who it was, his name almost slipping her lips but it was just Maggie. Carrying all the bags with the extra clothes. “Should I wait in the car?”

She didn’t respond. She thought about it. What would staying here succeed? He wasn’t coming. She shook her head, giving up “no” she said and went to stand up when suddenly-

“Sir you can’t be in here!” Called one of the guards and Gabriella looked at that direction. A guard raising his hands to stop a Man dressed in a black hoodie from entering. Her breath hitched on her throat; her heartbeat seemed to pause for what seemed like hours. He raised his head, his eyes falling on her, meeting hers. Each of them frozen. The bottle slipped from her hand, breaking on the stage, glass shattering in front of her legs. Maggie jumped back. The guard turned to look behind him. Gabriella and he just stood still, like nothing had happened. One of them had to move, had to say something. The guard turned his attention back at the man in the hoodie to push him out of the stadium but he pulled down his hoodie, finally showing his whole face. His beard, his cheekbones, his hair, every single detail on his face “Neymar” she whispered. She slipped of the stage “It’s ok Steve! He’s with me!” She said quickly while walking over to him, closing the distance between them. Steve walked away.

She was close now, close enough to be able to smell his cologne. Memories coming back in glimpses in her head. Things they said, things they did. You don’t realize how much you’ve missed someone until you meet them again and you feel your heart sinking, every part of your body begging to touch them, hold them, kiss them, love them. All of a sudden, she could feel his bite on her neck, her hand automatically reached for that spot like it was still fresh. All of a sudden, she could feel his hands on her body ghosting her, haunting her. But they didn’t touch each other, they only stared. He was dressed simply, in black. A bouquet of flowers in his hands. He looked so real.

“you’re late” she said in a whisper. A smile appeared for seconds in his face. It faded away so quick if she had blinked, she would have missed.

“I’m sorry” he said “I…” he stopped “I wasn’t going to come. Then I… I saw antonella’s Instagram story and I came- for the first half. I got an actual ticket so I didn’t have to give my name, so you wouldn’t know…” he explained “Because I wanted to see you but I wasn’t sure I could talk to you. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Then you played that song…” she knew exactly what song he was talking about. She crossed her arms on her chest “I left before the concert was over.”

“Why did you come back?”

“Because I realized it was an asshole move.” He answered quickly like he had rehearsed it. He handed her the bouquets, waiting for her to take it “Didn’t want you thinking I’m an asshole again.” She looked at the flowers. She slowly took them in her hands, raising them up to her face to smell them. She closed her eyes, enjoying the aroma. She moved them back down. She wanted to smile but she couldn’t. Looking in her eyes was hard for him; all he could see was pain. Pain that he had caused. He made a step forward and at the same time she made a step back to keep her distance. It broke his heart “I’m sorry” he said.

“You don’t have to apologize.” She said quickly “It was a mutual decision; we knew the consequences.”

“I hurt you.”

“You didn’t” she argued “We agreed we’d move on. It hurt both of us but we had to-“

“But I didn’t move on.” He topped her voice. She didn’t argue to that, she just watched him in shock. “Maybe I did physically-“ he explained, getting closer" But not emotionally because I still think about you-“ he raised his hands so quickly she couldn’t back away before he put his hands behind her neck, basically grabbing her entire face and forcing her to look at him and only him “I think about you every night- it’s driving me insane, it’s eating me alive the way my heart’s been stuck on the same beat ever since I met you- every since I left you-“ His thumbs caressing her chin, she closed her eyes.

“Neymar-“ it was a cry for help. It was begging, it was her breaking.

“I tried- I’ve been trying so hard. I know it’s messy, I know it’s gonna stink but it can’t be harder than what I’ve been going through for the last year and a half-“She leaned her forehead on his, her body shaking while she sobbed in his hold and his grip around her face tightened. He didn’t know If it was his or her tears that he was tasting but the salt was intoxicating his lips, his wounds. He wanted to kiss her and he was holding back with whatever power he had left. She shook her head against his, slowly. She grasped his arms, her fingers deepening in his skin “Come back to me please”

“I can’t” she cried “Cause if I do, I’ll never be able to leave again. That’s why I didn’t text, that’s why I didn’t call-“she was rambling, she knew it. She wanted to curse and scream but she had no strength to do either and her raspy voice was breaking his heart in pieces “I thought the longer I delayed coming here- I thought time would heal this-“ she punched his chest “I can’t-“ she repeated.

He got closer, his lips brushing against hers. “Let me love you- please. Let me love you because if you don’t I swear to God I’ll lose my mind.” A bigger sob escaped her mouth, a louder cry as she leaned closer to him, half her weight falling on him “you see the things is… I don’t know how to love anyone else but you” he whispered, his eyes closing. His lips mold into hers and she accepts his love. He kisses away all her tears, tasting them, drinking them along with his own and she gives into him, her arms finding their place around his neck while his stay to her face, holding her like he was making sure she wouldn’t disappear or run away and she kissed him back like an addict, who needs his daily dose. Their bodies tied together in the empty stadium, glitter and confetti shining under them and silence surrounding them. She grasps his hoodie, holding the fabric in her fists while she pulls him closer, she is breathing through him, he is her oxygen, he is her everything in that moment and she’s still sobbing and he is still giving her his all. Loving her in the way that he could only love her. Both of them defining each other, defining their future, redefining their past, redefining themselves from broken to tangled. Tangled with each other from now till forever. He was hers and she was his.

Were the troubles over? No. Was it a fairytale happy ending? No. But she let herself be loved again, she let him touch her, some night even own her or the other way around. She let him hold her heart. And it was hard because it came with distance and struggles-

"how is it being a football girlfriend?” they’d ask her and she’d laugh. Blushing.

"oh i don’t know. It comes with the long distance territory wether we like it or not but we are hanging in there. It’s hard but we…” She’d smile at the interviewer “close our eyes, close our ears and just live in the moment. He taught me how to do that.”

She’d go to his games wearing his jersey, his name and number on the back. He’d go to her concerts, her premieres, her events screaming her lyrics, clapping, introducing her to the world as his greatest gift. She felt bad sometimes for her parents, she hadn’t worn that Argentina jersey for a long time, but looking herself in the mirror, dressed in the yellow and green colors she could only think of him. He’d join her, wrap his arms around her, kiss her neck while she watched him from the mirror, smiling “It suits you” he’d say.

“Yeah, it does.” She’d respond.

THE END?

Thank you to everyone that followed this story. I wanted to give it a nice ending before i dragged it out too much but maybe one day I'll get back to write more of their adventures. Love you all xx