Gabriella was taking small bites from her croissant while scrolling through twitter. The fans were already talking about Neymar following her. Maggie was sitting across from her, talking about him following her was a disaster. She said that doing nothing would be best, everyone would just assume he followed her because of Messi. A part of her felt bad for not following him back but she knew there would be no coming back from that and by the time she had hit the follow bottom everyone would suspect she was in Qatar.

“Remind me what we have to do for the day?” she asked Maggie, not taking her eyes off her phone.
“We are on vacation; we don’t really have anything to do.”
“No games?”
“Brazil game is tomorrow.” Said Maggie eating a spoonful of the fresh cake she had bought. She glanced at Gabriella with a warning look. Gabriella smiled.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that.”
Maggie swallowed her food and crossed her arms, laying back on her chair. “I have a feeling I will regret everything about this trip when we get home.”
“We are not going home, we are going to Greece, remember?”
“Oh I remember! Do you remember? Because I can already imagine you packing for brazil!”
Gabriella laughed “I don’t even like him! He’s an entitled prick! Last thing I need in my life is to get mixed up with his shit.”
“Yes, because bad boys are totally not your type.”
Gabriella let down her phone and looked at Maggie with complain in her eyes “low blow!”

Maggie smiled and got up, picking up her dirty plates and glass. “4 years is a long time out of the game Gabriella” She walked to Gabriella’s side, looking down at her “I said it before and I’ll say it again. Be careful.”
Maggie left for the kitchen and Gabriella looked back at her screen, Neymar’s picture glowed in it. Then a text appeared on the top of the screen, it was from Leo and it wrote “los chicos quieren volver a verte. ¿Te importa si los llevo antes del entrenamiento?.” She had to google the translation just to be sure that he was asking if the kids and Antonella could stay with her while he was training. In other circumstances she would have thought twice before saying yes but she couldn’t even leave the house and she had nothing better to do so she agreed.

BRAZIL’S BASE – QATAR

Neymar was already finished with his morning training, he was sitting, wet after the shower, on the edge of his bed. His eyes were glued on his phone waiting for Gabriella to follow him back. He was nervous. He quickly opened his contacts and called his friend.

“Ola Messi. Commo estas?”
“Estoy bien. Voy a entrenar. ¿Por qué?”
Neymar hesitated; did he really want to bother his friend with this before his training. He felt like a teenage boy, getting caught writing notes for the girl on the front desk. He asked if he was going to see Gabriella, and Messi told him about his plan to leave the kids with her while he was training.

“¿Por qué ?”
“los chicos la adoraban. Quieren jugar con ella y Antonella quiere compañía.”

Of course, the kids had loved her, Neymar didn’t need to struggle to understand why they did. But now he had no good reason to see her and he couldn’t just drop off at her house. He didn’t understand why he liked being ‘bullied’ by her so much but he did, it was a quite challenge to get to know her.
“Neymar?” asked Messi from the other line, distracting him from his thoughts.
“Lo siento.” He said quickly apologizing.
“Neymar… ¿te gusta la actriz?” teased Messi, asking him the exact same thing Neymar had asked when he first saw Messi with Gabriella. He laughed and shook his head.
“No, creo que es irritante.” It wasn’t a complete lie; she was a bit annoying and entitled most times but he knew Messi would never really believe his words.

GABRIELLA’S RENTED APARTMENT

Maggie left the house about an hour after the kids arrived, she wasn’t a huge fan of their screaming. Gabriella played a lot of board games with them until they were too tired to go on and she put a movie on for them to watch, while she conversed with Antonella.

“don't get me wrong they are wonderful women- most of them at least but I spend with them every single day… Because of the games and the trips, it's always the same group. Sometimes you need different company. So, I am very happy you came and we met.”
The two of them sat on the balcony, drinking a glass of wine while they spoke.
“Please the pleasure is all mine.”
“Did you know I was a huge fan? When Messi told me about Graham Norton’s surprise, I was the one that pushed him to do it.”
“He told me and I am very grateful because meeting your Husband was very important for me.” She took a sip from her wine “He reminds me a lot of my father. I know its weird-“
“It’s not weird!” he reassured her reaching for her hand. Gabriella appreciated it and she smiled back at her.

“We’d watch his games together; my father would yell his name like he was a god.” Gabriella laughed, remembering.
“How did they die?” Asked Antonella, frowning her eyebrows. Gabriella’s eyes darkened; she knew she must have scared Antonella because she started apologizing but Gabriella shook her head to calm her down.
“No! Don’t worry, it’s fine, it was a long time ago. A car crash.”
Antonella sighed; Gabriella could see the pity in them but she didn’t mind as much because at least it was earnest. It was true. “How old were you?”
She hesitated, looked down “eight. I think it’s the worst age. You understand everything and nothing.”
“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have asked- lets change the subject.” Antonella tapped her hands on the table, while Gabriella drank her entire drink all at ones. She nodded at the idea of changing the subject but just seconds later she regretted it. “Neymar was asking about you.”

She almost chocked on her wine, struggling to swallow what her friend had said. She hated that whatever was going on between her and Neymar had gone this far. Antonella patted her on the back while she coughed trying to breathe. “I didn’t think you’d care this much.” Antonella laughed and Gabriella raised her head “I don’t. I Absolutely don’t.”
“Sure.” Antonella smiled “well he was trying to see if you were gonna come by the house tonight again. He wanted to see you.”
“Why? All I’ve done is being rude to him- “
“I think he knows it’s a defense mechanism.” She smiled.
“It’s not and don’t tell him that it is because it will only encourage him!”
“Oh honey if Ney sets his eye on someone, he does not need encouragement.” She said, drinking her wine. Gabriella scoffed, looking at the view from her balcony, the people walking on the street.
“It’s not the right time.”
“Why not. You’re both single.”
She laughed at that “I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with someone like Neymar. You’re right maybe it is a defense mechanism because I know that it won’t be just a one-night stand with him… I’ll want more.”
“Is that such a bad thing?”
“My last relationship left me a little broken, I’m still picking up pieces. And a bad boy is not the right medicine.”
“Can I tell you a secret? I’ve known Neymar for 10 years and more. He’s not what the media is making him up to be… he’s a softie really. And if he only wanted a one-night stand, he wouldn’t be asking about you or following you- yes, I know about that too.”
“You really think me and him could be a thing?”

Antonella simply shrugged her shoulders and smiled. It was the answer Gabriella feared the most.

After the kids and her left the rest of the afternoon went by very quickly. She and Maggie watched a couple of movies and discussed about random things, avoiding the elephant in the room. When it was time for bed, she couldn’t sleep. She had thing heavy pain in her chest, caused by her anxiety. It was the possibility of her being into a guy again. For now, it was simply sexual, she barely knew so it couldn’t be anything more but it was different with him. In the last three years she hadn’t gotten into anything unless she was sure that she had the upper hand and with him she didn’t. He made her feel things she didn’t want to feel, like he would be able to make her do anything if she let him. Most of all he would be able to break her and she wasn’t prepared for that.

She got up from her bed and put on her usual black hoodie. She dressed in all black again and wore her white shoes. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep so she did what she always did when she was being tortured by her insomnia and she took a walk. Maybe not the smartest idea considering she was in a country she didn’t know but the neighborhood seemed safe enough. She only walked a few miles until she found herself outside of the Brazilian base. There was security all around and she knew that if she stayed too long, they would force her to leave. She stood still for a few minutes, looking at the flags hanging from the windows and imagining that Neymar was in one of them, wide awake or fast asleep. Perhaps she could text him, see what he was up to. Or She could reveal who she was and tell security to let her in- she was contemplating all these things and more when his whispers reached her ear, the wind getting warmer.

“Look whose here” he said, his lips barely touching her skin. Despite the jump scare, she didn’t react too crazy, maybe it was because his aura was captivating. All her fears were being confirmed just by a simple whisper. She didn’t turn to look at him, she kept her eyes on the flags.
“How did you know it was me?”

She regretted her question because he answered the same way that he had spoken to her before. A whisper in her eyes, lips stroking her ear, her heartbeat rising. “You got white paint on your sweater.” As he said it, he placed his hand on the right side of her back. Amazing how even over all the fabrics, his touch still had an influence on her heartbeat. “Wanna come upstairs?”
“No.” she answered quickly.
“Wanna go grab a drink?”
“Absolutely not”
“Then what are you doing here?” she tilted her head; she could finally see him. He also had hid his face covered by his hoodie. She shook her head.
“I was just taking a walk. The house is very close.”
“I know. You were the one that didn’t believe me.” He smiled “how about we continue this walk together?”

She turned her entire body to look at him, his hand moved from her back to her hip. She pushed it off her and looked in his eyes. “You’re really confident, has anyone every told you that?”
“Is that supposed to be an insult?”
“I’m not gonna sleep with you Neymar.”

Neymar laughed and looked at her in shock. He raised up his hands in defeat “wow. Straight to the point I see.”
“I think you’re an asshole in and out of the field.” She crossed her arms and he nodded.
“noted.” He answered. Gabriella felt like she was being examined by the way he was staring in her eyes “Now how about that walk? Just so you can confirm whether that’s true or not.” He raised his hands again, smiling “promise I wont be naughty.” He made a step forward, pushing a loose strand of her behind her ear and under her hoodie. His fingers touching the red skin on her cheek “unless you want me to.”

“I’m fine” she answered quickly and slapped his hand off her. “I’m only agreeing to this because I know you’ll follow me anyway.” She said and turned to continue walking. Neymar followed right behind her, smiling.