Dark Moves Of Love ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 84

New chapter a day early because it's my birthday! I hope you like it!

~*~

What happened next I couldn't tell exactly. It was all a blur. Happiness, relief, tears, celebrations. Laughter and chatter as the guys got dressed and we headed towards the bus, singing as we rode towards the hotel.

I was sitting next to Neymar who was kneeling on his seat and singing with the rest of them. He turned to look at me and bent down to whisper in my ear. "You alright? You're strangely silent."

I nodded. "It hasn't hit me yet. What just happened."

He smiled. "Understandable. This one was close." He said, exhaling loudly.

"You listened to me." I said and realized I was still freaked out about it. "You shouldn't have listened to me."

"What are you talking about?" He said, sliding back down so that we on the same level again. "You were right."

"I could just as easily have been wrong."

"Livvie... You weren't." He said and he almost sounded impatient. I realized I shouldn't press this. I was freaking out over an alternate scenario that would never be true, but that was what I always did. Almost like I needed something to freak out over.

"But if I was wrong..." I started. "You'd have lost. You'd have all lost because of me."

"So it stands to reason that we now have won because of you. Think about it, had you not whispered in my ear, I might have missed the penalty. We might have lost, had you not done what you did."

"What did Olivia do?" Someone asked and we saw Scolari standing behind us.

"Nothing." I said quickly, trying to sound inconspicuous.

"Not nothing." Neymar said. "She saw Bravo and his coach talking before the penalties. And she told me."

"You heard him tell Bravo what to do?" Scolari asked me.

"No, not exactly. He has giving him instructions, I was too far away to listen, but I've been here for some time now, surrounded by people speaking Portuguese when I can't, so I kind of understood what they were talking about. He was saying something about that stuttering thing that you do before you shoot and he demonstrated it for Bravo." I said the last sentence looking at Neymar. "And I realized that he thought you had a tell. But we've been practicing together now for some weeks and I thought I understood what he was talking about, because you do this thing with your shoulder, based on where you're shooting..." I continued, before taking a breath.

"I have a tell?" Neymar asked.

"Not really. It's not a tell per se, because a tell has to be beforehand. But Sampaoli thought so."

"What is it?" Scolari asked impatiently.

"He turns his right shoulder upwards as he shoots, when he aims right. So I told him to turn his shoulder up and when he did, Bravo moved right too fast and –"

"Neymar shot left." Scolari said. "Wow." He looked speechless. He sat down opposite us, still wide eyed. "Liv, that's amazing. You played him." He said finally and I noticed it was the first time he ever called me that.

Neymar smiled widely.

"I know you have to go back to school in the fall, but you've got a job here as an assistant coach if you ever want it." He said and got up, as the bus came to a halt in the hotel parking lot.