Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 7

2017

I braced myself for what was to come. "Hey Neymar!" I yelled after him. He stopped walking and turned to look at me, his face not betraying any emotion. "I... Do you have a second?" I asked. He nodded. "So... the coaches had an idea and I... It's up to you I mean, if you don't want to do it it's completely understandable, not that I want to make you make the decision... I mean you can think about it and umm... Anyway—"

"Liv you aren't making any sense." He cut me. "But I know about the proposal."

"You do?" I exclaimed. "Oh, ok. In that case... What do you think?" I asked him.

"I don't think it's a very good idea. I don't have anything to gain from such an arrangement." He said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh, okay." I said taken aback. He almost seemed pleased with himself for getting that reaction out of me. "I can tell them then, that..." I started saying, but my voice broke.

"But it doesn't matter what I think." He cut me. "I'm not the coach."

"Neymar I can't practice with you knowing that'd you'd rather be anywhere else and hating it and me the whole time."

"I didn't know you cared about my feelings." He said mockingly.

"No, I care about my feelings." I said, suddenly as angry as he was.

"Well, that's more like it." He sneered.

"This is a disaster." I muttered. "I don't know why I ever thought this might work. God, why do you hate me so much?"

"Because you broke me. You broke us. So easily." He said, enunciating every word.

"I broke us? Funny, I remember things differently!" I said loudly.

"Is the parking lot of the training center of the team that employs the both of you the best place to have it out?" David yelled at us, emerging from his car where he was waiting for me. I realized he had witnessed the whole interaction but only intervened when it was obvious we would only keep fighting. "Why don't you just be done with it if you can't co-exist? Just fucking ignore each other, if you aren't capable of sorting out your shit. God!" He yelled and got back in the car, slamming his door.

I started walking towards the car when he emerged again. "No, no ride from me today." He told me. "You either give her a ride," he told Neymar, "or be that lame ass guy that leaves her here to take the bus. But I am done enabling the two of you." He said and got back inside and drove off before either of us had time to respond.

Without looking back to Neymar, I started walking towards the bus stop.

"C'mon, I'll take you home." I heard him say.

"No." I told him and kept walking but heard his footsteps behind me.

"Look, I'm sorry." He said.

"For what?" I asked without turning to look at him.

"For saying that about the practice. I do think it's a good idea, I don't know why I said that."

"To hurt me." I told him, finally turning to look at him.

He nodded. "I guess so." We stayed there for a moment, looking at each other. "Let me give you a ride." He offered again.

I looked at him for a few seconds before I agreed and I saw him let out a breath I hadn't realized he was holding.

We got in the car and he started driving without saying anything else when we heard a car honking. David had parked next to the bus stop, waiting to see if I would leave with Neymar or not, to pick me up. He smiled brightly when he saw us pass by together. "I knew it! You didn't think I'd have left you here otherwise, did you?"