Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 48

2015

As soon as the door opened I ran to him. He was surprised for a second, before he dropped his bag to the floor and opened his arms. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, hugging him tightly.

"I am so proud of you!" I told him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "You deserve this, God knows how much." The three-person shortlist for the Ballon D'Or was announced this morning and Neymar was on it. Of course, he had been on the 30-person shortlist every year since 2011, but the closest he had gotten to the top was fifth place. But now, he was in the top three, and a serious contender for the Ballon D'Or this year.

Neymar smiled, as he put me down gently. "I can't believe it, still. Not that I'll win or anything..." He said, as we walked inside the house.

"I think you have a real shot. Because you've been a decisive player for Barca this year."

"There's Messi in Barcelona, Liv. The execs are putting all their weight behind him. Everyone is betting on Messi."

"I'm betting on you. Maybe it doesn't count for much..."

"It counts for everything." He told me, taking me in his arms again and kissing me slowly, making me dizzy.

"We need to celebrate." I told him, between kisses.

"Anything you want."

"No, we're celebrating you. So, anything you want."

He thought about it for a second. "I'd love to go back to that place we went with Suarez and his wife. I can make reservations. We can take Toly with us too."

"No, I'll take care of it." I told him. "And I'm all for taking Toly with us in general, but let's make it just us this time. A proper date."

"Yeah, that sounds great." Neymar said, smiling. His phone rang. "It's my dad. I guess he must have woken up and learned the news."

"Tell him I said hi." I said, as Neymar went to the other room to speak.

I immediately texted Suarez's wife to get the name of the restaurant. She was quick to reply and I called right away, thankfully managing with broken Spanish to get us a table for Saturday. At first, he said they were booked, but then I name dropped, so they miraculously had an empty table for Saturday.

2018

The week passed by quickly and the day of Neymar's birthday party arrived. I was getting ready in my room, and my mind involuntarily went back to 2016 and his birthday party two years ago.

I was amazed at the difference two years could make. In 2016, I attended Neymar's birthday party as his fiancée and I still remembered the devastating events that led us to breaking up, just before the clock struck midnight.

In 2017, I spent his birthday alone in my apartment, watching Netflix, drinking wine and mostly crying my eyes out. 2017 me, did not imagine, not in a million years, that the 2018 version of me would be getting ready to attend his birthday party again. But as a simple guest this time.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a new outfit, head to bottom, as Neymar's party was black tie but also had a color code and it was black and white. I'd opted for long black dress with a high slit and black high heels. A month ago, this dress would be out of my comfort zone, today it was just Saturday.

I had actually spent the afternoon with Neymar Sr, who had come by our apartment to talk to me about business. As it turned out, this newfound notoriety within Parisian circles, had brought on interest by a few brands that wanted to partner up with me.