Mix & Matches (Neymar Jr) ✔

#31, If only

"Please be honest with me – nothing happened?" Alexia asked for the umpteenth time as they got ready to go home after their training session for the upcoming women's match against Levante.

"For the last time – we just talked," Tamira retorted. They were having another "girl talk" about the situation that, unfortunately for Alexia, didn't have the juicy details she apparently had been wanting to hear. If only she knew. "Well, there was fighting and throwing insults around involved, but in the end, we talked it out. We're okay for now, alright? Your little scheme worked," she finished her explanation, sticking to the official version she and Neymar had come up with.

Alexia sighed. "That's too bad. But I guess it's for the best that way."

Tamira raised an eyebrow, curious. "Of course it's best this way. I'm not sure the team survives another Ajax Amsterdam debacle." She brushed her hair, still wet from the shower, into a ponytail, securing the strands with a hairband. Around them the other team members were getting ready to go home as well, not caring in the least about what the two of them were talking about; not everyone was as nosy as Alexia when it came to her love life.

"No, I don't mean it like that." Alexia sat down on the bench of the locker room to tie her shoes.

"Then what do you mean?" Tamira wanted to know.

Alexia sighed, scratching the side of her head before finally answering. "I mean, there's... we heard about your mum and his dad? You know? Wouldn't that be weird if you two... you know?"

Tamira grimaced. "Yeah, that would be weird wouldn't it?" she replied, ending the conversation with her FC Barcelona teammate.

Except it hadn't been weird. Not during Christmas break, not in Amsterdam. Not when her thoughts started to wander and her heart to hope for another chance to repeat those actions.

If only things were as easy as Neymar had claimed they'd be.

Because ever since Amsterdam their everyday lives had been holding them in firm clutches once again, preventing them from meeting in secret to have another moment of alone-time together. Their respective teams were doing well in La Liga, with the men fighting for their first place on the table with their eternal rivals Real Madrid, while the women had managed to defend their position on top against the women's team of Valencia.

Then came the international break, which led Neymar to London, where the Brazilian "Selecao" played two friendlies (a tie against England, a win against Belgium), and Tamira to New York, where the Australian "Matildas" played a match against the women's world champions, the national team of the United States.

"You gave your all, Mira, and your goal was great! ;)," Neymar replied to her via private WhatsApp chat, where she'd told him about the loss – their only way to communicate freely these days. Phone calling each other was obviously too conspicuous, not with the things they wanted to say. "It was just a friendly anyways. Don't worry about it :*"