Chains

Chapter 38

Shakira glanced at me before greeting Anitta, who seemingly forgot that there were others at the table.Zayn and I watched as she chatted up to Shakira, who was particularly not interested in what the Brazilian had to say.  After a few unnoticed eye rolls and sighs, Shakira politely ended the conversation, but it was as if luck was not on our side today.  

As she was bout to walk away, an all too familiar figure appeared beside her, throwing an arm over her shoulder. 

"Neymar!" Shakira said, standing up to give him a hug. I groaned inwardly as I took a gulp of my soda. As if sensing my discomfort, Zayn placed his hand on my thigh, giving it a little squeeze. I threw him a small smile before looking up at Neymar whose eyes were already focused on me.What was he doing here? But more importantly, what was he doing here with, her.

"Lou," he said, offering me a smile. I slowly got up from my seat and gave him short hug.Before I pulled away, he placed a soft kiss on my cheek. To say I was surprised was to say the least.

"Hey Neymar" I said, pulling away from him a bit. I sat down beside Zayn once more, finally breaking eye contact with Ney and giving Zayn a glance.

Zayn raised his eyebrows at my actions but I shrugged in response. There wasn't any bad blood between Neymar and me, but it goes without saying that our current relationship was a bit awkward at times. Physical contacts, like the hug we just had, were rare, and the fact that I initiated the hug was even rarer.  

I looked back towards the two only to see that Anitta's gaze was now on me. But she didn't say anything.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Shakira questioned, trying to ease the tension in the room.

We weren't in our usual Barcelona setting, so it was such a coincidence that he was in Zaragoza the same time we were. 

"Well I'm here to visit some friends and I just happened to bump into this one while I was coming here," he said, nudging  Anitta with his hip, who looked up at him with a smile.

I rolled my eyes before unlocking my phone, revealing four unread text messages from Maluma. I frowned a bit before swiping past them and opening a random sudoku app to distract me.

I tuned out their conversation as Anitta began to give her two cents.

A few minutes into the conversation I heard my name so I instantly started to pay attention. 

"Right Lou" Shakira said, standing up.I gave her a questioning look but I followed her actions as Zayn did the same.

"Right," I said hesitantly, accompanied by an inaudible "I guess."

I watched as Shakira gathered our now emptied food trays to throw the garbage away and it now dawned on my that we were leaving. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I had more than enough Anitta for one day.I eagerly made my way to the door but was stopped by Neymar.

"Hey Lou, can I talk to you for a sec?" 

I grudgingly stopped in my steps and groaned inwardly. I slowly turned around to see Neymar now motioning towards the empty table I was at. Anitta was now in the line to order food.

"We'll be outside, " Shakira said, grabbing Zayn's hand to drag him outside with her. I sighed making my way towards Neymar. I slid back into my seat while he took the seat opposite of me.

"So, how have you been?" he asked, fidgeting with his fingers a bit.

"I've been better," I said plainly, not wanting to bore him with the details. He reached out and held onto my hand.

"Everything happens for a reason, Lou. Just remember that" he said, offering me a small but genuine smile. 

I nodded my head slightly and eyed our entwined hands.

"I know exactly how to cheer you up," he said, standing up.I stood up as well as he was still holding on to my hand.He lead me outside and towards his car.

"No, wait, Shakira's waiting on me," I released my hand from his grasp and stopped walking to look around for the car that I came here in.

"Actually, she isn't" I whipped my head to his direction. 

"What do you mean?" I asked,a feeling of anger slowly boiling within me.

"Um, let's talk about this after we leave" he said as he began to notice the incoming paparazzi. I reluctantly got into the car with him.

Neymar:1 , Shakira : 0