I'll Be Thinking of You

Chapter Nine: Locker Room Trouble

“I’ll be back late tonight,” Neymar said peeking at Meena as she fed Davi his breakfast, he smiled watching the two of them; he hated that he had to go to training and a team dinner.

Meena nodded her head remembering that she had packed a bag to stay over so that she could watch Davi; she had already set it down in her room when she had arrived.

“That’s okay,” Meena reassured flashing Neymar a small smile, he couldn’t help it and it was why she had been hired; she was to stay over whenever Neymar was away working.

Davi munched on his cereal as Neymar moved to put his dish in the sink, he knew his father was away a lot and he was glad that Meena was around to look after him.

Neymar cleared his throat awkwardly looking at Meena, in the past two weeks they had become close friends and he hated that he had to spend the evening with his team-mates.

It was early October and things were starting to pick up with the footballing season, something that meant that Neymar was pretty busy now and he wanted to be around his son a lot more.

“Do you need anything?” Neymar asked knowing that this wasn’t the first time that she had stayed over, he just wanted to make sure that she was comfortable.

Meena looked up at Neymar and shook her head, she had made sure that she had everything before she had come over since she knew it was going to be a very long day.

“I’m fine… everything is in my room,” Meena said nodding towards the room that was hers when she stayed over; she ignored Neymar’s confused look knowing he knew nothing of where she slept when she had to stay over to look after Davi of a night.

***

“Are you okay?” Dani Alves asked looking at Neymar concerned, he raised an eyebrow at his friend knowing that he looked far from happy about something.

They were currently at some expensive upscale restaurant with the rest of the team for a bonding session and Neymar looked far from happy.

“I wish he’d just stop,” Neymar said annoyed watching Rafa from across the room, they had hired out the restaurant so that they didn’t have to worry about being snapped doing something stupid.

Dani looked at his friend for a moment before he looked over at Rafa, who was telling another story about his night with Meena.

It made Neymar’s blood boil that the other footballer was still telling lies about the nanny who hadn’t been near him since their disaster of a date; but that didn’t stop Rafa from lying to the rest of the team.

“We all know he’s lying Ney… so what is the problem?” Dani said knowing that no one believed for a moment that Rafa was telling the truth; most of the players already knew Meena since she’d watched their children in the past.

Neymar shrugged sipping on his water, he knew he shouldn’t let it bother him but he couldn’t help but be annoyed that his friend was spreading lies about Meena.

“I just don’t like how he’s talking about her,” Neymar said continuing to glare at the other man, he wasn’t going to be able to listen to many more lies about Meena before he did something that he could come to regret like strangling the other man.

Dani turned to stare at Neymar realising that he was jealous of Rafa, he chuckled and shook his head knowing that this wasn’t going to be easy for his young friend.

“You like Meena,” Dani said continuing to watch Neymar, he had known for a while that the younger man had feelings for her especially since he talked about her often but this sealed the deal.

Neymar blinked shaking his head, he had a girlfriend in Brazil and he knew that he couldn’t start anything with Meena like that; even if Carolina was pushing for him to do something about it.

“It doesn’t matter…” Neymar said shaking his head as he looked down at his drink, he hated to think of Meena ever dating another man and in the six weeks that he had known her; he had found himself growing attached to her.

Dani sighed looking at his friend, he didn’t know why Neymar was making things so hard on himself when he could have what he wanted and Bruna would be none the wiser.

“I don’t like seeing you sad… Meena’s a great girl,” Dani said trying to encourage Neymar to take a chance with the nanny, it wasn’t ideal but it was better that thinking what if all of the time.

Neymar looked at his friend and offered him a small smile, he knew that he couldn’t change any of this; he looked over at Rafa wondering why the man didn’t realise how lucky he had been to take Meena out on a date.

“I just think that you should do something… you clearly like her so do something about it,” Dani said sipping on his beer, he looked at Neymar who wasn’t listening to him anymore but slamming his glass of water down on the table before he stalked over to Rafa furiously.

Dani cursed setting down his own drink and hurried after his friend in hopes of stopping him before something happened; they didn’t need any drama in the locker room right now.

Neymar punched Rafa square in the face spending the other footballer to the ground, he glared at him darkly as the room fell silent; none of them had been expecting anything like that to happen.

Rafa glared up at Neymar, he had been hoping to get under the other man’s skin and he had clearly done it; he was furious that Meena wouldn’t even consider going back out with him again.

Rafa quickly jumped to his feet and punched Neymar back before the two men started fighting, the fight didn’t last long before they were pulled apart by their team-mates.

Rafa’s nose was pouring blood while Neymar had a split lip and it was clear that he’d have a black eye; the two men glared at each other knowing that they weren’t going to be friends anymore after this.

“What the hell is going on?” Carles Puyol demanded looking between the two, he had never seen anything like it and he knew he couldn’t have trouble in his locker room.

Neymar struggled against Gerard Piqué, he knew that he shouldn’t have punched Rafa but he couldn’t take the horrible things that he was staying anymore.

Neither of the two of them said anything as they continued to glare at one another, it was clear to everyone what the fight had been about.

“Okay… this party is over, I’ll be telling the mister about this tomorrow morning,” Carles said with a shake of his head, there was nothing he could say about this but Rafa had certainly been over stepping his mark with his comments about Meena recently.

The comment had clearly struck a nerve with Neymar and Carles couldn’t help but wonder if that was the reason Meena had turned Rafa down when he had asked her out the other day.

Neymar took a deep breath staring at Rafa, he knew he could expect a call from the mister tomorrow to talk about what had happened and he would have to explain why he had punched his team-mate.

Rafa glared back at Neymar, he didn’t know what his former friend had said to Meena but he was determined not to let him win.

Meena was the sort of girl that deserved the best and Rafa was sure he was the one for her.