One Chain, Two Wrongs • Neymar

Chapter 9 - Movie Date

"No flowers, right?" I ask Gerard as he awaits for me under the door frame to my room.

"No," he let's out a grunt. "Can you hurry, please? The two of them are probably already at the theater."

I quickly grab my keys and oblige as we head out of my house and to his car to get to the theater where we were set to meet Mariana and Shakira.

It's been a couple of days since the dinner over at Gerard's and I can finally relax, in a way, since I've been so hype to go out on this date with Mariana. Even though it's a double date, I cannot wait to spend the rest of my day with her and hopefully this is the start of something new.

"So," I start as we make our way to the theater. "Tell me a bit more about Mariana."

"Um," Gerard starts. "I don't know, she likes to listen to music a lot? I'm not the one to ask. You should ask Shakira, or Mari herself."

"You're right," I say.

A couple of minutes pass and we park outside the theater and make our way in. We spot Shak and Mari waiting by the ticket booth.

"Aren't they handsome?" Shak mocks as she grabs a hold of Mari's hands and we near closer.

"Stunning," Mari replies and they both let out a fake sigh.

Gerard greets Mari with a kiss on the cheek and Shak with a kiss on the lips before I greet the two girls with a hug and kiss on the cheek each. Gerard and Shakira head over to the ticket booth to pay for the tickets and I stand there with Mari.

"Stunning for the cinema, huh?" I fix my collar.

"Sexy, more like it," she smiles and tugs at my collar a bit.

"How long have you guys been waiting?" I inquire.

"Not long," Mari simply states.

"Look, it's not fair this is a double date and all, so I was wondering what you were up to tonight," I bite my lip.

"Tonight's no good," Mariana bites her lip too. "Gerard and Shak are going out so I'm set to babysit with Camila. I'd invite you over, but Mauro sort of left her."

"What were they still doing here?"

"Elias and Mauro were set to go on a vacation, but my dear and innocent Camila was set to stay for no good reason and things weren't going so good so they broke up. Thank God the two of them left, Elias was getting on my nerves-"

"Elias," Gerard spoke as the couple came closer. "Your ex."

"My ex," Mari sarcastically smiled at him.

"Leave her alone," Shakira swats his chest.

"Mauro, her other ex," Gerard added. "They left two days ago."

"I heard," I said.

It took me a minute to process the fact that the two guys were her exes and why Gerard didn't mention it till now. I mean there's really no bother since there was no sort of conflict anyway but it's still something I would've liked to know. I pay Gerard back for the two tickets that belong to Mari and I before Mari takes my hand in hers and we walk ahead of Shak and Gerard to the designated theater. We go up a couple of steps to get a seat right in the center to get the perfect view. I'm sat at the edge, then Mariana, then Gerard and finally Shakira. Couple and couple.

"Did you want anything from the concession stand?" I ask before getting fully comfortable.

"Ah," she starts. "Yeah, actually, but I wanna go get it myself."

"No, let me-"

"It's fine, I wanna go," Mariana turns to face Gerard and Shakira and she asks them if they want anything.

"I'll go with," Gerard says.

"No, just tell me what you guys want," Mari protests.

"No, I know the way Shak likes her food," Gerard shakes his head as he stands up. "Let's go."

Mari begins to take out her wallet, but I hand her some cash before she could do so. She thanks me and she's long gone with Gerard.

"Don't worry," Shak starts. "Nothing happened between her and Elias or Mauro while they were here."

"Am I that obvious?" I let out a laugh.

"She's had many boyfriends, but nothing serious. Wanna join the club?"

I sit back in my seat a bit and process the new information.

"Why don't the relationships work out? Is she a lot to handle?" I ask.

"No, no, nothing like that. She's great. I truly don't know why, she doesn't tell me," Shakira tells me. "Truthfully, I think something went on between the three of them. Mauro didn't seem too keen on Elias although they're friends."

I say nothing to that. I just hope Mari comes back and flashes me a smile so I can forget what I heard.

Almost five minutes later and they're still not back.

"Should I text him?" Shak asks.

"Probably a line," I reassure her. "Let me ask you, why did her mom and her move out of the country?"

"Her dad cheated on her mom and so her mom decided to flee. Brasília was the place to be, according to their postcards. I was the only person Mariana kept in touch with, only one she confided in. Then England sounded like a gem. Her mom followed her new boyfriend, her jerk of a boyfriend, according to Mari. Then, Mari fled by herself to Madrid where her mom went to look for her shortly after, they stayed there for a bit. Her dad got killed in an accident and they went back for the funeral. They stayed in Colombia, but I was long gone by then. I went to visit and I saw her after years and I kept going back for her and my family, so I invited her and some friends to Barcelona. Mari though, she's like my sister and I wanted her to stay."

Shakira turned to face me on that last part, as if to warn me to take care of her. I couldn't say much. I didn't have anything to say.

Mari and Gerard came back with a ton of food in their hands and I got up to help Mari with her share.

"Where were you two?" Shak asks as Gerard passes her a hot dog.

"Mari went to the bathroom first, then there was this horrific line at the stand," Gerard explains.

"And in the bathroom too," Mari chimes in.

"Yeah, no kidding," Gerard says as he finally sits. "You had me waiting out there for half an hour."

The trailers end right on time and the movie finally starts.

I couldn't concentrate around the end since Mariana took my hand in hers and placed her head on my shoulder.