Hey guys! This is Chapter 90 (wow!) and we are in the final few chapters. I'm trying to make it 100 in total but we'll see how it goes! I hope you like it and continue to vote for the story! Stick around for the ending!
Thanks, as always! Lots of love!
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Neymar came back a few minutes after Aramis and Louis had left, having made no progress with David. I had finally managed to get Sarah cleaned and in bed and she was sleeping. We sat on the couch and I told him what had happened the night before.
"What I don't get is why the both of you went off like that on Aramis before any of the rest of us even appeared. Is seeing a guy here so terrible on its own?" I asked.
With a sigh Neymar took out his phone and started looking for something.
"What is this?" I asked when he gave it to me. There were a couple of pictures from last night that Aramis had taken on his phone. "How did the gossip sites get their hands on these? How did they know to look for me?"
"They didn't. Aramis posted them online on his Instagram."
"And how did you come across them?" I asked but got the answer myself. The pictures were geotagged. Everyone looking at pictures taken at the bar we were at yesterday could see them.
"David showed them to me this morning. And we didn't think much of it but then the guy appeared on his boxers with Sarah and David flipped."
"His reaction was a bit extreme, wasn't it?"
"Honestly? I wouldn't judge him."
"But you didn't react that way."
"No." Neymar said. "Because what we have is not like that. Sarah and David... I'm just not sure anymore."
"You mean maybe they don't belong together?"
"Maybe it shouldn't be this hard."
"But it was hard with us too."
"It was because you made it." Neymar said with a chuckle. But there wasn't accusation in his voice. "And the problems we had to face, they were always outside things, external factors. It wasn't us, it was everything else."
"Yeah." I said, leaning towards him and resting my head against his chest. "So how was practice?"
"A little weird. Nobody was in a good mood." He said as he started stroking my hair. "Also guess who replaced you in our practice with Coto and Oscar."
"I've been replaced? Already?" I asked suddenly feeling a pang in my heart.
"Not exactly. It was a disaster, you see. Coto brought in Alex, to be basically a human shield which we would try to pass by, but it didn't go so well."
"Poor Alex."
"Yeah I don't think Coto will ask him again. Or anyone else, for that matter. You are irreplaceable."
"I talked to Mike yesterday." I said after I had planted a kiss on his neck. "They'll fly to Fortaleza the day after tomorrow. I thought I should go join them but now I don't know if I should leave Sarah. This was my fault."
"Your fault how?" Neymar asked me.
"I suggested we go out drinking. We should just have come home like she said and watch the Notebook."
"You hate that movie."
"I really do." I giggled.
"Well I don't think it's your fault. I think you should go to Fortaleza, we'll fly out a day after you anyway. That think with David and Sarah, they have to figure it out by themselves. It's not about Sarah getting drunk once, or David storming out. She wanted them to take a break and while David waited for her she got together with some other guy who even went as far as to propose to her. And David had gotten her a ring of his own."
"Is this true?" I was about to ask but Sarah beat me to it. She was leaning by the bedroom door, a look of dread etched on her face. "He was going to propose to me?"
Neymar looked guilty for letting it slip. He nodded. "Before you told him you wanted to take a break. You weren't supposed to know, I swore..."
"He was going to propose to me." Sarah said as she walked in the room and sat across from us. "And I broke up with him."
"Sarah..."
"No. I have been an idiot. And I've already put him through way too much."
"Look last night was stupid. It was my fault. You kept telling me to leave and I wouldn't listen. So we got drunk. So what? Nothing happened. Louis said so."
Sarah stayed quiet, her head buried in her hands.
"Maybe I should go." Neymar said, looking uncomfortable.
"No." I whispered to him, but he was already up. I gave him an apologetic look as I escorted him to the door. "I'm sorry. We said we'd spend tonight together."
"It's alright." Neymar said but we both knew it wasn't. We didn't have many days left.
"How about tomorrow?" I asked him. "You don't have practice, do you?"
"No but I have to do the interview."
"So that's still happening?" I asked.
He nodded. "It was scheduled." He said. "So I'll see you in Fortaleza?" He asked me.
"I guess so." I said, pulling him towards me and kissing him hard.
"I'm gonna go ahead and book you a ticket." He told me matter-of-factly and I didn't object. "I love you."
"And I love you." I said, once again surprised at how easy it was for the words to slip out.
When Neymar left I returned inside. Sarah wasn't in the living room anymore. I saw her standing in the balcony looking down and joined her, just in time to see Neymar's car speed away.
"I just ruined your day too." Sarah said.
"You didn't ruin anything. Nothing is ruined." I said, laying my hand on her back. "And nothing is ruined between you and David either."
"That's not true." Sarah said as she walked back inside and sat on the couch.
"We'll talk to him together. We'll tell him the truth that you were drunk and you fell asleep."
Tears escaped Sarah's eyes once again. "That's not entirely true. I wasn't that drunk. I remember everything." She said, burying her head in her hands.
"You do? Did something happen between you and Louis?" I asked her anxiously thinking I had assured David to the contrary.
"We had a few drinks at the bar and then we were all pretty wasted and we came back here. And you and Aramis fell asleep in the couches but Louis and I didn't."
"Did you and Louis...?"
"No." Sarah said firmly. "We talked. And it helped me put things into perspective."
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
"David and I... We want different things." She started saying. "He wanted to propose to me! And I don't... I wouldn't have said yes. I love him, but I am not ready. And truth be told, we've been together for so long, doing the long distance thing and I'm tired of it. If we got married I'd have to move to France with him but I have a life in Lisbon, a job, friends."
"So yesterday...?" I started asking but she cut me.
"Louis said something to me that struck a chord. Why put myself through this, feeling guilty all the time, why put David through it? And I thought he was right. What's the point if we're both miserable? I love him but that alone is not enough. That alone a relationship does not make."
"So that's it? Just like that?" I asked her, not believing what I was hearing.
"He deserves an explanation. And I'll give him that. But other than that, yes, it's over."
"Are you sure? It seems sudden. Maybe you should take some time to think about it and David needs to cool off first..."
"It's not sudden. I think we both have known for a while now."
"I don't know what to say Sarah..."
"This isn't what I wanted to talk to you about." Sarah said and looked up at me.
Her face was serious and it made my heart beat faster. What could be more important than her and David breaking up for good?
Last night..." She started saying but her voice was hesitant and it made me even more anxious. "You were drunk and you started saying some things. About Neymar and—"
"Yes, Aramis told me. He thought I was making it all up about Neymar!" I cut her, relieved.
"No it wasn't just that. You kept saying you're a liar. And that Neymar deserves better." Sarah said looking at me. "The guys thought you were just drunk out of your mind and they laughed but Liv... it was awful. You looked miserable."
"I mean a lot of people cry when they're drunk. I don't think..." I started saying. I looked outside the window at the endless sea of buildings, my mind already miles away.
"It wasn't just drunk crying. It was heartbreaking to watch." Sarah said her voice still no more than a whisper. Somehow her breaking up with David was easier for her to talk about than this.
My mind span, trying to find a way to end this conversation in a way that wouldn't make her suspicious. "I'm fine." was all I could say.
"You mentioned a guy. Other than Neymar." Sarah said reluctantly. "Someone called James? Who is he Liv?"
"No one." I said firmly and I jumped from the couch. Hearing that name felt like someone hitting me with a hammer all over my body repeatedly.
"It's not no one. Or you wouldn't react like that." Sarah said.
"It's no one Sarah." I said, turning to look at her, my lips forming a thin line. "No one."
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