When I get out of the gate I spot Neymar holding up a huge sign with my name on it.
I walk on over to him and push the sign down.
"What did I do to deserve this?" I smile.
"How's my lovely girlfriend?" he smiles back.
"I'm not anyone's girlfriend," I inform him as I begin to walk past him, down the familiar terminal. I hear his sneakers rush up behind me and I feel him take my bag.
"How was Dubai?" he asks finally catching up to me.
"Fantastic," I marvel. "It was great, definitely."
We make our way to his car and we drive off to his place. On the way there I tell him about Noori and everywhere she took me while I stayed there. I was set to stay there for a couple of weeks, but all of that changed when I called Luis Enrique.
"Thanks again for letting me stay here tonight," I tell him as he pulls up into his driveway. "Just tonight, I'm booking a hotel room and looking for apartments as soon as I enter your house. This just all happened so fast."
"Kat, I swear if you don't stay here for a week, I'm not taking you out on that date," he begins to shake his head.
He grabs the one piece of luggage from the back of the car and I head up to the front door. He rushes up behind me and pauses after putting his key into the lock.
"There's someone that's been dying to meet you," he says before opening the door.
Davi. I just know it.
The place is empty and I look around profusely, trying to spot the little blonde toddler.
Neymar walks past me and into the hall to put my luggage in the guest room I stayed in last time. He comes back out to the living room and I look at him questioningly.
"We'll be right out!" I hear a woman yelling from down the hall.
I walk towards Neymar and look down the hall as a door opens up. I recognize the girl holding Davi immediately and feel intimidated.
"Hi!" she cheers as she walks on over with a wet Davi, wrapped in a towel. "Nice to meet you, I'm Carolina."
I give her a smile back and introduce myself.
"Kat, this is Davi," she speaks. "Davi, say hi."
Davi waves then puts his head in his mom's neck and we all chuckle.
"Hi, Davi," I say back.
"I'm gonna go dress him and I'll be on my way," Carolina says before disappearing into another room.
I look back at Neymar.
"He's so perfect," I tell him sincerely.
"He knows your name, he just hasn't put a face to it yet," Neymar explains and heads out the hall into the living room. "Come on."
I follow him and sit on the couch across from him.
"Do you want something to drink?" he offers me.
"I'm good, thanks."
I look around the place, taking it all in again. I feel his eyes on me the whole time. Carolina comes back out with Davi and a brush in her hand. Davi comes running towards Neymar then hides his face again when he notices me.
"Davi! Come here," she yells after him.
Carolina grabs her purse then walks towards us and hands Neymar the hairbrush.
"I have to go," she sighs.
She leaves a kiss on Davi's forehead and one on Neymar's cheek.
"It was really nice to finally meet you, Kat," she smiles.
"Really nice to meet you too," I smile back at her before she says her final goodbye and rushes out the house.
"Catch," Neymar says and catches me off guard.
He throws the brush at me and I manage to catch it.
"Davi," Neymar looks over at him. "Kat's here."
Davi looks over at me and keeps his eyes locked on me.
"Davi, I'm Kat," I tell him as I lean forward.
"Kat!" he cheers and quits the hiding.
"What if I lied?" I ask Neymar and he lets out a chuckle.
"Don't lie to my kid," he says before getting up. "Davi go on over to Kat, she's gonna brush your hair."
Davi slides off the couch and walks over to me. I open my legs up a bit and he places himself in the new space and leans on my right leg facing Neymar. He turns his head to me and says my name again. I smile immensely and begin to brush his hair. Neymar turns on the television and comes back over with a box full of toys and places it on the floor. He pushes the coffee table away and sits down on the rug. I get up and head towards what I assume to be Davi's room to put away the hair brush and come back to find the both of them playing with toy cars.
Neymar is lying down on his side in front of Davi and I do the same across from him.
"You wanted me to stay so I could babysit, didn't you?" I joke.
"Am I that easy to figure out?" he adds. "Because you're definitely not."
Davi passes me a toy car and crashes his into mine once I place it on the rug. I look back up at Neymar, he's the happiest I've ever seen him.
"How long is he staying?" I inquire.
"Carolina and him are staying for the season," he answers. "A couple of months. I've got them set up here but Carolina insists on a hotel for herself."
When it's finally dark outside Neymar serves me a plate full of chicken that he cooked just for me and we have dinner in the dim dining room after putting Davi to sleep.
"Tell me about the team," I tell him.
"Where to start?" he chuckles. "You know what? I'm not gonna say anything. You'll get along with them all, they're great, plus you probably have done your research."
"That's not fair," I say after taking a fork-full of the meal. "Oh my God, this is delicious."
Neymar lets out a laugh and begins to nod. He serves me some more wine and I take a sip right after.
"Ladies love a man that can cook," I joke some more.
"Alright, but the main thing is if you love men that can cook?" he looks up at me.
"Neymar," I let out a sigh then laugh a little and he joins in. "I get it. You like me, I really do, but I don't want to start off this job and be known for dating you."
"Is that what's stopping you? Just say you don't like me back, that's literally all I have to hear. I'll tone it down a bit, but I'll still drool over you," he smiles.
I stay quiet. I mean, I know I don't really like him, there's that attraction there- I can admit that, but something just isn't allowing me to say it because I wanna see how this all goes. I just hope this doesn't sound like I'm stringing him along.
"My God, there is a chance," Neymar jokes.
I only smile back at him and take another bite. He's really growing on me.
After the meal I help him clean up the mess of a kitchen he left, but he soon insists on finishing up. I lift myself up on his counter and grab my phone which I left here. No important messages. No messages from James. I should really text him. I set up a new message and then Neymar takes my phone from my hands. I usually would mind, but I don't care what he does.
I see him ignore the name at the top of the screen and head to the phone. He scrolls past some names then makes it to the 'T' section.
He's calling up Toni. He puts the phone on speaker.
"What are you doing?" I whisper.
Neymar only raises his eyebrows at me when Toni picks up.
"Hello?" Toni asks.
"Toni, hey! How are you?" I ask.
"Kat, what's up? I'm great, how are you?"
"Good, great, yeah," I stall as Neymar begins to write on a piece of paper he grabbed from a drawer. "So about the boxes, Toni."
I read off the paper Neymar is showing me and I question it then speak after Toni does.
"Yeah, are you ready to have them sent somewhere?" he asks.
I begin to shake my head frantically as I recognize the address on the paper Neymar was writing on.
"Kat?" Toni asks again after my pause.
"Hold on, Toni," I instruct him.
I place the call on mute and begin to yell at Neymar.
"No way in hell!" I tell him.
"You have to!" he argues back. "It's gonna come to Barcelona anyway!"
I bite my tongue and unmute the call.
"Yeah, sorry, I got one. I'll text you the address after," I give in.
"You found a place already? Where? Where are you? Still in Dubai?"
"I-I'm back in Spain," I explain as I grab the phone and take it off speaker. "I'm in Barcelona."
I hop off the counter and head into the living room.
"You got the job didn't you?" I hear him smirk through the phone.
"Precisely," I say and hear his excitement through the phone.
"I'm so happy for you. That's great," he says.
"Thanks Toni," I say and look back to see if Neymar followed me. "Thanks for everything, honestly, it means a lot."
"I'd do anything for you, Kat," he says. "I don't want to get all sentimental, but you're great at what you do and any team would be so lucky to have you. When do you start?"
"That means a lot, and tomorrow," I tell him.
"You'll do fantastic!" Toni laughs. "I've got to go now, but are you going to tell the rest of the guys?"
"Do me the favor and tell them please. I'll be too busy tomorrow, but I'll try to call some of them. Goodnight Toni, sweet dreams, love you."
"Have a great first day, love you too."
I hold my phone up to my chest then turn the light in the living room off and walk back to where I left Neymar. He's not in the kitchen and everywhere is dark. I walk down the hall to his room and knock before going in.
"Come in," I hear him say.
"You're not in the right mind-"
"Kat, it's got to come here somehow," he starts as he takes his shirt off. "Besides, I'd love to have all your crap in my house for a while."
I look at him as he gets into bed and takes his phone. He puts a pillow behind his back and sits up a bit. He's right. All my stuff was bound to come to Barcelona, the sooner the better, whatever he says, I know I won't stay. No matter what he says, I remind myself.
I don't realize that I'm biting down on my lip till I feel the hurt rush through me after a while. I straighten my back a little and finally speak.
"I'll look for a place right now-"
"Get some sleep, Kat," he says without looking up. "Big day tomorrow."
I walk over to him quickly and leave a kiss on his cheek. The surprised look on his face makes the unplanned peck worth the while.
"Thank you, Neymar," I tell him as I head back towards the door. "Sweet dreams."