“Someone’s a ray of sunshine today,” Xavi pointed to Neymar, who was bouncing up any down to his music with a huge smile across his face, while they boarded their plane.

“Well Neymar and Annie left the bar together last night.  They probably did the dirty-” before Pedro could continue, Leo smacked him in the back of the head.

“I don’t think Gerard wants to hear those kinds of things about his sister,” Leo whispers as he jerks his thumb over to the taller man who had a grim expression on his face and was glaring at the young Brazilian.  They immediately shuddered and turned their attention onto something else, not wanting to provoke the protective older brother.

The flight was short and Neymar was excited to play today.  Not only because he would he be in the starting line-up against Real Madrid but also because Annabelle was going to be watching him play.  She took a later flight than him since she had to take an interview as well as to confirm the details for her next photo-shoot.  Regardless, he was just excited to have her watch him play. 

~*~*~*~

Annabelle and Luna jogged into the stadium after flashing their VIP passes.  The game had already started and they struggled to climb through the crowd to get to their seats.  When they got there, the game was already about 20 minutes in and Barcelona had already scored a goal.  Then shortly a few minutes later Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema scored their second goal.  As much as Annabelle hated to admit it, it was a beautifully scored goal.  It was obvious both teams were playing strong offensive football.  It wasn’t until the 43rd minute did Leo make another goal, with the assist of Neymar, to tie up the game. The first half ended shortly after with the score tied.  When the second half started, she was glad to see the Barcelona team looking a bit more energetic.  However, that was a bit short lived when Cristiano was awarded a penalty kick, which he made.  Annabelle felt herself grimace at the sight of him.  She ignored him as the game continued.  When Neymar gets knocked down by Sergio Ramos, Leo takes a penalty kick and ties up the game yet again at 3-3 for Barcelona.  The rest of the game was nerve wracking as Real Madrid makes all attempts to win the game but finally Leo makes another penalty kick bringing the score to 4-3, beating Real Madrid.  The crowd goes wild.  Barcelona had just helped guarantee themselves another shot at winning the La Liga title. 

Annabelle was beyond happy for her team and couldn’t wait to congratulate them.  She and Luna stuck around the stadium while they waited for the team to get cleaned up.

“Annie, can you imagine playing here?” Luna walks down to the field and looks up at her.  “Like can you imagine yourself playing professional football?” Annabelle doesn’t answer and walks towards the stadium.  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer.  It was that she didn’t know how to answer since she never thought about it.  Yes, she loved football but never did she think much about playing professionally like her brother.

“I think it’d be impressive if you’d played,” surprised by the male voice amongst them, Luna and Annabelle both turned away from the field to see Cristiano behind them.

“You know, this stalking thing is getting quite old,” she frowns at him with her hands on her hips but he just laughs.

“I played a game here tonight that you came to see.  I hardly think I should be labeled as the stalker,”

“Well, I didn’t come to see YOU play,”

“I know, I know.  You came for Gerard and Neymar,” she rolled her eyes at his smirk and attempts to walk pass him to leave but he steps in front of her.  “I’m very excited to be working with you in our upcoming shoot.  I assume you’ve heard or have accepted the offer?”

“Unfortunately, as much as I dislike you, there was no way our agent would turn down an offer from Vogue España,”

“I’m glad!  That’s really good news,” he smiles at her. 

“To you maybe, but I dread staying in Madrid any longer than I have to.  So Luna will be making this shoot as short as possible,” she didn’t even let him respond before pulling Luna away with her.

“Annie, aren’t you being a bit harsh to Ronaldo?”

“Ugh… Don’t let his smile fool you, Luna.  He’s an arrogant ass,”

“I hope you’re not talking about me?” Neymar asked from behind them as he walks up with the team following him.

“Neymar!” Annabelle’s face brightens up tenfold as she jumps into his arms.  “Congratulations on your win!” he smiles at her and kisses her full on the mouth.  Someone clears their throat loudly and intentionally and Neymar pulls away from Annabelle.  She turns to see her brother frowning at them.

“Oh stop being like that Ger.  I saw your make-out session with Shakira earlier.  At least I didn’t do it in front of millions of people on camera,” she smirks when Gerard’s face turns a bit red but walks up to give him a big hug too. 

“So are you guys heading back now?” asked Luna.

“We’re going to grab something to eat first before flying back.  You girls want to come?” answers Leo.

“I’m insulted that you would even ask Leo!  Shouldn’t you know by now that I live to mooch off of my brother?” Annabelle feigns hurt before laughing at them.

Luna and Annabelle ended up boarding the team bus with the rest of the players and coaches.  After dinner, Luna and Annabelle took the bus with the team back to the airport to see them off.  Something that she could never get used to was the paparazzi and the amount of attention they all get.  She gets quite enough on her own but being with the team it seems much worse, especially now at the airport with security fencing off crowds of fans and reporters.  It wasn’t until they got past the entrance and into the boarding platform did the attention ease up a bit.

“So when is your flight back?” Neymar asked while they waited for him to board his flight.

“Well I’m staying for an extra day for a photo shoot,” he looked surprised at the new information and she continued. “Yeah, I know. I got the news this morning after my interview.  Vogue España wants to feature a soccer duo on next month’s cover and they’ve selected Cristiano Ronaldo and me,”

“If they wanted a soccer duo, why didn’t they ask for the both of us?  We’re actually a couple,”

“I have no idea… But maybe it’s because we ARE a couple that they don’t want to use us together?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s their marketing scheme.  Trying to hint that there’s something going on between you and Ronaldo.  The press will have a field day and the public will eat it up,” Neymar rolled his eyes as Annabelle shuffled in her seat.  She has never told Neymar about her encounters with Ronaldo and now she wondered if she should have.  She never felt the need to before since they weren’t even dating at the time.  However, now she really hoped that there wasn’t anything… even on Cristiano’s side.

~*~*~*~

Annabelle and Luna showed up at the studio a bit early and the staff had gotten them all set up in the dressing rooms.  The editor explained the theme of the shoot to them while they waited for Cristiano.  The theme was a classy but sexy lifestyle of a footballer, so they were using an upscale apartment for the scene.  When Cristiano finally arrived, the staff had already ran through the outfits with Annabelle.  She made a few changes to the wardrobe they selected since a few of their pieces were too revealing for her taste.  She refused to allow the pubic to see her in any shoots with scandalous material, which in this case, would be posing in revealing clothing with Cristiano. 

As usual, Luna was the lead photographer on the shoot and directed most of the poses.  The shoot took most of the morning and afterwards the editor informed them that they’d like to do a second part in Barcelona in the coming week.  Annabelle wasn’t happy to hear that she’d have to work with him again.  Though, she was surprised to see how diligent Cristiano was during the shoot.  She had always assumed that he would be the complaining type during these kinds of things but not only has he said a word of disrespect, he was also very tenacious.   He asked to retake many photos during the morning when he felt that his pose was off from what Luna instructed.  ‘Or he could just be super vain and want to make sure he looks good in print’ she thought to herself.  Regardless, she gave him props for not being a royal pain but it didn’t mean that she’d enjoy to be featured in more intimate pictures with him.

When they wrapped up for the day, Cristiano came by and volunteered to drive Annabelle and Luna to the airport.  At first Annabelle was going to decline but she remembered Luna’s comment about being nice and reluctantly agreed.  When she saw the valet pull his Maserati up to the lobby, she almost immediately regretted her decision.  Not only did it prove he was a stuck up rich boy but it was also going to stir up a lot of media attention when he drops her off at the airport.

“The windows are tinted, so don’t worry,” he says to her as if hearing her thoughts.  Annabelle sighs and lets Luna climb in first before following.  When she settles into the passenger seat, she looks around his car and finds it spotless.  She also sees a picture of a small boy hanging from the rearview mirror.

“Is that your son?”

“Yup,” he says proudly as he looks at the picture with the softest eyes.  “I took that when he was 2 but he’s 3 going on 4 soon,”

“Aw… that’s so cute,” Luna and Annabelle said in unison as they stared at the picture.  Cristiano then reaches into his pocket to take out his phone.  He swiped the screen and shows them a picture of them sitting together.

“This is a more recent picture,”

“Wow, he’s so big!  He doesn’t even look 3,” says Luna and Cristiano smiles.

“I know right?  I guess he gets it from you.  He’s probably going to be tall too,” Annabelle points out.

“Hopefully,” he laughs as he continues to tell them stories about his son.  Annabelle couldn’t help but like him a bit more now that she’s seen both his hardworking and paternal side.  She still couldn’t fathom how he spent money though, but then again, that wasn’t her business.  When they finally arrived at the airport, she thanked him but asked him to stay in the car to avoid driving the media wild.  He smiled and agreed before bidding them farewell.

“I’ll see you next week,” Annabelle waves to him before shutting the door to the car.  As he speeds off, Luna and Annabelle are bombarded with reporters at the door.  They squeeze their way through quickly and rush towards their airport gates to avoid the press.

~*~*~*~

A/N = Sorry for the delayed and short update!  I've been too distracted by my anticipation in seeing Brazil's game live against Ecuador last night.  XD  Anyhoo, dedicating this chapter to celebrate their win. (^_^)