The Next Day

Annabelle decided to skip going to Camp Nou today.  Not only did she not feel like seeing Neymar and her brother, she also didn't feel like playing football today.  She decided to take a walk with through Parc de l'Espanya Industrial with her Nikon D-SLR camera.  It's been a while since she's touched it and she missed photography so much.  She's been spending so much time with her brother's football team this summer and she hasn't even had time to revisit her other hobbies, let alone hang out with her friends.  She takes out her phone and texts her best friend Luna.

A – Hey Lulu, what are you up to today?

Almost instantaneously, her phone chimed alerting her of a new text.

L – Damn Annie, where have you been these few weeks?!  You decide to text me now?!

A – Sorry... I've been playing football with my brother and his team.  So are you free today or not?

L – Oh, I see!  You've been hanging out with Marc, huh? ;)  In that case I forgive you.  =P  Anyway, yeah I'm free today.  Did you want to hang out?

A – Yeah, I'm at Parc de l'Espanya Industrial near your house with my camera and I kinda need a model ;P

L – Of course you do.  Haha.. I'll be there in 10.  I'll bring my camera too!

And with that, Luna stopped responding to her messages.  As punctual as always, Luna pounced on her back within 10 minutes of her last text.

"Oh Lulu, you know I hate it when you do that!" Annabelle yelled as Luna just giggled and let go of her.

"So, tell me how things are with Marc," she asked in a sing song-y voice.

"There's not much to tell.  He's as sweet as always,"

"Aw.. that's no fun," she pouts at her friend as she raises her camera to capture some birds by the lake.

"How's the rest of your brother's team?  It's transfer season right?  Any new cuties show up?"

"Ugh... don't remind me..." Annabelle groans as she hangs her camera around her neck and drops her face into her palms.

"What?  Is there?"

"Yeah, they have this new guy.  I swear he's the rudest most arrogant person I've ever met,"

"Oh my gosh!  I wanna see!  Is he hot?"

"Who cares?  His personality sucks,"

"Oh come on!  They're at Camp Nou right?  Let's go!"

After several complaints and arguments, Luna forcefully dragged Annabelle to Camp Nou.  Luna giggled and skipped excitedly as Annabelle dragged her feet towards the field.  All Luna kept muttering the whole time was how perfect it was that she brought her camera with her and all Annabelle could do was not groan.  She immediately picked up her Canon camera and started zooming in her lenses towards the players on the field.  Annabelle reluctantly climbed onto the bleachers and plopped herself down with her chin on her hands nesting on her knees.

"Oh my gosh, is he the one with the mohawk?!" she squealed as I heard her shutter click several times.

"You are totally not being stalker-ish right now," Annabelle muttered sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"Judging by your reaction, I'd say that IS the guy,"

"You know Lulu, I asked you to hang out because I didn't want to be here today,"

"Aw, come on.  It's not that bad.  Look, Marc is totally checking you out," 

Annabelle looked over at the field and saw Marc looking at her with a worried expression.  He mouthed something to her but she didn't catch it, though it still made her heart race.  She shrugged it off as she saw her brother jogging up towards them.

"Hey Ger," she called out and Luna waved at the same time.

"Hey there, Luna.  It's been a while!" he gave her a quick hug before looking back at Annabelle.  "Annie, you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine.  What's up?"

"You just look a bit pale," he reaches over and places one hand on her forehead and the other on his own.  Annabelle laughs as he's trying to decipher her temperature against his.

"Ger, you were just running around so you must be hot as hell.  It wouldn't be accurate if you compared mine to yours,"

"Oh yeah... I guess you're right,"

"Well the team was wondering if you wanted to play a game,"

"I dunno... I don't have my stuff with me,"

"Oh I brought it with me this morning.  It's sitting by the bench on the field over there," her brother said as he pointed towards the bench next to the field closest to the team.  "I just thought you forgot it this morning and that you may still show up today,"

"Annie, you should totally play!  I haven't seen you play in the longest time!  I'll take some good shots of you, I promise," her friend beamed at her and all she could do was sigh.

'Guess, there's no escaping it..." she groaned inwardly as she climbed off the bleachers to get changed in the locker room.  Shortly after, she jogged across the field in a spare Barcelona training jersey.  While she puts on her shin guards and cleats she hears Neymar's voice.

"W-Wait, she's playing?"

"Don't let her looks fool you man, she's killer on the field," laughs Xavi as he patted him on the back.  

"B-But what if she gets hurt?" he asked again. 

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself," Annabelle snarled at him.  'Shit... I just pissed her off more.  If looks could kill, I'd be dead by now,' Neymar thought nervously to himself as he dropped the subject and jogged over to his position on the field.

Leo and Gerard were on her team this time and they let her pick her position first.  To everyone's surprise, she jogged over to right wing forward position.  Neymar was taken aback as she picked her place on the field, because it meant that she would be his mark.  She was clearly challenging him and he found it quite amusing.  He smirked at her but she ignored him.  Then someone blew the whistle, signaling the start of the game. 

Just as the ball landed, Annabelle had already sprinted past Neymar and then caught a pass from Leo down centerfield near the penalty box.  As two of the opposing defenders approached her, she feigned left to avoid one and feigned left to avoid the other.  Breaking past their defenses, she made a clean pass over to Leo who took a shot and scored their first goal.  Neymar smiled to himself as he realized she had just pulled one over him.  She was indeed getting more attractive by the minute.

Now it was his turn to make a comeback.  Xavi makes a quick pass to Neymar and he takes the ball with him, passing his opposing team's forwards.  Just as he thought he was in the clear, Annabelle slips by him out of nowhere from his left and stops him in his tracks.

"Shit Annabelle!" he cursed as she smirked at him.  She didn't even give him another moment to breathe before she charged at him and swept the ball from him then passing it over to Gerard.  Neymar cursed again as he bolted down the field towards the ball.  Before he could get close, Leo had scored another goal.  He sighs as they now fell behind by 2 goals.  He definitely underestimated her and he had to pick up his game.  He's not going to let her break through again. 

This time, Marc passes the ball to Neymar and he dribbles it near the sideline waiting for his teammates to move up field so he could make a pass.  But Annabelle was aggressive and was adamant about taking the ball from him.  They both lost control of the ball and it rolled off passed the sidelines and towards the team area.  They both made a run towards the ball but Annabelle was faster.  Just when she was about to catch up to the ball, she lost her footing and started falling head first towards the benches. 

"Shit!  Annabelle!" he yelled at her but she was already falling.  He chased after her and grabbed her wrist and pulled her forcefully backwards towards him.  She crashed into him hard and they rolled onto the ground tangled up together.

"Ow..." she groans as opens her eyes to register what had happened.

"I should be saying 'ow'.  You're not as light as you look," Neymar groans too while she tries to get up.  It was then she realized that she was lying on top of him with his arms around her.  She felt her face flush and she jumped up from him immediately.  The rest of the team rushes over to make sure they were both okay.

"D-Did you just call me fat?!" she yelled at him while he just smirked at her.

"Glad to see you're okay enough to be yelling," he said still sore and rolling on the ground.

"Damn Annie, it's a good thing he caught you before you fell.  If you hit the benches at that angle, who knows what would've happened," Gerard said as he wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug.

"I know..." she sighed while she reluctantly extends and arm down towards Neymar to help him up. He looks up at her and smiles while taking her arm.  'Sheesh, why does he have such a gorgeous smile?!  It makes it so much harder to be mad at him...' she shouts mentally as she takes back her arm.

"I think we should wrap it up for the day," Marc finally said as he stepped between Annabelle and Neymar.  Everyone muttered in agreement and he looks over at Neymar and gives him a dirty look, before putting his hands on Annabelle's shoulders to push her towards the bleachers.

When Annabelle reached where she left Luna, her friend jumps up to hug her. 

"Are you okay?!" she panicked while she tried examining her arms and legs.

"Yeah, I'm fine Lulu,"

"Luna can you stay with her while me and the guys get changed?  We'll take you girls home right after, okay?"

"Or course, Marc!" she chirped as he smiled back at her before looking back at Annabelle.

"Now you stay put and I'll be right back," he said softly and lean down to place a small kiss on her forehead before running off to the locker room.

"Oh my gosh! I wish I got that on film!" Luna gushed while Annabelle just stood frozen.  Too much has happened today and she couldn't think straight.  Now she had this kiss to think about and about her earlier incident with Neymar.  He had protected her and she was still so rude to him. She sighed as she got up and told Luna to wait for a second before she jogged over to the locker rooms.  She waited outside until Neymar stepped out.

"Oh, hey.  Are you waiting for Gerard?" he asked as he walked over to her.

"Uh no.  I was waiting for you," she blushed a bit when she said that and he thought it was the cutest thing ever.

"Oh, fallen for me already, huh?" he smirked at her and she reacted instantly.

"Have not!" she shouted at him and he laughs.

"I was kidding!" he throws up his hands in defeat but continues snickering.

"W-Well, I wanted... I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier,"

"Oh, of course.  There was no way I could have just watched you dive into the benches,"

"I-I also wanted to apologize for being so rude lately," she said quietly with her head hanging low.  Neymar could tell she was nervous and embarrassed at the same time.  Part of him wanted to tease her more but she would just get angry again so he pushed against the thought.

"Don't worry about it.  I think we got off on the foot.  Quite honestly, I was also rude to you when we first met, so I apologize too," 

Annabelle looked up at him, surprised that he actually acknowledged his mistake and apologized.  Guess like he wasn't as bad as she first thought he was.

"So let's start over?  Nice to meet you, I'm Neymar," he extends his hand out towards her with a smile and she felt her face get warm as she took his hand.

"Nice to meet you, too.  I'm Annabelle," they smiled at each other and Annabelle faintly heard a camera shutter that brought her back to her senses.  She looked over at Luna who clearly got some of the juicy photos she's been craving for.  Annabelle sighed and Marc walked out of the locker room at that moment.

"Bella, I thought I told you not to move,"

"Oh sorry, Marc.  I wanted to thank Neymar for helping me earlier," Marc narrowed his eyes unconsciously at Neymar but smiled at Annabelle. 

"Okay, well Gerard is going to a bit longer so let me take you home now so you can rest,"  Annabelle nodded as she smiled back at Neymar before leaving with Marc.

'Jeez, what did I get myself into...' Neymar sighed.

~*~*~*~

A/N = So Neymar and Annie are finally on good terms!  But Marc's getting super jealous.  What will happen in this love triangle?!