When I walked out to the field Neymar was already there and his sister, father and a girl I didn't know were with him. I thought about turning around and waiting until coach Coto appeared but they had already seen me and Rafaella was waving at me. Both Neymars looked at me angrily. Neymar's eye had started to heal but the bruise was still visible.

"Hello Olivia!" Rafaella said.

"Hi." I said. "Hello everyone."

The Neymar's nodded and the blonde girl smiled at me.

"This is my friend Julia." Rafaella said. "Julia, this is Olivia."

"Nice to meet you." Julia and I said at the same time, shaking hands.

"We better go." Rafaella said.

Neymar's dad said something in Portuguese and then they were all talking together except Julia and me who were just watching.

"We're going now." Rafaella said, grabbing her father by the arm. "I hope we see each other again, Olivia." She told me.

I nodded and smiled as the three of them walked away. Neymar immediately turned his back on me and started walking towards the bleachers. With a sigh I followed him and sat down next to him.

"You know, I just meant we should keep a little distance, not stop talking entirely." I said holding my head in my hands but looking at him.

"Well next time you should inform me just how mad I am allowed to be." He said sharply.

"Neymar... You know what I mean."

"No, I have no idea what you mean! That's the problem! I have no clue what's going on inside that crazy head of yours!"

"I just want our friendship to not be a problem in your life. And my life."

"I didn't realize that having me in your life was so problematic for you!"

"Don't twist my words! I don't want to stand in the way of your relationship and I figured that the best way to do tha-"

"You figured! You don't know everything Olivia! But you should know this! You aren't making decisions for me! Those are mine to make!"

"Neymar I never..." I started saying but I froze as coach Coto appeared.

"Hello guys! Sorry for being late. Are you ready to start?"

"Actually coach, no. I feel a little pain on my knee." Neymar said quickly.

"Really? In that case we can't strain it. Alright, but you are going straight to the infirmary to have it looked at and make sure it's nothing serious."

Neymar nodded and stood up.

"Olivia could you please go with him?"

"Sure." I said the moment Neymar opened his mouth to refuse. "Lean on me." I told him.

He shot me an angry look before putting his arm around my shoulders. I put my hand around his waist.  As we started walking back I couldn't help it: "Your little lie backfired."

"No it hasn't. As soon as we turn this corner and he doesn't see us anymore..." He said.

"He's going to ask the doctor."

Neymar bit his lip. "Alright we are going to the infirmary too, I guess."

"You know, when I said I didn't want our friendship to intervene with your life this is what I meant. You can't be missing practice because of me! Not this close to the World Cup!"

He opened his mouth and closed it again.

"We can ask Scolari, for you to train alone with coach Coto..."

"No." He said suddenly. "You are right, I shouldn't have done that."

"You see what I mean? Maybe this friendship isn't-"

"Stop saying that!" He snapped.

"What did I say?" I asked, surprised.

"Let's just go to the infirmary." He said, exhaling loudly.

When we reached the infirmary the door opened and Alex came out. He looked at the two of us, a hurt look on his face.

"Hi." I said, noticing the bandage in his hand.

"Hi." He said, avoiding to look at Neymar. Without saying anything else he circled around us and walked away.

"So your plan isn't working all that well." Neymar commented, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"What plan?" I asked absentmindedly. I was still thinking about Alex and the look he gave us.

"Of protecting your relationship? By avoiding me."

"There's no relationship to protect."

"Really?" He asked, his tone challenging.

"Alex and I broke up." I told him.

"You broke up with him?" He asked, looking at me, the first time he looked at me.

"No." I said, almost whispering. I looked straight into his eyes as he was looking at me. "He broke up with me."

~

"We are going to have a great time tonight, you'll see!" David said as I rolled down the window on the passenger seat of his car. He and I were driving to Rio to go out with Sarah as we had planned.

"Yeah, I know." I said trying to sound as cheery as I could.

"Make you a deal, I want talk about him who shall not be named if you don't."

I chuckled. "Are you talking about Neymar or Voldemort? Either way, I call them by their name."

"Of course you do." He said, half joking.

"Hey David, do you know how things are with Bruna and Neymar? Since... you know?"

David glanced at me before focusing on the road again. "What did he tell you?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Nothing." I realized. "I guess I never gave him a chance."

David didn't say anything. We pulled up in front of the hotel and Sarah who was waiting there got inside quickly.

"Hey guys." She said, sitting on the back seat behind David. She wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hello Sarah." I said, smiling at her. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Great actually." She said, looking at David through the rearview mirror.

"You two are so adorable." I teased them. "I can't take it."

They both laughed.

We pulled up to a restaurant I hadn't gone to before which was swarmed with paparazzi.

"There can't be that many for us." David said as we got out of the car. Sarah and I went right ahead before they noticed David was there. When they did, the usual mayhem ensued.

"I will never get used to this." Sarah said.

I nodded, as David got in.

"Everything alright?" Sarah asked him.

"Yeap. They weren't here for me. I was just a pleasant surprise."

I laughed as we proceeded inside the main area. And then I saw the reason all these paparazzi where there. Bruna.

She was sitting on a big table with about a dozen people and they were all laughing at something one of them said. When she saw us, she stopped laughing abruptly.

"Oh God." I heard David mutter.

"Let's just sit at our table." Sarah said, taking my hand and leading me towards the back of the room.

I followed her but my eyes stayed on Bruna. She was looking at me too, ignoring everyone else around her and whatever they were saying.

"So much for our quite night out. Didn't you say it would be fun David?" I said bitterly.

"Well..."

"Is Rio so small? How do we keep bumping to people?"

"Well the more people you know..." David said but after Sarah shot him a look he stopped.

"So, Liv, I hear you have a brother!" Sarah changed the subject.

"Smooth Sarah." David commented.

"Do you think she's coming over here?" I asked. I was sitting with my back towards Bruna and I couldn't see what she was doing.

"I hope not." Sarah said unsure. When I looked at her with what probably was a horrified expression she quickly added: "She wouldn't."

"Thank God I didn't invite Neymar too." David said.

"You were going to invite Neymar? When he isn't even talking to me at the moment?"

"I thought I'd speed up the process. Get you talking again. But Sarah said a night without each other would be good for both of you."

"Yeah." I said taking a deep breath. "So his name is Michael. My brother. He is actually going to be here in a few days."

"Really? He is coming for the World Cup?" David asked.

"Yeah, with a couple of his friends." I answered. "I can't wait to see him."

"Me too, I wanna know how much of this," He said nodding towards me, "is genetic."

"Oh, shut up." I said as David's phone rang. He answered it and talked in Portuguese.

"Good God! What did we say earlier?" Sarah asked, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"Who did you invite here?" I asked in horror.

"Relax ladies. It's just Thiago. He was in Rio already so..."

"Okay. Okay, Thiago is good." I said, breathing again.

"He's married, you beast!" David mocked me and we all started laughing.

"Having fun, aren't we?" I turned around, as Bruna arrived at our table. "I didn't think you'd show your face again." She told me. "David, Sarah."

"Hello Bruna." I said, unsure why.

"Don't hello me. After everything you did." She said but grabbed the last chair and sat down next to me.

"Look nothing ever happened between Neymar and me." I said even if I knew there was no chance she's believe me.

"Why would I believe you? He was in love with me until you came along! Neymar would have never cheated on me if it wasn't for you! You have no conscience, breaking up two relationships!"

"You broke-" I started to ask but Sarah cut me.

"Bruna if you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all." Sarah said calmly. I loved that about Sarah, she never loses her cool.

"How is it that I am the one that got cheated on, yet I come off as the bitch?" She snapped at Sarah.

"You didn't get cheated on. I wish you'd see that. And if you do, you'll realize you've behaved horribly." Sarah said.

"I've behaved horribly? Just because he forgives you anything..." She said, pointing at David.

"That's none of your business." Sarah said coldly.

"You're right. But David, I thought you'd like to know. After all, you and me, we are the victims here." Bruna turned to David.

David's face had gone white.

"You're no victim Bruna." I told her.

She looked at me, gritting her teeth.

"Is it true?" David was looking at Sarah, ignoring us.

"David..." Sarah whispered.

"IS IT TRUE?" he demanded again.

"Bruna leave. Now!" I said. "I am done feeling bad for you about what happened with that photo. Nothing happened between Neymar and me and if you don't want to believe it, I don't care! He's all yours! But leave my friends alone!"

"Your friends?" Bruna asked, the same time David got up from his chair. "They were my friends, long before they became yours!"

"David, don't go." Sarah pleaded.

"If they were your friends, you wouldn't have done that, would you?" I told her.

"I trust that you can find your way to your hotel." David told Sarah. "Olivia can we go?"

I nodded and David started walking towards the exit. I stood up and planted a kiss on Sarah's cheek. "Don't worry, he just wants to process it. We'll talk, okay?"

Sarah nodded, as a single tear made its way down her cheek.

"Liv what's going on?" Thiago asked approaching. "David said we're leaving already."

"Long story." I said. "But we are. Listen Thiago, you have your car here, don't you? Can you get Sarah back to her hotel?"

"Yeah, yeah sure." He said, sounding surprised. His eyes grew even larger when he saw Bruna at our table. "What-"

"I'll explain when we get home." I told him. He nodded and I followed David outside the restaurant again.

On our way home David was silent, his face looking pale under the moonlight.

"David... You can't believe anything Bruna says." I told him.

"Normally I'd agree with you. But Sarah didn't deny it."

"Still you should let her explain. She..." I started. "There's an explanation for sure. And it can't be as bad as you think it is."

"No I was a fool to think that just because she came back all our problems were suddenly resolved. They don't just go away."

He was right, I thought. About him and Sarah, but about me and Neymar too. My brilliant idea of putting some distance between us wasn't all that brilliant after all. The problems continue to be there, whether you chose to acknowledge them or not.

"We've made such a mess of things. All of us."

"That's an understatement." He said. "She just stood there, how can she be so cold?" David said, but I suspected he wasn't talking to me.

I realized that what I admired about Sarah, the fact that she stood tall throughout this dinner when I would have broken down in tears was what had set David off. He thought she was cold and she wasn't hurting but I knew that she was yet she was being brave.

We didn't talk anymore on the way back, each lost in their own thoughts. When we reached the compound we found Neymar in the hall. He was walking towards his room but froze when he saw us.

"You are back early." He said and I realized he knew where we were.

"Yeah..." I said.

David walked past him and towards his room without saying anything.

"What happened?" Neymar asked me.

I filled him in as quickly as I could. "You should go talk to him." I said finally.

He nodded. "Sorry about Bruna."

"It's fine. I don't care what she thinks anymore. I know she is your girlfriend but... I just don't care." I told him but then I remembered what Bruna said at the restaurant. Were they still together or had they broken up? If they had broken up Neymar would have said something, wouldn't he? Unless, like me, he wanted to try to make things work out with her.

"She's not." Neymar said. "I tried to tell you, a bunch of times but you didn't give me a chance. It's over between Bruna and me. For good." He said and followed after David. I stood there speechless for a few seconds. He tried to tell me? I tried to recall when that might have been but I came up empty. I looked at my watch and wondered if dinner was still served in the restaurant. I was lucky. I took a tray and found Marina and Bernard sitting on a table in the back.

"I thought you were going to Rio." Marina said as I sat down.

"I was. I mean I did. But we came back early."

"Do I want to know?" She asked, picking up on my tone.

 "Probably not." I sighed.