Chapter 40

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

  

David's POV.

"Liv? What happened?" I asked concerned. She wasn't looking where she was going and had bumped into me. I reached for her face, to look at her but she looked away, my hand coming back wet from the tears.

"I don't want to talk about it David." She said, already out the door.

I walked towards the game room and sure enough Neymar was there. He was standing in front of the window, leaning at the frame, looking outside. When the door made noise, as I closed it he turned around, looking hopeful but his face fell when he saw me. I realized he hoped it was Liv. That she'd come back.

"Hey man." I said walking towards him. "I saw her, she was crying. What happened?"

"Honestly I don't know." He said, a hurt look on his face.

I was confused. "Did you say something bad?" Sometimes Neymar has trouble controlling his temper and Liv's the same way, it's only natural these two would clash from time to time.

"Is saying I want to be with her bad? I wonder what would happen if I said I loved her."

"You said you wanted to be with her?" I asked.

He nodded.

"And she bolted?"

"Yeah, pretty much. But you said she was crying?" Neymar asked me. I nodded. "I don't get it. If she doesn't like me why is she crying?"

"Of course she likes you."

"So you keep saying. But all the evidence points to the contrary." Neymar snapped.

I didn't blame him. Liv was acting weird lately. I knew with certainty she had feeling for Neymar but it looked like she was trying to sabotage them and I had no clue why. But she was in pain. That much I could tell. There was something torturing her, a secret that was taking its toll on her.

"I should give up on her. But I don't want to. I mean... She thinks we don't stand a chance." Neymar said, suddenly looking tired, like he had the weight of the world in his shoulders for years.

"Don't give up on her. Let me talk to her, see where her head's at." I offered. "In the meantime don't do anything. I hate to say this but we have the first game in two days. You can't be distracted."

"I know." He said bitterly. "But it feels like everything went up in flames."

~

"Livvie. Open the door please." I said knocking for the fourth time. She finally opened it, just a little bit.

"Go away David."

"I can't do that. Let me come in."

She stopped pushing the door and walked back to her bed. She sat down, in the corner, bringing her knees to her head. "I'm not gonna talk about him with you." She said, pulling the covers up to her neck.

"Why are you fucking this up?"

"It's already fucked up. And I'm not gonna discuss it with you."

"I don't get it Liv. He finally tells you he wants to be with you and I know you do too."

Suddenly her phone rang. She took a deep breath and smiled. Her eyes were puffy and the smile looked forced on her face. I was astonished at the sudden mood swing.

"Hey Michael!" She said excitedly. She was faking it really good. If it was me on the other end of the line I wouldn't have realized. "Really? Wow! You should have called earlier!" She said. "I think tomorrow. I have no clue. I'm not sure, I'll ask Scolari. Yes! The head coach. We are buddies. Alright. See you! Bye!"

"Your brother?"

"Yes he'll be in Sao Paolo tomorrow. They have tickets for the first game."

"That's great! You seeing him again..."

"Yeah it will be great. I've missed him. Hey do you think he and his friends will be allowed to visit Granja Comary?"

"I don't see why not. But ask Scolari to be sure."

"Yeah, I will." She said.

"Regarding to what we were talking about before..." I started.

"We weren't. We aren't." She said firmly. "How are things with Sarah? She could come over, since it's our last night here. I had thought that us four could... but-"

"Not possible." I cut her. "Not just because double dating is out of the question since you refuse to acknowledge you are heads over heels for Neymar."

"Why then? Because you won't forgive Sarah?"

"No." I said. "Because the team eats dinner together on our last night at the compound and breakfast too before leaving tomorrow morning. And for your information, while I was pining for Sarah she was hooking up with some other guy."

"But she came back for you. She loves you."

"Does she? Or am I the safe choice? Did the other guy dump her?"

"Sarah loves you. Don't listen to Bruna. And by the way, how could Bruna have known?"

"Apparently the guy she hooked up with is a friend of Bruna's."

"What did Sarah tell you?" She asked me.

"She said she loved me but..."

"Why is there a 'but' in that sentence?"

"I should be asking you that!"

"Not the same situation."

"Why not?" I pressed her.

"For one, I'm not good enough for him."

I felt like I was flying and suddenly crashed into a plane. "How could you say that? If there's one girl in the world for Neymar it's you. You're his equal."

"No I'm not." She chuckled.

"He was right you know." I told her.

"What about?"

"About you. Whenever someone says something nice about you, you dismiss it as untrue. Like they are doing you a favor to be nice and they are lying. You have this stupid image about yourself and I believe it, oh I do believe it that you think you aren't worth anything."

"David, it's not exactly like that." She said but I could tell she was uncomfortable. She didn't want to talk about it, her hands were gripping the bed like she was about to stand up and bolt the moment this got too uncomfortable.

"You have no self-worth." I said. "And it hurts me to even think about it. That's why you never pursued football even though you have an amazing talent. That's why you keep screwing things up with Neymar. You don't want it to work! You are afraid that you'll get hurt!"

"Stop it okay? You don't know me!" She said.

"Whose fault is that?" What if some things are unfixable? What if some people are unfixable?

"Can we drop this?"

"We can't be dropping this forever."

"I know. I know. I... we'll talk. I'll talk to you. I promise."

"Alright."

"We have to focus on the game now."

I nodded. "You are right. All of this won't mean anything if we lose on Thursday." I stood up. "You have to talk to Neymar before the game. You have to... clear things so that he can focus on the game too."

"I know. I will." Liv said. "See you at dinner." I closed the door behind me as I left the room. I took out my phone and saw that I had two missed calls from Sarah and a text message.

"I guess you aren't coming. I hope I see you soon. I love you." She texted.

She was leaving today and asked me if I would go see her before she did. I decided I wouldn't the moment I saw Liv running out on Neymar. I had to stay here for my friends but also I wasn't sure I wanted to see Sarah. Sometimes I thought I loved her way more than she loved me. And it's not supposed to be like this. Was I making a mistake, trying so much to fix us, waiting for her when she was moving on? She hooked up with some other guy when I thought she was contemplating our relationship and whether or not we should give it another go.

"I'm sorry, something came up. Have a safe trip." I texted back.

"Hey man!" I heard from behind me and turned around to see my best friend, Thiago. "What's up?"

"The usual Sarah drama. You know I envy you. You're married and don't have to deal with all that."

He chuckled. "If you think getting married automatically gives you a happily ever after you are mistaken my friend. There are always things to deal with, especially because of the distance and those boot camps."

"The boot camps suck. Being stuck here for a month."

We both laughed. "I was gonna hit the pool, wanna come?"

"Sure yeah. One last swim."

"It's not like we won't ever swim again!"

"You know, we have to start planning our Sao Paolo scavenger hunt." I told Thiago.

 "Not this again." He said rolling his eyes as we walked towards the pool.

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net