When we landed there was a welcoming committee on the airport and little kids giving bouquets to all of us. There were white and yellow flowers, wrapped in blue ribbons. Along with the green of the leaves they made up the colors of Brazil. There were cameras there and I suspected they would show the arrival of the CBF on TV. I put my sunglasses on, feeling a little more confident behind them. Somehow I was descending the staircase behind Neymar. People where calling for him and he smiled and waved at everyone. I heard my name called and turned to see who it was at the same time Neymar turned around to look at me. I almost lost my balance and missed a step but next thing I knew his hands were on my waist stabilizing me and my feet were on the ground again.

"Thanks." I said. He nodded and hurried inside the airport. With a sigh I followed after him and the rest of the team. We got through the airport quickly once again and another CBF bus was waiting on the other side. We got in and drove towards the hotel. People on the streets recognized the bus and stopped and waved even though they couldn't see inside. Some, mostly kids even chased the bus for as long as they could.

We reached the hotel about half an hour later since the traffic was heavy. It was almost noon when we went to check in. Fortunately we were handed our keys quickly. Everyone had their own room, no roommates this time. I got in one of the elevators with Neymar, David and a few others. We stopped at the sixth floor.

"This is you miss. Room 603." The bellboy said.

"Okay, thank you." I said getting off the elevator. I started to leave but a hand caught the door of the elevator and Neymar said something to the bellboy.

"What's going on?" I asked.

The bellboy answered him, a somewhat frightened look on his face. Neymar got out the elevator, took my room card from my hand and started walking towards my room.

"What's going on?" I asked again. Everyone got out the elevator and started following him. David said something along the lines "Drop it, Neymar." But I wasn't sure.

We reached my room and he unlocked the door and got in. I was so far back and there were a lot of people in front of me I couldn't even see the inside of my room.

Neymar started yelling at the bellboy. I was about to ask what was going on for the third time when the bellboy left the room and hurried down the hall. I saw Neymar sitting on the bed.

"Vamos todos." David said and everyone started clearing out.

"What just happened?" I asked Neymar.

"There was a mistake with your room." He said, without looking at me. I looked around my room. There was a single bed, a small office with a chair, a TV and a mini fridge. It was a small room but it had all the necessities.

"What kind of mistake?" I asked, even though I had started to get it. I reached for the room card in his hand and he let me take it. It was golden. Before I could say anything else, the bellboy came back with his boss, a middle aged guy in a black suit.

Neymar got up and started talking in Portuguese. I signed and sat on my bed. They argued and Neymar turned redder by the second.

"Enough!" I said when I realized this wasn't going anywhere . "I'm fine with this room."

The hotel manager sighed with relief and left before Neymar could object. The bellboy followed in his toes.

"Neymar..."

"They are going to move you tomorrow. They don't have a room today..."

"You know I don't care about the room."

"It's not fair. You are part of the team too. Why aren't you getting rooms as good as ours?"

"I guess we aren't that important."

"Everyone is of equal importance in a team."

"I don't care." I said again. It was the truth. He was talking to me and that mattered way more than how hard my mattress would be. "You don't care either. I know you wouldn't care if your room wasn't a suite either."

"I should get going." He said.

"Don't. Come with me, I'm meeting my brother."

"I can't." He said quickly. "I mean... I have press to do."

"Oh. Okay then. After you are finished?" I asked hopefully.

"I don't know." He said, looking down before he moved to leave.

 "Hope I see you later." I said before I closed the door behind him. I sat down on my bed pondering what had happened. He cared, I realized. He may not talk to me since what happened at our last conversation but he still cared. Otherwise he wouldn't make such a big deal of my room. Yeah, sure he was just trying to be fair, but he didn't do it with Marina or Peter, he did it with me. And that meant something.

I had screwed up big time, I knew that. But I wanted him in my life, even as a friend. If we weren't meant to be more than that, fine, but I still had to have him in my life.

I changed out of my CBF clothes quickly and into jean shorts and a comfortable t-shirt. I put on my sneakers and texted Michael to see where they were at.

I heard a knock on my door and answered quickly. It was Marina.

"So the press conference started..." She said getting inside and sitting on my bed. 'Word on the street is that Neymar fought with the hotel staff about your room."

"Not mine in particular." I said even though I knew I wasn't fooling her.

"Yeah right. Well apparently you, me, Peter and Alex are the only ones in this floor. Dick move. I'd have liked a suite."

"I'm sure Bernard wouldn't mind sharing." I teased.

"Yeah, you are right." She said, smiling widely. "So did you text your brother? I am so curious to meet him! Is he hot?"

"This is the one thing I never want to think about." I said. "But yeah, he said they are out for coffee and they are going to see some neo-Gothic Cathedral named Sé later. Wanna come?"

"Sure. Let me go change." She said, since she was still wearing her CBF clothes."

"Do you know what Peter and Alex are doing? Should we invite them?"

"I have no clue. They don't talk to me much these days. But Alex is in room 611." She said before closing the door.

I headed for Alex's room and knocked on the door. He opened and I got inside a room identical to mine. "Hey." He said. He seemed a little surprised to see me. Peter was there also, sitting on the office chair and doing something on Alex's laptop.

"Hey guys." I said. "Um, my brother is here."

"I didn't know he was coming." Alex said.

"I didn't know you had one." Peter added.

"Yes and yes. And Marina and I are going to meet him and his friends. Do you want to come?"

"Won't your boyfriends be there?" Peter asked.

"Don't be a dick." Alex told him.

"They have press to do. And Neymar isn't... Nevermind. So... do you?"

They looked at each other for a second, silently communicating. Finally Peter nodded.

"We would be happy to." Alex turned to me.

"Okay. Meet us in the lobby in twenty." I said before heading back to my own room. I found David waiting outside. "Don't you have a press conference to get to?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'll go there in a second. What happened?"

"He yelled at the manager that I should be moved to a better room."

"That doesn't sound much like Neymar." David said. "And it's not good. If it gets out that he is making demands for his girlfriend..."

"But I'm not his girlfriend."

"Honey at this point, everyone thinks you are together except the two of you. And possibly me, but I'm not completely sure you aren't pulling a joke on me."

"Dear God. But it's not that bad. I mean... he didn't... he just wanted to be fair."

"I hope everyone sees it like that."

"I hope no one sees it at all."

"Yeah that would be better. Anyway I am heading down and I'll talk to him."

"Call me later? I'll tell you where we are."

"Will do babe."

"And David? I invited him. If you could... make him come, that'd be great."

"On it. The things I do for the two of you..." He said as he strolled down the corridor.

I arrived at the lobby 20 minutes later and it was full of people. The door to the conference room was open and I peeked inside. Scolari and the coaches were sitting on a big white table and below there were tons of journalists sitting, raising their hands to ask questions. Thiago was also there, sitting at Scolari's left. He was the only player there. On the next room were all the other players who giving one on one interviews to other journalists.

"Neymar they are asking for you." I heard and saw Thiago get inside. Neymar passed by me, giving me a small nod before he went and joined Scolari and the other coaches in the big room. I stayed there and watched his interview, even though it was in Portuguese and I couldn't understand a thing. He was at ease and answered questions eloquently. I admired that about him. He seemed fearless.

At one point as coach Coto answered a question he pointed towards me and everyone turned to look at me. He probably mentioned our practices, I thought. Flashes from cameras blinded me and I felt myself turn red. Someone asked me something in Portuguese but I had no clue what it was. Thankfully Neymar answered and everyone turned to him. He said something along the lines 'She doesn't speak Portuguese' and everyone laughed. When he finished his answer he turned to look at me.

"Thank you." I mouthed.

He gave me a small smile before returning his focus to the conference. I decided I shouldn't stick around for more and headed back to the lobby. Peter and Alex were sitting in a couch but Marina wasn't there yet.

"We are waiting on Lady Macbeth." Peter said.

"You are exaggerating a bit." I commented.

"Were you at the conference?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. There must be a hundred journalists there."

"I'm here! I'm here!" Marina said emerging from an elevator. She started running towards us.

"You are wearing flip flops. Why are you wearing flip flops?" I asked her.

"Why not? It's so hot outside."

"We'll walk." Peter pointed out.

"Good thing I didn't put on heels then." She said, strolling past us and towards the exit. We followed her quickly.

 Since we didn't want to get lost we decided to take a cab to the cathedral. I couldn't wait to see Michael.