Chapter 54

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"Hey." I whispered in his ear. "It's time to wake up."

Neymar rubbed his eyes with his hands before opening them. When he saw me looking at him he smiled. "I won't ever get used to this."

I leaned in and kissed his cheek. The skin on his chest where my hand was felt like it was burning. "I should go." I told him.

He nodded and got up. He opened the door and peeked outside. "All clear." He said.

"It feels as if we are in a spy movie." I said as I walked towards him. "See you there."

He silently closed the door after me and I walked towards my room as fast as I could.

I took a shower quickly and got dressed for practice. As I walked towards the restaurant I saw that families had already started to arrive.

"Olivia!" I heard and turned around.

"Marinho! Hello!" I said when I saw David's dad. I walked towards him and he gave me a hug. "How are you?" I asked him.

"I'm great. Let me introduce you to my wife, Regina." He said.

I turned around to see David's mum, Regina. "Nice to meet you." I said shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you too. Both my son and husband have said great things about you." Regina said.

I smiled. "Are you coming for breakfast?"

"Yes. We were looking for David, he isn't in the restaurant."

"Maybe he is still in his room. Let me go check and we'll come find you." I told them. They both nodded before heading back inside.

I walked towards David's room and knocked on his door again. No answer. "David, it's me. I'm coming in." I pushed the door open and saw David sitting on his bed as he put his shoes on.

"Hello again Liv." He said, not even looking up at me.

"Are you coming for breakfast? Your parents are here."

"Oh shit, I forgot about that." He said as he got up. "Alright, let's go."

"How are you?" I asked him as we walked towards the restaurant.

"Liv stop asking me that all the time. I'm fine." He said. "I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday."

"It's alright. I deserved some of it." I said as we got inside. We spotted David's parents sitting in a table by themselves and we walked towards them.

"Liv!" I heard and turned to see that Neymar was calling me from across the room.

"I'll join you in a minute." I told David. I walked towards Neymar who was sitting in a table with Rafaella, Julia and a couple of guys I didn't know.

Rafaella got up and hugged me when she saw me. It took me by surprise at first but then I hugged her back.

Neymar shrugged at me. "She knows." He said.

"About time if you ask me!" Rafaella said, taking my hand and making me sit next to her.

"This is Gilmar, João and Jô ." Neymar said introducing me to his friends. I greeted all of them. "And Julia you remember."

"No Davi today?" I asked.

"He's in Sao Paulo with his mum."

"Let's go get breakfast!" Rafaella said.

I looked at David who was talking to his parents and then at Neymar. He understood.

"Liv has something to do, Rafa." Neymar told his sister. "But you'll join us for lunch in Teresópolis, won't you?" He asked me.

"Of course." I said as I headed towards David and his parents. When I was close enough I realized I had walked in the middle of an argument. I took a step back, about to turn around but Marinho called me.

"So Liv, you are a physics student, David tells me." Regina commented when I sat down next to David.

I nodded.

"And you've helped the team with their game?"

"A little."

"She's being modest." David said.

Regina smiled at me. We talked with David's parents as we ate our breakfast and I liked his mum very much. She seemed sweet. But David was still in a bad mood and grumpy. He barely said a word to her the entire time.

"It's time to go." David said when we were done with breakfast. We all got up.

"Will you be joining us for lunch, honey?" Regina asked me.

I opened my mouth unsure of what to say since I had already agreed to go out with Neymar and his friends but David answered for me.

"She can't. She's busy." They both looked at us puzzled

"See you guys later." I told them. "What the hell?" I asked David as we walked outside.

"Don't mind my mother." He said.

"I don't. She was just being nice."

"No she wasn't. She always has ulterior motives."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"She's hoping that you can get me to forget about Sarah."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"Just let it go." David said, sounding tired. I looked back and spotted Thiago.

"Quick question. Regina doesn't like Sarah, does she?" I asked him.

"She used to. But after she broke up with David the first time, not so much. Why?"

"No reason." I told him.

"How did it go? His mood doesn't seem to have improved." Thiago commented as we saw David viciously hitting his water bottle on the bench trying to get the lid open and eventually breaking it.

"Yeah that's an understatement." I said. "It's actually weird to see David in such a bad mood. This is so not like him."

Thiago nodded. "Maybe we should talk to him. This afternoon."

It was my turn to nod.

"What are we looking at?" Marcelo who approached us asked. He followed our gazes towards David who was taking his things off his bag and throwing them to the ground searching for something. "He's in a mood lately."

"C'mon everyone! Let's start warming up." Scolari said and with a sigh I started running.

I spotted Neymar and ran towards him. He was at the top of the pack as usual. "You know, it's weird when we are the normal ones." I told him.

He chuckled.

"Unnerving really." I continued.

"Don't jinx it." He replied.

We continued the rest of the practice without having a chance to talk to each other again. We were being very discrete. Even if some of the players had realized, the coaches hadn't, I was positive about that.

When the practice ended, Scolari announced that we would have an afternoon practice as well. Coach Coto informed me and Neymar that we would do a double session tonight at the same time.

"Are they worried?" I asked Neymar as we walked back towards the compound.

"They just want to take advantage of every opportunity we have to practice." Neymar said. "It's good."

I nodded. "So what time are we leaving for lunch?" I asked him. I was a little nervous to go out with all his friends. I didn't know what they knew about me.

"Say in half an hour?" Neymar asked as we took a turn towards my room. He looked at me waiting for an answer but I had frozen. He followed my gaze and with the corner of my eye I saw his jaw drop.

In front of us Alex and Rafaella were making out. Alex had pinned Rafaella against the wall and they were getting hot and heavy right then and there.

Neymar looked at them speechless. They were oblivious to our presence. It was a little comic. I cleared my throat.

Rafaella pushed Alex so hard that he almost landed on the other side of the corridor. When he saw me and Neymar he turned red. I have never seen a person turn so red.

"Neymar..." Rafaella started saying. My mind wandered back to when Alex had punched Neymar. I hoped Neymar wouldn't return the favor. Their relationship was strained to say the least.

Neymar started walking up to them but to everyone's surprise he walked past them and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

The three of us were left starring at each other. "I'm sorry... I have to talk to my brother." Rafaella said and followed after Neymar.

When Alex and I were alone I turned to him. "Alex what were you thinking?"

He let out a deep breath. "I didn't mean... It just happened."

"When?"

"When we were in Sao Paulo."

"She's Neymar's sister!"

"You think I wanted to fall for Neymar's sister? After everything that happened with you?"

"Wait, you fell for her?" I asked him in disbelief. Just a week ago he told me he wasn't over me yet. Not that I minded Alex moving on with his life, which was actually good. But I'd have wished it wasn't with Neymar's sister. "Does she know what happened with us?"

"She already knew from Neymar. I told her my side of the story."

"And she isn't mad? At anyone of us?"

He shook his head. "The way Rafa saw it was that you and Neymar were meant to be together. So she didn't care about what happened between us. I was just a delaying tactic for you."

"She said that?"

"No, Liv. I did. It's true." Alex said, suddenly looking annoyed. "Look I don't have to explain myself to you."

"But you do to Neymar."

"That's my problem." Alex said before turning around to leave. With a sigh I walked towards Neymar's room. The door was open and Neymar was sitting on his bed, looking angry.

"Please tell me you didn't snap at her." I said as I sat next to him.

"She is dating your ex Liv!" Neymar said angrily. "The one that punched me in the face! She's dating the guy that dated my girlfriend!"

I chuckled.

"What?" He turned to look at me.

"Nothing. I liked that."

"You liked that?" He asked me in disbelief, ready to start yelling at me too.

"I mean the girlfriend part. You know, you calling me your girlfriend."

"That's what you are, isn't it?" He asked oblivious. "I can't believe it. She says she likes him! She barely knows him!"

"Alex isn't a bad guy Neymar, you know that."

"You are walking a tight rope, be careful." He said.

I laughed. "I think you should give your sister the benefit of the doubt. They seem to really like each other."

"He seemed to really like you a week ago." Neymar commented.

"C'mon..." I said. "Don't you think Rafaella knows what's best for her? After all you've told her the whole story."

He sighed. I rubbed his back with my hand trying to calm him down. It didn't seem to work. "Go take a shower. Your friends are waiting." I told him.

He nodded and got up. He took my hands in his and pulled me towards him. "We are the normal ones, you said."

I chuckled. I stepped on my toes and put my hands around his neck, pulling him towards me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I wasn't sure whether I was standing on my own or he was lifting me. I kissed him lightly on the lips.

When we broke the kiss, he released me from his hold. "I'll meet you in the hall in twenty." I told him, closing the door behind me. I walked towards my room feeling light as a feather, like I always did when I was with him. The room was empty, no sign of Marina so I hopped in the shower quickly. I put on a maxi black skirt with a thigh slit, a white tank top and my black converse. My hair was still wet so I pulled it up in a ponytail, it was too hot outside to blow dry it.

When I reached the lobby I saw Neymar's friends waiting along with Rafaella and Alex. "Hey guys." I said. The three guys greeted me but neither Rafaella nor Alex said anything. "Are you coming with us?" I asked Alex.

"No he isn't." I heard Neymar say as he appeared from behind me.

"Either he's coming or I'm not." Rafaella told her brother.

"Suit yourself." Neymar said, walking past everyone and towards the parking lot. Gilmar, João and Jô followed after him. Gilmar shot Rafaella an apologetic look.

I didn't know what to do. Neymar was harsh towards his sister but I understood his reasons. "Maybe if you give him some time..." I told Rafaella.

"He doesn't need time. He needs to grow the hell up." Rafaella said.

"Please come with us. You came all this way to see your brother."

"And my boyfriend." Rafaella said, taking Alex's hand in hers. "I'm sorry Liv, if we made you feel weird..."

"No, don't. I don't..." I started saying. "If you're happy, I'm fine with this." I said. "Besides..." I started. Rafaella nodded, understanding what I meant but didn't want to say blatantly in front of Alex.

"You should get going." She told me.

 "You sure?"

She nodded. "I'm sure we'll find something to do." She told Alex. He smiled at her but I could tell he felt bad about the whole thing.

I walked towards the parking lot where everyone was already on Neymar's car. They had left the passenger seat empty for me. I got in without saying anything and Neymar started driving. I could tell he was mad by the way he was holding the wheel. Like it had personally wronged him. I hoped he and his sister would get past this.

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