Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 6

2017

Neymar's POV

"Is this some kind of a joke?" I asked.

"Hey." David warned me, his tone serious. "I won't have you saying things like that to her." He added, getting up from the couch. We were together in my new house, located in a suburb of Paris. "That's why I thought it best you learned it from me. So that you have some time to cool off and control your reaction."

"Pfff." I scoffed.

David sighed in exacerbation. "Mate, you're gonna have to make it work. Somehow."

"No, David. I don't really have to. PSG can't make me."

"Have you looked at your contract? Refusing to go to practice is a breach. Besides, you've said it countless of times how good practicing together with Liv was for you. She's helped you so much."

"That was different. I don't think me and Liv can work like we used to anymore." I told him. "Besides, I have Bruna to think of. She already thinks Liv is the reason I came to France..."

David looked at me as if to say: "Well, isn't she?"

"No, she's not." I answered his silent question. "Liv left me. She chose to leave me. She ended us. I'm not gonna go around chasing after her."

"I've said I wouldn't get between the two of you but that's just pride talking Neymar." He said. "Agh, maybe I should get involved since you don't seem to be able to sort out this mess yourselves. I should have gotten involved from the start."

"No, you shouldn't have." I told him. "There's nothing to sort out. I'm with Bruna and I'm happy."

"I don't see a happy man. Do you know what I see? I see a man full of anger and resentment when he's away from Liv, but then when he's near, he looks at her and he forgets it all. Tell me that wasn't what you did at practice yesterday. Why do you think the coaches were so impressed? Because you allowed— no, you both allowed— yourselves to be free and play as if the slate was clean."

I considered what he said. It was always true that no matter what was going on with me and Liv football was the one thing that made us forget everything, the one place where we couldn't deny our connection. And it seemed we'd always have that connection on the pitch. Off of it? Not so much.

"What makes you think she'll even say yes to the coaches? She might shut it off herself." I told him. "She has avoided me every chance she got so far. Why wouldn't she refuse them again?"

"She won't." He said quickly. I wondered if they had already talked about it. "She's scared of your reaction but the truth is maybe she needs it even more than you do." David told me. "I know that we're pretending you hate her and all, but I also know that in reality you'd do anything to help her with her game. Besides, they're offering her a raise for it and let's face it, she kind of needs it."

I considered that for a second. Money hadn't been a sore subject between us when we were dating, but Liv had always been uncomfortable with me spending money on her. I'd often go out of my way to keep the cost of things from her like plane tickets and such but at the same time I found myself actually spending less money when we were together because we did things that didn't require it.

I knew that being in the women's team would never pay as well as the men's team unfortunately, but I realized I didn't know how big the discrepancy was. "How much do they pay her now?" I asked.

"Think your weekly wages and subtract two, no wait, in your case three, zeros from the end. That should be in the ballpark." David said and laughed at my expression.