Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 14

2014

Christmas came and went, with me back at home with my parents and brother and our friends. It was good to see everyone again and spend time with them. I also visited James' family, his parents and little sister, for the first time in a while. That was an emotional reunion. For them time had stopped to when James was still a 20-year-old young footballer, ready to take over the world and I was his girlfriend.

For this reason, I didn't share with them much about my life now, not the fact that I had a new boyfriend or that I was playing football, a sport they wanted nothing to do with anymore. And I visited James grave, and to him I told it all, about football and the internship and most of all Neymar. In another universe these two men would have been friends, I thought bitterly.

I did tell my family about Neymar though. It had actually been quite funny how it happened. One morning I was eating breakfast with my mom and she asked me whether I was dating anyone so I told her that during the internship in the summer I met a guy named Neymar who was a member of the Brazilian national team.

I could tell at first, she wasn't too happy that my second boyfriend ever was also a footballer, but she found it exciting that he was Brazilian. "Bill, come hear this, your daughter is dating a Brazilian footballer."

"Anyone I'd know?" My dad joked, appearing to the kitchen doorway with my brother.

Me and Michael looked at each other, grinning.

"Nate. What was the last name?" My mom said.

"Not Nate mom, Neymar." I corrected her and I saw my dad's eyes widen.

When my mom realized who Neymar was exactly, she was as shocked as he was.

"The best thing about him is that he has stayed so humble and kind even after all this success. He's the nicest person I know." I told them.

"I'm so happy for you Livs." My mom told me hugging me. "You deserve all the happiness in the world."

~*~

On Christmas morning, when it was time for presents, my dad and brother were delighted to see Barcelona jerseys in their stockings. After we opened gifts, I called Neymar who was now in Brazil and we only had a one-hour difference.

"Merry Christmas." I told him.

"Merry Christmas baby." He said. I could hear Davi somewhere in the background. He spent Christmas day with Neymar and his family this year. "He's opening his gifts." Neymar told me, "and he thanks you for the one you sent him."

I smiled. "Are we opening ours too?" I asked him. We had sent each other gifts that had arrived a few weeks ago. I already knew he had gone above the budget we had set, because I accidentally saw the label when I got it out of the box.

"You first." He told me. I opened the box and saw a white gold tennis bracelet that went with the earrings he had gotten me a few months ago.

"It's beautiful." I told him, smiling at him. "But you shouldn't have, it's so expensive."

"It wasn't that expensive." He said. "I'm glad you like it. Now, my turn." He said, unwrapping the box like a little kid. I was delighted to see how happy he was unwrapping it. He opened it and took out an onyx stone that was inside. On the bottom it was engraved with an IP address.

"What's that?" He asked me.

"You need to type that on a browser." I told him. "And see."

"Livvie!" I heard and Davi's blonde head appeared. He had brought some of his new toys and started talking to me incessantly, me trying to understand what he was saying. I saw Neymar type the address on his computer in the background.