One Night in Santiago/Football Under Flashing Lights (Neymar Jr. Fan Fiction)

100.

Spotify Playlist (listen in order): https://tinyurl.com/yckwx53k

TW: Substance abuse/addiction. If you or someone you know is battling addiction, know that you are not alone and support is available. My writing is meant to raise awareness about REAL issues using fictional plots. Please do not leave any offensive comments regarding the scenes depicted in this chapter.

-Neymar POV-

"Can you answer that?!" I begged Iris while the ringtone of her phone persisted.

"Can you not tell me what to do right now?!" she snapped back at me. Her tone was panicked and her composure was lost. She picked up the phone, took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and barely pressed the green button on its last ring. "Hello, big brother," she said into the phone in as level a tone as she could. She made eye contact with me while humming at whatever he was saying. She let out a silent sigh of relief and started pacing back and forth. My eyes drifted to the notepad she had been writing on before. My eyes widened as I read it while she wasn't looking. I managed to recompose myself by the time Iris turned back around and caught me.

"Yes, I got your texts, all 100 of them... Javier, please don't start. I can handle it. This story would be huge for The Economist and for me... Katerina? W-why would I have to speak to Katerina?" she suddenly stuttered into the phone, making my stomach feel tight. "O-oh, right. That, uh, makes sense. I should probably prep some questions to get a sense of what tone she'd like me to convey in the print story. Sounds good... Okay. Bye," I heard only her side of the conversation.

Her demeanor changed when talking to her brother. She wasn't as dominant as I'd perceived her to be. In fact, she seemed very intimidated. Her body tensed up even more than it did when she realized how I knew her brother. She also seemed rather detached, as though she was talking to a colleague rather than her brother. Their conversation was short and to the point, like a business transaction. "Don't try to read into something you know nothing about," she muttered, alerting me that my thoughts were transparent in my facial expression.

"I- I wasn't. I was just- Sorry," I gave up on trying to find an excuse.

She nodded and put her phone back down. I assumed Javier didn't know I had spent the night with his sister, yet. The sound of car horns out of the open balcony doors filled the gap in our conversation. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear and frowned at me. "You really didn't know who I was last night?" she asked, more calmly now.

I shook my head no. "I swear I had no idea. I met your brother barely two days ago. I knew he had a sister but I had no clue that sister was in Paris or that it was you. Did you not know about Katerina and me?" I raised an eyebrow.

"No, I didn't. I know it might seem unrealistic given my last name and my brother's social reputation but I don't use social media or subscribe to any tabloids. I've been away at university and before that-- um, the bottom line is that I didn't know," she explained. I had no reason not to believe her so I nodded. "I can't remember if there were paps out last night. Were there?" she asked pensively.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I thought back to last night. "There was one. I think I remember a flash when we got in the car," I answered.

"Fuck. My brother is going to go ballistic when he finds out I was at L'Arc," she groaned and her nostrils flared.

"I mean, no offense, but wouldn't that be a little hypocritical? I know he and Katerina used to go partying a lot," I said as more of a question.