Define Me | A Soccer Romane [ NEYMAR JR. ]

1. lonely by definition

GABRIELLA’S APARTMENT – BOSTON

“Are you sure you packed everything?”
Gabriella zipped her suitcase closed and let out a big sigh, letting her body fall on It. “No but it doesn’t fit anything else anyway.”

Maggie was standing by the door, her eyes stuck on her employer and friend of course. She didn’t say anything, she just stood, hands crossed on her chest and biting her lip.

Ella glanced at her, frowning her eyebrows. “thought we were over it Maggie.”
“Can’t say we are.”
“I’m going.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“There’s a lot of controversy around this Mundial.”
“Not this again.” Gabriella got up, lifting her suitcase with one hand “I’ve been invited by the Goat himself.” She smiled and the repeated “I’m going.”

NEYMAR’S HOTEL ROOM – QATAR

He reached his hand over to the nightstand and slapped the alarm on the floor, breaking and shutting it off. He groaned a little, hid his face on the pillow, groaned a little more and eventually sat on the bed, rubbing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. Just a few seconds later, there were repeated knocks on his door by his captain that passed every morning though everyone’s bedrooms, yelling for them to get their asses of the bed.

Cold water woke him up. It sharpened through his skin, his face and his eyes and it got him ready for training. A quick breakfast, a quick run by himself outside the hotel where he met his buddies from different teams and then straight to their training area. More running, kicking balls, drippling, laughing, falling, sometimes fighting with the opposite teams that were training at the same time and then a break on the bench.

He was drinking one of his energy drinks, watching his teammates still going round and round with each other. Silva was kicking Richarlison’s ass again about something and Neymar smiled at himself, having being in that position many times in the past. Raphinha came and sat next to him. Patting him on the shoulder.

“Ja disistiu, amigo?” [Already gave up, buddy?]
Neymar laughed at his comment and shook his head “Nao. Estou a chegar.”
“Falta apenas uma hora”

He nodded and went in the field again with Raphinha. Just one hour left for the scheduled training, good news was he could finally take an actual break after 9 hours of running around non stop. Bad news was that he never felt his training was enough, he always wanted more. Today it felt even worse, his mind wasn’t all there, he was distracted and tired like a someone had put a spell on him to be this way and when training was over and all his teammates went to their rooms he felt… lonely.

QATAR UNIVERSITY HOSTEL – ARGENTINA’S BASE

Gabriella walked in her mouth hanging open behind her mask while Maggie was talking with the security to check their invitations. When she was done, they walked deeper into the building, enjoying the beauty and how expensive everything looked.
A man run up to them from the other side of the hallway smiling.

“Ola! Ms. Hamill, welcome!” he reached out his hand smiling. “I’m Leo’s assistant. He left a few minutes ago for his training.” He said in his broken english.
“Bad timing. Its ok.”
“No no. He has told me to help you find your way to the pitch.”
“That won’t be possible!” jumped in Maggie. Stepping forward. “Ms. Hamill doesn’t want to risk been seen.”
“I understand. We have a private car that will drive us there and she can stay with her mask on until we reach the training area.”
“That could work.” Said Ella under her mask, giving maggie a look. Maggie thought about it but pretty much knew she wouldn’t be able to stop her.

The truth was Gabriella was excited. She hadn’t been this excited about something since the first time she met Meryl Stripp at the oscars. She hated being surrounded by many people unless she was drunk or unless it was the right people. Through the whole drive she’d look from the window at the views, spotting flags from different times and listening to the foreign language on the radio. Suddenly this great feeling crept on to her that she was a nobody here. She had managed to escape from the chaos of the states where everyone was chasing for a picture and screaming for a comment. No one knew where she was, she was under the radar, hiding in plain sight. Most of all she had the opportunity to do something she loved, watch football, meet heroes she had grown up with and admired with her father.

She smiled at the thought, little her sitting on the couch next to her dad who was yelling at the tv for Messi to score as if he would listen to him through the screen. She laughed, “silencio!” her mother would yell because she had just put her little brother to sleep and when her dad would yell again she’d throw him one of her flip flops to shut him up.

Her smile faded suddenly. It was weird, how one second thinking about them made her happy and the other it made her feel lonely.

They reached the pitch a few minutes later, Gabriella came out wearing her sunglasses, her hoodie and her mask. If it wasn’t for leo’s assistant, security would proably think she was part of a gang or something. She could hear the balls getting kicked, their feet running, it sent chills to her skin. She reached for Maggie holding her arm tightly. Maggie glanced, scoffing but didn’t say anything. They walked in slowly through the large hallways and then sunlight blinded her and she saw them all around the field, running back and forth. Tackling each other, playing with each other until her eyes fell on her childhood hero. Messi.
He waved when he saw her and gave her a smile. Gabriella felt safe enough to take off her disguises now and pulled down her hoodie, her wavy long hair falling like a curtain on either side of her face. She pulled off her mask as well and only kept her sunglasses, letting her hazel eyes covered for a little longer. Messi signaled for her to wait a moment for him to finish and she sat on the bench with Maggie taking in the beauty of the large stadium.

“For the record I still think this is a bad idea.”
“bloody hell can you stop whining for a second?” she asked, nudging her shoulder.
“Are you happy?”
“Haven’t been this happy in a while.” She admitted, smiling. Maggie smiled back. Truth is Gabriella would be nothing without her. She was her best friend and her protector and she knew how much she cared. She had seen her at her worst and she had stayed.
“Listen. Just cause I don’t enjoy watching men sweating as much as you do, I’ll go walk around the block. You stay here and call me if you need anything.”
“Yes mum.”
“I’m serious!”
“Go!”

Maggie rarely did anything for herself ever since she had started taking care of Ella. So whenever Ella had the opportunity to encourage her to take time off she’d take it.
A little after Maggie was gone, the legendary Messi called for her down on the field. She sprinted down the stairs quickly. Messi kicked the ball to her, smiling and she caught it with the side of her foot, laughing.

“Estas Bien?” he asked nearing her.
“Si! Gracias por la invitacion!”
“Sin problemas.”
“Quieres jugar?” he smiled, looking at the ball.
She still remembered the basic words in spanish. She’d speak it often with her mother when she was a kid and speaking it again now, even though hers was more than broken, it made her emotional. So.. did she want to play?
“Si!”
“Espero que juenues mejor de lo que hablas espanol!”
“Hey I understood that!” she complained and kicked the ball back at him. He caught the ball with his foot without even looking when it was close enough.
“No english!” he said “you need training.”
“Why don’t you train in english instead?”
Messi laughed “you win. I speak Ingles with you. You lose you speak espanol.”
She shrugged, knowing exactly what she was getting herself into.

She wondered why she was even trying to steal the ball from him. Everytime she’d end with her back on the ground, groaning and the few times she managed to kick the ball it was while she was falling and messi was distracted trying to keep her up so she wouldn’t fall on her face.

After her 20th fall, she stayed on the ground, laying down and breathing loudly. Messi looked at her, almost like he was enjoying it. A wide smile on his face.

“You win!” she said, begging with her eyes to let her off the hook. Messi put his hand behind his ear, like he was expecting something else. Gabriella shut her eyes, took a deep breath and repeated what she said this time in spanish “Tu ganas!” she mumbled. Messi clapped for himself and sat besides her, patting her knee.
“It was good try.”
Gabriella smiled “Garcias!”
“You spanish… no that bad.”
Ella laughed and lifted her body, balancing it on her elbows “Yo no lo hablo. Um… mucho tiempo.” She nodded towards him “Tu ingles… no tan malo?” she wasn’t very sure if she had said it correctly but messi didn’t try to correct her.
“I try. It is hard.”
“Easier than you think.”

“LEO!” It was a man’s voice behind her calling. She pulled her sunglasses down to her eyes again. Messi got up to greet whoever it was, suddenly he was speaking spanish quicker making it harder for her to understand anything that he was saying. She got up, rubbing the dirt off her knees. She thought she heard messi saying her first name and she turned around, automatically raising her hand as well to greet the new guy.

“Nice to-“ her words trailed off. She knew him. She had seen him play, she had even read articles about him and his horrible behavior. She tried not to show it and finished her sentence quickly “nice to meet you.”

Neymar held her hand only for a few seconds before letting it go and turning his attention to Messi. Like she wasn’t even there. He hadn’t recognized her, not even a little. She felt relief, she felt happiness. Yes, he was rude to ignore her existence the way that he was doing but she was more happy than not.
Suddenly The vibration of her phone on her pocket rang and she picked it up quickly.

“Si?” She stopped herself “I mean yes?”
“Listen I found a great place with food.” Maggie went on to tell her about all the dishes they had and what she would prefer for lunch. After Gabriella made her order they agreed to meet each other at the airBnB they had rented. Ella would go with her driver and Maggie with a Taxi.
“Messi!”
He stopped talking with Neymar and turned to face her, smiling.

“I need to go! Garcias por hoy!” she leaned in, kissing him on the cheek “I’ll see you tonight!”
“Nos Vemos! Adios!”
She waved quickly at Neymar as well and she left.

The car was outside the stadium but her driver was nowhere to be seen. She waited for about 20 minutes until she got bored and her new talent of being a nobody took over her. She decided to walk, taking in the sunlight as much as she could under her hoodie and getting lost in the crowds of people. She stopped in the edge of the sidewalk, stepped on the street while she waited for the light to turn green and just when the light sparked her entire body was pushed on the ground.

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