Helping out her best friend by playing the lead in that music video project for university had seemed like an easy enough feat for art student Lorelai García. Only, it wasn't. Especially since not only Lorelai, but the whole first team of the FC Bar...
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The first night that Lorelai spent at his house had been a complete success. He'd noticed her nervousness, though he couldn't really understand it, so he'd tried to not make it a big deal that she was finally were he always wanted her to be — in his home. She fit right in. Like she belonged.
Blissfully, Gil had been out (he'd said something about a girl he was seeing these days) and his father hadn't come home until very late at night from whatever meeting he'd had with the attorney he'd told Neymar about. He was already gone by the time Neymar and Lorelai had woken up after a long night of watching Game of Thrones (and doing other fun things). And Gil had thankfully not shown his face and thus had avoided an awkward run-in with Lorelai; the girl felt embarrassed after their talk in Camp Nou (she'd confessed to him) and Neymar was grateful his friend hadn't made his presence known that night.
No matter how bad Neymar finally wanted his family to meet Lorelai, he was also glad for them understanding the situation - of course his best friend and his sister knew about his new relationship. And Neymar Sr had other things on his mind than his son's love life at the moment, so his father wasn't causing problems either.
That whole transfer case, tax fraud, whatever it was that people accused them and the FC Barcelona club of, was weighing heavily on them. His father did his best to keep it as far from him as possible, which Neymar appreciated very much; there already was so much going on in his life, he really didn't want to wrap his mind around this matter as well. Apparently, the attorney and his business company that his father and his management were working with here in Barcelona was really good. A stoic man, Neymar Sr had told him, but very focused, and giving the case the serious attention it demanded.
Keeping things secret »at work« was, now that at least three teammates knew about them, becoming even more difficult. Every time Neymar saw the blonde girl at the training ground — with her beads, her braids, her cheerful eyes and her warm smile — all he wanted to do was hug her and kiss her senseless, pull her into one of the storage rooms that they'd already used once and do whatever he felt like doing to her.
He still didn't know why Lorelai was so adamant on keeping them a secret; it couldn't just be because of the art assignment, could it? He didn't dare ask her though. There were times when she would completely shut down and hide behind a thick wall and not talk to him at all about what was going on with her. In those cases, that specific tone in her voice would suggest that she wouldn't allow for anything to break through that barrier at that moment. Her mind would try to make sense of what was going on, shutting out every other distracting thought, putting aside whatever she felt and let her brain think and do the work. How could she so easily shut out her heart like this? Detach herself from her feelings? He'd never seen someone be so passionate at one time and then completely let her mind take control over the situation at another.
She was so completely different from him in this regard; Gil and Rafaella oftentimes told him he shouldn't wear his heart on his sleeve like that, be more careful who to trust. People tended to take advantage of that. A few already had. But Neymar didn't care too much about that. It was just the way he was, he couldn't really help it. So there were a few idiots in the world, whatever. He wouldn't change his ways just because of them.
