Take Me Away (Neymar ; Marc Bartra)

Chapter 5

Avanna's P.O.V

“My name is Neymar, I'm twenty one and I play for FC Barcelona.” He said as he reached out his right hand so it was facing my direction.

Bumping into him by accident here on the streets, this was totally uncalled for. I gave it a thought, that maybe this was a second chance? Perhaps he was genuine about being apologetic, I mean, we did start off a little rough.

“My name is Avanna, nineteen and it is a pleasure to meet you, Neymar.” I shook his hand and looked at him with a smile. He gave me one in return, a million dollar smile and with a set of teeth like his, he could easily put dentists out of business.

“Though, I'm not interested in whatever team you're playing for.” I added. Something tells me that I may have said the wrong thing, but I was honest. If we are going to be friends, I want to know him for who he is himself and not the football team he plays for.

“You don't like football?” Neymar tilted his head a little while he questioned me, that head tilt he did reminded me of a pug. I then realised that our hands were still in this 'handshake' position, I immediately pulled away to prevent it from getting any more awkward.

“N-no, I mean yes, wait, I meant that, I don't like football, and neither do I not like it, It's just a neutral thing, do you get what i'm saying?” I answered his question and heard a loud grumble coming from my tummy. I haven't had a single meal today.

“Yeah, I get what you mean but I think we should get you something to eat first.” Neymar chuckled, he must've heard the noise I just made and it was kinda embarrassing.

“I should probably start heading home, and you're probably busy as we-” Before I could finish my sentence, Neymar took the brown bag of art supplies from my arms with his right hand and grabbed my wrist with his left. His hand was so big, and I could feel his strength as he pulled me.

“I'm not busy at all, I have to apologize to you for what I did yesterday.” He took a glance at me and lead me across the road, “I feel like having a cheese burger, I hope you're up for it too.”

We ended up in a burger joint called Tommy's, I've never been here before. Neymar greeted the waiters by their first names as we walked past them and we sat opposite each other on high stools with a brown suede material covering it's cushion top. The walls were of dark red bricks, light bulbs were dangling from the ceiling and it gave off a rather cosy feeling to the room. We each had cheese burgers laid out on a plate for us along with sides of nicely cooked fries and cesar salad.

I took a bite off my burger with my hands, like I always do with burgers and finger food. Indulging into a juicy slab of perfectly grilled beef covered with melted slices of cheese and caramelized onions.

“I'm surprised, most girls would've thought that a burger like that is too disgusting for it to be edible.” Neymar said as he started off his dish by eating a couple of fries dipped in ketchup. 

“Are you kidding me? This is delicious!” I might have to pinch myself to make sure that all this wasn't just a dream. “Do you come here often? It seemed like you're a regular, the staffs seem to know you pretty well.”

“I play for the best football team in the world, is there anyone who wouldn't be able to recognise me?” He joked and I realised how stupid I was to forget that.

“Right...” I smiled to myself and nodded, he sure was cocky.

“So how come you're not into football? Doesn't Bartra bring you over to Camp Nou? Knowing him, I'm sure he tried getting you into it.” He popped another question.

“Of course, he has but I guess it's just not my thing. I have zero knowledge about football, and I am kind of afraid of balls in general.” I pointed to my bruise, giving him a reminder of what he did to me yesterday, as well as an obvious answer to why I fear balls so much.

“Yeah about that..” He scratched his head. “It was an honest accident from doing a couple of drills.” He looked at me and I could see a tad bit of guilt in his hazel eyes.

“No biggie, it's just a bruise. It'll go off soon anyways.” I smiled and assured him that I wasn't pissed off or anything. I had other things to think about than having something on my face.

“Since you're not really into football, I'm guessing that you're an Artsy Fart?” Neymar looked to my left where I placed my bag of art supplies that fell on the ground earlier.

“I don't exactly like the term 'Artsy Fart', but yes, painting is my passion. It just makes me feel good after having a bad day, or just to calm myself and put myself in a positive mood.” I nodded in agreement and took the last bite of my cheeseburger.

It was quiet throughout the whole meal, I didn't really say much besides responding to Neymar's questions but I'm just bad with people that way.

“Sir”. We were about to leave when one of the waiters came over and gave Neymar a nod. Neymar looked at him whilst studying his facial expression and nodded back. What in the world? What kind of language did they just converse in because I don't understand it at all.

“Come, follow me.” Neymar got out of his seat and helped me carry my bag of art supplies. I got up and followed him, he was walking towards the kitchen of the restaurant.

“Wait..isn't the entrance there?” I asked him, confused and pointed at the door where we entered from earlier.

“Just follow me, Anna.” He responded firmly and I was left even more confused, with no choice but to listen to this tall Brazilian that I just met. 

We made way past the kitchen and left through the restaurant's back door to a very quiet and narrow alley way. He turned to the left and continued walking ahead. I wanted so badly to call out to him, but he looked rather tensed so I refrained myself and continued walking after his footsteps. Was he angry at me? Even if he was, what does being angry have to do with bringing me here? I don't even know where I am!

We went through one of the many steel doors that were along the alley way and ended up in a dark room. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dark to find that we were in a really dimmed carpark, I couldn't see much but it was practically empty inside, except for a few cars parked here and there. My heart beat started to race, where was he taking me? I'm scared.

“N-Neymar?” I managed to gather a little courage to voice out but got no response.

He took out a pair of car keys from his right pocket and a bright light flashed from the corner of my eyes. He opened the passanger seat of what seemed to be a white Audi R8 and gestured me to step in.

 “Get in the car.”