In which Philippe Coutinho (accidently) likes an Instagram picture from 176 weeks ago in which Coline Lavana is wearing a bikini.
V̶E̶R̶S̶I̶O̶N̶ ̶F̶R̶A̶N̶Ç̶A̶I̶S̶E̶/ENGLISH VERSION.
january 2019.
There were having a media day, and since he was the newbie, he had the privilege to go first. Now, he was just waiting for everyone to be done to call it a day and leave.
But they were so slow.
"Move your legs, small Brazilian bean," Piqué asked him before sitting down on the chair next to him. "Boring day, huh?"
"Pfft, no," he said.
He was kind of scared of Piqué. He was really tall, and he was like...the essence of Barça. He could not admit that he was bored when they were at Camp Nou. Never.
"Yeah, right," Gerard laughed. "I'm just spending most of my day on Instagram, stalking my wife."
"I cannot do that. I mean, stalking your wife."
"You can, she's hot," the Spaniard shrugged, and Philippe laughed before opening the app on his phone. He had nothing better to do, anyway. He could check some accounts.
The first pic that he saw on his feed was the pic of a woman that he did not know that much. Rafaella--Neymar's sister--had mentioned her several times, and Philippe did not even remember why he had started to follow her. But she followed him back, and he has had kind of forgotten about it until now.
"Well, you don't need Shakira, that one is hot enough," Piqué said, and Philippe jumped in fear when he saw the Spaniard looking behind his shoulder. "Do you even know her?"
"Do you?"
"Yep. Met her a few times, she's a famous hairdresser, and she took care of Shak's hair during one of her tour."
"Oh," Philippe simply said, clicking on her profile.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He started to scroll, looking at some of her pics closely. He half expected her Instagram to be about hair and hair only, but it was more than that. It was just...pieces of her life. She was probably not even trying to be aesthetic, but she was. Her Instagram was impressive.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He frowned when he saw a picture of her at the beach. It was clearly in Rio de Janeiro. He could recognize that beach between thousands of beaches. He clicked on it to make sure that he was right--his Brazilian pride was in stake--and his eyes opened wide when he saw the little heart becoming red.
"Oh shit, shit shit shit."
Piqué raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
He looked at Philippe's phone before smirking.
"That's it? The girl is wearing a bikini, and you're losing your mind?"
"I liked the pic! It was posted...176 weeks ago. And I just liked it."
Gerard basically burst out laughing, and the Brazilian wanted to die even more.
"I just wanted to make sure that it was in Rio! Oh my God. I hate myself."
"No big deal. She has tons of followers, she won't see that notification. And if she does, why would she care? You don't know her."
"Because she's going to think that I am a stalker!"
"Don't worry about it," Gerard patted his knee. "She won't notice."
...
When the Brazilian woke up the next morning, however, a direct message was waiting for him.
@coline.lavana Thanks for the like
@phil.coutinho was it in Rio de Janeiro
@coline.lavana Indeed
@phil.coutinho oh yeah that's why I liked the pic actually.
@coline.lavana That was rude Does that mean I am ugly Well that my back is ugly
@phil.coutinho what no I didn't say that I just miss Brazil
@coline.lavana Why, where are you?
@phil.coutinho playing football in Barcelona
@coline.lavana Sucks Not to be in Barcelona, to be that far away from home I still live in France bc I don't see myself anywhere else.
@phil.coutinho you need to travel a lot with your job, right?
@coline.lavana Yeah. But always happy to go back where I belong, home
@phil.coutinho are you singing one direction
@coline.lavana Why do I hear judgment in that sentence
@phil.coutinho not judging
@coline.lavana Right Look I have to get back to work
@phil.coutinho oh, okay
@coline.lavana Nice talk Philippe Coutinho
@phil.coutinho have fun
...
"Have fun? Really Philippe?" he asked him. Where was that from? It was ridiculous. But she left so suddenly that he basically panicked. He had forgotten about real life while talking to her, and now reality was life...striking him. Too hard. In the face.
He finally got up to get ready for training, and once there, the first thing he did was to look for Piqué. And when the Spaniard saw him, he laughed.
"Don't tell me you liked another pic of that girl because she was in São Paulo."
"She sent me a message to thank me for the like."
"I love this woman. You should marry her. I mean she is sassy enough to thank you just to embarrass you. What a queen."
"Shut up!"
"So? What did you do? You didn't delete your account just because of that, right?"
"I talked to her," Philippe shrugged, and Gerard raised an eyebrow.
"Wow Coutinho, I am proud. So, how was it? I mean, talking to a girl?"
"Stop making fun of me."
Piqué laughed.
"Fine, fine. But please remember me when the two of you get married."
"Geri. We are not getting married. We don't know each other."
The Spaniard shrugged.
"You guys talked once. It may become something regular."
