Cause and Effect

Twenty five

That weekend, City played Crystal Palace away, and remembering that Cris had wanted to meet up when he was next in the London area, I texted him to see if he still wanted to go ahead with it. It was Thursday when I texted him, however he didn't reply until Friday afternoon, and I didn't see the text until we finished training. He gave me the address of the hotel the team were staying at, requesting that I pick him up. Obviously he had no car with him, having flown from Manchester with the rest of the team, and when your name is Cristiano Ronaldo, public transport isn't exactly a great option. I was still a little annoyed, however, feeling he still could have given me more notice. Hector and Granit had carpooled to training with me as usual, so I asked Neymar to drive them for me.

"Okay," he nodded. "I never understood why you guy carpool anyway when you don't need to."

I chuckled. Neymar couldn't imagine missing a chance to drive one of his beloved cars.

"You don't need to understand, you just need to do," I giggled, and he rolled his eyes playfully at me.

"Where are you going, then?"

"Ronaldo finally replied to me," I said, showing him my phone. "I have to go pick him up."

"Why?" He asked, cluelessly.

"He flew here, from Manchester, in a plane, not in his car," I said, tapping his forehead. "Is everything switched on up here?"

"Yes," he retorted, grabbing my finger. "Stop it. I still don't trust him."

"Neymar, please," I sighed. "Nothing's gonna happen, Anya trusts him, that's good enough for me."

"Okay," he shrugged, smiling a little resignedly. "Tell me what happens, yeah?"

"I will," I nodded.

I was more than a little annoyed by the time I made it to pick up Cris, and he didn't help my mood.

"Punctual much?" He teased, as he got in the car.

"How about replying to text messages in good time then?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "If I'm thirty minutes late, it's not because I didn't come straight from training."

"Okay okay," he raised his hands defensively. "Sorry."

"You better be. And this better be good, I blew off my friends for this."

It was true - Anya and the other City girls had wanted to hang out today, but I'd had to tell them we had extra training today to cover my tracks.

"It's good, I promise you," he said.

We'd decided on my house as the best place to go, wanting somewhere private to talk. The journey was about thirty minutes, and by the end I was feeling a little better about the whole thing. Cris seemed like a genuinely nice guy, not the malicious hater of all mankind Neymar saw him as, and the two of us chatted most of the way home.

"Okay," I Said, after we'd arrived home, and I'd gotten us both some water. (We both had games within the next few days, anything else was out of the question.) "Spill the beans. What's this big secret?"

Cris was thoughtful for a second, and I eyed him curiously, allowing him time to speak.

"What I have to say... I don't want you to take this the wrong way. But pretty much, it's about Neymar."

My eyes widened in surprise. This obviously was not what I had expected, but I wordlessly motioned for him to carry on.

"So I guess you know I'm not exactly fond of him."