Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 5

2014

Neymar and I spent two weeks together holed up in his house in Barcelona and it was the first time since we started dating that we actually spent that much time alone.

We weren't technically in hiding but we didn't go out to dinner in fancy or crowded places where he could be spotted. Instead, we walked around the city, seeing a less touristy side of it. We went to flea markets and less known places, but Neymar having already been living there for a year had also taken the role of my tour guide.

We visited Gaudi's architectural wonders and some museums, with him always laying low and wearing his cap everywhere. We also went to Camp Nou for his medical check-up and he showed me around the state-of-the-art training center and introduced me to some of his teammates there. We went on some excursions by car, to destinations two or three hours away from Barcelona too, but for the most part we stayed in, just the two of us, doing normal stuff like cooking, watching Netflix, playing football and as he said – making me into the best poker player in the world. We would spend time together just hanging out, me reading a book and him playing one of his videogames. I even joined him a few times and it was rather fun when I got the hang of it.

One day I joked to him that we passed the test of co-habitation successfully and he laughed. "Did you have any doubts?" He asked me, opening his arms wide as he laid on the sofa for me to crawl in. He enveloped me in a hug and looked at me.

"Not doubts per se, but I was wondering how it'd be like. We didn't lead a very quiet existence before you know. This could be boring for you." I voiced my anxiety. I was a kind of person that was okay with being around a few people that were close to me and not the life of the party. Sure, that was fun too but only once in a while. I thought Neymar wasn't like that and that was one more thing where we were different from each other.

He sighed. I'm not as much the party guy as you think." He told me. "Sure, when I go back to Brazil, there's always tons of people to see and too little time and it sometimes turns into a never-ending party. But it's mostly because I don't want to disappoint anyone and also..." He hesitated. "I kind of miss home." He admitted.

I turned to look at him.

"It's a little bit lonely here." He continued. "My friends are mostly my teammates. And most of them have families and wives and kids and I find myself by myself more often than people think."

"That makes sense." I told him, hugging him tightly.

"So, I'm always happy to go back home but every time I go, it seems like I have to leave a day too early. It's like I am living in two places at once and neither feels quite like home. But these past two weeks, the two of us here together, it's the most this place has ever felt like home to me since I got here."

I felt a warmth spread through me, when I heard his words. I was so damn lucky he felt the same way I did about us. So damn lucky.

My mind involuntarily went to the calendar. How much more of this did we have left? How long before he went back to feeling like he was in between places and I went back to being alone in a two-by-two dorm room? Sure, I practically spent two years of my life alone there, after James died. But then it was somewhat by choice. I was numb, I couldn't feel anything. I had a feeling that it would be different this time. I'd feel everything this time.

~*~

"Davi! Tenha cuidado por favor!" I yelled at the little boy to be careful. It had been two days since he joined us in Barcelona and we were having an amazing time, all three of us. We mostly continued living like we did before only it was three and not two this time.