And I Love Her

Chapter 10 - London

Katalina's POV

"She's so big!" I begin to gush over Julia.

Ludy has promised to pick me up at Heathrow and her she was, Julia with her hand in hers.

"Say hi to Kat," she looked down to her gorgeous daughter.

"Hi, Kat," she smiled.

"Do you remember me?" I squatted to reach her level.

Julia simply nodded then hid behind Ludy's leg.

I gave Ludy a kiss on the cheek and a hug before we headed to her car.

"How's life treating you, Kat?" She asks as she begins to drive towards her house.

"Great," I smile at her. "How's everything? How's the family?"

"Everyone and everything is great," she smiles over at me. "Oscar has been going crazy getting things ready for you."

"He would," I say making her chuckle.

Oscar and Ludy invited me to stay in London with them for a week, they wanted desperately to see me. Here I am arriving on the last day of September.

"I can't wait to see Gaby and Daniela," I begin to grin, referring to Oscar's sisters.

"They've been dying for the past week to see you too," Ludmila looks over at me quickly.

Before I know it she parks the car in a garage and I find myself taking Julia out of the backseat as Ludy helps with my suitcase.

"Oscar won't be home till around six," she begins to explain as we enter their home. "The girls are coming over after that. Around eight probably."

"Sounds good," I smile as I put Julia down on the floor. "Want to start making dinner?"

"I have a better idea," Ludy smiles. "After the tour we can make some drinks and just talk, we've got to take the opportunity of the empty house."

"I've missed you dearly, Ludy," I hug her.

We each get some drinks into one another and I spill my heart out to her.

I tell her absolutely everything. I haven't seen her since the Brazil vs. Colombia match, meaning that everything she knows she's only heard second hand. I tell her about the break up with Neymar, how it all went down because of James. I tell her about the job at Cosmo, the trip to Madrid, the last time I spoke to James. She gives me some insight which I found useful about James, and I finally do admit that I had strong feelings for him before; Ludy doesn't say much about the topic since I know she prefers Neymar. Then I go on to tell her about how I'm still in love with Neymar, and I see a sparkle in her eyes that brings hopefulness to my chest.

"Katalina!" Oscar cheers and drops his duffle bag on the floor as he enters the living room.

I squeal a bit and jump up from the couch after putting my drink down and I run over to Oscar and jump on him.

We give each other a tight hug and let go after a while.

"How was the trip in?" Oscar keeps smiling over at me as Ludy gets up to say hello.

"Great," I smile. "How was training?"

"Good, good," he nods. "Some of the guys send their 'hellos.'"

We all head over to the kitchen and I catch up with Oscar even more than over the phone as Ludy begins to prepare dinner for the get together we're having tonight with Oscar and his sisters, some of his teammates might come over too, and Julia is by her mom's side helping out as Oscar and I are sat by the island.

Later on that night, Gaby, Daniela, and Willian appear together. Cuadrado shows up with Eden about an hour after that and we all just end up drinking and eating until around midnight. The party was cut short due to responsibilities of the team and I chose to walk everyone to the door.

"Bye," I kiss both of the sisters on the cheek before they stumble out the door. "See you soon."

"Always a pleasure," Willian gave me a hug.

"I might go watch you guys tomorrow," I smile at him before saying goodbye.

"Katalina," Juan smiles and I give him a big hug. "We gotta talk soon."

"I know, I know," I press my lips on one another, knowing he wants to talk about James. "Bye, love."

Eden was the last one at the door and he comes my way after kissing Ludy goodnight on the cheek.

"Good seeing you again, Kat," he smiles, this being our third, maybe fourth, encounter.

"Likewise," I smile at him before hugging him goodbye.

"You should come tomorrow," he says before leaving.

I shut the door and Ludy walks up to me.

"Did you see that," she begins to smile as she locks the door.

"Jesus, Ludy," I say. "He's married."

"Oh, crap," she says. "I forgot," she chuckles.

"Thanks for trying to get my mind off Neymar," I join her laughter.

"Why would she try to do that?" Oscar appears in the foyer.

"Well," Ludy claps her hands. "Goodnight you two, I'll leave you to do some catching up," she leaves a kiss on Oscar's lips before leaving us alone.

"Because, I still have feelings for him," I say and cross my arms as I hear Ludy begin to walk up the stairs.

"Straight forward as always," Oscar crosses his arms too. "I've missed you, Kat."

I smile and head over to him as he opens up his arms to embrace me.

I bury my head in his chest and exhale.

"I've missed you more," I mumble into his chest as I hug him even tighter.

We head over to the couch to talk some more and I give him a brief summary about Neymar and what I told Ludmila earlier that day.

"I get you," Oscar rubs his hands on his knees. "I've been meaning to talk to you about Paris."

"What happened in Paris?" I sit up, remembering Neymar was there with the rest of the group.

"James made a special appearance."

"No," I barely speak.

"Yes," he nods. "And Neymar spoke to him."

"No," I repeat, still wide eyed.

"Yes," Oscar nods again and chuckles a little.

"Toni did mention something like this, but nothing about James. He was suspicious about something Neymar said-"

"Neymar kinda told James to stay away from you," Oscar bites his lip.

I practically have my jaw on the floor.

"Good," I manage to finally say. "Wait, no, not good... Good."

"Why?"

"Good, maybe he does still have feelings for me and I did mention to him I didn't want to see James practically ever again."

"Stop lying to yourself," Oscar shakes his head. "Although you don't love him like you used to, you and him we great friends- beyond great friends, you have to be in each others' lives again. I'm starting to think he's what you're missing."

"I see what you're saying," I begin to nod. "But I'm not ready for that."

"Okay," Oscar simply says. "When you are, call him up, I know he doesn't want to let you go."

"Alright," I smile weakly.

"I'm gonna head to bed," Oscar says.

"Goodnight, sweet dreams, love," I look up at him.

"Sweet dreams," he pulls me closer and leaves a kiss on my forehead before disappearing towards the stairs.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't cut James off completely, in fact I miss him quite a lot. I'll talk to him when I'm ready, Neymar on the other hand, sure seems to maybe have lingering feelings.