Soccer/Football Imagines (Part 2)

James Rodriguez [~] Preparations (Part 2)

James Rodriguez (Part 2)

For TheMaineisabandIlove:

Stephanie groaned as her alarm clock went off. Early practice for the team meant getting up early for her and Stephanie willed herself to get up and out of bed. Stretching, Stephanie walked over to her suitcase to grab everything that she needed. Changing after a quick shower, Stephanie grabbed a quick breakfast before catching a cab to the training grounds. Getting out of the cab, Stephanie paid the driver before rushing into the training grounds.

In her rush, she ran into another person. Stephanie yelped at contact but the other person managed to catch her and pull her up to a standing position once more. "So sorry about that," came the voice of Stephanie's savior.

"No, I'm sorry. I should have looked where I was going," Stephanie interjected, looking up to come face to face with Neymar.

"I apologize as well. I was blinded by your beauty too much to see properly where I was going," Neymar winked, causing Stephanie to blush unconsciously. Shaking her head to get her brain back into its proper place, Stephanie quickly thanked and apologized to Neymar again before running towards Colombia's training grounds. Silently slipping into the medic room, Stephanie quickly went about to fix the med kits and prepare everything for use.

Handing them off to the more seasoned medics, Stephanie pulled up the rear with the stretcher. Setting it carefully at the medic station, Stephanie went to get more ice for ice packs. Colombia's practice passed without incident and Stephanie was happy that for the rest of the day, she would be able to relax next to James at the beautiful pool at the hotel. Walking off of the pitch, Stephanie quickly cleaned up her station before rushing to change out of her work clothes.

Sitting and waiting for James in the lobby, Stephanie felt the bench dip next to her. Turning to whom she assumed to be James, Stephanie was surprised to see Neymar sitting next to her. "So, I never caught your name, Beautiful. Or I can keep calling you Beautiful every time we see each other."

"My name's Stephanie," Stephanie replied, hoping that James would walk out of the locker room at any moment and swoop her away. "And you're Neymar, right?"

"The one and only," he smiled. The sound of footsteps caused Stephanie and Neymar to turn around to see an angry-looking James walking towards the two of them.

"Neymar," James nodded stiffly. "If you'll excuse me, me and my girlfriend have to go," James stated, emphasizing 'my girlfriend'. Neymar gave James an unimpressed look before bidding Stephanie goodbye and walking away. James glared at him until he disappeared around a corner. "What was he saying to you?" James asked.

"Just trying to make conversation," Stephanie shrugged, "we ran into each other this morning and while I was waiting for you, he came and sat next to me." James nodded before grabbing Stephanie's hand and pulling her towards the door. Wrapping an arm tightly around her waist, Stephanie tried but couldn't keep in the laugh that was bubbling in her chest. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you were a little jealous, James."

"I'm not jealous," James said quickly, causing Stephanie to laugh again. The two got into the car and James drove back towards the hotel. After both of them changed, the two walked hand in hand down to the pool. Stephanie sat in the shallow end as James ran to join his teammates in the deeper end of the pool. Stephanie enjoyed the cool water when someone sat next to her.

"Funny running into you here," Neymar winked.

"Funny that we keep running into each other," Stephanie replied, cocking an eyebrow at the Brazilian striker.

"Crazy coincidences, right?" Neymar chuckled. "Now, you and Mr. Grumpy there, are you guys actually an item?"

"Me and James?" Stephanie asked, causing Neymar to nod. "Yeah, we've been dating for a few months now," Stephanie explained, trying to locate her boyfriend.

"I see," Neymar drawled. "But, if Mr. Grumpy over there ever gives you any trouble, my door's always open to you, Stephanie."

"I'm honestly impressed you remembered my name," Stephanie chuckled. Seeing James walking back over, Neymar bid goodbye to Stephanie before walking to join his Brazilian teammates at the juice bar. "Hey," Stephanie smiled at James, to which he angrily glared at her before storming off. Stephanie sighed before getting up and following after him. Making it into his room, Stephanie placed her hands on her hips. "James—"

"—Don't James me! Why don't you just go and fuck Neymar. You don't have to do it behind my bed or anything," James growled.

"Neymar and I are nothing more than acquaintances, James. I love you, and only you."

"Then why do you keep running around with other guys here!"

"Maybe because there are mostly only guys here! It is the men's World Cup! And besides, most of my time is spent with you, James," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, whatever," James said before disappearing into the bathroom. Stephanie sighed and walked out of the room. She was a backup medic for the match today and therefore was relegated to the medic room inside. Cleaning the tables, the sound of scuffling behind her caused Stephanie to turn around.

"James?" she gasped, moving to immediately tend to her boyfriend.

"Got into a little bit of a nasty tackle. Start patching him up, Mark will be down soon to help you," one of the stretcher medics told Stephanie before leaving. Staring to clean the blood off James' face, Stephanie sighed at the gash on James's face.

"I'm sorry," James said suddenly. "I was a jealous douche bag and I took my anger out on you, and I'm sorry for that, Stephanie."

"You don't have to apologize," Stephanie sighed, "I should have walked away from Neymar every time."

"Can we just pretend that our fight never happened?" James pleaded.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Stephanie smiled before leaning down and pressing her lips to James' own. James smiled and kissed her back and just for a moment, it was perfect.