Jamie decided to come to training early today to help clear his head. He was enjoying the quiet of the locker room. He needed to focus on football and not the red-headed babe who was fucking off limits.

Why was he so drawn to her? For fuck's sake, he barely knew her. He barely touched her. And yet, he couldn't get any sleep last night because every time he closed his eyes, he pictured himself holding her soft hips in his hands. He saw her sweet, curious look she gave him as their foreheads were pressed against each other. Something about that innocent look was addicting. It was as if she naturally trusted him. He'd never had a woman look at him like that before.

Apart from Keeley, all the girls he's dated were naturally suspicious of every move he made and busted his balls every chance they could. Usually, Jamie liked a woman who knew how to handle him. However, he was drawn to the way Alexandra didn't expect anything from him and was genuinely kind to him because she wanted to be.

When she wasn't kicking footballs at his face, of course. He chuckled a bit at the vivid memory of her frustrated face right before sending the impressive kick his way. Jamie lightly touched the sore bridge of his nose. She definitely was a little firecracker when she wanted to be.

Jesus Christ, Jamie thought bitterly. He sounded so bloody pathetic. With a frustrated sigh, he finished lacing up his cleats and readjusted his hairband. As he started walking past the coaching office to head out onto the pitch, he heard a faint groan from inside the room.

Jamie paused, hesitating in the doorway. Coach Lasso sat in his chair with his head down on the desk and a bottle of medicine next to him.

"Erm, you alright Coach?"

Ted slowly, painfully slowly, lifted his head up enough to see who was talking. Jamie had never seen him in such a rough state before. Ted's hair was completely disheveled and the bags under his eyes made him look like he hadn't slept in days.

"Jameson doesn't look as dangerous as it actually is," Ted mumbled into the mahogany wood of his desk. "Kinda like Kim Jong-un in that respect."

Jamie looked around for a moment, not really sure what to say. "Are you hungover?"

Ted nodded, still faced down. "I think I might be dying, Jamie."

"Erm, do you want me to call someone for you? Maybe Higgins could give you a ride home to sleep this off, yeah?"

Ted raised his head again and proceeded to lean all the way back in his chair, wincing as his eyes adjusted to the light. "I doubt Higgins will be coming in today. He had a heck of a birthday party. You know, you were there."

Jamie looked down and started fiddling with one of the rings on his hand. "I left a bit early, actually. Had some things to do."

After stumbling out of the bathroom when Mrs. Higgins interrupted things with Alexandra, Jamie managed to spit out some excuse about a family emergency before taking off. He thought it'd be best to spare them both the awkwardness.

"Well, you missed quite the rager," Ted managed a small smile. "And karaoke."

"I'm glad a left early then." Jamie laughed lightly, stuffing his hands in the pockets of in his sweatpants. "Did Higgins like the trainers I got him?"

Ted rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a stifled groan. "In all honesty, I could tell you more memories about my wild youth in the 90s than I could from last night."

Jamie shrugged, "That's alright, I can just ask him the next time I see him."

There was a lull in the conversation for a few moments as Ted peered at Jamie with a look that made him shift uncomfortably.

"What, Coach?"

The older man just looked at him with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eyes. He shrugged innocently, "I'm just proud of you, that's all."

Jamie stood still, not sure how to respond. "They're just a pair of trainers."

Ted waved his hand dismissively, "I'm not talking about the shoes. I mean it, Jamie. You've come a long way."

Jamie swallowed hard and looked around the room, at anywhere except for the man in front of him. To hear Coach say those words to him meant a lot. He'd been working hard to rebuild the bridges he wrecked last season. The therapy sessions with Dr. Sharon have really helped open his eyes to the people around him and how to treat them.

However, in this moment, hearing Coach Lasso say how proud he was of him only made Jamie feel guilty. If Ted knew Jamie almost made out with his niece less than 24 hours ago, he wouldn't be saying that. In fact, he'd probably be kicking Jamie off the fucking team.

"You don't have to say anything, Jamie. But you should know your effort to be a part of this team is not going unnoticed."

All Jamie could do was nod his head with a forced smile on his face. He slowly turned to leave the office and wrapped his hand around the doorknob. "Open or closed?"

"Closed, please. I'm gonna need a little more time to rest before practice starts."

Jamie closed the door with a soft click and a clenched jaw. He was so fucked.

Alex was walking the halls of Richmond, on her way to check on Uncle Ted with a hot coffee in her hand. She knew he'd need it after the night he had. She was honestly surprised he made it in to work this morning. When she woke up today, Alex thought she'd find Ted either still passed out on the couch or hunched over the toilet. To her surprise, he was already gone when she woke up and needed to call Keeley for a ride here.

She sighed as she recalled the conversation they just had in Keeley's car.

"Hey, what happened yesterday? You were acting strangely when you came back downstairs." Keeley thought she was being casual, but Alex could see the knowing gleam in her eyes.

"Oh, um, I tripped after I helped Jamie clean up. I guess I was just a bit frazzled." It wasn't a complete lie. Having to clean up toilet paper with Mrs. Higgins wasn't on her bingo card for the party yesterday.

"Hmm," Keeley pretended to believe her words. "So, nothing particularly hot and steamy happened with a certain sexy footballer?"

"Nope." Alex turned her head to look out the passenger window, trying her best to hide the redness painting her cheeks.

Keeley narrowed her eyes and glanced over at her from behind the steering wheel. "Fine, you don't have to tell me what happened. But please know you can talk to me if anything does happen, babe."

"Why would you think something's going to happen?" Alex muttered, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Keeley looked over at her after the car came to a stop in the Richmond staff parking lot. "I saw the way he was looking at you yesterday. And I know Jamie, when he wants something, he gets it."

Alex refused to look at her, "He doesn't want me, Keeley."

The blonde shook her had in bewilderment at her. "You say he doesn't want you as if it's impossible. Alex, you need to understand that you are an incredibly gorgeous young woman."

This conversation was beginning to be too much for her to handle. She quickly undid her seatbelt and grabbed the coffee she made for Ted and opened the door. "We should probably head inside."

"Wait, Alex—"

She closed the door and quickly made her way inside. She felt guilty for leaving Keeley in the car like that, but everything was getting to be too much for her right now. Alex probably should've just stayed at the apartment today, but it was too late for that now.

As she turned the corner into the locker room, the man who'd been on her mind appeared. Jamie looked up after shutting the door to Ted's office behind him. When his eyes locked on hers, it looked like he wanted to run from the room. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat and adjusted the hairband he sported, which looked to be a nervous habit of his.

"Alexandra," He acknowledged with a hesitant smile, not quite meeting her eyes with his. "You alright?"

"Hi, Jamie." She breathed, not prepared to see him so abruptly. Alex hoped she had some time before inevitably having to see him at their practice. "How's your nose?"

"Better, it's just a bit sore now."

A few moments passed as the two stood awkwardly, not sure where to go from there. Jamie finally looked at her, scratching his head while trying to work out what to say. "I should probably apologize for what happened yesterday." His voice was quiet, not wanting anyone else to hear.

Alex's eyes flew to his, shocked at what he just said. He's apologizing? Why would he apologize? According to Keeley and Lust Conquers All, Jamie Tartt wasn't the type to be shy about hooking up with girls and they didn't even do anything. Unless… She thought dreadfully. Unless he regrets it.

He swallowed hard, lost in his own thoughts as they stared at each other. "Don't worry, it won't happen again."

Before she could reply, Jamie quickly turned around and headed out for the pitch. She stood there rooted to the floor, her grip on the hot coffee tightening. She knew Keeley was wrong, whatever happened in the bathroom was all her own doing. Alex made it a bigger deal than it was in her head. Of course he didn't want her.

She blinked and swatted back the emotions that were building inside her. Get a grip, she thought lamely. You barely even know this guy. Alex straightened her shoulders and did what Uncle Ted always did, she carried on.

Alex opened the door to the coach's office and peeped inside. Ted was sat hunched over his desk, looking downright miserable. "I brought you coffee." She said softly.

He perked his head up slightly and gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you, Lexie. You are an angel."

After handing him the hot beverage, she sat in the chair across from his desk. "I'm surprised you didn't oversleep today."

Ted hummed in delight as he sipped at the delicious caffeine. "So am I. However, I don't suspect we'll be seeing Higgins today."

Alex giggled as she recalled the state he was in when they left the party last night. She was sure Mrs. Higgins had her hands full this morning. "You all seemed to have a great time."

"I wish I could remember most of it. I just have fuzzy memories of doing a serious injustice to Freddie Mercury during karaoke."

Alex nodded, smiling fondly at the much clearer memories she had from the evening. "Do you remember the car ride home?"

Ted quirked a curious eyebrow at her, "Oh boy, what happened?"

She shrugged coyly, barely containing her grin. "You and Roy may have gotten into an intense argument over Meryl Streep and Julie Andrews."

Ted grinned and set the coffee onto the desk. "Please tell me I was on Team Andrews."

"Yes, you were very adamant that The Sound of Music was a better classic than Mamma Mia!" Alex assured him.

He seemed happy with her answer, "That woman is drastically underrated. I may be as bold to say Meryl Streep is overrat—"

"Don't you dare finish that fucking sentence." Roy Kent stormed into the office, looking ready to battle. "I thought we ended this debate last night."

Ted winced at the volume of the younger man's voice. "Lexie here was just reminding me. My memory's a little fuzzy. My noggin also feels like it has a hefty elephant resting on it, too. I'd appreciate it if you'd bring that beautifully deep voice of yours down an octave, Roy."

Roy shook his head, "How much did you fucking drink?"

"Well, Higgins and I thought it'd be fun to see if we could drink the whole bottle of Jameson I brought him." Ted took another sip of his coffee. "I believe we were successful."

"Jesus Christ," was all Roy said before walking into the attached room to sit at his own desk.

Alex assessed her uncle's condition before getting up and walking to the door. "I'm going to head down to the café and grab some breakfast. Do you want anything?"

Ted shook his head slowly, grimacing as the strong headache made its presence known again. "The idea of eating food right now makes me feel like I'm going to blow chunks."

"That's fucking disgusting." Roy called dryly from his office.

Alex closed the door behind her with a chuckle and made her way down the hallway. She'd never been to the café on her own before and hoped she could find it easily.

"Could you please help me for a moment?" A muffled voice came from behind a stack of shoe boxes in the arms of an unknown person.

"Of course," She breathed, rushing to take some of the boxes and revealing his face in the process.

He had boyish features and a timid smile. Alex couldn't remember if they'd met before. "I'm Alex."

The young man nodded sheepishly. "I know, we met your first day here. I'm Will."

She pursed her lips in a grimace. She hated when she forgot meeting people, it made her feel like a jerk. "Where do you need these boxes, Will?"

Will pointed to the closest room on the left side of the hallway. "Just in there, please."

Alex carried the boxes into the room, which had a faint smell of cigarettes, and placed them gently on one of the benches. "So, what do you do here, Will?"

He looked caught off guard, as if he didn't get asked this question often. "I, um, I'm the kit man. I mostly just clean up after the players and try to stay out of the way."

"Well, I'd say you're doing a great job, Will." She smiled kindly. "This place always looks great."

Will smiled bashfully. "Thank you, Alex." He started moving shoes off shelves and cleaning out… cigarette butts?

"Oh, my goodness." Alex's eyes bugged. "What kind of animal puts cigarette ashes in shoes?"

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'd rather not say names. I don't want to get in trouble."

Alex looked at the dirty shoes and back to the numerous boxes on the bench. "How about I help you with this? It'd go a lot faster if you had an extra set of hands."

"Oh, no." Will stuttered. "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"It's a good thing you're not asking." She smiled brightly at him. "Let's get started."