Bend It Like Becker

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Chapter 5 - SORE & SORRY

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Connor's bloody nose was the last straw. Becker's head was throbbing, and everyone else looked similarly miserable. Everyone, that is, except Emily, who seemed to have finally found a practical use for her hardheadedness.

"That's it," the soldier announced, catching the ball that had just been thrown at his head. "Practice is done for the day."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that the torture was over, at least for now.

"Don't forget," Becker reminded them, "we're back here tomorrow, same time."

"Same bat channel," Connor mumbled from under his bloody tissue.

As he rolled his eyes at Temple's inane comment, Jess sidled up to Becker's side. "Shouldn't we, maybe, lead a cool-down, perhaps, before everyone disperses?" she asked tentatively.

Of course she was right - they were all going to be sore enough tomorrow as it was without making matters worse by not cooling down.

"Abby, would you mind...?" he began, but she was still fussing over Connor's injury, so he turned to Ghani instead. "Would you lead everyone in a cool-down?"

The female soldier nodded and stepped in front of the group to lead the stretches. Becker mindlessly followed her lead, barely able to form a coherent thought. He wouldn't have imagined feeling so exhausted after such a simple practice - after all, he was a trained soldier, he worked out regularly, and his job was to chase down dinosaurs. Yet the stress of being in charge of the team when he didn't really know what he was doing, not to mention the war he was currently waging against his libido, was clearly taking its toll, and right now all he wanted to do was go home, take a long COLD shower, and spend the rest of his evening vegging in front of the telly.

"Once more," Neela said, rolling her shoulders back one last time before shaking out her arms. "Okay, that should do you."

Becker gave her a nod of thanks before excusing everyone with a simple, "Tomorrow, everybody."

As everyone began to disperse, he noticed Jess diligently collecting the balls in the net bag she'd brought them in. He hurried over to help her, scooping up a few balls as he went. As Jess held open the bag for him, he noticed a bruise already forming on her forearm from where she'd fallen. He still couldn't believe he'd caused her to trip, all because he didn't dare look at her, thanks to his mind obsessing about what he'd seen earlier in Ops. Now, however, all he saw was that her elbow was bruised, the palms of both her hands were skinned raw, and her knees were still green with grass stains, something which might've caused his mind to wander even further if he hadn't felt so guilty about being responsible for her injuries.

He needed to say something, to let her know how bad he felt. As he put the last ball in the bag and she pulled the drawstring to close it, he awkwardly began, "Jess, I...uh...just wanted to say-"

"I am SO sorry!"

Becker stared at her. He had no clue why she was apologising - shouldn't it be the other way around?

But she rushed on, "I so didn't mean to step on your toes with the whole team name thing. I mean, I know I should've consulted you about the shirts before buying them, but I just thought they were perfect and might make everyone feel more like a real team if we had matching shirts when we played. But we don't have to use them, it's fine, it doesn't matter. I don't care about the money or anything. And I'm happy to go get new shirts - or NO shirts, if you don't want us in matching uniforms. I mean, it's totally up to you, being the coach and all. And if you'd rather I not assist you now, I'd totally understand."

Becker had simply stared in stunned silence as she blathered on. To be honest, he hadn't given the whole team name thing a second thought. He realised, though, that he needed to say something before she continued apologising all night.

"Jess, it's okay," he said. "I don't care what our team name is."

"You don't?" She sounded incredulous, as if she didn't quite believe him.

He shook his head, explaining, "After today, it's clear we're going to make complete fools of ourselves at the match, so it doesn't much matter what our team name is."

"Really? Are you SURE you're okay with it?"

"Jess!" Becker gave an impatient sigh.

"Okay, okay, I promise I'll stop bugging you about it. But I just want you to know that if you ever have a problem with me, you can just tell me. Really! My skin's much thicker than it looks."

Becker raised a doubtful eyebrow as he glanced at her skinned hands.

She continued, "Just promise me you won't keep stuff from me. We're such good friends, and I'd hate for that to be ruined by some silly footy match. So if I upset you or do something I shouldn't or whatever, just please - I don't want anything to get weird or fester between us. Promise?"

Becker nodded absently, but his mind was awhirl. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should tell her that he found himself thinking about her way more than he should, that he couldn't take his eyes off her hemlimes, that the sight of her red t-shirt covering up what he'd seen that afternoon was driving him crazy.

But Becker had never been much of a talker; he was more of a doer. So, without thinking, he simply asked, "How about dinner tonight?" The moment the words were out, he panicked and quickly offered her a way out, "Unless you have other plans."

He needn't have worried. Jess's face lit up with a radiant smile. "Really? You mean even after today you still want me to be your assistant?"

"Assistant?" he repeated, staring blankly at her.

But she continued on as if she hadn't heard him. "I mean, clearly we need to come up with a better strategy for practice tomorrow. But don't worry - I have loads of ideas, and I'd LOVE to discuss them over dinner with you."

Having finally caught on to what she was saying, Becker just nodded. It was clear that she only saw him as a friend, nothing more, and he felt stupid for even having gotten his hopes up.

Jess began to pick up the giant bag of balls, but Becker took it from her and slung it over his shoulder as they headed for the carpark.

"We definitely need to do more conditioning first tomorrow," Jess rambled on. "Oh, and I have a PERFECT solution for what to do with Emily."

Becker nodded and, thinking about the long evening ahead with Jess prattling on about footy, forced a smile.

Though it wasn't completely forced - after all, Jess's shorts were almost as tiny as her skirts.

And over dinner he could always imagine what was under that red shirt of hers.

...

Jess was sore.

No, that didn't even begin to describe how she was feeling, but she wasn't quite awake enough yet to put the aches and pains into words. Clearly she'd used muscles at practice yesterday that she didn't even knew she had, and they were now making their presence quite known. And that alone would've been enough to make her miserable, but the injuries from her fall made things that much worse. The palms of her hands and her knees both stung from where she'd skinned them, and the bruises on her forearms were tender to the touch.

Jess didn't want to move from under the covers, but the thought of a long hot shower to soothe her aching body was enough to make her consider getting up. However, the sound of the shower running in the other room made her realise there was no point in getting up quite yet.

Though strangely enough, that wasn't HER shower that she was hearing!

Suddenly Jess sat up, wide awake. She wasn't safely in her own bed at home, she was instead on some strange couch.

Becker's couch!

As the panic started to subside, Jess realised what must've happened. She'd insisted that they watch Bend It Like Beckham again, since they'd both slept through it last time. Only clearly she'd done the same thing again! And this time Becker had simply placed a pillow under her head, covered her up with blankets, and let her sleep through the night. How embarrassing!

Jess certainly didn't feel up to facing Becker's smug smile or snarky comments so early in the morning, so she quickly looked for her shoes, groaning in pain as she bent over to grab them. She tied on her trainers, grabbed her handbag, and had her hand on the doorknob when it suddenly occurred to her - her car was still back at the park! Last night they'd simply taken Becker's car to dinner and then onto his flat. Why hadn't she said something at the time? Now she was stranded here, forced to face him. She felt like such a fool!

But it is what it is, she told herself. There was no way to change what had happened, so she needed to deal with things the way they stood. With that in mind, she fished her mobile out of her handbag and automatically rung Abby's number.

"Jess? Why are you calling? Where are you? Did you not come home last night?"

"No. I'm, uh, at Becker's."

"Oh really?" Abby sounded amused.

Jess rolled her eyes. "Nothing like that. We went out to dinner to discuss the team, and then I must've fallen asleep on his couch."

"Uh-huh."

"Abby!" She certainly didn't need her flatmate's teasing this early either.

"Sorry," Abby said, sounding honestly contrite. "So you need me to bring you clothes, yeah?"

"Yes, please." Sometimes having flatmates was a godsend.

"Don't worry about it, Jess. See you at work."

As Jess rung off, something seemed different, but Jess's sleep-addled brain couldn't tell what had changed. She was just starting to realise that the shower was no longer running when Becker emerged from the bathroom wearing only a towel. Jess couldn't help but gasp at the sight - and she'd thought he'd looked good in his sweaty t-shirt at dinner!

"Oh, Jess! Sorry! I guess I'm used to living alone."

Jess shook her head. "No problem." Really, it was NO problem for her to see him like this.

"I didn't use up all the hot water, if you want to take a shower," he offered, gesturing behind him where steam was still billowing out the door, making her doubt his statement.

"Thanks, but I'm going to wait and take one at work. Abby's bringing clothes for me to change into."

Becker nodded. "Right. Then I'm gonna...go put some clothes on. Be out in a minute."

Jess watched him turn the corner and disappear into what she assumed was his bedroom. After he'd shut the door, she realised she'd been staring. She also realised that, while she wasn't going to take a shower, she did need to use the loo. She went in and glanced at herself in the mirror, but it was all steamed up from the shower. She grabbed a towel and wiped a spot clean, only to find her hair an unruly mess. She couldn't believe she'd let Becker see her like this!

She used the loo and then borrowed some of Becker's hair products to tame her hair, at least until she got to the ARC and could take her shower. Once she was satisfied she looked passable for the ride in to work, she opened the door and practically collided with the soldier, who now looked like his normal self...except for his mussy wet hair.

"I...uh...gotta...," he began, but she just nodded and slipped past him, going back to the living room. As Becker blew dry his hair, Jess folded up the blankets he'd placed over her last night and tried to tidy up, feeling guilty at having interrupted his morning routine.

After what seemed like years, Becker finally emerged, his hair perfect as ever.

At the sight of him, Jess blurted out, "I'm so sorry."

Becker looked confused. "For what?"

"For making you watch the film and then nodding off almost immediately on your couch. You should've nudged me awake and sent me home."

"I couldn't - your car's still at the park."

Jess nodded. "I know. I'm sorry about that, too. I should've had you drop me off at my car after dinner so-"

"Jessica, stop apologising. You didn't do anything wrong. You fell asleep - big deal. You were clearly knackered." He then mumbled under his breath, "And falling flat on your face probably didn't help," before finishing, "I'm just sorry I don't have a more comfortable couch."

Jess laughed. "Clearly I didn't notice - I slept so deep, I don't think I moved all night."

Becker looked somewhat relieved. "Good. I'm glad."

As Jess smiled back at him, she suddenly noticed the bad taste in her mouth - a combination of curry, mango, and popcorn - and began hesitantly, "I hate to ask, but you don't by any chance have an extra toothbrush I could use?"

Becker nodded. "Of course," he said, returning to the loo and producing a huge package of new toothbrushes from the medicine cabinet. He must've noticed the funny look she gave him for he quickly explained, "My dentist recommends replacing your toothbrush every few months, so I keep a supply on-hand so I don't forget."

Jess couldn't help but laugh. "You really are a good little soldier, aren't you?"

Becker bristled at the comment but went on. "Here, take the pink one," he said, handing it to her. "That way I'll remember it's yours and you can just keep it here for future use." He quickly corrected, "Not that I'm planning for you to sleep over again, but just in case...you know..." He suddenly frowned, and Jess wondered if he really did mind that she'd stayed over. He stepped out of the loo, saying, "Go ahead and brush, and then we'd best be going. We need to get you in to work so you can have time to change."

Jess nodded. "I don't suppose we could stop for some coffee on the way in?"

"Well, that's a given."

Jess was relieved. Perhaps after coffee and a warm shower she'd feel better.

Though seeing Becker shirtless had certainly helped!

...

to be continued