Bend It Like Becker

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Chapter 20 - COACHES & COUCHES

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"And that should do us," Ghani said as she finished leading the cool-down.

Becker nodded. "Okay, everyone. Get some rest tonight - we've got a long week ahead of us."

"And remember," Jess jumped in. "I know things were a bit bumpy today, but it's been almost a week since our last real practice so that's to be expected. Just think of today more like a warm-up for practice tomorrow. Next time we'll be better, and we'll even have a referee! It's only Monday, so we've still got plenty of time before the match - there's no need to panic. Like Becker said, just go home and take it easy tonight. I promise you, we'll be fine - come Saturday, the Woolly Mammoths shall stomp their competitors!"

"Yay, team!" Connor cheered, giving Jess an animated high five.

The others slowly began to disperse, looking much happier than they had before Jess's pep talk. It hadn't occurred to Becker to say something encouraging to the players before they left, mostly because right now he couldn't even see the bright side. But Jess could - Jess always could - and Becker, even more than the other players, really needed her sunshine right now.

"So what's this about a referee?" Abby asked, walking up.

"Neela's boyfriend volunteered to help us out," Jess explained.

"He didn't just volunteer," Becker corrected. "It was all Jess's idea. As was the-"

"Nuh uh!" Jess stopped him with a shake of her finger before he could mention the video camera. "That's a secret. No one else is to know - it's just between you and me."

"No fair!" Connor whined. "I thought there was no secrets between flatmates. Ow!" he added as Abby turned and whacked him as if he'd said something he shouldn't.

Becker shook his head at Abby's aggressiveness. "Save it for the game, Maitland."

"No, DON'T save it for the game," Connor objected, rubbing where his fiance had hit him. "Me toes are already black and blue - I don't need a color-coordinated shoulder to go with 'em."

"Connor's right," Jess agreed. "You need to watch yourself, Abby. We can't have you red-carded out of the game - you're one of our best players." She suddenly got a panicked look and asked Becker, "That's the right expression, isn't it? Red-carded?"

Becker shrugged - he remembered reading about the penalties for misconduct but wasn't familiar with how the terms were used. "I'm sure Ghani's boyfriend will let us, and Abby, know tomorrow."

Abby looked contrite. "Okay, okay, I'll promise I'll be good." Changing the subject, she asked, "Your car's still in the shop, yeah? So will you two be stopping by the flat before heading over to Becker's for the night?"

Jess shook her head. "Not necessary."

Becker stared at her, thoroughly confused. "It's not?"

"No. I packed enough clothes for three nights - garages are notoriously bad at estimating when cars will be ready, so I wanted to be prepared."

But Becker was still having a hard time comprehending. After all, Jess struck him as the type who'd pack a large trunk just to go away for the weekend, yet she'd only brought a small duffel to his flat last night. However, as he caught sight of Jess's bare legs in her practice shorts, he realised that her outfits tended to be short on fabric, and thus she could probably fit ten of her frocks, not to mention several pairs of hopefully strappy shoes, into that one small bag.

"All right," Abby acknowledged. "Well, you two have fun, and don't stay up all night." Now it was Connor's turn to whack Abby. "Not like that," she insisted, explaining, "I meant, don't stay up worrying about the match. As Jess said, it's only Monday."

Yes, Becker thought, and so much could go wrong between now and Saturday.

As Jess said goodbye to her flatmates, Becker went to grab the bag of balls, stuffing the few loose ones back inside. Try as he might, he couldn't stop worrying about the match. After all, it was his arse on the line if, or more likely when, they lost. The Minister would come looking for someone to blame, and the coach would be the obvious candidate.

"So," Jess began cheerily as she walked up, "what are we going to do tonight?"

"Work on my CV," Becker answered dryly.

Jess laughed. "Don't get all gloomy on me," she scolded playfully. "Things will be fine. You'll see. Having a referee who isn't actually playing in the game will be a huge help. And the cam-"

Becker cleared his throat loudly before subtly nodding his head, letting her know that they were not alone. Instead of heading off to the carpark with the others, Emily and Matt had stayed behind to do some dribbling practice nearby.

Jess turned back to Becker, finishing with, "And I'm sure the 'other thing' will help, too. So let's not even think about footy tonight."

"And what do you propose? Popping in Bend It Like Beckham so we can both pass out before nine?"

Jess laughed again. "No, that will just remind us too much of the match. Perhaps we should go out to a movie instead. We're more likely to stay awake and less likely to have our minds wander if we're in a theatre. What do you say?"

Becker shrugged. She was right - doing anything at home was liable to make him stress about the match.

Jess hurried over and grabbed her mobile. "Then let's see what's on." After a moment of scrolling, she exclaimed, "Ooh, there's a new-"

"No," Becker stated firmly before she could even finish. "No romantic comedies."

"You don't even know what I was going to say," she protested.

"Yes I do," he said, staring pointedly at her - he'd seen that glimmer in her eyes and knew precisely.

"Okay, fine! No romantic comedies. But that means no war films either - I got my fill of gunfire last night with your video games, and I don't need to hear it tonight in surround sound."

Becker nodded. "So what else is on?"

Jess paged through her mobile a moment, looking at the film listings. Suddenly she gasped and got a different sort of twinkle in her eye. "Ooh! Can we go see something at the Odeon near here? Because there's this new French restaurant nearby and it's supposed to have this chocolate souffle that's to die for! Please?"

"French?" Becker repeated, not thrilled at the concept.

"It's supposed to be good. I'm sure they have man food there, too. Please? Chocolate souffle!"

Becker just stared at her, waiting for a better offer.

Finally she gave a relenting sigh. "How about if you agree to the restaurant, you can choose the movie?"

Becker nodded. "French it is, then."

"Yes!" Jess jumped up and down, obviously excited about the chocolate in her future.

"We should probably go then," Becker said. Turning to the two remaining players, he added, "Emily, can we have the ball?"

The girl, who'd just managed to steal the ball yet again from Matt, picked it up before turning to Becker and answering, "No, you may not."

Becker sighed - why did Emily always have to make things so difficult?

"C'mon, Emily," Jess encouraged. "Becker and I are leaving now, and I want to keep all the balls together so we don't lose them."

But the former Victorian stubbornly shook her head. "But this one's ours."

"Yours?" Becker asked.

Emily nodded. "I made Matt purchase one this weekend. Since we missed practice on Thursday and Friday, I realised he needed to practice over the weekend."

Jess smiled. "I did notice you were doing a bit better today, Matt."

"Thanks," he replied self-consciously.

"But not better enough," Emily insisted. "He still has a lot to work on in order to be as good as the other players, so we're going to stay on a bit and keep practicing tonight. We'll catch up with you in the morning."

Becker couldn't help but smile - man, Matt was so whipped!

"Well, have fun," Jess called to her friends before turning and grabbing Becker's arm. "All right - let's go get some French food. Chocolate souffle, here I come!"

...

"Well," Jess said awkwardly as Becker opened the door for her. Stepping inside his flat, she struggled for something to say. "Should I...put the kettle on?"

Becker shook his head. "No. It's late. We should probably call it a night."

Jess breathed a sigh of relief. It had been bad enough trying to make small talk in the car - she really didn't want to spend more time thinking of random topics of conversation, things that wouldn't remind them of the movie.

No, not the movie in general. It had been decent enough, as far as spy thrillers went. And dinner had been lovely, especially the souffle - definitely worth the expensive prices, though Becker had chivalrously offered to pay for hers. No, the problem wasn't the pleasant evening they'd just spent together - the problem was just that one scene.

She should've known there'd be a sex scene - they're kind of a requirement for spy thrillers. But this one had been far steamier than most - in fact, Jess's cheeks still felt warm! The handsome spy, dressed in black from head to toe. The sexy double-agent, wearing a mod skirt that left nothing to the imagination. The way his hand had started on her thigh and slowly moved up under her skirt...

If that had been all, Jess might've been okay. She would've been able to remind herself that it was just a movie - that any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, was purely coincidental.

But no, this particular sex scene had taken place on a couch. BECKER'S couch! If Jess didn't know any better, she would've sworn the movie's set-designer had actually visited Becker's flat and borrowed all the set pieces directly from him. Even the handmade afghan, folded neatly (at least at the beginning of the scene) over the back of the sofa, looked identical to the one she'd slept under last night. And to see it there now, to think that she and Becker would be forced to make small talk in the living room, pretending that they didn't notice the similarities, was simply too much.

But Becker had given them an out. He suggested it'd be best for them both to simply get changed and go straight to sleep. Certainly the couch wouldn't look quite so intimidating in the morning, when it wasn't gently lit by a lamp on the side table, its soft, golden light amazingly similar to that of the film!

"Yes, we definitely need our sleep," Jess said, dropping her duffel onto a chair.

As she started to dig out her pyjamas, Becker commented. "And tonight's your turn for the bed."

"Don't be silly," Jess said, shrugging him off. "I'm fine on the...I mean, out here," she quickly corrected. For some reason she didn't even want to say the word aloud, as if its mere mention would draw attention to it, which was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Jessica, please. I feel bad. You're the one doing me a favour by chauffeuring me everywhere - the least I can do is sleep on the...really, please, just take the bed."

"No, I'm fine out here." She just wanted to stop discussing the giant elephant in the room. Heading quickly for the loo, she said, "I'm going to, uh, change now, and then, I guess, I'll see you in the morning."

She walked past him before he could protest and shut the door behind her. She caught sight of her reflection and realised her face looked as red as it felt. She hoped Becker hadn't noticed, but how could he not? She turned on the cold water and splashed some on her face, trying to cool down. Falling asleep on the couch - THAT couch - was certainly not going to be easy, but better her than him. She was holding onto a vain hope that he hadn't noticed the similarities to the film, but she knew letting him sleep on the couch would definitely clue him in, and she really didn't want that!

After changing her clothes and brushing her teeth with her new pink toothbrush, which had seen a lot of use this past week, she went out to the living room. Becker had piled the blankets and pillows on the couch as he had the other nights, but thankfully he was nowhere to be seen. She made up her bed on the couch - THAT couch - leaving the afghan draped over the back. The image of that afghan - and what the movie characters had done both under and on top of it - was seared into her brain, and she thought leaving it in place might help her to forget.

She figured she'd have trouble falling asleep, what with her mind constantly going over the sex scene in her head, imagining that it wasn't just a movie. Yet it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

And didn't take long for her to wake up again, as her mobile went off less than an hour later - what a time for an anomaly!

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to be continued