"Sorry, I probably shouldn't've said that," Ted muttered, looking back down at the table in front of him.

"I don't mind," Rebecca responded softly.

"Hi, what can I get you?"

The presence of a chirpy Cockney waiter slaughtered the moment. Ted sputtered a little but managed to give a big grin and order a hamburger for lunch. Rebecca took a little more time to blink herself back to the present before she could ask for a sparkling water and a salad.

When they were left alone again, Ted did the exact opposite thing Rebecca expected or wanted. "If you wanna take off after eatin', I don't mind. I know I kinda made it weird," he said quietly.

What she had wanted was for them to pretend like that awkward moment of tension—sexual tension, if she was honest—never happened. But of course bloody eager, sweet Ted had to just be direct and blatant about things. Rebecca wasn't sure what to do about that. But she did know one thing. "I don't want to go. Unless you want me to," she told him.

"No, I don't want you to go," he assured her.

"Well that's settled. We're spending the day together, Ted Lasso. At least until I have to go to the pub for my shift tonight," Rebecca said.

"Would it be okay if I just came and sat at the bar again tonight?" he asked.

Rebecca frowned. "Oh surely there's something better to do than sit at a pub in Richmond tonight."

Ted's dark eyes sparkled. "I can't think of a single thing."

She wanted to ask him if he was flirting with her. Was that his angle? Tell her about a girlfriend and then tell her his sob story to gain her sympathy and gain his entry into her knickers? Somehow, Rebecca didn't believe that about Ted. Or maybe she just didn't want to believe it about him.

Their drinks were delivered a moment later, breaking the spell between them once again. Rebecca was grateful. She had spent far too much time thinking about Ted Lasso. She didn't want to think anymore.

"Right, so we've seen most of the touristy things in London so far. Anything else you're dying to do before you head off to Paris or back home or whatever you plan on doing tomorrow?" Rebecca asked, pushing the subject back to practical things.

Ted smiled softly, and she was glad that for once he seemed to use a bit of discretion and not just blatantly say things. He replied, "Well, I was thinkin' that you said I should see a soccer game. Or…wait, what d'y'all call it?"

Rebecca rolled her eyes. Bloody American. "A football match. And there won't be anything today, but Richmond has open trainings if you want to go watch that. I don't know that it would be interesting."

"Training like they teach people how to play?"

"I think perhaps Americans call it practice," she translated.

"Oh yeah, okay, that makes sense. And actually, I think I'd like that even more than a game," Ted answered.

"Why?" Rebecca asked incredulously.

"Well, see, back home I'm a football coach. American football. Assistant defensive coordinator for Kansas State University," he told her.

Rebecca wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "You coach American football at a university?"

"It's an entry position with the coachin' staff and I've only been there one season and all, but I'm learnin' a lot and it's a strong football program," Ted explained.

There was a light in his eyes as he spoke about his job. Rebecca couldn't imagine feeling that way about a job. She didn't have what Ted had. She didn't have the luxury of loving what she did.

"So maybe y'all's football training might be an education for me," he added with a smile.

"Alright then," Rebecca agreed. "After lunch, to Nelson Road."

"Is that where they've got training?"

"That's the name of the stadium in Richmond."

"Oh sure, okay."

They both shared a little chuckle as the waiter brought their food. Rebecca tried to be delicate about her salad as she watched Ted dig into his burger with gusto. Truly, the man was enthusiastic about everything he did. It was utterly bizarre. And yet…well…she wasn't reminding herself to be annoyed as much anymore.

"You want some of these fries?" Ted offered.

Rebecca hesitated. She should just stick with her salad and not allow herself the unnecessary calories and trans fats from fried foods. But since he offered, she reached her fork across the table and stabbed two chips off his plate and plopped them in her mouth.

Ted laughed, "I figured you'd take a few with your hands, but maybe this is an English thing too."

"No, just a Rebecca thing," she said. "I spend far too much of my life touching half-eaten food and cleaning up various forms of alcohol that I've sort of developed an aversion to eating with my hands. Except perhaps biscuits," she amended at the end. Her mind drifted to the shortbread biscuits her childhood nanny used to make. It had been years since she'd had them. No other baked treat ever came close. Helped her stay thin, thankfully, shunning most desserts because nothing could compare to the delicious joys of her childhood.

"Y'all got biscuits here!?" Ted exclaimed.

She frowned in confusion. "What do you think biscuits are?"

"Fluffy bread kinda things. We eat 'em with gravy or else with some butter when they're all warm and melt in your mouth."

Rebecca shook her head. "No, that sounds more like a scone, maybe. I was thinking of dessert biscuits. Shortbread and the like. Cookies we dunk in our tea."

Ted looked rather suspicious of such a thing, which Rebecca found very amusing.

"I didn't imagine we'd have so many cultural differences," she noted.

"Well, I gotta say that I like learnin' from you. Makes me think there's a whole lot you could teach me."

"And perhaps quite a lot you could teach me," Rebecca countered. If she wasn't mistaken, they were flirting on the edges of, well, flirting. Perhaps over the edge by now. Ted was looking at her with a similar intensity as he had earlier when he called her beautiful. Her stomach was starting to tie in knots again.

"Anything else I can get for you?"

The chirpy waiter was back, and Rebecca was feeling a little flustered, so she just took a sip of her water while Ted thanked him and asked for the bill.

"My treat," he said, once the waiter had returned. "After all, you been so nice to show me around and lettin' me unburden my troubles on you. The least I can do is take you to lunch."

Rebecca actually agreed with that, but she had the good sense not to say it out loud. "It's been my pleasure, Ted. But thank you very much for lunch."

They finished the last sips of their drinks and got up from the table after Ted left enough cash to cover their lunch. Rebecca led them to the nearest Tube station so they could return to Richmond and try to see some of the football training.

Ted was grinning excitedly again. The sexual tension between them had dissipated again, and Rebecca was grateful for that. It was nice to just be with a man she didn't have to think too much about. Even though she was thinking about Ted Lasso quite a lot, he didn't make her worried or cause her insecurities to bombard her in the same way as when she was with a man that she was interested in. The fact that there had been moments of attraction with Ted did not concern her just now. She could let that consume her thoughts later. Inevitably, that's what would happen whether she wanted it to or not.