Chapter Four:
It took all of Ted's brain power to not think about the fact that Juliet was currently standing in his shower, naked. He had been staring at a spot on the wall as his coffee grew colder, thinking about her, what she had said to him before they had shared breakfast and how she looked in his shirt. Michelle never wore his shirts.
The sound of Juliet entering back in the kitchen grabbed his attention. She was in tight leggings and his shirt. Now instead of falling to mid thigh it was cinched on one side, pulled snug by what he figured must be a hair elastic, and she was drying her wet hair with a towel.
Juliet caught him staring at her, and she smiled. "Told you I was stealing the shirt. I swear I left you some hot water, but I stole some shampoo and conditioner. Yours smelled better than mine, surprisingly."
Now it was Juliet's turn to wait. She had packed up her things and washed up the last remaining dish from the morning, Ted's coffee mug. When he emerged back in the kitchen, he was dressed in light khakis and a button down with a Richmond Hounds sweater.
"Well Coach, you ready to go?"
"Let's do this!"
With jackets on, Ted and Juliet swung their backpacks on and headed out of the flat. They walked side by side the distance to Ted's usual meeting spot, where Beard was sat a coffee in his hand and two sat on the bench preventing anyone else from sitting.
"Coach." Beard greeted as he stood up.
"Coach." Ted spoke back.
Beard reached down and grabbed one cup and handed it to Ted before reaching for the other and holding it out to Juliet. "Julian."
"Willis." Juliet smiled back as she took the offered cup.
Ted's eyes grew wide, and his mouth opened in surprise.
"We're texting buddies now." Said Beard matter of fact.
"Texting buddies. Know everything about each other." Juliet said before taking a sip of her coffee.
With a roll of his head, Ted signaled for the group to walk on, and soon they were on their way to the clubhouse.
Arriving, Juliet stepped off from the group and made her way into her office. Ted and Beard continued on until they were in front of their desks and setting their stuff down. Once they were settled, Beard sat down, kicked his feet up on the desk and threaded his hands behind his head as he got comfy and stared at Ted. "Sooooo..."
Ted looked at Beard curiously. "What?"
"Did I see you walk in with Juliet this morning?" Asked Higgins as he rushed from the locker room and into the Manager's office.
"Did you walk in with Juliet?" Nathan asked as he came in from the hall entrance.
Ted let his head whip back and forth between everyone in the room before giving his eyes a roll. "Diamond Dogs mount up."
Everyone barked as doors were just, and blinds were closed. "Yes, we came in together. Beard was with us, though. Why aren't you on him?"
"Their texting buddies." Higgins and Nathan responded at the same time.
"Fine, she stayed the night. Nothing happened. We had dinner and beers. I didn't want her walking home alone last night. She slept on the couch."
"So nothing happened?" Asked Nathan.
"Nothing happened." Everyone around Ted sighed in disappointment, all besides Beard, who Ted was sure already knew the details of the night. "She did say she was flirting with me though, but told me I need to know me before she can." This made everyone sigh happily. "Said she's a clinger."
"This is truth." Beard responded, and as everyone turned to look at her curiously, his phone dinged. Picking it up it was a message from 'Julian', followed by an emoji of a trophy, sad face, beer, the number two and a man in armour. He held it out for the other three men to look at.
"What does it mean?" Asked Nathan.
"Win or lose, beers tonight." Beard said matter-of-factly.
"And have we thought about the Roy factor?" Asked Higgins, who scrunched his face as though he had tasted something bad.
Ted grimaced. "Oh, he made it perfectly clear he was not down for the La-Net train."
"La-Net?"
"Lasso and Kent." Said Beard quickly.
For Juliet, the day went by fast, and soon she stood on the side of the pitch tucked in behind the players with a first-aid kit sitting next to her. Juliet watched as Roy steals control of the ball away from the other team, laying on the grass, and not getting back up.
Her feet wanted to move, but she knew to wait for the signal, and sure enough, a player waved her over. This was it, the moment she had been dreading. Roy Kent breathed football. What would he do without it, she wondered? What would she do without her brother her, it was the whole reason she came?
The jog out to him seemed to take forever, but once she had reached him, Roy only looked up at her and said one simple word that told her everything. "Knee."
Juliet bent down and looked at her brother. "I'll get you up and moving, but you need to walk off this field on your own. Otherwise, I'll never stop hearing about it." Taking a quick poke to ensure that he had dislocated nothing, she helped her brother to his feet, along with the help of another player, and then they heard it.
The chant.
"He's here. He's there. He's every fucking where. Roy Kent!"
"He's here. He's there. He's every fucking where. Roy Kent!"
It echoed through the stands and soon Roy was pulling himself away and limping slowly to the exit on his own. Juliet made her way towards the coaches and gave her head a small shake and then moved back into position. She knew Roy was going to need some time, and she would give him that. Then she would see the damage to his knee and tell him for sure that this is the end.
They were so close, so close to victory, but Richmond lost. It was an odd sense of loss as they all walked into the locker room. Roy wasn't there when they entered and Juliet was sure that he was hid out in her exam room.
"Hey. Ya'll played a heck of a game out there," Began Ted as everyone sat themselves in front of their lockers and the rest of the staff gathered near the office. "We may not have won, but y'all definitely succeeded. I mean, you gave the champs ninety minutes of hell. Now, look, this is a sad moment right here. For all of us, and there ain't nothing I can say, standing in front of you right now, that can take that away." Ted's hands went into his pockets and he smiled out at everyone. "But please do me this favor, will you? Life your heads up and look around this locker room. Look at everybody else in here, and I want you to be grateful that you're going through this sad moment with all these other folks. Because I promise you, there is something worse out there than being sad, and that is being alone and being sad. Ain't nobody in this room alone. Sam, do you remember what animal has the shortest memory?"
"A goldfish." Replied Sam with an enormous smile.
"That's right. It's a goldfish. Sam, what do you think we should all do once we get done being sad and or angry about this situation?"
Sam looked out at his teammates. "I think we should all be a goldfish."
"I agree. Let's be sad now. Let's be sad together and then we can be a gosh-darn goldfish. Onward. Forward."
Ted gave a nod to the team, and the coaches moved into the office while Juliet made her way to her brother.
When she entered the room, she was surprised to see Keeley consoling an upset Roy. She figured for sure her brother would have wanted to be alone, but he was changing, just like her. "Come on, big brother, let's see what kind of damage you did."
After X-rays and anti-inflammatory medication, Juliet deduced that the tares to Roy's knee ligaments would need substantial time to recover. He was to stay off it, take drugs every four hours to keep the swelling down and after a few days Juliet and the team Doctor would decide if surgery would be needed.
Juliet was staring over her brother's x-rays when a knock broke her from her thoughts. Looking up, she found a defeated-looking Ted staring at her, jacket on, backpack ready to go.
"That was quite to speech you gave coach," Said Juliet as she stood from her chair. She picked up her coat and bag and looked at Ted as she rounded the desk.
His eyes fluttered from her to his shirt that she still wore, and then back again. He smiled at her. "Beard is waiting outside."
"Okay." Juliet stepped around Ted and out of the office when she felt his hand slip into hers and immediately stopped in her tracks. "Ted." Turning her head slightly, she saw Ted staring at her.
"Juliet, I would really like to kiss you right now," Whispered Ted. "I know you told me I needed..." Then he was cut off as Juliet leaned forward and placed her lips delicately on Ted's. His free hand ran up the length of her other arm and she let out a soft sigh as his fingers splayed against the back of her neck. The kiss was light and soft and as Juliet went to pull away, the grip behind her neck tightened and the next thing she knew, she was dropping her bag and jacket to the floor as Ted pushed his lips hard against hers.
His tongue skirted softly against her lips and she felt her back press against the doorframe. Ted moved his hand to the lower spot on her back just as her lips opened and the kiss deepened. A deep growl came from Ted's chest as his lips moved against Juliet's and she felt the shock from his touches go through her, reaching her toes and leaving her lightheaded.
Then it was over. Ted was pulling his lips away and resting his forehead to hers. He had to take a few deep breaths to calm his now racing heart. "Wow." Came the soft voice of Ted.
"Yeah." Juliet whispered as she looked at Ted through her lashes.
Ted let out a chuckle as he adjusted the hand that was behind her neck forward so he could run his thumb along her jaw. "You should go find Beard. I'll catch up with you guys shortly. I just have one last thing to finish up."
"Okay."
Ted then left. Heading up to the office of one Rebecca Welton, and before he knew it he was sitting himself down on her couch. "Tea?"
"No, tea and I are still on a lifetime hiatus. I'll take a little water, though, please." Said Ted as he pulled a white envelope from his pocket and opened, pulling out a small cardstock menu.
"Well, Ted, that was a heartbreaking result." Rebecca said as she got the two drinks together.
"Yes ma'am, and I've been thinking about it, it is mighty unfair that you have to fire me so..." Ted held up the menu card as he looked to Rebecca. "if it's all the same to you, I'd like to spare you the trouble and just quit. This here is my letter of resignation. I wrote it on the back of a takeout menu, but it's in an envelope and I signed it, so, you know, it's legit."
Rebecca moved across the room and handed Ted a glass of water before sitting down. "Now you listen to me, Coach Lasso. You aren't going anywhere because we have a lot to do for next season."
"Well, okay." Ted began both a little confused and a lot happy. "Alright then. So wait, tell me this though, the teams that get relegated, can get un-relegated, yeah?"
"They can get promoted."
"So then year we get ourselves a promotion. Then we come back to this league and we do something that no one believes we could ever do. Win the whole fucking thing."
"I like the sounds of that Coach Lasso."
Ted went to take a sip of water before Rebecca's hand shot out. "Bubbles."
"Oh, thanks for that. Probably wouldn't have ended very well." He then took a small sip from his cup, testing the amount of carbonation in the water. "Hey Boss Lady, can I ask you for some romantic advice?"
"I don't think I'm the best person to talk to about relationships Ted." Rebecca leaned back in her seat and squinted her eyes at Ted. "This is about Juliet, isn't it?"
"Is it that obvious?" Ted questioned with a smile. "I kissed her."
"What!" Rebecca gasped with a smile.
"Yeah, like ten minutes ago."
Rebecca blinked, and her head gave a shake. "Then what are you doing here, Ted?"
"Well, I kissed her cause you know, I thought it might be the last time I was allowed in the building. But what if she doesn't really feel the same way? I don't want another Sassy as great as she is. I'm not a one-night stand type of guy."
Rebecca smiled. "Ted, people would have to be blind to not see the way you looked at her and how she looks at you."
"Really?"
"Ted, do you like Juliet?"
"Yes."
"Then what are you doing here, Ted?"
"Thanks Boss Lady." Said Ted standing up, and then quickly rushing from the room, glass still in hand.