Saving Lotte Sullivan | Collingwood/Carlton

18: Lotte's Least Favourite Place

Lotte sat bored in the kitchen of the Collingwood Football Club as she silently sipped her coffee and read through yesterday's edition of the Herald Sun that had been left behind.

It was the same news as always. Always.
North Melbourne losing their coach, who was ironically the father of one of Josh's teammates. Lotte hadn't met him yet.

A certain problematic teammate who could never keep his name out of the media for too long. Lotte didn't want to meet him.

Another teammate changing the rules of the game for 'illegally ducking' Lotte chuckled at that. She knew the teammate a little too well and all the chaos he could very accidentally cause.

The footy world speculating about a certain Collingwood player being rising star.

She sighed as she closed the paper and threw it onto another table. She'd read enough and heard enough about it all, too.

'Morning' someone said, walking in as Lotte looked up, hoping it was Josh even though it didn't sound anything like him.

'Hello' she mumbled quietly, as she tried to busy herself with her old falling apart watch that was always set on Adelaide time. 30 minutes behind.

'You're Daics' girl, aren't you? I've seen you around before' the guy said, as he walked over to the kitchen bench and started up the espresso machine.

'That's me I guess' Lotte said, nervously tapping her fingers against the table as she looked at the door. He said he'd be 5 minutes and that was two hours ago.

'Are you okay?' The guy asked, raising an eyebrow as she observed her nervous behaviour. Jack Ginnivan suddenly entered the kitchen, as he ran over to the bench too and swung himself up onto it.

'I'm fine' Lotte said so quietly it was inaudible, as she looked down at her hands and pulled a face. She hated being the centre of attention.

'Can I help you?' The guy asked, as Jack stared at him and swung his legs around like a child.

'Do you have a dollar for the coffee machine?' He asked.

'How can you not even have a dollar?'

'I misplaced my wallet and don't know where it is. I can't go look in my locker, because I've also lost my key' Jack confessed, looking down at the floor guiltily.

'So use the backup four digit passcode you were given when you were assigned your number' the guy said, raising his eyebrows in annoyance.

'I can't' Jack said sheepishly, as he looked over at Lotte and smiled.

'You forgot your code too, didn't you?' The guy asked, turning around to grab a sugar packet from the other side of the kitchen. Lotte noticed the number on the back of his guernsey. 4.

'I'm really bad at remembering things and it's all been so crazy lately. My spare uniforms are in my car and I haven't put my work bag away yet. I might have to hide my things in Darcy's locker until I find my key, which I really thought was on the coffee table at home but it is not' Jack explained, as Brodie sighed and shook his head.

'Why not ask Callum, Tyler or Trent to hold onto it for you? Honestly Gin, you're losing more and more things everyday and it's unprofessional. You're going to get another serve from welfare if you do one more stupid thing' Brodie said, as Nick suddenly walked in.

'And the dark, hooded figure arrives' Jack exclaimed dramatically, looking over his shoulder as Nick glared at him, hands deep in the pockets of his black training jacket, hood covering his hair.

Lotte looked up from her coffee to see him as she stood up and pushed her chair in, more than ready to leave.

'Wait' Nick said, as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.