"can you see right through me?"
rain perez, a social media star tired of creating a false reality online for her followers and wanting to branch out. when rebecca welton offers her the job as afc richmond's head of social media, she takes the opport...
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keeping up with her pregame ritual, rain tried her best to pop into the changing room before the game. ever since sam's birthday, and ever since the team made her feel so welcome, she decided to wish them luck each time.
"good luck, lads," she yelled as she moved to place her laptop into ted's office. "good luck to you lads as well."
"thank you rain," ted spoke.
she smiled, noticing that the men, including higgins were in the middle of a conversation, "i'm just dumping my laptop," she assured. "don't let me interrupt."
"you in a relationship, rain?" ted asked.
she laughed, "oh god no. my last one ended badly and since then, i've kind of decided i need time to work on myself."
"badly?"
"i'd rather not get into it, but there is a reason i moved to richmond," she told.
ted nodded, not pushing it. he realised that was the most he had really seen into rain's life outside of work and the surface-level facts she shared. he decided that was enough.
"well, what did you do? when it ended?"
rain thought for a second, "i cried but decided it was for the best. i mourned what i had and what i could have had and i mourned the me i left behind. then i decided that i was the most important person at that moment and i needed to be better, to feel better and to grow from it instead of stopping."
ted seemed speechless, which was odd to the woman, who waited for him to process her words.
"i was not expecting that much wisdom to be dropped by someone so young," ted quipped, lightening the mood.
rain shrugged, "when you end up in the same situation over and over you begin to wonder why." she glanced at the men around her, all who seemed shocked by her response. she knew they never really saw her as anyone particularly intelligent or profound but she had never given them a reason to. so, she smiled and stepped backwards, turning her body to walk away. "i'm going to head off to get pictures."
there was a chorus of agreement.
"good luck again," rain spoke to the changing room. "you're gonna kill it, i feel it in my bones."
there was a chorus of 'thank you's' from everyone but jamie, who only stared at her. he watched her closely as she left with a goodbye and a kiss blown in the general direction of the team.
---
it was a sad sight to see jamie yelling 'me' and pointing at his back while the rest of the team stood away from him, not celebrating. ted had filled her in of the pre-match situation with him and his son interrupting it.
she sighed, rolling her eyes, letting the camera fall back around her neck. jamie's face faltered as he saw the woman turn her attention elsewhere.
the entire game got worse as sam got knocked down, not getting up. he was quite clearly injured and jamie stepped over him. rain was fuming as she watched roy chastise him. jamie then move sam over. rain was ready to punch him.
she watched closely, camera ready as roy spoke to sam, helping him up. he limped away from roy, waving to say he would power through.
jamie scored once more and no one celebrated with him once again.
"fucking wanker," rain seethed.
she frowned, watching ted run off into the stands and to the owners box. next thing she knew, jamie was being benched.
"that's gonna go well," rain muttered. beard had heard her and nodded.
jamie stormed off.
"hey, rain, you think you can talk to him?" ted requested.
"me? why?"
"he listens to you."
"fuck off, does he," she exclaimed. ted sent her a pleading look. "fine."
---
rain made it to the changing rooms only seconds before jamie left.
"ha, you got benched," rain mocked, laughing.
"hey, don't be a dick," jamie retorted. "that wanker doesn't know what he's doing."
rain stopped laughing, "seeing you get taken down a peg, absolutely priceless. it's karma."
"how is it karma?"
"jamie, you may be nice to me, sometimes but overall, you're a colossal twat. you bully sam constantly because, what? people like him? you aren't a team player in a team sport and- well, you're actually really good with kids, from what ted told me, i'll give you that but you stepped over an injured teammate. that is shitty, douchy behaviour."
"i'm the one scoring the goals on this shitty team," he argued.
"do you ever give anyone else the chance to? you're a fucking great football player, everyone knows that, but that's like half of the game. where's the guy who saved me from rupert and apologised for someone else making me uncomfortable, or the one who wanted me not to hate him and actually listened? because that's the guy who doesn't get benched and can be fucking good at football without being a cunt," she lectured. jamie didn't say anything, staring at her, unsure what he could say. he was used to ted's lectures, but something about the way rain was going on at him, made him feel like she cared. despite her mocking him and joking at his expense, despite the fact she clearly didn't like him, he wanted to listen to what she had to say.
"i've said my piece, you can leave now, just- we give a shit about you, okay? don't waste your talent on childish tantrums and pointless feuds."
---
second half came around and jamie had officially left the building. however, the team carried on well, as if they weren't missing their 'best player'. rain snapped pictures from the sideline, excitement bubbling as she watched richmond get possession of the ball and sprint it to the other side of the pitch. he passed to sam, who scored. rain snapped the picture, holding back her cheer as she got the perfect shot. once she was sure she had it, she cheered for a second, letting ted hug her before nate jumped into the man's arms. she continued her work, taking a picture of the scene in front of her and then the team celebrating.
she even got a picture of roy shaking ted's hands.
the camera fell back around her neck as the team ran to embrace her, sam being the first. she held him tightly as they jumped around.
"you fucking brilliant, beautiful man, sammy," she screamed, swaying them back and forth violently.
roy had reached her at this point. she refrained from hugging him, instead giving him a nod.
"congrats, roy-o."
"for fuck sake rain, come here," he grunted, letting her hug him. she squealed, pulling him in for a tight and very short hug.
rain's attention was caught by a small person next to her, who happened to be henry, ted's son.
"hi there, i'm rain," she introduced to him and his mum, michelle. "ted's just over there," she pointed, causing the players to move and make a path.
ted lifted henry up to the crowd, letting them cheer on the child and the team that had just managed to win.
rain caught the moment on camera.
afcrichmond just tweeted
afcrichmond: and with that afc richmond wins 3-2 watford fc congrats to the team on their first win of the season and first win under new manager ted lasso!
