We don't drink Fosters

Tartt's return

A/N- Hey! Long time no see! I'm so sorry this took forever, I've had a lot going on. But I wanted to thank you for all the support on what is essentially my delusions written down, love you loads x

The next morning standing at the kitchen island, Lucy poured coffee into her tall Frank Green reusable cup. It was a dark blue, just like her year 12 formal dress and it was monogramed with a small star. Both her, Marie and Audrey had matching ones. Marie's was a teal colour, Audrey's a blush pink. All of them were branded with the same small star and matching the colours of their respective ball dresses. They were a gift from Audrey's parents to the girls at their graduation. 

Just as she was screwing the push-button lid on, Marie swishes into open space. Shes wearing one of Damian's shirts and Ugg boots. Lucy looks up from her cup to her friend, 

'I'm sorry if I woke you up. Ted wants me there at training.' She watched Marie rub her eyes, 

'No no your good. I just wanted to see you off,' Marie opens her phone to a news article, a sly smile creeping across her face, 'and, I wanted to show you this' she rotates her wrist to show her phone, a black, bold headline blaring across the screen, 

"TARTT TO REJOIN RICHMOND" 

Butterflies creep into her stomach, a smile cracking across her face. She was going to be working with Jamie. 

'Oh my god! You like him don't you?!' Marie squeaked,

'SHHHHHH' Lucy shushed aggressively. She felt the warm blush tickle her cheeks, there was no use trying to hide it. That stupid, but arguably gorgeous footballer hadn't left her mind since their first rushed meeting. But there was a very obvious blockage, she wasn't his type. Keely was pretty much everything Lucy wasn't, and it could not be clearer that he still had feelings for her. Even clearer, was that Keely had moved on.  

Lucy looked at her watch, she was meant to meet Coach Beard and Coach Lasso out on the street to walk to Nelson Road in 10 minutes. 'Look, I have to go,' she spoke to her friend while packing up her bag for the day, 'don't mention this to Audrey yeah?' 

'No promises girl' Marie replied, shrugging. Lucy shot her a look, and Marie shot up her hands defensively, 'ok ok I promise, jeez.'

Satisfied, Lucy left to meet the coaches on the street. 

                                                                       ***

Walking in silence, Lucy followed the two men around the corner to Nelson Road Stadium, home of the Greyhounds. And now residence to the spirit of Earl, the beloved mascot who was killed by Dani's penalty shoot not too long ago. A local physic has said Earl still wonders the field, which did not make Dani feel any better about the situation. 

Still not talking, the trio split as they entered the locker room, Lucy going to the treatment room, Beard and Ted continuing on to the coach's office where Nate was waiting. She put her stuff on one of the many selves, and continued sipping at her horrible instant coffee, mind drifting to how she really should invest into a pod machine. Her thought pattern was broken by a familiar voice in the locker room. 

'Look I know I haven't been the best teammate in the past yeah? but I promise that will change. I want to apologize for being an absolute prick.' Jamie was looking at his feet, and Lucy was leaning up against the door frame of the treatment room, arms folded across her chest. Then Bumpercatch stood from the bench, 

'You hit on my mum,' he paused 'in front of my dad!' Lucy was pinching the bridge of her nose, trying not to giggle. The tension in the air was very laughable to an outsider. 

Jamie turned to face Moe, 'now, I apologize for that Bumpercatch. And tell you dad I said sorry, and give Janet my best yeah?' The pinch on Lucy's became more aggressive as she really tried not to laugh at Jamie's idiocy. Moe did not seem pleased with his answer. Jamie turned back to the rest of the room, 'Does anyone else want an apology?' he spoke to crowd. Colin stood as well,

'You called me a worm!' he spoke. Lucy was now covering her mouth now, really trying not to laugh. She knows she shouldn't, Colin had told her how much Jamie's bulling had affected him. Jamie opened his mouth to apologize to Colin, but all the rest of the team was now coming to their feet, yelling at Jamie, reminding him how much of a prick he had truly been. Lucy quickly snapped out of her giggling state, seeing how much Jamie had affected the team. The team began to circle him, like that family of killer whales trapping that penguin in the David Attenborough documentary,

'Hey hey hey what's going on here?' She heard Ted yell, dispersing the pod. None of them would face the coach, Lucy couldn't tell if they were ashamed or aggravated. 'Now I know Jamie here hasn't been the best team player' Coach Lasso put his hand on Jamie's back, 'But he's promised me he's going to improve, aint that right?' He turned to Jamie,

'Yeah, yeah that's right' Jamie nodded along, 'I'll be better'. Team scoffed, but Lucy couldn't help but notice Sam, who was sat on the bench, his hands on his knees and his face stone cold. As the team went back to preparing for training, Lucy walked over to Sam and sat next to him. 

'Want to walk me through it?' she said plainly, her mental health nurse training spluttering into action. Lucy didn't face Sam, instead looked straight ahead in the same general direction as Sam. 

'Not particularly' Sam spoke, finally breaking his lime-stone state to join the rest of the team in preparing for training. 

'Okay' Lucy replied with a sympathetic smile, getting up from her spot on the bench to return to the treatment room. She soon stopped and looked back towards the Nigerian footballer, 'Sam' He turned to the sound of his name, 'you know where I'll be if you change your mind' she nodded towards the treatment room,' Sam gave her a nod, and Lucy continued her commute to the treatment room, only to be interrupted by Jamie,

'Lucy, right?' he was stood in front of her, blocking her entrance to the treatment room. 

'Yeah, what can I do for you Jamie?' Lucy smiled, but she could feel the eyes of the players she now called friends burrowing in the back of her head. 

'You seem to know the ins and outs of these boys now yeah? They come to you too complain about shit?' Lucy cocked her head to the side, 

'Um, I guess? But that's not my job. Most of them come and talk to me beca-'

'Yeah, yeah whatever.' he interrupted, 'You reckon if any of the boys start talking shit about me, you could let me know?' Lucy tried to stifle a laugh, 'what?' the player questioned. Lucy smiled sarcastically and started to move past Jamie, patting his shoulder as she went, 

'Sure thing man' she replied, giggling to herself as she walked into the room. 

                                                                      ***

'Oh my god! No way he asked you that!' Audrey was shorting she was laughing so hard. Lucy turned away from the bacon she was frying to face Audrey, who was sat on a stool at the granite breakfast bar, 

'I'm dead serious!' she turned back to the bacon. 

'Are you going to do it?' her friend asked after regaining her composure, 

'Fuck no!'