We don't drink Fosters

Dubai Air

'Thank you so much for these tickets Luc, we really appreciate it!' Marie smiled. Her hand was interlocked with Damien's, and as she finished her sentence, she looked up at him as though she were encouraging him to thank Luc as well. He met her eyes, and Marie nodded toward her friend, again egging him on,

'Oh yeah cheers Lucy' Damien finally spoke, 

'Its no problem honestly!' Lucy replied, cracking a classic Australian smile. 

'Can we please find our seats now?' Audrey spoke with some urgency. She was hunched over, trying to use her beanie to hide her face and constantly looking over her shoulders. 

'Who you hiding from girl?' Lucy spoke with a sly grin, 'Is it Dani?'

'SSSHHHH!!' Audrey replied rather aggressively, causing Marie to burst into laughter.

'Audrey your fine, he won't be out here.' Lucy pointed to the spectator entrance, 'He'd be in the locker room, you come with me and say hi of you like?' She turned towards the staff entrance, beckoning her friend to follow, 

'Yeah I'm gonna pass' she replied, making Lucy laugh as she walked away from her friends toward the staff entrance. 

                                                                     ***

Once again, Lucy was lost in her own thoughts in the treatment room and once again, they were interrupted. She turned toward the door, the sound of somebody knocking breaking her thought pattern, it was Sam. 

'Hey Lucy, do you have any tape?' he requested, 

'Like medical strapping tape or sticky tape?' she questioned, 

'Just like black tape. Any kind will do.' Sam spoke plainly. Lucy began riffling through drawers, looking for anything that may help, eventually landing on some black strapping tape. She presented her find to Sam, 

'Will this do?' she asked, 

'Perfect,' he replied, 'thanks Lucy.' 

'No worries Sam' Lucy beamed. Satisfied, Sam returned to the locker room. Lucy tried to get back to prepping the treatment room, but Sam's odd request chewed at her brain, and the sounds of tape being pulled from the roll on amplified her curiosities. Giving in, she walked up to the door of the treatment room, leaning against the frame, a spot she had found herself in quite a lot recently. She spotted Sam in the left corner using the black strapping tape she had given him to black out the Dubai Air logo that screamed across all of the boys' kits, and most of Lucy's first aid gear. 

'What? Dubai Air not paying you anymore?' Colin cracked, making the lads laugh. Sam turned and faced the room, 

'No, no Dubai Air is owned by a horrible company.' he spoke with intense severity, and held the rooms attention, 'one that has turned the southern coast of Nigeria, my home, into a hellish, fiery swamp.' Sam paused and looked down at his taped-up jersey, 'I can no longer wear their name on my chest.' 3 other Nigerian teammates took the tape from Sam and also taped their jerseys. Sam turned to the room again, 'We do not expect you to copy us, but I hope that you can see as Nigerians, we must.' Jamie, of all people, came to his feet, 

'Come on then' he made a grabbing motion with his hands, 'we're a team yeah? We all wear the same kit.' Sam chucked him the tape and proceeded to tape over the logo before passing the roll around the room. Soon, the team became whole gain, all equal and all in defiance together.  

Lucy came forward, and took the tape from Jan Maas, the last player to tape over the logo. She walked to the centre of the room, first-aid kit provided by Dubai Air in tow, and taped over every logo on the kit. When she looked up, she noticed the team looking at her almost quizzically. 'Like Jamie said, we are a team. We gotta have the same kit.' Lucy looked to Jamie and smiled. Captain Issac MacAdoo stepped forward, gesturing for the team to huddle in. Lucy took this as her que to begin walking on to the field. 

'Oi! Lucy!' She heard the captain say, 'get over here'  

'Yeah! Your apart of this too' Colin encouraged, backed up by a cheer from the team. Lucy had never felt so included, never did she think she would find this feeling with a group of English football players. She turned on her heel, placed the taped up kit on the bench in the centre, then walked to the huddled team and put her hand on top of the players. Sam was beaming, 

'I just wanted to say, I love all you guys so very much.' 

'On three!' Issac yelled, 'ONE, TWO, THREE'

'I JUST WANTED TO SAY I LOVE YOU GUYS SO VERY MUCH!!!'

                                                                     ***

Lucy walked up to the coach's booth, where the three coaches stood. 'Morning Miss Lucy!' 

'Morning Coach Lasso!' Lucy replied in a sing-song tone. She then proceeded to nod in the direction of Coach Beard, he nodded back. Then attempted to say hi to the still very shy Coach Nate. 

'Hey Miss Lucy,' Ted began, 

'Ted how many times do I have to say just Lucy is fine.' She interrupted, 

'Okay then,' Ted replied, beginning again, 'Lucy.' He paused, 'What's with the tape?' Lucy nodded to the players on the field, who were now taking off their jackets, revealing their taped-up jerseys. Lucy then produced a roll of black tape from the first aid kit and offered it to the coach's, 

'We're a team. Players, coaches, staff, all have to wear the same gear.' Lucy glanced over in Jamie's direction, he looked back to her and smiled, making a warm blush tickle her cheeks. 'It was Jamie's idea actually, I really think he's making an effort.' Coach Lasso began to slowly nod in agreement, and slightly in confusion. None the less, he took the tape from Lucy's hand and taped over the smaller Dubai Air logo on his puffer jacket. 

Satisfied, Lucy began to set up her first aid kit, keeping her hands busy prepping ice packs until she felt a buzz from her phone in her pocket.  

Audrey:

Luc girl! What is going on?? TF is up with the tape?

Lucy looked around and quickly shot off a reply, 

Its hard to explain!

Meet me at the Crown + Armour after the game :) 

Lucy stuffed her phone back in her pocket and turned around to face the game, she had a feeling this will be an interesting one.