the archer | jamie tartt

twenty-eight - friendly dates

rain had finally accepted jamie's invitation to coffee, except it wasn't at his house and it wasn't a date because rain was clueless. she genuinely believed her and jamie were just friends, that he had no feelings for her and she had no feelings for him.

she was using her and his lunch break to get the coffee and she hadn't noticed how jamie's face fell when she invited keeley to join. (she had said no for obvious reasons). (and rain had not caught on).

"so, how's court going?" jamie asked, internally cringing as soon as he did. why did he ask about that of all things when he was trying to get rain to like him?

she smiled, sipping her coffee, not an ounce of awkwardness following the question, at least from her, "alright. skye turns eighteen soon, my lawyer said we should move for the case to be thrown out the second she is. it's fine by me, you know, skye is her own person, with her own autonomy, she can choose where she lives. if she decides to go back to them, or to stay with me, or go to uni, whatever, i'll support her."

jamie nodded, hanging onto every word she said, "right... you're a good sister, ya know that?"

rain shifted in her seat, "thanks." she quickly changed the subject. "how are you? now that you've settled in?"

jamie noticed her eyes flicking to stare at the coffee in her hands. he noticed how whenever someone complimented her about being a good person, about being nice and kind, she got uncomfortable, like she couldn't admit she was good.

"good, yeah. i think the boys are starting to like me again," he told. 

"they are, jamie." she reached out, placing a hand on top of his. "you've proved you're not the same you as last season or while you were on lust conquers all and cheated on amy-"

"i didn't cheat on her! i just broke my promise to her." he stared at her as she stared back, waiting for him to continue. "which is probably just as bad."

"it is."

"right."

"my point is jamie, you're not that person anymore and they can see that, even sam," she assured. 

he smiled at her, eyes trailing to the hand that stayed on top of his as she smiled back. 

---

rain thought it was incredibly sweet that nate was going through all the trouble he was to get a window table at 'a taste in athens' in tooting. he needed to be assertive to get the table he wanted, and he was proving to not be great at it. 

rain was being the hostess, ignoring nate's pestering until it started to get harsh. he called her a dithering kestrel, which probably would have hurt had she known what dithering or kestrel meant. 

it was more the hand he slammed on the table she was standing at that got her. she flinched. he immediately apologised as she took a deep breath.

"too much," rebecca immediately told. she looked ready to fight him, keeley next to her with a similar look. "you don't need to be loud, nathan you just need to be commanding."

"with all due respect, it's different for me miss welton. you command every room you walk into," nate told. 

"oh, hardly. have you ever been in a room of football club chairmen?" she asked. "everytime i walk into one of those meetings tey look at me like some schoolgirl with pigtails."

rain made a face of disgust, "that's so layered."

"oh, you'd look well fit with pigtails," keeley spoke up.

"i do. but i have a  secret, i make myself big. before i go into the room i find somewhere private, i stand up on my tiptoes, put my arms up in the air and make myself as big as possible to feel my own power."

the trio stared at her confused. 

she sighed, "like this."

she put her drink down, stood up and adjusted her dress before she began. she swung her arms out and down before pulling herself as big as she could, mouth wide open as she made some sort of hissing noise at them.

"fuck your amazing, let's invade france," keeley muttered. 

rain stared, eyes wide, "can i marry you?"

rebecca threw her hands down, shrugging, " it's a bit silly, but it works for me. find your own thing but don't back down, nathan, you deserve whatever you want."

so, they tried again, after rebecca checked rain was okay going again. she was. 

---

rain got nate a gift, for trying so hard to make his parent's anniversary a good one and because he had succeeded. he stared at the bag, not sure what to do. 

"open it!" she exclaimed. 

he did so, pulling out a jade plant, "thank you?"

"it's a jade plant, get it? cause it was their jade anniversary?" she explained. 

he saw how excited she was and smiled, "thank you. it's... lovely."

"keep it in direct light, water it often so the soil is damp, not soggy, and prune it regularly-ish," she informed before rushing off to actually do her job. 

---

isaac was back and rain was so happy to see it. he was having fun. warm up saw isaac circling the group, doing handshakes with each of them before he ran up to the coaches and did it. he ended with rain after nate rejected the handshake and the pair began their rendition of the parent trap handshake. 

"good luck, i feel it in my bones," she yelled after him. 

she jumped up and down to stay warm as it began to snow. she watched them prepare, jamie sending her a wave. she waved back, blowing him a kiss before they began. 

but they didn't begin before roy began walking onto the pitch and richmond fans began to chant. rain beamed, he had come to accept the coaching position.

"hello, coach," ted greeted. "i'm really glad you decided-"

"shut up, just shut up, you had me at coach," he interrupted. 

beard gasped and rain squealed. 

roy moved to stand next to rain, who was separating him and nate, the latter who looked less than happy about roy showing up. 

rain thought nothing of it. it was probably just to do with the miserable weather. 

a/n unedited :)