the last time | t. lasso

005

Keeley Jones: SOS

Lacy Watson: I'm in my office right now

***

Right after hitting send, Keeley burst through the door into my office with a concerned look on her face. It's been about three weeks since I started my job here and there's, undoubtedly, been a few hiccups.

"What's wrong, Keels?"

She turned her phone around to show me a picture that someone had taken of her and Ted, looking very comfortable together at her last photoshoot. Ted looked like he had been feeding her or something. My stomach was in knots.

"Some asshole took a picture of Ted and I together at my photoshoot the other day. He had stopped by to ask me some questions about Jamie and now," she motioned to her phone. "Now it looks like we're shagging or some shit."

"Hey, hey. Calm down. Let's go to Rebecca and see what she has to say. She knows everyone, she'll probably know someone who can take that down in a heartbeat."

Keeley and I went marching right up to Rebecca's office and to our surprise, Ted was already sitting across from her.

"Hiya, Lace! Hiya, Keeley!" Ted immediately stood up to greet us. I have to admit, I feel like I've been a really bad friend to Ted recently. I've been distant, only because I can't have feelings for him. He's like twenty years older than me and he's kind of my boss, in a way. I've been leaving my flat before Ted in the morning and leaving the stadium after him at night. I do talk to him, but not like I did in the beginning.

"Hi, Ted," I said, silently. Keeley cut to the chase and immediately showed Rebecca her phone.

"Do you know anything about this?" Keeley questioned. After taking a look at the photos, Ted looked extremely confused.

Struggling to speak, Rebecca said, "Absolutely not. Who would do that?"

"Dunno. But I heard 'The Sun' was going to publish it in two days. That can't happen. Do you understand how Jamie would react to that?"

"I'll talk to the people at 'The Sun' straight away. I promise." Rebecca confirmed.

"Thank you. See you later, Ted." Keeley waved before leaving. I gave her a second and started walking after her.

"Wait a second, Lace," Ted called out after me, causing me to stop.

"How've you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." Ted continued.

"Good. Yeah, I've been good. I'm sorry, I've just been so busy with everything." I felt a twinge in my chest and a little bit of guilt.

"Oh no, don't be sorry. I'm just worried about ya, ya know?" Ted genuinely looked concerned. "Maybe we can grab some dinner tomorrow night? Even if we just get take out so you can still do your work? I miss spending time with ya."

"Yeah, Ted, that sounds like a plan." I shot Ted a smile before walking back into my office, while Ted walked out into the pitch.

***

The following morning as I'm sitting in my office working on the team's socials, Ted yells at me from his desk in the next room over.