Chapter Text
Ted's been exceptionally quiet since him and his wife separated, which is completely understandable. It's been a few days and we've only said a couple words to each other. He wasn't being rude or anything, just sad.
I would love to do nothing more than to comfort him, even in a purely platonic way. I just wanted him to know he wasn't alone, but I could never find a good time to approach him.
I was sitting in Rebecca's office as Rebecca, Keeley and I discussed all the men in our lives.
"Have you guys seen the articles? What kind of f*cking bullsh*t is "Old Rebecca?" Rebecca exclaimed. Rebecca's ex-husband, Rupert, started dating another woman named Rebecca. Since she's about forty years younger than Rupert, the press has been having a field day with calling our Rebecca, "old Rebecca". It's a bunch of misogynistic bullsh*t. God forbid the press ever call Rupert out for the asshole that he is. They always just blame the woman.
"Exactly what you said. f*cking bullsh*t." Keeley reached over and held Rebecca's hand, and I put my hand on top of hers.
"Richmond ladies have to stick together." I rubbed their hand with my thumb as I smiled.
"Alright, enough about me, what is it I hear about you shagging Roy Kent?" Rebecca excitedly said.
"We've only shagged a few times. And he's bloody good at it." Keeley blushed.
Rebecca and I both let out high pitched ooo's at the same time.
"Well, did Lacy tell you who she was pining over?" Keeley said while giggling.
"Keeley!" I yelled.
"Well, who is it?" Rebecca was beyond intrigued.
"You can't tell anyone," I began before someone knocked on the door, and in entered Ted. Right on queue.
"Good morning, Boss," I exclaimed while handing her a box of biscuits. "Keeley. Lacy."
"Hi, Ted." Keeley waved.
"Thank you, Ted." Rebecca said as she took the biscuits. "Is everything all set for our new player?"
"Yes, ma'am. Mr. Rojas is going to be very pleased." Ted smiled.
"That's what I like to hear." Rebecca replied. I've done a lot of research about Dani Rojas the past few days and he seems like a golden retriever dressed up as a man. The other players are going to eat him alive.
"Lace, did you wanna come down and help us welcome him?" Ted looked over at me.
"Yes, of course. I'll meet you down there in a minute." I smiled.
"Alrighty, I'll see you ladies later," Ted waved goodbye as Rebecca and Keeley said their goodbyes. My eyes were following Ted as he was leaving when Rebecca gasped.
"Holy sh*t! You're in love with Ted!" She pointed at me.
I scoffed. "What are you talking about?"
"Keeley, did you see the way she was looking at him? She's either clearly in love with him or just wants to f*ck him."
"Or both." Keeley whispered.
"Okay, goodbye," I laughed as I got up to leave.
"See! She didn't say no!" Rebecca yelled as I was leaving.
I walked out to the pitch to meet Ted and Beard on the sidelines as they were waiting for Dani to come. After a few minutes of waiting we hear someone come running out behind us screaming. That must be Dani.
Out runs Dani, enthusiastic and energetic, exactly what I was expecting from all the articles I read.
"Boys, meet Dani Rojas. Dani, welcome to Richmond," Ted greeted Dani, who was still jogging in place from all the energy. Jamie was automatically on guard around Dani, fearing that his spot on the team may be jeopardized.
As the boys were training, Ted had gotten a phone call from Henry. Henry was super excited to see a new player on the team. He loved learning about all the players.
"Alright, buddy, I will. I love you too. Bye-bye," Ted said on the phone before hanging up and looking over at me. "Henry says hello and that he misses you. Seems like you have your first fan."
I laughed out loud. "What can I say? The boy has good taste. Soon others will begin to follow." Ted laughed in response.
After watching the boys train for a little, I went back into my office and make a post on the teams social media pages officially welcoming Dani to the team. As I was reading through the comments, Ted comes barging into my office.
"We may have a slight issue," He groaned.
"What happened?" I immediately jumped up.
"He's hurt."
"Who's hurt, Ted?" My tone was a little annoyed.
"Dani."
"How the f*ck did he get hurt? He just got here." I was so confused.
"Roy had told me that he saw him working out in the treatment room this morning before training. Apparently, in all the time we've been here, they've all failed to mention the treatment room was cursed." Ted explained.
"What do you mean cursed?"
"Roy said that anytime someone trains in the treatment room, they always end up injured." Ted continued.
"Oh, that's great." I threw my hands up in the air. I was a very spiritual person, so the thought of a curse wasn't outlandish to me. "What are we gonna do?"
"I was thinking late tonight, we all meet back here and do a ritual, something to bond the team together. I'm telling everyone to bring someone that means a lot to them to sacrifice for the sake of the team. Since you're a part of the team, I'm hoping you'll participate. Maybe get Rebecca and Keeley to come down too."
"Yeah, Teddy, of course I'll be there." I smiled. I realized this was the first time I called him Teddy in a while.
"That'll mean a lot to the boys. Meet Beard and I outside of the flats at nine and we'll head over." Ted said before walking away. That'll mean a lot to the boys, but not to him?
***
It was exactly nine when I exited my flat and met Beard and Ted out front of my flat. They both had something in brown bags that they were going to sacrifice. They wouldn't tell me what they were bringing so I'm going to keep my item a secret, too.
We met all the other players in the locker room. Even Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins showed up. Ted began to talk to everyone, "Thank you all for coming tonight. Not only are we breaking the curse, but we are also bonding as a team. See this here trashcan? One by one, we are going to put our items in the trashcan and then set it on fire, thus breaking the curse. My mom always told me not to set things on fire but I think Mama Lasso will let this slide one time."
Everyone started to put items into a trashcan. Roy put in his childhood blanket, Higgins put in his recently deceased cats collar, Jamie put in a pair of football boots that his mom gave him, and Rebecca put in the newspaper that called her "Old Rebecca".
It was Ted's turn, so he walked up to the trash can and opened his paper bag. "For my sacrifice, I'm putting in my wedding ring. As most of you know, my wife, or I guess ex-wife, are getting a divorce. I'm so grateful for the time we had together, but I'm also grateful for the opportunity to grow in the future." After he said that, he threw his ring in the trash. I rubbed his shoulder, consoling him because I knew that must've been really hard for him.
Lastly, it was my turn.
"For my sacrifice, I'm gonna put in this framed picture of my ex-boyfriend and I. I honestly think it's quite embarrassing that I brought this anyway. But I think I always latched onto our relationship, even when I knew it was over. He- he didn't treat me well. That's why I came here. For the fresh start. I love all you guys and I am just, really excited for a new beginning." I sadly smiled as I placed the picture in the trash.
I looked around me and all the boys looked like they were all on the verge of tears. They all came around me and engulfed me in a group hug. Ted and Roy were both latched onto me the tightest.
"Alright, alright. Let's just burn this sh*t." I laughed so I didn't cry. I only knew these guys for a couple months and I truly had so much love for them.
We dragged the trash can outside and set it ablaze. We all stood around the trash can fire and looked into it as it burned.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Jamie came up behind me.
"Yeah, sure." I groaned on the inside when I walked off to the side with him. Ted's glance went from the fire to watching me leave with Jamie.
"I just wanna say I'm so sorry about what happened to ya, with your boyfriend and all. I know I didn't treat you right when you first came here and I shouldn't have done that. I just wanna start fresh, yeah?" Jamie seemed genuinely apologetic.
"Yeah, Jamie. Of course," I reached up for hug. I could tell during the past few weeks that Jamie was starting to become less of a prick. He'll always be a prick, that's just who he is to his core, but I could tell he was trying to change.
"We're good, yeah?" He asked.
"Yeah, we're good, prick." I laughed. I dragged him back to the fire. All the other guys were drinking and having a fun time, while Ted was staring daggers into the fire just taking sips out of his beer.
I celebrated with Roy and Keeley while Ted mostly talked to Coach Beard for the remainder of the evening.
"He keeps looking over at you, babe." Keeley nudged at me.
"I know," I smirked. As I said that, Ted walked over to us.
"Can I steal her for a second?" Ted asked Keeley.
"Be my guest," Keeley responded.
"Don't call the cops! I promise I'll pay for her when I get back." Ted joked with Keeley causing me to roll my eyes. Ted and I walked to the sidelines and both of us took seats in the technical area.
"As you would say, what's on your noggin?" I asked Ted, shooting him a smile.
"I just wanted to say I'm so extremely sorry about what happened with Julian. As someone who knew him well, I didn't know he was like that." Ted softened his eyes as he spoke to me.
"It's okay, Ted. You didn't know. He's good at making it seem like he's the good guy." I laughed at how pathetic he was.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Ted asked. It might help if I opened up to Ted, especially as someone who knows Julian.
"He was my high school sweetheart. I was the prom queen and he was prom king, ya know? Bullsh*t like that. Well, about three months before we graduated, my parents died in a really bad accident. I had no where else to go, so I stayed with Julian and his family. I guess that's where he realized how much power he had over me. It started with him making sure I didn't see my friends. Then it escalated to me not being able to really talk to anyone when we were out. It ended with him hitting me. I mean, I guess I shouldn't sugar coat it. He beat the sh*t out of me. I just never had the money, or the guts, to leave. He always told me that if I ever left him that he would just find me and bring me back. That I'll never be able to leave him and he'll always be a shadow right behind me. That's why I immediately took the job when the Dean told me about Rebecca's offer. He was out with his friends, so I just packed my essentials and left. I don't plan to ever look back. I don't think I've ever been happier." I sadly smiled. Ted hadn't taken his attention off of me the entire time.
"Just know one thing," Ted held my hands in his, "You will always be safe here and you will always have a home with us."
The two of us just sat in the technical area watching the team have a blast by the fire. I sat there smiling to myself, thinking about how full my heart was. Even if Ted and I were to remain friends, I will forever be grateful for his friendship and the kindness he's shown me.
***
The next morning, I was sitting at my desk doing some work when Ted burst into my office.
"Rebecca is out of line. She cannot get away with this." He stated. He was furious.
"Ted, breathe. What happened?" I grabbed onto his shoulders so he'd focus.
"She traded him. Jamie. He went back to Man City."
"She what?!" I gasped.
Just as Jamie started making progress with everyone on the team, including me, he's gone.
