𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 ⤷ JAMIE TARTT

8 - Reflections

An aggravated grunt followed a pause, and Roy turned away. "Shut up and get back on your bike."

Jamie just smiled.

🧁

Roy felt that familiar sort of rage (or maybe it was heartburn) building in his chest at the sight of Jamie's piss poor play.

Amsterdam was only some few days ago, and they had a match against Arsenal at the end of the week. It was practice as usual. Ted's suggestion of 'Total Football' had caught everyone off-guard, but this scrimmage was just too terrible to bear.

"Get to it already!" He barked to the lot of them.

Ted and Beard, arms crossed over their chest, were speaking amongst themselves as per usual, and Roy winced as another ball went flying only to hit the goal post.

"That's alright, Jamie. Just, uh, aim a little lower next time," Ted said, unconvincingly.

"Sorry, Coach. I, I've got the next one," Jamie answered.

Dani was quick to offer a word of encouragement, but even Jamie looked peeved. For all his solo training with Roy, he was in top physical form, but things just weren't connecting.

"For fuck's sake." Roy couldn't take it any longer and broke up Ted's conversation with Beard. "I'm taking the rest of the day off."

Ted glanced at Roy and then at Jamie on the pitch who'd begun dribbling past Colin before nodding. "Okay, but you're still leading tomorrow's practice, Coach."

"I'm going."

Quickly, Ted stopped him before he could leave, smiling. "And tell Kate I said hi."

"How the fuck—" Roy shook his head. "Nevermind. I don't want to know."

With that, Roy stalked back into the locker room, grabbed his jacket and keys from the office, and went to his car.

Baked With Love was all bright colors and floral accents. There were flavors of pastries on display that Roy had never even heard of, and he contemplated bringing something home for Phoebe. Though his sister would probably tell him off for letting her at too many sweets.

Still, he took a tray and a pair of tongs. He'd been looking at the yuzu milk bread doughnuts when he noticed Kate come out from the back and up to the counter. She donned a frilly pink apron with the store's name and held a stack of collapsed take-out boxes in her arms. She set them down to the side with a huff.

"Welcome in. Feel free to let me know if . . ." The rest of her sentence trailed off in surprise. "Roy, I wasn't expecting you."

He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling quite conscious of himself. He motioned to the doughnuts now sitting on his tray. "For my niece."

Kate nodded slowly. She wiped her hands on the front of her apron out of nervous habit. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Uh, she likes lemonade," he said.

Kate disappeared into the back again, and Roy put his tray down on the front counter. He sighed, wondering once more what the fuck it was that he was doing here. He wasn't a meddler, but here he was meddling away.

"I have one regular lemonade for your niece, and I hope you don't mind I've made a green tea lemonade for you," Kate said, bringing out the two drinks. "I know you football lot enjoy healthier drinks."

She hid her frazzled mind behind a smile, but Roy could still see the dark circles under her eyes and how the color had been sucked from her skin. Clearly, she was doing just as well as Jamie.

He watched as she packed up his order, not bothering to ring it up. She shrugged away his money. "It's on the house. I hope your niece enjoys it."

Roy stared at the nicely wrapped box of doughnuts, plus a few jam tarts she added in extra, and the drink carrier of lemonades. Phoebe would enjoy this, but he looked back up at her and frowned.

"I feel like you should hate me, but instead, you've gone and given me pastries and lemonade for free."

Kate's eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "Why would I hate you?"

"Because you want nothing to do with Jamie, and I'm his coach."

She didn't look at him. "Did he say that to you?"

"He said a lot of things," Roy answered. "He's a fucking mess right now, and if I'm being honest I think so are you."

Kate's cheeks bloomed pink with embarrassment. "You don't know me. I'm fine."

Roy scoffed. "Jamie can run a mile in under six minutes. He can lift about twice his body weight, and he practically sweeps the arena in terms of physical fitness. But since he stopped talking to you, he hasn't been able to make a proper fucking goal. And judging by the way you're dragging your feet around your own store, I can assume you're doing the same."

"Listen, if you're here to convince me that Jamie's not a bad guy, I don't want to hear it. What's done is done," she said, fidgeting with the ends of her apron. "There's no point in opening up healing wounds."

"Healing wounds? Kate, I don't know everything that's happened between you and Jamie, but before I walked in here I was convinced he was right, that you wanted nothing to do with him anymore and that he just needed to get over himself. But you've got that same exact kicked puppy look he's got going on."

She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She was a mess of feelings, but he was the one who left. God, she was so frustrated. She didn't know what to think anymore.

"For two people who care so much about each other, you two are being so foolish." With that, Roy saw himself out, but his words hung in the air.

Kate closed her eyes. She was so tired, and everything hurt. She knew she was being stubborn for stubborn's sake, but navigating all these old and new emotions was like trying to find her way out of a maze. But Roy had made a trip all the way out here. He told her exactly what she'd been hoping to hear these past few weeks, so why couldn't she bring herself to act on it?

She took a deep breath and blinked back that achy feeling growing in her chest, the type that eats away at you and feels like holes have grown all over inside. She exhaled and willed away the exhaustion settling into her.

Roy was right. She was not okay, and Jamie was the answer to her problem.

🧁 ━━━━ END OF CHAPTER NOTE

I know it's a bit heavier than the storylines going on in the episodes, but I needed a little more oomph for their fight. Hopefully, this doesn't feel too out of character for Roy! Originally, I was going to have Ted talk to Kate, but I thought Roy would be a better fit for the job. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you on the flip side!

XOXO,
LONDON