𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 | roy kent

8 | THE FIVE STAGES OF ACCEPTANCE

"Woo-hoo! Girl's trip!" Keeley exclaimed as they walked in.

"Liverpool, here we come!" Lottie joined, pumping her fist excitedly. Rebecca slammed her laptop shut, telling the girls that whatever she had been viewing was unpleasing.

"I just want to say upfront that I'm really flattered you asked me to come this weekend," Keeley said gratefully.

"Oh, come on, now," Rebecca waved her off, not wanting her to feel indebted in any way. This was a girls trip and she had invited her girls.

"But, hey, we're all single – well, Lottie is for now. I think you're super hot. If I'm gonna dip my toe back into the lady pool, I can't think of a finer body of water to do it with than you," Keeley told her.

Lottie bit her lip to suppress her smile at Rebecca's alarmed expression, thinking Keeley was being serious and had misread her intentions. "No, Keeley, I think you're confused," Rebecca stammered, trying to be polite.

"I was at first. Then I was like, 'Come on, Keeley. Blow of some steam and have some wicked sex with your new friend!'" Lottie let out a giggle as Rebecca's jaw dropped in horror. Taking mercy on her, Keeley let up. "I'm fucking with you."

Lottie and Keeley busted into cackles as Rebecca let out a gasp of relief. "I thought you were being serious. I mean, can you imagine?"

"Oh, I have," Keeley nodded, unembarrassed by the fact. Rebecca was left flabbergasted once again. Lottie understood. Rebecca was a goddess. Keeley then turned to Lottie. "And with you too, love."

"Oh," Lottie blinked, flattered. "Thank you, Keeley. If I was into muffins, I would take you up on that offer."

Higgins then walked wearing shades in singing a happy tune. "Do-da do-da do do do do doo. Looks like we have a new passenger on today's flight," he lifted his sunnies up and glanced at Keeley.

"Actually, Keeley will be taking your seat on the jet, Higgins," Rebecca informed him.

"Oh," Higgins frowned with disappointment.

"Sorry," Keeley grimaced apologetically. "I'm gonna go spend a penny before we take off. Yeah. See you downstairs, Rebecca!"

Lottie felt bad for Higgins, but she sure as heck didn't want to stay around for the awkward interaction, so she excused herself as quickly as possible. "I'm gonna go join my daddy, Uncle Beard, and the team. See y'all in Liverpool!" She then rushed out as fast as she could – which was fairly speedy as she was wearing slippers instead of her usual stilettos today. She dropped off her bag at the bus outside before heading back to the locker room. She walked in to find Beard writing plays on the whiteboard and Ted addressing the team.

"All right, gentlemen. Who's ready to go show Everton what we got?" Ted asked the guys. Dani and Lottie were the only ones who cheered, everyone else with solemn expressions on their faces. "Thank you, Dani, sunshine." Ted then turned to Beard, pulling Lottie with him. "Jeez, Louise. Why's everybody so down in the dumps? What happened? Did Beyonce dump Jay-Z or somethin'?"

"No. Nothing like that," Beard assured them.
"Thank goodness," Ted sighed. "Just sayin' it out loud made me immediately sad." Lottie personally would have been thrilled by the news, but she kept that to herself. They did get "Lemonade" out of it, after all. "Let me see what's goin' on here." Ted turned back to the team. "Hey, guys. Seriously, come on. Talk to me. What's up?"

Sam was the one to answer after glancing at Dani and Colin, who were standing beside him. "Well, we're fine," he said. Lottie narrowed her eyes at him accusingly, to which Colin and Sam took a step back, sensing they weren't being truthful.