Falling Awake - Ricky Wilson Fanfiction

Painting

Painting

I frown once I start to feel raindrops falling on my arms making me quicken my pace towards the studios with my rucksack on my back full of food and drink for the guys. Today, I am helping them repaint the studios which should be fun if messy. I have decided on wearing my really old training kit from my old team which is already pretty tattered as it is. Plus, I want to see their faces when I walk in wearing the opposition's kit. I laugh at the thought as I pass a young mother with a toddler walking next to her and a young baby in the pushchair I smile at them politely leading to the woman turning her nose up at me as she walks on past. I frown. Turning back to look at the kids makes me feel slight despair in the pit of my stomach, to think I can never have that hurts so bad.

I try to forget the thought as I turn the corner and the studio comes into view with a pile of bin bags out front from the workmen who have already been in to repair any damages this week. Walking around them I head to the back entrance and yank open the heavy door with much force knowing it tends to stick on its hinges.

The smell of paint fumes greets me immediately and the sight of numerous dust sheets scattered around, covering anything of worth reminds me of when I painted my old flat with Oliver. We made an absolute mess and even the dust sheets couldn't stop us from getting the duck egg coloured paint in patches on the carpet. 'Hello!' I call out.

'In here!' I hear Rick reply and I turn the corner to see them all sitting around in the kitchenette on top of surfaces and sitting on a bench all wearing tattered clothing including old tour t-shirts and worn joggers.

'Wow. So much hard work going on in here.' I state sarcastically while setting my bag on the floor by the door.

'We are having a break.' Whitey sighs.

'How was the game?' Rick asks me before kissing my cheek making Peanut fake gag and Simon send him a stern glance.

'Pretty uneventful.' I shrug thinking back to last night's game. 'Low scoring, not many wickets taken and pretty much no injuries. The conditions were poor.'

'I hope you didn't dress like that last night.' Peanut states and points at my attire making me giggle.

'No definitely not.' I pause, 'I would probably get sacked if I did.' I unzip my bag and pull out a six pack of diet coke which I chilled at home and put it on the counter along with some lemonade and beer. Vijay takes them from me and puts them in the fridge, his fingertips already messy with white paint.

We start to chat about the past week as it has been a while since I have seen the guys; I have seen Ricky a few times though. They tell me about issues with the builders and how they dropped a pane of glass which then had to be cleaned up and then replaced. Vijay tells a couple of stories about his kids "trying out" his drum kit which went down well and Si talks about his cat Sid who apparently keeps waking him up by climbing on him at night. They ask me about some of the players and how they are in training but I feel like I shouldn't say too much. What happens in the dressing room, stays in the dressing room as the lads say. 'What's the plan?' I ask.

'Well...Peanut is in charge apparently.' Rick scoffs and turns to his hatted friend who is wearing a beanie, the same as Whitey in fact.

'I was thinking; I can continue with the skirting boards in the already painted room. Si, Andrew and Vijay can continue to paint the walls in the main room.' Immediately Whitey gets up and grabs a bucket of paint which he then takes out of the room with Vijay following close behind.

'What about us?' I wave my finger between Rick and I just as Ricky runs his fingers through his long hair of a colour that I cannot really describe.