⤷ 🍰 ----- CH. FIVE
NUMBER NINE
"WE'RE GONNA BE LATE."
Their flat was in disarray as Darcy grabbed Evan by the back of his collar and quickly ushered Kate out the door.
"You're going to kill me, woman!" Evan said as he tugged himself from Darcy's harsh grasp and just barely caught Kate who'd tumbled outside right after him.
With a protein bar in hand, Kate nearly spat chocolate in Evan's face when Darcy bumped her aside to lock their front door. Evan steadied her again but not with a look of disgust at witnessing half-chewed granola in her mouth.
"Us, she's going to kill us," Kate said after swallowing.
"If I wanted you two dead, you would be already." Darcy linked arms with the both of them. "Now come on, let's go before we're late."
Kate should have been preparing for the Cupcake Bash, Evan too. With it being only a week away and Baked With Love running regular hours, she really didn't have the time to be doing anything else. But as it would seem, Jamie was particularly persuasive about coming to their upcoming match against Brentford.
Not to mention Darcy's obsession with live shows of any kind. Hence, her eagerness to reach the stadium.
Evan shrugged Darcy off. "I'm not going to enjoy it. I'm only coming because—"
She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Yeah, yeah. We get it. You're a die hard Man City fan, and you're only coming because Kate said you could drive the Aston."
"I hate you."
Darcy smiled sweetly at him. "I hate you more. Now get in the car and drive. I want to buy a jersey."
Evan looked about two seconds from blowing up, so Kate just handed him the keys. "Children, both of you."
"Oh please, you and Jamie are hopeless," Darcy said, slipping into the backseat while Evan and Darcy got into the front.
"We're just friends."
A dangerous glint in her eye, Darcy nodded. "Is that so?"
But before Kate could shut down whatever nefarious plot was brewing in her friend's evil head, Evan started the car and made a sound that could only be described as a satisfied groan.
"We get that this is the car of your wet dreams, but there's no need to make it that known," Darcy said.
Evan rolled his eyes at her and put the car into drive. His eyes flitted to the rearview mirror to see Darcy had yet to put on her seatbelt, and without warning, he hit the gas.
"Evan, you fucking moron!"
Somehow, they all made it to Nelson Road in one piece. Kate lurched out of the car the moment it had been parked while Darcy lunged for Evan who dodged her sharp nails with a loud laugh.
Shaking, Kate steadied her footing on the asphalt amidst the growing crowd. She didn't enjoy being in fast cars. Evan was a prick for speeding all the way here when he knew she hated it, and Darcy was too self-involved to realize she was just egging him on. They were her friends, but sometimes, their banter got out of hand.
But Darcy was quick to provide an arm for Kate to take, to steady herself, as Evan procured a water bottle from his bag. "Don't yak on us now."
She shook her head at them but gladly accepted the help. "You two are terrible."
"Not possible," Darcy said, a sense of mischief returning to her. "Now chin up, we've got jerseys to buy and seats to find."
Watching Richmond play was like water flowing at the sea. Despite the chaos of it all, fluidity was clear between each pass, each play, and each movement. Especially up from the box, Kate could see just how well they all pieced together.
Darcy leaned over, proudly sporting a McAdoo jersey and enough Richmond merch to drown in. "They're playing really well."
"Not as well as Man City," Evan mumbled under his breath while he begrudgingly wore the Richmond scarf Darcy pulled around his neck.
He'd taken to making quiet comments because Rebecca, bless that woman, had ears like a hawk and wasn't afraid to tell him off. When he mentioned Man City earlier in the game, the look she'd given him was enough to shut him up immediately.
"Jamie's falling a bit short, though," Darcy said. "Guess it doesn't help that Zava's a mad man on the field. He's like a miracle worker."
Kate shrugged. "I wouldn't call a light toe touch on a ball that was already headed in a miracle."
Darcy and Evan shared a look, and the former just smiled. "I suppose so."
The whistle finally blew, concluding the match and solidifying Richmond's win against Brentford.
The stands erupted around her. Rebecca and Keeley looked like they might fall over with joy, and despite Evan's disregard for the team, he seemed satisfied. Darcy pulled Kate to her feet and joined in on the cheers.
Jamie looked up to the box and caught her eye. She wasn't delusional enough to think the wink he sent their way was for her, but it brought a flittering of butterflies to her stomach anyway.
Rebecca ushered all of them out of the box so they could go see the boys, and Kate tore her gaze from Jamie.
They followed her into the stadium, and Darcy was practically bouncing with energy.
"You're a fucking super-model. Get it together, woman," Evan said with a nudge, which only spurred Darcy to smack him in the back of the head. "Or not."
Ted found them before they found the team. Rebecca and Keeley both gave the man a cheerful greeting while Kate waved awkwardly. She liked Ted, she did, but she just wasn't much of a people person. It's why she only ever hung out with Darcy and Evan.
"That was an amazing game. You must be really proud of the team, Ted," Kate said.
"I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit surprised they've been doing so well these days," Evan piped up. "I'm Evan by the way, and this is Darcy."
"It's nice to meet you two." Ted smiled. "But to answer both of y'all, proud, always. Surprised, never. Matches like today are just payoff of all the work they've put in."
"In other words, he's saying quit your bullshit, Evan," Darcy said, earning her a swift glare from him.
While they began bickering again, Kate relaxed into the background. Ted excused himself as Beard beckoned him over, and Keeley turned to her.
"They always argue like this?"
"Every single day," Kate answered. "That's just how they love. It's meaningless banter."
"Doesn't it get exhausting?" Rebecca asked. Keeley wondered it too.
But Kate didn't think so. "That's not a word I'd use to describe my friends."
They seemed satisfied by her answer, and Rebecca looked like she was about to say something when Keeley instead shouted, "Jamie!"
Kate turned around, and Darcy just barely held onto Evan in time, steadily keeping him in place.
When he finally reached them, Jamie's eyes hardened, and before Kate (nor anyone else) could say anything let alone congratulate him on the win, he'd pulled her into the boot room. The stinky boot room.
His lips fell in a flat line, and tension filled his face. "What the fuck are you wearing?"
"Well, I was going to compliment you on a job well done, but clearly we've got other issues like your attitude to deal with first," Kate said. "It's a fucking jersey. What else would it be?"
"I don't like it."
"I don't recall asking," she replied, realizing what this was all about.
He shook his head. "I don't like it," he repeated, enunciating with heavy syllables.
"You brought me into a room full of smelly shoes to do what? Yell at me because you're jealous?" Kate asked incredulously.
"I'm not—" Jamie scoffed. "Jealous. We're just friends."
"Then what is it?"
His eyes followed the curves and wrinkles of the offending item of clothing as she folded her arms over her chest. He didn't have to see the back of the jersey, the block letters that spelled OBISANYA, to feel the scalding emotion build back up again. His teeth grazed over his bottom lip as a huff escaped him.
"Take it off," he said.
"You're seriously mad because I'm not wearing your name?" Kate was in disbelief. "I'm not taking it off, and you know what, next time I think I might wear a McAdoo one. I'll borrow it from Darcy."
She saw his jaw clench.
"That's not funny," he said.
Kate let out a dry laugh before she reached for the door. "Fuck off, Jamie."
But he grabbed her wrist before she could reach the handle, spinning her back around to face him. His touch lit a blaze across her skin, and she tried to push him away, but he held steady.
"Let go," she said.
He did, but not without taking a step towards her. She instinctively took one back, feeling the wall behind her. And suddenly, she was aware of how close they were.
She could smell the minty Lynx he no doubt used before the match, and she could feel just how warm he was by the heat that radiated from him. His eyes flickered to her lips, but she pretended not to notice. Instead, she swam in his gaze, in him, and tried not to drown.
"It's just a fucking shirt," Kate said, her voice was barely above a whisper.
Jamie's stare met hers evenly, and she burned under him. Voice equally as soft, he leaned in just the tiniest bit closer (but all the difference). "Then wear mine."
"Don't tell me what to do if you're not gonna give me a good reason to do it." She saw the corners of his lips turn up, and if they were any closer she thought she might be able to feel him again.
He nodded. "Alright. Wear mine because I go a little crazy when I see you wearing someone else's name."
"I thought we were just friends."
His eyes dipped down again. "We are."
Kate felt her breath catch in her throat as he leaned in. The smell of him was dizzying, the sight of him getting closer even more so. Centimeters swiftly turning to millimeters until—
The door to the boot room opened, and the world came crashing down with reality breaking over her like a cold shower. Kate roughly shoved Jamie away from her. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she thought the room might have started spinning somehow.
Jamie, on the other hand, didn't seem upset. A look of amusement flickered across his face just before he turned to Will who stood deer in headlights in front of a curiously peeking Darcy, Evan, Keeley, and Rebecca.
"Did I interrupt something?" He asked, eyes shifting between the two.
"Actually—"
But Kate shook her head, burning with embarrassment. "No, Will, you definitely did not."
She glanced at Jamie who still seemed happy as if he hadn't just turned her world on its head. (What if he ruins me?) Maybe she was just being dramatic, but all the air had been sucked from her, and wading through treacherous emotions had soon turned to drowning in them.
Kate looked to Darcy and Evan, both of whom had recognized the sense of walls closing in, and in an instant, she'd pushed past Jamie, falling into the arms of her friends who pulled her away from it all.
"I'll start the car," Evan said, jogging ahead of them while Darcy kept a firm arm around Kate while they hurried down the hall.
Kate didn't look back, voice a stunted whisper. "I don't think I'm over him."
Darcy sighed softly. "I know."
Keeley landed a deft smack to the back of Jamie's head as they watched Kate leave. Rebecca nodded, approvingly, while Will decidedly sunk further into the boot room.
"Ow!" Jamie yelled, flinching away from the girl. "The fuck was that for?"
"For thinking with your dick again instead of your head!" Keeley all but shouted once Kate and Darcy had rounded the corner. "She's a nice girl, Jamie."
"Yeah, well I wasn't thinking with my dick," Jamie replied, huffing. "I'm figuring out my feelings too! Why am I the one at fault?"
"Because you're getting love advice from your first love—Ted told me—and you've decided to go about the whole thing the wrong way?" Rebecca offered.
"I'm not—I don't—" Jamie tripped over his words until he gave up entirely. "Oh, fuck this."
"Oi! What the fuck are you all yelling about out here?" Roy's thundering voice interrupted their quarreling as he came out of the locker room, eyebrows drawn together in annoyance.
Jamie just rolled his eyes, storming off, while Keeley and Rebecca shook their heads, leaving towards the latter's office.
Roy looked to Will who'd been quietly soaking everything in. "I didn't even do anything yet!"
🍰 ━━━━ END OF CHAPTER NOTE
Did someone order some ooey gooey spice with a sprinkle of angst? One thing about me is I'm gonna lay the tension on thick (teehee). Screaming, crying, kicking my feet as I wrote this chapter. And Will, precious boy, walking into the boot room when he shouldn't have is so in character of him I couldn't not put it in. Also! Kate's reaction may be a bit confusing, but that's because girly is confused too!! She doesn't know what she wants!! She's my emotional little babeh!!
XOXO,
LONDON