════ ⋆★⋆ ════
Chapter Twenty Six
" Reynolds and Gosling? "
════ ⋆★⋆ ════
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° .
Tallulah stood next to Jamie as the rest of the team went over the last game's horrific loss. She missed Roy. It's not like they always won with Roy, but he just brought back an energy for the team. He was Roy Kent. The team watched the screen as Jan Maas tried and failed to get the ball, letting the other team score.
"Jan Maas, that's shit defending," Isaac shouted, pointing an aggressive finger at the man.
"Yes, that goal was entirely my fault," the Dutchman agreed.
"I don't wanna hear it," Isaac's voice boomed. "We need to get our shit together!"
"Someone's grumpy..." She whispered into Jamie's ear, making him chuckle silently.
"Hey fellas and Bambi, of course," Ted paused the video, "Listen, I don't care what our record is, but I hear the chatter, people saying there's something wrong with us. Not the way I see it, okay? And here's why: I believe in communism."
"What?" Tallulah, along with many of the other players, questioned, letting out mumbles of confusion.
"Rom-communism, that is," Ted clarified.
Bumbercatch spoke up from his spot behind Tallulah, "What is rom-communism?"
"Well, Bumbercatch, it is a worldview that reminds us that romantic comedies with folks like Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, or, uh, Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant or-- Who am I missing, Coach?"
"Drew Barrymore?" Richard spoke up, opening up the floor.
"Matthew McConaughey, obviously."
"All right, all right. Yeah."
"The three Kates." Jamie pointed out as well, to which Tallulah gave him a confused look. Colin answered her knowingly.
"Yeah, Beckinsale, Hudson, Winslet."
"What about the two Ryans?" This time Tallulah was met with a confused look before Jamie met her eyes knowingly.
"Reynolds and Gosling?"
"Yeah, of course." The two spiraled into their own conversation.
"I don't know, don't really see them as rom-com actors, you know?" His Mancunian accent disputed.
"Yes, they are! Ryan Gosling, are you forgetting about La La Land?"
"Of course not, you know I love that movie, but what other romantic comedy was he in that you can name off the top of your head?"
"Uhh, Crazy, Stupid, Love? Again with Emma Stone!"
"Okay fine, I'll give you Ryan Gosling, but Ryan Reynolds?" The whispered argument continued, Ted letting them know Tallulah's romance for the boy as the older man himself continued talking.
"Yes, are you forgetting The Proposal, or Definitely, Maybe, or how about Just Friends?"
"Alright, but they were more than just friends in that movie," Jamie told her.
The girl rolled her eyes at his comment, "Obviously Jamie." Her phone buzzed, revealing a strange text from Joe. "Hey, I'll see you all later!" She patted Jamie on the knee before leaving the room and walking into her office.
Tallulah opened the message on her phone reading the, "Hey T, band's coming into town again. I thought you should know Hugo left the band... our usual guitarist is here, but we thought you could open for us maybe? It would be good to see you again."
She must have read the message about two or three times. Tallulah had never performed on stage by herself before; there was always some musical accompaniment with her. What would she even play? Her mind buzzed with questions but decided to just ask when the gig would happen.
Joe responded fairly quickly. Ted and Beard had come back from the meeting along with all the other players. "Tomorrow night."
Tallulah sat up in her chair, staring at the phone. Tomorrow. Tomorrow night. The night before game day. That's a big leap. The last time she had played a guitar was the night of the Higgins Christmas party, but she hadn't done anything complicated.
The ginger-haired girl suddenly got up from the chair and walked out of the office to the locker room. Jamie was sitting and putting on his regular shoes. She sat down next to him, looking straight ahead. "So... I need some advice..." Her face turned to a closed mouth grin as she watched the boy out of her peripherals sharply turn his head to look at her.
"Really, you Ulla Fitzpatrick, need advice?" His sentence made the girl giggle.
"Yes, I do."
"Well, I think we should discuss this over a coffee, don't you think?" Jamie suggested. He wanted so desperately for this to be a date with the girl. The way her laugh sounded like wind chimes, making his heart almost leap out of his chest every time he heard it.
She rolled her eyes slightly, "I don't know... Rebecca is expecting me to at least do some work today."
"Oh, come on, it's almost lunch! Plus, she loves you, she'll basically let you do anything you want." He grabbed a hold of her hand and dragged her out of the locker room, going past a table full of cappuccino machines with Keeley and Rebecca.
Tallulah and Jamie, however, didn't even notice the two, being fixated on their own world. Tallulah giggled at Jamie's grip on her hand, such a gentle handle on her as he playfully tugged her down the hallway.
Keeley let out a chuckle at the two, looking at the two's connection fondly. "What's that about?" Rebecca asked, clueless at the direction the two had just gone. Keeley looked back at her from her clipboard, "Seriously?" The shorter of the two gave the woman a dumbfounded look, "Jamie and Tallulah have given each other the googly eyes since last season!"
"Are they together?" Rebecca asked, her voice sharp. Jamie was dumb; how could he ever land a smart girl like Tallulah.
"I'm... I know she was dating some guy named Davis." Keeley thought back to.
Rebecca narrowed her eyes, "I thought his name was Hugo?"
"What?! That was like so long ago; that was like last season! She's been broken up with him for a while." Keeley laughed out.
"Are you serious?" Rebecca asked, her English accent flaring out.
Keeley laughed again at Rebecca's response before nodding, "Yeah."
"Wait, so how does Jamie play into all this?" Rebecca questioned, still trying to catch up.
"Well," Keeley paused, trying to think back to when she first noticed their behavior change, "I think it first started at the Gala?" It was more a question than a statement.
"The gala?!"
"Yeah, something happened at the Gala; then Tallulah started riding with him to work, in his car and stuff. Which, I always thought was weird, cause Tallulah hates cars."
"So at the Gala? What about after?"
"Well, Ted and Beard know more than me, I think... Maybe we should ask them?" Keeley suggested, the other woman nodded, stomping her way in her high heels into the coach's office, leaving Keeley behind to give out the cappuccino machines.
"What do you know about Tallulah and Jamie?" Rebecca asked the two coaches, interrupting a conversation between the two.
"Uhh..." Ted looked over at Beard, who shrugged his shoulders, "What do you know about Jamie and Tallulah?"
"I know that last season Tallulah rode with Jamie to work after the Gala?" She was still questioning the information.
Beard sat up straighter in his chair, sharing another look with Ted. "We didn't know that; we knew that something happened after the fire."
"The bonfire?" The blonde questioned.
"Yes, ma'am, after the locker room confessions, they both hung back, then they came out looking all red in the face, then they kept giving each them googly eyes." Ted mimed them at Beard who did them back.
Rebecca let out a frustrated sigh, "That's it?"
"Well..." Ted looked slightly guilty, "I know that her and some guy named Davis recently did the splits." Revealing only part of that late-night confession's details.
"And?"
"And ever since, they've been kinda making those googly eyes again." Ted informed her, miming the eyes again with Beard.
"Hmph." Was all the tall blonde said before exiting the room once more. Rebecca was going to get to the bottom of this 'relationship,' if she could even call it that.
AT THE CAFE
"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Jamie asked, holding the door open for Tallulah as they walked into the coffee shop.
"Thank you, well... you know how I was in a band?" She started as she let Jamie order first.
"One latte and one white Americano." He spoke to none other than Larry, the coffee shop attendant that had been bullied by Tallulah before. The girl looked over at the man, stopped by the shock of him ordering the usual coffee she had always gotten.
"You were in a band?" Jamie went on as if nothing had just happened.
Tallulah's brain faltered, "Uhh yeah... did you just order for me?"
Jamie turned to look at her, "Yeah?" The girl gazed at him with eyes twinkling with love. "What, I get it wrong?"
She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts of confession from her mind. No. She couldn't think like that. He was just a friend. It could never work. "No, sorry. I just... sorry."
"Your okay, no need to be sorry." Jamie laughed at the girl's reaction. "You were in a band?" He questioned again.
"Yeah, when my parents passed, I was put in a foster home with one of my good friends, Joe." She started to explain as they sat down by a little table, waiting for their coffees.
"Who is Joe?" Jamie asked.
"One of my good friends, he has fluffy hair, he also does some movies and stuff I don't know." She ranted, "Well, after living for about four years in foster care with him, he basically adopted me; he turned eighteen and rented out a small apartment for us to live in."
"Hold on," Jamie grabbed the coffees from the counter. He looked at the name written on the cups and chuckled to himself. "So how does Joe play into you being in a band, Tango?" Showing her the name on the cup.
"You'll see, Jack." She told him, reading the name off of his cup before continuing. "Well after about a year of living there, I decided in all my infinite teenage wisdom to drop out of school." Jamie's mouth slightly fell open.
"So, myself, as a fifteen year old started a band with Joe." She explained to him.
"Good, we're finally getting to the story." Jamie joked; she lightly shoved him as she took a sip of her drink before setting it down again.
"Shut up." She teased, "You wanted the story! That's how I was in the band. We mainly just played in town, but then we started to get more and more popular. We started to play all about Ireland, but then I felt like I needed to spread my wings a little bit so I moved to England and got the job here." She finished.
Jamie sat back in his chair, an amused smile on his face. "So... what is your problem exactly?"
She groaned, slumping forward and banging her head on the table. "My problem is... Joe asked me to open for him at a show tomorrow night..."
"I still don't see a problem?"
"The problem is..." She trailed off, her arms going up in the air, "Is that what if I go and I go on stage... and everyone hates me!" The girl slumped in the chair.
Jamie gave an unimpressed eye roll, "Ulla, why would everyone hate you?"
"Because... Because what if I go up and I just fail, or I go on to sing and my voice cracks, and I haven't played in so long what if I just forget how to play?" Tallulah listed off scenarios.
"Has that happened before?"
"Well no, but—" The girl was cut off.
"So..." Jamie's smile began to grow, making one grow on the girl's face as well, "You know that would never happen. You're going to do great." He shrugged his shoulders simply. "Where is this thing anyway?"
"Some bar, The Lighthouse Cafe I think? Something like that, it's small just supposed to be a pop in for the band... Why?" She looked the man in his eyes, the pools of green reminding her evermore of the forest behind her house as a child.
"Just wonderin'."
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° .