✰ 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

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PEOPLE WERE SCREAMING IN joy as Jesse, and the rest of the ' One Chicago ' cast–members got off the bus at the training–ground. Jesse chuckled, raising his hand to wave as Taylor came to his side, placing an arm around his shoulder. "How prepared are you to play soccer today, Soffs? I mean, I'm more of a — well, a motorcycle guy, but Spencer is quite the soccer player. Apparently he did it in between the choir–practices his mother forced him to join." The actor chuckled, making Jesse roll his eyes.


               "I don't know, honestly. Soccer has never been my thing either, I'm more of a hockey–fellow." Jesse admitted, much to Patrick's pleasure, as the actor joined his co–star from ' Chicago PD ', and the actor behind the character of Kelly Severide from ' Chicago Fire'. "However, Paddy here should be able to serve up a solid performance on the field."


               The whole group halted to a stop when they got into the entrance hall of the building, however, all of them standing face–to–face with a stern–looking British man. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows furrowed as he seemed to study every single member of the cast. "Alright, T.V–faces, listen up. My name's Gary Neville, and I'm the team's assistant manager—,"


"They only sent the assistant manager?" Patrick snorted, rolling his eyes, only to receive an elbow to the stomach from Marina, who stood beside him.


"Right, Rambo. That's five laps extra for you." Gary sneered, sending a glare in Patrick's direction, while Jesse tried his best to stifle his chuckle. Beside him, Taylor was struggling with the same thing, the two actors lowering their heads to not attract too much attention. "Does anyone else have weak comments to make about my position? This is the national team, and assistant manager is better than whatever position any of you would ever obtain for this sport."


The group of actors huddled closer together, a visible smirk appearing on Gary's lips; he had gotten something he would never have in the same way within the team — he had gotten a position of authority.


               "Okay, I've got one more — what's the difference between England and a tea bag—," Patrick started, before being cut off by Jesse's hand slapping across his mouth, a panicked look on the latter's face as he stopped his co–star from making an absolute fool of himself.


               "Paddy, do not finish that." Jesse scowled, shotting Jesse Spencer a grateful look, as the Australian came to help hold back Patrick's hands.


               "I'll fucking punch you if you don't stop, Rambo." Gary sneered again, this time letting his arms fall to his sides, fists curled. "However, that's not where our focus should lie. I can't believe you idiots are here; the team has a match to prepare to, and you're all here to work out some charity–thing. Don't get me wrong, it's great — but couldn't this wait until some other time? Or with some local team? America is the land of idiot–sports, you could have gone ahead and done something with a team playing American football."


               Jesse let his hand drop from Patrick's face as the fellow actor seemed to calm down, but he wasn't going to lie; he was worried Patrick would make a fool of himself. He wasn't one known for thinking before he spoke, something that had gotten him in a lot of trouble. While he usually mouthed off at Jon or Jason while on the set of ' Chicago PD ', he would find himself facing two older actors who could not care less about the younger actor marking his territory. However, the second he stepped off set, things changed, and Patrick had to be leashed — at least most of the time.


               "There are two dressing rooms; one for the males, one for the females. You should find everything you need there. We'll do a round–up out on the pitch in five minutes." Gary huffed, motioning towards the doors to the two rooms, before re–joining Hannah on the pitch–side. "I'm not going to give anything away, but I'm pairing Jordan up with Rambo, and it will get ugly."


"The same way it got ugly when Jordan threatned to use Dean as target–practice that one time? Or like the time Eric Cantona did his little karate–kick?" Hannah raised an eyebrow as she looked at Gary, knowing what his answer was without needing to hear his words. Stifling a chuckle, she leaned back against the fence as they watched the actors enter the field, the squad picking up the intensity of their drills to scare the people from the entertainment–business.


Gary chuckled as Hannah grimaced, before stepping onto the field. He was put in charge of the practice, and Hannah assumed it was to give him the coaching experience ( though she told him that she thought it was because he would be the only one capable to handle all the idiots brought to them by the cast of ' One Chicago ' ). He commanded them around, and Hannah soon found herself watching a bunch of actors doing laps around the field ( with a certain ' Rambo ' doing five extra laps, all by himself ). She paid attention as Gary divided the actors between the various players, before the assistant manager returned to her side.


"Impressed? I do feel like I have quite a good control of these maniacs." Gary chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest, eyes immediately travelling to Jordan, who was struggling to keep control of ' Rambo ' — or Patrick John Flueger, as his name really was.


Hannah could tell from across the field that the Sunderland–born footballer was talking to Patrick through gritted teeth, and she chuckled, turning to Gary. "You know, Jordan being pissed for a whole training session will not show us up, Gaz. I know you want to punch ' Rambo ', but you manage to keep it as a wish. Jordan? Well, he will take his anger out with a ball."


As if on cue, the midfielder picked up a ball, sending what Hannah recognized to be a rather soft drop–kick from him, right towards Patrick's shoulder. The actor yelped, staring back at the footballer, his eyes wide in shock. "What did you do that for?"


"Pick up pace and intensity, Flueger." Jordan growled, almost immediately threatning to kick another ball at him.


Hannah chuckled, shaking her head a little. "Looks like you've quite the work to do, boss. I'll let you get back to it." She watched as he rolled his eyes, gaze scanning the pitch. At one end of the pitch, two actors stood quietly, simply passing the ball between them, while Harry was commanding a couple of others around. A blond and a red-headed actor stood a few feet away, a smile on their faces as they joked around with Harry and Wayne.


"Now, I'll be saving ' Rambo ' — you go interview those two." Gary sighed, motioning in the direction of the two actors passing the ball between them. "Come on, this is your job, interviewing and making sure we've got promotional things to post on the team's social medias."


Hannah rolled her eyes, though nodded at the former footballer. "Alright, Gaz — you do you, and I'll do him." She spoke, before realizing her slip of words. Embarrassed, she scratched the back of her neck, desperately trying to form a sentence, while Gary looked at her with a confused look. "I'll do the interview. With them. Him. Them. That's what I meant."


However, Gary took it nicely, chuckling as he raised his hands in surrender, taking a few steps towards the center of the pitch. "Whatever you say, Henderson."

𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 // 𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫Where stories live. Discover now