Numbers - A Ted Lasso OC Story

8 - Football is Life!

It wasn't hard to aadjust to the new job. She was there half the time and the other half at uni, but it still started to feel like another home.

Ted added a desk in the corner of him and Beards shared office for her, and the team was all so welcoming. Exept for Jamie who claimed statistics in sport were "useless", Nessa got him to shut up quickly by telling him he was 64% stupider than a rat. She made up the statistic, but he couldn't tell because he was too busy being a dick.

Despite their original interaction, Nathan was alright. They didn't chat much because both of them were pretty quiet people, but he was good company.

"Today will be fun huh?" Nate says to Beard as they both look at a whiteboard with strategy on it, and resting beside was of course a sheet of paper with many of Vanessa's notes and numbers. Nessa wasn't sure why the Kitman was helping with strategy, but he seemed good at it so she figured she wouldn't say anything.

"Mornin' fellas. Sorry I'm late." Ted walks into the office, looking slightly disheveled and tired. "Just needed to clear my head so I decided to, you know, walk to work." Throwing his stuff on his desk and struggling to unzip his jacket. "Turns out clearing and walking in a town you don't know all too well, can be a little tricky."

It wasn't hard to tell that something was up with Ted, "Ended up getting lost but, you know, then I got unlost, then I got lost again but... Well, you know, now I'm here, you know. Beard's here, Nate's here, Nessa's here, which is great because the world can be a sad, lonely place, but. Hey, come on now, let's get to work, shall we?"

... Well that was a roller coaster.

"Michelle" Beard indicates to Nathan and Vanessa, Ted's wife, or maybe soon to be Ex-Wife? Vanessa wasn't sure but it probably wasn't really her place anyway.

Ted just kept on talking, about work, the negative connotation around the word 'bury', and something about warm baths. Nessa had lost focus and instead redirected to her work.

"Nessa, you got a favourite bath bomb?" Her focus was once again grabbed and pulled into the conversation.

"I don't really take baths, I grew up with 3 siblings, if you were in the bathroom too long the door would get knocked over. That only got worse once my dad married my step mom and two more, even younger, kids were added to the house." She didn't expect the question, so she did what she often did and lost track of her words. "Sorry, you didn't ask about that. No favourite bath bomb."

"Nah nah, no worries, I like learning about others personal lives. Beard? You got a favourite bath bomb?"

"Crème brûlée honey." Only beard could somehow say the words 'Crème brûlée honey' without cracking a smile, facial expression, or changing vocal tone.

"Honey? Is that an ingredient or something you just called me?" Once again Ted was on the deflective, more random yammering and distracting of what should be the real topic, why he was a mess.

"Ok, I'll see y'all in a little bit." And Ted leaves the room, off to who knows where.

"Is he alright?" Oh Nathan, how unobservant.

"No!" Coach beard laughs as Nessa simultaneously adds "obviously not." She wasn't great at reading or understanding others, but come on, that one was easy.

~

Ted wanders into the shared office.

"Plan. Plan, plan? Plan," He mutters under his breath repeatedly. Causing Nessa to wonder if he was alright or if he had just hit his head really hard.

"Word become a sound?" Beard asks, noticing Ted's spiral.

"What's that called again?"

"Semantic satiation." Both Beard and Vanessa say, at the same time. Beard glanced over at her and they share a nod of approval.

"Yeah, ok, That new kid from Mexico here yet?" Ted asks, slightly distracted. Vanessa was exited to see this new player play. When looking at his previous club and games she saw he was really good. Not only would he provide some nice statistics, he would hopefully be fun to watch as well.

As usual Vanessa tunes out of the conversation wanting to jot down a couple last things to do with ticket sales before training started. Her job was more than just 'who's good and who's ass.' But she enjoyed calculating predicted ticket sales based on opponents, how well the team has been playing, and ticket prices. So that was fine with her.

Next thing she knew Ted was in the next room yelling,

"PRACTICE!!"

Over, and over. Directly at Jamie Tartt. It was weird to see Ted like this, but enjoyable to see the poor prick get yelled at. It wasn't common for Vanessa to enjoy someone else's torment, but this was a pleasant exception.

~

She could not have been more right about the new player. She knew he was going to be fun to watch, and he was, even when he was not playing.

"Dani Rojas, Rojas! Dani Rojassss!!" What a first impression, Nessa wouldn't have much trouble remembering his name.

He came onto the pitch running in circles and chanting his name, Dani Rojas, over, and over.

"Hey! Hello, coaches." He came over to shake their hands. "Thank you for the opportunity."

"You are a spirited fella Dani," Ted spoke as Dani shook Nathan's hand, and then reached down to give Vanessa a handshake from her chair. He gave great handshakes. "Just go on out there, and get the striker spot for us, okay?"

"Yes! Just like back in Guadalajara, you say it, I do it, Coach." And just like that Dani Rojas went running off shouting "Football is life!"  And then he gave Vanessa one of the greatest gifts she couldn't ask for, some epic looking numbers.

***

DANI ROJAS ROJAS DANI I LOVE HIM

New chapter you will get juicy lore spoon fed to you, by me, isn't that wonderful my pookies.

Anywayyy what do yall think she is going to bring to the curse breaking fire bin thing? (cause that's next chapter :)) Is she even gonna go? Is she even going to be invited? Who knows? (I do)

Anyway have a great day!