Chapter Text
(9:29pm) Keeley just called, they’re all meeting up at that karaoke place downtown after they leave the pub.
(9:31pm) Will you be there?
She sees three dots appear, starts to put on her jewelry while she waits for the reply.
(9:35pm) Sorry to disappoint, but tonight this guy realized that he ain’t as young as he used to be.
Rebecca frowns down at her phone, pausing her hands before they could finish inserting her earring. It buzzes again.
(9:37pm) I’m back where I belong on a Friday night: on my couch, whiskey in hand, on my way to falling asleep to Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team.
She smiles at that.
(9:39pm) Believe it or not, I’ve never actually seen that movie.
She laughs when her phone vibrates in her hand and she sees the little thumbs down icon attach itself to her text.
(9:40pm) WHAT?
(9:41pm) Rebecca, that is a sin against the whole genre of comedy!
(9:43pm) Okay, we need to rectify this immediately. Scoot your boot on over here! I’m putting the popcorn on now!
She’s already taken off the jewelry she'd just finished putting on and walked back toward her closet to change out of her cocktail dress and into the softest navy leggings she owns.
(9:45pm) You know I can’t say no to popcorn. I’ll head over in a moment.
(9:49pm) Oh shoot, wait - weren’t you gonna go sing tonight? Meet up with Keeley and the fellas?
(9:50pm) Well, do you want company, or not?
(9:51pm) Always, if it’s you.
She has to press her lips together to stop a grin from taking over her face. He’s always so generous with his affection, like it isn’t a fault to let people know that you care about them, that you want to be around them.
She pulls open a new text thread.
(9:53pm) Sorry babe - I’m not going to make it out after all. Feeling a bit more like a night in.
(9:53pm) Boooooo you shit!
(9:53pm) Jk jk, u know I love u
(9:53pm) Wait if ur ditching me for a date you’d tell me right??
(9:54pm) Either way let’s get lunch this weekend, just us yeah? Haven’t seen u in forev and we’ve GOT to catch up in person! Over champagne and oysters, pls&thx
(9:56pm) LOL. You’re too much.
(9:57pm) No, there’s no date, and of course I’d tell you if there was because I’d need you to help me pick out my outfit.
(9:58pm) I’m just going to Ted’s to watch a movie. Turns out we’re both a few decades past heading out at 10pm for drinks.
She watches three dots appear, disappear, appear again, then disappear for good.
(10:01pm) And yes to lunch. Sunday at noon. You pick where, I’ll be there.
A thumbs up appears next to her message.
(10:01pm) Say hi to Ted for me ;) & perfect luv u see u then!!
She sends a “Heart” to Keeley’s last message and switches back to Ted as she picks up her keys from their spot on her kitchen counter.
(10:02pm) I’m walking over now. See you soon.
(10:03pm) Can’t wait! Walk safe.
***
She knocks on Ted’s front door and lets herself in when she finds it unlocked.
“Ted?”
“Hey, Rebecca, come on in!” His face pokes out around the corner between the kitchen and the entryway, and he walks over to help her out of her coat.
“I can’t believe you’ve never seen Anchorman ,” he says excitedly, walking her into the kitchen and pushing a glass of dark liquor and a plate of lemon squares into her hands. “I mean, it’s a classic! Ooh boy, you’re gonna love it.”
He grabs a mixing bowl full of popcorn from the counter and leads her to the living room.
“I’ll tell ya, I had a big ol’ crush on Veronica Corningstone when I first saw this - tried to keep it from Michelle at first, but ya know what —” he held up one of his hands, as if in defense of his past self, “—she knew I had a type when she met me. And just like my man Ron Burgundy – one look at Ms. Corningstone and I was just smitten, with her power suits, and that blonde h—“
He’s just turned to place the popcorn bowl on the coffee table when her raised eyebrow and matching smirk seemed to clue his brain into what his mouth was saying.
He blinks at her twice, red rising from his collar to settle in his ears.
“Uh, well, I just meant—” he stammers, blush reaching his cheekbones. “It’s nice to watch a woman kick some booty in a male-dominated —“ He cuts himself off again. “Uh, ya know, I just think it’s good for folks to see —“
She puts a hand on his forearm and takes pity on him. “It’s okay, Ted,” she says, and sits down on the couch. “Let's just start the movie, shall we?”
“Yes, yep, yeah, let’s definitely do that,” he says as he picks up his Xbox remote from the armchair and sits, pressing play to restart the movie from the beginning.
She drinks her whiskey and grabs a handful of popcorn from the bowl. Ted chants along with Will Ferrell’s opening vocal practice, looking over at her to see if she’s laughing yet.
She moans around the first bite of her lemon square, and when Ted’s grin freezes on his face and his eyes drop down to her mouth, she wonders what she’s gotten herself into.
***
Rebecca can’t stop her laugh when Will Ferrell’s character confidently denies that San Diego translates to Saint Diego . She knew far too many men who were just as confident in their very incorrect opinions.
Ted looks over at her with a huge grin on his face at the sound. “Ha! I knew you’d like it!”
She’s completely lying down on the couch now, throw pillow cushioning her head, cozy blanket draped over her body, so she has to lift her head a bit to roll her eyes at him.
“I don’t know that I’d go that far,” she hedges with a smile. “But I don’t mind watching dumb movies when it’s with you.”
He looks bashful, young. “Oh yeah?”
“Yep.”
She smiles and burrows further into the blanket, but doesn’t elaborate any further - mostly because she’s not entirely sure that she even has the words to explain it to herself. She just knows that she likes spending time with him, especially when it’s just the two of them. Likes hearing him laugh. Likes seeing him relaxed and open and happy. Likes that she knows it’s not just the movie that’s making him this way - it’s her company, as well.
And really, the idea that she could make Ted happy — well, she’s not sure that she’s ready to delve too deeply into the feelings that arise from that thought.
But she can’t deny that she hadn’t even thought twice once she’d found out that he wouldn’t be at the bar.
Just like she can’t deny the way her stomach tightens and her heart feels like it’s squeezing into her throat at the thought of making him happy.
A little voice in the back of her mind, sounding suspiciously like Keeley, tells her that she knows exactly what these feelings mean.
When Ted adjusts himself in the armchair for the fifth time in as many minutes, Rebecca sighs and looks over at him.
“Ted, just come over on the couch with me already.”
And just as he had the last time she’d suggested it fifteen minutes prior, he says, “No, no - I’m just fine over here.”
“One - you are not fine. It is glaringly obvious that armchair is not doing you any favors. And two - really, you should have told me how awful this furniture is! I’ll have another set delivered for you next week that you can actually stand to sit in for more than twenty minutes at a time.”
He doesn’t move, keeping his eyes stubbornly on the tv.
“Ted.”
This time she injects some steel into her voice, and it works - his eyes roll and he grumbles under his breath, but finally he gets up and stretches his arms over his head, rolling out his shoulders.
Rebecca forgets to breathe for a few moments when his t-shirt rides up, giving her a view of his toned belly and a line of hair leading below the waistband of his joggers.
“Fine, but I’m only doin’ it ‘cause you used your Boss voice – and really, that ain’t fair of you, ‘cause you know it gets me all squirrelly inside, like I’m back in fifth grade and Ms. Shannahan just caught me playin’ with my GI Joe instead of doing my times tables.”
She laughs loudly, pleased at his easy admission of how much she affects him. He grins over at her at the sound.
“I'm gonna top off my glass, you want another round?”
“Yes, please — think I’ll need at least two more to get through the rest of this fucking movie.”
But she smiles as she says it, sitting up so she’s in the middle of the couch now, blanket falling to her lap. Ted laughs and touches her shoulder as he walks over to the kitchen. Her skin burns where his fingers brushed her skin, and she adds that to the list of Ted-related feelings that she is trying very hard to not think about right now.
He brings back the half-empty bottle of Bulleit and leaves it on the coffee table after pouring them each a little more.
She takes a sip. The whiskey goes down much easier now that it’s the second glass, and she hopes that when he looks over at her he’ll attribute her rising blush to the alcohol and not the quick brushing of their fingers as she took her glass from him.
He sits down on the opposite side of the couch, leaning against the arm to get comfortable, feet reaching out to rest on the coffee table.
But it’s not too long before he’s adjusting himself again, and she catches a grimace on his face both times she chances a look over at him.
She pulls a throw pillow into her lap and pats it.
“Ted, just come on and lay down. You’ll be so much more comfortable, and I can’t have you busting your back just because I interrupted your movie night.”
Ted looks over at her, but doesn’t move. She’s not sure that she recognizes the look on his face, but she holds his gaze long enough for a small smile to play at his mouth and an invisible charge to flicker to life in the air between them. Whatever he sees in her face must convince him, because then he’s giving her a short nod.
“Well, okay then.”
He’s still looking at her as he downs the rest of his whiskey, until the burn makes him close his eyes and shake his head. She’s not sure why her body is reacting as if she’s the one who just swallowed an entire drink in one go, but her heart is thumping and her blood is rushing to her head and that invisible spark is pushing its way into her chest. She’s never had such a reaction to eye contact before.
“Well hang on now – what about you? If I ain’t comfy, I know you ain’t comfy. You’re probably used to sittin’ on a couch of feathers or somethin’.” He shakes his head again and mutters, almost to himself, “Dunno why you even wanted to come over here anyway –”
She frowns at the note of insecurity in his voice and cuts him off with a quiet but firm voice. “I wanted to come over because you’re the person I wanted to spend time with tonight.”
The look he gives her makes her mouth go dry.
And then he blinks and smiles softly at her, and the charge turns down a little. It’s still there, making its way from her chest to her stomach, but it’s sweeter, it’s settled a bit, like it’s there to stay. She resolutely doesn’t let herself acknowledge what that might mean, even as Keeley’s voice starts whispering again.
He brings her mind back to the situation at hand when he gets up off the couch and reaches for her hand. She takes his automatically, and he pulls gently to get her to stand. Eyes never leaving hers, he settles his other hand on her hip to move her gently to the side.
“Why don’t we just both lie down?” He sits down again, this time in the middle of the couch, rotating as he does to bring his legs up with him, and stretches out against the back cushions. “No reason we can’t both be comfy, right?”
Rebecca swallows and blinks, licks her lips, and thinks about just how bad of an idea it is to spoon with Ted Lasso on his couch for the next hour.
But he’s looking at her without any expectations, just fondness in his smile and maybe a bit of something in his eyes that might be from the whiskey or might be from something else, and the irrational side of her mind doesn’t seem to care that it might be a mistake – might knock down the last of her desperately held up walls, might ruin their friendship. Because what if, instead, it was the start of everything that she’s ever wanted?
What if Ted was everything she’s ever wanted?
So without consulting the rational side of her mind at all, she’s pulling up her legs and letting his hand tug her body to lie down in front of him.
She feels him shuffle, and looks back over her shoulder to see that he’s placed a throw pillow under his own head so he’ll be propped up enough to see the TV over her. He catches her eye and smiles at her with his lips pressed together, as if trying to stop himself from breaking into a grin. She lifts up a bit to let him slip an arm under her head, and tries to not feel like a fifteen year old girl on a couch with her crush for the first time.
Once they’re settled, his hand hovers for a few moments before it finally comes to rest very gently on her waist. His thumb starts tracing tiny circles against her sweater, and she can feel his breath against her neck.
She shivers.
Then she thinks fuck it, takes his hand to pull his arm all the way around her, scoots herself a tiny bit backwards until she’s touching his body, and let’s that magic little invisible spark in her stomach burst into a flame.
***