If someone asks you if you liked a certain drink and then says they’d be happy to give you more recs, is that flirting or just being nice?
Charlie
Depends on the situation, why? Sounds like she’s trying to find a reason to see you again or keep talking to you.
Charlie
Are you out or at home?
Danny
At home, chatting to someone I met this afternoon after I left.
Charlie
Did she message you? Sounds like she wants to keep chatting. Don’t get too deep with it but ask about what she likes. Remember, you’ve gotta show you’re interested and not make it only about you
Danny
I can do that. Cheers
I wondered if I should tell Charlie I wasn’t chatting to a girl, but I didn’t fancy going into all the details. He’d want to get into it, and I had better things to do right now.
Like figure out what the fuck to say to Ezra to keep him chatting to me.
CHAPTER SIX
Ezra
I checkedthe microphone clipped to my collar, making sure it was connected to the phone in my hand as I waited by the door of the training centre for the players to start arriving for their first day of preseason training.
Leigh, Adam, and I had planned out a whole month’s worth of content around the build-up to the first preseason friendlies, kicking off with today’s video, which Leigh had been down to film. Unfortunately, she’d been struck down with food poisoning and I didn’t want to inflict the team on Adam solo, so here I was, phone in one hand and lollipops in the other, preparing to bribe the players into taking part in our social media antics.
Which I knew they would as soon as they saw the sweets. They were not difficult creatures to predict, and any kind of food, sticker, or small reward would get them on board in an instant.
I wiped the sleep from my eye with a knuckle and suppressed a yawn. Being suited and booted at seven on a Monday morning hadn’t been something I’d expected when I’d taken this job, butthe free coffee and breakfast were a nice perk. And the fact I’d be finished by three.
Although it wasn’t as if I had anything to do with my afternoon. I’d probably end up staying in the office to get ahead on content planning, emails, sponsorship announcements, and all the other millions of things that came with being in charge.
The training centre door swung open, revealing my first victims: Jonny and Devon.
Their appearance didn’t surprise me as the two of them were always here first because they liked having breakfast by the window together. I’d known about their relationship from day one when Clive had talked me through a list of important things I should know about the players, and I had to admit it had surprised me. Mostly because I’d never heard of a player couple being openly together.
We’d sat down with them last season to talk about how comfortable they were with us posting about their relationship on social media, mostly because of their safety. Because while we had multiple players who were openly in queer relationships, they were all with people from outside of the team and that made a big difference.
Player safety was always my first priority because there were people out there who took their attachment to a whole new level, and I was not here to test the limits of their parasocialism.
Devon’s eyes widened as he saw the sweets while Jonny sighed, immediately noticing my phone and knowing I was recording. “Really? It’s the first day back,” he said, but he did smile when I held out the lollies.
“Yeah, you can’t escape us this year,” I said. “But if you tell me one thing you did this summer, you can have a lolly.”
“Done,” Devon said, immediately nabbing one out of my hand. “I learnt how to make cookies.”
“Impressive. Are you going to bring some in?” I asked.
“Probably not. I don’t think my kitchen’s big enough to make as many as I’d need.” He grinned and began unwrapping the lolly. “Oooh, strawberry.”
Jonny chuckled and reached for his own lollipop. “I moved house.”
