a football player and a countess kissing in a tree

[selfeffacingly]

will insert inspiration photos later hold pls

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[jamieshark]

[Following that wonderful night are a series of wonderful days and wonderful weeks. They're both busy people and it's hard to nourish a new thing when they have to be strategic, but Jamie finds himself looking forward to their dates. More than anything he has in a long time.

He starts every day with a good morning text and ends every night with a sleep well. At some point, he stops getting replies. They have nothing on the books and Jamie gets a little anxious, nudging her every so often to ask if she's free. Eventually he starts to ask if she's alright or if he said something. God. He says so many things, too.

More than morose about it, the team eventually have to gently break the news that Jamie Tartt has been ghosted. It hits him harder than he thinks it would. It's not like he's never had a new thing fizzle out and it's certainly not always on his end. It's just that at some point he realised he felt as strongly about this as he did in the early stages with Keeley, and he hasn't hit that high for so long that it's a long drop down.

Against the strict advice of literally everyone he's spoken to, he says fuck the phones. Fuck the internet. He's going to get her back the way he got her the first time, by cornering her after a concert. He sits far up the back so he can't be seen, sitting stone-faced and staring straight ahead until the concert stops for an intermission. The intermission seems to drag and it becomes clear why when an announcer tells the crowd that Francesca is unwell and cannot continue.

Jamie feels worry for two reasons. One is the worry that she saw him and she's horribly offended by his overstep. Two is the worry that she really is unwell. Maybe she's got a terminal illness or something and that's why she broke things off? He feels like he'll never know, but he loiters outside just staring at the sky as the crowd filters out of the hall.

He should go, but he can't make himself walk to his car. His forced patience pays off, though, because there's a soft clicking of heels and Jamie's breath hitches when he realises that Francesca has just rounded the corner and is now face to face with him. His lips twitch, not sure if he wants to smile or frown. What he does do, without really meaning to, is flash her the saddest pair of eyes anyone has ever seen.]

Evening.