THE VERY LAST THING I THOUGHT would happen to me when I had woken up that morning was that there would be four drunk Richmond players in my car. But, there I was. I wasn't even sure how drunk Tartt was, but Colin and Montlaur seemed long gone. Isaac was quiet, like normal, but even he seemed tipsy.

As I cruised down the completely empty streets,
Colin preformed a one-man band performance of whatever song came up on my playlist. He used the car door as drums and flicked my air freshener as a bell/triangle type of thing. He sung when he knew the song, which was about fifty/fifty. Montlaur and Isaac provided commentary on my music taste and forcefully attempted to make song suggestions.

I gripped the wheel hard and fought the urge to swerve off the road, reminding myself over and over that they were drunk and that everyone got ten times more annoying when they drank. I had plenty of examples (see: karaoke singing 'I Will Always Love You' and quoting Titanic three times in the same night). The thing that threw me the most, though, was how quiet Tartt was.

I felt his stare on the back of my neck. Almost like he was trying to burn a whole right through it. Which, of course, wouldn't surprise me considering who he is and what we've established as our relationship. Maybe he was just taking my 'don't be a dick' instruction more seriously than I thought he would.

"You've arrived at your destination," the tiny, automated GPS voice interrupted Colin's rendition of Wildest Dreams.

"Bye!" The boys said to their teammate as though they were a chorus of third grade boys.

"Thank you, Sabrina! You're a God among women!" Montlaur said as he slid out of the car. "See you lads tomorrow!"

Tartt stifled a laugh in the back seat as Montlaur shut the door. I glanced in my rear view mirror and narrowed my eyes.

"Something funny, Tartt?" I asked as Isaac reached up and grabbed my phone to put his address in.

"Nothing," he scoffed, turning his head to look out the window.

"Sure doesn't sound like nothing."

"Lewis, I said it was nothing. Alright?"

"Alright, to Isaac's house we go!" Colin burst out suddenly. He was clearly uncomfortable and I didn't blame him. Tartt and I fighting had to be awkward for any third party. He just pissed me off so much.

I exhaled and inhaled slowly before heading off to Isaac's house. I tried to distract myself from even thinking anything about the prick who sat behind me. I tuned out Colin's endless stream of words while he had a very one sided conversation with the two other men in the car. Isaac did provide an answer back when Colin paused every once in a while, which I thought was nice.

Isaac was very good guy all around, I thought. I made a mental note to really get a good view of his house when I dropped him off to tell Lily all about it. She was be happy and get all blush-y and flustered and pretend like she didn't care but she did.

I realized that my roommates would probably find this whole thing ridiculous and absolutely hilarious. Being the designated driver for a bunch of drunk footballers was definitely teasing material. Especially when one of those drunk footballers was  Tartt.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Colin suddenly gripping down on his arm rest. I glanced over at him through my peripheral vision as he gagged slightly.

"Fuck, Colin!" I exclaimed. He was going to puke. He was going to puke in my car. How much did he drink?

I began pulling off to the side of the road as Colin began rapidly talking and Isaac and Tartt started freaking out.

"Please do not puke in my car!" I exclaimed, admittedly very selfishly in the moment.

"I think he has other issues right now besides that," Isaac remarked, reaching forward to rub Colin's shoulders.

"Jesus, Hughes! Did you drink the whole bottle?" Tartt asked, expressing my same thoughts.

I was thankful that no one else was on the road as I put my hazards on and Colin hopped out of the car. Isaac followed him and I leaned back into my headrest before also getting out of the car. Tartt followed a few moments after.

Colin was leaned over and Isaac was rubbing his back. I thought briefly about how nice it was to see two guys not be afraid to care about their friends. Those thoughts were pushed away as Colin emptied his stomach and I had to turn away.

"Wouldn't have thought you had a weak stomach," Tartt's voice came from a distance much too close behind me.

I took a step forward and tried to ignore the fact that my slippers had definitely just stepped into a puddle and that I could feel the water soaking into them. "I just prefer not to watch someone vomit on the side of the road," I answered. What an insane thing to make fun of someone for. Did he want me to watch? I feel that would be worse.

He appeared at my side and I shifted away from him slightly. "You're standing in a puddle."

"I'm not above leaving you on the side of the road with Colin's vomit."

"Please stop saying vomit!" Isaac remarked.

"Sorry," I called back. My slipper was now properly soaked as I slowly took my foot out of the puddle and shook it slightly. Maybe I should've just sucked it up and put on my sneakers.

Tartt didn't say anything else. He just crossed his arms over his chest and I once again fought the urge to look at his fucking forearms flexed through his shirt.

"Alright, I'm good," Colin called weakly. "Do you have any gum, Sabrina?"

I laughed lightly and told him I did before we piled back into the car. My phone was now playing Hits Different by Taylor Swift, which Colin thought was very funny. ("I did throw up on the street! Me and Taylor are like this!").

I handed Colin a stick of gum from my glove compartment as we set off again. "Okay, but seriously, how much did you drink?" I asked.

"Not a lot," Colin whined slightly, putting his head against the window.

"I find that hard to believe." My mind flashed with the image of Colin keeled over a few minutes ago.

"He's not lying," Isaac backed up Colin's claim. "His tolerance is shit."

"Is not!" Colin argued, now sitting up straight in his seat as if the insinuation that he was a light weight was a blow to his honor.

"You're a massive light weight, mate," Tartt agreed. It was the first time he had actually spoken that night that wasn't to bother me.

"I thought you were trying to be less of a prick," Colin's eyes narrowed at Tartt. What was he talking about? If this was Tartt trying to be less of a prick... he was not doing very well.

"He's not being a prick, he's right," Isaac said. "Your tolerance is awful. You had like two shots and you're throwing up on the side of the road."

"I take offense to that."

"You can take all the offense you want, it's true," Tartt laughed a real laugh. I'd never heard him actually laugh before. It was weird. This whole night was fucking weird.

"Sabrina!" Colin cried as Isaac and Tartt dissolved into more laughter.

"What?" I asked, laughing a little myself. "I can't defend you from truthful allegations."

☕︎︎☕︎︎☕︎

Isaac was dropped off to a fairly average looking house for a professional soccer player, which I was sure Lily would find unbelievably charming. The ride to Colin's house was a lot more chill than the rest of the ride had been, with Colin obviously beginning to slightly sober up. He and Tartt chatted mindlessly in a way that made it easy for me to tune out.

I kept thinking back to the side of the road. My conversation with Tartt continued on a loop in my head, much like all our conversations did. Why was he such a dick to me? Why did he make me such a dick back?

Intertwined with mine and Tartt's conversation came James' words from earlier. Maybe if I think about it from his perspective he's less of a jerk.

I tried to think about how he could view me. I was sure the throwing a drink in his face didn't leave the best impression, but it was deserved. All of our interactions I felt as though I'd behaved properly.

Or, almost all of them. There was still that inkling of regret from earlier. I'd called him a benchwarmer, which was uncalled for. I was angry at him for his words and tried to throw something back at him, but that seemed more uncalled for now that I was thinking about it. He had seemed hurt by my words. Like I'd touched a sore spot.

"You've arrived at your destination," the GPS announced for the fourth time that night.

"Thank you for the ride," Colin said to me, reaching out and squeezing my shoulder. "I will be paying for your next... twenty coffees!"

I laughed and rolled my eyes at him lovingly. He really was such a sweet guy. I reached my hand up and touched the one he had placed on my shoulder. "I'll be holding you to that, even if you don't remember it come morning."

"I probably won't!" He agreed, sliding out of the car. "Night Jamie!"

"Goodnight, Colin," a small smile was clear in Tartt's voice and the back of my head player back his laughter from earlier.

Colin began to turn before stopping himself and looking me straight in my eyes. He pointed out at me and said, "Be safe."

Just like that, he slammed my car door shut and my mouth hung slightly open. I was choosing to interrupt that abrupt message as him being worried about my road safety.

"Right," I muttered. The car was so much more silent than it had been all night. Tartt was still sat behind me and the awkwardness of this all weighed down on me like a ton of bricks.

He reached his hand up to my phone and typed his address into my GPS. It was a fifteen minute drive from where we were now. Great. Fifteen minutes alone in a car with Tartt.

Perfect. Awesome.

I began to drive as Evermore by Taylor Swift played faintly in the back, being cut off every once in a while by the GPS. Tartt's stare was still drilling a hole through my skin. I was still ignoring him.

And maybe a small part of me was still thinking about his forearms.

A small voice in the back of my head pestered me to apologize for the 'bench warmer' comment.

After a few more minutes, when the silence was truly unbearable, I spoke. "I didn't mean it earlier."

I couldn't see him, but my mind provided a clear image of the arch of his eyebrow. "You'll have to more specific, mate."

"Not your mate," I replied, exhaling slightly. I couldn't believe I was about to apologize to his guy. "The bench warmer comment. I didn't mean it."

It was true, I really didn't mean it. The only noise was the car rolling over the road for a long moment. Suddenly, I was a tiny bit scared he had completely forgotten about the comment and I'd over estimated how much he was actually hurt by it.

"Oh," he finally spoke. I thought he would leave it at that, but he continued. His voice was still rough, like it normally was, but the edges of it softened slightly when he said, "Thanks."

I cleared my throat, unsure of how to take his reaction. "Yeah," my voice came out less confident than I would've liked. I had really only spoken to fill the silence once again filling the car up and drowning me.

"I'm... sorry too," he said quickly, as if the only way he knew how to speak the words was by rushing them out. "I shouldn't have been such a dick about your article."

"Yeah, you shouldn't have been," I bit back immediately, almost reflexively. No, I shouldn't say that. Not in this moment, when he was being less of an ass than normal. I softened my voice slightly as well as I said, "No, uhm, thank you."

Silence fell over us again, but this time it felt more natural. It wasn't strangling me with its intensity, instead just laying over us like a blanket.

Tartt broke it first. "So... 'undoubtedly AFC Richmond's best player.'" Of course he fell right back into being a dick. However, now it felt... less mean spirited. Still annoying. He was still a prick. Just... one that didn't make me want to rip my hair out. As much, at least.

That was a quote directly from my article. Maybe about halfway through, so he had to have read at least half of it. "Surprised you could actually read it," I quipped back.

"Yeah, you're the one who called me 'phenomenal on the field.' I think I'll print that article out. Frame it and put it in right beside my bed," Tartt ranted and I almost found myself smiling at the footballers antics. "I'll read it every night before I go to bed."

"You're a massive prick, Tartt."

"And you've proved yourself to be a shameless people pleaser tonight, Lewis," he laughed. "Driving home four drunk footballers at one in the morning? Kind of pathetic..."

"You're right. I almost don't know what's more pathetic, me driving you all home or you pretending to be drunk so you could get a ride with me," I snipped, pulling into his drive way. "We're here."

Tartt chuckled softly, as if my words amused him rather than annoyed him. "Touchè."

"Ooh, fancy word! Looks like reading my article is paying off for you."

"Fuck off," he said, opening his door. He stood outside my car for a minute, door open. For a brief, flashing moment, I was scared he was going to ask me inside. It had been a while since he'd shamelessly hit on me despite having a girlfriend. Instead, he just said, "G'night, Lewis."

"G'night, Tartt."

He closed my car door and walked/jogged into his house. I found myself watching as he put the car into his door and stepped inside, again replaying the conversations we'd had that day.

Before I could even comprehend anything more, my phone vibrated with a notification from my roommate and I's group chat.

Nora Ephron stan club

[3:00 AM]

Lily:
SABRINA WHERE ARE YOU

Jess:
wtf are you doing awake
go to bed we have all have work
in the morning

Lily:
SABRINA IS GONE
SHE GOT KIDNAPPED

Jess:
what are you TALKING ABOUT???

Sabrina:
I'm fine
Lots to explain in the morning
Go back to bed pls

Lily:
Okay thank god I thought my
nightmares were becoming prophec-
ies for a second

Jess:
????
go to bed???

I put my address into my phone and began driving home. My brain still hadn't processed the nights events, and at that moment all I needed was to get home to my bed and take off my still-soggy slipper.

Still, I found my mind wondering back to mine and Tartt's conversations.

Tartt.

What a prick.

A/N:
Three chapters in three days? Everyone clap please. But fr this chapter was so much fun to write because I love Colin and I adore Jamie and Sabrina's conversations.

Please remember to vote and comment if you enjoyed! Thank you guys for reading!