thank you for all the love on mastermind! another double update for you!!!

Billie had returned from the pub with the team at some ungodly hour the night before. Sassy had lasted an hour before returning to the hotel, Billie managed another hour and a half before she and the boys made their way back. It resulted in her and Colin practically carrying each other back to the hotel until she crashed out on the sofa in his hotel room, not wanting to stir Keeley from her sleep.

"Fuck, is the sun brighter in Liverpool?" Billie mumbled as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes, blinking slowly as she realised that neither she or Colin closed the curtains before falling asleep.

"Shut up," Colin muttered from where he lay in the bed on the other side of the room.

"What time is it?" Billie sighed, picking her phone up from where she dropped it on the floor the night before, "Fuck sake, the bus leaves in half an hour."

"What?" Colin huffed into his pillow.

"We've got to be ready in half an hour," Billie sighed, slowly standing up from the sofa, fearing that she could be sick if she moved too quickly.

"I'll be there," Colin mumbled.

"Come on Sleeping Beauty," Billie tossed a cushion at him before slowly shuffling out of the room.

As she walked down the corridor towards the suite she was meant to be sharing with Rebecca and Keeley she caught sight of her reflection in a big mirror hanging in the corridor. As she glanced at her reflection she looked completely dishevelled, hair a mess and black mascara smeared across her skin, having gone to sleep without removing her makeup, a reminder of the night before.

Just as she reached the suite, the door opened and out walked an attractive shirtless man, holding his shirt and shoes in his hand, "Good morning."

"Is it?" Billie muttered as she shuffled past him into the suite, heading for the room that she had been meant to share with Keeley.

"Hi," Keeley smiled, laying in the bed wrapped in her robe as Billie entered the room before noticing the state of her disheveled appearance, "What the fuck happened to you?"

"Jägerbombs, lots of jägerbombs," Billie muttered as she collapsed into the bed beside Keeley, "Those footballers drink like there's no tomorrow."

"So where the fuck did you end up?" Keeley remarked, "I rolled over this morning thinking you'd be here for a cuddle."

"I went back to Colin's room," Billie replied, watching the expression on Keeley's face change dramatically, "It wasn't like that! I slept on the sofa."

"I thought he was more of a gentleman, should've given you the bed," Keeley smiled to herself.

"Well, he's the athlete, needs to keep his body in great condition or whatever they say," Billie trailed off, noticing Keeley shifting beside her, staring at her fingernails, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Keeley nodded, although Billie wasn't convinced.

"You sure?" Billie nudged her with a smile, "It's not good to keep this shit bottled up, you taught me that."

"I kissed your brother," Keeley blurted out as though they were teenage school girls exchanging secrets.

"Okay," Billie nodded, "Was it bad?"

"No, definitely not," Keeley was quick to reply, "But he ran off after it, just back to his room without a word."

"The little shit," Billie sighed, making a mental note to lay into her brother for making Keeley feel so all out of sorts, "You know that's not a reflection of you, don't you?"

"Huh?"

"One of the few things my brother and I have in common, we're scared of messing good things up," Billie assured her, taking Keeley's hand in hers, "Talk to him, it'll be okay."

"It felt different, you know?" Keeley smiled, "Everything with Jamie was just about the physical, as much as I tried to get him to do cultural things, like see plays and shit, but with Roy, I don't feel like I have to try...Is it weird talking about your brother like this?"

"Not at all, peaches," Billie grinned, "I hope he sorts his shit out, because there's no one I'd rather have as a sister in law."

"Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself?" Keeley smiled.

"I'm like a psychic," Billie laughed, "I see great things coming."

"Are you still drunk?" Keeley frowned.

"Probably, I've not been sick so there's probably still some vodka pumping around my system," Billie sighed.

"What are you two giggling about?" The girls almost jumped out of their skin as Rebecca appeared in the open door, dressed and ready to return to Richmond.

"Keeley kissed-"

"No one!" Keeley cut her off, covering the Kent's girl with her hand.

"I knew you would!" Rebecca smiled.

"And Billie spent the night in Colin's room," Keeley grinned.

"It most definitely wasn't like that," Billie insisted, given that she and Colin had shared a mutual unspoken friendzoning as much as she adored the boy, they were both no more than friends, "Anyway, I want to know about your sleepover."

"What sleepover?" Keeley exclaimed.

"Well let's just say I didn't know that room service staff were making their deliveries shirtless, these days," Billie grinned.

"Shut up!" Keeley exclaimed, "The waiter?"

"The waiter." Rebecca nodded.

"Was it good?" Keeley grinned as Rebecca silently nodded with a smile.

"I don't know about you, but I think this was an incredibly successful girls weekend." Billie beamed.

After a steady five hour bus ride back to Richmond, the team and coaches dispersed. Most of the team headed home to make the most of their day off by sleeping off their hangovers, but those with the strongest stomachs were eager for some food. So Billie suggested the perfect sort of cafe, not the sort that serves fancy brunches, but rather a working man's cafe that served all day greasy fry ups.

"This was a brilliant idea, Billie," Sam smiled as the waitress handed him his plate.

"Not too loud, Sam," Billie muttered, wearing sunglasses like Isaac who was sitting opposite her to protect their eyes from the bright lights of the cafe, "My head's still shaking."

"I haven't been to a cafe like this since I was last in Wales," Colin added as the waitress handed him his plate before heading back to the kitchen for Billie and Isaac's.

The cafe itself might have been the sort of place to serve greasy stodgy food, but the boys still made the effort to stay in shape. They opted for wholemeal bread instead of white, and food fried in low fat oil.

"I can't believe we have to get back to working tomorrow, I feel like I'm going to be hanging for at least a week," Billie sighed as the waitress placed her plate in front of her.

"Trust me, Bils," Colin replied, mid mouthful, "This shit will solve all your problems, you'll be a new woman in half an hour."

"I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight," Billie whispered, taking a sip of her hot chocolate, earning confused looks from Isaac and Sam, "I slept on the couch in Colin's room last night, even if I had slept in my own hotel room, nothing beats your own bed."

"Except Premier Inn, they've got the best pillows," Sam remarked.

"Agreed." Billie nodded.

"That's the one that Lenny Henry does the adverts for, innit?" Isaac replied.

"Yep."

"Oh, boys, look who it is," Colin pointed at the small wall mounted TV behind Sam and Isaac.

All four friends sat at the table turned to look at the TV which was showing Sky Sports coverage of the day's football match, when Jamie Tartt's face flashed on screen while Jeff Sterling, Micah Richards and Gary Neville discussed the match.

"Excuse me, mate," Isaac gestured to the chef, "Could you turn it up?"

The chef nodded, finding the remote and turning the volume up as Jeff Sterling was mid sentence, "It's been really interesting to see how Tartt settles into the City way again, he's a decent striker and back under a manager like Pep he'll be able to reach his full potential again."

"I agree," Micah Richards nodded, "He scored some decent goals down at Richmond, but at a team like City he'll be able to reach his full potential."

"He's played well in this first half, and West Ham are a far weaker team in this match," Jeff added, "Created a lot of chances, maybe there'll be a goal from him in the next half."

"I'm looking forward to seeing that Jamie Tartt magic when City play his old team Richmond at the end of the season," Gary added, "City will no doubt give them ninety minutes of hell."

"Absolutely," Jeff agreed, "He's a talented kid, but I'm also confident that being on the brink of relegation could give those greyhounds something to run for."

"They'll destroy us, won't they?" Colin muttered as the group's eyes remained on the screen as a slow motion clip of Jamie playing flashed up onto the screen.

"No," Billie sighed, "I believe in you boys."

"We've still got quite a few matches before our last match of the season, why are they talking about it already?" Sam asked.

"Because he's Jamie Tartt, and supposedly he was one of us," Colin muttered.

"You don't think he changed?" Billie glanced at the boys as the second half of the match kicked off, "Everything that happened at the curse reverse, seemed like Ted got through to him."

"No way," Isaac frowned, "He'll be the same cocky prick on the pitch when we play him."

"So we'll just find a way to use that to our advantage," Colin smiled. Billie didn't really know what to think, talking about the tactics that the boys would use to beat Jamie when she'd spent the night with him two nights before. But she knew that Richmond needed every point that they could get to avoid relegation, she cared about Richmond and she cared about Jamie, she needed to keep football and Jamie separate.

"Anyway," Billie sighed, attempting to think up the next best topic to avert conversation away from Jamie, "Who's the best boyband of all time? There's only one correct answer."

"Backstreet Boys," Colin answered.

"JLS." Sam added.

"Take That." Isaac replied.

"You're all wrong and you know it," Billie smiled, "It's One Direction, obviously."

"No way, it's Take That," Isaac quipped, "Take That could do Little Things, but One Direction couldn't do Never Forget."

"I never knew you were such a big Take That fan," Billie grinned.

"They're my mum's favourite, she made me go with her to see them in concert once," Isaac explained, "It was sick."

"Isaac, you continue to surprise me more and more everyday."

Billie spent the rest of her day with the boys until they all went their separate ways when she remembered that she had a bulk of video footage from training that she'd been meaning to edit together for social content. She'd also texted Keeley about the possibility of working on the boys' branded content once she'd sorted them some deals.

She was sitting at the dining table with her laptop, freshly showered, hair tied up on top of her head, wearing Jamie's hoodie and a pair of pyjama shorts, the faint hum of Woman by Harry Styles coming from the speaker on the kitchen counter. As she worked on a video of Isaac and Colin doing a 'most likely to' style video filmed a week before when she could have sworn she'd heard the doorbell ring.

Alfie was out at a pub in North London with some reporter friends after a match at Arsenal, while Madison was at her parents' house for Sunday dinner, so she just assumed that it was one of them having forgotten their house keys.

She slowly made her way down the stairs, humming the tune of the music that played from the speaker as she reached the bottom step, "Alf, you better take your key next time, because I might be-"

As she opened the door she was surprised to see Jamie Tartt standing on her doorstep, wearing a green sweatshirt and jeans, "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" Billie muttered with a smile, grateful that the sun had gone down so this interaction would be less obvious to passersby.

"We played West Ham, so I'm in town," He shrugged, even though they both knew that getting from East to West London was anything but simple.

"Yeah, I know, we saw you on the TV," Billie smiled, "I mean what are you doing here, on my doorstep?"

"Well, you're here," Jamie replied, "I wanted to see you."

Billie felt a feeling in her stomach that she hadn't felt in a long time. Brad had never gone out of his way to surprise her while she was living in Manchester, she'd always end up asking him to visit even when he was in the city for a match. She didn't quite know what to make of Jamie doing something like that for her, did it excite her or did it scare her? She wasn't sure.

"Do you want to come in?" Billie asked, gesturing for him to step into her flat.

"Sure." Jamie nodded as she closed the door behind him.

"So, how was the match?" Billie asked as she led him up the stairs towards the flat.

"You said you watched it," Jamie replied.

"We did, I was with a few of the boys getting food, the TV was on, but we left when there was about fifteen minutes left of the match," Billie explained as she made her way over to the sofa, patting the seat beside her for Jamie to take.

"Well, I had ten touches, I had two completed dribbles and in the eighty ninth minute they let me take a free kick," He replied as he sat beside her, resting his arm on the back of the sofa, "And I scored."

"I'm impressed," Billie nudged him with her elbow, feeling her phone buzz in her pocket, pulling it out to see a message from Alfie which said that was on his way back from the tube station, which meant he was about ten minutes away.

"We should go in there," Billie gestured towards her bedroom as she stood up from the sofa, "I'm not trying to proposition you, Alfie's on his way back and he's a sports journalist, he'll be badgering you about your match against West Ham."

"You can proposition me all you like." Jamie smirked as he followed her into the bedroom, thinking to himself about the fact that it was the first time he'd seen the room as they sat on the edge of the bed once Billie had closed the door, "How was Liverpool? Looked pretty messy from what I saw on Instagram."

"Well, we all got shit faced drunk, l fell asleep on Colin's sofa, then Isaac, Colin, Sam and I went for a fry up this afternoon," Billie explained, "Ended up lying on Richmond Green for two hours."

"Just so you know, I could've done that lift." Jamie remarked.

"What?" Billie replied.

"Dirty Dancing, I saw the video on Isaac's Instagram," Jamie explained, "And I reckon I could've done a better job."

"Is that right?" Billie smirked.

"Absolutely," Jamie sighed.

"Well, we're not practising in here with these wooden floors, I'm not turning up to work with stitches in my chin," Billie grinned.

"Don't you trust me not to drop you?" She wondered if that was a loaded question, in the same way that Brad would drop her time and time again, but surely she was just over thinking, getting in her head about a relationship that was over long before she ended it.

"Of course I trust you," Billie nodded. Did she? Did she trust the man who just a few weeks before was happy to treat his team as though they were nothing to him? Was that the same man?

"Everything's been so weird since Lasso dumped me," Jamie sighed, smiling to himself every time he caught a glimpse of her wearing his hoodie.

"He didn't dump you Jamie, Man City wanted you back," Billie replied as she curled up into his side, feeling Jamie's arm slip around her waist, reminded of the similar conversation they'd had just two nights prior.

"He could've stopped it though," Jamie answered.

"Do you think things would've been different if City hadn't ended your loan?" Billie asked, "Like at work and stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think you would've properly felt like part of the team?" Billie replied, "Would you still be at loggerheads with my brother?"

"I don't know, Bils," Jamie sighed. It was the truth, he honestly didn't know because he would have tried to build bridges for Billie's sake, but there was always a part of his father's influence on him that came out in those situations. He felt like he had to be tough, in fact his father had made him believe that he would only succeed if he was tough.

"You've changed since we first met," Billie whispered as she turned to face Jamie, running a hand through his hair, "And that's not a bad thing."

"I know," Jamie nodded, "You're good at teaching me not to get in me own way so much, you make things make sense, so thank you for that."

"You don't have to thank me for that," Billie sighed.

"I think I do," Jamie replied, pulling her closer, letting his hand wander under the back of her hoodie, "And I could think of a few ways."

"Is that right?" Billie smirked, shuffling onto his lap, "And how long have you got until your team notice that you're missing?"

"The bus doesn't leave till midday tomorrow," Jamie whispered, Billie's face just an inch from his.

"Good," Billie muttered against his lips as she threaded her fingers through his hair, feeling Jamie's hands travel her back as he pulled her closer to his torso, "My brother would kill you if he knew that you were here."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."