Chapter Text
Rebecca couldn’t believe her luck. The only man she let herself fall for is one of her competitors. She broke her number one rule of hers. But she didn’t know it, if she did, things would have been different. Now, crying in Keeley’s lap was the best thing she could do.
After calling her in distress, her poor best friend came to pick her up from god knows where she ended up. She didn’t know. Everything was a blur. Her phone kept on vibrating in her hands, probably Ted texting and calling, but the only thing Rebecca remembers is Keeley appearing out of nowhere in front of her like her guardian angel coming to her rescue.
Keeley took her to her house to take care of her. Made her some tea to ground her. Keeley knew that it was Rebecca’s favourite thing to drink when she was stressed or upset. Tea and caressing her hair were Rebecca’s two favourite things.
“I played with fire and I got burnt Keeley again” she whispered while her head was on Keeley’s lap.
“Babe, this is how love is, you dive in and you might think you will drown but you don’t. Everything will be alright, you will see” Keeley couldn’t see her best friend feeling like shit especially over her stupid rules.
“I am not in love” Rebecca said so low she could barely be heard.
“I think you need to stop beating yourself up and admit it. You are not the only person here who has fallen. Ted looks at you like you are the sun, his sun. He loves you, I can see it so clearly” Keeley whispered back at her.
“Maybe I should talk to Ted” Keeley suggested. The moment Rebecca heard that she got up so fast and turned to her talking fast, almost yelling.
“NO, you won’t do that. He doesn’t need to know I am a crazy lunatic with so many rules in her life who will let the love of her life go because they are just submitting their work in the same grant and her ex was a piece of shit. He doesn’t need to know…” she trailed off .
“The love of your life?” Keeley awed.
“That I am a psycho” Rebecca finally said.
“Rebecca you are not anything from what you just said. If Ted heard you talk about you like that, he would have said, This is stinky thinking” Keeley said while trying to imitate Ted’s accent. That made Rebecca giggle. She was awful at it but her man had the best and cutest accent in the world if you asked her.
“Aww you called Ted your man” Keeley looked at her with the biggest puppy eyes in the world. Rebecca on the other hand looked at Keeley with the biggest eyes in the world. No way, she said that outloud. That was her inner thoughts only hers.
“No Keeley I didn’t….oh god I did because I do love him but I am not going to do anything about it and you won’t do anything about it. Promise me” she looked at Keeley with her most serious face.
“Okay..I won’t do anything but I am happy you finally admitted it” Keeley’s puppy eyes were still on her. Her plan is on.
“Can I stay here?” Rebecca pouted.
“Of course babe. This is your home as well always”
“Thank you. Can we go to sleep now?” She was exhausted, all she wanted to do was let this day go. Her and Ted would never be an item, she would avoid him for the rest of her days, maybe until the grant is out. She handed Keeley her phone, she knew it would be full of Ted’s calls and texts but she wasn’t ready to face him yet.
“Yes, we can go. Come on you beautiful but crazy giraffe" Keeley took Rebecca’s hand and together they went upstairs. Time for her best friend to ease her mind while she would try to find a way to help her.
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The next day at his lab, Ted still never heard back from Rebecca. He tried to follow her the moment she got up but that woman was fast in heels, when he went outside she was already gone. Did he say something wrong? Did he talk too much again? Oh he talked about work again when they said no work talk during the lab eatings. He messed it up the moment they were the two of them. Stupid Ted always trying to get the girl and always never being enough.
He left the restaurant and walked all the way home. It even started raining. His bad luck kept coming his way. He tried texting and calling her but no luck. She wouldn’t answer him, deep down he knew but he kept trying. He texted Beard to ask him where he was. Thank god he was at the pub close to their homes. It was time to get hammered because the love of his life probably didn’t want to see him or talk to him again.
Keeley entered the lab breaking Ted’s train of thought.
“Good morning Ted”
He looked up at her like a beaten up puppy.
“Good morning Keels, how are ya?”
“Better than you for sure” she smiled softly at him.
“Oh, you know I screwed it up so bad? I don’t even know what I did exactly, but it must have been that I talked about work and we said number one rule of fight club is never talk about fight club” He put his hand over his face. Time to hide away from the world, talking about it didn’t do good for his hungover.
“Ted, don't beat yourself up. We both know Rebecca is a tough, tall, strong minded woman. You are the best thing that ever happened to her but her stupid rules get in her way” Keeley removed his hands from his face.
“How much did you drink man? That is not the Ted I know”
“It is me. The crazy drunk” Ted looked at her.
“Oh my goodness, you are perfect for each other, the two crazies I will be calling you from now on” Keeley laughed at her friends. They were fouls.
“I am going to tell you something, I am not supposed to say but when you find the love of your life you need to do everything to keep them in your life, that’s why you need to know why Rebecca left”
“Love of my…life….Keeley that is a big thing to say for her…for me, well, it is true. She might be it” He said so painfully.
“Aw Ted. She has a rule to never get involved with people who apply to the same grants as her. She is scared of losing her chance. Her ex was a piece of shit, stole her data, published them with his name and then the grant appliers humiliated her, accused her for stealing. That’s why the moment you told her about the Earl Grant, she lost it, she couldn’t believe her bad luck”
Ted got up fast from his chair.
“Keeley I would never do that to her NEVER”
Keeley got up as well to calm him down.
“Ted I know you would never but she is hurt and that baggage is still there. Give her a bit of time. She might come around. All these stupid rules have stopped her from living”
Ted couldn’t believe it. That bastard.
“Keeley, I love her, I would wait for her for eternity” He said with his puppy brown eyes.
“Poor Ted, your girl is so lucky to have you, just give her sometime okay?”
“Yes, I will Keels. Thanks for tellin’ me. I need to get back to work unfortunately, the grant awaits..”
“Good luck Ted, even though we will beat you” Keeley laughed, trying to make him smile. She only got back a small smile.
A small win, after a difficult night for her two love birds.