❝days seem sometimes
as if they'll never end.❞
JUN 10,
one month and eleven
days after the funeral.
IT
wasn't the days which were difficult, but the nights. as if in a permanent nightmare, she couldn't sleep during the whole week away from jude — well almost. the last two, totally at the end of her tether, nisha had taken refuge at her little brother's place, who had welcomed her with pleasure. in his single bed, they were cramped, but it didn't matter, the girl had found some comfort in the hundreds of cuddly toys her brother had and the childish tapestry on the walls of his room.
arun had said that sleeping was not about sheep, but about dalmatians — his favourite dog. so they had counted together, the little boy even managing to get a barked laugh out of his sister's throat. too young to realise it, arun hadn't understood, but how sad that laughter had sounded, tearing the air; even when she laughed, nisha gave off a pain.
once the dalmatians had been counted, sometimes into the hundreds, and his promise reminded, the child had come to give nisha "a big hug", jude's words still echoing in a corner of her mind. in a furtive peace, the young woman had then finally found sleep after the previous nights of battle.
never had she pressed jude's name during the week, waiting for calls to come in from him. never had she texted when she was feeling low either; the fear of disturbance gripped her, restraining her every move on the phone that was held between her fingers. deep down, she knew she could never disturb her best friend, and yet the little voice in her head resonated far more than her reason and she couldn't bring herself to call him.
it wasn't so bad after all, jude was there to do it. there to check up on her and worry about her. it was a good thing he only called her during the day between training sessions, when he had time, because she was able to put up a front, to lie to him for a few minutes. the evening would have been a different story, less beautiful and darker, and the girl's cries of distress would have been heard on the other end of the line.
but she didn't need to dwell on all the rainy days of her life anymore, because the engine of the car she was in rocked to the rhythm of the music playing in her headphones, reducing the journey to wolverhampton to seconds. nisha was just a few seconds away from seeing jude play again, a game of being able to feel him in her arms, an evening of being her again.
in the rearview mirror, rebecca could see the little smile that turned up the corners of nisha's mouth as she sat in the back seat next to jobe, who was sleeping. the girl had quietly pulled out her phone to capture the state of the boy next to her and send it to jude, who would surely laugh at his little brother.
nisha
📸
hes definitely not as
excited as i am to see you
jude
wake him up
he deserves it
🙄🙄
i can't wait to see
you too :)))))))))
hope u're wearing
my jersey
nisha
no
obviously
🙄
kidding eheh look
📸
jude
perfect xx
in the reflection of her screen, her big smile could be seen; only he had that effect on her as she had on him. jude was also smiling broadly at his phone, he couldn't wait to see her again.
"stop talking to your girlfriend," joked reece as he stole jude's phone as the boy simply huffed at his comment as he tried to retrieve his property.
