❝i wish i didn't need
to get help, but i do.❞
JUN 14,
one month and fifteen
days after the funeral.
WITH
her cheekbones raised, the corners of her eyes crinkled, and two dimples visible, nisha was smiling. she was smiling tiredly, but she was smiling at the joke that jobe had just made without having understood anything — her mind far too foggy for that. in the back seat of the bellingham's car, the girl had been trying to resist the closing of her heavy eyelids for many minutes, stuck between the two brothers who couldn't stop laughing.
the journey from birmingham to st george's park — where the boy's family had picked up the player — was not that long, barely an hour, but having stopped at a restaurant for dinner, it was now midnight and they still hadn't arrived at their destination. this way, the girl had excused herself before connecting her headphones to her phone. with the most relaxing playlist in her ears, she had closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the headrest in relief.
watching her out of the corner of his eye, jude couldn't help the tender smile that came to his lips as a quieter atmosphere settled into the car, silence overpowering the sound of the engine and tyres against the tarmac. before she got too sleepy, the footballer quietly tapped her shoulder. on eye open, then two, she questioned him with her eyes, wondering what he wanted.
without a word, he simply threaded his fingers through her hair to steal one of her headphones and push it into his ear before smiling at her with all his teeth. with her lips pursed between them, her dimples deepened again and quite naturally, she let herself fall against him, finding comfort with her head on his shoulder, the soft music still playing. with many centimetres of advantage over her, jude then let his head fall on hers as a yawn escaped from between his lips.
"man i'm always left out with these two," jobe complained falsely, folding his arms against his chest. sinking into sleep, nisha giggled as jude slammed his fist into his brother's head.
denise laughed and then turned her body so that she was almost facing her elder son. suggestively, as her gaze moved back and forth between him and nisha, she raised her eyebrows to give him a look full of innuendo. her mother's smirk didn't deceive and jude decided to ignore it by rolling his eyes, allowing his cheek to press further against the top of the girl's head.
half an hour later, the words jobe spoke seemed to come out in slow motion to nisha, the streetlights along the pavements still lit as they drove past assaulted her retinas, and her whole body felt far too heavy to move. trying to understand what had just happened to her, the girl blinked a few times; a nap, she had just taken a nap. a peal of mocking laughter definitely brought her out of her reverie, recognizing well to whom it belonged: jude who announced that they had arrived.
her mind still very confused, the car finally pulled up in front of the player's house, and nisha got out like a zombie behind jude while she could still feel his mocking eyes without even seeing his face.
he thought she looked particularly cute like this: her hair in what you could call a bun with hundreds of strands escaping, a top that was far too big for her small frame, her eyes full of tiredness, and the mark of jude's t-shirt on her cheek — a sign that she had slept well. with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, as she waited upright for mark to give her her things from the trunk, jude couldn't help but tease her again by imitating her.
