MA BEAUTÉ | J. BELLINGHAM

six | real life

jude swore his leg was bouncing at 10mph. he couldn't sit still in his seat, and he was just so delirious as to how a girl, who he doesn't even know the name of, has him so… mushy.

"if someone doesn't just chop off this man's leg," phil exasperated. truth be told, he knew he said what everyone was thinking. the boys laughed and jude kissed his teeth.

their food was yet to be served and it was almost three-quarters of an hour past the start of lunch service and the trio of girls still hadn't made their appearance.

"why are you this nervous bro, you don't even know her," declan asked. he snickered tauntingly, leaning back in his chair. jude threw him a look.

"because one, i am fully certain that you guys are betting on me and i for sure don't want bukayo to win."

his best friend whines, throwing his hands in the air, "now how do you know i'm not on your side man-"

jude points at him, "you see? he didn't even deny that there is a bet. reveal yourselves traitors."

raheem and trent began to open their mouths, but jude doesn't even notice as he interrupted immediately, "actually, you know what? i don't even wanna know." he shakes his head, emanating his faux disappointment.

he crosses his arms, then twisted one to check a non-existent watch; he concludes the action to sheer boredom and anger. and probably nerves.

yet the universe had no mercy, and no more than a second later, the three girls walked in, jude's crush in lead, eyes immediately scanning for a waiter to hail. a short lady with curly hair smiles at their entrance, grabbing a few menus in hand before leading them to a free table.

right next to them.

there was air con, right? so why did jude feel ten times hotter, a trickle of sweat meandering down his temple. he tugged at his loose blue t-shirt.

"jude, calm down," jordan chuckles. it was truly a sight to see. he never saw jude, nor did jude ever prove, to be a guy who had many crushes. the boy had 'rizz' (whatever that was. he heard bukayo say it a couple of times) and he was guessing it pertained to the old school term 'heartthrob' because in the little time he knew him, jordan had heard about the amount of girls he had accumulated.

"what happened to not letting bukayo win?"

jude slumped in his seat, gaze superglued to the mystery girl, "she just makes me so nervous. i wanna get to know her but i can't even speak to her." he groans.

suddenly raheem gets up, sighing as he mumbled 'well somebody has to help him'. he walked over to the girls, pace achingly slow. jude noticed the direction of his destination, eyes widening and he feels dreads sink heavily in his heart.

"what the actual fuck is he doing?"

the rest of them were left in shock, emitting small bursts of chuckles here and there as they watched raheem talk to jude's crush, pointing at the boy as he engaged in whatever conversation he so stupidly had to start. jude could feel himself sink in his seat as the girl stared right back at him.

and smiled.

-

30 minutes of a grueling lunch and jude didn't even understand how he was able to finish his plate. call him rude, but he didn't even remember the name of the dish just that it was riddled with seafood. no, prawns. just too much prawns.

he rubbed his stomach, leaning back in his seat as he subtly eyed the group next to him. raheem had returned from his little irritating festivity and refused to tell anyone what he told the girl, leaving jude in the darker dark and making him more anxious than ever. the meal consisted of small talk within the group, slowly increasing to all of them as they butt into conversations, yet jude was completely silent. and it didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the boys.

"why so silent, judey?" jack jokes and it caused the boy to scoff.

"do you really need me to say?"

he's responded with laughs and it made his annoyance stronger.

"i swear to God raheem, if your foul mouth said some shit-"

raheem dropped his fork, raising his arms in defence, "bruv, i can assure you, you'll be thanking me later."

jude snorted and rolled his eyes.

"unbelievable."

yet, as always, time came to prove raheem justice and just as they were exiting the restaurant, jude felt a small tap on his shoulder.

it shouldn't have been as surprising as it was when the girl he had been so enamored with met his view. she's smiling, and he felt his heart quite literally flip.

he smiles back, turning around as he heard bukayo shout "you've got this jude!"

spinning around, his face accommodated a blush. it made the girl giggle.

"sorry about him, he can be… a lot sometimes."

"don't worry, i have two people like that to deal with on this trip," she remarked, referring to the two othe girls jude had seen her with everytime.

"fairs."

there's a small silence before the girl spoke again.

"you know, your friend told me a lot."

jude groaned, throwing his head back, "raheem, i will actually kill him."

she chuckled, a memory flowing back into her head, "funny thing, we heard one of your friends screaming raheem's name about him stealing his pants or something."

jude's eyes widened, "i told them they were being too loud. fuck trent and his voice."

then she smirked and jude raised a brow, "so his name trent."

"yeah…why?"

"my friend has shown a liking to him, says that scouse accents are cute and that he's one," she throws up quotation marks, "'beautiful man'."

jude looked surprised, chuckling at the relevation, "well i wasn't expecting that. i will be sure to tell him."

"she'll definitely like that!" she shook her head, smiling, "but what raheem said, it wasn't anything bad at least i don't think so."

"what did he say?"

she pretended to think for a bit, before saying, "that i've got you

down bad."

-

xenoia walked back into her hotel room, mouth stretched into a shit-eating grin. then was instantly bombarded by her sister and best friend. her answers were little to nothing and just as sequoia began to ask another question, she felt her phone vibrate. she turns it on, and her heart swooned at the top notification.

it seemed that all jude needed was her first name.

-

judebellingham started following you.