Teenage Fever // Jude Bellingham

10

Sunday, 6th of March

I hopped into the passenger's seat, giving Jude a quick kiss onto his cheek. His eyes wandered down to my outfit, lingering there for a few seconds before snapping out of it.

It wasn't anything special, just a black mini skirt with tights underneath due to the low temperatures, my doc martens on my feet and a black leatherjacket over my simple long sleeve. It wasn't my style, but I felt like wearing something different today.

"You look nice." He eventually managed to say, a genuine smile on his lips as he was firing up the car engine to pull out of my driveway.

"Thanks. You were staring." I replied triumphantly, looking out of my window as we were driving through the city that was already glowing in it's lights.

"No, I wasn't." He stated, too proud to admit that he had- in fact- been checking me out. I didn't stress it any further though, because I've kind of come to terms with his stubborn nature.

"So, where are we going?" I inquired curiously, he hadn't told me anything since messaging me earlier today, asking if I wanted to meet up with him.

"You'll see." He said shortly, not giving away anything as his eyes were glued to the road with his left hand stirring the wheel.

It wasn't long that he parked the car at the side of the road and we got out to enter a nicely decorated restaurant. There were plants everywhere, and it was kept dark with a few sources of warm light illuminating the room.

"I noticed that we have somehow only eaten fast food together yet, so I thought we might as well finally grab some good food." He explained when we sat down at a table.

"That's thoughtful of you." I said, giving him a warm smile as a waiter came to hand us the menu. It was a sushi restaurant, with small portions of each sushi that you could order to eat together. It was a great pick, I loved sushi.

I explained what the various rolls they offered were filled with to Jude, who had never tried sushi before. We ended up getting six different kinds of sushi, each of the portions containing six rolls. I also ordered some side dishes I wanted him to try.

After receiving our drinks, I excused myself to go to the washroom.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror to fix my hair and reapply my lipgloss, a satisfied smirk made its way onto my lips.

I left the bathroom, looking down at my phone as I was just about to open the message Tiago had sent me when I collided with someone's shoulder.

"I'm sorry-" I started apologizing, but stopped when I saw who I had collided with, my body freezing in place. The shock was probably written onto my face, because his brows furrowed when he looked me over.

His confusion soon turned into a smile, something I had sworn I never wanted to see again.

"Tiana," he started, his voice saying my name so sweetly feeling like a punch into the stomach, "what a surprise to see you here."

"Leave me alone." I mumbled, trying to pass by him but being stopped by his grasp around my wrist.

"What do you want?" I asked with a sigh, my hands shaking at my sides as his touch felt like burning hot chains being wrapped around my wrist.

"Nothing, I just wanted to catch up with you a bit." He stated calmly, way too calmly. "You know, ask about the family and stuff." He joked, but he was the only one who laughed.

"Let me go." I urged, but I didn't dare to move my arm.

"What have you been up to? I haven't seen you since you changed schools." He said, ignoring my statement. My insides were burning from anger, but I was also close to crying here and then.

"That was the goal." I snapped at him, finally finding the courage to tear my wrist out from his grip before storming off to create as much distance between us as possible.

I heard his distant scoff behind me, but I didn't risk looking back. I couldn't stand seeing him, not when I have spent so much time and energy on trying to avoid him.

I tried my best to hide my frustration when returning back to the table, obviously not doing a good job at it because Jude immediately noticed, his face dropping with worry.

"Are you alright?" He questioned as I stayed quiet for a while, thinking about wether I should tell him.

I wasn't good at opening up to people, but I knew I could trust him. Regardless, I didn't want to trouble him with stupid stories of my ex so I came up with a lie.

I told him I let my favorite ring drop into the toilet, and that was that. He obviously made fun of me, but for the first time, I didn't mind it. It made me laugh a little myself, because it would actually be something I'd do.

The rest of the night went really nice, the food was good and it was funny watching Jude try to eat with chopsticks, although he eventually got along with them pretty decent.

Although the earlier encounter with him was still lingering in the back of my mind, it was easy to distract myself when Jude was around. It would also be a shame to let that ruin today, so I just focused on having fun for now. I'd deal with it later.

I knew I had to explain it to him sooner or later if I wanted this to work. I really liked him, but there's still some problems I've been dealing with since my past relationship that could also affect my future ones.

He needed to know, but I wasn't ready yet.