Teenage Fever // Jude Bellingham

18

Jude's pov

Checking my phone for at least the tenth time in the last hour, i had to see that Tiana still hasn't replied to my texts that I had sent her this morning.

I sighed frustratedly, tossing it back into my duffle bag before slumping down next to it on the bench and grabbing my water bottle as I did so.

I hadn't heard of her since she left my place Friday. She was confused and distraught, maybe even a little scared; and I understood that. I had tried reassuring her that her confession would change absolutely nothing between us, that she still was the same girl to me, but I didn't think she believed that.

I wasn't even sure if she had listened to what I had said, she seemed completely numb when I tried comforting her. It was as if she had shut me out, hiding her true emotions from me as a defense mechanism. Which again, I couldn't blame her for.

She had been eager to leave after staying in my embrace for at least a hour, but she had promised to text me to let me know she was okay. But she didn't.

She even missed the game yesterday, which was really unusual for her. We didn't know each other that long, but she had never failed to show her interest into my games and my progress because she knew how much it mattered to me.

I was clueless about what to do; was I supposed to give her space or should I try to reach out to her?

"Bro what are you doing?" I snapped out of my trance to look up at Gio, who had kicked my shin to gain my attention. "You can be depressed at home, but you gotta finish training first."

I groaned, dramatically throwing my head back as he tugged at my forearm to urge me to stand up. This guy seriously doesn't know how to read the room.

I quickly checked my phone again, my hopes being led down yet again. Turning back to Gio, I caught him giving me a judgmental glare.

"Is this a new tick of yours or are you just that done with training that you feel like you have to check the time every two minutes?" He joked, the two of us walking back to the rest of the team.

I didn't answer. What was I supposed to say anyway? I didn't want to lie to him, but I also wanted to avoid bringing up the real reason for my obsessive phone checking.

"No, seriously though, what's going on? You've been doing that all day, it's a bit... weird." He side eyed me with the last sentence, making me roll my eyes.

"Nothing." I replied as short as possible, trying to act as unbothered as I could.

Most people would leave it at that, but not Gio.
"Nah, I'm not buying that. Something's off, you've been acting absent all day. You hit the crossbar earlier, you never do that."

I sighed, he was right. I wasn't focused. I couldn't allow that, after all we were mid season. The next game was less than a week away.

I needed to sort things out.

Tiana's pov

A knock on the door made my eyes snap open, my eyes having to readjust to now being open again as I croaked a weak 'yeah' to let the person know that they could come in. Here I was thinking that I could take a nap in peace.