lacy | jude bellingham

chapter 03.

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IT WAS THE DAY OF THE PUBLICITY STUNT, AND JUDE FOUND himself sitting in the back of a black suv, on his way to the club where tyla was already waiting. the lights on the streets of madrid blurred past the windows as he stared out, completely lost in his thoughts.

the weight of the whole situation felt unbearable to him. so much that each mile he got closer to the club, felt as though it was dragging him away from the life he wanted, and closer to the pain he was about to cause. he never imagined in his life, that he'd make such a genuine and beautiful girl like amelia, look absolutely stupid to the public.

throughout the car ride, jude replayed all of their moments together in his mind—the dinners, the walks, their quiet evenings, and all of their calls or facetimes from having to do long distance. the constant memory of her smile that was embedded into his mind and the warmth of her touch, seemed like a cruel reminder of what he was about to lose.

all he wanted to do was be at home, in his bedroom, waiting for the week to come where amelia would visit. which made him feel even worse since she was supposed to visit him in exactly one week.

as the car had finally approached the club, jude glanced at his reflection in the window. his face looked tired, the joy that he had once felt for these kinds of things was now replaced by a sense of dread.

the driver had pulled up to the entrance of the club, and jude's heart sank further than he thought it could  ever sink. he could already see the group of paparazzi's that were waiting outside to take photos of him.

instead of immediately getting out of the car, he stayed inside. he wanted to stay inside for as long as he could. the thought of walking into that kind of environment without amelia, made him disgusted with himself.

"you're almost there," the driver said, breaking the loud silence in order to try and get jude out of the car.

the footballer took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves as best he could. as he opened the car door and stepped out, the flashing cameras and noise hit him. he took one more deep breath, and started walking into the club.

as he walked in, the loud music and flashing lights had already begun to overwhelm him. he tried his best to get through the crowd quickly, as his eyes scanned the room for tyla. he eventually spotted her near the bar, speaking with a group of her friends.

tyla's eyes had lit up when she noticed that jude arrived and was approaching them. she flashed a bright and confident smile towards him, to acknowledge his presence. jude on the other hand, is just wishing for everything to be over with.

"hey jude!" tyla greeted, her voice very cheerful. "glad that you actually showed up," she laughed.

"hey," the boy replied, trying to force a smile. "i'm not trying to sound rude, but can we please just get this over with."

she understandably nodded, "so, how do you want to do this?"

jude took a moment to glance around the room, feeling the eyes of so many people already on them. they turned away when they noticed he was looking around, but they couldn't help but be intrigued by the fact that a football player was in a club with a girl who wasn't his girlfriend. "let's just do it quickly," he urged. "i need to get out of here."