.zwei.
Marco parked his car in front of the shop as he often did when he had free time off his usual schedule. And he had a lot of free time lately. It was summer time and he was on vacation, which meant he had no football to play, at least not at Signal Iduna Park with thousands of fans cheering for him and the boys. Friendlies didn't help much either, and he couldn't participate in them anyway. His injury wouldn't allow it.
It was nearing the time of the lunch rush in Dortmund and he knew Jude and her mother would be needing a lot of help. Jude would tell him how busy the summer was for them, especially with the tourists coming in from different parts of the world. All it took was one taste of their freshly baked bread and the people would return for more. It was definitely better than the factory made bread at the supermarkets which Marco had stopped eating. Once he tried the good stuff, he thought favtory made bread tasted terrible.
He walked into the bakery and café and walked past everyone who was having lunch, heading for the back room where all the cooking and baking happened. Most of the people who were regulars didn't pay much attention to him now. The hype of having a famous footballer there had lost its thrill. Marco pushed the door open and walked inside, already knowing what to do. He was like a regular employee at Hey Jude Bakery & Cafe, only he worked there for no charge. His form of payment was being able to spend some time with his girlfriend Jude.
Mrs. Wopschall was already putting more pastries into the oven, on the counter in front of her were various ingredients for baking, as well as mixing bowls. Though it was only batter at the moment, Marco thought it all smelled delicious. His eyes searched for Jude and in front of the stove, cooking orders, was someone he didn't recognize. Their back was turned to him and he gestured to them, saying to Grace Wopschall, "Did you hire someone to help out in the kitchen?"
Grace shook her head, her voice absent as she was too distracted making more pastries to put in the oven. "Nope." She said, replying to his question.
Before he could say something else, the person turned around. And he instantly recognized their face. It was Jude. Her hair was all cut off, styled into a boy's cut, but even so he thought she looked great in it. His jaw dropped in surprise, he was unable to speak. Jude frowned, crinkling up her nose at his reaction. She assumed it would be a negative one. "You don't like it." She concluded from his expression, running a hand through her straight, jet black hair, with her slender fingers. "Does it look bad? Please don't lie to me Marco."
He cut the distance between them and brought her into his arms in the very next second. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he said to her, "It doesn't look bad at all. You're beautiful as always." And he wasn't lying. Marco thought she could probably shave all her hair off and still look good. Jude was always beautiful to him. He hadn't fallen in love with her because of the way she looked, he had never seen her on xbox, he fell in love with her because she was herself and they had many things in common. Jude was different. She never wore make up, she wasn't girly, she liked sports, and liked to dress comfortably, usually dressing in jeans and a jersey or a flannel. But that's what made him love her more. She wasn't afraid to be herself.
"I didn't want to cut it." She admitted to him, going onto explain what happened. "But as mum and I walked back home yesterday afternoon, there were kids playing outside. And one of them thought it would be funny to put gum in my hair." Her hands went up to touch her hair again subconsciously.
Marco frowned. Sometimes children didn't think about the extent of things. "That wasn't funny." He said.
Jude shrugged it off. There was nothing she could do about it anyway. "There was no way to save my hair, so I told my mum to cut it all off. But I was afraid you would hate it."
A smile formed on Marco's lips. He noticed she was more upset than she let on, and he kissed her on the lips. "Well, I love you no matter what your hair looks like, liebe."
"Oh, you two are the cutest!" Grace Wopschall cooed with excitement.
Jude pulled her attention from Marco and rolled her eyes playfully at her mother, a smile was on her lips. "Now you ruined the moment, mum." Sighing, she added, "My mum needs someone to date so she can stop pestering us whenever we're together." And what Jude wanted most was for her mother to find someone to love.
"I have that sorted out." Marco grinned.
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah," He nodded, and continued, "I told Basti he should come with us on a date and your mum can keep him company."
"My mum loves Basti." Jude said. But she was more happy that her mother would have the chance to meet people. For twenty years, she had been taking care of her and had no time for her own. She had spent her youth raising Jude because she had her when she was very young. Grace had been a teen mother and her family abandoned her when it happened, they were ashamed over something that hadn't been her fault. "And she's very young. She should go out and date." said the twenty year old Jude Wopschall.
"Basti?" Grace overheard their conversation and completely stopped what she was doing. The smile broke out onto her face though she tried to surpress it. Raking her fingers through her long hair and straightening out her clothes, she said, "Is he coming here?" She asked full of excitement.
"Relax mum." Jude smiled.
"Basti agreed to go out with us, but not today." Marco told her.
Her smile dropped. "Oh, okay." She said and went back to her mixing bowl where she was preparing batter for chocolate brownies.
Running a hand through her hair once more, Jude finally said, "I suppose its not so bad. I can feel a nice breeze with my shorter hair. And it'll grow back." Her voice was hopeful. She was relieved that Marco didn't hate it, but she also feared that Marco might have been lying to make her feel better. Still, she knew there was nothing wrong with having short hair, and she would have to make the best of it.
Marco gave her a quick peck on the lips and pulled his arms from around her waist. "I'll take care of the register and then you and I can go play some football at the park after closing time."
Jude grinned at his idea. "That sounds like a plan."
-
eyyy just got back from fresno (not really, i got back like seven hours ago). but i went on a six hour road trip there with my sisters to watch chivas vs. atlas. it was the best day ever. i love chivas and any sacrifice for them is worth it. we were majority at a full chukchansi park. best thing ever.
i hope you all like the update. i love you.
-clary xx
