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Marco got up and got ready to go see his girlfriend.
It was an hour past noon when he arrived at the bakery. He walked inside to see there was no one at the register helping a line of customers that was forming. As his hazel eyes looked around, he didn't see his girlfriend taking orders for people who were there for the cafe.
The Borussia Dortmund footballer quickly went behind the counter and helped dispatch the line of people waiting to pay for their baked goods.
He wondered if something was wrong. There was normally not a long line at the bakery because Grace and Jude were very good at keeping everything moving quickly.
When he was done charging people for their food, he grabbed a note pad and a pen from one of the drawers behind the register counter and went to take a few orders. Most people were a bit surprised to see a famous footballer taking their orders at a cafe, but they tried not to hold him back too long with their questions and requests for autographs.
Marco quickly rushed into the back kitchen when he had taken down some orders.
He expected to find Jude back there, helping her mother with the orders.
But she wasn't there.
All he saw was Grace running around the kitchen like a madwoman. She was taking things out of the oven one minute, and cooking food on a skillet the next. She didn't seem to notice Marco was even there until he cleared his throat to get her attention.
"Oh, hello Marco!" She smiled at him, but it was a tired smile. At the same time, there was a look of relief on her face.
"Hey Grace." Marco greeted back. Looking around the kitchen, he asked, "Where's Jude?"
"Help me with the skillets please." She begged.
He nodded and went to stand in front of the stove. One hand gripped the handle of the pan while the other grabbed a metal spoon to help scramble the eggs that were cooking. Grace went to the other side of the kitchen where the ovens were and she got out a batch of pastries, setting them on the counter for them to cool down.
While she went to mix more batter for the pastries, she explained to Marco, "After Jude went to sleep, she left her window open and she caught a cold. I made my baby some soup and made her stay home. I'll be closing up shop early because I can't handle this by myself."
Marco frowned. "Maybe we should close here and go to your house. I can take care of her all day."
"That would be lovely." Grace nodded, agreeing with him. She didn't want to leave her daughter alone at home. Had her daughter been younger, she would have never left her alone. But Jude was twenty years old and insisted that she would be okay. "But I don't know if that will be possible. We make our living from this bakery and if we close early, we won't make much of a profit."
"Well, I told Basti we were all going out tonight." Marco explained. He knew he should have talked to Jude first to avoid something like this, but he wanted to help Grace with Basti. "And since Jude and I won't be able to go, I was thinking you could still go out with Basti."
Grace's eyes lit up with excitement. "In that case, I suppose we could close early. Just help me out for two more hours."
Marco nodded in agreement and they got back to work.
In the distraction of their conversation, he turned back to the skillet to see the eggs had gotten burnt and there was smoke emerging. He shut off the stove and took the skillet outside to prevent the fire alarms from sounding.
When he returned, he helped Grace cook and later went back out to take more orders. But he already wanted to see Jude and take care of her until she could feel better.
-
At two in the afternoon, Grace and Marco closed the shop. Then they cleaned up in the kitchen and wiped down all the tables before heading to Grace's house. Jude was in the livingroom, with a blanket wrapped tightly around herself and she was watching a movie.
She turned, smiling weakly when she saw her boyfriend and her mom. Marco noticed she was looking rather pale. He went to her side and sat by her side.
"How are you feeling?" He asked her, kissing her cheek warmly.
She sniffed, her nose sounding runny. "I feel sick because I stupidly forgot to close my window at night, but my mom made some really good chicken soup. I should be feeling better in no time. Thank you for coming to visit me, liebe." She said to him with a smile, snuggling into him to get some warmth. Her blanket wasn't doing much to help her.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he rested his chin on top of her head. "When your mum told me you were sick I wanted to come see you and make sure you were okay."
With the idea of giving them some privacy, Grace left them in the livingroom and went to her bedroom to shower and get changed for her date with Bastian. She didn't know where they would go, but she was going to dress to impress.
Marco's eyes focused on the television for a moment. She was watching Star Wars Episode III, in which Anakin Skywalker joined the dark side. It was on the scene where Skywalker was having a lightsaber battle with Obi-Wan. After a moment without saying anything, he spoke up, "I told Basti we would all go out together tonight."
She tilted her head to look up at him. "If you want you can still go."
He quickly shook his head. "I don't want to leave you here by yourself. But I told your mom she should still go. You and I can stay here, and have a movie night, and I'll take care of you."
Jude smiled. "That sounds tempting."
"Come on, liebe." He grinned at her and she just knew he was about to say something cocky. "A movie date with the one and only Marco Reus. Many women would kill for that chance. You should consider yourself lucky."
She rolled her eyes at him and let out a laugh. "You're so full of yourself, you know."
"I'm just trying to make you crack a smile." He admitted, nuzzling his face into her neck as he laughed with her.
"You're not very good at it." She said jokngly. Her hands then went up to play with his blonde strands of hair. Normally Marco didn't like when other people touched his hair. But Jude was the exception.
Marco scoffed in amusement. "I'm good at everything."
Jude pushed him back gently, her eyes were droopy and tired from the medicine she had taken. But even so, she was willing to stay up as long as she could to watch some movies with Marco. "Go make some popcorn." She said to him, "We need popcorn for this party to get started."
"Yeah," The footballer nodded in agreement, adding, "Popcorn is a must during a movie night." Giving her a sweet kiss on the lips, he then got up from his spot on the couch, leaving her with her blanket for a bit. "I'll be right back, liebe."
She laid back on the couch cushions tiredly, her aching body felt much better stretched out on the livingroom couch even if she felt colder than before.
Now she only had to wait for her boyfriend to bring the popcorn.
-
update! so marco and jude will stay home tonight, while grace goes out with basti. so that means none of his friends or family have met the ever so famous jude yet and they all still think she's a dude. so stay tuned for the next chapter of this story which will come in one to two more days.
thank you so much for reading.
i love you!
-clary xx
