Sweetener | Judd Birch

11 | his social medias

THE DRIVE BACK TO the Birch's place with Judd wasn't all too bad, just filled with small talk and as we drove past a record store, Judd pointed out how he works there— which was quite interesting.

Now I'm seated between Leah and Judd at dinner.

"Am I a lucky guy or what? I've got this beautiful family, a gorgeous home. Oh and
(Y/n), Andrew, did you know that Duke Ellington died in this house?" Mr Birch pipes proudly, lifting his wine glass.

"I did, Dr Birch. This house has rhythm." Andrew replies, wiping his mouth.

I shake my head. "Actually I did not know that, very interesting fact Dr Birch."

"That's right, what can I say? I love cocktail facts and I also love this women." Mr Birch beams, reaching out to squeeze his wife's hand.
"Not only did she prepare a fantastic meal and birthed three beautiful children— no drugs!" Leah smiles and Judd grumbles.

I blink in slight confusion, unsure if I were to find this dinner conversation cute or weird. Although I did admire how Mr and Mrs Birch loved each other and their children deeply, I often wonder how Judd ended up being the dark one in such a positive family.

"Oh please, Nick slipped right out of me." Mrs Birch says. I look down at my food in slight discomfort, taking a sip out of my drink.

"Muuum, Andrew and (Y/n) are here!" Nick groans in embarrassment.

"They're family, Nicky and anyways, they shouldn't be afraid of a vagina." She explains.

Nick rolls his eyes. "Okay, can we be excused?"

I glance over to Leah, ignoring their conversation. "Wow your parents are really open about this stuff." I whisper and she nods in agreement. "Yeah, totally. . . It gets really weird sometimes." She nervously chuckles.

I return my gaze in front of me and noticed that both Nick and Andrew were excused from the table and walking back upstairs— although Andrew bumps into a wall on the way. I stifle a laugh.

"What a fantastic best friend, that kid's a dynamite!" Mr Birch says, now standing up with hands on hips, proudly. In a span of a more than a few seconds, a lot had happen after I zoned out of the conversation. Mr Birch sits back down onto his chair again, continuing with his food.

"Oh you too (Y/n)! You're a fantastic best friend to Leah! How are you by the way?" He chirps with a smile and I return one.

"I'm doing great, I actually have an upcoming basketball game to cheerlead with my squad." I reply sweetly.

"Oh that's right! You do cheerleading at school! Leah you're going to watch right?" Mr Birch says cheerfully, turning to Leah. I hear Judd yawn in boredom before picking up his plate and getting up to put them in the sink.

"Yes, duh." Leah said.

"Did you know, girls, I actually dabbled in a bit of cheerleading in high school. Only for a couple of years though. . ." Mrs Birch explains.

Judd walks over to me before whispering in ear, "Come to my room tonight." And before I could say anything back, he's already walking away. I could feel a blush creep at my cheeks, I was in slight shock but kept my composure. I could feel Mr and Mrs Birch's curious gaze at me after what Judd whispered and I hoped they didn't hear.

The two simply gave each other a look before talking amongst themselves, bless them— they didn't bring up the conversation of Judd.

~~~

After dinner, Leah and I volunteered to wash the dishes and pack up the dishwasher. Afterwards we went upstairs, I took a shower and then Leah soon after, which meant that I had time by myself in Leah's room. It was quite boring but entertained myself by scrolling through Instagram, Twitter etc, the thought of what Judd said at dinner made me feel excited and I couldn't get that thought off my mind so me cladded in my pjs and my wet hair up in a messy bun, in that moment I decided to stalk his social media as I haven't had the chance follow him or even get his number.

On Instagram, I decided to go through Leah's following and see if she followed Judd-- lucky for me she did but his account was on private. I chewed at my bottom lip, contemplating if I should request to follow. I sat upright before taking a deep breath and tapping follow. It might take a while for him to actually accept it as from what I hear from his bedroom, a loud screaming rap song was bursting. I assume he's busy.

I was wrong, I immediately got a notification saying that he accepted it and that he wanted to request to follow me as well. I grin in happiness before accepting his request and I immediately went over to his page.

Judd only had two posts, the first one was a picture of him and Lee, the two holding a beer at a party, Lee plastering a smile while Judd with his stoic grumpy face, then the other was an image of a concert.

The song from Judd's room paused and immediately, the door of Leah's room bursts open with Judd on the other side, his phone in hand. "Hey dickhead. Why'd you request to follow me?" He says with a poker-face. I blink, this day has been full of surprises.

"Because I wanted to see your Instagram page. . ." I reply.

Judd smirked before shaking his head. "Okay. Whatever. You still coming over tonight?" I nod my head in response and he hums in approval before closing the door once again.

~~~

[ A/N;

Hi guys, this chapter is kind of uneventful but important and I pulled that dinner scene from big mouth and slapped it on here but added you in it of course :)))! It was fun writing it actually so I might incorporate more big mouth episodes into my story.

I've also updated the 'Prelude' chapter in this book because the first draft kind of bothered me so yuh, I've cleaned it up. Do check it out! It's just the first chapter of this book, bascially the synopsis. ]

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