Shut up // Judd Birch x reader

14: Supermarket

Jessi was sat comfortably in the trolly and would grab the things she'd want from the shelves as I steered past them. "Jess do you really need peppa pig alphabetti spaghetti?" I asked with a chuckle. She shot me a jokingly dirty look and put it back on the shelf.
"(Y/n) do you really need this pack of Trojans-"
"Oi!" I snatched the packet out of her hands and shoved it in my pocket. My cheeks became bright red and I tried to distract myself from what Jessi had just found.
"What are they?" She asked, genuinely having no idea what they were.
"Something personal, it's like...a...a protection against bad things."
"Do you eat it- like medication?"
"Ok first of all you shouldn't eat medication you should just swallow it." I laughed and Jessi didn't look impressed.

We paid for everything and began walking home, Jessi kept asking about the Trojans over and over again and eventually I just told her to shut up, we finished the last bit of the walk home in complete silence- which was essentially better than being constantly embarrassed.

I unlocked the door and Jessi ran to the kitchen to start unpacking the groceries. A smile broke out on my face as I put my key under the doormat for Judd.

"I'm so hungry (Y/n)!!" Jessi exclaimed, shoving all the ingredients for macaroni cheese in my direction when I joined her in the kitchen. I chuckled and began to prepare our dinner.
"Hey Jessi come here." I said softly to her and she did as she was told. I could tell the smile she had plastered on her face wasn't real, there was something odd about her tonight. I pulled her into a tight embrace and she melted into me.

When I heard a little sob, I kept her in the embrace so she could cry onto my shoulder. It was from that moment that I knew I had to do something, "Jessi baby what's up."
"I-It's...I-I m-miss mom." She choked and my heart broke.

"I m-miss Mommy." I sobbed, my eyes burned due to how much I had cried and my throat was raw because of how I had screamed in emotional pain. My dad just stood looming over me, watching me but keeping his distance with a shadow over his face.
"Stop being selfish (y/n), sort yourself out." He snapped back, grabbing my arm roughly and yanking me up to my feet before landing a hard slap to my left cheek. I choked back a scream and nodded, wiping the tears away from my face. My face hurt but I didn't dare speak back to him.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry." Jessi said with a sad and concerned expression on her face. I didn't realize that I too had started crying and my cheeks felt wet.
"N-No it's not your fault Jess, don't worry your mom will be home sooner than you think and I'll call her tonight and convince her to come home earlier ok?" I tried my hardest to sound confident for her.
"Really?! You'd do that for me?!" Her face lit up and I saw a true smile break out on her face. It warmed my heart and I nodded, wiping away the tears that seemingly never stopped coming from my eyes.

We eventually finished making dinner and scoffed it down hungrily, Jessi surprisingly finished before me and I laughed at the fact she had cheese sauce all around her mouth. She frowned and grabbed a piece of kitchen roll to clean herself up. "You wanna watch something on Netflix?" I asked, eyeing up the Television and sofa. A yawn erupted from Jessi's mouth though and I chuckled, glancing her way just to see her look really exhausted,
"I'm sorry I'm just too tired tonight." She replied with a sad face, I simply shrugged and told her not to worry about it, I too wasn't feeling too spritely despite how I acted towards Her.
"Alright well go up to bed, I'm going to have a bath and then I'm going to my room- if you need me for anything, and Jessi, I mean anything don't hesitate to come to me!" I beamed and watched her smile, nodding happily. I wish someone had said that to me.

When she disappeared up the stairs I crumbled and lowered myself off the stool I was previously sitting on to curl up, holding my knees closely to my chest. As I cradled myself I let myself cry, letting out all the stress I had been gathering up over the past few days. My mental health wasn't fully healed from the damage my father had inflicted on me and I was still recovering from the attack involving Steph, on top of that I had to be a temporary mother figure to my cousin who was suffering as well. I bit down on my lip to stop myself screaming in exhaustion.

Suddenly I felt someone pick me up and just by the scent I could tell it was Judd, I didn't have the energy to put on the strong facade I usually plastered on my face so I simply snuggled my head to his chest and let the last of my tears fall before looking up at his face. He looked down at me with sorrowful eyes, for a moment I thought I saw a flicker of pain pass across his features.

When I had calmed down a little I snapped back into myself and wiped away my tears, changing my hurt expression to one of embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry you had to see that, I just couldn't-"
"You're such a retard if you thought I would really be bothered to see you like that, it just makes me even more protective of you." He still held me in his arms and didn't show signs of letting go anytime soon.
"Hey I can protect myself!" I jokingly argued back, he gruffly chuckled and rolled his eyes.

We began talking and he immediately cheered me up, his presence calmed me down. "I have to have a bath." I told him with a small smile. He smirked and nodded with cheek glazing over his eyes.
"I'll come in with you then." Judd replied and chuckled when he saw my face reddened. He placed me back on my feet and I flickered my eyes up at him and played his game.
"Ok!" I said, batting my eyelashes innocently, he didn't even look at me and began walking towards the stairs.