𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 - 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡

𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛

warning: some scenes may be distressing for some readers. there are mentions of groping so please, read at your own discretion.

The loud bass of the speakers could be felt by Joelle's feet as the floor thumped beneath them. The brunette girl removed a glass bottle of Tequila and added it to the drink that she was making before handing it to the customer who passed her the money for the drink.

"You're looking a little down tonight, what's up?" Leah, Joelle's colleague, asked her as she noticed a difference in the girl. Leah was the closest thing that Joelle had to a friend. The curly haired girl found it hard to open herself up to others after Jack had completely removed himself from her life. He had shattered her trust.

Leah was a caring girl, only a few years older than Joelle, she was the girl that the curly brunette went to whenever she needed advice or just someone to listen to her rant. Joelle had always been jealous of Leah. She held so much beauty with her skin the same colour as cocoa and the prettiest afro that she had ever seen. Leah was stunning and she was always catching the attention of men and women that walked through the doors of the nightclub.

"My ex best friend and ex boyfriend is living with me for the next three months." Leah's eyes went wide as she listened to what her colleague told her. She had no idea why he was staying with her or why Joelle had allowed this to happen but she didn't judge. Instead, she waited for the brunette girl to continue her story.

The two girls continued to serve the large volume of customers who were ranging from anywhere between completely sober to drunk.

"That's rough. He's a dickhead for not getting in touch sooner but surely it's got to count for something that he's trying now and not another two years down the line, right?" Leah's speciality was seeing the positives in situations and as much as Joelle knew that Leah was right, she couldn't accept it. Not when Jack had hurt her as much as he did.

"Leah, he was my best friend from the day that I was born and then he just vanished into thin air. The only way that I knew that he was still alive was from the constant news reports about how great of a footballer he was." She sighed and shook her head as she remembered some of the trouble that he had gotten himself into. Being such a good footballer meant that he was constantly scrutinised and the mistakes that he made as a young and naive teenager were broadcast to the whole nation. In  a way, she felt bad for him because he had no privacy and the boy was trying to navigate his way through life.

"Jojo, I know that he hurt you but maybe the way to get rid of the pain is to talk to him. Think about it." Leah hung up her bar apron and left the premises, her shift coming to an end, leaving Joelle to finish the night by herself since the nightclub was severely understaffed.

The club was busy with intoxicated and slightly horny adults. Joelle hated her job with a burning passion but it was what paid her bills. Music had always been her passion and she thought of her bartending job as her side hustle until her musical career took off. There was nothing appealing to her about serving drunken people and being groped every night but it's what she had to do to survive.

"Hey, Miss!" The curly haired girl spun round quickly at the sound of the voice, pieces of her hair falling out of her low ponytail as she did so.

Joelle saw a man who was in his mid-twenties leaning against the bar. It was clear to see that he had already had several drinks and was well past intoxicated.

"Sir, I think you've had too much to drink already." The small girl informed the man as he asked her for two shots of vodka. Although it was her job to serve, it was also her job to stop serving if she thought that it was bad for the health of the person wanting to be served.

"Oh come on, sweetheart," the man stumbled behind the bar beside Joelle and she could smell the alcohol radiating from his body. He reeked.

"I'll give you anything you want." One of his larger hands held onto her wrist tightly whilst the other travelled to her waist, making sure that the girl would be bruised and unable to move. 

Unfortunately for both parties, Joelle had been in these kinds of situations many times before. It came with the job and the fact that the nightclub she worked for had no interest in the wellbeing of their staff. Everything was about money for them.

"Security!" She called out, her voice somehow being heard over the extra loud music. The security guards came rushing over and lifted the intoxicated man away from the young bartender, leaving her to finish her shift.

***

When Joelle returned home from her shift at six in the morning, the only thing she wanted to do was change into her most comfortable pair of pyjamas and curl up in her bed. She would do this after every night shift without fail apart from this shift because when she got home, there was a party in full swing.

"I am going to kill Jack and show him no mercy." Joelle muttered to herself, feeling so incredibly angry at how selfish he could be. She really did consider talking to him and seeing if he had matured over the years but this party was enough to show her that she was wrong to think that.

Storming into the house, Joelle came face to face with people that she had never met before.

"Where's Jack?" She asked around, being told by different people that he was upstairs so she made her way up the spiral staircase and found him in one of the guest bedrooms surrounded by men and women who were smoking. The brunette girl stomped over and gripped his shirt that he was wearing and dragged him out of the room.

"What the hell is this?" If Joelle was a cartoon in that moment, she would have had steam coming out of her ears and Jack knew for a fact that he was screwed.

"I didn't mean for this to happen-" he started but was cut off by the smaller girl's scoff and roll of the eyes.

"For fucksake, Jack. You can never take responsibility for your actions, can you?" She shook her head in disbelief and when the Brummie boy looked at her face properly, he could see how exhausted she was.

"Get rid of these people and tidy up, I'm sleeping in my flat tonight," Jack was positive that Joelle was going to walk away right then but she didn't.

"Did you smoke anything?" Her voice was laced with concern and if Jack wasn't already in so much trouble, he might have smiled at the fact that she cared about him.

When her old best friend shook his head, she sighed a sigh of relief.

"Good. It's bad for you and we wouldn't want it to ruin your football career that you left me for." This time Joelle left him and Jack sighed. He thought that he was getting somewhere and he had messed everything up once again.

a/n: he was doing so well! 😩

this chapter was again, a little insight into how joelle was feeling about all of the drama that went on between her and jack.

also, i'm sorry to anyone who may have found any scenes distressing, i did put a warning up before this chapter. this kind of stuff, unfortunately, happens all the time so if you ever need anyone to talk to, you can always dm me ❤️

which match are you most excited for with the start of the league again?
i'll probably say leicester v chelsea. anyone who knows me will know that i despise chelsea (dk why, i like three of their staff?) and obviously, leicester have done great this season!

enjoy and stay safe!

lots of love, e x