❝𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮❞ sᴢᴀ

𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃

You always knew visiting England with Jude would be chaotic but you didn’t expect this level of madness.

The living room at the Bellingham family mansion was full tonight. You were curled up on one side of the massive L-shaped , sipping a wine. On the other side, your dad, Jude’s dad Mark, and Jude himself were practically hanging off the edge of their seats, screaming at the giant TV.

PSG vs. Arsenal.

Naturally, everyone in the room was backing PSG. Except you and Jude’s mum, Denise, who sat beside you with a glass of wine and the most iconic side-eye expression you’d ever seen.

“Children,” she muttered under her breath, shaking her head as the three grown men shouted about fouls and missed goals like it was life or death.

“REF’S BLIND!”

“HE NEEDS A CARD, NOW!”

“NAH HE’S DIVING, THAT’S A DIVE!”

You and Jude had known each other forever. Since before the world screamed his name, before the sold out stadiums and the magazine covers. You’d grown up in the same circle, spent summers around the same friends, been on random beach trips just always around each other. It had always been… something. Never official, never serious, but the tension was there. A lingering “what if” that never fully disappeared. You really liked each other

“Yo,” your dad called suddenly, pointing at the screen. ”That’s offside, right? Tell me I’m not blind.”

**”Offside by a mile!”**Jude shouted back. “VAR better not fumble this.”

The goal replayed in slow motion and everyone leaned in, eyes wide, as if it would change something.

Denise crossed behind the couch, muttering, “Full-grown men yelling at pixels.”

Jude elbowed you gently. ”See? Even she doesn’t rate us.”

”She’s got a point,” you said, sipping your drink. “you’re still yelling like you’re in Year 9 PE class.”

Jude flopped back down next to you during halftime, breathing hard like he’d been running around for 45 minutes instead of the players on scree he smelled faintly of expensive cologne

He gave you a sideways smirk. ”You enjoying the chaos?”

“It’s like watching a zoo in real time.”

Jude laughed, his eyes staying on you just a little too long.

“Yeah? You’d still choose to sit next to me, though.”

“You’re lucky I did,” you teased, ”you’d be lost without me beside you was the one who sat next to me!”

“Facts,” he said easily, his voice a little lower now. ”You’ve always been my favorite.”

You gave him a look. ”You say that to every girl, don’t you?”

He leaned closer, voice dropping. ”Nah. Only you.”