Jude knows what happens between you is contractual.

It's fake. That's what he agreed on with you months ago, which is fine. It's not like he had any complaints. He knows his ex wasn't the best effect on his PR, but he didn't realise that messy breakup would mean he had to get a new girl to cover it up. Jude's not in the mood to date for a while, so a fake relationship was all he could get.

He meets you a month after he breaks up with his ex. His mum brings him along when they meet for lunch. You're nice. Pretty, too. Jude wouldn't mind dating you if he had the energy for it. His ex had sapped all the joy out of relationships for him to enjoy dating. Not now, maybe not for a while. He would've enjoyed dating you if he met you before her.

The months after are simple. You come over, get spotted by paparazzi sometimes. He takes you out on dinners and walks you to clubs where you two pretend to be all over each-other. Jude isn't used to this. He doesn't remember the last time someone other than his mum had held him so gently. Even if it was fake, you were great at comforting him.

On dinner dates, he gets to know you. You talk a whole bloody lot. Tell him you needed the money for your studies and family stuff. Jude almost offers to pay them all. Doesn't say that. Figures it'd be kind of over stepping. When you come over, sometimes you fall asleep on his couch. Stupid cliche moments where he tries to tuck you in, and you ask him to stay. He wakes up with you in his arms. Finds himself sleeping peacefully for once. He slept enough to not feel too tired when he woke up, but it was always restless.

He doesn't go to sleep with you ever again.

With you, Jude doesn't feel restless. He realises it's dangerous almost immediately. He recognises those signs immediately. Jude's falling for you. Finds excuses for you to stay a little longer when you're over. He walks you to your door and lingers like he's going to kiss you in front of it. Jude doesn't do that, but he thinks about doing it.

Maybe a lot more than normal.

Sometimes he dreams about you too. About going to sleep in your bed and waking up holding you while the sun settles in through your shitty curtains. He imagines how your lips taste. Jude's only ever tasted your chapstick, but you love sweets and he knows that if he kisses you, he'd taste the chocolates you love to snack on and carry everywhere, the stuff he always sees you post about on your story. Wonders if it'd taste better on your tongue than compared to when he steals a bite of it from your hands.

Jude knows he can't keep doing this. He knows it's all fake. That when you smile into a kiss, you're here because he pays you to do that. That he has a contractual agreement with you that means he sees you once or twice a week and most of it is public or he posts a story about it to solidify your relationship to everyone else.

So, when you come over, he cancels the reservation. Brings you inside his house and sits you at his table. Jude swallows. Feeling like he was going to throw up. There's bile in his throat and a nervousness that betrays himself. He's not supposed to be this nervous. But with you, he is that way. Because he's fallen for you in a way he hasn't for anyone else.

Was afraid to fall for anyone like this after Ashlyn.

“I don’t want to be in a fake relationship anymore.” He blurts. Stares at you sitting on his kitchen stool, up at him. In that sweet red outfit he wishes he could take off you. Beautiful thing. Gorgeous, gorgeous thing. He wishes you were his. Not under some contract bullshit. Wishes he could believe the way you acted was because you liked him and not for the money you get from faking it with him.

"So.. I'll just end your contract early, whatever. I'll give you all the money from the rest of the year. Just.. you don't have to do this anymore, yeah? No need to fake it." He can't confess. So ending things had to be the only choice.