Under Your Skin | Jude Bellingham

013

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Standing in the airport, I hugged Hayley and Trent goodbye, promising to come and visit them soon. As I watched them go, I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. I knew I'd see them again soon, but at that moment all I could think about was how much I was going to miss them again.

I felt someone place a reassuring hand on my back and looked around to see Jude looking down at me with gentle concern. "You okay?" He asked.

I nodded my head. "Yeah," I sniffed.

"Why don't I take you shopping to cheer you up?"

"No I'm okay, thank you."

"Come on, it'll be my treat."

I stared at him for a moment. "Alright," I grinned.

For the rest of the afternoon, Jude willingly tagged along as I dragged him from store to store, trying on clothes and making difficult decisions about which jumper I preferred or if that skirt looked good on me. He remained patient the whole time, helping me with those decisions and never complaining even if we took a while to leave a particular store. We did bicker frequently when it came to paying, though — Jude wouldn't let me pay for anything and it was beginning to piss me off. "I told you it was my treat," Jude said as we headed out of the third store we'd been to with a new bag in our hands.

"Yeah, but —"

"Seriously, Hannie, don't worry about it."

"I'll pay you back."

"No you will not."

"I will, otherwise I'll feel bad."

Jude rolled his eyes. "Hannah, please just let it go."

I opened my mouth to protest again but decided against it and thanked him instead. I was so grateful for Jude offering to buy me things but at the same time I felt undeserving. I hadn't exactly been the nicest person to him over the years. If anything, I should've been the one buying him gifts.

We headed into the fourth store of the afternoon, and I managed to convince Jude to go and choose something he liked and told him I'd get it for him. However, as I was looking at shoes, Jude instead came bouncing back over to me with a dress in his hands. "You'd look amazing in this," he said with a grin. I looked at the dress. It was a deep red and absolutely beautiful, perfect for a party or even a date. "Go try it on," he insisted. He noticed my hesitation. "Or do you not like it?"

"Jude, I love it," I answered.

His eyes lit up again. "I can get it you if you'd like —"

"No. You've already done enough."

"Would owning this dress make you happy?" Jude asked.

"Yeah...?" I replied, confused by his question.

"And didn't I say that I wanted to cheer you up?"

"Well yes, but —"

"Then go try it on!"

I let out a heavy sigh, reluctantly taking the dress from his hands and heading to the nearest dressing room. Jude followed me and took a seat outside, waiting for me to pull on the dress. The minute I slipped it over my head, I fell in love with the softness of the material and the way it fit perfectly in all the right places. I turned this way and that to get a good look at myself in the mirror, then pulled the curtain aside and stepped out of the changing room. Jude looked up from his phone, and immediately his mouth dropped open. "Wow. Hannah you look..." He trailed off, looking at me in a way he never had before. His dark eyes were filled with something unfamiliar to me as he looked me up and down, his lips curling slightly upwards. "That dress looks incredible on you."

I couldn't help it, I smiled and felt myself blushing. "Thank you," I grinned back at him. "Alright Bellingham, close your mouth," I added when he continued to stare at me, speechless. He averted his gaze to the floor, seemingly flustered but still grinning.

There was no way I couldn't buy that dress, so whilst Jude was distracted, I tried to make a beeline for the checkout but unfortunately he caught up with me and took the dress from my hands. "You are not paying," he said, his firm tone enough to inform me that trying argue with him would be pointless.

I left Jude in the queue to go and find a bathroom. In doing so, I rounded the corner and bumped into a guy, causing him to drop his shopping all over the floor. Mortified, I started apologising profusely and bent down to help him pick up the items he'd dropped. "I am so sorry," I echoed over and over. I looked up, expecting the guy to be furious, but to my surprise he was laughing. Immediately I was drawn to his piercing blue eyes watching me with amusement instead of anger. Damn he's attractive, I thought to myself.

"I'm so sorry," I repeated, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he smiled as we got back to our feet. "Don't worry about it." I handed his shopping back to him and he thanked me. "I'm Felix, by the way."

"I'm Hannah."

"Hannah," Felix said, "I love that name."

"Am I interrupting something?" Jude said. I turned around to see him with another shopping bag in his hands, a scowl on his face as he looked at Felix.

"Not at all," Felix flashed him a charming smile, but Jude's gaze didn't soften one bit. A few uncomfortable seconds ticked by before Felix cleared his throat and turned to me. "Well it was wonderful to meet you, Hannah."

"You too," I said. Felix glanced at Jude one final time before he took off.

Before I could ask Jude what his problem was, he cut me off. "Come on, let's go get something to eat," he said.

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A/N: Still can't believe Jude is officially a Real Madrid player now. I'm so happy for him but also sad that we won't see him at Borussia Dortmund anymore. Once again I don't like this chapter but yay an update.