📍Qatar 🇶🇦

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.BLUE DREAM.

'...crazy , right?'

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IT WAS GETTING darker outside and cozier inside. the group decided to spend their night inside of the beautiful restaurant , savoring it until they had to go and play their first match in the World Cup.

Xaila listened with a smile as the boys talked to her about their matches and their training sessions. she enjoyed their tales , seeing as Jude wasn't paying attention to her.

she didn't seem to care , though. she was just very confused about what Jude's childhood friend did in Qatar the same time as he. maybe she was just coming to watch the World Cup to support him — she tried to convince herself that.

but , the half Dominican girl was an overthinker and the fact that Jude didn't acknowledged her or introduced her to the redhead girl , made her thoughts swirls in her mind.

the boys saw that. they saw how the wheels turned in her head and so they tried to get her mind off of it.

Trent looked at Jude and Eliza and how they were laughing and sharing memories of their childhood days. he grew visibly annoyed at them. more at Jude.

"so , Eliza" Trent said , sitting up in his chair. everyone was looking at him with curiosity. Jadon tried to hide his smile behind the rim of his glass, since he knew Trent didn't like to sugarcoat stuff. he knew the scouser had no filter so he was excited to see how this will pan out.

Trent was toying with the napkin on the table , his eyes still on the duo. Eliza and Jude both turned to him , curious as to what he wanted.

"what are you doing here? in Qatar?" Trent asked , his accent almost visible. Xaila looked at them out of the corner of her eyes. both of their attention was on Trent but Jude's back was still faced towards his girlfriend.

"oh her brother—" Jude was cut off by Mason who was giving him a deadpanned look. "pretty sure she can talk for herself, yeah?"

Jude shrugged and looked towards Eliza. she gave them a nervous smile. "oh , my older brother plays for the USA. I came to support him" she voiced.

"hmm" Trent hummed , slowly nodded his head. "but didn't you say you two were childhood friends? your brother isn't from England?" he asked once again.

"no , he's from California." she started. "we moved to Birmingham when I was only 5" she continued.

Trent hummed , not saying anything further. Jude and Eliza turned to each other again , making jokes and talking. Lauren — Declan's girlfriend , Tolami — Bukayo's girlfriend and Phil's girlfriend — Rebecca , all stood up from their seats on the table.

"we're going to the bathroom , want to come with?" Tolami bent down to ask the girl. Xaila smiled politely as she looked at the girl.

"no , i'm good" she said. the girls nodded their heads and headed off to the bathroom to touch
up their make up.

Xaila whipped her phone out and scrolled on it , when everyone made their own conversation with each other. every now and then , Xaila would glance at the two whenever Eliza laughed or Jude chuckled.

she then turned her attention to them. she just analyzed them. Jude's eyes flickered between Eliza's eyes and lips , a huge , wide smile on his lips , exposing his white teeth. her beige coated nails were playing with Jude's gold watch on his right arm and she looked up at him with loving eyes.

to Xaila , it didn't seem like just platonic gestures.

Eliza laughed again at one of his jokes, putting her forehead on his bicep as she shook with laughter.

the boys looked up , and almost instantly , their eyes flew to Xaila. they all felt bad , they wanted to call him out on it , but didn't want to make it awkward around them.

Ben raised an eyebrow , Mason gave them a look , Bukayo shook his head, Jadon just slightly scoffed , Jack didn't do anything since he was the last one to speak , Declan rolled his eyes and Trent grew annoyed , so annoyed that his jaw was clenched together. if there was one person who knows about feeling excluded in their own relationship — it was him.

his last relationship was bad and it took some time for him to actually trust anyone again. Hannah helped him , though. 

Eliza pulled her head back , her eyes falling to the necklace on Jude's neck. "this is cute" she spoke , her fingers trailing over it.

"hmm , yeah , he actually got his girlfriend the same one" Trent spoke up , making the whole table go silent.

the boys were glad someone finally said something and since Trent was the closest to Jude  , they figured he would say something. 

Jude's eyebrows furrowed. "yeah , Jude. your girlfriend? Xaila? the one that's sitting next to you?" Marcus spoke up and Bukayo raised his brow.

Jude instantly turned around to see Xaila sitting there , slightly waving at him once he noticed her.

he was suddenly aware of Eliza's hands on his forearms and how close he was being with his childhood friend. he didn't see anything wrong with it, though.

"sorry, Xaila i just...i forgot you were here" Jude said , a slight chuckle escaping his lips.

"this man" Jesse said with a shake of his head. Xaila just looked at Jude , unbelief was swimming in her green eyes.

the boys were all going to speak up again but Xaila put her hands on the table , grabbing her phone. "you know , I'm going to the bathroom" she said , and stood up from the table.

everyone watched as she walked to the bathroom , the way that the three other girls were going earlier.

Xaila opened the doors of the bathroom and saw Tolami , Lauren and Rebecca all inside , now either washing their hands or making sure their makeup was still intact.

"oh hey" Rebecca said with a smile. "are you good?" Lauren asked as they all looked over at her.

"i mean...how would you feel if your boyfriend was telling you he forgot about you because he was talking to another girl?"

"and infront of his teammates aswell?" Xaila said with a little chuckle, shaking her head in embarrassment. the girls instantly felt bad for her.

"it'll all be okay." Tolami said. "yeah , it can be overwhelming to date athlete sometimes" Lauren added and Rebecca snorted.

"you have no idea how many times i had to kick Phil out because of the rumors of him running around" the blonde started.

Xaila chuckled and nodded her head. "Jude's just being a dick" Tolami told the girl with a smile and Rebecca agreed.

"yeah , if we weren't in this beautiful restaurant , I'd kick his arse" Rebecca said , causing them all to laugh.

Xaila and the three girls exited the bathroom after the conversation and Xaila was feeling a little bit better now.

she went back to her original seat and looked up to see Jesse showing her a thumbs up with a questioning look. she smiled , knowing he was asking her if she was okay. she nodded her head and he leaned back in the chair with a slight nod.

Eliza looked over at Xaila. "oh hi , i'm sorry i didn't introduce myself earlier" she spoke. Xaila was surprised she was talking to her.

so she just nodded her head. "Xaila" she said and redhead nodded her head. "Eliza" the girl said.

"Jude didn't tell me he had a girlfriend , though. i never would've guessed. when we were little , he always told me he had a thing for redheads" Eliza said with a slight laugh.

Bukayo scrunched his face up in disgust at the young woman.

"that was ages ago" Jude spoke as he looked at Eliza and she shrugged. "sure , Jude"

Eliza lifted her gaze to Xaila's neck to see that it was the exact same necklace that Jude had on his. she lifted her brows before putting her eyes on Jude once again.

"remember that matching gold bracelets we got together when we were younger?"

"this bitch" Jadon muttered under his breath , causing Jordan and Reece to snicker.

Jude's eyes slightly widened. "yeah? what about it?" he asked , scratching the back of his head. "do you still have yours?" she asked.

Xaila's eyebrows furrowed and she took a breath , not wanting her gut to be right. she turned her attention to the duo.

"y-yeah , I guess..." Jude trailed off and Eliza pouted. "you guess? I still have mine on...look"

Eliza lifted her arm on to show Jude the gold bracelet. Xaila peeked. it was a very familiar gold bracelet.

her breath hitched as she saw a little gold bear and a star on the chain of the bracelet. it was like the same exact one Jude gave to her a couple of days ago in England.

flashback.
📍london, england 🇬🇧

"gosh , this tastes amazing" she said as she took another sip of the hot chocolate. it was a cloudy and cold night in London and Jude had decided to take Xaila for a drive.

somehow , she convinced him to go get hot chocolate and some food from a nearby truck. Jude did as he was told and now , they were sitting in the car , drinking their hot chocolate and eating their doughnuts.

"I know. I told you" he said with a cheeky smile. Xaila leaned forward and turned the radio up ,letting a soft song flow in the car.

the song wasn't loud or too soft , it was perfect. Jude turned the heater on , so both of them can get more comfortable and cozy.

"I can't wait to see you in the stands" he said , placing a kiss on her lips. "wearing my shirt" he planted another kiss on her lips. "with your beautiful smile" he said , and placed another kiss on her full lips.

she smiled. "me too" Xaila started. "i'll take so many photos and videos of you that my phone storage will be full" she said and he pecked her cheek.

"you better"

he put his hot chocolate in the cup holder before opening the glove box that was on Xaila's side. she watched with furrowed eyebrows as he pulled out a black box out.

she sighed. "Jude" she said. he knew how she felt about unnecessary money being spent on her. "shut up" he said , giving her a look.

"this , is something I want to give to you as a token...of my love. because I love you" he said and opened the box.

it was a beautiful gold bracelet. it had a bear on and a little star. she gasped. "it's beautiful" she spoke and he smiled.

Xaila put the hot chocolate in the other cup holder before taking the bracelet into her hands. "thank you, Jude" she said andbh smiled  , pulling her in for another kiss.

"anything for my girl , yeah?"

flashback over.

Xaila's heartrate quickened and she cleared her throat. Jude's eyes widened. "hmm , that bracelet looks...interesting" the girl spoke up , watching as a huge smile formed on Eliza's lips.

"yeah. the bear is because Jude had an obsession with them when we were younger" Eliza said , pointing to the little bear.

"and the star is because my middle name is Starr." she said , pointing to the star. tears welled up in Xaila's eyes but she didn't let them fall.

"we got this on our first date when we were 15. crazy , right?" Eliza said with a small smile as she stared at the bracelet.

Jude's heart thumped against his chest as he looked over at his girlfriend. the boys were confused about what was going on.

"yeah , crazy"

———

A/N

— *cries in French*
Jude wtf.