Jamal carried my suitcase to our hotel room and I unlocked the door. We both stepped inside, looked around and I froze.

There was only one bed.

Jamal walked into the room as well and realized why I had frozen.

"Oh," he scratched the back of his head. "Uh, I can sleep on the couch,"

"No, it's okay. You need to sleep well and this couch doesn't look very comfortable," I shrugged my shoulders.

"We can share the bed if you don't mind. It's big enough," Jamal proposed and I could tell he was quie nervous.

"I don't mind," I sent him a smile
We unpacked our things and got ready for dinner.

We walked to the restaurant together and searched for the rest of the ream. Once we found them and sat down, the waiter arrived and took our order. I was sat between Jamal and Thomas, opposite of Joshua and Leon.

We conversed for some time until Manuel brought something up.

"I'm so glad I have my own bed," Manuel stated. He shared a room with Thomas.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Thomas loves to kick around, while he's sleeping. With separate beds, I can at least sleep well," Manuel replied.

"Some rooms here don't have separate beds and some do," Joshua added.

I shared a quick look with Jamal. So, it wasn't an accident. There were more hotel rooms without separate beds.

"Just to clarify, Manu is over exaggerating, I don't kick that much anymore," Thomas said.

"Yeah, you do. You once kicked me so hard, I had bruises and coach thought I was in a fight," Manu replied.

"Those bruises definitely didn't come from me,"

"I gotta pick Manu's side here," Joshua said, "Thomas really isn't a peaceful sleeper,"

"Ugh, you guys-"

"Are right? Yes, we already knew that," Manu said.

"Fine. Maybe I'm not the most peaceful sleeper, but I can't control it! Therefore, it's not my fault,"

...

During the rest of the dinner, we talked about the plans for the next few days. After dinner Jamal and I went back to our hotel room and changed into more comfier clothes.

"How do you feel about touring the hotel?" he proposed.

"Well, we don't exactly have anything better to do, right?" Jamal shook his head.

We walked through the corridors, passing hotel room after hotel room. We walked by the restaurant and stepped inside the elevator. I was leaning on one wall of the elevator and Jamal was leaning opposite of me. His lips were curled up a little bit into a smile.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You're really great, you know that, right?" I blushed and looked to the floor in an attempt to hide it.

"I mean it," he continued. "Meeting you has been one of the best things in my life,"

I looked up and sent him a smile. Jamal had stepped away from the wall and closer to me. He was standing in the middle of the elevator.

"Thank you. That means a lot me and I think you're really great, too," I replied, not quite sure what to say.

I wasn't sure what exactly I felt for him either. I knew I liked spending time with him. I knew he was a great friend, but I didn't know if I wanted him to be more than that. What we had was great and I was scared to ruin it, so I decided I wouldn't do anything before I wasn't 100% sure I had romantic feelings for him.

"Bella?" I interrupted my thoughts. "Come on, we're here. Floor 17,"

I nodded and we walked out of the elevator.

"Why 17? Is it like your favorite number or something?" he asked.

"It's one of them,"

"How many favorite numbers do you have? I only have one,"

"What's your favorite number?" I wanted to know.

"Guess,"

"42?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"I like that one as well, but no,"

"Then I don't know,"

"10," he said and smiled.

"How come?"

"It was the number I was given when I joined Bayern Munich," he shrugged. "So, what are your favorite numbers?"

"7, 11, 17, 77," I replied.

"What about 1?"

"No, that's literally so basic," I stated and Jamal laughed.

While we were talking, we didn't notice we had reached a door at the end of the hallway. Jamal opened it and revealed a large room. There were three pool tables in the middle of it and a few couches and chairs on the sides.

Jamal walked to one of the pool tables and grabbed a cue stick.

"Wanna play?" he was slightly leaning on the stick and smiled at me.

"Sure, but I have to warn you, I'm very good at it," I smiled.

"We'll see about that," he teased.

"You don't believe me?" I grabbed a cue stick as well.

"I didn't say that," he replied.

We started playing and Jamal was really good. Luckily I had some experience and was slightly better than him.

"See, I told you, I'm very good," I grinned.

"I noticed," he tried to send me an upset look, but failed miserably. I started laughing at the sight and missed my next shot.

"I can help you," he offered and stepped behind me.

He placed his fingers over mine and his face was next to mine. I blushed at our closeness, but didn't mind it.

"Just concentrate," he whispered into my ear, causing goosebumps to run up my arms.

"I know how to do it," I whispered back, turning my head slightly so I could look at him.

"Whatever you say, Bella," he looked deep into my eyes. We were so close, I could've counted his eyelashes.

I turned my head back to look at the pool table. I could feel his stare on face. I could feel the soft touch of his fingers on mine and his right hand placed over mine. I could feel his chest press against my back. I wasn't able to concentrate very well, the closeness was driving me crazy.

I shot the pool ball and Jamal took a step away from me. I watched the ball miss one of the wholes by a few centimeters and turned around to face Jamal.

"Thanks for your help," I said my voice laced with sarcasm.

"You're welcome," he grinned at me.

He closed the space between us and put his hands on my waist. He lifted me off the ground and spun me around holding me close to him.

When he put me back on the ground he smiled at me without saying anything.

"What was that for?" I smiled.

"I just wanted to hug you," Jamal shrugged his shoulders.

...

isabellaflick added to their Instagram story

...

Once we got back to our hotel room, Jamal went to take a shower while I was on the balcony enjoying the last bit of sunlight. I was scrolling through my phone looking at recent Instagram posts, when I heard the bathroom door open. I walked back into the room, still looking at my phone. When I looked up, I saw Jamal standing in front of me.

He only had a towel wrapped around his lower body. I blinked and stopped what I was doing on my phone. We both just looked at each other, my eyes widened at the sight.

"Oh my god, um, I'm sorry," I turned around faced the wall.

"No, it's my fault. I forgot to bring clothes," he walked to the closet and grabbed a few pieces of clothing. He then quickly ran back to the bathroom and closed the door.

I was still not able to process what happened and just stood there with my eyes wide open. Jamal shirtless was definitely unexpected, but something I could get used to.

...

author's note:

the chapter is a little bit shorter, but there's a lot of jamal and isabella content, so I hope it suffices.

I wish all of you a merry christmas, because I'm most likely not going to update again before Christmas.