The day after the game, I had my second date with Jude. He picked me up at my hotel and we drove to a busier part of the city.

After I fled to the balcony the night before and Jamal had followed me, I returned to the dance floor. This time however, I made sure to put enough space between me and Jude.

Jude and I were walking through the streets of Dortmund our fingers brushing against each other every now and then.

"How long are you staying here?" Jude wanted to know.

"We are leaving in the late afternoon," I replied and he nodded.

"How'd you like the game?"

"I liked it. It was very entertaining. How about you?" I said.

"I would've liked to win,"

"You can't always win. Besides a draw is better than losing,"

"That's some kind of optimism. Do you tell the Bayern players that as well?" he raised a brow and smirked at me teasingly.

"I don't have to. They mostly win. You know first on the table and stuff like that," I teased back.

"I see. I guess I should be excited to see Germany suck at the world cup then," Jude stated.

"You're playing?"

"Of course,"

"Is it your first world cup?" I wanted to know.

"Well, yeah considering I was like fourteen when the last one took place,"

"Right. You're playing for England's national team, aren't you?" I asked.

"I am. Are you going to go to Qatar?"

"To be honest, I haven't thought about it at all,"

"Well, if you do, we'll definitely see each other there," Jude said.

"That doesn't sound too bad,"

"Do you wanna grab something to eat?"

"Sure, do you have a place in mind?" I replied.

"I know a small restaurant, it's usually not as crowded there,"

We went back to the car and after a short drive, we arrived at the restaurant.

We chose a corner table and sat down. Once the waiter came, we ordered our food and drinks.

"Do you already know what you want to do once your gap year is over?"

"I really like working with the media team, but I haven't really thought about it. I was just kind of enjoying the free time,"

"I guess it must have been three pretty relaxing and easy months for you," Jude said.

Easy and relaxing wouldn't exactly be the words I would have used. The past three months were exciting and I learned a lot of new things, met a lot of new people, but sometimes it was hard and painful. I went through a lot of highs and lows.

"Yeah. You could say that,"

A waiter brought our food and we started eating.

...

judebellingham added to their Instagram story

...

INSTAGRAM

isabellaflick

♡ 💬➢

liked by jok_32, judebellingham and 79,436 others

isabellaflick flower power

view all 13,908 comments

judebellingham: credits?
↳ isabellaflick: never

user1: is she with jude or jamal?
↳ user2: jude took the photo

user3: jamal>>>

esmuellert: I really hope you bought me some
↳ isabellaflick: I don't wanna do that to the poor flowers
↳ esmuellert: rude

esmuellert: the flowers>you

benpavard21: 😎

user4: so beautiful

user5: why is jamal not commenting anymore?
↳ user3: fr @jamalmusiala10
↳ user6: he didn't even like the photo

jamalmusiala10: 😍

user7: that was dry

chiaradvn: can i have a sip
↳ isabellaflick: of course

sofia.cl16: i can buy myself flowers
↳ isabellaflick: write my name in the sand
↳ leon_goretzka: talk to myself for hours

user8: your outfits>>
↳ isabellaflick: thank you sm

...

Jude and I went back to his apartment after visiting the city, since I still had some time before we would drive back to Munich. Even though we flew to Dortmund, we would go back by bus.

We were sitting on Jude's couch playing cards.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"Shoot,"

"What is this for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are we? I mean we went on technically three dates together in the past 24 hours,"

"What are you saying?" I furrowed my brows.

"Well, do you want to continue going on dates with me?" he wanted to know.

"I really enjoy spending time with you, but I live in Munich."

"I could come visit you. I could fly there and you can come here whenever you want," he suggested.

"I can't just leave. I work there,"

"But it's worth a try, isn't it?"

I liked Jude, as a friend. He was obviously attractive and a nice guy, but there was something missing between us. There was no spark, there was no pull towards him, there was no tension between us.

My heart didn't speed up when I talked to him. He didn't send goosebumps down my arms. I wasn't in love with him. He wasn't Jamal.

"What if it doesn't work?" I wanted to know.

"I think we should at least try," he said.

"I don't wanna disappoint you,"

"You could never disappoint me," he stated.

Jude put a strand of hair behind my ear and moved closer to me. He started leaning in and I knew exactly what he was about to do, but I didn't want it to happen. When our faces were mere inches apart, he placed one hand on my waist while the other rested on my cheek.

I wrapped my hands around his upper body and hugged him, to prevent him from kissing me. He froze for a second out of surprise but relaxed a few seconds later and hugged me back.

When we let go of each other, there was an awkward moment between us.

He scanned my face and smiled.

"We can take it slow if you want to," Jude suggested.

"Yeah, I'd prefer that," I replied.

...

I took a taxi back to the hotel to get my stuff. I met up with Daniel and we walked to the bus together. Most of the players were already there when we arrived, but a few were still missing. I was sitting next to Thomas when a member of the media team walked up to me.

"Isabella, Jude Bellingham is standing outside of the bus. He said he needs to talk to you," she said.

"About what?" we had seen each other an hour ago.

"He said he has to give you something,"

I got up from my seat and walked out of the bus. Jude was standing in the parking lot scrolling on his phone. He looked up when he noticed my presence.

"Hi," he smirked, "You forgot your phone at my place,"

"Thanks for bringing it," I said and he handed me my phone.

I looked over Jude's shoulder and saw Jamal and Phonzy walk towards the bus. When our eyes met, Jamal sent me a light smile. I returned it and Jude noticed. He turned around and waved at the duo. Jamal's smile dropped and Phonzy raised his eyebrows.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Jude smiled.

"Uh, going back to Munich?" Jamal frowned.

"Right," he turned back around to face me, "I'll see you hopefully soon?" he placed a quick kiss on my cheek and walked away.

"What was he doing here?" Phonzy wanted to know.

"He brought me my phone. I forgot it at his place earlier," I said.

"Are you with him?" Jamal asked.

"No,"

"Do you want to?" Jamal took a step closer to me.

"I ... I don't think so. No," I shook my head.

"Well, he definitely wants to be with you," Phonzy stated.

"Yeah, I know," I played with my rings and look down.

"Why him?" my eyes shot back up to meet Jamal's sad face, "Out of all people, why him?"

"You told me to date other-"

"Not my childhood best friend! You could have picked anyone!"

"I didn't pick him. You're acting like I'm getting married! I'm not even really dating him. We only met like twice. You don't have any reason to be jealous," I replied.

"It's just not easy. Seeing you with him,"

"I'm not doing this to hurt you. I just hope it'll be easier for me to get over you this way," I said.

"I want you to be happy. If he makes you happy-"

"I want you to be happy too," I interrupted him.

"I could never be happy with someone else,"

"Guys, get in the bus. We're leaving!" Thomas shouted.

The three of us went back inside the bus and sat down. The ride back to Munich was very entertaining. Halfway through we started singing karaoke which turned into chaos. Luckily the coaches were in a different bus, but at some point the bus driver was surely wishing he had chosen a different job.

By the time we arrived in Munich most of us were exhausted from all the singing, shouting and dancing. 

...

author's note:

i'm sorry, this chapter sucks (it's a filler before smth more interesting happens)

so i've got about 25 more chapters planned, but i'm not sure yet how much of this year i want to cover (don't worry tho they'll get together sooner!)

there will be about six more chapter until the next act

thank you sm for 20k reads!

thank you to everyone voting and commenting!

don't forget to add this story to your reading lists, so you don't miss an update!

have a good day/night everybody <3