So fucking tight, she thought to herself, hating the sense of that dress on her. Damn the day she agreed to wear it. She kept pulling it down as much as she could, part of her hoping she’d rip it to pieces before it was time for her speech, before anyone could see her in it. She sighed, annoyed and looked herself at the mirror. She could still notice her dark circles despite all the make up that they had hidden them under. She didn’t mind looking like this, she kinda liked it, it was other people looking at her that made her nervous. Specifically the man in this man dominated world, asking her for her phone number instead of her shirt number. A knock on the door disturbed all these random thoughts she had. “Still in there?” Asked the familiar male voice that had become her comfort through this whole trip. Taylor walked to the door and opened it, the tall man was standing right in front of her, eyebrows raised up, wondering what the hell to her this long. “You ok?” Asked Jude Bellingham. “What if I call in sick?’ “You're already here!” “Turns out I have an allergy in red carpets” she faked a sneeze and looked up at him with her puppy eyes “it’s really bad!” “TJ are you fucking Mental?” “No... I'm sick!” Jude gave her his strict-are-you-fucking-kidding-me stare and she rolled her eyes, knowing there was no way she was getting out of this. Jude reached out his arm, encouraging her to tie hers around his. She hesitated at first but blew out whatever air she had left by this tight ass dress and wrapped her arm around his, letting him lead her on the wide hallway. “Since you are so allergic to red carpets, we can skip it. Stay on the back until they call your name on the stage.” “Oh gosh that would be better.” “Right then, I'll take you to the back and we’ll meet when the ceremony starts. You’ll miss all your friends though.” Taylor thought about it, maybe that was exactly what she wanted. She nodded “it’s fine, I'll see them later.” Jude smiled, she noticed it, it was that naughty smile he had whenever he wanted to make an inappropriate joke, she waited for him to make that joke but he never did. Thank god he didn’t. He left her backstage, told her to wait there until he was done with some interviews. She sat alone, people watching anyone who’d walk by her. That was the thing about being a woman in this business, no one stopped to look at you twice they way they’d do if you were a man, making sure you are not Messi, Mason Mount or Neymar or... she stopped her mind from going there. Instead she thought about how Neymar must be in his new time, finally free from PSG but at what cost? And Leo... did he really have to leave europe? She bit her nails while all these thoughts and more crossed over her mind. She took another glance around, her heartbeat almost falling of her chest when she saw a figure passing by the curtaints, her entire body making a step forward automatically like she was going to run after him. She stopped herself, the man passed right by her and he was not the one she thought she saw. Is this what it would be like for the whole night? “Tay!” She turned around immediately. It was Jude. Her face dropped. “Let’s go!” He said and nodded for her. The two of them walked in the main auditorium and sat on their assigned seats. Jude had made sure that the two of them would be next to each other. She took out one of her leaflets and started making air for herself. She could hear people coming in, trying to focus as if she would be able to hear his footsteps. She thought she did for a moment and she turned around, only to face a chaos of people taking their seats, none of them were him. Someone sat next to her, she felt her breath getting caught on her throat, turned around, it msut have been him, her entire body was begging to see him-
New Romantics (short story)
Coming soon!!!
