Under Your Skin | Jude Bellingham

001

The car journey was void of sound, an awkwardly tense atmosphere hanging over our heads like a little rain cloud. I was awfully aware of his presence beside me as I fixed my attention on the road ahead, his body turned as far away from me as was possible in the confined space. I let out a heavy sigh, hesitantly reaching out to turn on the radio. I half expected him to huff at my choice of music and make some snide comment about how terrible it was, but fortunately for me he stayed silent, eyes fixed on the world beyond the car window.

I silently cursed myself for agreeing to give Jude Bellingham a lift to the party when we hated each other's guts. It was unfortunate that I'd put myself in this position, but I was a people pleaser and just couldn't bring myself to say no. It'd been especially difficult when Trent had explained that Jude had no other way of getting to his brother's birthday party and I'd found myself feeling sorry for Jude Bellingham of all people. In my defence, I'd half expected Jude to say 'no' when I offered to drive him to London, but if there was one thing Jude and I could begrudgingly work together on, it was ensuring that Jobe was happy. We'd both agreed to make the journey together for Jobe's sake; all that mattered was making sure we were there for him on his birthday.

Jude and I were the same age and had known each other since we were three. I'd spent a lot of time at the Bellingham's house during my childhood because our families were extremely close and I had always thought Jobe to be the nicer brother. Sure enough, despite the two-year age gap, we'd become as thick as thieves.

Meanwhile, Jude seemed to be friendly and warm with everyone but me. The earliest memory I had of our frosty relationship was from when we were five and he'd deliberately knocked down the sandcastle I'd proudly built when our families went on holiday together. Holding something so childish against him may seem ridiculous to some, but it's not like Jude had made any effort to be nicer to me since. He never had a kind word to say to me and we could never seem to agree on anything, our attempts at normal conversation always ending in an argument. I'd tried to get along with Jude for Jobe's sake, but the eldest Bellingham brother's arrogance and stubborn attitude made it extremely difficult. The whole thing left me puzzled; I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to have done to receive this treatment from him.

Still, though, we always managed to put on fake smiles and pretended to like one another whenever any of our families were around. There was no need to get them involved in our own personal drama, although sometimes that backfired when we were forced to sit next to each other at the dinner table or asked to do chores together. Jobe was the only one of them who knew we didn't get along, and he'd tried on multiple occasions to get us to be civil with one another, but it just never seemed to work out.

Fortunately, it was just us in the car at this precise moment in time which meant we didn't have to waste our energy on being pleasant with one another.

"Are we almost there?" Jude asked, his question infiltrating the silence.

"Almost," I replied.

"Jesus, we're going to be late at this rate." Jude let out a sigh. "Can't you drive any faster?"

"Are you willing to pay my fine if I get done for speeding?"

"No."

"Exactly."

I glanced at Jude to see he was glaring at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Just be grateful I decided to drive you there, otherwise your ass would be walking," I told him.

"Walking all the way to London? I don't think so. And anyway, you're only taking me because Trent asked you to and you have a big fat crush on him," Jude retorted.

"I do not!"

He snickered at my outburst. "Easy, Hannah. It was just a joke."

"Jokes are supposed to be funny," I muttered.