Fifteen. A Halo At Your Head

⋆ ˚｡⋆ ꪆৎ ˚

The next few days were hard on the Walker family. Jude and Nevaeh had landed together in Texas where her family lived and spent most of their days in the hospital visiting Vaeh's grandmother. Jude had been introduced to the family, Paloma already knowing him from social media. Darren, of course, didn't quite approve, though.

     It was currently six in the evening, and visitor hours were long over. Although Francine spent her last days sleeping all day and night, that didn't stop Nevaeh from going. Jude went with her every time, being there to hold her hand whenever she needed. And when they went back to her parents' place, he'd hold her while she slept, wept, or just when she needed him. He was always there.

     "Jude," she spoke softly, curling her hair with her finger while she lay in her boyfriend's arms. In front of her bed was a television, where they a movie on. The Notebook, one of Nevaeh's favorites.

     "Yes?" he questioned, his voice barely above a whisper. He would rub her arm and occasionally give her a kiss on the cheek throughout the movie. He just wanted her to know that he was still there.

     "Promise me that no matter how bad I get when she. . ."

     "If she," he corrected.

     "That no matter how depressed I get, you'll still be here for me," she finished. "I wouldn't be able to get through this without you and I. . ." She could feel her face get hot and tears start to well up. She didn't finish her sentence. But he knew.

     "I promise."

He was good at keeping his promises.

A day after that conversation, after The Notebook, her parents gave her the news of Francine Walker's passing. Nevaeh cried a lot that day. Family came over, reminiscing over Francine's past. Nevaeh tried to ignore them, staying in her room most of the day and keeping to herself. Jude understood and let her grieve. He took the time that Nevaeh took to herself to help her family with whatever they needed. He comforted Paloma, who had just lost her mother. He connected with Darren and Nevaeh's other relatives, doing extra things to help out. Although Darren hadn't been fond of him at first, he definitely liked Jude now.

Nevaeh's job understood what was going on, and allowed her a break for however long she needed. In the meantime, they'd film and edit scenes she wasn't in or had already recorded. She prayed she wouldn't spend too long in Texas so she could get back to it. This was the one thing she was good at, the one thing to take her mind off of everything.

She had barely talked to her friends these days, her notifications piling up one by one. Friends and family members giving their condolences, group chats, and direct messages from Instagram asking where she'd went. Every day she'd push it to the next, promising she'd eventually get it done. She never did.

The funeral was only two hours, but it felt like two decades. She stood with her parents, her arm wrapped around Jude's. He didn't leave her side that day and had met more new faces. Once Nevaeh was done hugging them, he would too, apologizing for what had happened as if it was his fault. It rained the day Francine was buried, but only for a second. Once she was six feet under, it had stopped and a rainbow sprouted.

Nevaeh flew home the night of, Jude following behind. She had begged him to leave her, to go back home and focus on himself. He wouldn't budge and promised to stick by her for however long she would need. Even if that meant missing another match or two.

They spent their days outside, trying to get fresh air and a change of setting as much as they could. They'd spend their nights in her room, talking about whatever had popped up on their minds. Then he'd kiss her goodnight, and the cycle would repeat and they'd get up and do it all over. It was like this for a week. Jude had only missed two matches, missing one the few days spent in Texas and the week he spent with Nevaeh. He had to go back, but he didn't want to. He just wanted to be with her.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Jude asked for what felt like the twentieth time that day once Nevaeh and him had made it to where they departed in the airport. Her flight to Canada—where they were shooting the movie—took off on the same day as his flight, but she'd be leaving first.

"I promise," she smiled back. He gave her one last hug and kiss goodbye, leaving her at her gate and walking away to go to his own.

●○

○●

Liked by judebellingham, geminirights, and 2,997,021 others
nevhaven i can't believe i'm writing this at all. i thought i'd be more prepared for it, ready for when it happened, but i wasn't. a few days ago, we buried my role model, the woman who believed in me before anyone else did. she was the sweetest soul to walk this earth and for her to leave me hurts so bad. i feel so guilty about it all. i should've been there. i should've known. i should've called her more, checked up on her more. but i didn't. i never even got to say goodbye. like all things, people come and they go. and unfortunately, it was her time to go. i know she'll be watching over me and cheering me on, the same way she did when she was living. 9/17/23 🕊️🤍

Comments are turned off.

Weeks had passed since the funeral. She had flown to Canada, filming the rest of her movie. It was to release in the next month and a half, since the editors kept a good pace with completing the film. Critics had already complimented Nevaeh's performance, and she was excited for it to be released to the public. For now, she'd just have to promote the hell out of the movie.

She hadn't seen Jude in two weeks. They tried to clear their schedules, but with them both busy, they'd have to stick to long-distance. He promised he'd be out for her movie premiere in Los Angeles. He was a man of his word.

Nevaeh had apologized for going ghost on her friends, but they understood why. Gavi had told her countlessly how bad he wanted to be at Francine's funeral. He wasn't being able to catch a flight in time.

Fans and paparazzi had caught Nevaeh and Jude in Texas together, and the photos were just now coming out. People were happy for them, excited that their relationship had finally been made official.

When Nevaeh wasn't working, she was sitting in her room thinking. If she wasn't doing that, then she was talking to Jude. She had spent a lot of her time with her thoughts, wondering if there could've been a different outcome to it all. If her grandpa had found Francine just a little bit earlier, would she still be alive? Had he found her earlier, would she be okay? Questions that would remain unanswered.

She was on the phone with Jude now, cooking while she talked his ear off. He didn't mind, though. He loved hearing her talk.

"Okay, so basically, the premiere is in L.A., so I have to fly down a few days before and help us get a nice hotel secured," she explained to him. She was telling him about her movie and how excited she was to see him again.

"I can get us a good one," Jude shrugged while she cut a pineapple in half.

"No, babe, I think Jordan's gonna find one so all the cast mates can stay together," Nevaeh replied, reducing the pineapple to fourths.

"Oh."

"Well, enough about me, what interesting things are happening in your life, Golden Boy?" she asked, looking at him on her screen.

"The usual, I guess. Apparently Gio's got himself a new girlfriend," Jude told her. She nearly flinched, the mention of her ex-boyfriend—whom things had not ended the best with—with a new girl. Of course, it was okay for him to move on. She had, too. But the way her current boyfriend just mentioned it like it was normal to talk about her ex. Even if the two boys were close.

"Oh."

"So, who's in the cast of your movie?" he changed the topic despite not noticing how uncomfortable he had made her.

"Um, Daniel Kaluuya, Jenna Ortega, Mia Goth, and Sokena Lillis to name a few," Nevaeh listed. Her co-workers were sweet, and she definitely enjoyed her time with them. She had even begun spending a lot of her time with Sokena.

"Wait, name that last one?" Jude had asked her.

"Sokena Lillis?"

"That's..." he started to laugh, confusing the hell out of his girlfriend.

"What?"

"That's Gio's new girlfriend if I remember correctly," he revealed.

     "Oh, that's nice," Nevaeh told him. What was she supposed to say to that? It wasn't normal for them to talk about her ex-boyfriend, let alone what he was up to nowadays. It was weird for Jude to even mention it. "Um, I actually have to go. The cast was planning a night out to celebrate, you know, um... Jenna's birthday?" Her lie didn't even sound true, but Jude took it anyway.

     "Okay. Bye, talk soon."

     "Bye."

nia's notes
sorry guys...

TIME JUMP NEXT CHAPTER 🔥🔥🔥

sokena lillis and nevaeh walker the only girls ever😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥳🥳🥳🥳🧐🔥🔥🔥🔥🤡🤡🤡🕊️🕊️🕊️🤢🤢🤢🤢🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨💯💯💯👅👅👅👅👅👅👅👅👅

idk why the tongue was in my recently used. ANYWAY!

@Jude u pissed me off in the last half bye

sadness leaves next chapter #StillGrievingButBetterAtHidingIt

olay bye guys! i love u sm😁🩵