"so are you going to open your presents then?" Trent asks me

"im lowkey scared" i tell him

"why?"

"dunno, maybe because you and Jude are men, and men are weird"

"i can't disagree"

i have a bit of a pile going on, on my sofa, all the presents i recieved yesterday which is quite a few are piled on top of each other and i just haven't gotten to opening them

i sit down and start opening the presents

some of the most noticable ones are a nice perfume from Sofie, a gummy bear shaped lamp from Dad, and a jewlerry set from my Mum

"i still do not understand why this idiot bought me a snow globe for my birthday" i laugh

"ive never met your brother but he sure seems like a weird creature" Trents laughs we continue to laugh at Adam's interesting present

"alright so there's two left, so im guessing you and Jude"

"yeah the one on the right is mine"

"okay ill open Jude's first"

"best till last then ay"

"it better be"

i unwrap Jude's present

"ooh theres two things in here" inside the first layer of wrapping was another box and a wrapped soft package

i pick up the soft one to open first

i rip the paper off to reveal two Jumpers and a small note which i pick up before Trent realises its there since i definitely do not trust Jude with birthday notes

"nah this idiot didn't just get me a pair of thing one and thing two jumpers"

"who's the second one for"

i pick up the card thinking there would be an explaination

"for you and for Trent- Jude" i read out hesitantly

i lied about that kind of

the note really said:

for you and for loverboy x-

please don't kill me next time i see u but i had to

-jude

and obviously i wasn't about to let trent read it so i shove it under me and throw him over one of the jumpers

"nah im not going to be thing two!"

"why not?"

"dunno"

"you just wanted to contradict me trent didn't you"

"partially" he rolls his eyes as he stuffs the Jumper on

i open the second present which turned out to be a pair of air force 1's which is genuinely useful since my pair is lowkey turning grey

"alright best for last" trent says handing me the present and rubbing his palms together

i unwrap the packaging to see two different boxes

"copied Jude's homework ay?"

"nah! he copied me!"

i open the first one to see it full of pick and mix

"trent john alexander-arnold, you know me so well its concerning" i say chewing one of the sweets

"how do you know my middle name?!" he laughs

"i have all your medical documents" i shrug

i pass him a sweet which he throws up into his mouth and eats

"if i threw it up would you actually catch it?"

"i mean i think so? go on, give it a try"

i throw one up for him and he actually catches it

he smiles akwardly as he munches on the gummy

"alright i'll throw you one"

"okay"

he throws one up but instead of landing in my mouth it lands on my eye which sends us laughing

"close enough!" he laughs

i open the second box

"well i know how much you like your candles so i just bought you some that smelled nice" he shrugs

"thank you so much trent, this is so nice" i smile looking at the six candles in the box "you've even bought the fancy m&s ones"

"i literaly just walked into m&s and i saw these and i insantly thought of you" 

"thank you so much trenty"

"the fuck is trenty" he laughs

"dunno, you call me chlos so i had to come up with some kind of nickname" i laugh along

he shakes his head "please never call me that again"

"oh trust me i will"

.

"wait i just remembered i bought you something and i just never gave it to you"

"what? its not my birthday"

"shush"

i pick up the small bag from my shelf and throw it to him

"whats this?" he smiles as he opens in and i sit back down on the same sofa but facing him

"its like this friendship chain, i know this is a primary school thing but to be fair i thought it'd be nice because honestly your such a great friend"

"awe no its so cute!" he says as he hand me one of the chains with one half of the heart connected on it

"can you help me put it on?" he asks me

"yeah of course"

he turns and i help him with placing the chain on his neck , then he picks up my chain and helps me tie it around my neck

"its not too long so it looks actually kinda cool" he says

"its does" i smile

.

27.3.22

jude

hey jude

hey chloe

Take a sad song and make it better.

heh?

Remember to let her into your heart,

who?

what?

Then you can start to make it better.

chloe what is this

Hey Jude, don't be afraid.

oh

you bloody idiot

LMAO

im surprised u didn't realise earlier

maybe because i woke up 5 minutes ago?

oi ur late for training

im already here

is coach already there

dad? nah he's late like always

andy's here tho

and cody too

i was dealing with his ankle earlier

ok then thanks

il be there in 10

.

unknown number

hey

hi

who is this?

dunno if u remember me

but im mason

like trents london friend?

yeah

hey :)

so like i was speaking to trent

and he said u give decent dating advice

well its not great

but i know my gossip

go on

okay

so basically ive been with this girl for just over 9 months

its been kind of an on and off type of thing

and every time she ends up fucking me over

like ive just spent the last 3 days heartbroken over her 

bcuz she kissed another guy

but ik she'll apologise in  day or two and we'll get back together

any advice

ooh

well

if this has been going for so long like u say

then i don't think its much good

don't try and salvage it again

giving people a second chance is like handing a sniper a second bullet 

after he's missed the first

but ig if you really like her

give her a final warning

and if it doesn't feel good in the slightest just end it

thank you so much

i genuinely needed that

no worries 

.

"alright when did you get so good at dating advice" trent says walking into my office, his mate must have shown him the texts

"its called manchester public school bathrooms trent"

"i don't understand what do girls in such big groups in the bathrooms"

"one big secret trent, unless you find a girl who loves you so much that they would tell you, your not finding out"

we make eye contact for a second, before my dad barges into the room

"Trent, leave Chloe alone and get back to training, your 5 minute water break ended precisely 24.3 seconds ago" my dad says as he looks at his fancy digital watch

My office is very close to the outdoor pitches, so i get Trent and Jude walking in and chatting to me all the time, and even my brother Adam now that he's training with the under 23's

after work, i go to me and Sofe's usual cafe, we go there every day or two to just sit down and talk

"right so how's your day been" sofe asks

"yeah good, Trent and Jude pestering me all day as usual"

"you and Trent, am i seeing something here?"

"no" i state giving her a death stare

"wait who has the other half of that necklace because thats not the same as mine"

"...trent"

"SEE?"

"NO"

"YES"

"NO"

"come on admit it even a little bit"

i smile "okay fine a teensy bit"

"on god you two would be perfecttt"

"shush"

"alright then" she says giving me a look and sipping on her drink

.

stormzy's bitches

Jude

trent

who gave you that friendship necklace youve been wearing all week

like the half a heart

trent

wdym its just like that

theres only one half

its mine

B

why does that sound like a lie

trent

its not

Jude

IT WAS CHLOE WASN'T IT??

trent

...

mason

no way you two are actually in love or smthn

trent

ha?

what? 

no?

sancho

stage 1: shock

reece

no but seriously

that one time she was in london

i could see they way yous look at each other

trent

no

were just besties

can besties not give each other friendship chains?

sancho

stage 2: denial

rashy

trent you actually like her

don't like

trent

NO

sancho

stage 3: anger

trent

jadon shut up

sancho

stage 4: depression

trent

but im not even depressed

mason

trent

lmfaoo what even is this

and most importantly why do u have this saved

mason 

it was my whole tiktok fyp for a while

and ofc i screenshotted it i screenshot everything

B

true

this man has like 25 screenshots of his lock screen

from the last 2 days

trent

wait do i like her?

sancho

stage 5: bargaining

trent 

oh ffs shush jadon

reece

she gave u a necklace well ofc she likes u

trent

maybe

maybe she does

sancho

stage 6: acceptance and hope

trent

OH FFS JADON 

WILL U SHUSH IF I SAY I LIKE HER?

LIKE I REALLY REALLY LIKE CHLOE

IS THAT ENOUGH?

now shush

sancho

stage 7: processing grief

mason

💀

Jude

omfg

imagine trent with a girlfriend

maybe he actually will be able to defend

trent

OI

B

jude tell us about this chloe and trent

trent

jude if you speak up

jude

reece

speak up mate

he aint going to kill u

trent 

JUDE

DONT U DARE

jude

nah trent

these r my bro's too

anywyas

basically they act like a married couple

trent

no we dont

jude

no you do

she hand fed you a chip because you hand was greasy once

reece

alright 

my girlfriend hasn't ever hand fed me a chip before

and you guys aren't even together

am i doing this wrong or are you?

trent

look-

i can explain

mason

trent

if you don't go and take this girl

you will regret it

trent

i don't know

jude

wdym u don't know

you literaly adore her

trent

yeah but maybe she don't like me

B

😐🤦

she fed you a chip

she bought u a chain

wdym

trent

okay but her dad

he prolly doesn't like us even being friends

let alone us dating

sancho

i though u absolutely loved ur coach

trent

yeah he makes jokes and everything all the time

but its not like he would like me dating his daughter

would he?

she's off limits

mason

trent

i know u well enough 

to know that literaly won't stop u

i highly doubt u care

trent

okay

ill give it a try

but ill take it slow

alright?

reece

good luck mate

B

yeah good luck broski

...