Rating: T. Well, eventually probably up to T, with some sexual content and language. This chapter is probably more like PG though.
Disclaimer: I don't actually own anything to do with Bend It Like Beckham, unfortunately. So, I'm not even going to try to claim them.
Summary: It's a story about having some fun, and the romance that starts between Jules and Jess, and how they fall for each other despite everything they have to deal with first to realize it.
Feedback: I love feedback, and would greatly appreciate it. Thanks to everyone who sent some for the first chapter!
Author's Note: I'm sorry that an update has taken me a little while to get up, but it's been a busy week or so. And yes, I have added thoughts into the characters heads whereas in the movie they may have not actually have been thinking this. Enjoy :)
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The team wandered back to the hotel after the saddening defeat. Jess had already called her parents, so she was set to go for the time-being. "What are you wearing tonight?" Jules called to Jess as she brushed her teeth in the bathroom.
"Wearing? To go to sleep in?" Jess looked confused as Jules wandered out into the other room with her toothbrush still dangling from her mouth.
She still managed to talk fairly well for having a toothbrush in her mouth. "We're going out clubbing."
"What? No one told me we go clubbing! I don't have anything to wear." Jess pouted as she poked at her suitcase that was seated on the bed next to her. Jules looked thoughtful for a moment before calling one of the other rooms.
Soon enough, all of the girls on the team were ready to go. They walked outside and Joe turned to make sure everyone was there.
He stopped for a moment as his eyes swept over Jess, obviously impressed. He quickly bit his lip before he could say anything and turned around. "Let's go then." The girls all giggled and talked until they reached the club. It was pretty packed. Apparently, they weren't the only ones who were ready for a fun night out.
Everyone from the team was out on the dance floor. They were either dancing with some guys from the area or with each other, depending on which girl you were looking at. Jess and Jules stood near Mel and a few other girls as they all danced. After a moment, Jess and Jules met each other's eyes and smiled. The blonde tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and glanced at the other girl. She had the odd rush of want to dance with the other girl. Instead, she turned abruptly around and walked towards Joe, who was sitting alone at a table.
"Joe, dance with me." Jules pleaded as both she and Jess settled near him. He gave her a friendly look, but looked eagerly over at Jess as well.
"Yeah, come on, Joe." Jules turned her head to see Jess encouraging him too. "I'll even go dance with you if you get up." That was apparently the incentive he needed because he rolled his eyes at the two of them before standing up.
"I know I'll never get rid of you two if I keep sitting where I am at the moment." He declared as he led the two girls back out onto the dance floor where they began dancing together once more. Joe danced with Jules first, twirling her a bit as they danced. Then, he turned towards Jess and started to dance with her as well. Mel and a few of the other girls all looked around before walking over and each taking their turn of dancing with their coach. Before they knew it, Joe was dancing with Mel, and Jules and Jess were left dancing by themselves once more.
The two girls looked shyly at each other for a moment, arms raised in a dancing position as they stood still, and then suddenly they started moving again. They were dancing together again. They moved in a little closer and the song still had a fast beat flowing into their ears, so their hands, their feet, their hips all match the music perfectly. Both girls were flowing to the music dancing as friends, not allowing anything else to register into their minds. They had gone out there to dance with Joe, but he left. That's all. If they were to look around they'd notice other girls dancing with their friends as well, but then again, they weren't looking around.
The two girls shared a smile for a moment before a feeling that someone could not describe as any other feeling than "want" came apparent in the brunette's heart. Before she would let it register in her mind, she backed up foot or so. Whoa. Okay, that was not supposed to leave her feeling dizzy. She was dancing with a friend, Jules, so she had no reason to feel anything else. A quick glance around the room would have easily told her why. It was hot and very smoky in there. Sure, the day that she and Jules had gone to get her shoes, they had gone into a pub to get a drink, and it was smoky in there. However, if you combined it with the heat, that could get to anyone. She pointed towards the door. "I have to get some air," she gasped and then half-walked, half-fell out into the fresh air of the balcony.
Joe and Jules both watched her leave. Jules bit her lip as she tried to decide what to do, but Joe took it as an excuse to leave the other girls and follow his football player onto the balcony. Jess was leaning on the railing near the side and breathing in deeply. The smoke was finally clearing from her mind, and her vision wasn't so hazy anymore. A few other couples on the balcony stared at her awkwardly as she breathed in deeply again. Suddenly, Joe was at her side. "You okay?" He questioned as he placed a worried hand on her arm.
"It was just too smoky in there." Jess complained as she glanced around before adding, "And hot."
Joe nodded. "It can be rather bothersome if you not used to it." He shrugged, and Jess glanced at him a moment more. "Not that I'm used to it or anything," he defended. She smiled easily at him, and he allowed himself a smile back. He wasn't suppose to feel this relaxed with one of his football players. There was a reason why he was the coach, to, well, coach them about the game, not about romance. Sure, he was friends with a few of the other players, but he had never breached the gap between friends and romance with any of them before. However, the hazy smoke was still wandering out of the door of the club, and the heat was still building.
Perhaps, if it was just a kiss between the two, then he would understand what he felt for her. Perhaps if there was a kiss between the two of them, she would understand what she felt for him, for Jules.
Suddenly, Jess was looking expectantly up at him, and Joe was leaning in closer. Jules chose this moment to check on her friend and on her coach. Her friends sure had been out there a while. She found them with their eyes shut, and his lips pressed themselves against her cheek, testing out their experiment. Jules eyes opened wide in shock. Jess and Joe were kissing. With the darkness of the night surrounding them, and the heat of the club, she wasn't looking too closely at how close their lips were. She simply saw the figures bend together, and she knew that their lips must have met. "You bitch," the blonde snarled as the figure suddenly became two humans again. She wasn't sure whether she was mad that she wasn't the one kissing Joe, or if it was because she wasn't the one kissing Jess. And that, made it all that much worse.
Jules got a ride back to the hotel in a cab that she made certain that she did not share with neither Jess nor Joe. In fact, she avoided them both as she dashed back up to her hotel room as well. Joe and Jess avoided talking about what had just happened, and tried to put it past them for the moment. Jess had just been trying to convince herself that Jules would be over the-almost-kiss by the time she got to the hotel room, when she realized that no such thing was going to happen. She opened the door to find a scornful Jules already in the bed. "Jules?" No reply. "Jules? Listen. I'm sorry I didn't know that you fancied Joe." A snort was the reply this time. "Fine. Don't talk to me, but you have to listen." Just then, Jules reached out and grabbed her cd player, and slipped on her headphones. Jess sighed, and then climbed into the other side of the bed. Her best friend was in love with the guy that she had almost kissed that night, and she wasn't sure how to fix it.