Hey Stranger || Jerrie

Chapter 10

The week went by far too quickly for Jade’s taste and between a Monday morning performance on Good Morning America and shows on Wednesday and Thursday, she was exhausted. But really, it was juggling the situation with Leigh-Anne and Perrie that became the most exhausting.

When she’d first landed in New York coming back from London, she’d turned on her phone and found text messages from both Leigh-Anne and Perrie.

Leigh-Anne: AMELIA CALLED ME HER FRIEND ON TWITTER!!!

Leigh-Anne: Sorry. I had to say that to someone, but I can’t tell anyone, so I sent it to you.

Perrie: Have a safe flight! Talk to you tomorrow! xx

The texts didn’t stop there, as organizing her weekend in DC was a conversation she was having in double, one version of it with Leigh-Anne and the other with Perrie. There were multiple occasions when Jade accidentally almost gave it all away in a text to Leigh, thinking she was talking to Perrie. After that, she opted in to calling Perrie to talk to her, rather than texting her.

The first time she almost f****d up was after Leigh-Anne responded to her initial plan.

Leigh-Anne: So you’re plan was to take her backstage before the show, say ‘hey’ then ditch her while you preformed??

Jade: Yes? Though I am starting to see the faults in the plan.

Leigh-Anne: It’s a horrible plan. Perrie is a hopeless romantic. She’s a sucker for the big showy gestures, and your idea? It’s none of that.

Jade: So what do you think I should do?

Leigh-Anne: Wait until after the show. She’ll probably be pissed you didn’t show up for the concert, but hopefully she’s not dumb enough to not figure it out once you’re on stage.

Jade: I have an idea.

What Jade hadn’t realized, was that while she was typing in her final plan, she’d accidentally opened a new text from Perrie that read.

Perrie: SO excited for this weekend. I was supposed to work an opening on Saturday, but I got off. So you’ve got me for the whole weekend.

Perrie: If that’s okay. We don’t have to hang out the whole weekend if you’re not up for that.

Luckily Jade caught her mistake just in time, so instead of sending the detailed message about how she would provide Perrie with a big romantic gesture, she responded:

Jade: I want to spend the weekend with you Perrie. I can’t wait.

Even after completely going through the plan with Leigh-Anne, Leigh kept thinking of reasons to text Jade. Jade didn’t mind though, it was nice talking to the girl. She didn’t have someone like Leigh-Anne in her life. Leigh took no one’s s**t and was incredibly independent, but she also was excitable in a way Jade hadn’t expected from her first conversation with the girl.

Leigh-Anne: What does one wear to one of your concerts?

Leigh-Anne: I’ve been to concerts before, but since you’re bringing the three of us backstage I’m assuming the dress code is a little different, but I also don’t want to spoil it for Perrie

Leigh-Anne: Also we should go out after, there’s this club I’ve been wanting to get in to but it’s VIPs only.

Jade: Wear whatever you feel good in. We’ll see about going out. It’s all up to Perrie.

Friday finally came and Jade was terrified. She locked herself in her dressing room though, so as to not have her nerves brush off on any of her tour mates.

Jade: Are you guys here? Did you get the tickets okay? Did you manage to remove the reserved sign before Perrie saw?

Jade: Leigh-Anne?

Jade: Leigh-Anne? Why aren’t you responding to me?

Jade: What went wrong? What’s wrong?

Leigh-Anne: Chill Captain Tightly Strung. Everything is fine. Jesy took forever on her make-up so we just got here. You should text Perrie though, she’s starting to look around for you.

Jade face palmed herself, realizing how stupid she’d been for not having contacted Perrie yet. The last time they had spoken was that morning when Perrie had called her to ask if she’d gotten to DC alright. It had been a short conversation, but one that had temporarily quashed Jade’s nerves, that is until she realized that she and Perrie would never have a conversation like that again. They’d never simply be just long distance friends again. And there was a possibility that Perrie would never want to speak to her again.

Jade: Hey! Work is a b***h; I’m not going to make it there for the opening acts. I promise I’ll be there though. Literally counting down the minutes until I get to see you in person.

Perrie: No worries, I understand. I know you’re only in DC to begin with because of work. Jesy and Leigh-Anne are keeping me company.

Perrie: Also, how did you manage to score us tickets to the pit? And was it just Leigh-Anne pulling the handicapped card, or did you also get us the front row?

Jade: A lady never reveals her secrets ;)

With the reassurance that Perrie was at least somewhat okay with what was going on, Jade unlocked her dressing room door and let in the crew that was waiting outside to prep her. An hour later she was ready to go.

For the first three-quarters of her set, Jade put on the best show she’d ever given. She donned the part of Amelia perfectly, playing to the crowd and talking to them the way she knew they wanted her to. She actually preferred talking to fans, even if it was to a whole stadium of them, over a reporter. She knew the fans cared whereas reporters just wanted a story.

She’d finally made it to the slow part of the concert where she performed a short acoustic session. She exited the stage just before it, and immediately dropped her Amelia persona. She was shitting bricks as she realized exactly what she was about to do.

“She’s going to love it,” came a voice to Jade’s right as Jade was changed by her crew in to her new costume. Jade turned her head to see the source of the voice. It was Ally. “The song you’ve been working on, you’re about to perform it aren’t you? For Perrie?”

Jade smiled at her friend, the butterflies suddenly fluttering less violently in her stomach. Ally was just a couple years older than Jade, but of all her tour mates, Jade got along the best with Ally. She supposed it was because they were the two most reserved and less concerned about their celebrity statuses. “Karl doesn’t know I’m going for it,” Jade explained. He knew pulling one over on her manager was something she’d regret, but she also knew that her cousin would forgive her.

“I’ve heard you practicing it,” Ally approached Jade, still wearing her leather pants from her opening set. “It’s really good.” Jade’s crew gave her the thumbs up after touching up Jade’s make up after her costume change. A stage hand then handed her the polished acoustic she used for this section of the show. Ally eyed the guitar Jade had just been handed before withdrawing another from behind her back. It was Jade’s old, first acoustic, the one she’d been practicing on lately. “You should use this guitar; I grabbed it from your dressing room.”

Jade glanced down at the guitar Ally was brandishing. “Thanks Ally,” she responded genuinely. She handed the shiny guitar to a stage hand and grabbed her well-worn one from Ally. It would probably look out of place on stage, with its Harry Potter and Buffy stickers and swirly doodles, but Ally had a point. It was a guitar that Perrie would recognize and it was one that helped her feel more comfortable and more at home.

“Go get your girl,” Ally winked before slinking away.

Jade took one more deep breath, fixed a smile on her face, and once the stage was dark, she took her place on stage sitting on a glass chair. Then, the lights lifted.