Hey Stranger || Jerrie

Chapter 19

Karl sent the photos taken at the diner along to Jade, and after staring at them, realizing that they were literally the only photos she had with her girlfriend, she tossed her phone in to her purse, but not before making sure its ringtone was on, just in case. She lay on her bed, fully aware of the fact that she needed to pack up her stuff in preparation for her flight to Florida that evening.

When Cher finally knocked on her door to let her know that the cars were coming to get them in twenty minutes, Jade figured she might as well give up on hearing back from Perrie before her departure. It didn’t take long for Jade to pack all her things together. She was used to being on the road and only spending a night or two in one place at a time, she had the routine down pat. Her tour-mates were quick packers as well, but Jade was still the first one ready, waiting down in the lobby with Gary.

There were a handful of people milling around the lobby, and after they took the obligatory sneaky photo and whispered to their friends and families in the lobby, Jade beckoned them over and took photos and gave autographs. She preferred confronting fans rather than having them take stalker-type photos of her, it gave her more control over what was released and also cut down on the amount of time she had to worry about people surreptitiously taking photos of her. Plus, it’s not like she was a horrible person, she actually sometimes liked talking to fans. Just because she had a spat with her girlfriend though didn’t mean she would take it out of the people that supported her.

Finally the small crowd dispersed to their individual hotel rooms and the rest of Jade’s tour mates made their way to the lobby as three black suburbans arrived to take them to the airport. Their overnight bags were loaded in to the cars and everyone piled in. Jade kept looking at her phone, waiting for a call, a text, anything. Finally, she was the last one standing outside. She sighed and got in to the last car. Somehow everyone had realized she would prefer to be alone, so other than the driver and Gary sitting up front, she was alone. Not even Karl was in the car with her.

They started to pull away from the hotel, but then the car came to an abrupt halt. “What’s going on?” Jade asked the driver, looking out the window to see if she noticed anything going on. Before the driver could answer though, Jade rolled down her window and stuck her head it. She first looked in front of the car, then behind. And that’s when she saw her. There was a taxi pulling away and a blonde-haired girl running towards the cars, waving her arms and yelling for them to stop.

Seeing her girlfriend, Jade quickly opened the door to the car and exited, stumbling on to the pavement. She hung back beside the car as Perrie approached her, arriving out of breath. Jade didn’t know what Perrie’s current frame of mind was and she didn’t want to risk anything by getting too close to her. In the end though, Jade had nothing to worry about because as soon as Perrie caught her breath, she closed the distance between them and pulled Jade in to a long hug.

“Can we talk?” the blonde asked as she pulled away. Jade’s heart started to race. Nothing good ever came from starting a conversation with that line in her past experiences. Regardless she nodded. “I know you have to go to the airport, so maybe can we talk in the car so I’m not slowing you down?” Jade nodded again and gestured for the girl to get in to the car before her.

When Jade followed Perrie in to the car, she took a minute to decide where to sit. The spacious vehicle consisted of two rows of seating behind the driver, but the rows face each other. She had the option of either sitting next to Perrie or across from her. Perrie looked up at her with hopeful blue eyes and Jade sat beside her. Neither woman spoke until the vehicle started moving and the screen that separated them from the driver and Gary was put in to place.

“I’m sorry I ran away,” Perrie began, shifting in her seat so that she could still face Jade.

“It’s okay,” Jade shook her head, “I understand that this is a lot for you to process.”

“It’s really not okay,” Perrie continued, “I know that I hurt you by running off the way I did. And I want you to be able to tell me that, in order for this to work; for us to work, we need to be honest with each other.”

Jade tentatively reached out and took Perrie’s hands in hers. “Okay,” she agreed, “It did hurt. I understood why you were spooked, but I was scared that after I didn’t hear from you right away that I had actually lost you. You ran off and I had no idea where to.”

“It’s something that Edwards’ women do when things get to be too much,” Perrie explained, “But knowing that I scared you, I will never do that to you again.”

“Thank you,” Jade went out on a limb and brought one of Perrie’s hands up to her mouth and gently pressed her lips against it. “Now in terms of keeping our relationship honest, I really need you to tell me if being with me is too much for you, knowing all the baggage I come with.”

“We all have baggage,” Perrie shook our head, “But we choose what we do with that. And that’s what I really wanted to talk to you about.” The blonde paused for a moment, but Jade stayed quiet, knowing that Perrie was trying to put to words what exactly it was that had caused her to run. “Yes, being with you when people are basically stalking you is a little weird, but I don’t think that’s what caused me to run.” She paused once again and Jade squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“I first got to know you as Jade. As the girl who has the most adorable sleepy voice and still plays her first guitar. I know you as the girl who struggles with her family just as I do. The girl who somehow thinks squids are the most interesting creatures on this planet. I thought I knew you, like really knew you. And then it was like the rug was pulled out from underneath me and I realized I didn't know you at all. And that scares me.”

After a long enough pause that told Jade that Perrie was done speaking, she finally spoke. “You do know me Perrie,” she insisted, “Of course there’s a lot that you don’t know, but so much of it I kept from you because I was afraid of losing you. I want you to know everything now though. And I really am sorry for making you feel that way, but really you know me better than almost anyone else. Amelia is more a mask than Jade is. I feel more comfortable being myself around you than with anyone else in the world right now.”

“Me too," Perrie nodded. “I want you to know all of me, I want to know all about you and I feel the same. I feel more comfortable with you than I have with anyone. I feel like I can tell you things I could never tell even Leigh-Anne or Jesy.”

“When I was seven I tried to teach myself to ride a bike because my mom wouldn’t,” Jade spoke, “I taught myself one afternoon. It took hours, but I finally got it. All it took was some scratched up shins and elbows. I was so proud of myself that when my mom got home I couldn’t wait to show her. All she saw though were the Band-Aids my nanny had had to place all over me. All she saw was the fact that I now wouldn't be perfect for the photo shoot I was supposed to do the next day for Ralph Lauren. She threw-out my bike the next day and I haven’t ridden since. I’ve never told anyone that before. Not even Karl.” She wanted Perrie to know that she was really in, that she was ready to share everything about herself with the other girl.

Perrie understood almost immediately what Jade’s intent was in telling the seemingly random story, and after it was finished, Perrie leaned forward and kissed Jade’s cheek, “At some point we’ll find us a pair of bikes and some private trail and we’ll bike together and have a picnic and it’ll be a great date. I’d actually always thought about how perfect a date like that would be.”

“I always thought that my perfect date would be April 25th,” Jade teased with a smile, referencing the movie Miss Congeniality, a reference Perrie understood immediately as it elicited a hearty laugh from her. The sight of Perrie’s smile made Jade remember something that she’d been thinking about earlier. “Can we take a picture together?” Jade asked before clarifying, “I was realizing earlier that it’ll be more than a month before I see you again, and it would be nice to have at least a picture or two of us saved on my phone that I can go back and look at when I’m missing you and…”

Jade’s ramble was cut short by two lips and a flash. As Jade had been rambling, Perrie had opened the camera on her phone and the moment she kissed the brunette she snapped the photo. Realizing what had just happened, Jade laughed in to the other girl’s lips. Perrie leaned in further to continue their kiss, but Jade pulled away.

“Let’s get a selfie first, then we can make out," she laughed. Perrie nodded and held the phone out. They tilted their heads together and Perrie snapped the photo. Then, Jade kissed Perrie’s cheek and Perrie captured it. For the last photo, Jade wrapped her arms around Perrie and pulled her on to her lap. Perrie laughed and took the last picture of them both laughing, closer to each other now that she was on Jade’s lap.

Once the third photo was taken, Perrie quickly sent them to Jade before asking, “How much longer is the car ride?” Jade’s stomach dropped as she realized that she would be leaving Perrie so soon.

“Just under an hour,” Jade responded.

“Okay,” Perrie spoke sadly, but Jade saw the smile quickly return to her girlfriend’s face as she then continued, “So we have just under an hour to make out and talk and whatever we want."

Jade nodded before capturing the blonde’s lips with her own, instantly deepening the kiss, keeping her steady on her lap.

***

The first thing Jade did the moment they landed in Florida was turn on her phone in search of any messages from Perrie. There was one.

Perrie: 48 Days!

And that’s how the countdown began.