Hey Stranger || Jerrie

Chapter 18

It turned out that the so-called paparazzi were nothing more than hyper-fans of Amelia who had stumbled across a tweet that one of the diner patrons had sent out, and as a result the photos that were taken didn't gain much traction, certainly not enough to be sent to any reputable news outlet like The New York Times. But that was the only form of relief Jade felt when she and Gary arrived back at the hotel. Karl had assured her that even if the photos were spread, that Perrie wasn't visible in any of them regardless.

When she arrived upstairs to her suits, Jade was surprised to find Leigh-Anne there. Though on second thought, maybe she shouldn't have been. She did, however, find it funny that Ally and Leigh-Anne were in the same position on the couch that Jake and Jesy had been in at Perrie’s apartment that morning. When Jade entered the suite, Ally moved to pull away, but Leigh-Anne unapologetically held her in place.

"Where's your girlfriend?" Leigh-Anne asked in a teasing tone.

"Dunno," Jade shrugged in response. She turned to face away from the two, aiming to go to her room and stare at her phone until Perrie called her.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Leigh’s voice became harsher as she adopted the role of protective best friend.

Jade sighed and turned back around. She saw that Ally and Leigh-Anne had separated, both sitting up straight on the couch. That being said, she didn't miss the comforting hand the Ally had placed on top of Leigh’s. She knew there was no point in lying, so she told the truth. "We went to brunch and people recognized me and took pictures. Perrie got spooked and ran away saying she needed space. So I'm giving her space. Which is why I have no idea where she is."

"Oh," Leigh-Anne spoke, dropping any ounce of accusatory tone. "She tends to do that. I don't know why, but it's kind of her way of coping."

"Do you know where she'd go?" Ally asked the girl on the couch beside her.

"No," Leigh shook her head, "That's not really the kind of thing she shares with me."

"I'll be in my room," Jade spoke, leaving the two on the couch behind her as she walked to her room and closed the door behind her.

"That doesn't look good," Ally stated the obvious after Jade left the room.

"Tell me about it," Leigh nodded. She leaned over the girl she'd spent the past two nights with and grabbed her cell phone from the end table. "I may not know where Perrie is, but I do know someone that probably does, someone who's better at talking Perrie out of her weird moods than both J and I combined."

"Who?" Ally asked.

"Jonathan, Jesy’s brother," Leigh-Anne explained as she shot a text off to the guy whose number she'd first obtained as a result of a one night stand before their friendship developed.

"So where were we?" She asked, "Oh right." She put her phone away and pressed a kiss against Ally’s lips, "Now I remember."

Unlike Perrie and Jade, Ally and Leigh-Anne weren't concerned about figuring themselves out, they were perfectly happy to be just a two-night-and-the-morning-after-stand.