The Other Half || Jerrie

Chapter Fifteen

In September of 2013, both Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards spent a weekend in Dublin, Ireland. The two girls were both spending their junior semesters abroad, Perrie in London, Jade in Barcelona. Both girls had only been in their respective countries a few weeks, but both also had friends in Dublin, and Arthur’s Day seemed like the perfect weekend to visit.

Jade had warned Leigh-Anne when she agreed to come stay with her that she was more than willing to go out, but that she didn’t want to ruin her weekend by getting trashed and making regrettable decisions. So after a few pints and some live music at one of Leigh’s favorite pubs, The Cosmos, Jade had no reason to believe that Copper Face Jacks was anything other than a pub.

Perrie, on the other hand, new very well the reputation that surrounded “Coppers,” the late-night club where Jesy claimed she’d only been to on nights she’d blacked out. Perrie and Ariana were used to long nights at clubs in Barcelona, so both girls were excited to see what clubs were like in Dublin. Perrie was excited for her two best friends to finally get the opportunity to meet each other.

As soon as Jesy and Ariana met, they immediately ganged up on Perrie, trying to one up each other by telling the most embarrassing Perrie stories they could. It wasn’t until Perrie threatened to tell the story of why Jesy no longer drinks gin, and Ariana’s story about her tryst with her TA that both girls shut up.

Tequila was flowing freely before the three girls finally made it to the nightclub. Once inside, lights were flashing and music was blaring. Jesy ordered shots for the three of them before they started dancing.

About an hour passed before Perrie yelled to her friends, “I have to pee!”

By that point, Ariana was happy to stay in one spot and not have to walk too much, so Perrie gestured for Jesy to stay with her while she went to go pee.

The line was long, but finally Perrie took her turn, only realizing how drunk she was as she sat on the toilet. She finished her business and washed her hands before exiting the bathroom. She was just about to make her way back to her two best friends, when the flashing disco lights swept over to the wall beside the girls’ bathroom. She vaguely remembered Jesy referring to it as the shifting wall, or the make out wall.

She watched as a girl with curly brown hair was pulled towards the wall by a guy twice her size. She tried to pull back, but he kept a strong grip on her arm.

Perrie didn’t know the girl, but part of the girl code was watching out for one another, so she quickly ran over to the shadowy figures.

“Please take your hand off my girlfriend,” Perrie spoke, her voice loud and stern as she looked at the man.

The man immediately let go and held up his hands defensively, speaking in an Irish accent, “Sorry, I didn’t know.” He then quickly walked away.

Perrie turned to face the brunette, but in the shadowy darkness had a hard time making out anything other than the outline of her form.

Jade watched as lights bounced off a disco ball, dancing across the face of the girl who had just talked off the man who had been holding her arm. In the light, she could only see the girl’s eyes. Jade wasn’t sure if it was just the lighting, but they were a brilliant shade of blue.

“Beautiful,” Jade muttered.

“What?” the girl asked. Jade blushed as she realized she’d spoken her thoughts out loud. She was drunker than she’d originally thought.

Jade wasn’t sure what made her do it. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was those bright blue eyes, or maybe it was the fact that a random girl had decided to intervene when no one asked her to. Jade could have handled herself, but this girl made her remember that the world wasn’t made up entirely of chaotic evil. There was also chaotic good in the world.

In the split second before she made her choice, she decided it came down to the fact that she hadn’t kissed anyone since Danielle, the fact that she was drunk and lonely and this girl who she could barely see, was good.

So Jade leaned forward and pressed her lips against the other girl’s.

As soon as the girl’s lips touched Perrie’s, she melted into them. She hadn’t seen the kiss coming, but the unfamiliar lips felt somehow familiar. Her heart thrummed in her chest and she wrapped her arms around the stranger to pull her closer, before she found her fingers working their way into the brown curls she’d seen from far away.

The stranger seemed surprised by Perrie’s reaction, but quickly placed her hands on Perrie’s hips.

Perrie found herself being pushed by the crowd, so she pressed her stranger against the wall behind them until their bodies were flush together.

Hours could have passed. Days. Children could have grown up. Wars begun and ended. Civilizations could have risen and fell and neither girl would have noticed. All that mattered was the unknown body pressed against them.

Finally, they parted their bruising lips and rested their foreheads together, music blaring they could still hear each other’s soft panting breaths. Perrie opened her mouth to say something. Anything. To ask the girl’s name, when suddenly the brunette was pulled away from her by an unknown stranger with an Afro.

Perrie looked around all night for the girl, but as soon as she was pulled away, she was gone. When Jesy and Ariana asked her where she’d been, all Perrie could say was, “I have no idea, but I think I just tasted heaven.”

They laughed at her drunken words, but Perrie couldn’t help but remember that drunken words were sober thoughts. And the girl from the club was never far from her memory.

The next morning when Jade woke up beside Leigh-Anne, she groaned at her pounding head. She found it ironic, almost like the pounding was the memories from the night before, begging to be remembered, but forgotten.

It was the first time she’d ever blacked out.

When Leigh-Anne asked her if she remembered making out with some hot blonde, Jade was forced to shake her head, no. But the more she thought about it, she could remember two things from the night before, the bluest, most genuine eyes, and the feeling that she’d finally found peace.