The Other Half || Jerrie

Chapter Seventeen

Jade may not have remembered making out with a girl during her weekend in Dublin, occasionally thinking that Leigh-Anne had made it up, but something shifted in her after that night. She no longer felt as if she was carrying Danielle’s ghost around with her wherever she went.

She finished her junior year with a perfect lacrosse season and started the summer of 2014 with an internship at JP Morgan.

Jade’s 21st birthday fell on a Tuesday, so Jade had no plans to go out and celebrate. How could she? It wasn’t uncommon for her to be at work until after midnight, and she started promptly at eight each morning.

It was only because she’d texted Niall that evening that she went out for her birthday, but it was all Jesy’s fault.

Jade: Want to get dinner tonight? I already celebrated my birthday with Dads and Karl over the weekend, but I’m actually getting out early tonight.

When Jade showed up to their favorite diner and saw Jesy dressed up, sitting beside Niall, that Jade realized her mistake when it came to introducing Louis to Jesy after the final lacrosse game of their junior year.

The two had immediately hit off and were almost inseparable. They also didn’t shy away from public displays of affection. Something they were engaging in when Jade arrived at their booth, arms crossed.

“Jade! Happy Birthday!” Jesy grinned, not moving from Louis’ lap where she sat.

“You’re looking very dressed up for getting dinner at a diner,” Jade spoke.

“Well that’s because we’re going out clubbing afterwards,” Jesy grinned.

Jade hadn’t intended to befriend the spunky brunette, but Jesy had grown on her. Even Jade had to admit that Jesy’s spirit had started to rub off on her a bit. She’d become more malleable towards going out at night since becoming friends with her teammate.

“I have to work tomorrow,” Jade frowned as she slid into the booth across from her two friends, already knowing that she was going to bend to Jesy’s will.

“Tomorrow is another day,” Jesy smirked, also knowing that she had Jade in the palm of her hand. “Besides, it’s your 21st birthday! You have no choice.”

Jade glared at Jesy, but the smile on her friend’s face finally broke her. “Fine,” she groaned. When Louis and Jesy high-fived each other, however, Jade held up a single finger. “I will not let you get me too drunk though, okay? I don’t need to be hungover at work tomorrow.”

Needless to say, Jade was incredibly hungover the next day, but refused to call in sick for work. In fact, Jade went years without calling in sick to work. The first time she did so, was not a day she was sick or hungover.

It was a Wednesday morning and she’d been officially living with Perrie for a few weeks. She’d woken to the sun shining directly into her eyes, reminding her to buy curtains or shades, and had turned over. Feeling the bed move, Perrie had cuddled closer into her girlfriend. Jade could see that her alarm would go off in less than five minutes, but after looking at Perrie’s sleeping face, she turned off the alarm and sent an email to her boss. She then snuggled Perrie close, deciding that that day was as good a day as any to play hooky.

Despite her one hungover day at the office, JP Morgan offered Jade a job at the end of Summer to start the following Summer.

Senior year passed much quicker than any of Jade’s other years in college. She was no longer dealing with the death of her girlfriend, and only had to put in enough effort into her classes to maintain a good GPA, having already gotten a job offer.

After she graduated, twelve-year-old Karl tried to convince Jade to move back in with their parents, after all her office wasn’t a bad commute from their home, but Jade knew she needed to live in the city as an adult for the first time.

Deciding to live with Jesy was a spur of the moment decision, one that Jade regretted immediately, but in hindsight couldn’t have been more grateful for.

For twenty-two years, Jade had been close to meeting her soulmate on multiple occasions, and moving in with her soulmate’s best friend from high school was nearly the last straw. It was almost what brought them together.

But it wasn’t. What did, was someone else entirely. Well, not entirely, but we aren’t there. Not yet.

Jade had been living with Jesy for three months before Jesy first mentioned Perrie’s name. She’d referred to Perrie before, but it had always been as “My Best Friend from High School”.

It was a Sunday afternoon in September and Jade was lying on their couch, watching some show on Netflix about a brain-eating-crime-fighting zombie who helps a detective solve a crime by eating parts of a victim’s brain, when Jesy headed out to leave their apartment.

“Hey Jade, remember how I told you my best friend from high school was moving to the city for grad school?”

“Yes,” Jade responded. Jesy came around the couch into the living room and sprayed perfume in front of her before walking through it. “She’s the one I wish you’d decided to live with instead of me.”

Jesy rolled her eyes, but the slight smile on Jade’s face showed that she was kidding. “As do I, but she’s a graduate dorm assistant so she’s living in an NYU dorm. That’s beside the point.”

“So what’s the point then?” Jade responded. “I’m trying to watch Liv and Major reunite here,” she pointed to the screen.

Jesy immediately turned around. “God damnit Jade, spoilers!”

“Sorry,” Jade laughed as she fumbled around for the remote before pausing the show. “So what were you saying?”

“I’m showing Perrie around Columbia, she never made it to one of my lacrosse games, so I want to show her around,” Jesy explained. “You want to come with?”

Jade raised her eyebrows in response to Jesy’s question. She gestured between herself, the couch and the television, as an answer.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Jesy turned to leave the living room. “Well, if you change your mind, we’re probably going to get dinner afterwards.”

“The Chinese takeout guys haven’t quite gotten my order memorized, I need to give them another shot at it,” Jade snarked.

“Alright, well I’m off,” Jesy grabbed her keys from beside the door and opened it.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” Jade yelled back as she pressed play on her show.

As she started to watch her show, Jade spoke out loud without even realizing it. She tested the name on her lips.

“Perrie.”