The Other Half || Jerrie

Chapter Seven

When Perrie Edwards turned fifteen, she was growing reckless. When Jade Thirlwall turned fifteen, she was falling recklessly in love.

Perrie had her first drink of alcohol two weeks after her father’s funeral. School had just gotten out and the rising seniors, Niall’s class, were hosting parties nearly every day. Despite not being the most popular kid in his grade, Niall was invited to all the parties, which by association meant that Perrie and Jesy were as well.

Perrie didn’t let herself get drunk at the first party, but she did at the second. And every party following it that summer. Jesy joined Perrie in her drunken nights while Niall watched over both of them, officially taking Perrie under his wing as a second sister.

On the Fourth of July, Perrie drunkenly admitted to Jesy that that she hadn’t had her first kiss yet. Perrie had expected her best friend to laugh at her, but she didn’t.

“You deserve to have your first kiss to be from someone who loves you,” Jesy stated.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Perrie slurred in response.

“It should be,” Jesy insisted. If Perrie had been sober, then she might have asked Jesy to elaborate, or maybe she would have asked who Jesy’s first kiss had been, but she was well past tipsy at that point. Maybe if Perrie had been sober, then she would have been as surprised as she was when Jesy pressed her lips to hers.

The two girls moved their mouths against each other, the kiss lasting just a few moments longer than necessary for it to have counted as a first kiss. It was after Perrie pulled away from her best friend and looked at her with heavy lidded eyes that she knew she most definitely wasn’t straight.

Perrie lost her virginity to a senior on the football team during a Labor Day party. She barely remembered it, she just remembered it hurting and she remembered calling Niall immediately after to come pick her up. He didn’t ask her what had happened; instead he just drove her back to his house to where she lay for hours in Jesy’s bed with her best friend.

She stopped playing chess. When sophomore year began, Perrie dropped out of the chess club and her grades went downhill. She was no longer the honors student she had been freshmen year. Her teachers knew of her situation though, of the fact that her dad was dead, so they took pity on her. Instead of failing classes, Perrie’s teachers gave her good enough grades so she was just barely passing.

Debbie didn’t even notice the shift in Perrie’s behavior. The surgeon had dedicated more time to her job after her husband’s death, so she was barely home to see her daughter spiraling.

On the one year anniversary of Alexander’s death, Debbie took a double shift at the hospital while Perrie started out her day with a glass of whiskey and ended it naked in bed with a guy from her chemistry class and a senior girl whose name she didn’t even remember.

That summer went much like the one before it, but now Perrie was faced with the reality that Niall was going off to college in September and she was going to lose another friend. Even if the situations were completely different.

On her sixteenth birthday, Jesy threw Perrie a party that the blonde had no memory of, but when she looked at her phone the next morning she saw that she had drunkenly sent Harry a text.

Perrie: I miss him. I miss you.

Harry hadn’t texted back, but when Perrie looked at her call log, she saw that she had been on the phone with her best friend for two hours the night before, but had no memory of the call. She decided then that she would never let herself blackout ever again.

It wasn’t until October of her junior year that Perrie finally came face to face with the fact that she needed to learn how to move on.

It was a rare night that Debbie had actually cooked dinner for herself and Perrie. Or rather, she’d ordered it and presented it on nice plates for the two of them to eat at the dining room table.

“Perrie, there is something I would like to discuss with you,” Debbie broke the silence at the table.

“Yeah?” Perrie asked, her mouth full of chicken.

“I never expected to lose your dad. I loved him very much and our marriage was a good one, but many times over the years, we discussed what we would do if we lost each other,” Debbie launched into a speech cautiously. “We both decided that in the event that something would happen to one of us, we would like the other to wait a year before they started dating again.”

Perrie’s heart sunk as she realized where her mom was going with what she was saying.

“Do you remember the event I attended with Desmond for the Fourth of July at the state capitol?” Abby asked.

Perrie nodded. She had been invited as well, but knew that Harry was likely to be in attendance. She hadn’t seen him since the funeral and had no intention of ever seeing him again. She still Mr. Styles on occasion and had no problems with him, just with his son.

“While I was there I met a man named Mark,” Debbie continued. Perrie could tell that her mother was nervous and was treading carefully. “He’s a senator and we’ve seen each other a few times since then, but it’s been harder since he lives in D.C. Things are getting more serious between us now though and I wanted you to meet him to get your approval before we go any further.”

As soon as Debbie stopped talking, Perrie knew that her mother was waiting for her to respond. She took a moment though to process everything she had just heard. She wanted her mom to be happy. She had no way of knowing that it was her mom’s fault that her dad was dead and she wanted Debbie to be able to move on with her life. She knew it was what her dad would have wanted. Perrie loved her mother and was grateful of the fact that she was asking for her approval over her relationship.

“When do I get to meet him?” Perrie asked with a smile on her face and Debbie sighed in relief.

“I was thinking we could take a long weekend and go down to D.C. to look at colleges and meet him then.”

Perrie’s smile faltered slightly at the mention of college visiting. If she had any hope of getting into a decent college, then she would need to get her s**t together. Her mom was moving on, she wasn’t acting reckless or depressed. Maybe it was time for Perrie to do the same.