Jade is sitting in her brother's car, impatiently waiting for him to return with little Karl. She spends most of her time off here, in South Shields, with her family, and cannot wait to see Karl after he was in kindergarten all day. She feels excited to be reunited with Karl, but is also sad, since she knows today is probably going to be last time she sees him for at least a couple of week.

Jade feels even worse when she thinks about the packing she needs to do in just a few hours. She absentmindedly grabs her phone from of her back pocket when it begins ringing, but as soon as she sees the caller's name, Pez❤️, every drop of sadness is gone from her body. She picks up the phone with a smile on her face. Perrie and her did not get much time to talk since they returned home, and Jade is filled with anticipation.

"Jade!" Perrie excitedly says as soon as the call is answered, and Jade can hear the smile in her voice.

"Hi Pez," Jade replies. She is now thankful that she has got a few minutes in the car alone. "Did you find a new flat yet?"

"Still looking," Perrie replies. "But it's fine, I think I'm better off at my mum's for now, anyway. We're going to be away for a long time, maybe I will just wait until the end of tour to move somewhere else."

"You should really do that," Jade says while she nods her head. Only the sound of Perrie's voice is enough to make her smile. "I can't stop thinking about Aladdin. It was so fun," she continues after a short pause.

"Me too," Perrie replies. "We said we'd do something like that again, remember?" Jade wants to say that she did not forget for a second, but decides to answer with a simple mhm instead. "So when are you free? I was thinking of this Saturday."

"Yeah, Pez, about that," Jade starts, feeling tired again. "I'm so sorry, but I don't think I can make it. I'm actually flying to LA this Saturday."

"What?" Perrie asks confusion. It does not make sense to her that Jade is choosing to fly to America on their limited time off.

"Yeah, I... Jed asked me out, and he's in LA. One of us was going to have to fly out anyway because our schedules don't really match, and I decided to be the one to do it." Jade is aware of how ridiculous her words sound, but she does not try to twist the truth, as she does not want to lie to Perrie.

"Jade, are you sure you can do that?" Perrie worriedly asks. "Just tell Jed that this is your time off, I'm sure he'll understand. Flying out to LA now means you're going to have to deal with jet lag all over again, and also the really long flight... We're going to be in New York soon, so maybe you could meet him halfway."

"I already told him I'm coming," Jade says. She does not try to explain her decision, because how can she tell Perrie that she is making this much effort to go on a date just so she could prove to everyone, including herself, that she does not like her bandmate? "You're cute when you're worried about me," she says with a shy smile.

"I'd be cuter if I knew you weren't going to completely exhaust yourself just to go on a two hour date," Perrie replies, half bitterly half jokingly. "But if that's what you want, then you're welcome to call me when your jet lagged ass can't sleep. I promise I'll answer," she says and lightly laughs.

"You do realize that I'm absolutely going to do that, right?" Jade says with a smile. She then looks through the car window, and sees her brother with little Karl. "I need to go now, but we'll talk later, alright?" She says and steps out of the car.

"Sure. Text me when you land," Perrie replies. After rushed goodbyes, the call is over and Jade goes to welcome her nephew. She hugs him tightly, then takes his Ninja Turtles jacket and helps him into the car.

Jade passes the next few days packing, then dragging her pink suitcase between continents. When she finally does get to her hotel room, it is night time in Los Angeles and she is not tired at all. She texts Perrie, letting her know she arrived safely, and then turns off the lights in the room and lies on the bed. She is supposed to meet Jed at nine AM, since he is performing at night, so she needs to get some sleep before the date. Instead of doing so, her thoughts wander to how she must give Jed a real chance. He can lead her out of the mess that is liking Perrie as more than a friend. If she falls for him, she will not fall for her bandmate.

Jade ends up mindlessly scrolling through social media on her phone for the rest of the night. She does not try calling Perrie, because she knows that if she hears her voice, she is not going to be able to think about anything else for the rest of the day. It is only in the early hours of the morning when Jade manages to get a little sleep, but her alarm wakes her up sooner than she would have liked. She slowly gets out of bed, brushes her teeth and tiredly changes into an outfit she does not put much effort into.

Jade takes a cab to the adress Jed had texted her earlier, and finds herself in front of a big sign which says Los Angeles Zoo. Before Jade has time to think, she already sees Jed coming towards her. They greet each other and then walk in.

Jade has fun with Jed; they chat about their careers and music, about their mutual friends and laugh at odd looking animals they see as they walk around. After they are done visiting most of the animals in the zoo, they leave and go to a view point, from which most of Los Angeles can be seen. Jed takes out two beers he had bought earlier, and hands one to Jade. She takes it, even though she does not feel like consuming alcohol this early in the day.

"Now I'm sure I was judging you too soon," Jed says with a small smile, referring to the night they met. "I really regret it now. I hope you didn't take it personally or anything, I really was just tired."

"No offense taken," Jade honestly replies.

"Do you want to do this again sometime? I had fun," Jed offers, sounding a bit insecure.

"Yeah, sure," Jade answers. She takes out her phone and checks her calendar. "I've got work from September fifth up until the twentieth. This and the day after are my only days off until the beginning of October. Are you free then?"

"We're not going home any time soon," Jed explains with an apologetic smile. "The Struts, we're signed here in America. But I do have a few weekends off in January, if that works for you."

"It does!" Jade exclaims, surprised to find some time off that month. "So January it is?"

"Yes," Jed replies, making Jade feel both relieved and scared of the fact that she does not have to see him for the next four months.

Back in her hotel room, Jade feels good about the date but not completely satisfied. What went on there was pure friendship, and even though she liked hanging out with him, it does not feel like this could potentially evolve into a relationship. If the situation she is in was different - if she did not have to worry about loving Perrie romantically - she would not have said yes to a second date. Jed and her are better off as friends, from what Jade saw today; but she is already missing Perrie like crazy, and a relationship with anyone else will probably save her career.

×××

Nine days later, the four girls have just arrived to their hotel in Crawley. They reunited yesterday for a performance after almost two weeks apart, and decided to have a sleepover today after being apart for so long. Like the usual, they are set to meet in Perrie's room. All four girls take showers before coming to Perrie’s room, but Jade makes hers very short. She dresses in a short, tight piece of clothing made of velvet and makes her way to Perrie’s room. They did not have time for just the two of them ever since the end of August, and Jade is impatient.

She enters the room, and finds Perrie laying on her back on the bed, looking at her phone. She soon notices Jade, and throws her phone to the edge of the bed as a smile spreads on her face. Jade lies down next to her, feeling as though she is on top of the world.

"I've missed you so much," Jade tells her bandmate and kisses her cheek. Perrie rolls on top of her, directing her blue eyes into Jade's brown ones. Jade wraps her arms around Perrie’s back, almost reaching to her bottom.

"I've missed you too," she says and kisses Jade's lips, making sure the contact is long and satisfying. "How was your date?" She asks, breaking off the kiss.

"It was okay," Jade replies, making Perrie smile.

"Doesn't sound like you enjoyed that much," she teases and kisses Jade again. "Where did he take you?"

"The zoo," Jade replies, then keeps talking before Perrie can comment. "Aladdin was much better, I admit it." She says and laughs.

"Oh, I know it was better," Perrie dismisses and laughs into another kiss. She moves her lips down to Jade's neck, and Jade almost loses her ability to breathe. She enjoys every touch, and wishes it could last forever. Perrie makes marks down Jade's neck, sucking on her skin in the places she feels Jade enjoys the most. Jade bites her bottom lip and pulls Perrie closer to her.

"Oh my God," Leigh-Anne's voice is heard as the door of the room opens. Perrie and Jesy burst into laughter, while Jade smiles with crimson red cheeks. Perrie rolls off of Jade, still laughing at her bandmates' timing. She sits cross legged on the bed, and the other three girls join her and do the same. It takes a few moments for everyone to calm down from what just happened.

"Are you two a thing now?" Jesy asks Perrie and Jade. Jade is not sure what to reply, so she looks at Perrie, waiting for her to answer instead.

"Like a couple?" Perrie asks with a smile. "Not really. We're just enjoying each other." Enjoying each other, Jade repeats in her mind, thinking that this is probably Perrie’s new version of having fun.

"Jade!" Jesy calls. "You went out with Jed last week, didn't you? How did it go?" Jesy is clearly invested in this match, and Jade feels bad that it does not seem as successful as Jesy and Jake had previously thought.

"It was good," she replies, not wanting to get into how she really feels.

"Jade said that she had much more fun when I took her out," Perrie teases and shows her tongue to Jesy like a kid.

"Really?" Leigh-Anne asks, directing her question to Jade, and she nods in response. Jade can tell, by the tone of the question and by the look in Leigh-Anne's eyes, that Leigh is not judging or teasing her; she simply wants to know how Jade feels, so she can help her figure out what to do from there.

"Jade, you're going to need lots of foundation to cover those hickeys before our meeting with the label tomorrow," Jesy says with a teasing smile. Jade feels embarrassment taking over her, until Perrie pulls her into a side hug, making her feel secured.

"It's my work, do you like it?" Perrie asks and laughs. Jade shuts her eyes as she laughs, waiting for this moment to end as much as she enjoys it.

"If you don't want to let anyone know about you two, you're going to have to come up with much better ways to hide it," Leigh-Anne points out as Perrie lets go of Jade.

"Ugh, I know," Jade replies. "I've seen comments on Instagram - actually, everywhere, basically. Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and every other platform possible - about Perrie and I. I'm really worried about the fans starting to pick up on that."

"Jerrie is real!" Jesy says in one of accents, making her three bandmates laugh.

"This really is what they keep commenting," Jade replies. "I don't know what we're going to do in interviews soon, when the interviewers are going to start asking about it because the fans keep bringing it up."

"And the signs on tour! They're going to be wicked," Leigh-Anne says, then apologies when she sees Jade's worried expression. "Sorry babe."

"Wait, but everyone treats it as a joke, right?" Jesy asks, and the three girls next to her agree. "Okay, so we just need to keep playing it off as a joke, and people won't think it's real. I mean, look at Fifth Harmony and One Direction. They keep denying these relationships, and that's what makes everyone so curious. But if we won't deny anything, everyone will keep treating it as a joke. Just say jerrie is real and people won't have a reason to investigate more into it."

"Wow," Perrie says after a few moments of understanding what Jesy had just suggested. "This is genius."

"It really is," Leigh-Anne agrees with a nod, though Jade is still a bit unsure.

"I'm not sure the fans are going to see it as a joke if we're going to keep telling them it's real," she says.

"We just have to make it really obvious to the point where it won't make sense for it to be real." Jesy explains and takes out her phone. "We can try out this new strategy tonight, what do you think?" She asks with a smirk. "Just... Be yourselves. We'll post it and see what's the response like."

"Okay," Jade agrees after an assuring nod from Perrie.

Later that night, the four girls lie in dark, all in the same bed. Jesy and Leigh-Anne lie on the left side, and they have plenty of space since Jade and Perrie are cuddling into each other.

"Im too hot, Leigh-Anne," Jesy says while Perrie records it on her phone in the dark. "Can I swap with you? Cause I'm going to sweat in this bed."

"I can just turn the AC on, or someone could turn it on," Leigh-Anne replies.

"Okay, can you go put the AC on then, please?" Jesy asks.

"Jade?" Leigh-Anne asks.

"No, sorry 'bout it," Jade replies. She does not want to let go of Perrie.

"No, please, can someone go put it on?" Jesy asks again.

"If I get to borrow the charger!" Leigh-Anne replies and changes the temperature in the room. Jade farts the rest of the night, making everyone laugh. She feels so comfortable with Perrie it is almost surreal.

"Sometimes I'm glad you can't smell," Jade quietly tells Perrie right when they are about to fall asleep.