Nothing comes between us

21.

"Jade! Jade, babe can you hear us?"

Jade slowly tried to open her eyes, her vision was blurred and her head was pounding. It was too much, she immediately shut them and just nodded to communicate that she was listening.

She felt someone taking her hand and stroking it a few times; she could quickly recognize that touch, it belonged to her fellow Geordie.

"Jade, you got us so worried. You weren't waking up", someone said with a mixture of worry, concern and relief. That voice totally belonged to her older bandmate.

A few minutes later she found the strength to open her eyes and started looking around. She was lying in a bed, she was in a hotel room and the brunette could quickly notice the worried expressions of the girls. They moved and stood at the end of the bed looking at her intensely.

Everything was dark beside some random sun rays that had managed to pass through the closed curtains.

It was all a dream. Everything was just in her head. Was it a good dream or a nightmare? She still didn't know that. So many different events, one night to live them all, a few minutes to process the fact that it was all just a dream. The tour, their deal, the interactions with Jesy, their lives after the hiatus, jordan death and letters. It was all just a dream. She silently took her phone from the nightstand and read the date to have a double confirm:

April 8th 2022

Yes, it was all just a dream she thought again. The problems the girls had with their partners. Jamal. Their new album. Her second pregnancy. Theo, her son. It was all just a dream.

She slowly sat up and put her head in her hands trying to process and make sense of everything. Slowly, memories from the day and night before started forming in her mind. They were in Belfast, they had finished rehearsing and she had opted to have a drink with the guys. She sighed when she remembered that it wasn't just a drink, they were many, too many; and there was a particular reason behind that choice.

Cause not everything was a dream though; what had happened in the hotel two months before was pretty much real; it was brutal and her attempt from the previous night of numbing the pain with alcohol didn't seem to have been the greatest idea.

"Are you okay?" Perrie asked, sighing and all Jade could do was nod again. "Take this, it will help with your hangover", Leigh offered, giving her some pills and a glass of water. Jade smiled slightly thankfully and took it. Her bandmates exchanged some worried and upset looks until Leigh nodded, opened the curtains to then sat at the end of the bed.

"Jade, last night after rehearsal you came back to the hotel and had some drinks with the dancers. You really drank a lot, too much. They called us extremely worried. We were really terrified and we had to call a doctor. You were this close to be taken to the emergency room", Perrie explained seriously.

She looked at Jade intensely and then moved her gaze away, trying to prevent the tears from falling. She didn't want to burden her friend, she didn't want to tell her that she was the reason she couldn't sleep at night but she was aware that things needed to change, she wanted them to change.

"Jade, listen, the tour will start tomorrow, we need to be focused on that. I know you are going through something awful. You don't want to talk to us about it? Okay. You don't want to tell Jordan? Okay. You don't want to see the therapist? Okay. But what happened last night cannot happen again babe. This tour needs to be perfect; it's the last one, we owe it to everyone that has supported us for ten years. We own it to ourselves, we worked so hard. This cannot happen again. Today, we canceled rehearsals but from tomorrow morning until the end of the tour, no missteps are allowed", Leigh said sternly.