Come Again Later

Chapter 25

"Surprise!" Leigh-Anne squealed as she reached out to hug the blonde.

"What? Why- Leigh get off of me- why are you guys here?" Perrie questioned, pushing the afro haired girl away from her.

"We could be asking you the same thing," Jesy answered, walking past the pale girl, making her way inside Perrie's house, "why aren't you at Jade's? Weren't we all supposed to meet there?"

Perrie frowned, feeling her heart sink down just thinking about why she hasn't seen the brunette that day.

"It's- it's nothing. I just didn't feel like going," the blonde shrugged sluggishly, "I'm going back to bed. Close the door on your way out."

As the blue eyed girl trudged back up the stairs, she saw Leigh-Anne and Jesy exchanged worried looks out the corner of her eye.

Finally, Perrie reached the top of the stairs and was unable to see either of her friends anymore. Turning a corner, the blonde groaned and made her way towards her room. Perrie collapsed on her bed she was in merely minutes ago and sighed heavily, burying her face in her pillows.

Hearing the door shut from downstairs, the blonde exhaled and allowed her thoughts to wonder.

Jade defiantly hates me now. She's probably been wanting me to leave ever since I showed up and just now got the courage to tell me.

Perrie felt tears prick her eyes.

Ugh! I'm so fucking stupid! The blonde groaned loudly and held her hands to her face. She sounded so agitated on that phone call- well actually, not really... Perrie thought. Jade sounded a bit... Scared? Maybe... Maybe Jade didn't want me to leave? The little hopeful part of her spoke. Maybe something happened with her-

The blonde's train of thought was interrupted by a tackle hug from her curly haired best friend.

"Oof!" Perrie grunted. "What the fuck, Leigh-Anne!" The blonde shouted, now sitting up, staring at the two other girls in her room. "I thought you guys left?"

Jesy smirked at her before saying, "Yeah, no. We weren't just gonna leave you here! Seriously woman, how long have you known us for? Eight years? You should know by now that we wouldn't ever leave you." The brunette lectured

"Also," Leigh added, "we're nosy as heck." She jumped into the blonde's bed and sat next to her. "So spill it."

Perrie shook her head. "I don't know what you guys are talking about," she lied, "I'm perfectly fine."

"Uh huh," Jesy snorted as she joined the two other teens on the bed, "then why didn't you go to Jade's today?"

The blonde's gaze immediately went downcast, trying to suppress her thoughts.

"Seriously Pez," Leigh-Anne said, her voice now a lot softer, "what's wrong? Are you sick?" She asked, pressing a hand to the pale teen's forehead.

"No no," Perrie denied, pushing the dark skinned girl's hand away from her, "I just," Perrie sighed.

Might as well tell them. She thought. I mean, they're Jade's friends too. They need to know.

Perrie ran a hand through her tussled hair, trying to think of some way to explain everything properly.

"Okay," she started, once she saw Leigh-Anne and Jesy give her their full attention, "this morning, as I was getting ready, my phone started ringing. And I thought, 'oh it's probably a scam or something' 'cause it was an unknown number, yeah?" Perrie shuddered as she recalled every detail of the sad morning. Nonetheless, she continued. "But I picked it up anyway because why not? And once I did all I heard was like... Heavy breathing? It was like how you breath after getting jump-scared, I guess. I was kinda spooked, ya' know? So I go, 'hello?' 'cause at this point I knew that it probably wasn't a telemarketer. After I spoke I heard," Perrie shut her eyes tight and exhaled loudly. She could feel herself starting to break down again, "I-I heard- it was Jade." Perrie saw both Leigh-Anne and Jesy's eyes widen. She noticed Leigh-Anne open her mouth to say something, think better about it, and close it. Perrie took this as a sign to continue. "Naturally, I start to panic a bit 'cause I gave her my number only for emergencies..." Perrie trailed off, starting to think.