➳ jerrie tumblr oneshots

Can We Pretend?

Summary: Jade is left to wonder why she's obsessing over the homeless girl outside her apartment building.

Every day, Jade passes her on her way to work. She's started a collection of pennies, ranging from one pence to two pounds, and she's taken to dropping a few into the upturned black fedora each day. She gets a winning smile from the girl each time, and she pretends it's just for her.

The thing that strikes Jade about her is that she's always smiling. Her cheeks are hollow and her blonde hair is lank, but still she smiles.

And the other thing Jade notices is how beautiful this girl is. Her bright blue eyes sparkle, and she seems full of energy even when Jade can see the striking dark circles under her eyes.

Then Jade is left to wonder why she's obsessing over the homeless girl outside her apartment building.

Every day, Jade passes her on her way to work. She's started a collection of pennies, ranging from one pence to two pounds, and she's taken to dropping a few into the upturned black fedora each day. She gets a winning smile from the girl each time, and she pretends it's just for her. She often thinks of talking to the girl, of asking what happened, why she's forced to sing unaccompanied in the hopes of earning some money. She thinks of complimenting this girl's voice—how it soars through the crowd: melodic and strong. She thinks about it a lot.

Two weeks after the arrival of the homeless singer, a small sign goes up next to her.

"PERRIE EDWARDS- Leave song suggestions here!"

The piece of paper is flimsy, and it's coloured in with the kinds of children's felt-tips that run out of ink after two uses. The lettering is faint, and Jade thinks that it contrasts with how vibrant this girl truly is. There's obviously been an attempt to make the words stand out: each one is a different colour, outlined in black and filled in meticulously.

Perrie. It's a fitting name—quirky and cute, just like its owner. Jade takes a glittery pen from her bag and obediently scribbles down the first song that pops into her head.

"Airplanes- Hayley Williams. You can do the rap if you want to! :D"

When she sits back on her heels, shoving the gel-pen back into the front pocket of her backpack, Perrie's eyes are on her, wide and innocently curious.

"I love that song," she comments quietly, as if words too loud will scare Jade off.

As it is, Jade nods jerkily and scampers away before another word can be spoken. She runs away because she's fascinated and terrified by this mysterious, too-trusting girl who stays in the same spot every day, and who Jade always has a spare coin for.

She goes to work that day, straps on an apron and shovels chips for strangers, tries to smile but is perpetually nervous, terrified of conversing with them. Even taking their orders seems like a monumental task. Today, her thoughts are consumed by full lips singing entrancing tunes. She messes up the simplest job in the universe, and she sarcastically congratulates herself inside her head.

Her shift ends, and maybe she takes a slight detour so that she can go to a little corner shop near her block of flats, to get change for the five pound note that's in her pocket. No one has to know. Least of all Perrie.

She buys a loaf of bread that's already two days out of date, and some milk because there never seems to be any in the flat. She drinks too much milky tea, eats too much cereal. She eats Shreddies for dinner; her wages don't go very far. She's spending too much on the singer at the end of her street.

With the plastic bag swinging and bashing her thigh every few steps, she walks the rest of the way with change jangling in her pocket. It's a waste of hard-earned money. She tells herself this, but she doesn't believe it.