Enigma || jerrie ✔︎

part 03 - lovesick

 It was a few days later when Perrie broke the Sacred Rule of Being Famous: never Google yourself. In her defense, she had been bored out of her mind with Jesy and Jake double-dating Leigh and Jordan; Jade was out to buy some dinner and Perrie had probably flicked through every channel on the telly and scrolled through Instagram until the posts repeated themselves again and again.

When Perrie hit enter after she typed out her name, a picture of Zayn and some blonde girl appeared on the top result. He had his tattooed arm wrapped around her with his lips puckered; the blonde girl on the other hand was looking up at him with an adoring expression on her face. Perrie instantly felt sick to her stomach and closed the tab before she could throw up. Perrie, you're a grown woman, stop acting like a lovesick girl.

It was clear now; any hopes of reconciling with Zayn had disappeared. Clearly, he had moved on in the mere weeks after he'd broken up with Perrie. Anyone close to Zayn could sense the subtle change after the release of Four, could see the longing in his eyes when he talked about recording his own music, could see how his whole demeanor changed when he talked about being free.

Perrie never knew that he wanted to be free completely. Yes, Zayn had become unpredictable but he was still a good lad. Now Perrie just needed to move on and show him that he hadn't hurt her, that he hadn't even affected her, even if that wasn't true. She had to stay strong for Little Mix, for her family, for her fans, for her friends...especially Jade.

"I'm home," Jade called from down the hall. Perrie could hear a curse and the slam of a door followed by a yelp. "Shite, me foot!"

"Everything alright there?" Perrie shut her laptop and hurried down the hall to find Jade clutching her foot and grimacing.

"This door is way too heavy," Jade grumbled while holding up a brown bag with the words Shake Shack printed across it. "I brought you your favorite, though. The line took thirty minutes."

"It smells so good, thank you Jade," Perrie said gratefully and helped her bandmate down the hall where they settled on the couch. "Wait, let me snap a photo."

"The cure of all cures," Perrie wrote as the caption before posting the photo on Instagram. Then the girls dug in, quickly finishing the family size serving in a few minutes. Perrie lay back and placed a hand on Jade's flat stomach, giggling. "You don't even look like you're pregnant. Seriously, how do you even stay in shape!"

Jade shrugged and poked Perrie's cheek. "How do you get a jawline like that, huh Pez?"

Perrie giggled again and shoved Jade. "You got the nerd genes, remember?"

Jade grinned widely, and the two girls stared at each other for a few long moments before bursting into loud, raucous laughter. It wasn't a surprise that they found everything funny together and weren't afraid to laugh about it. "Let's ring Jesy and Leigh, they might want a sleepover," Jade then suggested with the wide smile still on her face. Perrie couldn't help but gaze at the older girl fondly; she had a smile that was infectious. Jade enabled the speakerphone, and the phone rang for a few moments before Jesy picked up. She sounded mildly annoyed.

"What, Jade?"

"Pez and I were wondering if you'd like to come over tonight."

"Do you have any idea how late it is? It's fecking 1 am and Jake's sleeping next to me for God's sake!"

Jade made a face and mouthed "oops" at Perrie before speaking rapidly into the phone. "You and Jake are like a married couple in their eighties! Sleeping at 1?"

"Let me go to sleep," Jesy said grumpily, "we have an interview at fecking 8 tomorrow, and America's waiting for us next week, I don't want to hear you guys whining!" With that she hung up, causing Perrie and Jade to burst into peals of laughter again.