once upon a love x j.t. x h.s.

one brick at a time

14th July 2019

After the meeting

"You guys can go now," Sam announced as she massaged her temple, clearly suffering from headache having to hear eight people bicker the last three hours. With her permission, everyone started to collect their stuff and walked through the door, clearly excited they were finally able to go. 

"Where are you girls going?" Louis asked as we stepped into the elevator. Everyone was trying to squeeze inside and unknowingly, Jade was pressed against Harry who had to hold her to stabilised the brunette. Jade looked up to see Harry sneering at her as she tried to move away, but unable to do so as there was no space. She glared at the rest who was oblivious their two members were squeezed against each other while they had plenty of spaces to move around.

"We're going to a bar actually!" Perrie declared before turning to her members for confirmation, "Aren't we?" The girls looked at each other.

"Yeah," Leigh-Anne started, "but girls night out!" The guys' faces fell with disappointment with Leigh-Anne's answer.

"Leigh-Anne!" Jesy guffawed. 

"She's just joking, y'all can join us," Jesy invited. Jade snorted to Harry's amusement. They were supposed to be celebrating Perrie's birthday and now, they have to accommodate four extra people.

"I don't think we should, someone doesn't seem happy," Harry said, staring directly at Jade. In a split second, Jade could feel seven expectant gazes on her. Talk about peer pressure, how could she say no to a lot of people?

"Fine, whatever," Jade muttered, eliciting cheers from everybody.  They decided to go separately and since they had planned a surprise for Pez, they gave the guys the address to the bar and instructions on what to when they reach, including the private room they had reserved and where to collect the cake. All of these had to be explained within the 10 minutes Perrie was in the toilet, which explained why Jade was breathless when she finished talking. Immediately after Jade finished, she shooed the guys away and rushed them out from the building before playing her phone, pretending as though nothing happened.

"Where're the guys?" Perrie asked when she realised only Jesy, Leigh-Anne and Jade were waiting for her.

"They have an emergency to tend to," Jade explained, her eyes kept on her phone. Jade could see Perrie frowning slightly at her words, disappointed that they were unable to join the girls.

"Oh," she mumbled and that frown was quickly replaced with a smile. She grabbed Jade's arms and dragged Jade towards the car. "Let's go girls!" Perrie clapped her hands.

Leigh-Anne assumed the driver role since she was the only one with a driving license while Jesy sat on the passenger seat. When Leigh-Anne started the engine, everyone began praying and muttering how shit Leigh-Anne is when it comes to driving, which resulted in protests from the driver.

"Did you forget you almost killed us a few years back?" Perrie questioned as she put on her seat belt, for safety reasons.

"But seriously Leigh-Anne, we've got no time for accidents now," I joked and Jesy turned and kiddingly glared at our shenanigans. 

"Stop teasing Leigh!" Jesy warned and turn to Leigh-Anne, "You can do it, babe."

Jesy connected her phone to the radio so that it was playing Little Mix's songs, because, Little Mix aren't Little Mix if they aren't their own biggest fan, isn't it right?

Soon, the girls were all karaoke-ing their hearts out, Jade and Perrie even danced around in the back. They stopped when they saw traffic officers on the road. "You guys really have no clue what day is today?" 

Jade said nothing but hummed along with the song in response, Perrie's face was now crestfallen. Leigh-Anne and Jesy chose to ignore her expression and stared ahead instead but for Jade, her heart aches at the view of her best friend sad. 

"I don't really feel like partying," Perrie sulked as Jade pulled her into an embrace. The fun ambience in the car immediately changed to a serious one as Perrie refused to talk. When they reached the bar, the girls found that sulky Perrie was not one to mess with as she refused to exit her car. She only exited the car as the girls kept on pulling her out. Even when she's out, she attempted to run away but Jade caught her of course. Perrie's face was grim from the moment they entered the bar and it darkened, even more, when the room beside theirs started singing 'happy birthday' to whoever it was. Much to her annoyance, the girls had pushed her in front and she was the first to enter the room, only to find it dark. Perrie wanted to slowly enter but Jade pushed her in and Jesy, she assumed, immediately closed the door.

Silence enveloped the room and Perrie tried to reach out for her members only to find no one was around her.

"Jadey? Jesminda? Leelee?" Her voice echoed throughout the room.

"Girls, it's not funny anymore," Perrie was on the edge of begging, tears started pooling in her eyes. She was now scared to wits. Perrie was about to cry when the lights suddenly turned on.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to our Perrie, happy birthday to you," Perrie squinted her eyes, to get used to the brightness. Perrie stared at the people before her. The girls and One Direction boys were there, all of them donning a party hat on their head with Jade in the middle, holding a birthday cake. Perrie started crying, which made everyone worried. Jesy and Leigh-Anne immediately rushed to Perrie's side while Jade placed the cake on the table first, and the four girls enveloped each other in a hug.

"Annoying!" Perrie declared as tears and shots ran down her face.

"You know I hate surprises!" She kiddingly hit each girl, before placing a kiss on their cheeks.

"Sorry to interrupt, but uh, the candles are melting," Liam reminded the four girls who then released each other made their way to the table, Jesy helping Perrie to put on her own party hat.

"Make a wish," Niall urged.

Perrie kneeled before the table and closed her eyes, her hands clasped under her chin and whispered a wish. Jade took that opportunity to snap a picture. When she was done with her wishes, Perrie blew the candles away and stood up to hug each boy and thanked them for the surprise.

"We can't take credit for anything, the girls were the ones who planned this," Louis explained.

"I know," Perrie turned to look at the girls, "I love you so much."

Jade smiled hearing Perrie's words and took a seat in between Harry and Liam. Liam was busy eyeing the cake Jesy was cutting, while Harry was busy with his phone. Jade frowned when Harry did not acknowledge her. Liam noticed her change of mood and whispered to Jade, "He must be busy with his girlfriend."

"Oh," that explained why he didn't even notice Jade. But wait, girlfriend? How long had they been together? Were they even together when Jade and Harry slept together? A lot of questions took up Jade's mind.

"Earth to Jade," Perrie waved her hand in front of my face.

"Huh?"

"Your cake," she handed me a plate with a piece of cake on top of it.

"How long have they been together?" I asked Liam discretely, who was wolfing down his cake.

"A few months, three I think," he replied while chewing, Jade narrowed her eyes in disgust.

Liam didn't say anything else and Jade can't help but wonder if Harry did not tell anyone about their occurrence last month. But Jade also couldn't ignore the tugging on her heart when she found out he has a girlfriend.

---

As promised, another chapter for today! I'm sorry it's a short one, but I can assure you upcoming chapters are going to be longer!

Happy birthday to @Not_sools123! It must suck celebrating a birthday during lockdown but I hope you enjoy your day bubba!

p.s. if anyone needs someone to talk to during this confusing and boring time, my DMs are always open :)

xxx, m