Jade found herself wandering to the same spot in the same park everyday. There she would sit under the same tree and let her mind free on her page. She'd draw anything whether it would be something in her mind or something in front of her. This was her way of expressing herself and the only way she knew. You see, Jade wasn't very sociable. She wasn't going to the park to hang around with her friends and discuss her day with them. She would come to the park alone to just be alone.
She'd see a lot of the same people that would always come to the park. She'd see a group of women on a Wednesday that would come through in their gym gear as if they were having a mid life crisis. All of them struggling to keep up the pace running by her. She'd see the same Mums bring their children to the park to play and the Mums sit and have a casual conversation. But there was one group of people that came to the park that Jade always watched. When they entered she would move further into the shadows so they wouldn't spot her. She'd watch how the group wandered in causally going to their same spot. They'd go to the same spot and sit down. There was 3 girls and 2 guys. The 2 guys who she knew the names of due to them attending the same college were Claudimar and Luke. Both were very athletic as they studied Dance. One of the girls was Leigh-Anne Pinnock and she knew her because she lived on the same street as Jade did. However the other two she wasn't on name terms with. One was a brunette that just screamed confident. She looked like the glue that held the group together and would often be the one causing the rest of the group to laugh. She looked like she had a great sense of humour and could really have you in stitches. The final girl was the one that Jade always waited to see. She would be trailing behind the group due to her dog dragging her towards something he wanted to sniff. The girl would often shout Hatchi at the top of her voice and "bad boy, don't sniff that" whilst trying to catch up with her friends. The group would pull out their blanket and throw it on the ground along with several cans of beer and cider. The blonde girl would let Hatchi off the lead and play fetch with him whilst casually drinking a can of beer. The group would sit there for a few hours whilst Claudimar and Luke would be doing flips and cartwheels often trying to teach Leigh-Anne who would fail miserably. Jade would find herself laughing at Leigh's clumsiness.
Jade wished she had that type of group around her that she could hang round with. That would support her but at the same time make her laugh. She found herself sketching the group and trying to get each individual right. Previous weeks she'd drawn the blonde girl for the simple reason she was besotted with her. She really liked her. She'd drawn Hatchi too with his ball or chasing after it. She carried on sketching and had a rough drawing down within an hour. The drawing had Claudimar doing a hand stand with Leigh-Anne watching from the side lines. Luke stood with a can of beer in his hands whilst Jesy laughed at them from on the blanket. Perrie often looked separate to the group too interested in Hatchi and what he was doing. So Jade drew her stood at the side throwing the ball for Hatchi. You could tell Jade was studying art and one day would have a degree in the subject. She was super talented.
Jade carried on shading the background until she felt something hit the side of her leg. She looked and saw a ball. Panic hit her as she knew it was the ball that belonged to Hatchi. Before she could even process what to do she looked up to see Hatchi running towards her. She grabbed the ball and was about to throw it in the opposite direction when Hatchi jumped onto her lap and started to lick her face. Jade wasn't overly keen on dogs so having him so close to her made her feel uncomfortable. Jade didn't know what to do so just covered her face with her hands as the dog carried on nuzzling her and trying to get Jade to pat him.
"HATCHI" Jade heard a voice call "come here now!" Jade knew it was the blonde girl and just hoped the dog would listen to his owner. Jade grabbed the ball off her lap and threw it to try and get the dog to follow it. Hatchi wasn't interested and instead sat down on Jade's lap.
"I'm so sorry, he's so naughty sometimes" Jade heard the blonde say. She quickly started to panic and covered up her drawing with her pencil case hoping the blonde wouldn't see her drawing. "Hatchi, come here". The dog carried on not listening and the blonde girl soon was next to Jade grabbing the dog off her lap and putting him on his lead. "I'm so sorry".
"It's fine, don't worry about it" Jade said quietly avoiding eye contact.
"I didn't realise there was anyone here or I wouldn't have thrown the ball in this direction. It didn't hit you did it?" She asked.
"No" Jade replied whilst fiddling with her hands.
"Okay good, are you alone? You can come sit with us if you are its just me and my friends?" Perrie asked.
"I erm, yeah-no. I'm ok" Jade stammered.
"Was that a yes to coming to sit with us or being alone?" Perrie asked bending down to Jade's level and resting her hand on Jade's knee.
"I'm alone, but I'm fine" Jade managed to say without stammering.
"Oh ok, I'm Perrie by the way!" Perrie smiled. Jade instantly thought about how the name suited her so much. Perrie looked like she wanted Jade to reply and Jade again started to panic.
"Oh, Jade. I'm Jade Thirlwall" she said with a small smile. Jade had barely finished her sentence when she heard Leigh-Anne running towards the pair.
"Perrie! There you are, oh hi Jade" Leigh smiled and Jade was surprised she knew her name. Jade smiled whilst letting the two hopefully leave her.
"Sorry, I threw the ball and it came over this way. Hatchi then decided to attack Jade with kisses" Perrie laughed "how do you know Jade?"
"She lives on our street. My Mum sometimes speaks to her Mum when she drops me off at college" Leigh said.
"Still getting dropped off cause you can't pass your driving test" Perrie laughed.
"Oh leave me alone Mrs I passed first time" Leigh said whilst sticking her tongue out at Perrie. Jade was envious of how easily they spoke to each other and how they could make jokes.
"I just invited Jade over for a beer" Perrie said.
"Oh! Yeah come on Jade, there's plenty" Leigh said whilst grabbing Jade's hand and tugging her up. Jade forgot about her sketch pad and pencil case which soon the contents fell to the floor. Jade panicked as these were her best pencils and dropping them damaged the lead. She instantly scrambled to the floor and picked up the contents whilst Leigh helped her. She then went to look for her sketch pad but couldn't see it. She then looked towards Perrie who was scanning the page.
"Shit" Jade cursed.
"Did you just curse" Leigh laughed.
"I erm, I'm sorry. I know this makes me look like a creep. I-er" Jade stuttered.
"A creep? Jade these are great. I mean I would have liked to have known there was a girl sketching my friends and me. But wow these are so good" Perrie said flicking through the pages. Relief seemed to flood through Jade's system as Perrie wasn't scared by Jade's drawings. Luckily Jade had kept them professional and hadn't made the drawings look like love notes.
"Oh my gosh, I love this one of Hatchi" Perrie smiled "come on let's go get a beer and you can show me more". Leigh grabbed Hatchi's lead and ran back over to the blanket whilst Perrie and Jade casually strolled back over.
The girls sat down on the blanket and Perrie was too busy asking Jade how long each drawing took her to even introduce Jade.
"Erm Edwards, who's this?" The brunette asked. Jade was scared incase she wasn't welcomed by her as the brunette seemed intimidating.
"Oh sorry, where are my manners. Everyone this is Jade Thirlwall. Jade this is Jesy, Claudimar and Luke" Perrie smiled whilst pointing to each person.
"Ah, you're the little art genius everyone goes on about" Luke said and Jade seemed confused.
"Yes! No one seems to know who Jade Thirlwall is but everyone knows that she's the best art student in our area if not the UK" Claudimar added.
"I wouldn't go that far" Jade said softly.
"I would, these are great Jade" Perrie smiled whilst lightly bumping her shoulder with Jade's.
"Let's see" Jesy said bluntly. Jesy really intimidated Jade and she hoped it was just because she was new. Jesy flicked through the book much to Jade's dislike. "If I was to say anything I'd say she fancies you Pez, she's drawn you a lot. But they're good".
"I-er no, she just has great features. She's a good subject to draw that's all" Jade stuttered.
"Yeah she fancies you Edwards" Jesy laughed. Ok Jade definitely didn't like how upfront Jesy was. Yes what she was saying was true but she'd only just actually been introduced to Perrie and already looked like a creep. The last thing she wanted was more creepy motives to be added to why Jade drew Perrie so much. Perrie just smiled and lowly whispered not to worry in Jade's ear. Perrie then grabbed two beers and handed one to Jade. Jade wasn't a big beer drinker but she wouldn't refuse. She cracked open the can and hoped that after a few beers the nerves she felt would go away.
5 cans of beer later and Jade was laughing away with Perrie. She and Perrie had a similar sense of humour and found each other making the other laugh. Perrie's laugh was infectious and as soon as she started to laugh Jade did too. At first Jade had been insecure about the vein on her head popping out and had covered her head. Perrie asked why and Jade compared it to the Harry Potter scar which Perrie found hilarious and the two had been laughing ever since. Claudimar was still trying to teach Leigh a basic cartwheel but was failing.
"It's not that fucking hard" Claud cursed.
"It is, it's not simple dance captain" Leigh whined. Jade laughed even louder and how much Leigh sucked at gymnastics.
"What are you laughing at Thirlwall? Bet you can't do one" Leigh said cockily.
"Of course I can, my 3 year old nephew can do one so of course I can" Jade said getting up. However the beer had made her a little wobbly and she started to fall from side to side. She felt two hands steady her on her waist and knew that they belonged to Perrie. This made her nerves a little worse as she knew Perrie was so close to her.
"You good babe?" Perrie asked. Jade shivered slightly as Perrie's breath was on her neck and she could smell the beer.
"Yeah I'm good" Jade said lowly and saw Jesy smirking up at her. Perrie's hands let go of Jade's waist as Jade found a spot to do her cartwheel. Jade easily completed the cartwheel and looked over at Leigh who rolled her eyes.
"My turn!" Perrie slurred. Perrie had had at least 7/8 cans of beer since they arrived and was definitely drunk.
"Perrie! No!" Jesy shouted but it was too late as Perrie came crashing into Jade's side who fell back onto the blanket. Jade's head hit the ground with a thud and momentarily Jade's vision went blurred. She looked up and saw the blonde looking down on her and she looked panicked. "You're a fucking idiot, you knocked my beer over!"
"Shit" Jade whispered "you pissed off Jesy".
"She'll get over it" Perrie said "you ok? Second time I've hurt you today".
"I'm good, just don't try that again" Jade said with a light laugh. The girls weren't aware of all the eyes on them around as the rest of the group watched how Perrie acted around Jade. They'd never known Perrie like this and they knew Perrie probably fancied Jade.
"You guys going to get up?" Leigh laughed. The girls then became aware of their positions and Perrie quickly sat up.
"Woah, my head hurts" Perrie said.
"Here's some water idiot" Jesy said handing Perrie a bottle "you better sober up before you head home".
Claud and Luke were the last ones to leave after going over some routines. Jesy left first saying that Jake had called her to go for dinner so she had to go. Jade guessed that Jake was Jesy's boyfriend. Leigh left shortly after saying her Mum needed her home. Perrie however had not left Jade's side and was so interested in Jade's drawings.
"So this one, how did you get it so exact? Like the positions we are all in. Did it take you forever?" Perrie asked. She was currently laid on her tummy with Jade's book in front of her.
"No, I did that one today whilst I was here. It probably took me under an hour. It was just a quick sketch" Jade told her. The alcohol had made it easier to have a conversation with Perrie. She wasn't afraid to chat or tell Perrie about her work.
"This one of Hatchi, I really love it. He looks so cute" Perrie said looking at a sketch Jade had done about a month ago.
"You can have it if you like I mean it is your do-"
"See you later" Luke interrupted the two.
"Oh, see you guys! Sure I will see you soon" Perrie said.
"Bye guys" Jade said "as I was saying you can happily have it. It would only stay in my book".
"Are you sure? I mean it would look good in a frame on my wall" Perrie smiled.
"I don't think it's that great" Jade laughed.
"I disagree. By the sounds of it you put yourself down a lot. Claud and Luke did say you were possibly the best art student in the area" Perrie said whilst resting her chin in her hands. Jade just smiled not really knowing how to answer Perrie. She knew she was good at art that's why the best universities had contacted her to study there in September.
"I think I better get going" Jade said. Perrie let out a sigh of disappointment as this is the most fun she's had in a long time. She liked the new company she had made.
"Can I walk you home?" Perrie asked.
"No! I-er I mean you don't have to do that" Jade said all a little too fast.
"I want to, if it's ok with you" Perrie said softly.
"Yeah, ok then" Jade said whilst standing up and grabbing Hatchi's lead that was behind her. She clipped the lead onto his collar and passed him over to Perrie.
"Do you know where you're going?" Jade asked.
"Leigh said you live on the same street as her so I've got a good idea" Perrie said.
"Ok" Jade said shyly not knowing where to go with the conversation.
The two girls were in an uncomfortable silence as they walked towards Jade's house.
"Can I ask you something?" Perrie said.
"Er-yeah sure" Jade replied.
"Why did you draw me so much out of everyone? I know you said I had the best features to draw but I don't understand" Perrie asked.
"Do you want the honest reason?" Jade questioned not really wanting to hear the answer.
"Of course, I don't want you to lie to me" Perrie laughed.
"Well, I think out of all the people you hang around with you are the best looking. I mean the most attractive? Pretty. That's the word I'm looking for. You are art" Jade said stumbling over her words. Perrie smiled finding Jade adorable when she became all lost and didn't know what to say. Perrie knew Jade had to be attracted to her. There had been little clues all day and Jesy had thought the same. It wasn't often that Jesy was wrong on these kind of situations.
"You mean you're attracted to me" Perrie said softly.
"You don't find it creepy or disgusting?" Jade questioned.
"No, of course not. I think it's adorable. How you've drawn me for what seems to be a while. I just wish you hadn't hidden in the shadows so much" Perrie told Jade whilst grabbing her hand with her own. Jade looked down at what Perrie was doing and suddenly felt the most nervous she had all day. She then looked at Perrie who looked completely fine with the whole situation. She reluctantly slipped her hand into Perrie's and they carried on the rest of the way.
"Another question" Perrie said with a light laugh.
"Oh, not another" Jade said sarcastically.
"If when we got to your house I was to kiss you goodbye would you be ok with it?" Perrie said looking at Jade. Jade carried on looking forward as butterflies erupted inside of her. Jade took a while to answer not really knowing what to say without her sounding like a love struck idiot.
"I'd be fine with it" she managed to say calmly.
"Ok good, no more questions".
"Good" Jade said "although I liked that question". The two carried on walking until they made it onto Jade's street. Perrie pointed out which house was Leigh-Anne's even though Jade knew exactly which one it was. They then carried on down the street until they reached Jade's house.
"Oh wait the drawing!" Jade said whilst finding it in her sketch pad. She then pulled it out and handed it over to Perrie who looked thrilled.
"Suppose this is goodbye then?" Perrie said shyly whilst getting closer to Jade.
"I guess so" Jade said whilst looking up at Perrie who was biting her lip. Perrie slowly lent down and attached her lips onto Jade's. Jade instantly melted into it and put her arms around Perrie's neck and pulled her closer.
After a few kisses the two broke apart and Perrie said goodbye to Jade. Jade then walked up to her front door and waved bye to Perrie. Perrie waited till Jade had safely got into her house before setting off. She then wondered how she was going to contact Jade as the two hadn't exchanged numbers. Not pondering on it too much Perrie then opened her backpack to put the drawing in. She noticed some writing on the back and read it.
"Call me, Jade xox"
Jade's number was written clearly on the back. Perrie smiled before putting the drawing safely in her bag not wanting to damage it. She then carried on up the street back towards her home. She then wondered how long it would take for Jesy to work out what had happened. Little did she know Leigh-Anne had seen the two walk past her house and watched the two. The group chat between the three was going crazy in her phone pocket as Jesy had a firm "I told you so" waiting for Perrie.