Jade was alone. The flat felt empty even though it was full of her favourite Christmas decorations. Her family were up in Newcastle and Jade had arranged to travel up there for New Years rather than to spend Christmas there. She hoped she could spend Christmas with Perrie but to her surprise Perrie had arranged for her and her family to go to Lapland. This upset Jade more than Perrie released. When Perrie had told her about her plans the girls had only just got together and Jade acted like she was completely fine with it. But now she was sat alone with only Hatchi as company she realised how lonely she was. Perrie had promised to make it up to her by having a second Christmas with her once she returned but that still meant missing the main day and Jade's birthday. The other two girls were celebrating with their families and neither had considered that Jade would be alone on Christmas. The more Jade thought about it the more upset she became. The girls knew that out of all of them Jade loved this time of year the most due to her crazy organisation but that didn't seem to matter to them.
Jade had decided to make herself a late night snack and sit infront of the fire with a movie on. Although she wasn't a dog person she had taken Hatchi in happily over the Christmas period and found herself cuddling up to the dog as a few tears slipped from her eyes. Jade was interrupted by a FaceTime call from Leigh. She quickly answered not really thinking about her appearance and how Leigh would be able to tell that the girl had been crying only a few seconds before.
"Jadeeeee!" Leigh beamed "merry Christmas babe! You are the first one I called, don't tell the others but you're my favourite". Jade smiled softy in response and Leigh's smile faltered.
"What's wrong hunnie?" Leigh said concerned.
"Nothing, I'm fine. Just lonely that's all" Jade admitted.
"Wait, you're alone? I assumed you had company whilst Perrie was away?" Leigh asked finally catching onto Jade's current situation. Jade just sighed and shook her head as tears started to fill her eyes. "Oh my god, Jade! No one should be alone on Christmas. I can't believe I didn't know. I thought your Mum would have come down or Danielle would have stayed". Leigh felt guilty. She had been too heavily invested with herself and how she was spending Christmas with her family that she hadn't realised what the situation was. She then thought about Perrie and felt slightly angry with the girl. She understood that she had made arrangements with her family but leaving Jade alone just wasn't on. "I really don't know what to say Jade. Do you want me to send a car to pick you up? You are more than welcome to spend Christmas here. After all this is my first Christmas in my new house?"
"I'm ok Leigh, honestly. I'll just wait for Perrie to get back" Jade said sadly "bye now". With that Jade hung up the phone and decided she had really had enough of this day. Normally her Christmas eves were full of excitement and happiness but this one was her worst one to date.
When Jade hung up the phone Leigh felt so sad. She just wasn't going to let Jade spend her Christmas alone. So she decided to call Jesy.
"I was waiting for your call Leigh, how are you?" Jesy beamed as she answered the phone.
"Well, I was good until I called Jade" Leigh said sounding deflated.
"Why, what's wrong? Her and Perrie haven't broke up have they? Not on Christmas Eve?" Jesy said panicked.
"No! But Jade's alone".
"No she isn't, I swear she said she was spending it with her family" Jesy said trying to reassure Leigh.
"I just called her and she's on her own Jesy. Perrie is in Lapland with her family. Her family are up in Newcastle. I assume Danielle is also with her family. She was crying Jess, proper tears too. This is Jade's favourite time of year and knowing she's in her flat, alone and upset won't do!" Leigh said getting angry.
"I can't believe Perrie was ok with this. I bet no wonder we didn't know as Perrie knows full well I would have kicked off. She could have added Jade on to go with her or made sure Jade had company, I'm gunna kill her!" Jesy said angrily.
"I don't think that's the best way to approach this Jesy. I think we need to guilt trip her, make her feel so bad she goes back and is home with Jade" Leigh said.
"But wouldn't that ruin her family trip?" Jesy asked.
"She's been there nearly a week now, she was due to travel back soon, I'm sure if Deb knew about this then she would be as angry at Perrie as we are" Leigh continued.
"Ok, so I'll call her!" Jesy added "I'll let you know how it goes". Leigh said thankyou before hanging up and hoping that Jesy would sort things out.
Jesy started a FaceTime call with Perrie hoping the girl had reception wherever she was. After a couple of rings Perrie answered and she looked far too happy for Jesy's liking.
"Jesminda!" Perrie grinned "I miss you!"
"I miss you too" Jesy smiled acting normal "who's with you?"
"Everyone's here!" Deb beamed from in the background.
"Ok good, I have a bone to pick with you" Jesy said and Perrie's smile faltered. Jesy could see Perrie's finger edge towards the end call button "don't you dare hang up on me!" Perrie's finger came away from her phone and she knew exactly what Jesy was going to talk to her about. The guilt had been eating her alive to the point where if you checked in Perrie's room there was a laptop with a direct flight home in her checkout basket that night returning her home to Jade.
"Please, not now Jess" Perrie sighed.
"No, I think now. Does your Mum know you've left Jade, your girlfriend, alone for Christmas? She's sat at home absolutely broken at the fact you've left her by herself at this time of year? Or did you forget to tell her like you forgot to tell me and Leigh?" Jesy said angrily and she could see the shocked expression on Perrie's families faces in the background.
"You told us she had family there Perrie, you mean to tell us she's actually sat alone in that flat?" Perrie's sister said flatly. Caitlin and Jade had become very close since Perrie and Jade got together and out of everyone Perrie knew Caitlin would be the most angry.
"I'm sorry" Perrie said sadly "I didn't want to ruin the little time I have with my family. I spoke to Jade about it and she said she was good with it and would arrange something. The guilt has been eating me alive and knowing she's at home and is upset isn't making me feel any better".
"I think right now you should only be thinking about how upset Jade is" Deb said softly "although I'm angry with you I know you did this out of goodness in your heart. You didn't want to upset us so tried to find a solution".
"I'm sorry Perrie" Jesy said feeling slightly guilty at her outburst "you know how protective I am over Jade. This is her favourite time of year and if I had known she was going to be alone I would have made sure she wasn't".
"I know, I have a flight up on my laptop that departs later. I wanted to book it but I can't do that to my family. I want to be with Jade but I want to be here too" Perrie said.
"Perrie, you are being stupid. You've spent the whole week with us" Deb said sitting next to her daughter "all your presents are at home. As soon as we land back we will get them and come round to see you and Jade". Jesy could see Perrie was as upset about all this as what Jade was. She knew she needed to leave Perrie to decide what she wanted to do.
"I'm going to go now Perrie, please make the right decision" Jesy said softly "merry Christmas". Jesy messaged Leigh and told her what had happened. Leigh said she had no response for Jade and as soon as she woke up in the morning she was going to go to Jade's to make sure she was ok. The two then sent a text each to Jade telling her that they loved her and would see her tomorrow. Jade received these texts and realised how great her best friends were and that after all that they did care about her. She just wished she could say the same about her girlfriend. Perrie hadn't sent her text all day and it was making Jade feel even worse. She had Hatchi laid next to her in Perrie's spot and it was as if he knew what was wrong. He knew Perrie should be laid there and he knew that Jade was upset. He snuggled closer to Jade and licked her cheek and much to Jade's surprise she didn't tell him off for it. Jade decided she would call it a night and turned off her bedside lamp.
"Merry Christmas Hatchi" Jade said sadly and petted the dog one last time before drifting off to sleep.
Jade woke up realising what day it was and sighed. She didn't even want to get out of bed. She turned to the side and looked at her clock seeing it was 7:30am and her body had done its usual trick of waking her up early on Christmas. Normally she would have her nieces and nephew there to wake her up and excitedly drag her to the tree to see what Santa had brought. Today she didn't have any presents under the tree. All of Perrie's presents were sat by the foot of the bed all delicately wrapped waiting for her return. Jade looked to her side to see Hatchi had gone so she really was alone. She looked to see the door slightly ajar and wondered how Hatchi managed to get out. Jade grabbed Perrie's presents and took them to the tree and started to place them down. She was far too tired to notice the change in the room. There were presents scattered around the living room. Jade turned on the TV and put on a music channel that just so happened to be blasting out Christmas songs. She went and made herself a cup of tea and still didn't notice the presents. She did notice a number of different foods on the side of the counter. Only then did she remember Leigh had promised that she would call round and see her with Jesy. That's probably how Hatchi had got out of the room. Leigh liked to take Hatchi for a walk so maybe that's where she went whilst Jade was sleeping. Jade decided this was perfect opportunity to go and take a shower knowing that her family would be too busy opening their presents so they wouldn't be able to answer a call from her yet. Jade went into her wardrobe and got out the outfit she had picked months ago for Christmas. Knowing that Perrie had spotted it in the shop and said how beautiful it would look on Jade, after all it was her favourite colour. Jade took extra time to shower knowing that Leigh would still be out with Hatchi and there was no rush. Jesy had a key too so if she hadn't arrived yet she could let herself in and see the note Jade had wrote left on the side.
Little did Jade know that Leigh and Jesy were at home with their families. She didn't know that at 4am Perrie had landed back in the UK and returned home. She decided to go nuts in duty free and buy Jade even more gifts aswell as all the ones she had hidden in the flat. She had hidden them somewhere Jade was too short to reach. She had snook into the flat and woken Hatchi luckily the pooch had seen Perrie's face before deciding to bark so didn't bother to open his mouth. Instead he followed Perrie into the living room and excitedly kissed his owner over and over. Perrie had got all of Jade's presents from around the flat and placed them in the living room. She had bought lots of food in duty free aswell as remembering that Jade had bought a small turkey for herself for on Christmas Day. She knew Jade couldn't eat it alone so chose to start preparing everything for the dinner later on. Once everything had been arranged she decided to take Hatchi for a walk knowing she couldn't go to sleep incase Jade woke and caught her. When she returned from the walk she saw that the TV had been switched on aswell as a note in the kitchen.
Jesy and Leigh,
Thankyou for coming over I really appreciate it. You are making me feel slightly guilty that I've taken you away from your families. I couldn't do that to Perrie yet alone you guys. I've just decided to get a shower! The food on the side looks awesome, are you guys staying for dinner?
Love Jade xxxx
Perrie felt guilty knowing that Jade hadn't really said how she felt about Perrie leaving her for Christmas. She just wished Jade had said something so this whole mess could have been prevented. She was too busy admiring Jade's handwriting and thinking about her brunette to even notice Jade had walked in the room.
"Perrie?" Jade said softly. Perrie jumped slightly and looked up from note to see Jade stood infront of her. Jade looked incredible. Perrie couldn't believe Jade had gone and bought the outfit Perrie would have loved to have seen her in. Perrie was lost for words and just looked at her girlfriend even closer. She walked over to her and placed one hand on her cheek. "Oh my gosh, you're freezing! You need to get infront of the fire. Come on over here we can't have you freezing to death". Perrie couldn't believe it. After what she had put Jade through the main concern on Jade's mind was her. She didn't want her to be cold. She didn't get angry and start a fight with her. This made Perrie's heart feel heavy as she knew how caring Jade was.
"I'm so sorry" Perrie said softly "I can't believe I left you".
"It's ok Perrie, don't worry about that. Our main priority is getting you warm!" Jade said softly.
"No Jade! You should be angry at me" Perrie sighed "I left you on fucking Christmas. I left the love of my life alone on Christmas Day".
"You did but you did it to be with your family" Jade said whilst rubbing Perrie's hands "I could have gone to Newcastle but I didn't". Jade didn't go because she wanted Perrie to feel guilty. She'd lied to her Mum and said she had company for Christmas as Norma insisted she travel to Newcastle. "If you had left me to be with your friends I would have been mad. But you arranged this with your family. It's fine I get it".
"I could have invited you though, there was enough room. I was so selfish I just separated time with you from time with family. But you are my family. You should be with me when I'm with them" Perrie admitted and she looked into her girlfriends eyes to see tears flowing. "Please don't cry Jade, you've cried enough".
"I'm not crying because I'm upset" Jade admitted.
"Then why are you crying?" Perrie asked.
"You came back, you knew I was upset and decided to travel back. You really do care" Jade said with a small smile.
"Of course I do, only an idiot wouldn't get on a midnight flight travel back and not sleep to be with the person they love" Perrie said whilst pulling her girlfriend closer "I can't believe you got this outfit. I can't believe I would have missed this".
"That's why I wore it, you would have realised what you were missing" Jade said cheekily whilst playing with Perrie's hair. Perrie had one eyebrow raised as she watched her girlfriend. She realised how stupid she had been. She spent every Christmas since she could remember with her family and decided to give up her Christmas with her soulmate. "I still can't believe you're here. I missed you so much".
"I'm happy I'm here. I wouldn't want it any other way" Perrie said softly "now can we please open the presents I've got you". Jade smiled widely and noticed how many more presents were there than she first realised. She knew Perrie had spoilt her completely and she'd done the same for Perrie.
"Wait, I need to text Leigh and Jesy to tell them they don't need to come over. I'm not alone now" Jade said remembering about the two girls and hoping they hadn't already set off.
"Don't worry, they already know I'm here. Jesy nearly killed me when she realised you were alone" Perrie sighed.
"So you only came back so Jesy didn't kill you?" Jade said slightly irritated.
"No! Of course not, I'd already been looking at flights and possible plans of action before I got the angry Jesy call" Perrie said trying to calm Jade down.
"She would have killed you" Jade laughed lightly "I bloody love that girl".
"Oi, what about me?" Perrie said whilst wrapping her arms back around her girlfriend.
"You know I love you, in a completely different way" Jade said softly "I'm glad you're home".
The two began to open their presents and both were ecstatic at what the other had bought them. Jade was paying attention to everything. How Perrie smiled, how the lights shone on the tree and how Hatchi felt like the third member of their little family. One last thing that made Jade smile was the choice of song that was playing whilst Perrie opened one of her final gifts. That being Driving Home For Christmas. It fit their current situation as Perrie had been the one that drove home for Christmas (although she flew too). Jade knew Perrie had sacrificed her family Christmas to be with her and she couldn't be happier. Although that Christmas Eve will go down as the worst one in history, Christmas Day will forever be the greatest one she has ever had.