It had been three years now since both Perrie and Jade had finished studying – Jade had been studying arts in Oxford and Perrie had decided to study medicine in Manchester. Still they had managed to see each other on the weekends, no matter what kind of exam they had to get. They wouldn’t let anything come between them and this had probably been the reason why they were still together – Jade being an arts teacher in the South Shield’s primary and Perrie being in her first year of South Shield’s hospital.
They still had kind of meetings with the other people from school, once in a month and they were telling other about what had happened since their last meeting.
“So, Jesy, how was your and Jordan’s wedding?” Zayn asked. His arm was around his girlfriend’s shoulder, who was there for the first time. Her name was Emily and she was from another city, called Bradford. Zayn had visited his grandparents in Bradford and had met Emily there and since then they were together (which was probably three months ago).
“Amazing!” Jesy grinned and looked at the golden ring on her finger. “Really sad you couldn’t come – but I hope you’ll come to the baby party!”
“No way!” Niall said with a huge grin. “Wow, congrats, Jesy!” He said and hugged her tightly.
Everyone agreed with Niall, giving Jesy and her husband Jordan a hug. “We are really happy for you,” Perrie agreed and hugged her best friend as the last person. Jesy had been in Manchester too so they had been together all the time – in Manchester Jesy had also met Jordan.
Niall was alone there but he wasn’t the only single in the round, also Liam was still (or again) single. Harry and Louis still were together and it looked like they were as much as in love as the day they had told each other their love for each another.
Leigh-Anne was also single, but she didn’t want it any other way. Together with Jade she had studied in Oxford, but she had studied music instead of arts. The black haired girl had started playing some instruments, them being the guitar, the violin and the piano. She worked for some different musicians, on tour, so she was always around. So she herself said she wouldn’t need a boyfriend at the moment and she was happy the way she was.
Jade looked up to meet Liam’s eyes and he was smiling at her. They had become good friends again and also met sometimes, only if Perrie wasn’t against it. She wouldn’t say anything but Jade knew when it was better not to mention that she’d like to meet Liam again. He had been with a girl since they had broken up and they had been together for two years, but now he was single again.
“Anything new between you?” Harry asked and Jade’s attention was drawn away from the only boy she had ever kissed.
Perrie blushed, something that was really rare, and looked over at her girlfriend. “Well, err, I finally did it,” Perrie murmured and now also Jade blushed deeply.
“What?” Liam asked and everyone giggled – of course Perrie hadn’t told anyone about their plans but everyone kind of knew it – they were together for more than four years now, it was only time that one of them would propose.
Jade raised her arm and pulled back the sleeve of her jumper to show everyone her fingers – a silver ring with a small sparkling diamond was on her ring finger. The diamond reflected the light from above them and made her whole hand look brighter.
“Wow, oh my, this one’s so pretty!” Leigh-Anne scream-whispered. She grabbed Jade’s hand to get a closer look at the ring and sighed. “I am really happy for you two, well done, Perrie.” She smiled at her friend and hugged them both.
“Seems like we have a lot of things to tell today,” Liam smiled and took a sip of his beer. “My sister called me yesterday because she is getting a baby, too.” He smiled at them and again everyone congratulated him.
Nothing between them had changed really – on the inside they still were the nine students from High School and it was like sitting in the cafeteria, like it had always been. There maybe were Zayn’s girlfriend and Jesy’s husband and soon her baby, but they still were the same people, no matter what kind of job they had now.
“Oh, and we will go to Barbados for Christmas. We wanted to ask if any of you wanted to come along.”
“Like in school?” Niall asked happily. Their last year in school had been their best year ever and they all agreed to it. They had had prom, on which Harry and Jade became king and queen, but at the end of the day Jade had given her crown to Louis, who celebrated his night as the queen of school with a bit too much red wine.
Jade and Perrie had been dancing all night together until Liam had asked Jade for a dance, which Perrie unwillingly granted. She tried not to show that she was still jealous when her girlfriend was around the other boy but she couldn’t help it – it was just too disturbing to think that they had kissed and cuddled and held hands…
Perrie had seen that they were talking but until now she still didn’t know what it was about. When she had asked Jade what they were talking about, Jade had only grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor, dancing the waltz with her.
“Hey, Liam,” Jade said with a sad smile.
“Jade,” he smiled and turned her around, his hand slightly holding onto her fingers as he did so. He was one of the best dancers tonight, this was for sure.
“Does this dance mean anything? I mean… did you want to talk or just dance?”
“A bit of both I guess,” Liam said and the music changed – it was a bit calmer, and made Liam wrap his arm around her waist. It felt weird to her; because she thought it meant something to him when it didn’t mean anything to her. At this moment they weren’t really good friends anymore because Liam would never really talk to her when they were alone, which was a really rare occasion. Probably because Jade tried to avoid him, even though she didn’t really know why. She just felt guilty when she was with him and all she could think about was Perrie and if she were angry if she knew she was with Liam, her ex boyfriend.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” Jade asked and turned around again in Liam’s arms.
“I wanted to tell you a secret,” he smiled. “Something I haven’t even told Niall.”
“Why?” Jade asked curiously. “We have hardly talked to each other in a while and I thought you were mad at me because of that… Why would you tell me a secret before you tell it your best friend?”
“Because it saddens me that we are not as close as we used to,” Liam explained and moved his feet swiftly on the ground. Jade was impressed by his skills because she had to admit he danced better than her – and she was no bad dancer herself. “And this secret will make you feel… not so weird around me anymore. I know that you kind of avoid me and I also understand it – it’s kind of weird to hang out with an ex when you think they still like you, right?”
Jade nodded, biting down her lip because she felt guilty. She didn’t want to hurt Liam, but he was right – it really was kind of weird to her.
“Well, I think… I am pretty sure that I like someone else. Her name is Danielle and she is in the school’s dance group. She is in eleventh grade so none of us really knows her. My mum and her mum are friends and we lately were having brunch at theirs’… and that’s where I met Danielle.”
“I am happy for you,” Jade said and suppressed a relieved sigh – she finally could be with him in a normal way again. “Does she like you too?”
“I don’t know,” Liam chuckled. “But I hope she has no blonde, beautiful best friend.”
Jade laughed and turned around again, shaking her head slightly. “But I know someone else who has a blonde, beautiful friend.”
“Who?”
“You yourself!” Jade laughed and poked his chest.
They stayed silent for a bit, and just danced until the song was over. “Thank you, Jade,” Liam smiled and hugged her. “And… don’t tell anyone about this already, okay? I don’t want everyone to know before I don’t know she likes me too. This time I won’t make it so obvious.”
“I wish you good luck,” Jade smiled. “You deserve someone who makes you actually happy and who loves you the same way you love them.”
“Thanks.”
Jade walked back to Perrie, who looked at her expectantly. “What did you talk about?” She asked and sounded a bit jealous but Jade had promised Liam to keep it as a secret.
“Do you know how to dance the waltz?” She asked and held out her hand for the blonde girl. She really looked beautiful today – her blonde hair was in a bun and fixed with some light brown hair clasps. They weren’t black because her hair was so bright and it shouldn’t have a too big contrast. A few strokes fell on either side of her face and her pale body was covered in an ocean blue, strapless dress. A black belt was around her waist and her eyelashes were covered in black mascara, her lips reddened with lipstick.
Jade also looked stunning – she had re-dyed her hair so it was wine-red. Her hair was straightened and fell down her shoulders, down her back. Only a single stroke was bent back and held there with a black hair clasp. She wore a black dress and a dark blue, very thin jacket to cover her arms and her shoulders.
“Yes, I do,” Perrie answered confused and grabbed Jade’s hand, letting Jade lead her to the dance floor.
“By the way, Gemma and Greg marry tomorrow,” Harry reminded them all and grinned at Niall. “What are we now? Are we related?”
“Don’t think so,” Niall laughed and took a sip of his beer. “But we are all mentally related, aren’t we? It doesn’t make a big difference to me when your sister and my brother marry.”
Harry agreed and smiled at Louis, pressing his lips to the older boy’s forehead. “But it’d be weird to think that Louis and I were related.”
“Oh my god,” Louis agreed and shook his head a little bit disgusted. “Imagine we were brothers!”
“To think that after a night like the last is just not possible…”
“Harry!” Niall exclaimed and shook his head. Everyone else shouted out and covered their eyes and looked away. “We have no problem with you two being together but don’t talk about your sex life. I also don’t want to know what Jade and Perrie or Zayn and Emily do at night… or Jesy and Jordan,” he quickly added.
Everyone nodded and shook their heads.
Some things would always change; they would marry, they would divorce, they would fall in love, they would fall out of love, they would get children, they would get old.
But it would always be like this – they would always meet once in a month, talking about everything and everyone. They would stay friends forever.