"Why do you have to call the girls?" I asked. Perrie was staring into space not saying a word, and the silence was making me nervous.
"Because I need to figure out what to do."
"But there's no picture."
"What? I thought you said it was on Instagram?"
"It was but they didn't post a photo of you there today. It's just a random photo of you, they just captioned it saying they saw you."
"Why didn't you say that?!"
"You didn't give me a chance! Look."
I sat by Perrie and showed her the original post properly, not just the random exclamations of a surprised and confused fanbase.
"This person describes in detail what I'm wearing, what I did in the courtroom and me running out to you afterwards."
"But... couldn't you just deny it?" I said softly. "He or she... could've been wrong. It could've been someone who... looks like you."
"But it was me, and how can I? This person is insisting that it was me!"
"With no proof." I pointed out. Perrie fell silent, seemingly considering what I was saying.
"Right, I need to call Jesy."
"Okay... but why?"
"Because she's more level-headed than I am, and she'll know what to do."
I sat on the window ledge while Perrie sat on my bed talking to Jesy, not really saying much after telling her what happened other than the occasional 'yeah' and 'right'. I continued to scroll through my phone but there was nothing really new anymore; just thousands of people asking nobody in particular what the hell Perrie Edwards was doing shouting her mouth off on the balcony of a courtroom... and who was the mysterious stranger she embraced at the end?
"Babe?"
I turned around and saw Perrie facing me on the bed with her legs closed.
"What's going on then?"
"Jesy agrees with you... she says there's no reason for me to even say anything about it really. As far as anyone knows, it's nothing to do with me."
"What if someone asks you? Like, in an interview?"
"I can specify for them not to ask me about it."
"Which is gonna look even more suspicious, surely?"
"No, not if I don't mention it specifically. Like, if it's an interview about the tour, me and the girls will only answer questions about the tour, you know."
"You should never have come; this has messed everything up." I sighed. Perrie and I seemed to have switched; a second ago, she had been panicking but seemed better after talking to Jesy. Whereas now, I was getting more and more worried.
"Babe don't say that. What's messed up?"
"I can't believe this has happened."
"It's alright, listen," Perrie sat facing me on the window ledge and took my hand. "Jesy was right, you were right. Look, this person can insist all they want that they saw me today, but without a photo, it means nothing."
"Why would they lie though?"
"That doesn't matter, you know what the fanbase is like! Picture or it didn't happen, usually!" Perrie smiled. "Honestly, babe... I did freak out for a second but there's no need to worry. Give it a couple of days and it'll die off. Everybody will forget about it."
"Jesy really chilled you out, didn't she?" I smiled back.
"Aye, sort of. The girls to me are like what Lauren is to you."
"You did lose it for a second then though."
"Well yeah, I thought we were gonna have to come clean and everything then!" Perrie laughed but quickly stopped when I didn't smile.
"Wow, that would be terrible!" I scoffed.
"Oi. I did not mean it like that." Perrie scowled. She ran her fingers through my short hair. It felt so good... she seemed to really like doing that and I wasn't complaining. Suddenly, I couldn't take my eyes off her. "I couldn't do that to you." She whispered.
A hundred different questions rose to my lips then. And for a minute, I wasn't going to say anything at all, but I couldn't stop myself.
"Eventually, you'll have to. If you-"
"Don't even finish that sentence." Perrie said sharply. "It has nothing to do with me not loving you or not wanting to be with you. I love you so much. And we are still getting to know each other. We've got a long way to go before I'll think it's in any way okay for you or your family to have to be exposed to my world. I can't do that to you babe. And most of all, I'm far too happy in our own little bubble to let anyone else in."
Perrie slid closer and put one arm around my middle, the other still stroking her fingers through my hair. "For now, you're still just all mine... is that okay?"
Perrie giggled at my dazed expression, accepting that I was simply lost for words. I managed to nod, pulling her against me for a kiss.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
She shook her head. "Don't be. I know it's hard... but please... trust me."
We ended up falling from the window ledge onto the bed in a tangle of limbs, Perrie laughing as she landed on top of me.
"I love you Bear." She said. Her voice was so full of emotion and sincerity, I felt my tears sting the back of my eyes.
"I love you too."
We continued kissing heatedly for several minutes, uninterrupted. I had a delayed reaction to the approaching footsteps because I didn't push Perrie off me quickly enough before my door swung open.
"Jakob, have y- Oh. Oh my god."
Perrie jumped back so fast, she almost flew off the end of the bed, but it was too late. Ellie stood there, simply goggling at Perrie, who sat up on her knees looking meekly back at her.
"You must be Jakob's sister." She said softly.
Ellie managed to nod. I couldn't think of anything to say. I wanted to shout at her to get out, but I was frozen to the spot with tension in the room.
"I'll, err, I- I ca- yeah."
Ellie practically ran from the room, slamming the door behind her. Perrie let out a long, low groan and leaned forward, burying her face in the quilt. I had a sudden urge to laugh, although it wasn't actually funny.
"Perrie... Pez?"
"Oh my god, oh my GOD! Bear! I'm so embarrassed!" Perrie moaned. "I thought none of them were here!"
"They're not supposed to be! She is supposed to be working!"
"Could I have possibly made a worse first impression?" Perrie said. "God... I need to fix this, d'you think she's still here?"
"I dunno, what d'you want me to do?"
"Erm... I dunno. What d'you think we should do?" Perrie laughed nervously.
"I'll go and talk to her then give you a shout?"
"Yeah, okay... alright. Shit, feel my heart..."
Perrie took my hand and pressed it to her chest. I leaned closer and kissed her.
"She'll be fine, you know."
"It's just not the way I wanted to meet any of your family babe! Okay, I'll just... tidy myself up."
"I'll give you a shout in two minutes."
**
"Ellie?"
I entered the front room and found Ellie pulling the petals off the flowers in the window.
"Have I just dreamed that, or?"
"Err, no."
"Is Perrie Edwards actually in our house? In your bedroom?"
"Err... yes."
"She's your girlfriend?"
"Yes."
Ellie made a noise of disbelief, shaking her head. "How on earth did that happen?"
"It's actually a long story... I'll tell you everything later, but she's really embarrassed, we both are. She wanted to meet you properly. D'you think she can still do that?"
"Before you do anything, do we have any alcohol in the house cos I might need a drink after this."
"I'm pretty sure we do." I laughed, turning away but Ellie grabbed my hand.
"Jakob, am I actually about to meet Perrie Edwards?"
"... Yeah, please be cool, please?"
"I will, I'll be fine. By the way, why are you wearing a shirt and tie?"
"... I'll explain that later too." I said, hoping she would forget after meeting Perrie and I wouldn't have to.
I quickly jogged back upstairs just as Perrie came out of my room. "She's fine, she's just a bit shocked. Don't worry."
I took Perrie's hand as we went downstairs, into the front room where Ellie was stood in the same place.
"Ellie, meet Perrie. Pez, this is my sister, Ellie."
"It's really good to meet you finally. I'm really sorry about that..." Perrie gestured to the ceiling to indicate upstairs, "that isn't the way I wanted to meet you, I'm sorry. I hope we can forget that."
I waited desperately for Ellie to say something. Every second seemed like an hour.
"Don't worry about it." She smiled finally. "it's fine, honestly. Although I don't think I'll ever forget that... it's okay."
I rolled my eyes but Perrie giggled.
"Are you and my brother seriously... together?"
"We are." Perrie nodded.
"Ellie, I need you not to say anything to Maddie or Alfie yet." I said, suddenly remembering them.
"What?!"
"Just not yet. Perrie's coming on Sunday for dinner... she's gonna meet them then."
"Oh, okay... but to be honest, if you don't wanna embarrass Perrie or whatever, you should probably at least tell them who she is first so they can... prepare themselves."
"She might be right." Perrie shrugged.
"Never mind them now, so how did this happen?" Ellie said enthusiastically, sitting down. Just then my dad came in from 'gardening'. "Oh, hello love... what're you doing home?"
"I got the wrong shift, that's all. I was gonna ask Jakob if he wanted to go to the cinema or something."
"I see you've met Perrie."
"Yep. Dad, why are you wearing a suit?!"
Dad, Perrie and I all looked at each other quickly, not knowing what to say. Perrie quickly got Ellie's attention again.
"Sorry, so are you Jakob's oldest sister?"
"Yeah, Maddie's the youngest."
"D'you remember what he was like as a kid? Cos he's already heard loads of stories off my family about me and I wanna get him back."
"Oh my god, I've got tons... Awh, have you met her family J?"
The doorbell rang and Ellie went to stand up, but I beat her to it. "I'll get it, you... get acquainted. Probably just the postman."
It only crossed my mind as I opened the door that it could be Alfie, since he was always forgetting his keys. And I didn't think I could handle another starstruck sibling today.
But I was wrong.
As soon as she saw it was me, Lacey grabbed me by the tie and dragged me outside, slamming me against the wall by the door.
"Aagh! What the fuck?! Get off me!"
"Just listen, you have to listen, I didn't know he'd do that. You need to believe me. I didn't have a clue, that wasn't the plan, I swear! Please believe me, I didn't know, I didn't know..."
"Let go of me!"
"Please, I just need you to know I didn't want that to happen, I didn't know!"
She was frightening me. Her eyes were huge, she looked like she hadn't slept in days. She was desperate, talking so fast I could just about understand her. But she wouldn't let go.
"DAD!"
As soon as I shouted, Lacey jumped back, finally letting go of me. My dad appeared at the door, closely followed by Perrie and Ellie. Ellie swore loudly.
"What the fucking hell are you doing here?!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just needed you to know. I need him to know, I'll go!"
"Know what?" Ellie said.
Perrie stepped outside and pulled me into her arms. Lacey's mouth dropped open.
"You shouldn't be here, leave now." Perrie hissed. "Bear, come inside babe, come on."
"What's going on?" Ellie asked, looking at dad. He had his eyes fixed on Lacey, who was looking at Perrie but seemed to feel his eyes on her and met his furious gaze.
"Get away from my house and my son NOW!"
"Dad... what's she done?" Ellie seemed to be catching on and rather than retreat back indoors like Perrie was gently trying to make me do, she took a step forward. "Jakob, what's she done?"
I wasn't expecting it but lacey spoke up.
"It was me who put him in hospital, I attacked him. I'm so sorry." She looked from Ellie to me and added, "I'm gonna make this right."
"It was you?!" Ellie shrieked.
Before any of us could react, Ellie charged. She flew at Lacey and slammed her to the ground, hitting her wherever she could reach as Lacey curled up and covered her head.
It took all three of us to pull Ellie off her and back towards the house. She was screaming and swearing, her face red, her hair all over the place. Lacey managed to stumble to her feet and run before any of us could see the damage.
We went back inside, and Dad slammed the door. I couldn't remember even seeing him look so angry. "Come in the kitchen, I think we all need a drink. And YOU need to calm yourself down."
Ellie sat at the kitchen table and started crying. None of us knew what to do. I stood in shock, with Perrie's arms still tight around me while my dad slowly moved to the fridge. "Anyone for something a bit stronger than tea?"
"Count me in Mr. Hunter."
"It's just Mark love, red or white?"
"Oh yeah, sorry. White please."
"Jakob?"
"What? Erm, okay."
Perrie's phone started ringing and she apologised before answering it. "Hello? Oh, no... Carl, it's fine. No, seriously. It's okay, it was nothing. Yeah. Alright, thanks. Bye."
"Carl." She whispered, referring to her driver, still parked at the far end of the street. "He saw, he was gonna call the bizzies..."
"Bizzies?" I smirked.
"That's what we called them growing up." Perrie shrugged.
Dad cleared his throat and handed us both a glass and said, "Do you mind if I just talk to Ellie alone for a minute son?"
"No, that's fine... I wanna talk to her myself though dad, I'll come back in a few minutes."
I led Perrie to the front room. I realised my hands were shaking and quickly put my wine down. Perrie did the same and opened her arms for a hug.
"Oh babe, are you okay?"
"Me?! I'm fine!"
"She didn't hurt you?"
"No, she just took me by surprise... Perrie, she said what the lawyer said this morning was nothing to do with her."
"Yeah right." Perrie scoffed.
"No, you should've seen her, she wouldn't stop saying it. She insisted she didn't know he was gonna do that... I believe her."
"It doesn't matter now." Perrie said after a pause. "It doesn't matter, you're not going back there... Are you sure you're okay?"
"Probably better than Ellie. I need to talk to her Pez. D'you mind if..."
"No babe, of course not. I'll wait in here."
**
Dad looked up when I went back into the kitchen and left Ellie's side, gesturing for me to sit there. She was looking the other way, sniffing every few seconds. He closed the door behind him.
"Ell?"
"What."
"Are you okay?"
"No. I didn't hit her hard enough." Ellie spat. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you'd do something like that. I couldn't, I knew how upset you'd get."
"D'you blame me?!"
"No, I-"
"If it was the other way round. If a guy did that to me, what would you have done?"
"I'd probably be going down for murder." I said without hesitation. "But I didn't want any of you to worry... look, she was here today..."
I told Ellie about everything, about what happened with Lacey and the court case that morning. By the time I was done, she had stopped crying.
"Maddie and Alfie don't know anything?"
"No." I sighed.
"They won't hear it from me."
"R-really?"
Ellie nodded. "I don't know about Alfie cos he's usually quite cool, but Maddie would lose it. They won't hear it from me... although you and dad should probably get changed before he gets home. Especially dad, he just looks weird in a suit."
"I know, right." I laughed and Ellie hugged me.
"I'm gonna go and apologise to Perrie, I think we know who made the worst first impression today." She sighed.
"You don't have to-"
"Yes, I do Jake... How serious are you two?"
I smiled. "I'm not sure. I don't even know what that means. But I love her. And she loves me."
**
After much apologising from Ellie, Perrie and I went back up to my room. She had called Carl to drive closer to the house and that she would be leaving soon, mainly because Alfie was due home and we had had enough drama for one day.
"Your sister's sweet." Perrie said. We were stood in the centre of my room just cuddling and kissing.
"Wait until you meet the other one." I sighed. "And the brother!"
"I can't wait. I can't wait till Sunday, I'm gonna miss you till then."
"Me too."
"You promise you'll call Lauren when I'm gone?"
"Do I have to? It's really not necessary-"
"I don't want you to be alone babe, please promise me you will. I'll be texting her and checking!"
"Alright, if you insist."
"I do, and you know she'd go mad as well if you didn't."
"I promise, okay?"
"Good, will you ring me tonight?"
"If you want me to."
"I do. Right, I'd better go babe. And you let me know if you hear anything about you-know-who, won't you?"
"Of course."
"Okay... I love you."
"I love you too."
I followed Perrie downstairs and watched her get in the car and watched it drive out of sight. I didn't move from the door even then, just stared into space until Ellie came up behind me.
"Oi, she's gone you know?"
"I know."
"Get that dopey lovey dovey look off your face then." She laughed. "You still need to tell me how this happened... I mean, it's great and everything but... wow! Perrie Edwards, Jakob!"
"I know, I try not to think about it too much."
"D'you want to go to the beer garden or something? Enjoy the weather while it's good and just... chill?"
"Yeah, why not." I agreed. "I'll go tell dad."
I went upstairs for my wallet and my phone and found a text waiting from Perrie. Three simple words that melted my heart and had me smiling for the rest of the day.
Hot Lips: Miss you already! Xx