Hold my hand.

~11~

[The next Friday.
Part 1.]

'I don't want to go to auntie Leigh's.' Blake huffed and puffed, throwing his bag on the sofa.
'Don't be silly now. You love having sleepovers with Callum.'
'Not tonight.' The little boy pouted whilst his mum put on her earrings.
'What's wrong, baby?'
'I just want to stay with you tonight. I don't want to go for a sleepover.'
'But why? There must be a reason.'
He shrugged. 'I don't know. I don't want you to go out without me.'
'Oh, that's the issue. Baby, it's just a work thing. I'm not exactly going out to have fun. You know I'd much rather stay at home with you, but I have to go! It's just for tonight, I promise.'
'But I wanted to go to the park to play football tomorrow.'
'I promise you I'll come and get you from your auntie Leigh's as soon as you wake up. We'll have pancakes for breakfast and I'll take you to play football.'
'Promise?' Blake put his pinkie up.
'Pinkie promise. I love you, baby.' She gave him a kiss just before Leigh-Anne knocked at their door.
'I hope my favourite Blake in the whole wide world is ready for the best sleepover ever at his auntie's house!' Leigh-Anne said entering the house. 'What's that grumpy face for?'
Perrie sighed. 'He's just being difficult.'
Blake reluctantly walked over to the door, ready to go.
'Don't worry buddy, I feel the same way about your mummy going out tonight. But she's gonna have a very boring evening whilst we're gonna make our own pizzas and play Xbox all night.'
Blake smiled and gave a kiss to his mum before leaving.

Soon after Leigh-Anne left with Blake, Perrie heard another car stopping in front of her driveway. Her heart began to race as she put her coat on and left the house. She opened the car door and entered the vehicle, sitting next to the driver.
'Hello, Mr. Parsons.'
'Good evening, my darling. And please, call me Micheal.'
Perrie smiled embarrassed as the man started to drive.
'How are you? You look gorgeous tonight.'
'Thanks. I scrub up well.'
'Nonsense. You always do. I can barely take my eyes off you every time I'm at the office. And so do all the other men in there.'
Perrie felt sick to her stomach in hearing a man old enough to be her father saying those kind of things to her.
Micheal Parsons was in his late 40s. He presented himself really well, with his branded suits and expensive watches and sport cars. Perrie never knew much about him, as he mostly dealt with international clients and was barely ever at the office. The only thing she knew was that he always manage to make her feel uncomfortable in his presence.
The drive was short, luckily for the girl, as she wanted to spend as less time alone with him as possible. They arrived to a fancy restaurant, one whose name Perrie couldn't even pronounce.
They were waiting to be seated when Perrie heard a familiar voice behind her.
'Perrie Edwards? Is that you?'
Perrie turned around to see an old-time friend.
'Oh my god, Jesy! Leigh told me you were back in town.!' The two girls hugged each other. 'It's been so long!'
'Too long! You look stunning, my lovely. How are you? How's your baby?'
'All grown up, unfortunately, but we're great, thanks. How have you been? What brings you back here?'
'You know... I'm getting there. We need to arrange something soon so we can have a proper catch up. Definitely.'
'For sure.'
'So what are you doing here?'
Perrie blushed. 'Oh... ehm... I'm here with my boss.' She said indicating Mr. Parsons.
Luckily Jesy didn't think any of it. 'Work dinner, on a Friday night. Couldn't think of anything worse. I'm here with someone, he's just parking.' She looked around a bit and then started to wave at someone. 'There he is... Alex!'
When Perrie thought the evening couldn't be any worse, she saw Alex, her case worker, walking towards Jesy.
'Alex, this is Perrie. She was my bestest friend when we were you get. Pez, this is Al...'
'Alex. Yes, we know each other.'
Perrie and Alex awkwardly greeted each other.
Jesy, once again, didn't think any of it and Perrie couldn't be more glad for her friend's naivety.
'Oh, great! What a small world! How do you know each other?'
Before they could answer, Mr. Parsons put his arm around Perrie's waist. 'Darling, our table is ready.'
'I'll speak to you soon, Jes. Nice to see you, Alex.'
The girl quickly walked away with her boss.
Perrie couldn't see Alex and Jesy from their table, but Alex made sure he could see her.
Although he was on a date, Alex couldn't stop obsessing about Perrie and that man she was with.
He could sense something was wrong. He could sense it the week before, when he took her to see the new house and he could definitely sense it that night and he was beginning to attribute those feelings to Mr. Parsons.
As both couple were having their desserts, Alex took another glance at Perrie's table.
He couldn't hear what Mr. Parsons was saying to Perrie, but he could clearly see his hand moving up on the girl's leg, who clearly uncomfortable, tried to move away. The man didn't give up and moved closer to her, whispering in her ear whilst putting his hand back on the girl's thigh.
Perrie then timidly said something to him, which caused the man to assume a very serious expression, almost annoyed, as he moved his hand away and call the waiter.
Quickly after asking for the bill, Perrie and Mr. Parsons left the restaurant, walking past Jesy and Alex.
Perrie smiled at them, and it was in that moment that Alex realised she was holding back tears.

[Hello gorgey huns! I'm back :D
Well, I say it as if someone actually missed me lol
I've been mad busy as always, hate this grown up life!
Work has been causing me anxiety again, plus add the fact that I've decided to apply to uni and restar driving lessons and I'm really homesick... good mix eh lol
Anyway, I'm having a really good chilled weekend so I've decided to hop on here and check on my favourite people :) how are you all holding on? Hope everyone is well and staying safe xxx
New chapter out :) I don't know who's still interested in this book since I practically only update once a year hahah but if you're still here, thank you very much and let me know what you think ;)
Peace and love xxx]