Hold my hand.

~16~

[Saturday.]
'What are you getting?'
'I don't know. I've been craving chocolate waffles for weeks, but now that I see the menu, I'm thinking maybe I should go for something savoury.'
'I know, we can get both the avocado toast and the waffles and share it. Deal?'
'Deal!' Only if we get poached eggs with the toast though... I don't like scrambled eggs.'
'Fussy as always Miss Nelson!' Perrie laughed.
'So, P? I think it's enough chit chat for the day. We need details.' Leigh-Anne interrupted her friends.
'I'm a classy woman. I don't disclose details.' Perrie said putting her chin up.
'Oh, do me a favour!'
Perrie and her friends went out together for breakfast that morning.
'Alright, alright.' Perrie lowered her voice. 'He came over to tell me that he finally closed the case.'
'That's amazing! We're so happy for you babe.'
'Then...'
The girls all went quiet to listen to Perrie.
'...he tried to kiss me.'
'Tell me you kissed him back. Please, Perrie Edwards. If I know I let him go for you and you let him slip away like that... I'm gonna be fuming!' Jesy joked.
'So did you kiss him or not?' Jade asked.
Perrie rolled her eyes. 'Yes, I did kiss him.'
Leigh-Anne pulled a really surprised face. 'Oh my God. You slept with him, didn't you?!'
Perrie smiled without answering.
'We need to celebrate. Call the waitress, this calls for Prosecco!' Leigh-Anne laughed.
'It's ten o'clock in the morning babes, I don't think we really need alcohol.' Perrie remarked looking at the time.
'Are you kidding? You finally had sex with someone after three years. We need to get wasted!'
They all laughed.
'How was it then?'
'It was good. Really good...' Perrie instinctively smiled. 'I honestly forgot what it felt like to be touched by a man.'
'So what's the deal now? Are you two together or what?'
'I... I wouldn't say so. Sure, we've had a great time, but we haven't really talked about what happened. And let's be fair... I'm not exactly a catch.'
'He would be the luckiest man on earth to be with you!'
'Yeah... I don't think so. Also, he told me it's gonna be at least two more weeks before the case if officially closed, so no one can know about this. No one!' The girl all looked to look at Jade.
'What?! Of course I'm not gonna tell anyone!' Jade reassured them.
'Good!'
'So when are you seeing him again?'
'I don't know... I don't even know if I'm going to see him again.'
'Hasn't he messaged you at all?'
'Well...' Perrie put on a big smile. '...he did.'
She took her phone out of her bag and showed the girls the text she had received the day before.

Alex 10.09am
«What have you done to me? Why do I miss you already... xx»

'He's like... perfect. Please tell us you're gonna see him again!'
'I'll... think about it.'
'But you want to, don't you?'
'I do but...'
'There no but. Live a little, it won't hurt!'
The girls began to eat their breakfast when Perrie saw someone she knew walking across the restaurant.
When someone waved at her, she decided to say hello.
'Mr Cowell. Mrs. Cowell. Hello, how are you?' She said happily.
'We're good, we're good. Sorry, we're a bit in a rush.' Mr. Cowell tried to cut it short.
'Oh...' Perrie was surprised, given he had always been very polite towards her. '...okay. See you soon.'
'You're brave, aren't you?' Mrs. Cowell said with a nasty tone.
'Excuse me?' Perrie asked confused.
'How dare you talking to us like this? Pretending nothing happened, eh?'
'C'mon Elizabeth, it's none of our business.'
'No, Simon. It is my business. What she's done to my son... what she's putting him through! I can't just pretend, not this time.' The woman raised her voice.
Perrie looked worried at her friends. 'I'm sorry, I'm just very confused? Is it about the money? Because if it is...'
'You know what this is about! You're accusing my child, my only son, of sexual harassment on the work place! He would never do anything like that.'
Perrie slowly started to realise what Mrs. Cowell was talking about. 'I didn't know he was your son... he doesn't have your last name?'
'It's my child, from my first marriage. Doesn't make a difference. How could you do something like that?!'
Perrie, who always hated confrontation, began to shake, not sure on what to say and embarrassed as pretty much everyone in the restaurant started to stare at them.
'You should've teach your son to keep his hands to himself. Especially after someone says "no" multiple times.' Leigh-Anne jumped in, trying to help her best friend.
Mrs. Cowell completely ignored Leigh-Anne, addressing Perrie again. 'You're ruining his life! He's lost his job, his wife and children left him. But don't worry... we'll let the judge decide who's right and who's wrong. And we'll see what they say about all the money you owe us as well, shall we?' She looked at Perrie with a disgusted expression. 'Maybe if you start to dress a bit more appropriately, men would stop thinking you're an easy girl.'
Leigh-Anne continued, standing up to confront the woman. 'Maybe if your son didn't have a pathetic excuse of a mother, he wouldn't be a pathetic man himself. I think you should go now. Goodbye, Mrs. Cowell.'
She sat back down hugging her friend as the couple left.
'That was nasty! Are you okay babe?'
Perrie started to feel the tears rolling down her face. 'I just want to go home now, girls.'

'Are you sure you'll be okay? I can stay if you want.'
'You've done enough, thanks Leigh.'
'I'll see you later, I'll be back to drop Blake off. Call me if you need anything.'
'Will do, thanks.'
Perrie waited for Leigh-Anne to leave, then contemplated making that phone call.

-Hello?
-Hey. Are you okay?
-Yes, all good, you?
-Are you sure? You sound pretty shaken.
-Yeah, yeah, all good.
-I wasn't expecting you to call me, to be fair.
-Why not?
-I don't know... I'm not sure on what's going on...
-Listen... what are you doing tonight?

[Morning people, how are you all?
I haven't got much to say, same old life full of anxiety and being a worrywart lol but I've got a nice chilled weekend ahead listening to Heartbreak anthem nonstop 😂
I've got to admit, it's a bit of a rubbish chapter so I'm not very excited about posting it, but I still hope you'll enjoy it xxx
Let me know what you think about the chapter and how are you all feeling and how are you getting on with this crazy life life!
Hope everyone is keeping safe xxx
Peace and love xxx]