The show must go on

Chapter 16 - bad luck

Quick update: I have decided to rename the story. On second thought, I think it fits better like this :)

Perrie POV

We hit the cold, wet floor hard and although I try to cushion her fall somehow, I land right on top of her and only make things worse. Behind us I hear Jesy and Leigh laughing loudly and the dancers quickly join in. Jesy can't get it together as she comes up beside us with Leigh and tries to pull us to our feet. I can imagine how stupid the fall must have looked. Under normal circumstances I would have laughed tears as well. But not like that. I fell on top of Jade. Jade, who is tired, weak and fragile anyway. Jade, who is ill. And she is quiet, too quiet. 

I quickly pick myself up off her, touch her back, stare at her worriedly as Leigh and Jesy rock each other up and laugh some more. When I sit down next to her, freeing her from my weight, she still doesn't move.

"Jade?", I say anxiously as she finally moves and lifts her head. A soundless laugh is heard and I breathe a sigh of relief. Always her silent laughter, I was beginning to fear she was seriously hurt.

"Come on, sit up," I continue to speak and with relief I finally manage to let the laughter in and soon can't stop myself. It already felt so stupid, I can imagine what it must have looked like. And judging by Leigh's and Jesy's faces, the image is beyond even my imagination.

We are all laughing our heads off when Jade finally sits up too and looks at me properly. At first I think she was laughing tears, but there are too many tears. I immediately lose my smile and stare at her in shock.

"Babe, what's wrong?" she shakes her head with only a slight grin, but I don't buy iz. I don't know if she's in shock or if she doesn't want to show anything, but something is wrong. I stand up quickly, grab her under the armpits and pull her up with a jerk, whereupon she groans softly. I pull her glasses off her nose so I can see her eyes and the tears continue to run briskly.

"Hey, talk to me, what hurts?", I demand a little more forcefully now, which makes Leigh and Jesy fall silent after all as they come closer to us and look questioningly at Jade. And when her eyes fall on her left hand, I can't help but touch it quickly, causing her to cry out softly.

"Shit, sorry," I say immediately and let go of her. She lifts it slowly now and I shine my phone flashlight on it to see better.

"Did you fall on it?", I ask quickly, but immediately realise how stupid that question is. Obviously she fell on it. "I can barely see, but you're holding it very weird," I explain and she just shrugs.

"Feels a bit weird too," she says quietly and I eye her pityingly. She doesn't need that on top.

We walk quickly into the airport for better light and my eyes almost fall out of my face. She has a small scrape from the impact on her hand, which has already swollen badly in just a few minutes.

"That looks really bad," Jesy now interjects worriedly and I can only nod in agreement.