Accidentally

Chapter 13

Well hello, thanks for coming back for more <3

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The week rolled by slowly and painfully, until it was suddenly Friday afternoon. I walked outside quickly, planing to simply go home and rest for the remainder of the day. However, my plans were dashed. 

"Jade!"

I froze, my face scrunching up in a wince before I turned around. "Hey, Leigh," I replied. "What's up?"

"I've barely seen you all day," she exclaimed, throwing her arm around my shoulders as we started to walk. "I wanted to chat with you about your plans for tonight."

"My plans?" I was already dreading where this conversation was going. 

Leigh nodded, her eyes bright with excitement. "My parents left for a brief vacation this morning so I'm hosting a party tonight! I want you to come."

I arched an eyebrow at her. "You know parties are not really my scene, right?"

She sighed, looking skyward. "Perrie's avoiding both of us, you know. She's invited to the party, but I'm not sure she's gonna show. Even if she does, who knows how she'll be acting? I love her, but she's so unpredictable right now I don't really want to be around her."

"I get that," I responded. "It feels like I'm walking on eggshells around her, y'know? Like, one minute she's fine and then she just ... snaps, and I want to defend myself but part of me doesn't want to because I also don't want to make it worse."

Leigh rubbed my arm sympathetically. "Yeah, I know it's rough," she said, "but I really think you should try to talk to her. Maybe if she sees how much she's hurting you and wearing you down then she'll finally see reason. You two have always been so close, it's painful to see you like this. Whenever we would hang out, she talked about Alex almost as much as she talked about you."

I leaned back, initially alarmed by her advice. However, the longer she talked, the more her words sunk into me. Maybe talking to Perrie is the right thing to do. I opened my mouth to reply, but my attention was stolen by my phone buzzing. 

"Sorry, hold on," I said, fishing my phone from my pocket. I was about to hit decline on impulse, then hesitated when I realized Lauren was calling me. I glanced at Leigh, gave an apologetic smile, then hit accept. 

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jade," came Lauren's voice. "I take it you're out of school?"

I nodded, before realizing she couldn't see me. "Yeah, just finished," I replied. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to know what your plans are tonight," she answered. 

I spared a glance at Leigh. She gave me a bemused look, eyebrows raised. I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to Lauren.

"My friend invited me to a party," I said, "but I'm not sure I want to go."

"Riiiight, not a big party girl," Lauren said after a minute amid Leigh's protests. "Although it sounds like she'd be pretty torn up if you didn't go."

"One moment," I sighed, muting myself before facing my friend. "Are you serious right now?"

Leigh fixed me with a pouty look. "I really want you to be there! You're my closest friend right now, considering Perrie is ... well ..."

"Yeah, I get it. I guess I could go," I conceded, letting out an oomph as she crushed me in a side hug. However, I was able to reach my phone and unmute myself. "Hey, sorry about that."