Everything After (3) *editing in progress*

Chapter 1: The Stranger

Trigger warning: violence and some profanity
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*a month earlier*

Jade's POV
"-Ah yes, about the public, that's going to be a bit tedious..." the meeting was droaning on and on, about two hours passed by already. So far we discussed the reformation of our group, the third album, a new single, and publicity. It's been a while-a month to be exact. So far, what the media finally knows is that we-Little Mix were in a gut wrenching situation and that we had been injured. Tulisa winced at all of the ugly details about the kidnapping. So far, the tire leads found right here in New York lead to one suspected man in the perimeter of where Perrie and I were...almost assaulted on our way to our studio interview. I leaned onto T's shoulder to comfort her as best as I could. Perrie didn't meet my eyes once during the meeting, she kept fiddling with her hands and looking down at her feet, nodding in agreement towards the imposed ideas coming from everyone else, that's most of what she's been doing the past days.
"Girls, we all know we have to discuss one more thing." Annecka bit her lip in anticipation whilst studying me, then Perrie. Jesy nodded, Leigh-Anne as well, Perrie flinched. Some of the members of the meeting then stood, excusing themselves from the table. "We already heard about what happened last month. We're sorry, to both of you." Annecka sincerely addressed us both. I keep biting my lip to keep my emotions from showing, nodding silently whilst being reduced to stare at my feet instead of looking after the blonde beauty. "Was anyone ever planning on telling me about this at all? And why the hell can't I remember that?" Perrie spoke up, mentioning the one subject everyone had been avoiding for about a month. My ears strained from my end of the table to listen carefully. "Perrie, we don't know, but the doctors specifically told all of us-especially Jade-to not say anything about the relationship, since it is such a big part of you both, you should've found out from her. She was going to tell you, but when the doctor said it would be safe to, or speak to you if you had remembered it." Annecka conferred with some papers before placing them in her folder, snapping it shut quickly. "But, I can't remember. Annecka, this scares me you know, I can't believe my ears." She sighed. Each phrase falling from her lips silently proceeds to hurt me even more. "Well, believe it or not, if your old conscience heard you say that I'd say you'd slap yourself across the face. Hard." Annecka bit her lip in wonder in response to Perrie's exclamation. "What?" The blonde asked.
Annecka shrugged, a melancholy smile was on her face. "You two were inseparable, anyone who was around you both could see you were perfectly in love with each other, I loved it, so did the other girls, even the fans. They ship you both, ever since the X factor, there's more ships but Jerrie is the ruling majority." Annecka continues to talk about us, but it was still practically being thrown in my face.
This Perrie wasn't really my Perrie.
"Well, until then I don't know what to do..." The blonde trailed off and I knew what she meant, but I was tired of it all. "We break up."
"What?"
The silence in the room was heavy now as I was finally acknowledged by the blonde. "We break up Perrie, give you time to yourself, to find yourself. And you don't need me there for that." Before anyone could say anything I decided to stand and leave. "Jade." Annecka began to call me back, but the door closed shut behind me, and a small drop fell from the corner of my eye.
Mark, our driver, was waiting at the door. He spotted me and rose from his chair. "Get me to the hotel please." I whispered whilst staring at my feet, no one should see you cry Thirlwall, keep yourself together, you need to make a plan. He nodded, opening the door for me then proceeds to escort me to the hotel we're staying at. I thanked him and made my way up immediately once we reached the suite. The cameras hadn't stood a chance to see me when my figure whooshed by them with no seconds to spare. I don't want any human interaction to involve me for a while, all this Geordie wants is to be able to be isolated from the world for at least a few good hours, to think.
First things first, this was the first time we had talked about what to do about the media. Perrie wanted us to say we were "taking a break" and spending time on our own, honestly I didn't have the energy to go through it at the moment, hence the breakup statement. I needed me mam to come visit soon. Anything to keep our situation in check. In fact, she was due in a week. Maybe Perrie needed to have her memory jogged, sort of how a heart is be restarted by volts of electricity. I had wanted to re-create one of our dates, or even just see how she went through our routines and if they would help her remember, but the exhaustion, the light at the end of the tunnel just kept getting farther away, I left modest feeling as if we were back in the hospital room when she woke up. Maybe it was time to let her go. Maybe I wasn't meant for her. No matter how much I wanted to be.