Pretend It's Okay

21 - Down to business

"In Jade's email she told me you want to discuss a timeline starting immediately." Kevin spoke up, remembering how he was told about the reunion. Jade's email had shocked him but after a long phone conversation with her he understood this was something she had no flexibility about.

"Yes, Leigh-Anne told me the same thing." Sairah confirmed, Sam nodding in agreement.

"We were thinking of dropping a whole album, maybe teasing a single first but not dragging it out." Jade began to explain their reasoning.

"If we announce a reunion without a body of work to back it up all of the interviews and media buzz will be about speculations and we will have to monitor everything we say. Having music ready will give us a lot to talk about."

Their managers were quiet for a minute, Sam scribbling notes in her notebook like she always did. She had a thing against technology that none of them understood, but where possible she preferred simplicities like pen and paper.

Seeing their former manager doing this was nostalgic for Jade and Leigh-Anne, and this meeting started to feel more like a homecoming.

"So we'll need to book studio time with one of the labels and some writers." Sairah noted.

"Actually-" Leigh-Anne cut her sister off, looking at Perrie to grab her sheet music. "We started on the album already. Pez had some ideas and we were already having a sleepover, so we continued working on them and started new songs. It's not all finished and some input is necessary, but we've already got a bulk of the songs started."

"How long ago did you decide to come back?" Sam asked, putting her pen down in shock at how much paper Perrie was getting out of her bag.

Jade shrugged, taking a sip of her tea to buy herself a few seconds. "We agreed it like six months ago but I wasn't finished with my album and we had a lot of personal stuff so it wasn't the right time. We didn't discuss it for a long time after that, only just realising that now is a good time for all of us."

At the mention of personal stuff all eyes turned to Perrie. She blushed and looked down, her fingers starting to pick at her hands anxiously. This side of Perrie was one that all of the women in the room were familiar with. Kevin hadn't spoken to Perrie much but did know about her, having studied Little Mix when Jade hired him as her manager, and knew about the woman's mental health battles.

"I heard about Alex." Sairah spoke up gently, Perrie looking up at her and making eye contact briefly. "I'm really sorry, Perrie." she sighed.

The blonde nodded a little bit harsher than she intended, wanting to move on from this conversation. They'd kept this out of the public eye so far but she knew her time was running out and soon people would become suspicious about their lack of social media posts together, or notice that they've moved out separately.

"It was inevitable. But I'm doing better now." she was able to muster a small smile, glancing sideways at Jade. The older Geordie took this as permission to reach out and hold her hand, stopping Perrie's self-destructive picking habit.

"Jade's taking good care of her, aren't you?" Leigh-Anne teased. Jade shot her a glare whereas Perrie blushed. The older woman was such a tease, but she took it as well as she gave it out, allowing for many funny moments over the years.

That conversation came to a close and Jade took her hands back as the meeting shifted back to a more serious tone.

"With this much done I don't think it'll be long before you're ready to start recording and mixing. Do you want meetings with Kamille, MNEK, and your usual team?" Sam asked.

The girls agreed quickly and Sam made a note to schedule that.

"So what timeline are you thinking?" Kevin continued the meeting, being unaware of what things the other two had scheduled. Jade was free but were the others?