Pretend It's Okay

22 - Hold her tight

Neither woman was working the next day and, expecting the meeting to drag on, both of them planned to have a lie in. As such no alarms were set and Jade woke up naturally. With a groan she rolled over to check the time and saw it was already ten thirty.

Her stomach rumbled, alerting Jade to her prominent hunger. She had eaten countless biscuits the night before but they're not exactly filling, so it was no surprise that she was hungry again. Jade knew that if she was hungry then Hatchi was going to be even more so. Perrie wouldn't want Hatchi to be unhappy so Jade rolled out of bed, slid on her slippers, and opened her bedroom door.

The Pomeranian was sat waiting in the hallway, not sure who would be up first. He started barking, alerting Mimi and Travis to Jade's presence and the possibility of food. She followed the excited dog into the kitchen where Mimi was already waiting and began wagging her tail when she saw Jade. By the time she had poured three bowls of biscuit out Travis had joined them. When they had finished eating she took them outside to relieve themselves.

With the dogs sorted Jade could finally focus on herself. She boiled the kettle to make herself and Perrie some tea. That's when she realised Perrie wasn't up yet. The blonde had seemed really tired last night and Jade remembered how she hadn't felt very well. Yesterday was a lot to deal with but she remembered stress could make Perrie's MS symptoms worse.

Unable to get the blonde out of her mind, Jade decided to check on her before making food, and headed to her room quickly. If Perrie was asleep Jade didn't want to wake her so she didn't bother knocking on the door before opening it. As expected Perrie was fast asleep in the middle of her bed and Jade was about to leave the room when she noticed just how pale the blonde was.

"Pez?" she asked as she tiptoed over to the side of her bed. There was no answer so Jade gently shook the younger woman. A groan escaped Perrie's lips. "Shit, sorry." Jade apologised, not intending to cause her pain.

Her concern grew when Perrie didn't answer. Instead the blonde turned back into her pillow, not once opening her eyes. "Perrie? Are you okay?" Jade asked. She decided to sit on the edge of Perrie's bed, wanting the woman to know she is willing to wait for Perrie to communicate what she needs.

They are silent for a couple of minutes, Jade gently running her fingers through Perrie's soft, blonde locks. She was startled out of the peaceful quiet when Perrie used her arms to push herself up to a sitting position.

The younger woman tried to swing her legs out of bed but didn't get much of a response from them. She internally started to panic and Jade, who was watching confused, picked up on this.

"What do you need?" she questioned, voice dripping with concern.

"Can't get up." Perrie breathed, not able to speak any louder. Her hand ghosted onto her stomach and Perrie tried to move again, this time able to get her left leg over the edge of her bed. Her right leg was always the more stubborn one though and it refused to fully follow.

Jade got the message though and processed the scene quickly. Perrie was still trying to get up but Jade could see that it wasn't possible for whatever reason. She ran to the bathroom and grabbed the bin, and shoved it under the blonde's chin just as she started to heave.

Jade was getting used to seeing Perrie throw up, it was a symptom that some days hit her hard, but this situation was new. Never before had Perrie been unable to make it to the bathroom, let alone not get out of bed.

"Shh, you're okay." the brunette soothed as she held the bin steady for Perrie because she was anything but stable. I'm that moment Jade wished she had more hands to stop Perrie's swaying, but all she could do was watch and keep her hair out of the way.