Jerrie Short Stories

The Fake Girlfriend - 3

"Why are we going to the bridesmaids' brunch if we're not bridesmaids?" Jade complains into her cup of tea. She's standing at the counter and frowning at her mother, who's perched on a barstool.

"Don't whine." Norma orders, looking calm as she flips through the morning paper. Jade can't believe that her mother still reads the newspaper, but it's nice to see that some things never change.

"Perrie and I only got here, like, six hours ago." Jade says.

Perrie's actually still upstairs in bed, which doesn't surprise Jade at all – Perrie's never been much of a morning person. When Jade crawled out of bed only twenty minutes before, she placed a hesitant kiss on Perrie's forehead (like she wasn't sure if she was allowed to do that) before rushing out of the room.

"You're at university, surely you've operated on less sleep than this." Norma replies.

Jade grumbles into her tea because that may be true, but she likes to sleep, and not sleeping is not fun.

Warm hands slide around her waist, startling Jade. Perrie's thumbs slide under the bottom of Jade's t-shirt and rub at the smooth skin of her stomach as Perrie hooks her chin over Jade's shoulder.

It's not an unusual position – Perrie's always cuddly when she's sleepy, and she spends most mornings draped across at least one of the girls in their house.

"Morning," Perrie mumbles.

Norma tosses them an adoring look, and Jade finds that more flustering than anything else.

"I tried not to wake you," Jade tells Perrie.

"It was cold in bed without you," Perrie says candidly. "Is there more tea?"

Jade pours her a cup and Perrie stands next to Jade to peck her on the cheek in thanks.

"Oh, you don't have to feign modesty here, girls, have a real good morning kiss," Norma teases.

Jade stares at her mother and before she can say anything else, Perrie's fingers tap at Jade's jaw and –

It makes Jade's heart race, if she's being honest. Perrie's lips taste like mint toothpaste and they're soft and gentle against Jade's. Somehow – oddly – it doesn't feel strange at all. It feels like something they've always done, something that comes naturally to them.

It's not a long kiss, or a particularly deep one, and Perrie pulls back with a sparkle in her eyes that Jade can't identify.

Her mother's still in the room and Jade knows that she and Perrie are supposed to be girlfriends, and that, she tells herself, is why she leans in to press another kiss to Perrie's mouth.

"Gross!"

Perrie and Jade jerk apart, startled. It was Karl's voice that interrupted them, surely wrinkling his nose at their affection, but Jade can't stop staring at Perrie.

"Hush, Karl, you have a wife and a toddler." Norma says.

Jade chokes a little and Perrie coughs into her fist, looking away as her cheeks flush pink.

"I'm gonna, um," Perrie gestures back towards the stairs, "get ready."

She leaves and Norma sets in on teasing Jade but Jade's lips are still tingling and she can't really focus on her mother because all she can think about is how much she really liked kissing her best friend.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I hate weddings," Jade mutters to Perrie under her breath.

Perrie cocks an eyebrow at her. "Never getting married?"