Becoming Perrie Edwards // h.s

Chapter Two // Day In the Life of Perrie Edwards.

Chapter Two // Day in the Life of Perrie Edwards

p e r r i e:


“Hello?” I mumble groggily into the phone. Whoever found the need to ring me at six o'clock in the morning had serious issues. “'s Perrie.”

“Hey there stranger.” A low husky voice floats down the line. I grin in recognition and blink through a blurry line of vision, sitting up against my pillow. That was one voice I miss waking up to.

“It's too early for flirting, Zayn.” But don't stop, I like it.

“Oh right. You're in Australia and we're in the UK. Stupid timezones.”

“Miss you,” I offer, sliding back further underneath my duvet in a successful attempt to seize the warmth nestled there. Five more minutes until someone was going to call me for work, I may as well savour the time for now.

“I miss you too, Perrie. Now you should get up, isn't it like, six in the morning?” Ever the concerned boyfriend.

“All the more reason to stay in bed.”

“Jade is gonna be calling you.” That was very true. In fact, I could hear her in the room next door, showering. “What hotel are you staying in, babe?”

I glance carefully around my surroundings — a spacious hotel room with various edible assortments and gilded furniture — but was unable to determine my location. Oops. “Dunno. One near an airport. We're flying back to London in about six hours. Can I see you then?”

He sighs happily and I immediately felt proud of myself. “Even if I have to walk across water.”

I giggle, blushing as usual at his corny phrases that I should be used to by now, yet wasn't. That man was born into the wrong era. “All right, get off the phone, you sappy philosophical git. I'm on Sunrise in two hours.”

“Good luck, love. I gotta go, Niall wants me. See you tonight.”

I purse my lips to make a kissy noise down the line and hang up, dragging myself out from underneath the haven of bed covers before I can find myself back in Dream Land. That wouldn't do, no matter now tempting.

“You two are a sickeningly cutesy couple.”

I just about jump out of my skin, leaping a foot in the air with a velocity to rival Niall's. Leigh is leaning against the door frame, probably having observed the whole conversation.

“God, anything else you'd like to eavesdrop on?” I scowl, swatting at her playfully as I sit on the edge of the bed and re-apply false nails. They're a pain in the backside to do anything productive in, but they look a hell of a lot better than my own non-existent nails.

“Does it ever get boring?” Leigh asks. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, looking up at her for elaboration. “I mean there's no excitement with you and Zayn. It's just cute gesture after cute gesture. You know he loves you. There's nothing to expect.”

“Exactly,” I say simply, tossing the empty glue tube in the nearest bin and missing. It fell to the carpet and leaked sticky liquid onto the rug's fur. Damn it. “I know he loves me. I love him back. What more do I need?”

“All right, Professor Edwards,” She teases. I roll my eyes and stick out my tongue. “Jade says we have to be down at the taxi in an hour.”

At first, getting up early and getting ready at such ungodly hours had been difficult to adhere to. I would almost always be late and Patience would give me a long lecture while she tweaked my hair into different styles until she decided on the usual easy ponytail.

Now I've gotten used to it. My hair has been dyed so many times that I sometimes wake up in the morning wondering what colour it was today. It's currently neon pink and it looked so cool in the ‘How Ya Doin’?’ video but the dye is slowly fading.

I send a last cutesy text to Zayn, not expecting a reply, and then collect my belongings, leaving a generous tip under the pillow for the maids.


~*~


“Little Mix, first thing I would like to talk to you girls about. One Direction.”

There's a surprise. I swear, half the interviews we do are an indirect way of acquiring some inside news on the boys, hoping we'll spill some non-existent juicy gossip. Rare is the occasion that the entire interview is focused on Little Mix.

The interviewer smiles at us with her white pearly teeth tainted with lipstick. She's gorgeous but irritating and I fight the compelling urge to roll my eyes.

“They're our friends,” Jade rolls off the standard answer which usually interviewers were satisfied with but not today. Oh, not today. She victimises me next.

“Perrie, you're dating Zayn Malik?”

I nod and this smile isn't forced. An old picture of us kissing was shown on the screen and I giggle giddily at the memory, biting my nails like a schoolgirl.

“What is it like to date Zayn Malik?”

I knew I always had to watch my tongue because the Directioners analysed any wrong phonetic against their boys. At first, I had to attend media training, because I was so used to saying whatever came to mind.

“It's not so much dating Zayn Malik as just being in love with a boy who happens to be famous,” I shrug. The Directioners should be pleased with that.

“I don't think,” Jesy murmurs thoughtfully, “I've ever seen anyone love a girl as much as that boy loves Perrie.”

I just look at the ground, chewing my nails to fight a big smile. Pride was washing through me. Talking about Zayn made me so pleased that I could be the one to make him happy.

Oh my goodness, I'm becoming a sap.

“Who's your celebrity crush, girls?” The interviewer continues, bored with the Zayn-talk. They rattle off actors or singers with ease until it came to my turn.

“Who's your celebrity crush, Per?” Jade asks, curiously. She puts a hand on my knee. “I don't think you've ever told us.”

“My boyfriend.”

A chorus of coos ran through the studio. My cheeks flush pink with embarrassment. However true the statement might be, it still sounded horrendously girly and clingy. Of course, I find Channing Tatum lush and Josh Duhamel is sex on fine legs but I really do only have eyes for my boyfriend. God forbid Zayn ever see this interview.

“Ah, Perrie!” Jade squeaks, like the little mouse she is. “You adorable thing!”

“Shut up, Jade,” I mumble. The interviewer left me alone after that and I was allowed to zone out in peace.


~*~


“Hi, Per!”

I wave at the pixelated image on the laptop screen. I can see his apartment in the background and hear Eleanor's distinct voice chime, “Louis, not the KitKats! We agreed they were mine!” so he must be camping out at Louis’ place.

“Hi, darling. Are you on the plane?” He asks, peering at my surroundings as best he can.

“At the airport. The wifi connection is terrible, so bear with me.”

It's pretty difficult to Skype Zayn under these circumstances, the loud chatter of people, the roll of suitcases being wheeled along the linoleum.

“What time are you landing?” He wants to know. I peer over the laptop at Jade, who's reading a Nicholas Sparks novel with great enthusiasm. “Mouse, what time do we get into the UK?”

“I dunno, eleven pm GMT, I think.”

“Aw damn. So you can't come over to Louis’ place?” Zayn pouts. “My roof is leaking, so I've been booted out for the time being.”

“Your roof is leaking?” I repeat, eyebrows knitting together in puzzlement. I must look pretty comedic, because Zayn lets out a chuckle. “You live in a flat!”

“The idiots upstairs left the bath running and flooded the whole apartment. Them being directly above me, you can imagine my surprise when I wake up to rain indoors.”

I giggle, but soon sober up at the picture of Eleanor jumping into Louis’ arms in the background and nestling into his torso. I love Eleanor, she's a sweetheart and Louis loves her with all his heart but right now I'm very jealous of her. She's with her boyfriend and mine is thousands of miles away.

“I miss you.”

“S'all right, baby. We'll see each other tomorrow and—”

“Flight 13 to London Heathrow— please passengers proceed to Gate number 156.” the automated voice sounds over the intercom. It cues a lot of shuffling to get down to the correct terminal.

“That's my cue,” I say, blowing Zayn a kiss. “Bye!”

He manages a quick goodbye before I'm closing the laptop and shoving it in my suitcase, following the girls and our bodyguards to the gate. We were in first class and boarded quickly (the perks of being famous) so I could bag a window seat. The other girls almost immediately take up a book. I shove in a pair of earphones and close my eyes. I only manage to fall asleep after the plane lifts off the ground. Music floods my ears as I slip in and out of consciousness.

We're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.

~*~

“Can I, today, Jodi?” I plead with our manager, my voice whiny. “It's been three days and I still haven't seen him.”

“Suck it up, sweetheart,” Jodi replies as Patience takes the hot crimper from my hair. “Guess what? I haven't seen my husband in four months.”

“That's not true,” Jesy pipes in from behind me. “Jodi, you saw Clyde lay week!”

But Jodi isn't listening as she taps away at something in her phone schedule. It was agonising being in the same city as Zayn without so much as a fleeting hug already. It was rare for us both to be within the same country for long, so I was itching to see him.

“Jodi, pleeeease!” I whinge, pulling away from Patience's crimper (“Perrie, I almost burnt your neck!”) “It's not just Zayn, I wanna see my family too. We haven't had a day off in so long, Jodi, please!”

“You know a day off sounds good to me too, Jodi,” Jesy puts in, eager to say her part. “We're not doing anything tomorrow.”

“Company magazine shoot.”

“What about the day after?”

“Saturday Night Live performance.”

“And Salute release party the day after,” I sigh, sitting back into the chair and letting Patience fix my hair again. “It's all right, Jodi, I'll just Skype him.”

Jodi's expression softens. She puts her phone down and rolls her eyes. “Tomorrow, after the magazine cover shoot, which ends at 4, you have permission to do whatever you like.”

“Oh, thanks!” I shriek, my mind instantly accommodating family time and meeting up with Zayn. “Thank you, Jodi!”

She slips back into chiding manager mode and scurries around the studio, telling Lia to hurry the hell up with Jade's clothes and ordering Leigh-Anne to bloody get a move on if she doesn't want to be late.


~*~


Time passes unbelievably slowly the next day. After the Company magazine shoot and a whole lot of ‘thank you for having us’ speeches, I'm on the tram to South Shields. Mum opens the door and gives me a big hug.

“How are you Perrie?” She ruffles my now-pink hair. “Is that even Perrie? I can't remember what you look like anymore.”

I go in to the familiar house, the familiar smell of baking hitting my senses and weakening my knees. In the end, I leave with a box of soft buttery cookies and am on the tram home just in time for Zayn.

He's tapping his knuckles on my door lightly, his mouth close to the frame and calling my name quietly.

“Who you looking for, loser?” I grin. He spins around and sees me. I laugh as he scoops me into a right hug, letting myself fall into his embrace.

“I missed you, Perrie! How are you? How was Australia?”

“It was amazing! I held an actual koala. I ate wallaby too. Let's go inside.”

I let us in the door to the cute little condo Zayn is all too familiar with and he sinks down on the sofa. I take off my make up and slide a romcom into the DVD player. It didn't matter what it was about because we weren't watching it, more catching up.

“How are the girls? And how was Aussie? Not getting off with any fit lads I hope,” he teases, nudging me.

“What's fitter than a lad from One Direction?” I laugh. “How are the boys?”

We chat for a while and as he microwaves a quick dinner from one of the ready-mades I keep in my fridge, I check Twitter.

My mentions are constantly active and I like to scroll through them from time to time, smiling at the lovely comments our Mixers have left. It always comes as a warm reminder that I, Perrie Edwards from South Shields, won The X Factor. I see a particular nice tweet from a username that looks fairly familiar.

“@AriaEJesperson: @PerrieLittleMix you're perfect x”

I debate replying but am interrupted by Zayn calling me for dinner. I drop the phone onto the sofa and follow the smell of lasagna into the kitchen, letting the tweet slip from my mind.


~*~


“Oh shut up, you!” I groan, slamming my hand down on the snooze button, only for my hand, numb with sleep, to collide with someone's nose.

“Perrie!” The lump shrieks. “That hurt!”

“What do you want? We don't have to be up until 10.” I shove the pillow over my face and bury my head as far as I can under the duvet.

“Perrie, you should probably listen to Jade.”

That sultry voice, if anything, lulls me further into sleep. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and I force myself to sit up, groaning and stretching, joints clicking noticeably.

“No PDA please. We have another magazine cover shoot, please Pez, get up.”

Jade was already looking flawless, her ombré hair in tight curls and her eyelids coated in silver glitter.

I got up, dressed and left Zayn in my condo to fend for himself, hurrying down to the taxi that would take me to another hectic day of autographs, photoshoots and interviews.

I take a slight breath in.

This is my life. I am a popstar.



I was dressed in pretty floral clothes that I was pretty chuffed at being allowed to keep. The gold wedges were a little unstable but with help from Jesy's arm, I stayed steady. They rushed me down to Make Up, where an unfamiliar stylist, not our usual one Patience, tweaked at my hair and dabbed product onto my face. With another spritz of hairspray, I was marched off to a green background for my solo shoot. Jade gave a thumbs up.

“All right, Perrie, we'll start easy. Give us a smile and your right hand — no, right, sweetheart — on your hip. Tilt head left? Yes! Bend the leg, bend the leg. No need to the point the toe, love. Yes, Perrie! Stay like that hon, for just a few seconds.”

I stay in that uncomfortable position with a bright smile on my face. I remember for years I had wanted to do photoshoots for major magazines and now here I was. The smile on my face became brighter and the camera flash went off.



Sorry for the wait.



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Felicity .x