Come Again Later

Chapter 22

"Hey Perrie," Jade greeted as she looked up from her book to see the blonde climbing through her window. She kept it unlocked all the time now for an easier entrance and just in case a certain someone needs to stop by.

"Hey Jade," the pale girl called back, her voice a bit shaky, "how ya doin'?"

The brunette pushed up her glasses and smiled. "'M good, what about you?"

Perrie gave her a toothy grin. The blonde didn't want to add more weight onto the brunette's shoulders with her problems. "Great!" She lied.

Perrie's a terrible liar. Jade saw right through her and she knew it.

The brunette raised an eyebrow at her blonde friend. "Are you sure about that?" She asked, hoping Perrie would take the hint and spill the beans.

"Yup," the pale girl said way too quickly. Spotting the tan teen's suspicious stare, Perrie chose to diverge the topic. "So uh, whatcha reading?"

"The Alchemyst..." Jade answered suspiciously, tilting her head.

"Oh really? What's it about?"

"Pez, you got me this book."

Perrie's face flushed red as Jade shut the book before turning towards the blonde.

"Seriously Perrie. What's wrong? You seem a lot more jumpy and anxious than usual," the brunette commented, taking a hold of the pale teen's hands.

The pale girl's mind began to race. Should I tell her? She pondered, staring into Jade's concerned brown eyes.

Perrie is not one to tell people about her problems. It took nearly a year and a half for Jesy and Leigh-Anne to find out the depressing truth about her father, and that was only when they spotted her visiting his grave.

I don't want to burden her. The unfortunately, very common thought crossed her mind.

"Please, Perrie," the brunette started, "I just want to help you."

Well, in that case...

The blonde took a big breath to calm her nerves, before speaking, "Last night I had a dream- can I even call it that? It was more like a series of memories." She paused a bit to make sure Jade was still listening. The brunette was staring at her with complete and utter concentration. Feeling her lip twitch upwards, Perrie continued, "I had memories about my dad."

The tan girl visually tensed. "He doesn't hurt you, does he?" Jade questioned hectically, taking the pale teen's face in her palms and looking for any injuries. "I swea-" Perrie cut her off with a small grin, finding the smaller girl's concern adorable.

"He was a great man, Jade." Perrie smiled weakly.

"Oh," Jade said. She paused for a moment, letting go of the blonde, before asking softly, "Was?"

Perrie felt her smile drop. "Yeah," she muttered, looking at the patterns printed on the bed. "Was."

"Oh Perrie," Jade mumbled, wrapping her arms around the blonde.

Perrie felt tears prick her eyes. She kept her head held high while Jade hugged her, which was odd since the blonde would usually melt into the brunette's arms.

"H-he passed nearly three years ago," Perrie hiccuped. "I found out when I came h-home from school and found my m-mam crying." The tears began to run and the blonde's mind began to yell at her for over-sharing, saying that Jade doesn't have time to look over her problems.

The tan girl pulled back and used her thumb to wipe away Perrie's tears. "You don't have to go on if you don't want to," Jade whispered, looking straight into the blonde's watery blue eyes, "but I think it would help if you told someone about it."