Time Ahead

chapter thirty-three

Jade's POV:

"Come on girls," I say as all of us board the plane. We put our luggage in the overhead, and then sit down in our seats. I'm situated in the isle next to Jaz and Jolie, Kaiden being on my lap with Perrie sitting across from us and Jesy and Leigh in front. I lay back in my seat and close my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I try to relax. Flying is one of my biggest fears, ever. Ironic with the career we have but i've grown to deal with it. After a few seconds, Kaiden starts to stir and cry in my arms. I sigh, opening my eyes, trying to soothe him unsuccessfully. "Hey babe, do you want me to take him for a little?" Perrie offers. "Please," I say desperately, handing him to her. He immediately starts to quiet down. I'm so grateful for these girls. Kaiden crying was honestly the last thing I needed right now. I've been thinking constantly about this whole Jed situation and what I'm going to do, and being on a plane for 10 hours isn't helping.

We took off and finally we were in the air. I fell into a much needed sleep for a while. When I woke up, I saw Perrie cooing over Kaiden. "I can take him back," I say to Perrie. "Are you sure? I can watch him for longer if you'd like?" she offers. I look over to Jaz and Jolie. Jaz is watching Aladdin on the tablet and Jolie's asleep with her head against the window. "Yeah, I miss him," I say. "Okay," she says handing him back. I give him a kiss on his forehead and then lay him in my arms. "Thanks," I say. "No problem," she says smiling.

We finally land on the ground and I can breathe again. We all collect our luggage and get off of the plane. I grab Jaz's with one hand and hold Kaiden in my other arm. We make our way out of the airport and enter the car. We had a quick trip over to the hotel and made our way up to the suite that we share. "Home sweet home," Leigh says when we walk in. We all laugh and walk past her. "I love the US," Perrie said looking at the city from the window. "When do we start rehearsal?" Jesy asks. "Tomorrow afternoon," Leigh says.

I place a sleeping Kaiden in his basinet and sit at one of the barstools on the counter. I place my head in my hands and just think over the whole situation. The room got quiet fast. Everyone went into their separate rooms to unpack and get situated. Jaz and Jolie were watching a Disney marathon so I knew they wouldn't need me for a while and hopefully Kaiden sleeps for more than an hour. "Hey, you okay?" I hear a voice say next to me, startling me. I jerk my head up to see Jesy sitting down next to me. "Sorry," she says, apologizing for scaring me. "I don't know," I say quietly. Jesy starts to rub my back. "Are you going to let him know that you're going to be there?" She asks softly. "I'm not sure yet. The girls keep asking to see him and he's never even met Kaiden," I cry softly. "Whatever you decide, it will be okay. You know you're children best, so whatever is healthy for you and them, you'll chose," she says. I nod and she gives me a big hug.

I'm thankful Jesy has been talking me through everything. Even all the girls give great advice and are very supportive, Jesy just always knows the right thing to say. She's like a mother to all of us, so whenever one of us is down, she'll bring you back up.

"I guess I should call him," I say reluctantly. "Do you want the other girls here?" she asks. I nod softly and Jesy grabs them from their rooms. They meet back out here and gather around me. I take a deep breath and tap on his contact. Perrie places a hand o my shoulder and the phone starts ringing. It rings for  while and right when I think it's going to go to voicemail, he picks up.

"Hello?" he says.

I take another deep breath before speaking.

"Hi Jed, it's Jade," I say.

"Oh, hello. Is everything alright?" he asks a little concerned.

"I just wanted to let you know that we're performing at the Billboard Music Awards also. So we will most likely run into each other and I just wanted to make you aware," I say.

"Thank you for letting me know. How are the girls?" he asks.

"They're great," I say smiling. "They want to see you," I say.

"I hope I get to see them soon. How's Kaiden? I've seen pictures of him all over social media," he said.

"He's good, and very tiny," I say.

"That's good, I would love to meet him," he says.

"I'm sure you will soon," I say,

The line was quiet for a minute.

"Hey Jade?" he says.

"Yeah?" I say.

"Would you like to meet up for lunch tomorrow? Bring the kids and we can talk everything through?" he asks. You could almost feel how nervous he was.

I think for a second. As much as I don't want to see him, ever. It would be good for us to make amends because that would be best for the kids. "Sure, just text me where and when," I say.

"Great, talk to you later," he says.

I end the phone call and slowly process everything. "That went surprisingly well," I say. The girls nod and Leigh speaks. "Are you sure you want to meet up with him? You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," she says. "I'm sure, it would be good for the kids to see him and him to meet his son," I say sadly.  "I just hope I'm not making a mistake," I say.