Jerrie Thirlwards - One shots

The Ring

hey an update for you!

A week before her 25th birthday, Perrie was giving Jade’s flat a thorough cleaning, as a lovely surprise for when she got home from work, when she came across a tiny square box in Jade’s sock drawer. Her heart stopped, it rose to her throat, then plummeted to her stomach.

Could it be?

They had never discussed marriage. To her, it was simply a matter of time. She had always thought it would not come for a while though.

Jade had just moved into her first apartment two months ago, a studio flat in London and Perrie had thought leaving the comforts of Newcastle was big enough step for Jade, let alone a marriage proposal.

Accidentally, her fingers knocked the box over, and it popped open. Something small let out a dull thud as it fell into the drawer. She shut her eyes tight but the sharp glint of metal against the ceiling light was irresistible and curiosity was peeling her eyelids open. It was a ring all right.

A key ring.

A. Key. Ring.

Perrie knew how much difficulty Jade had with gifts. For years after their awkward exchange during their first year together, Jade had played it safe with gift-giving, totally avoiding jewelry, lingerie – anything feminine. Jade would give her chocolates on Valentine’s Day now, but for her birthday or Christmas, she stuck to the practical; usually a book, a jumper or mittens in the winter. The most radical gift Perrie receive in the past 5 years had been a new wristwatch (Jade had dropped hers in the sink two weeks prior). By no means Perrie hold this against Jade; it was a little quirk that charmed her, Jade’s discomfort. She knew Jade would rather give her something she knew Perrie would use, and she knew Jade put a lot of thought into whatever it was, regardless. Jade showed her love for her in many other ways, so gifts didn’t fall on her list of grievances.

However, a key ring. It was the type of bauble you pick up at a corner store, when you’ve forgotten, when you have no other option or when you simply don’t care. It was such an afterthought. Jade would have been better off giving her nothing at all. Perrie stuffed the offending object – which was decorated with a variety of tacky charms – back into its box, slammed the drawer, once, twice, three times for good measure and stormed out of the apartment.

Upon her return home, she stomped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. She flopped onto her bed and sighed. Slowly, her burning anger was fading into a dull disappointment. Eventually, she had hoped Jade would step up into gift-giving game, as she spent weeks figuring out what to get her and dragging friends and family members into the painstaking process of choosing the perfect item to physically exemplify her love. In return, she had earned a key ring.

Her mother rapped tentatively at the door, “Perrie, are you. . . alright?” she asked.

“No.” Perrie answered in a flat voice.

Debbie sat down next to her on the bed, and Perrie unleashed the events of that afternoon and her feelings. In response, she sighed. “Petal, you know you are totally blowing this out of proportion. For one, who says what you found has anything to do with you?”

“My birthday’s in a week and it was hidden,” Perrie shot back.

“If you’re not going to listen to reason, I’m not going to try and talk you down. I suggest you calm down and don’t let Jade know that you snooped. You wouldn’t be having this problem if you just looked away, especially when you know you shouldn’t be looking. I hate to break it to you darling, but you’re in the wrong here. Let it go, Jade loves you whether she gives you a key ring, an engagement ring or nothing at all for your birthday.”

Perrie knew her mother was right, but she just wanted someone to agree with her.
The next six days came and went. Perrie kept up as much of a cheerful façade as she could with Jade, but finally the night before her birthday, as they were walking down the street. Jade gave her a funny look and asked, “Alright, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting weird all week. Might as well let me know what I’ve done now.”

Perrie was torn between unleashing her sentiments and brushing it off. Her blood had always run hot though, and she finally spit it out, “I’m just not very excited for my birthday this year.

“Why not?”

“Well, I was cleaning your apartment, I had done a wash. I was putting your socks away when I found . . . it,” she said, her voice wavering.

“It?” They had stopped walking and Jade was giving her a blank stare, she clearly had no idea what Perrie was talking about.

“In a box . .  in your sock drawer . . . you know what I mean.”

“A box? In my sock drawer?” Perrie watched the colour drain from Jade’s face as it dawned on her. “You found your birthday gift?” she shouted as the colour returned and her face flared red.

“Yes Jade, I did! I found a bloody key ring! A tacky key ring! Honestly, after all this time could you have not put in just a little effort! I try so hard, I try to do everything  I can to make sure you know just how much I love you and I get a key ring!” her tirade ended in a shrill screech as her chest heaved. Her fists were balled at her sides; she was a vision of rage.

“Perrie, you completely missed the point!” Jade shouted back. “You have no idea what you found! No, instead you just decided to simmer about it all week and jump to conclusions because you’re so brilliant that you know exactly what you found and that you were right! But you were not! You’re wrong!”

Hearing those two words shook Perrie, “Excuse me?” she gasped.

“You Perrie Edwards, were wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!” Jade shouted.
“Alright, I get it! Stop yelling at me! I was . . . not totally right! Okay?”

Jade shook her head, clearing her face of the contortion anger had given her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fly off the handle like that. It’s just, I mean . . . you weren’t totally wrong, if that makes you feel better. Do you want you birthday gift now or tomorrow?”
Perrie had simmered some too. “Now, I suppose it’s as good a time as any.” Hand in hand they strolled the two-minute walk to Jade’s apartment.

Once they were inside, Jade had Perrie shut her eyes. “Open,” she ordered, placing a small metal object in Perrie’s hand.

She opened. There it was, the key ring. Attached to it were three charms. “Now I know you think it’s stupid, but let me try to explain here,” Jade stated. “The first charm there is the sun because whenever I see you, you never fail to make me happy. The second is a dog, I know it doesn’t exactly look like Hatchi. I ended up ordering a lot of that online, but I could not find an exact replica of him. The last one there is a tiny bottle of my perfume. You can smell it, just in case I’m gone a lot for work, and you forget what I smell like . . . you can, err, smell it.”

Tears welled up in Perrie’s eyes, and she realised what a terrible mistake she had made. She just wanted to cry and kiss Jade and tell her what a wonderful job she’d done. But before she had much of a chance to do anything, Jade continued. “That’s not the whole thing. There’s also this.” Jade fished around in her back pocket and pulled out a shiny silver key. “I was going to hook this on before I gave it to you. It’s a key to my apartment. That’s to say . . . our apartment if you want it to be. Tomorrow, I was going to ask you to move in with me. But it looks like I’m going to ask you tonight, with my stupid tacky key ring and . . . well it was supposed to go a lot nicer than this. . .” Jade trailed off, staring at her shoes.

“Jade Thirlwall, you are absolutely wonderful. I was totally wrong,” Perrie pressed a kiss to Jade’s cheek.

“Sorry, didn’t hear that last part, can you say it again?” Jade grinned.

“Not bloody likely, good try though. I would love nothing more than to live with you, to clean our tiny apartment and even organise your sock drawer. . .” She trailed off, lost in a reverie of domestic bliss.

“Oy! My girlfriend is moving in here, not my mam!”

“Oh Jade, I promise, your mam won’t be coming near this apartment for the next few days. . .” She grabbed Jade by the hand and they disappeared into their bedroom for the very first time.