and then one day, there was you.

- one

An hour. It's been an hour since Jade's, "im omw," text and she still isn't here. And look, maybe they're just impatient but it's not like they own the coffee shop across the studio so they could just hang out there without ordering anything.

"I think I broke the table." Louis mumbles, peeking under the table as he notices the dirty look the barista was giving them, Leigh sighs, "Where even is Jade? She's been on her way for like an hour now."

You see, Leigh-Anne Pinnock wasn't an impatient woman, to be fair, she'd wait for you for two hours if you ask her to but when you tell her that you're, "on your way," and you aren't, she goes mental.

"You break everything anyways." Zayn replies with a whisper, sinking lower on his chair as he avoids the baristas gaze, feeling embarrassed that they haven't ordered anything because they felt it would be rude to do it without Jade.

"Rude." The other boy huffs, crossing his arms in despair as Leigh closes her eyes, "If I hear another word from the both of you I swear I will hurl this table at you." She says exasperatedly, clenching her jaw and silencing the two.

It took them minutes which felt like hours before the brunette joined them. She was silent, not uttering a single word when she sat beside Leigh-Anne.

"Let me guess, Simon?" Leigh asks, knowing damn well he could be the only reason behind the brunette's distress. They've been friends for years. Grew up together, watched each other bloom, knew each other's pain. They were soulmates, platonically speaking.

"Or Jed. Did the bloke piss you off?" Louis asks, smiling at the smaller girl he had always seen as his little sister, Jade chuckles, shaking her head, "Both, actually. They want to do the wedding in a month."

That was enough to stir a reaction from her friends, most especially Zayn who was up on his feet and nearly halfway out the door before Louis pulled him back on his seat, "A month? Babe, weren't you supposed to be married in a year?"

"Apparently, they want it soon. It's not like I have control over that." She sighs, frowning as she stared at the flashy ring on her finger. It was stupid, honestly, the way she was so young, so- so vulnerable two years ago that she just said, "Yes," to a man she barely knew.

A man she never loved. A man she would never love.

"That's your thinking face. What are you thinking about?" Leigh asks silently, rubbing Jade's shoulder as she leans closer to the girl.

An escape. I just want to get away, from everyone, from everything, she silently says to herself, clenching her jaw and formulating a plan when she sees Louis' jacket, "Lou, would you be a dear and turn around?"

"Turn around? Wha-?" He wasn't able to finish whatever sentence he might've said because Jade was quick to turn him around herself, smirking to herself as she reads the design.

"I'm going to Vegas."

And she just left. With no explanation. Out of the doors a second after. "Oh no you're not. At least not without us."

"Perrie! I've been calling you for the past ten minutes, why weren't you picking up?"

The blonde–Perrie–could only click her tongue and shake her head as she removes her glasses, placing it down on the table and rubbing her eyes frustratedly as the voice of her roommate and best friend echo around the room.

She doesn't respond. She just closes her eyes as she shuts her laptop off with a loud thud. See, Perrie's a writer. A novelist, if you will and so far, her books had been selling pretty well.