4 - The Part Where Jade Just Dropped A Hint About Herself

The awkward tension between the two girls was becominge evident for the both of them. And Perrie just wished it would go away. And the pair now found themselves unknowingly peering into each other's eyes, but neither of them dared to avert their gazes at one another. That was until Perrie broke eye contact.

Perrie cleared her throat to break the awkward silence. "So, Jade, how's your training? Actually, don't answer that. I obviously know that it must be tiring..."

       "Perrie, it's fine," Jade chuckled, "But since you asked, I would like to say that my training was amazing...ly boring. Leigh was absent today and... you do know Leigh-Anne, right?"

       Leigh-Anne Pinnock, another queen bee. Perrie smiles, "Of course. Why was she absent?"

       "She was sick, apparently. It was quite boring without her."

       "Ahh... so that's the reason why I saw you alone with your locker."

       "Yeah. And if you come closer, you would literally see me actually talking to myself," Jade confessed, to which she earned a laugh from the blonde. Jade smiles at the sound. "You seemed too happy now. You weren't like that two hours ago when... you know..."

       Perrie's smile somehow weakened at that, but it never left her face. "Well, you weren't freaked out by me. I guess I'd have to consider myself lucky."

       "Hey," Jade stopped Perrie, "I should be the lucky one here. I mean, try to imagine a pretty girl like you, wanting to be with me? I mean, not all pretty girls want me. But you do! And did I forget to mention that you, Perrie Edwards, are smoking hot?"

Perrie felt her mouth curl up at the edges and her cheeks now burning up. Perrie could actually imagine herself probably in flames. She managed to smirk at the brunette. "You should watch your words, Jade. Your boyfie might hear them and would probably be jealous..."

       "Nah, he wouldn't know," Jade says, and flashed Perrie a quick wink afterwards which made Perrie's cheeks a little heated up. "Besides, if he would know, trust me, he'd definitely agree with me."

       A blush had splashed across Perrie's cheeks and Perrie was literally fighting just so her smile wouldn't appear. But it was too strong.

       "Aww, I made Perrie Edwards smile again," Jade says in awe, and Perrie wanted to practically rip her mouth off.

       "You always made me smile, Jade," Perrie says, looking down at her capuccino with melted steam milk foam.

       "And I'm glad I could make you smile like that. You have a great smile."

       "Do you always compliment people like that?" Perrie wonders, "No wonder people love you..."

       "Everyone needs a compliment every once in awhile, Edwards."

       "I have a first name, you know."

       "And also a last name, don't forget that, Edwards."

       "You're honestly the only person who calls me that," Perrie tells Jade while rolling her eyes.

       "Stop exaggerating, Edwards," Jade chuckled, "I know I'm not the only one who calls you by your last name."

       "Then who else?" Perrie challenged.

       Jade shrugged, "I'm a hundred percent sure that your teachers call you by your last name."

       "Smartass..." Perrie mumbled out of her breath, but it was audible enough for Jade to hear it.

       Perrie's face lit up at the sound of Jade's beautiful giggle, and Perrie wished that she could hear that melodic sound everyday. Then Perrie suddenly felt a pang of jealousy struck her—not for the first time—when she started thinking about the guy that Jade is currently dating.

       Jed-fucking-Elliot. Perrie now knows that the name would always find its way to Perrie's bad side and Perrie was not happy to even hear at least the name's first syllable. For all Perrie knows, every boy who's in the basketball varsity would always be a fuck-boy, and Perrie has this unwavering feeling that Jed could be like that as well.

"It's past seven, wanna get out of here?"

Perrie hadn't even realized that yet. She was too engrossed with the brunette that she didn't even care to check on the time. And so when she did, Perrie nodded.

"Yeah, it's getting pretty late and the store might close soon," Perrie spoke.

"Okay, let's go then."

~•~•~

The pair remained seated on their places, accompanied by silence. It wasn't traffic this time and so it was easy for Jade to quickly overtake other (slow) cars in front of her. Sometimes the brunette would sneak a glance at Perrie, and quickly look away in mortification every time Perrie catches Jade staring. And sometimes Perrie would be the one looking away this time whenever Jade catches her. But the pair didn't even see anything wrong in this one.

       "Do you like One Direction?" Jade asks the blonde eventually, her eyes still glued on the road.

       "Of course I do," Perrie replied, turning her head to look at the brunette. "Why?"

       "Nothing, I'm just asking..."

       Perrie faced the front again, wondering out of all the sensible questions that Perrie and Jade could ask each other, Jade just had to pick this one odd question. And as if the universe just answered her question, the radio blared with a One Direction song.

       You're insecure, don't know what for.

       You're turning heads when you walk through the door.

       Perrie turned her head at Jade, whose head seemed to be bouncing as Jade nodded through the beat of the song with her lips closed shut as Jade hums along with the music. And Perrie just had to smile at how beautiful Jade's hum sounds.

"Everyone else in the room can see it..." Perrie sang along to the lyrics, which turned Jade's head towards her with a bright smile plastered on her face and Perrie smiled back.

And Jade didn't even wait a millisecond and began to sing as well. "Baby you light up my world like nobody else! The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed!"

And Perrie joined in. "But when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell. You don't kno-o-ow! You don't know you're beautiful!"

"If only you saw what I could see! You'd understand why I want you so desperately! Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe you don't kno-o-ow! You don't know you're beautiful... O-oh! That's what makes you beautiful!"

       "Not bad, Edwards. Your voice sounds good," Jade compliments after they both sang their lungs out inside the car. And Perrie began to blush profusely once again.

       "Thanks. Your voice sounds good as well."

Jade flashed Perrie her signature smile and looked back at the smooth surface of the road, not catching the adoring gaze of the blonde.

       Jade stepped on the brake, putting the vehicle into a stop as she parked the car in front of Perrie's house.

       "I guess we have arrived," Jade says, leaning back on the driver's seat as she glanced the blonde beside her.

       Perrie inwardly frowned at the thought that this night will soon come to an end; in fact, she wishes that the sun wouldn't creep up anymore and just let Jade and Perrie have all the night to themselves.

       "Thanks... for today. It was fun," Perrie tells Jade, who just grinned widely in response.

       "You're welcome," Jade replies. "I was glad that I at least made you feel like you're wanted by somebody."

       Perrie just held her adoring gaze at Jade, who seemed to be aware of the blonde's trance. Jade couldn't help but let out a giggle, feeling uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time when she's with Perrie. Jade couldn't understand this unknown feeling she had always felt every time she sees Perrie's blue pools in her ocean blue orbs. Perhaps it must be because Jade had never seen such beautiful eye color that made Perrie seem like a unique person to Jade. Or perhaps it must be because of the way Perrie would always be stuck in a trance that made Jade feel like Perrie's something else to her.

       For some reason, Jade could feel this unfamiliar tension between her and the blonde. This unfamiliar tension that had always been there from the start, ever since she first acknowledged Perrie in school, who was sitting down on her stool, all alone in the cafetorium.

       But Jade decided to ignore it.

       Jade cleared her throat and took a brief glimpse at Perrie before looking back at her steering wheel.

       "So, uhm, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Jade spoke, with a hint of hopefulness as she looks at Perrie.

       Perrie nodded and grinned. "Yeah. See you tomorrow, Thirlwall."

       "Thirlwall? Now you're calling me by my last name, too?" Jade teased, smirking. And Perrie just had to roll her eyes at Jade, who was now becoming slightly annoying—in a good way.

       "I can call you whatever I want," Perrie states, and Jade snorted.

      "Well then, I can call you whatever I want, too!"

       Both Perrie and Jade fell into peals of laughter, without even caring how loud they are from an outsider's perspective. Soon, their hysterics soon died and Jade and Perrie are now back with the usual silence, but none of them seemed to dislike it this time.

       "Jade?"

       "Yes?"

       "Are you sure you're not gay?"

       Jade flashed Perrie a sly smirk, "I'm still taken, Edwards."

       "So you're not gay then?" Perrie still questioned.

       "I never said I didn't like the other team," Jade continued to smirk. And Perrie then wondered what Jade's words meant.

       "What does that mean?" Perrie asks.

       Jade chuckled, "For a geek like you, Edwards, you surely don't know how to read between the lines, eh?"

       Perrie opened her mouth to speak up but was interrupted when the car made a high-pitched sound and she suddenly heard a click on her passenger's door. She looked at Jade expectantly.

       "Go get some rest, Edwards," Jade insisted as she pointed to Perrie's house. "Tomorrow's a long day."

       And Perrie obliged, opening the passenger's door and stepped out of the parked vehicle. But before Perrie could even make a step forward, she spins around and bent down to look at Jade through the car's window.

"I have one more question," Perrie tells the seated girl.

"What is it?"

"You haven't eaten dinner yet, have you?" Perrie asks Jade, who seemed to be nonchalant and calm as she thinks of an answer.

"Nope," Jade replies.

"Then why didn't you eat in the store awhile ago?" Perrie wondered.

"I'd rather talk to you the whole time than eating," Jade says as she grins at the blonde.

Perrie felt her stomach weirdly churning when Jade admitted that. She felt suddenly joyful to hear that as a cage of butterflies start to open inside her, letting the butterflies fly around her stomach.

Feeling contented and satisfied with Jade's answer, Perrie smiled and nodded, saying a warm "Goodbye, Jade." before swiftly whirling around to walk inside her house.