"What are you reading?" Caitlin asks Perrie as she sits next to her on the couch. They are at their father's house, and Jonnie, Alexander and his wife Joanna are busy watching a Christmas film which is playing on the TV.

"Just texts from last night," Perrie replies and looks at her sister. "I was so drunk - and so were you, by the way! How come you're allowed to drink? You're only sixteen!"

"Yeah, well, dad allows me to drink because he's cool," Caitlin says with a teasing smile and looks over to her father. Alexander replies with a quick nod, and Perrie stares at him as he moves his gaze back to the TV.

"Dad never allowed me to drink when I was your age," she says, then rolls her eyes with a playful smile. After Caitlin is done teasing her and joins the rest of the family on watching the movie, Perrie's eyes return to her phone screen. She vaguely remembers staying up until midnight in order to be the first one to wish Jade happy birthday, but since everyone else in the house already fell asleep by then, she did not call Jade but texted her.

Happy briuthday babe♡♡♡

Haou birthday I mean♡♡

Shit

Pez are you drunk?😂

And thank you <3

Maybe..

🌚

Perrie is not too sure when she had began using what she refers to as the creepy moon emoji, but she does so now, since Jade uses it all the time. She reads the rest of the texts from this morning, then receives a text from her friend Katherine, saying that she is home now and is waiting for Perrie's arrival.

Perrie’s mood instantly brightens. She stand up, then walks over to her room grab her purse and some clothes for tonight, for Jade's birthday party. Katherine and her will be getting ready together, so she does not apply makeup to her face, nor does she spend time on doing her hair.

"I'm leaving, I will be back tomorrow morning," Perrie says as she crosses the living room and hurries towards the front door.

"Wait, Pez," her father calls after her and she turns around to look at him. "We haven't had dinner yet, you can't leave now."

"It's okay, I will just grab something to eat with Katherine," Perrie says as she unlocks the door.

"Come on, it's the holidays! You can go out with your friends in another time," Alexander replies. Perrie knows that he has only good intentions, but cannot help but feel slightly angry. Her father has no idea that Jade is more than just a friend.

Perrie originally arrived at South Shields thinking that she should tell her family about her relationship with Jade, but things have changed. Jade called her a few nights ago, sounding a bit panicked, and told Perrie about how her niece overheard them talking on the phone and Jade had to tell her everything. Jade was not too nervous about it at the time, but Perrie cannot shake the feeling that they are taking things too fast. They have only been together for three months, and there are already above twenty names in the list that Jade had made of people who know. Therefore, Perrie decided to not tell her family during her visit, even though it was very hard.

Every little thing reminded Perrie of Jade. Every tradional Northern dish that was served made Perrie wonder if Jade is eating the same meal right now. Every time she looked at the Christmas tree she wondered if Jade and her will ever get to spend Christmas together. Whenever Coronation Street played on TV, she remembered that night in October in the Steam & Rye, when Jade had too much to drink and ended up playing a drinking game based on the show and laughing as Gail Platt appeared on the screen.

"So you're staying for dinner?" Alexander asks, and Perrie's mind returns to the moment.

"No, it's Jade's birthday. Katherine and I are going to her party," Perrie insists. Her father's face says it all, and she finds herself becoming more angry. "Dad, I can't miss Jade's birthday. And when I say I can't, I really mean it. I will be staying here until New Year’s Eve, so one night doesn't matter." Alexander argues and says something about how his three children are rarely together, but Perrie stays silent. She fights the urge to scream that Jade is not just her best friend, but her girlfriend, and that there is nothing she wants more than to get to celebrate with her on this day. Perrie walks out of the door without saying another word, then uses her key to lock it from outside and begins walking to Katherine's house. It is cold outside, and as she calms down, she realizes that she really is hungry, and maybe she should not have left like that.

Perrie tells herself that it is too late to change anything now and slows the pace of her steps. She decides to get properly drunk tonight and enjoy the time with her friends and girlfriend, and if she will not feel like coming home, then she will the spend the night at Katherine's. Then, Perrie's thoughts drift back to Jade. She did not get her a birthday gift yet, because she was not too sure what could make Jade as happy as Perrie would want her to be on her birthday. Sure, Jade would accept any present with a genuine, charming smile, including the set of Disney pajamas Perrie originally got her; though Perrie wants more than that. She wants Jade to be over the moon.

Perrie soon finds herself standing in front of Katherine's house. It is the place where she had spent a big part of her early adulthood in, and she had truly missed it. Katherine and her used to get very excited about Katherine living on her own, even though her flat is located a few streets away from Katherine's parents. She knocks on the door, and a moment later it is opened and Katherine appears. She is happy and energetic, and Perrie gives her a warm hug. Perrie has grown apart from most of her friends from school, but Katherine is an exception she is thankful for.

"Guess what?" Katherine asks as they let go and step inside the house.

"What?" Perrie curiously replies. She makes herself comfortable on the living room couch, and is filled with the feeling of familiarity.

"So I talked to Andrew the other day, and it turns out that he's friends with some of Jade's friends, and he was invited too! So he's coming tonight, and I told him we could pick him up. I'm really excited for the three of us to be together again," Katherine excitedly answers. Perrie instantly becomes even more hyped for tonight after she hears these news. Back in secondary school, Katherine, Andrew and Perrie were very close, but Perrie has not seen Andrew for a long time now.

"I can't wait," Perrie says with a smile. Katherine grabs her phone and plays a Justin Bieber song through the little speakers in the living room. She begins to dance and Perrie happily joins her, and for a while, it feels like secondary school again.

When it starts to get late, Katherine turns down the volume of the speakers and walks over to her closet to pick out an outfit for tonight. While she does so, Perrie is left on her own in the living room, and decides to make a birthday post to Jade on Instagram. She knows that she will probably be scolded for this by Sam later, but decides to do it anyway. The fans will be happy, and so will Jade be when she sees it, so Perrie ignores the consequences. She types the word 'jerrie' in the Google search bar and downloads four recent photos to her phone. She has hundreds, if not thousands, of personal pictures of Jade and her, but wants to keep them all to herself.

Perrie arranges the pictures in a collage and begins to work on the caption. Writing about Jade comes naturally to her, and she could go on forever, but does not want to make anthing too obvious. She remembers the night they went out together, and after Leon gave Perrie his number, Jade proceeded to tell him that Perrie and her are actually dating so he does not have a chance. Perrie wants to end with the words I love you, but decides against it. Jade knows how Perrie feels about her, because she told her that that night in Perrie's house. Perrie did not expect anything to be said back to her, because her own words surprised even herself, but she cannot deny the fact that a small part of her already wants to hear those words come out of Jade's mouth. She does not want to pressure Jade, though, so she does not write anything like that on her post.

Perrie shares the post via Instagram, then silences her phone and places it on the coffee table. She does not want to receive any calls from her manager or father, nor read the comments. It would be too painful seeing them while knowing that this might be the last time in a long time the fans will get to witness this kind of interaction between Jade and her, due to Sam's orders.

"Want me to do your makeup?" Katherine asks as she steps back into the room, now dressed in a grey dress and holding a makeup bag in her hands. Perrie nods in excitement as Katherine sits down next to her on the couch. They used to practice on doing each other's makeup back when they were still trying to figure out how to use it, and Perrie misses those days. Katherine and her have a casual conversation and laugh together, and soon afterwards they are both ready. Perrie changes into a black shirt, black shorts and matching thigh high boots, and grabs her purse.

"Ready?" Perrie asks with a playful grin as Katherine and her stand inside the house, in front of the open front door. It is very cold outside, and their attire does not match the weather at all. "Go!" Perrie orders and laughs as Katherine and her begin running towards the car. Once they get inside, Katherine tells the driver Andrew's address, and the vehicle begins moving. They pick up Andrew and drive to Bonbar, the South Shields bar where Jade's party is held.

Inside, Perrie's eyes are blinded by all of the lights, as she begins to walk through the crowd of Jade's friends. Since South Shields is a small place, everyone knows each other somehow, and Perrie finds many familiar faces. Although she is looking for one specific pair of brown eyes she misses the most. Perrie sees the back of Holly, one of Jade's best friends, and immediately knows that chances are that Jade is probably with her right now. Perrie walks over to her, and finds out that she was right.

"Pez!" Jade calls with a wide smile on her face as soon as Perrie comes into sight. Perrie bites her lip in admiration as she sees Jade's beautiful, sheer tourqise dress and the way her eyes shine.

"Jadore," Perrie lovingly replies as she wraps Jade in a warm hug. They hold onto each other just a little longer than needed, in order to make up for all of the time they have been apart. "Hi, Holly," Perrie tells Jade's friend after they let go. Then Samantha, another good friend of Jade's, arrives and greets the three women. Holly and Samantha start chatting, and Perrie turns to look at Jade again. She takes the time to appreciate Jade's appearance, and moves her gaze up Jade's body. "You're wearing it!" Perrie calls as she sees the necklace on Jade's neck. It is the silver necklace with the heart locket Perrie gifted Jade that night in America in November.

"Of course I am," Jade replies with a proud smile. "I wanted to wear something that reminds me of you on my birthday. And it's also really cute and goes well with the dress."

"You're so gorgeous, I swear everything looks good on you," Perrie tells Jade with a smile as she rolls her eyes. Jade pulls her into another hug just because she wants to feel Perrie again, but then more people arrive and come to congratulate her, and she has to go. Perrie searches for Katherine and Andrew in the crowd, but finds Karl and Shireen instead. They greet her with much love and she is filled with a warm feeling of joy. Perrie then walks over to the bar, orders herself a drink, and Kathrine sits down next to her. They have a few drinks together, then go dancing, and Perrie feels carefree and happy until she remembers how hungry she is and starts feeling bad after drinking on an empty stomach.

"Do you want to go somewhere to eat? I'm starving," Perrie says as loud as she can so Katherine will be able to hear her over the music.

"Yeah. Let me just find Andrew first and ask him if he wants to come too," Katherine replies and goes to search for Andrew. Perrie walks towards the bar, where she finds Jade and tells her that they are leaving but will be back soon.

×××

"Can I take your order?" The waiter asks Perrie, Katherine and Andrew when they are done looking at the menu.

"Yes," Perrie replies. "Can I have Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Biryani, Lamb Saag, Shawarma Naan, Keema Naan-"

"She's very hungry," Katherine explains with a laugh.

"I'm starving. I'm not even joking," Perrie tells Katherine in a serious tone as the waiter takes their menus and walks towards the kitchen. Perrie understands he must have recognized her, because while they wait for their food, Little Mix songs start playing in the restaurant. Normally, Perrie would have been a little embarrassed, but she is a little tipsy right now and rather enjoys this. All three of them stand up and start dancing between the tables, which none of them are occupied at the moment. When the waiter comes back with their order, Perrie is the first one to sit back at the table and eat. She really was hungry, and her love for food only makes every bite even more enjoyable. As soon as they everyone is satiated, Perrie refuses to order dessert because she is eager to go back to the party. They do so, and thirty minutes later, Perrie is already dancing next to Jade in the nightclub.

Bonbar is famous for its cocktails, and Jade and Perrie make sure to taste each one that is served. When they are properly drunk, Jade takes Perrie's hand and leads them both to a small, locked room in the back, which Jade was given the key to since she is renting the nightclub for tonight. Inside, there is a couch, and on it, Jade's beloved Parka and a few bags she owns are laid. Jade wears a playful smile in her face as she locks the door from inside, and then, when it is finally just the two of them, she crushes into Perrie's lips. They enjoy each other for a few minutes before they are both satisfied and pull away with matching smirks.

"They're playing Don't by Ed Sheeran now!" Jade enthusiastically says and jumps up and down as she hears the music playing outside the room.

"You like this song?" Perrie asks with a wide smile on her face. Jade looks absolutely adorable as she does one of her freestyle dances, and Perrie cannot take her eyes off of her.

"I love this song. Did you not listen to Multiply?" Jade asks, and Perrie shakes her head. "And you call yourself a musician?" Jade dryly teases. Perrie knows not to trust her alcohol fueled mind right now, but she has an idea. She wanted to give Jade a birthday gift she will never forget, and what would be better than getting to hear her favorite songs live?

"I'm taking you to one of his concerts," Perrie declares. "Is he on tour now?"

"I don't know," Jade replies and laughs. She does not give Perrie's words too much thought and just keeps on enjoying the music. As she does so, Perrie takes out her phone and searches for Ed Sheeran concerts in the near future. Her search has a few typos, but luckily Google understands what she meant, and informs her that Ed Sheeran is, in fact, on an European tour at the moment. She opens her schedule on the calendar app, and finds a few days off in the end of January. Then, she looks back at the dates of the concerts and their locations.

"Jade, we're going to France," Perrie says and pulls Jade into a hug. Jade is rather confused, and simply laughs. "I'm serious. You can't come with me on the trip to Asia - which, by the way, I've invited my mum and aunt to join Caitlin, Ellie and I - so this is our chance! Please come with me," she says in a childish voice. Jade might be drunk, but she is still her usual calculated self, and does not see a way this could work. "If Jed gets to take you on a trip, then I'm definitely allowed to, too," Perrie teases.

"Okay, okay, fine," Jade quickly agrees. "Sam is going to kill us, though."

"She doesn't have to know about this," Perrie says with a knowing grin. "No one has to know. We will quietly fly out to this place I've never heard of before - it's called Amnéville," Perrie slowly reads from her phone. "- and we'll spend a few days together, and attend the concert, and go see fun places together. We'll make it look like we're in the UK, so no one will suspect anything."

"We can't just convince everyone of that. No one's going to believe that," Jade argues. Even though she would love to go on a trip with Perrie, it is too risky.

"It's not as complicated as you think. All we have to do is post some stuff saying that we're rehearsing for tour, or that we're with our families - maybe even both! And no one is going to doubt a thing," Perrie explains. "I've done it before," she continues and shrugs her shoulders.