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Jade spent a good two hours perfecting her two hour Christmas/Winter/Holiday playlist last night, and it's already playing, even though none of the girls have arrived yet. Danielle's out, and while part of Jade's sad she'll not be here for their Christmas decoration, baking movie-watching, hanging out extravaganza, she does enjoy when it's just the four of them as well. There's nothing like the company of her three band-sisters; it's just not something anyone else can really understand - working together so closely and spending so much time together, but still loving each other so fiercely. Jade is protective of all her friends, but she won't deny that she's especially protective of her band-sisters. They need to be protective of each other. The world out there tends to suck when you're a pretty girl with a talent and ambition.
But anyway. There's cheery music playing, the sofa's covered entirely in boxes of Christmas decorations, and she's sliced a roll of biscuit dough and put it in the oven, so it even smells like Christmas. The only challenge left is to not get ahead of herself and get started without the rest of the girls.
Thankfully, Leigh Anne's always early, and, true to form, it's only another few minutes before the doorbell rings, a full twenty minutes before the time they'd set.
"Hiiiii," Leigh Anne trills. "Sorry, I'm early, I know."
Jade doesn't bother not laughing as she swoops Leigh Anne into a hug as soon as she's peeled herself out of her coat, hat, scarf, and gloves.
"Why d'you still apologise? It's not like we're not all expecting you to be early."
"I knooow, just. Manners. I don't know," Leigh Anne says, eyebrows hiking up her forehead as she takes in the boxes piled on the sofa like she thought when Jade told them she'd bought some additional Christmas decorations she was joking.
"Smells delicious in here, what are you baking?"
"Just got some rolls of biscuit dough. Couldn't be bothered to do it proper," Jade grins. "Should be done in a minute or so."
The great thing about biscuits is they're done so quickly.
With the biscuits out of the oven and set out to cool, they sit in the kitchen, occasionally nipping at their (spiked) cups of tea, while they chat and catch up. Jade often wonders that with how much time they spend together they still manage to have so much to talk about, but the thing is - when it's with good friends you might find yourself having the more or less same conversation over and over, but you never really mind.
Jesy and Perrie arrive together, both bundled up in parkas and hats, hands shoved deep into their pockets to keep them warm.
"Jade, gosh, it smells amazing in here!" Jesy says immediately, toeing off her shoes and flinging her parka into the closet, not bothering to pick it up. Jade would've just left it there, but Perrie's already picking it up and hanging it on a hanger beside her own, smile wide.
"Yeah, I'm starving as well, so can we order the food straight away? Otherwise I'll just eat all of those biscuits myself," Perrie adds.
"You're not even in the door properly!" Leigh Anne laughs, wrapping them both up in hugs.
By the time they've all said their hellos and had their hugs, no less than fifteen minutes have passed, and Perrie's stomach has decided to growl quite loudly.
"I wasn't joking!" Perrie grins.
"Shake Shack?"
It's more of a rhetorical question at this point. If Shake Shack did VIP cards or something, they'd probably be eligible for one by now.
"It'll be here within an hour," Jade says, typing away at her phone. "There's biscuits till then and I've got some sandwich stuff as well."
Perrie waves her off and bounces into the kitchen to grab the plate of biscuits.
"D'you want a tea, Jes?" she calls. "Jade's got the rum out."
"Oh, are we drinking already?" Jesy asks with a grin, waggling her eyebrows at Jade and Leigh Anne's smug grins.
"Sure, babe! Thanks!" she yells back into the direction of the kitchen.
Once Perrie's back with the biscuits and teas, Jade turns towards the boxes, and the other three turn towards Jade. They've got work to do, after all. The flat won't decorate itself. They're not just here to eat, drink, and be merry. Of course, that's exactly what they end up doing, conversation and occasional drinks flowing equally easily, spontaneous sing-alongs and tinsel mishaps only barely slowing them down. By the time the flat is fully decked out in all of Jade's Christmas regalia, all four of them collapse into a cuddly heap onto the newly empty sofa.
"Love yous," Jade says, Perrie's leg slung over Jade's lap, with her head resting on Jesy's, Leigh Anne's head resting against Jade's other shoulder.
"Love you too."
The End