Fic: Trestling Under the Influence (Crossover) Chapter 1
Title: Trestling Under the Influence
Chapter: Nothing New, Nothing’s Changed
Pairing: Katie/??? (You’ll just have to guess and/or wait and see!)
Rating: T for swearing and whatnot
Summary: AU - Crossover - With the help of her best friend Effy, Katie finds herself starting a crime scene clean up business.
A/N: So this is my first attempt at Skins fanfic, and I decided to do an AU Crossover with the film Sunshine Cleaning! I’ve taken the general themes and ideas from the movie and “Skins-ified” it! Oh yeah - this is unbeta’d so all mistakes are definitely mine!
A/2nd N: So I am in NO WAY British - In fact I’m Canadian. So to make things easier with the slang, and the British terms and styling of writing, I’ve decided to set this story in some town in Oregon?
…
Katie feels her insides clench as she gawks helplessly at the appalling scene unfolding in front of her. This can’t be happening. This can’t be fucking happening! She puts her car into park, near the fire trucks and the smoldering house.
Her mouth goes dry as she immediately remembers that she still hasn’t tracked down Effy. Scanning the area, she finds her sitting in the company van across the street. Getting out of the car, all Katie could think of as she runs over to the van is that A) thank god Effy’s alive, and B) Effy’s so fucking dead! As she gets closer she sees that Effy is hunched over, headphones on and cradling something in her lap.
Katie raps at the door, catching the waif’s attention. Effy pulls off her headphones, and opens the door to reveal a small black kitten curled in her lap.
“It was an accident,” Effy defends.
“How does this fucking happen? How do you burn a house down, Effy? Jesus fucking Christ!”
Still holding the kitten, Effy gets out of the van and attempts to calm Katie down, with no success. “Jesus Katie, calm down.”
Katie screams out in frustration, stomping her feet, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. She throws her keys at Effy who turns to shield the kitten. The keys collide against her shoulder, falling to the ground as the skinny brunette could only stare at her in bewilderment. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you. You’ve fucking ruined me!”
Effy laughs out loud bitterly, shaking her head at her.
“Well you should’ve been here helping me instead of desperately trying to impress your stupid sister, and your high school people who don’t even matter, or even give a shit about you. Proving to them that you’re not a big loser. If you had been here doing your job this wouldn’t have happened. So don’t try to put this all on me.”
Katie gasps. “Are you fucking kidding me? This is on you. You set a fucking house on fire. I can’t believe I was so stupid to think that you could handle a little bit of responsibility.”
“Oh fuck off Katie. I’m so sick of all your holier than thou bullshit. Why don’t you take a look at your own life, yeah? You’re a real inspiration.”
Effy turns to walk away, but like hell Katie would let her get away with saying that shit to her face. Her hand shoots out and grabs Effy by the collar of her shirt, spinning her skinny ass around. “Oh that’s right. Turn everything to shit and walk away. It’s your style, isn’t it? Fuck everyone’s life and then runaway. You haven’t fucking changed one bit. It’s Freddie all over again.”
Effy shoves Katie. “Fuck off, Katie. Don’t go there.”
As Effy turns to walk away, Katie grins and pushes one more time: “Don’t go there? How can I not? This is exactly the kind of thing you did - you always do when shit hits the fan because of you fucking up. Remember? I mean I know you’ll never accept that it was your fault that he took the drugs. And your fault you were both off your faces, that you both went mental, so fucking mental to the point that he went and took his own-” Effy’s lunging at her in a flash, her fist connecting with face before Katie could utter out the rest of her sentence. She goes down in a second, hitting the pavement hard as she tastes blood.
“Fuck off,” Effy says with so much despair in her voice, that it almost comes out as a sob. Katie groans, rolling over to gape at the taller girl. The expression on Effy’s face is dark, full of hate and sadness. Her eyes, which are usually a brilliant blue are full of tears. The brown eyed burgundy haired brunette looks down and is surprised to see the kitten still safe in Effy’s grasps. Effy pulls the kitten closer to her, as she turns around and leaves.
Her footsteps echo in the night air, as Katie reaches up to touch her split lip. She winces at the pain, shaking her head as she reaches into her purse for her cell phone. She flips it open to see that the display is cracked. “Fuuuck.” After a moment to recollect her self, she hits her speed dial -
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Katie sighs into the receiver.
---
Three Months Earlier…
Katie drags a vacuum cleaner across the living room floor where expensive décor collides with the debris of a recent party. As she vacuums next to a sliding glass door, she glances out the window and stares out at a group of twenty somethings frolicking about next to the pool.
One of the boys moves toward her, as Katie quickly focuses her attention back to the task at head, hiding the fact that she had just been staring at the group. The lanky boy slides open the door, dripping with water as he makes his way to retrieve a bottle of beer from the refrigerator. He brushes past Katie on his way back out, almost colliding directly into her.
Katie huffs glancing down at her chest, specifically at the logo imprinted on her uniform: Moira’s Cleaning Services. She sighs, wondering whether or not the wanker even saw her at all.
---
Katie didn’t have a whole lot going for her these days. She was currently working a mediocre job, living in a mediocre apartment, and was a living a mediocre life. Sometimes the only thing that made things at least half way decent was the fact that she was lucky enough to live with her best friend, Effy, who she’s known since high school. Back then, life seemed so much better. It was just - simpler. Back then she was popular, and back then she still had Emily, her twin sister…
Then, the incident happened, and everything changed. Life was different for everyone, and although Katie understood that because of what had happen she was supposed to seize life and live it to the fullest, she did so in a foolish way. While Emily decided to work towards a future and pursue her ambitions, Katie decided to seize life and party - enjoy every moment of it because - you never know, really? Soon, the twins wounded up growing apart, and their relationship turned to shambles as they fought over different ideals; Emily always criticizing Katie for partying too hard, and Katie for telling her younger twin to mind her own fucking business, and to stop and enjoy life instead of work all the time. Soon though, high school would end and soon Katie’s life was over. Reality hit hard and Katie found herself stuck with shit grades, only qualified to do shit serving jobs. Soon, all her friends were moving on with their lives, while Katie was left in the afterglow of her glory days. Katie was stuck going from one shit job to another, and never really going anywhere. Meanwhile Emily would move away to California to go to university, and eventually the twins would fall out of touch.
The only thing that Katie had left now that she no longer had Emily, were her memories, and Effy.
Yet, Effy wasn’t always solid.
---
Katie’s in bed seconds close to dozing off when Effy decides it’s the perfect time to ruin her mood. She hears Effy sigh, and opens her eyes to see the taller girl press up against the threshold.
“What is it?” Katie offers, lifting her head up lazily from her pillow. At first Effy says nothing, and just saunters over taking a seat on the edge of her bed. She picks at a rip in Katie’s duvet, before quietly replying, “I got fired today.”
Katie’s eyes widen as she immediately sits up and glares at her. “What the fuck?”
“I just got into a fight with Mr. Kim, and he just… fired me.”
“Effs, you know this is completely bad timing. It’s almost the end of the month and rent’s due. I can’t pay for it all by myself-”
“I know, I know. You think I meant to get fired?”
“Fuck,” Katie hisses, rubbing at her eyelids. “I shouldn’t have to deal with this right now.”
“Look I’ll fix it. I promise. Just, maybe in the meantime Eric can help you?”
Katie turns to give her a look.
“Or not. Just don’t worry Katie, I’ll fix it somehow.” Effy pleads, but Katie knows better. She knows Effy.
“No. You mean, I’ll fix this shit. Like I always do.” She gets off of the bed, and grabs her purse from her night table. “I can’t keep carrying you Effy. You need to get your shit together. One of these days…” She trails off as her eyes bore into Effy’s. All she sees in her deep blue eyes is “Sorry”.
One of these days, “Sorry” won’t be enough.
--
Katie lies on her back as Eric, her on-again, off-again boyfriend fucks her in Room 214 in a seedy motel found on the outskirts of town. This is where the usually meet; it’s usually during the day-time in between lunch and early evening - and it’s always in this same room. It’s no way near fucking romantic, but it’s the closest thing to a relationship that she’s had in ages. It’s also the most consistent things she’s had going for her in the last five years, other than her friendship with Effy.
Her head nearly hits the headboard with every thrust as she closes her eyes, and tries to enjoy getting fucked. She hasn’t enjoyed fucking Eric in a long time.
In the beginning they used to have a lot of fun. At first there was something sexy about having an illicit affair with a married man. A police officer even. Nowadays Katie found it was something for her to do, because really in between work, home time, and maybe the occasionally girls night with Effy she had nothing better to do. In the beginning the sex was good, and now it was lacking.
She remembers the first time she met him, at a rundown bar down the street from the motel. She had just been fired from one of her shit jobs, and was recently dumped by another stupid tosser. So as luck would have it in Eric’s case, his timing was perfect for she was so was utterly down in the dumps when he had appeared by her side with a drink in hand. He was suave enough, and okay good looking enough with his strong jaw, and green eyes, that Katie let herself be taken by his charm. The thing that she liked about him, and the only reason she followed him back to the motel room that night was that he was honest.
He was clear about being married in the first place, and clear about only wanting to shag her with no strings attached. At that time, after having been with half a dozen assholes who were never honest, and who didn’t treat her nearly half as well as Eric did in the span of couple hours, Katie was easily taken by him.
Her head starts to thump against the headboard, awakening Katie from her thoughts, as Eric starts to pound into her even harder. As Eric comes, Katie turns her face away to sigh. He collapses on top of her, sweaty and out of breath as Katie accepts that she won’t be coming tonight.
--
Katie gets out of bed and begins putting her clothes on. Eric watches for a moment, then rolls out of bed. He stops in mid motion, a pained look on his face.
“Still sore?” Katie asks. He shakes his head. “I don’t know why you did that.”
“You should hear the way he goes on about his lean body mass index bullshit. Drinking that antioxidant, protein powder, enzyme crap all the time.”
Eric finally gets up and limps over to his clothes hanging over a chair next to the bed.
“When was the last time you played football?”
“He needed to be brought down a peg,” Eric defends as he throws his shirt over his head.
“Right, I’m sure you pulling a groin muscle humbled the fuck outta him.”
Katie smirks, as Eric pretends to be offended.
“I should introduce him to your friend Effy.”
“Right, an ex-junkie with a cop? You’re fucking mental if you think that’s going to happen.”
Eric shrugs as he steps into his slacks. Katie smooths out her skirt and readjusts it. She turns around and sizes herself up in the mirror. Eric takes this as the opportunity to slide his hands around her waist from behind.
“We were working a scene today where this guy offs himself in a sporting goods store. So they had this crew out there, right? You would not believe how much money they charge for that kind of shit.”
Katie makes a face, as she cringes. “With the dead body there?”
“No, no. The body’s gone, it’s just the blood and stuff.”
“Sounds repulsive.”
Eric laughs at Katie’s squeamishness, nuzzling his stubbly face into her neck. His gruffness scratches at her soft skin, as she shoves at him playfully at first, but then gives into his affections.
“You should get into that.”
Katie freezes under his touch. “You think that’s all I can do?” Eric’s eyes go wide eyed as he opens his mouth to protest, but Katie is quick to shove him away completely, “Clean other people’s shit?”
“Babes, that not what I meant -”
He reaches out for her, but the damage has been done. Katie bends down to pick up her purse, and makes he way to the door.
“What about cash, don’t you want it?”
Fuck. Katie almost forgot about the money Eric said he’d lend her. Yet, after his twattish remark about Katie moving from one cleaning job to another, Katie really just wants to flip him off and tell him to go fuck himself, because she really doesn’t need him. Truth is - because of Effy’s fuck up - she does. It takes every ounce of self-control for Katie to not leave the motel room, as she stays frozen in place.
She reaches out and begrudgingly takes the cash from Eric. Eric smiles and pulls Katie roughly into a hug.
“That’s my girl!”
--
When she’s back at the apartment Effy’s waiting for her on the balcony smoking a joint.
“I was wondering when you’d come back.”
Katie huffs with annoyance as she steals the joint from Effy’s lips and takes a drag. She turns to Effy and blows the smoke directly into her face.
Effy coughs waving the haze out of her face, “Thanks Katie.”
Katie glares before taking another drag, this time blowing the smoke into the night sky. “So what, were you stoned or something?”
“No! I wasn’t stoned.” Effy crosses her arms, “It was just Mr. Kim being a dick head.”
“I find that hard to believe. In fact I thought you liked Mr. Kim,” Katie says, leaning over the railing to watch the cars drive by the apartment building below. She finishes the fag, dropping the butt into an ashtray. She turns around and faces Effy, “When are you going to grow up and take responsibility for-”
“-Oh please,” Effy canters, “You love it when I fuck up. Love it. Me screwing up gives you the hugest boner, and makes you feel so much better about your failure of a life -”
“-Fuck off Effy.”
There is a moment of silence, as the girls just stare at each other not even blinking. It’s a challenge and Katie knows that she’s not about to be the one that breaks. Of course, Effy is the first to break.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m getting tired of hearing that Eff.”
“I know, but I mean it this time. Really,” Effy says softly as she reaches for Katie’s hand. “I promise I’ll make things better.”
Katie sighs, as she pulls Effy into a hug. “You better.”
--
She is wiping down the last window in the master bedroom, when Paul an elderly man, and her current client wanders into the bedroom and offers her tea. She politely declines when the door bell rings.
“That must be my wife.”
“Okay,” Katie says as she tosses away the used paper towel into the trash bin. She starts to pack away her cleaning supplies, when she hears Paul open the door for his wife, and Katie hears an unexpected voice.
Her heart jumps into her throat as Katie almost drops her supply bag to the ground. She regains her composure and makes her way out of the bedroom and down the stairs to see for herself if she’s imaging things.
There in the foyer though, red hair shimmering in the light -- is Emily Fitch.
Katie finds out later that she’s been back in town for over a month and has been friends with Paul, and his wife Carol since coming back. They met during a seminar at a work retreat in Colorado, and have been great friends ever since.
“No wonder you looked so familiar,” Paul would joke later over drinks, comparing the likeness and the differences between the two twins.
Katie is mostly quiet during the impromptu reunion with Emily and her friends, as Emily recounts old childhood stories from their youth. As they leave Paul and Carol’s together, with Emily walking Katie to the company car, Katie feels completely embarrassed about her job, and what her life has become.
“I missed you, you know,” Emily says as she embraces her sister in a hug.
“Yeah.”
“We should get together soon.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Katie says, before ducking into her car, and closing the door shut. Emily bends down to wave Katie good-bye before turning on her heels and heading straight for her own car.
Katie sighs, slamming her head against the steering wheel. Suddenly she hears her cell phone vibrate from her purse. She reaches into her purse to see that Effy sent her a text.
Got a new job today! Woo hoo! Let’s get fucked? Eff xx
Katie texts back.
Fuck yeah. See you in a bit K xx
--
Chapter Two