Fic: Trestling Under the Influence (Crossover) Chapter 4
Title: Trestling Under the Influence
Chapter: Perfect Days
Rating: T for swearing and whatnot
Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, nor do I own Sunshine Cleaning.
…
It's been getting harder and harder to hide her pregnancy from Effy. She wonders if Effy knows, but isn't saying anything. The girl has always been clever like that. Sometimes Katie catches her staring at her from across the room with a puzzled expression on her face, as if she's analyzing her - figuring her out. She wonders if in those moments, if Effy's putting the pieces together. One side of her wishes she could just be honest with her, but the other side is still so fearful of how she'll react - even if she knows that Effy's reaction to finding out that she's been keeping this from her will be more than a million times worse. She can't bring herself to do it though; she's just so far deep in this mess - beyond the point of no return.
Things with Eric aren't better. He's promised to make an effort in their relationship - whatever that means - but he's still with his wife and kids, leaving Katie's still number three or four on his list of priorities. The only thing he's been good for these days is helping the girls find jobs for their post-mortem cleaning business - which is actually doing quite well. Well enough that she's been able to start paying off quite a bit of her debt, and even saving a bit of money here and there.
She glances down at her watch checking the time, as she sits alone in the motel room waiting for Eric. After another half an hour of sitting around, she's livid, and decides to abolish the planned meet up. Fuck him if he was going to be this uncouth, and stand her up - again. Some days she wished she were more like Emily because the men in her life have been completely useless. It drives her mad because she finds it tremendously ignorant when she hears straight girls joke about it (or even not joke about it)when the men in their lives have scorned them.
…
She comes home to Effy lounging on the couch, with a half empty bottle of beer in her hands. She sits up to greet the twin with a smile, "Well that was definitely a quickie."
"Yeah well the asshole didn't show up," Katie says, kicking off her heels.
"Shitty," Effy says. She grabs an unopened bottle of beer off the coffee table and offers it to Katie. The smaller girl waves it away, as she sits down next to her and sulks. Effy wraps an arm around her shoulder, as Katie leans into the hug.
"Hey Katie," Effy starts, "You know that girl that works with Winston at the store?"
"Yeah what about her?"
"Well remember that trailer we cleaned up a couple weeks back? I think she's the dead woman's daughter."
Katie knows where this conversation is going, and she really doesn't like it one bit. She glares at the brunette, breaking away from her embrace: "Don't even fucking think about it."
"What? I didn't even say anything -"
Katie cuts her off, "-Yeah but I know what you're thinking, Effy. I know how you work."
The taller girl sighs, putting her bottle down to throw her arms up in the air in protest, "It's not right. Sophia's a nice girl. She deserves to know what happened to her mother."
Katie opens her mouth to tell her how completely wrong she is, and how it's not her place to tell Sophia, but then feels a sudden wave of nausea hit her hard. She gags. Effy's eyes bug out at her random dry heaving, as Katie feels the bile rising up in her throat - it's enough to send her running to the bathroom.
With both hands on either side of the toilet bowl, Katie pukes. She hears footsteps approach her from behind, as Effy asks gently, "Are you all right?"
She shakes her head in response, feeling a moment of calmness that is short-lived as she feels another round of upchucking take over her.
Effy grimaces: "Katie, I really need you tell me if something's up. Okay?"
After a few more minutes, the smaller girl's stomach seems to have settled down. She grabs some toilet paper and wipes her mouth, as she sits back from the bowl. She reaches out and pushes the lever down, flushing the toilet. Looking up at Effy, she nods, "Look I'm just sick. I think I ate something earlier today or last night that was bad, maybe expired."
Effy sighs. Katie knows that she's getting fed up with this. It's why she appreciates it when the girl changes the subject, "I quit my job by the way. So now you have a full time partner." She smiles lamely, as the burgundy haired girl squeals with joy, and hugs her best friend.
…
She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that Effy's theory that Sophia was the trailer park woman's daughter didn't pique her curiosity one bit. She goes to the cleaning supply store to investigate, to see if Effy was completely out of her mind, or actually quite dead on.
When she gets to the store, she finds the skinny girl by the back, putting some coveralls away on the shelf. Apparently Winston had left her in charge, as he's out on an errand.
"Do you know if he'll be back soon?"
"Yeah he called about five minutes ago. Said he'll be back in about ten."
"Great," Katie pauses, watching Sophia realign the coveralls on the shelf. "So, how are you?"
She can see it on the other girl's face that she's a little taken back by Katie's sudden urge to have small talk with her, but she's obviously more gracious than girls like Katie will ever be, as she replies back with a lovely smile, "I'm okay. Just working. Same old, same old, you know?"
"Yeah," Katie says with a fake giggle. "I know I totally enjoy my days off."
Sophia nods slowly.
"I like to spend time with my family you know? On… my… days off."
"Mmhmm," the other girl says, nodding again with Katie almost forcefully this time. You probably don't even give a shit, the twin thinks. She feels like a complete idiot - like all those annoying girls that insist upon keeping stupid small talk going because they hate the sound of silence. It's one of Katie's biggest pet peeves, and to be doing it right now just kills her. She continues anyway as she tries to subtly urge Sophia to reveal more about her family, "Yeah, like my sister, Emily. Do you have any siblings?"
"Yeah I've got an older brother, Matt. We don't talk much though."
"I see," Katie says. She clears her throat, "Do you uh, still live at home?"
"No, actually I live on my own with my roommate. I've been on my own since I gradated college. About maybe two three years ago."
"I see," Katie replies back lamely. She wants to ask her about her mom, but is afraid that she'll come off too suspicious. Thankfully, it's as if Sophia has read her mind, because she goes off and talks about her mother anyway, "I don't really get along with my mom so much. We don't really keep in touch."
"Well that's too bad. I guess I don't talk to my mom either. I think it's actually normal."
The door opens, and in comes Winston returning from his errand. Thank fuck for his impeccable timing.
"Oh look, Winston's back. I'll talk to you later, all right?"
"Take care, Katie."
"Yeah you too." With a quick wave, she heads over to Winston, as he's unpacking a few items behind the counter. He smiles at her, as she approaches, "Afternoon, Katie. How're you doing?"
"I'm great, I came to show you some business cards."
She digs into her purse, and pulls out a tiny fistful of cards. They're plain, boring, and cheap looking. They look as if they were done up on some word processing program at home - which in fact they werethanks to Eric.
"Sunshine Cleaning. Nice."
"Yeah, Effy and I figured we'd put a positive spin on things. Mind if I put a few cards by the register?"
"Yeah sure, why not," he says, nodding enthusiastically as he takes the cards from Katie and places them neatly next to the cash register. "You girls should really market yourselves."
"Oh, how would we do that?"
"Well, you want to try and get an in with like funerals homes, and property managers. Oh, and definitely insurance companies. They can throw you a ton of work."
The idea thrills her. If Winston was right, the girls could really make a killing with their business. She really hopes so. Since starting the business - and other than Eric being a complete asshole - life started to feel less shitty for Katie. Like she was actually accomplishing something, and she had something to look forward to. Quite a few things actually. She touches her belly with a smile.
"You ladies are B.B.P certified right?"
"B.B. what?" Katie deadpans.
"Blood Born Pathogens. The big money jobs… they'll expect you to be certified."
Of course they needed to be certified, she thinks. She guesses that she was expecting way too much if she thought it was going to be this easy.
Winston perks her back up, "I can register you for the next seminar if you want?"
She doesn't have to think twice. "That'd be great."
…
With the expanding business, the girls needed to get a bigger vehicle to travel in. So they decided to go to the nearby auto mart to find a second hand van.
"It's a real growth industry." Katie explains to the car lot owner, as he takes them over to the large vehicle section of the lot. He's a nice older gentleman with white hair, a potbelly, and a receding hairline.
"Well frankly dear, it sounds like the kind of work I wouldn't expect such lovely ladies like yourselves to be involved in."
"We're tough girls." Effy interjects with a shrug.
The man laughs, "I'm sure you are."
They approach an old slightly rusted white van. It looks to be in fairly decent condition, except for a few scratches, and slight rusting on the front bumper.
The girls ask how much it is going to cost them and are semi-relieved to hear that the van is just over two grand. It is in their budget range, but still a little too high. Since they're kind of just starting their company, they can't risk blowing all their money on a vehicle - even if it is an investment.
"Is there any way you could drop the price for us a bit?"
He laughs, "Ladies that's the floor right there. I'm actually taking a loss on this to make room for some more product."
The girls frown at the same time, but Katie continues to barter with the man, "Well what if we paid with cash?"
The man considers it for a moment, his brow furrowing. "Well cash is good."
Effy walks over to the back of the vehicle, and notices a dent in the bumper. She pipes in, "Well what about the back bumper? There's an obvious dent right here. It's not something you can easily hide."
Katie then adds, "And what about the slight rusting? There's like a bit of rust all over this van."
He sighs, contemplating for a moment. "Well you have me ladies. What if I dropped it to eighteen hundred, even?"
The girls beam in unison, accepting the deal.
…
The sun is setting, as the girls drive home in their brand new van. Well brand new in a second hand 'I just bought this' kind of way.
This time Effy's in the driver's seat, which Katie is a bit nervous about because Effy rarely drives. She actually doesn't trust Effy with a lot of things. The only real thing that Katie trusts Effy with is maybe her loyalty factor as friends. So much as Effy fucked up in everything else, Katie could always count on Effy to be there for her whenever she needed someone emotionally. It's why they've been together since they met during their first year in high school.
They hit a curb, and the girls bounce in their sets. Katie glares at the brunette, who shrugs with a sly smile. After a beat, Effy quickly glances back at Katie, "I'm going out tonight. I think you should come."
She dreads it every time Effy asks her to go because of the inevitable no answer, and the repetitive argument that follows suit. She's quite sure that Effy's annoyed and weary over listening to the same sorry excuses - just as much as she is sick and tired of spewing them. "Thanks but I'm kind of exhausted. I'll probably just stay home tonight."
Effy scoffs, as she gives her a look.
"What?"
"Again. You're going to stay home, again."
Katie cringes, "So?"
"So? Katie, we haven't gone out together in weeks," Effy complains.
Katie laments, "What's wrong with staying at home?" She hates herself for being so lame, even if she is lying. Really, if she were Effy she would've lost it by now with how many times she's regurgitated the same pathetic reasons to be a loner over and over again.
"I just feel like you're always home. It's like you never want to do anything fun anymore. You don't even have a beer with me, when I am home. I think you really need to relax and have a good time."
Katie tries to think of a way out of this conversation without rehashing the same shit that she's been saying like, 'She just doesn't feel up to it', or 'She's really is exhausted'. Sighing, she knows that whatever she says it's still going to come off extremely petty,"What if I've just grown out of it?"
"Oh so you're saying you're better than me then?" Effy argues, getting even more pissed off at the tinier girl.
"That's not what I'm saying," Katie quickly defends. She looks up in time to see an upcoming stop sign. "And I hope you see that stop sign."
Effy slams on the breaks, both girls thrusting forward at the impact. Thank fuck for seat belts, Katie thinks as she sits back. An elderly woman crosses the street, shaking her head at the duo as she walks by. With a charming smile Effy flips the woman off, causing the old gal to gasp in shock while Katie laughs at the sight.
As her laughter dies off, she notices the other girl sitting there thinking to herself. A beat later, she awakens from her quiet musings. Effy slowly steps down on the gas, gently accelerating, and they're on the move again.
"And by the way," Katie starts, "I have gone out a few times. Remember, Eric? I've at least seen him twice in the last week and a half."
"Fine," Effy says. She purses her lips, "Is it Eric then? Is he responsible for you suddenly turning into a boring straight? Honestly I think you should leave him. You could do way better than that dick."
"No," Katie lies with a small smile. She's filled with a tiny burst of happiness to know that her friend thinks that even she deserves better than Eric. Unfortunately unlike Katie, Effy's not smiling. She gives up prying on Katie (like always) as she quietly drives the girls home. It makes Katie just loathe herself, feeling so guilt-stricken over lying so much. Thing is, she knows it won't last long. That once the truth is out - it's going to be very ugly.
…
As soon as they get home, they immediately unwind on the couch. Effy figures it's a better idea to pre-drink at home before heading out to the party. She's decided to go out with or without Katie, and doesn't bother heckling the girl for being a lame ass. They're both lying together on opposite ends of the couch, both girls gazing up at the ceiling above. It sucked sometimes that the girls were so broke that they couldn't afford cable, let alone a television. Sometimes if Eric was nice enough, he would lend her his laptop so that the girls would be able to watch DVDs.
The brunette interrupts her thoughts, "By the way, real subtle today."
"Hmm?"
"You, investigating Sophia."
What the fuck? How would - "How would you know?"
Effy says nothing as she takes a sip from her beer bottle.
It dawns on Katie that Sophia might've said something to Effy, but why would they even be talking, unless - "Oh my god, don't tell me you're friends with her?" she sits up on the couch and gawks at the taller girl.
"Maybe."
She can't believe her. That Effy is crazy enough to befriend a girl they barely knew so that she could let her know that her mother dropped dead in her ramshackle trailer. Besides, from what Katie gathers Sophia might not want to know. Based on her conversation from earlier, she feels like Sophia might even dislike her own mother. "That's just sick Effy."
"What? How's that sick."
"You should just leave the poor girl alone. You know nothing about history or her family."
Effy sits up, slamming her beer bottle on the table in front of them, extremely annoyed with Katie and her accusations. "You know mind your own business Katie. I'll do whatever the fuck I want." She gets up and retreats to her room, leaving Katie alone. She ends up staying in her room until her cab arrives. As she angrily puts her boots on, she ignores Katie and leaves without a good-bye.
…
Chapter Five
Back