Fic: Trestling Under the Influence (Crossover) Chapter 6
Title: Trestling Under the Influence
Chapter: Dance On Our Graves
Rating: T for swearing and sexual content
Disclaimer: I don’t own Skins, nor do I own Sunshine Cleaning.
…
Her fingers drum against the steering wheel as she is parked in a Save Mart parking lot, waiting for Effy. They had planned to meet up to go shopping for supplies. (They’d been procrastinating for the last couple of weeks, and their current stock of supplies has hit an extreme low.) Effy’s late -- which really shouldn’t surprise her, but it does - and it’s a huge let down. Since starting the business together, Effy had been solid, and actually quite reliable. It gave Katie hope that maybe the brunette was changing for the better, and for good - but she is clearly wrong. Effy hasn’t changed - and the thing is Katie should’ve recognized that this is her style. When it came to relying on Effy as far as work or responsibility, she was always great in the beginning, but then after a certain point she would ultimately slip and fuck things up.
Her phone rings. It’s a client with a job for them - and it infuriates Katie, because now it changes all her plans for the day. Shopping will have to be postponed until after the job -- which she is thankful for -- but it has completely thrown off her schedule. She considers ditching her poor excuse for a business partner and heading out, but ends up deciding to wait for Effy.
After about half an hour, her patience wears thin, and she decides to leave. She shoves the key into the ignition, starting the van. Of course just as she goes to move forward, the passenger’s side door opens, and in comes Effy. The girl is completely oblivious to Katie’s furiousness, as she greets her with a smile, and starts strapping her seat belt in.
“You’re fucking late.”
Effy freezes in her movements, as she looks over at the smaller girl with a naïve expression, “Sorry.”
Katie shakes her head, “Effy, I’m fed up. This is getting so ridiculous that I’ve passed my limit, and I’m finding that I don’t even give a shit anymore.” She sighs, “Look we’ve got a job to do. Just because it’s our business doesn’t mean we can do whatever the fuck we want.”
Effy goes to reply, but Katie cuts right in again: “And just so you know, that while I was sitting here like a moron waiting for you, I got us a job. You know what that means? That now I have to rearrange my entire personal and work schedule because of you.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I fucked up. You can still rely on me, all right?”
“Are you sure?” Katie asks.
Effy reaches over and holds Katie’s hand. “Yeah babe, for real.”
She’s trying her best not to fight with Effy. Ever since their last fight, Katie made the conscious decision to try and minimize the amount of disputes between them, but this was Effy, and of course such an ideal would be difficult to achieve.
“We’ve got a suicide,” Katie says coolly changing the topic. Out of the corner of her eye she watches the way Effy’s face drops at the mention of the word suicide. She knows it’s cruel, but she ignores the reaction -- right now was her turn to be selfish.
…
Katie pulls the van up to the house and sees an old lady, sitting out front. She looks down at her pad of notes to find her name again. Mrs. Davies.
“Oh man,” Effy utters beside her. She grabs for Katie’s hand and gives it a squeeze, before both girls get out of the van, and head over to the porch.
“Mrs. Davies?”
The woman looks up. She’s fairly old, her white hair twisted up in a messy knot. Katie feels a pang of guilt wash over her as she takes in the look of devastation in the Mrs. Davies face. She seems so lost, dazed with grief.
“We’re the cleaning service.”
“Yes, yes…. I uh, I wanted to give you the keys.”
The old lady holds out a shaky hand. Katie goes to reach for the keys, but then decides against it as she gestures for Effy to take them. Effy nods without arguing.
“In the sunroom. That’s where my husband… I had bridge and…” She blinks twice, slowly, then snaps back out of her daze. “Do you need me to show you?”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary. I’m sure we’ll find it.”
“Oh, okay. That’s good then.” She exhales, deeply. “My son-in-laws’s coming to take me to lunch at the Howard Johnson’s. They have such nice rolls there.”
“Would you like to sit for a bit, Mrs. Davies?”
“Yes dear, I think I would.”
Katie sits down on the steps with Mrs. Davies as Effy quietly enters the house.
Katie reaches over and places a hand on the Mrs. Davies’ shoulder. Words seem useless.
…
Later that night Katie gets woken up when she feels the mattress dip down behind her. She flips over to see Effy siting on her bed, with her back turned.
“Effy?”
The brunette doesn’t respond. Katie takes a deep breath as she sits up, and reaches over to touch Effy’s shoulder.
“Effy what’s wrong?”
She feels the other girl begin to shake under her touch. Effy turns around with eyes all puffy and red, tears spilling down her pale cheeks. She hugs Katie desperately, crying into her neck.
“I miss him Katie.” Effy pulls Katie in tighter, as the smaller girl does nothing but hold her. She doesn’t have to ask - she knows she’s talking about Freddie.
“I miss him, and I wish I could’ve done something. I wish I could’ve stopped him.”
“Effy, we’ve been though this. You know it’s not your fault.”
“But I knew he needed help. I knew something was wrong, and I did nothing.”
Katie sighs. It was terrible, and sad, but Freddie’s life was always fated to end tragically. Long before Effy or Katie ever met Freddie, he had been plagued by depression. At a young age, he had lost his mother to suicide - and it really fucked him up. Then, Effy entered his world - and it was a little better for a while. Effy tried to take care of him, fix him. She thought that if she loved him enough it would save him but it didn’t work. He reverted back to his endless cycle of despair, taking Effy down with him, as they submerged themselves in drugs and alcohol. No one is clear whether or not it was premeditated or accidental, but Freddie eventually overdosed and died. There was no note, no apologies - but then again, there didn’t have to be.
Effy was distraught, and immediately blamed herself for his death. So did Freddie’s father, who caused a lot of problems for Effy and her parents, as the incident destroyed their reputation. Sadly for Effy, her parents cared about their pride more than they cared about their daughter, which led to a lot of fighting and Effy running away from home, disappearing for months.
Katie would find out later, that Effy had gone down to California, and got herself into a lot of trouble. Her brother Tony tracked her down, and brought her back to Oregon.
Now, nine years later here Effy and Katie were. A couple of screw-ups, bound together for life. Although she wishes she could’ve made a few different life decisions - like get a better education, and maybe pursue better career goals, Katie was happy that she and Effy had been brought together. Life was far from perfect, but having each other’s companionship had kept them both sane and alive.
About an hour later, it’s past midnight and they’re both still awake. Effy has her head on Katie’s chest, as Katie gently strokes her long, brown mane.
Katie suddenly remembers the visit from Anthea, “Your Mom was here today.”
Effy lifts her head up for a moment, dropping it back down onto Katie’s chest after a beat.
Katie continues: “She said, she wanted to see you-“
“-I don’t care.”
Katie isn’t surprised by Effy’s reaction, deciding to let the conversation go. She’s almost asleep when Effy whispers to her.
“Don’t leave me.”
Katie opens her eyes to see Effy staring up at her. “I’d never leave you. Okay?”
Their eyes lock, and for the first time in a long time Effy looks young, a lot younger than she is. She feels the brunette shift around, pushing herself up to lean closer to Katie. Their faces are inches apart, and Effy’s piercing blue eyes are wide-eyed but contemplative, as if a sudden thought has popped into her mind, and she’s working it through.
Katie searches Effy’s eyes, wondering what’s wrong, but then everything stops when Effy leans in. It’s just lips but Katie’s heart quickens, the kiss feels like it lasts forever. When they pull apart, Katie’s eyes are still closed as she feels Effy place her head back on her pounding chest.
It takes Katie a bit longer as she lingers on what the fuck just happened, but her eyes lids eventually feel incredibly heavy and she falls asleep.
…
She wakes up alone the next morning. At first she’s in a panic at how to act but nothing happens as Effy greets her with a quick ‘Morning Babe’ in the kitchen.
Nothing is mentioned. She doesn’t have the balls to bring it up, and wonders if Effy is in the same boat. She then wonders if last night was just a moment of comfort that Effy needed, and that was it.
No matter the case, Effy acts normal, and the day goes on. Katie decides to just let it go, and leave it at that - that it was nothing.
(Even though it really isn’t.)
…
They decide to have a few friends over for drinks. Technically Effy persuaded her into it, and Katie pretends that her passiveness has nothing to do with last night. Like, what happened didn’t disarm her, or caused her decision-making skills to go to shit. What throws her off completely is when Effy asks if a couple friends could come over, she actually just means Sophia.
She’s shocked when she opens to the door, and sees the other girl, all dolled up and standing in the hallway.
“Oh hey Katie.”
She forces herself to be polite, “Hi.”
They stand there a moment, both girls just gawking at each other before Sophia speaks up again, “Um, may I come in?”
“Yeah of course. Sorry, I have no idea where my manners went.” Katie steps aside, as Sophia makes her way into the apartment. She takes another look at the girl, and realizes that she cleans up well, and is actually quite beautiful.
“It’s okay.”
Sophia takes her shoes off, as and Effy comes in from her bedroom and greets her with a hug. As Katie watches the embrace, she tries to tell herself that she’s jealous of how close Effy and Sophia’s friendship apparently is, and that was the only reason.
When they break apart, Effy beams down at Katie with a smile, “Well, let’s drink!”
…
Time passes and the girls wind up getting drunk in the living room - at least Effy and Sophia do. Katie has gotten away with drinking cranberry and soda water, lying to Effy about throwing in a shot of vodka in the kitchen earlier. When she finishes her last sip, Effy opens a bottle of beer, and hands it to her, as if deciding that Katie will drink tonight and it isn’t a suggestion. Katie accepts the drink reluctantly, holding it in her grasp.
She’s suddenly feeling like a third wheel as she watches Effy and Sophia laugh together like a couple of girlfriends who have known each other for years. She’s not sure where all her hate is coming from (although she has an idea, but really doesn’t want to consider it) and Katie decides that she just can’t stand Sophia anymore. It was okay when she was just a girl that happened to work at a store that she and Effy frequented, but now, seeing her and Effy get along like friends, it bugs the shit out of her.
She watches Sophia reach over and push Effy’s arm playfully, and Katie finds herself wondering if Sophia might be flirting? Effy is completely oblivious - and also kind of ignoring Katie, which hurts and pisses Katie off at the same time.
She tries to pay attention to the conversation - it’s something about work, maybe about Winston - but Katie just can’t get into it. She reaches for her cell phone and looks down at the list of people in her contacts feeling like a fake for having over a shit ton of numbers that she never calls or texts. Her eyes linger on Emily’s number, as she thinks about ringing her up for something to do, but her mind wanders and she’s suddenly wondering what Naomi’s up to. She thinks about it for a second before sending the blonde a text. It’s about ten or fifteen minutes later when Naomi replies back that she’s having a late night at the clinic.
She’s about to ask her if she wants to come over when Effy calls out her name.
“What?”
“I said, your beer is getting warm,” Effy repeats, as Sophia giggles beside her. Sophia starts talking again, and Effy directs her attention back to the girl sitting next to her, but not before giving Katie a serious look.
Katie gets up abruptly, “I’m going to make some snacks? Anyone else hungry?” she heads to the kitchen without waiting for a reply.
Busying herself in the kitchen, she’s puts together a platter of crackers, pickles, and cheese. She looks back into the living room to see Effy and Sophia engrossed in a quiet and serious conversation, which only makes her blood boil even more.
After putting the box of crackers of away, she grabs her beer, and sneakily pours it down the drain.
“What’re you doing?”
She turns around, and really there’s nothing to say because she’s been caught. She clears her throat, and slams the beer bottle down on the counter. She goes back to slicing cheese, and ignores Effy, as she feels the other girl take a step closer.
“Are you pregnant?”
Katie almost chops her finger off, as turns around to gape at the brunette, “What?”
Effy’s voice is low, “Katie, you don’t drink anymore, you don’t smoke anymore. I know you’re not just putting on weight-”
“-Fuck off Effy.”
“Just tell me the truth.”
The truth doesn’t come out, as Katie stands there, frozen. Effy moves in close, and takes the knife out of Katie’s hand.
Katie feels a panic surge inside her, and somehow she knows that even though it was because they were finally having this talk, it also has to do with how close Effy is standing next to her. Shivers shoot down her spine as she feels Effy’s warm breath against her neck. It’s only when the smell of Effy’s fruity shampoo starts to make her feel dizzy that she tells her brain to stop thinking altogether - because now isn’t the time to think about that.
“Please?” Effy begs again.
“I’m not.”
It’s exactly what Effy doesn’t want to hear, but Katie can’t think of anything to do but to run, so she heads to her bedroom.
Closing the door shut behind her, she lets out a deep breath, before taking a seat at the foot of the bed. Through the closed door, she hears Effy tell Sophia that something’s up and that they’re going to call it a night. She offers Sophia a spot on the couch.
When Effy enters the bedroom, Katie can no longer hide her tears.
Effy closes the door gently, before turning around, leaning back in a tired slouch. Katie can’t help but notice the distance between them, and the way Effy is pressed back against the door, as if to keep herself in a safe position.
“Why are you lying to me? We’re supposed to be best friends.” Effy’s voice is full of hurt, and disappointment. “You had so many chances to be honest with me, but you didn’t even make an effort.”
Effy moves away from the door, and stands directly in front of Katie with her arms crossed. There’s still a distance between them, as Effy spits out bitterly, “I fucking knew all along. I don’t know why you just didn’t say anything.”
Katie’s throat feels raw, as she replies quietly, “I didn’t want you to judge me.” It is a pathetic excuse really, but it’s so Katie, always caring way too much over what people think about her for her own good.
“What, like how you judge me all the time?” Effy’s eyes are wide, appalled by her own accusation, and Katie has no argument against it. The brunette shakes her head in disgust, “Fuck Katie.”
“I’m sorry.” Katie looks away, as she feels a sob begin to crawl up her throat, but she suppresses it. She didn’t mean for the lie to get so far out of hand. At first it was because she was uncertain that it was actually real. That she was going to have a child. Then it became about when was the right time to say something, or how should she word things? Or maybe it all boiled down to insecurity, like it always did. That Katie didn’t want Effy to look down on her, like she knows Emily and her mother will.
Her breath hitches, as Effy grabs her hands and kneels down in front of her, looking up with softened eyes, “I love you. I wouldn’t have cared. All right?”
Katie feels like the biggest idiot in the world. Effy hasn’t judged her at all, and she feels like shittiest best friend in the world because the same has not been true when it’s been the other way around. She should’ve never kept it a secret. If anything is more certain in Katie’s life these days, it is Effy’s investment in their friendship, and how it means a lot more to Effy then she lets on - and Katie’s just finding that out.
They hug.
…
That night she dreams.
She’s walking down an unfamiliar street with Effy. Soon they arrive at what she recognizes to be Eric’s house.
Eric opens the door with a smarmy grin, as Effy’s steps in. Katie goes to enter, but then the door is slammed shut before she even gets a chance. Confused, she knocks on the door. After a few beats, the door is opened by a frail little girl dressed in faded rags with extremely short sandy blonde hair.
Katie asks the girl what happened to Eric.
‘Eric doesn’t live here.’
Katie realizes by the deepness of the child’s voice, that she may be talking to a little boy and not a little girl. The child is so androgynous looking too that it’s hard for her to tell.
‘Well where’s Effy?’
The child replies, ‘There’s no Effy here either.’
Katie wonders who the child is, and goes to ask but then finds that she’s lost her voice. Panic begins to surge through her, as she wonders what the fuck is going on when blood begins to drip down from the child’s forehead-
She wakes up in a cold sweat. Katie looks around for Effy, but she’s gone.
There’s a note in the kitchen.
Giving Sophia a ride to work. Be back later preggo!
Love you! -Effy xoxo
She feels her stomach begin to cramp up, and goes to drink some water and painkillers. When her muscle spasms subside, she reaches for her cell phone on the kitchen counter.
…
While sitting in the patient room waiting for Naomi, she tries her best not to think negatively, but she can’t help but wonder if her dream was as terrible omen. Most of the time, she could never remember what she dreamt about the night before. She could only really remember flashes of people in them; the colors of their clothes or their surroundings, and a brief amount of conversations exchanged. Typically her dreams meant nothing.
Suddenly she feels a deep stabbing pain in her abdomen. She falls forward, onto the ground and away from her chair, as she grasps at her stomach. Her knees scuff up against the cold tile, and she wishes she’d worn jeans instead of a skirt.
Naomi barely utters out a ‘Hello’ before she’s bolting over to Katie’s side on the ground, “Katie what’s wrong?”
Tears spill from her cheeks, “It hurts. Oh god it hurts Naomi.”
“Let’s sit up for a second.”
Katie sits up against the wall. There are spots of blood on the ground, trailing back to Katie’s pale white thighs.
“Oh god, “ Katie says in shock.
“Come now, let’s get you on the bed.” The blonde offers Katie her hand, but she refuses it.
Naomi sticks her head out the door and calls for a nurse.
“I can’t move, it hurts so much.”
Naomi nods, as she grabs a pillow and blanket from the cot. She gets Katie to sit on the pillow, as she wraps the blanket around her. A portly nurse arrives, as Naomi gestures towards the front desk down the hall away from them. “I need the portable - I need to make a phone call. And can you please bring me some towels, and some hot water. She’s bleeding.”
The nurse hands Naomi the phone and leaves to get the water and towels.
Naomi bends down and pushes Katie’s hair away from her face.
“Is there-“
Katie nods, and gives her Effy’s number.
Naomi holds her hand, as she tries to get ahold of Effy. She’s not getting through.
“Fuck.” Naomi whispers as she redials.
After a few more tries, Katie breaks down. She reaches for Naomi, sobbing into her neck, as tears spill down soaking the blonde’s blouse wet. Naomi arms tighten around her.
They stay together in the embrace as the clinic’s other doctors take over Naomi’s other appointments.
…
Naomi drives Katie home. When they arrive - Effy’s still missing.
Still in haze, Katie immediately collapses on the couch, as Naomi grabs her a tall glass of water from the kitchen. When she downs the water in one gulp, Naomi suggests that maybe Katie should head to bed. Katie nods, as Naomi helps her up, and they head to the bedroom.
As Katie is in the midst of taking off her cardigan, they hear the front door open. Naomi can’t help but frown, when Effy stumbles into the bedroom, arms full of shopping bags, an oblivious smile on her face as she’s calling out for Katie.
At first, her eyes quirk, as Effy’s a bit thrown off with Naomi’s presence, but when she notices the distraught expression on Katie’s face, her smile instantly drops.
“Where were you?” Katie asks her voice laced with hurt.
“I’m sorry I was out, and my phone died.” Effy looks between Naomi and Katie. “What’s wrong?”
Naomi turns away, as Katie bursts into tears. “It’s gone.”
Effy doesn’t initially get it right away, but after glancing over at Naomi she eventually puts two and two together. The bags drop to the ground with a resounding thud.
“Oh fuck.”
She moves to grab Katie, hugging her in a tight embrace. Katie cries instantly. Her sobs echo through the apartment.
After a minute, Naomi places Katie’s keys on her night table, announcing to the girls that she was going to give them some space. She says sorry to Katie again, for her loss and starts to make her way out of the room.
“Naomi wait.” Effy pulls back from her hug with Katie, “Have you ever gone trestling?”
…
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