Written for the wonderful queercassandrapentaghast on Tumblr. This is my first In The Flesh fic (and my first femslash fic, can you believe?) so feedback would be very much appreciated. Enjoy!
"Amy, are you coming?"
They've just finished dinner at the Walker's (well, Jem, Sue and Steve have finished dinner, Kieren, Simon and Amy have finished pretending to eat) and Kieren and Simon are at the door, ready to head out for a bit.
"Just a sec," Amy calls from the bottom of the stairs, "actually, maybe you two should just go on without me, I need to talk to your sister."
Kieren and Simon look at each other, confused, then Kieren slings his coat over his shoulder and says 'Come on, she'll catch up.' Shrugging, Simon follows his boyfriend out the door just as Amy reaches the top of the stairs.
Amy nearly bursts in straight away – that's what she'd usually do, to Kieren, or Simon, but she and Jem haven't exactly been friends, and she needs Jem's good will for this, so she stops herself before she skids into Jem's room (it must be Jem, loud punk music is blaring from the room) and knocks.
Jem lets out an exasperated sigh as she hears the knocking, and doesn't even bother to turn the music off as she yells "Who is it?"
"It's Amy," Amy yells back through the door, not yet daring to push it open.
Confused, Jem heaves herself off her bed and actually turns the music off. What's Amy doing knocking at her door? They've barely spoken, and Jem's hardly made a point of getting to know her, or even pretending to like her. She opens the door on a nervously grinning Amy Dyer.
"What?" Jem asks flatly.
Ignoring Jem's less than warm welcome, Amy bounces into her room and plonks herself down on Jem's bed, making the springs creak. Pursing her lips, Jem follows her unwanted guest and perches on the edge of her bed.
Turning to her, Amy announces: "Jem, Jem Walker, I need your help!"
Oh, Jem thinks, she has the nerve to trespass into my room, uninvited and unwanted, and ask for my help? She very nearly laughs in Amy's face, but at the last moment her curiosity outweighs her irritation and she just asks "With what?"
"My hair," Amy says. Jem raises her eyebrows. Amy's hair is somewhat messy, but surely there are more urgent things to address about her appearance. Her ridiculous dress sense, to start with, not to mention the lack of cover up and contacts that still leave Jem feeling somewhat…unsettled, as much as she's trying to get used to her brother and his friends' state as PDS sufferers.
Clearly, Jem doesn't understand, so Amy explains further "I want to dye it."
"Oh." Jem is still somewhat confused. "And you need me for this…why?"
"Well, I've never done it before! I don't even know where to start, and your hair always looks so great. You're a pro, Jem Walker."
"More like, I'm basically the only person in Roarton who actually dyes their hair," Jem says, rolling her eyes, but secretly she's quite pleased at Amy's compliment. People don't usually even notice – certainly nobody in the HVF did, and after the first few times of scolding her for it, her parents had pretty much just ignored her sporadic changes in hair colour. In fact, the only other person who had ever complimented her hair was Kieren.
"Please, Jem! I know we haven't exactly been friends –"
"You don't say," she interrupts, the sarcasm in her tone slightly hampered by the fact that she's struggling to fight back a grin.
"But this could be an excellent opportunity to change that! And I know it would make Kieren happy." She playfully punches Jem's arm, knowing this is the one thing that might persuade her.
Amy's right, and Jem knows it. Clearly Amy's not as stupid as she looks (or acts). Jem sighs. "Alright then," she says, voice as begrudging as she can make it.
Amy actually looks shocked, and suddenly Jem feels like the victorious one here. "Really? You'll do it?"
"Yes, I suppose so. But no chatting on and distracting me when we're actually dying your hair, okay?"
"Right," Amy looks as pleased as punch, which for some reason gives Jem a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, so when Amy leans forward to hug her, Jem doesn't push her away immediately. She draws back after a moment though. She wouldn't want to be giving Amy the wrong idea, now, would she?