"Katie, you were supposed to be here half an hour ago, where are you?"
"Calm your tits Emily, I'm nearly there! For fucks sake, you act like I've got nothing better to do than drop all my plans and come and save you from Mum."
Emily's mouth dropped open, unseen by the recipient of her phone call. "You arranged this whole fucking thing! I'm not asking you to drop your plans, I'm asking you to stick to them!" She peered through the window of the bar that her mother sat in; 'The Old Palace.' A cup of tea was placed in front of her mother, which was opposite a pint glass, both delicately placed on an old, chipped wooden table. "Anyway, do you think I showed up so I could have an in depth chat with my mother about how I can still 'earn a place in heaven if I change my mind'? No, I came to see my sister, who instead is out shagging some random guy!"
Emily had clearly struck a nerve at this comment, as what followed forced her to hold the phone a few inches away from her ear. "- And he's not some random guy! I've known him for ages, he's wanted a shag since the moment he saw me! Can't blame him, I mean look at me. But you don't know anything about..." Emily lowered the phone to her side, not wanting to hear anything about her sister's sex life, or have to endure any more lesbian digs. She sighed, pulling out a box of Marlboro cigarettes and flipping the lid open, debating whether to light one up. She raised her mobile to her ear again. "... and I'm not even at his, I'm round the fucking corner, you don't know what you're talking about. God Emily, since you came out you're so much more-"
"Okay Katie, lovely talking to you as usual, see you in a minute." Emily cut off her phone before Katie could retaliate. She shook her head, closing her box of cigarettes and sliding it and her mobile into her bag, before using her shoulder to push open the pub door and drag herself over to the table where her mother sat. Jenna Fitch was sitting on the very edge of the bar stool that she'd previously dusted with a tissue before perching on, and looked into her stained teacup with slight disgust.
"This is a lovely place." She said, not even attempting to sound sincere.
"Katie chose it." Emily replied, taking a large drink out of her pint glass. "She's nearly here, by the way."
"Oh, good." Jenna sounded much more sincere at this comment.
The pair sat in silence for the next few minutes, looking down at the table. Emily's mother was the first to attempt to continue the conversation.
"So, are you courting anybody at the minute? Any interests?"
"No. No special woman in my life at the minute."
Jenna flinched at the word 'woman'. She didn't approve of Emily being gay. Emily, however, knew this, and tended to drop it into any conversation about her relationships that occurred. She knew Jenna would never accept who Emily was, but that didn't stop her from drilling it into her mother whenever it was brought up. Jenna tended to do the same. As though her words might somehow spark something in Emily that made her realise she was just being childish and immature. As though she would realise that being gay is clearly a choice, and that her bringing it up could help Emily decide not to be.
The silence once again dominated the table. The pub was fairly quiet anyway. The only background noise consisted of the practically inaudible music coming from behind the bar, and the soft conversation of the one other occupied table from the other end of the pub. Again, it was Jenna Fitch that broke the silence. "Oh look. Here's your sister now!"
The elder of the Fitch twins burst into the pub, a fake smile plastered onto her face, which was coated in perfectly applied makeup. "Hello Mum, Emily. I'll be over in one second."
Katie walked over to the bar, where the fake smile fell into a tired expression. The middle-aged barman immediately struck up a conversation with her. "I see you've finally managed to drag your sister to our humble abode, Katie." He glanced over at the table, where Emily and Jenna sat arguing.
"Yeah, I'm not about to go and sit in some fucking artsy cafe drinking French tea with them. I don't think I'll get through this without a real drink."
"So you want the usual?" He replied, grabbing a pint glass from under the bar.
"Please. Naomi in today?" Katie asked, her voice riddled with mischief.
"Her shift starts in fifteen minutes. Do me a favour Katie, just leave it for today? She's the only other person I've got working this afternoon, and I can't be arsed to get someone else in." The barman looked at her pleadingly, but with a faint smile.
"Paul... would I ever do anything bad?" Katie grinned, taking the pint of beer that had been placed directly in front of her. "You know she doesn't care. Anyway, I wouldn't do it if you didn't laugh so much."
Paul chuckled. "It's not my fault it's funny. Don't worry, that's on the house." He held his hand up, rejecting Katie's money.
"You're too good to me Paul." Katie flipped her hair and grinned flirtatiously at the barman, before heading towards the table where her mother and Emily sat.
"Hello Katie, lovely to see you. You're looking well." Jenna smiled at her. A smile that Emily rarely saw when she was in her presence.
"You too Mum." Katie replied, a sickly sweet grin still stuck on her face. Emily took a few more drinks of her pint, rolling her eyes subtly as she did so. "Emily, I thought you didn't drink during the day?"
"I don't." She replied, glaring at Katie and taking a slightly smaller sip of her drink.
"The pint you're demolishing begs to differ."
"It's a special occasion. Family get together. You know." Emily grimaced, finishing the small remainder of her pint and slamming the glass on the table. "I need another drink."
"Something stronger? Maybe some hard 'lick-her', babe?" Katie smirked, clearly amused at her own joke. Jenna didn't seem to notice the dig towards Emily regarding her sexuality. Either that, or she chose not to acknowledge it. Either seemed a plausible explanation.
As the conversation turned towards Katie and her successful career, relationships, and generally how well she was doing, Emily took this as her cue to get another drink. She walked towards the bar, grabbing her bag, and slumped onto the bar stool. She was almost pleased that there was nobody behind the bar to serve her; it gave her an excuse to get away from the others for an extra few minutes.
Suddenly the pub door swung open. Emily turned around curiously, noticing a blonde haired woman rushing into the building. She was weighed down with bags, and dressed in black trousers and a black polo shirt. Even still, Emily thought she looked stunning, and couldn't help but stare. The blonde glared at Emily for a moment and rolled her eyes angrily, before hurrying towards the bar. "For fucks sake," she muttered under her breath, before heading through the staff door. "Paul?"
Emily sat on the bar stool confused. She had no idea what she'd done to upset a girl who she'd never even spoken to. 'Was I staring too much? Did she notice?' Emily thought to herself, feeling more and more embarrassed. She stood up from the bar stool, reaching down to pick up her bag and head outside before she upset the blonde haired beauty any more, when she was interrupted.
"What do you want? I'm not supposed to start for ten minutes which means I'm technically not working. So if you take the piss out of me, I will hit you." The blonde swept the hair out her eyes, and looked at Emily. Emily dropped her bag again, and looked up. Her eyes met striking blue ones, and she seemed to lose the ability to speak. Briefly.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," she stammered. "I'll go..."
"Wait." The blonde looked at her with a look of confusion. This wasn't Katie. Those eyes... That voice. They were definitely not Katie. "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else... Are you-"
Her speech was interrupted by a loud cackle coming from a table nearby. The pair looked towards the table, to see Katie and Jenna laughing with one another.
The blonde looked back towards Emily with a look of realisation and smiled enthusiastically. "So. You're the other Fitch."