Title: The Life I Could Have Lived
Disclaimer: I'm English, but sadly not Bryan Elsley or Jamie Brittain so I don't own skins or anything associated to the show.
Summary: After a tragic accident Emily Fitch is forced to move to Bristol to live with a mother she thought was dead and a twin she never knew she had. Her only consolation is in meeting Naomi Campbell.
Emily Fitch stared at the streets of Bristol as they whizzed past the window. She had been born in the city, yet none of the landmarks or streets that passed by were familiar to her. The coach pulled in to the station and she begrudgingly got to her feet, waiting for a fat, balding man to pull his hand luggage out of the overhead compartment. She finally made it off the coach, carrying her own bag over one shoulder. She adjusted the aviator sunglasses on top of her head so that they shielded her eyes from the mid-day sun.
"Emily?" A woman in her early forties approached her. She wore a grey suit and crisp white shirt with her dark hair pulled back in to a bun. "Of course you are. You look just like Katie. I'm-"
"Jenna, right?" Emily interrupted the stranger. The woman looked slightly taken aback by her abruptness.
"I'm your mother, Emily-"
"Like I said. Jenna." Emily had not seen the woman who called herself her mother for over fifteen years. Until two weeks ago she had believed her mother was dead. That was until her father had been killed in a road accident and she had learnt the truth from a stuffy lawyer in a cheap suit. She still didn't know the full story, but then she didn't really want to know. She didn't want to know Jenna, she didn't want to meet her twin sister Katie; she didn't want to be sent to Bristol, away from the friends and the family she knew.
"Right, well, I'm over here." Jenna led her over to a silver BMW. "Katie's out at friend's, but you'll meet her tonight. She's been so excited to meet you. We both have been." The woman tried to smile at her but Emily did not return the gesture. She slumped in the passenger side of the car, staring absently out of the window as they drove through yet more unfamiliar streets. She had spent her early years down south, until her dad had opened a gym in Newcastle. She had spent most of her teenage years there and had expected to remain there after her dad's death. She was seventeen and perfectly capable of looking after herself. Her dad had left instructions with his lawyer. His half of the gym was sold to his partner and the money had been put in a trust fund for Emily. She couldn't access it until she was eighteen and he'd given her mother custody. Though it turned out her father had never really been given custody of her to start with. She didn't want to know how she had ended up with her father while her twin stayed with her mother. She hated Rob Fitch for lying to her her whole life. She despised Jenna for wanting to take her in and for being a constant reminder of her father's lies.
"Did you have a good trip?" Jenna tried to make small talk with her estranged daughter. Emily shrugged. She had been on two trains for a four hour trip down to Liverpool to catch a coach that went halfway round the world to get to Bristol. She had been travelling for the best part of ten hours and she had no inclination towards making small talk with Jenna.
"I've enrolled you in Roundview College with Katie. That woman, Sharon was it? She told me what classes you were taking, so you start on Monday. Gives you the weekend to settle in." Sharon had lived next door to Emily and her father for five years. The redhead had been staying with her since her father had passed away. A week after the funeral the arrangements had finally been made for her to go down to Bristol. Emily had put it off for as long as she could, even considering running away, but Sharon had convinced her to give Jenna and Bristol a go. She would be eighteen in less than five months. After that she'd have her inheritance and she could go back to Newcastle and the people she had left. Jenna seemed to finally realise she wasn't in the mood to talk and left her alone for the rest of the drive.
They finally pulled up outside one of those new build houses that looked like every other house in the street. Emily made a mental note of the number, knowing full when she would attempt to enter the wrong house at least once. "Here we are then." Jenna parked in the drive and lead Emily inside the house. The house was modernly decorated with white walls and colour brought in through cushions and ornaments. The place was immaculate, with not a thing out of place. It was complete contrast to the chaotic house she had shared with her dad. Upstairs there were three bedrooms and a bathroom. One of the doors had a nameplate declaring it to be 'Katie's Room' in pink sparkly letters. Emily rolled her eyes. For all she was curious about her twin she was apprehensive about meeting her. If the sparkly name plate was anything to go by they shared nothing in common other than their genes.
"This is your room. Your things should be here in a few days. This used to be the office, but we can decorate it however you like." The four walls were a plain white with a functional black carpet lining the floor. There was a brand new pine double bed and wardrobe, along with a flat screen TV on the wall. Other than that the room was a blank canvas for Emily to make her own.
"Thanks." Emily spoke for the first time since they'd left the coach station. She managed a small smile at the prospect of making the space her own. Jenna seemed pleased by her response.
"Right, well, do you want me to leave you to it? Or we could go have a cuppa downstairs? It's up to you sweetheart."
"I'm gonna hang out up here." Emily watched as the woman's face faltered, but she recovered quickly and hid her disappointment with a smile. "Of course. You settle in. I'll be downstairs doing some work, just let me know if you need anything and I'll give you a shout when your sister's home." Sister. After a lifetime of being an only child it seemed strange to think that she had a sister. Not just any sister either. A twin sister. A genetic copy of herself. She knew very little about Katie, other than that she was six minutes older, looked a lot like Emily and went to a college called Roundview. She sat down on the bed and pulled her laptop out of her bag. She wasted an hour on Facebook, updating her status and reading through the wall posts from her friends. A mixture of condolences for her loss and sadness at her leaving.
Before long Jenna was calling up for her. Katie was home. Taking a deep breath she put her laptop aside and went downstairs to meet her sibling. She paused at the kitchen door as she caught sight of her twin. Katie was about the same height, her hair was a chocolate brown and her face was a little rounder, other than those slight differences Emily might as well have been looking in a mirror. "Fuck me." Katie was the first to speak and she took the words straight out of Emily's mouth.
"Katie!" Jenna snapped, hardly approving of her daughter's language. Emily managed a small smile.
"Hi."
"Hey." Katie replied, breaking out in to a smile. "I'm Katie."
"Emily." The redhead replied, still in awe of the resemblance between them. For all Katie was smiling at her she could tell the other girl was taking stock of her. From her red hair to her ripped jeans and the chequered shirt she wore over a vest top. Katie wore a leopard print top and a short black skirt with high heels and a variety of jewellery. Her outfit was made all the more obscure with the 'kiss the cook' apron she wore over it. She looked like the kind of girl Emily tended to avoid, and she was pretty sure Katie was thinking the same thing about her.
"I'm sorry Emily but I need to pop to the office to drop off some files. I'll leave you two girls too it. Katie's making brownies for her friend Panda's birthday party tonight. Katie, maybe you could take Emily with you?"
"Yeah, maybe." Katie replied, the novelty of her twin having already worn off.
As soon as Emily heard the front door close she made Katie aware she didn't want to go anywhere with her. "You don't need to babysit me." Katie shrugged, focusing on her brownies. She pulled out a small bag of powder from under her apron.
"MDMA." She answered, even though Emily hadn't asked her about it. "I'll leave you some brownies if you want, yeah?" The redhead felt the ghost of a smile on her lips as she nodded.
"Thanks." Maybe Katie wouldn't be so bad after all.
