Chapter 2
The two girls stare at each other for what feels like forever, neither one able to comprehend what's going on. Is this a joke? Emily's pretty sure she didn't drop acid at any point during the day and as famous as Katie hopes to be, she knows that Punk'd hasn't been in production for years.
The song that is playing at full volume on Katie's laptop comes to an end. The momentary silence snaps them both out of their shock and awe. Katie lowers the volume as the next song begins; she doesn't take her eyes off the other girl in the room for a second.
Emily narrows her eyes as she lets her backpack slip off her shoulder, catching the strap in her hand, and tosses it onto the twin bed that her roommate hadn't claimed with her gigantic Louis Vuitton suitcase, matching carry-on, and makeup bag. She has no fucking clue what to say, but she knows they can't just stand there staring at each other all night and she doesn't want to make this anymore awkward than it already is, so she extends her hand. "I'm Emily."
The other girl looks down at the outstretched hand. "Katharine." The burgundy haired girl shakes hands. "Um, Katie."
Emily nods, still looking the other girl up and down. She lets go of her hand. "Sorry that I startled you when I came in." Emily takes a step back.
"It's fine. I mean, you didn't. It's just that-" As Emily looks away, Katie leans a bit closer to her and really looks at her face. Emily glances back at Katie who leans away quickly. "It's nothing."
Emily studies Katie's face, her heavy makeup and overly-styled hair; she shakes her head in disbelief and confusion after a moment.
Katie reads it as disapproval. "What?"
"Nothing! I didn't even say anything!"
"You gave me a look." Katie has her hands on her hips.
Emily squares off with the other girl. "No I didn't."
"Yes, you did and I don't appreciate it, okay?" Katie's bitch face is showing.
Emily knows the perfect retort, one that will completely inflame the wannabe Real Housewife of Orange County that stands before her. "Okay, I think you need to calm down."
Katie hated to be told to calm down. "I don't know who you think you are, but you obviously don't know who I am, so watch yourself."
"Well excuse me. Sorry for being a little weirded out right now! It's not every fucking day that you meet your doppelganger!"
"What did you just call me?" Katie now has furry in her eyes.
Emily folds her arms across her chest and looks up to the ceiling, mumbling to herself. "At least no one will mistake her for the smart one." Emily takes a breath. "Doppelganger, Katie," Emily looks back at the girl in front of her, "is a German word that has come to mean someone's double or a look-alike."
Katie backs down a bit. "Oh. Right. I knew that." Katie looks a bit sheepish, but tries to play it off. "And, yeah, we might look a bit similar, but I can safely say that no one in their right mind would mistake you for me, especially not in those K-Mart jeans."
"Wow! A slut and a stuck up bitch. You're right. No one will mistake us for one another."
Katie furrows her brow. "If you're interested in keeping that pretty face of yours, I'd suggest staying the fuck out of my way this weekend." Katie folds her arms across her chest in an attempt of intimidation, but inadvertently pushes her already on display cleavage up even higher.
Emily cringes and looks away.
Katie looks down at her chest. "What? You've never seen tits before?"
"I've seen plenty of tits, trust me. There's just something about yours that is very off-putting."
Katie gasps with offense. "Fuck you!" She turns away from Emily, focusing on the contents of her open suitcase that sits on her bed.
"Fuck you right back!" Emily turns her back to Katie and opens her backpack for lack of anything else to do in the sparse room.
The two girls stand with their backs to each other on opposite sides of the room, a silent showdown. A new song starts playing on Katie's laptop.
Emily's phone beeps from her pocket. She grabs it and reads something on the screen that makes her laugh. Katie tosses a glance over her shoulder and immediately picks up her phone off the nightstand beside her bed. As Emily is typing a reply, Katie makes a super girly, sickeningly sweet Aww sound.
Emily looks over at Katie with a grimace. "Let me guess, a video of a kitten and a bunny who are best friends."
Katie scoffs at Emily's assumption and turns to her. "Why don't you try an adorable text from my super hot boyfriend, Danny Guillermo?" Katie leaves the end of her sentence open.
Emily waits for her to continue; she doesn't. "Am I supposed to know who the fuck that is?"
Katie huffs. "Danny Guillermo. The closing pitcher for the Oakland Athletics' Triple-A affiliate team, The Sacramento River Cats!" Katie waits.
Emily stares at her with a blank expression. "Never heard of him and the A's suck! Go Giants!" Emily lifts her fist into the air and flops down on her bed.
Katie rolls her eyes and sits down on her bed too. "Ugh, you sound like my dad."
"He's obviously got good taste, so thank you." Emily sits cross-legged and digs through her backpack, now actually looking for something.
Katie tries not to look interested in whatever Emily is doing, until she sees Emily produce a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Her eyes follow the other girl as Emily gets onto her knees and shuffles over to the window above her bed. "What are you doing?"
Emily opens the window and sits on the sill. She glances over at Katie's concerned face as she sparks up; Emily's got a sly smile on her face as she watches Katie begin to freak out.
"You can't smoke in here!"
"I'm not. I'm smoking out the window." Emily takes a long drag and exhales the smoke into the night air.
Katie, who hasn't yet caught on to what Emily's smoking, catches a whiff of a familiar scent. "Oh my God! Is that weed?" Katie is yelling, but also trying to keep her voice down at the same time.
"It's just a spliff. No need to get your panties in a twist."
"Emily! Put that out! There's probably an RA out on patrol right now!" Katie gets up and crosses to Emily. She makes a grab for the spliff. Emily holds it out the window, out of Katie's reach. "Someone's gonna walk by our room and smell it! Put it out!" Katie makes another grab for it. "We're gonna get in trouble."
"At my trial, I'll take the stand and tell everyone you weren't involved." Emily takes another hit. "Want some?"
Katie huffs back to her bed and sits down, opening a glossy fashion magazine over her lap.
Emily takes one more hit and gently extinguishes the ember on the outside of the windowsill. She tucks the remaining half back in her cigarette pack and hops off the sill. She rummages through her backpack and produces a dark green tank top. She whips off her t-shirt to reveal a black bra and a tattoo on her shoulder blade.
Katie, who's been watching the other girl from underneath her bangs while pretending to be looking at the magazine, spots the ink on her back.
"What does your tattoo mean?"
Emily quickly turns and looks at Katie over her shoulder. "None of your fucking business." She pulls her tank top over her head and grabs her phone, wallet, and cigarettes, and heads towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Katie glares at the back of Emily's head.
"Out." Emily reaches for the doorknob.
Katie can't believe her ears. "It's almost eleven."
Emily turns back to look at Katie. "I know, right? It's so early, but the bars close at two here, so…." Emily shrugs and turns to go again.
"But you're underage."
"I've got a fake."
"We're not supposed to leave the campus."
"I don't care."
"Well, just so you know, I'm not gonna cover for you."
Emily gives Katie a backwards wave goodbye that ends with only her middle finger pointing back at the other girl.
"If the RA comes to check on us, I'm not going to lie for you!" Katie calls after Emily as the door shuts behind her.
Emily waits in a short line to get into a club. A rainbow flag is hung proudly above the entrance. Her phone is up to her ear. After several rings, her call goes to a voicemail recording.
"I am more than certain that by this point in time you know what to do." Beep.
Emily sighs with annoyance. "Effy, answer your phone. There is some fucking weird shit going on here. I need to talk to you. I got roomed with this crazy bitch named Katie." Emily pauses not sure what to say. "I don't know. It's just really, really strange, okay. Call me back."
Emily ends the call and turns her attention to the man checking IDs at the door. She's next in line. Stepping forward, she hands the man her ID. He glances at it, then at her, then back at the ID. He hands it back to her and secures a wristband around her right wrist. "Have fun."
Emily gives the man a big smile and enters the club. Works every time.
Katie sits in bed, her back resting against the headboard. She has changed into her pajamas and her hair is pulled up into a messy bun. Her makeup has been washed off and she looks a lot younger than before.
She brings her knees up to her chest and presses a few buttons on her phone. Her entire prissy, bitchy demeanor is replaced with one of that seems timid and unsure. The call rings a few times before someone answers.
"Hello. Fitch Family Residence. May I ask who is calling, please?"
"Hey Gina. It's Katie."
The proper tone in the woman's voice is dropped immediately and a more pronounced southern accent can be heard over the phone. "Katie, darlin'! We were startin' to worry 'bout you."
"I know; I'm sorry, Gina. It took me a while to get settled and everything."
Gina stands at the kitchen sink. There's something in Katie's voice that Gina picks up on. She puts down the dish in her hand and flops the drying cloth over her shoulder. "Is everything alright, sweetheart?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. The room is okay. We haven't really seen anything yet. I think most of the tours and activities will start tomorrow. The campus seems nice though. Not that it matters."
"That's right it don't! Our girl's going to New York City or bust!" Gina had been the Fitch's housekeeper for many years and before that, when Katie was just a baby, Gina had also served as her nanny. She had known Katie since she was only six months old. She watched her grow up, from Barbie dolls to boys, and she knew how much Katie wanted to go to fashion school. Gina supported her wholeheartedly.
"Thanks Gigi." When Katie was just learning to talk, she wasn't able to master the two syllables of Gi and Na put together, so Gigi was invented and served as the name Katie would call out when she was hungry or sleepy or in need of comfort. An older Katie had stopped using the nickname when she went through her angsty early-teen years, but from time to time and even now, when she was away from home and feeling insecure, she couldn't hold back the term of endearment and it made Gina's heart swell. Katie loved Gina like a mother, not that she knew what that would actually feel like, having had no real mom of her own.
"It's just, the girl that I'm rooming with…" Katie doesn't know what to say and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to say it. "She's just, she looks like-" Katie stops herself. She knows that Gina will think she has lost her mind if she finishes her sentence. "I don't know. She's kind of a jerk and she smoked pot in our room and now she's out drinking at a bar using a fake ID." Katie sounds like a tattletale.
Gina can't help but laugh a bit at what Katie has just told her. "Ah, sounds like you've got a wild one on your hands. As I always say, better gravy than no grease at all."
Katie frowns into the phone. She had been receiving Gina's words of wisdom for as long as she could remember and not one had ever made a bit of sense. This one was no different. "Right. Well, it's late here. I just wanted to call and say I'm all checked-in and settled."
"But don't you want to speak with your dad before you hunker down for the night?"
"Nah, I don't want to bother him. He's probably in the middle of the eighth inning, by now any way."
Katie is absolutely right as Rob shouts in the background, "That was a strike! Are you blind? Check your eyes, Ump!" Gina and Katie chuckle at Rob's outburst; they've heard it all million times over.
Gina knows it's time to say good night. "Have a wonderful weekend, dear. And don't let that roommate of yours get under your skin."
"I won't. Tell my dad good night for me."
"Will do, my little Katie Cat!" Katie smiles at Gina's nickname for her. "I'm picking you up on Sunday, by the by. Your dad got called into a meeting and has to fly down to LA for a few days. He leaves tomorrow morning."
Katie frowns with disappointment. "I've hardly seen him over the last few months! He's always in LA on business!"
"I know, honey, I know."
"He owns the company. Why can't he just hire people to do the work for him?" Katie is winding up.
"You know your dad is a hard worker. He's always been a hands-on kind of guy. He'll be back up by Friday morning in plenty of time for your birthday party that night." Gina hopes this will easy Katie's mind.
"Yeah, okay." Katie relents.
"Now then, sleep tight, my love, don't let the bed bugs bite."
Katie shakes her head at the predictability of Gina Campbell. She had been telling the girl good night in that same way for what would be 18 years come Friday. "Good night, Gigi. Love you."
"Love you too, kitten."
Katie ends the call and places her phone on the nightstand. She gets under the covers and turns out the lights.
Emily is in the middle of the dance floor. She's sweaty, her hair sticking to the sides of her face and forehead, her tank top clinging to her body. As the song hits its crescendo and the walls of the club rattle from the pounding bass, Emily jumps to the beat, her arms raised above her head, face tilted up towards the flashing lights.
The club is packed with cute boys and sexy girls. The girl with platinum blonde hair that Emily had noticed at the bar as she downed her fifth vodka gimlet, the same one that Emily had sent a drink over to, dances her way over to the redheaded girl.
Emily slowly lowers her arms as she continues to dance. As she opens her eyes, Emily sees the blonde in front of her. Their eyes lock. Emily waits for the girl to either look away or take a step towards her. It was always one or the other once Emily had her sights set on a girl she wouldn't mind fucking.
The blonde doesn't break their eye contact and instead, takes the last few steps to reach the redhead. Emily speaks first, leaning in, bringing their bodies incredibly close, almost touching. "What's your name?"
"I'm Molly. Thank you for the drink."
The blonde smiles as Emily pulls back just enough to check out her body once more. She nods her head with approval, as her left hand reaches out and grips onto the blonde's hip. "Molly. I like that name, Molly." Emily reaches into the pocket of her tight jeans. "You know what else I really like, Molly?" The blonde shakes her head as she looks back at Emily with lustful eyes. Emily holds up a small white pill between her finger and thumb. "Molly." She places the pill into her mouth, holding it on her tongue, daring the blonde girl to come after it with her own.
The girl takes the bait as their lips and bodies connect. Emily's excitement builds as she feels the girl take the pill off her tongue. Emily pulls her mouth away and moves to the girl's neck, just below her jawline. Emily feels her swallow down the pill as she presses her tongue against her skin.
With her mouth still working on the girl's neck, Emily pulls two more pills from her pocket. She breaks away quickly and downs the pills dry. Emily's heart begins pounding in her chest from the anticipation of the drugs. The build-up has always been her favorite part, waiting for the lights to become more beautiful and for the music to make her skin tingle. The moment that the blonde girl pressed against her body would melt underneath her fingertips and on her lips. In twenty minutes or less, Emily would be completely happy.
I hope you enjoyed the new chapter.
Until next time…