"... So he says to me, Rob my friend you are a genius! The absolute king of fitness, and I said no mate i'm the king of Fitch-ness! Get it? Aye, Katiekins" Rob grinned nudging his daughter as he spoke.
Katie tried to stifle a giggle. She'd forgotten all about her fathers many stories concerning the ins and outs of his gym, she was so out loop feeling slightly excluded as the rest of the table simply nodded in agreement without whatever tale no matter how ridiculous.
"Haven't seen Kieran in a while Naomi, is coming for another session soon?" Rob asked.
Now it was Naomi's attempt to stifle a giggle remembering the look on her step-fathers face when he returned home after his one and only session at Fitch Fitness, it was a half-hearted attempt to bond the two families and Kieran had only agreed to go after Gina threatened him with a one month sex ban. Up until that point Kieran's idea of exercise had consisted of reaching for the television remote so a one hour cardio session hadn't exactly gone down well.
"He's really busy at the moment, with school and everything. I'm sure he'll try and come down when he can, he had a great time" Naomi lied, trying to appear as interested in her food as possible so that Rob wouldn't be able to see the smile on her face.
"How's work then Katie? We haven't seen you in so long" Jenna asked, making sure to put emphasis on the last part of her sentence so as to guilt her daughter.
"Everything is good." Katie replied simply, distracted because in her mind work was now associated with JJ and thinking about JJ made her think about his text and thinking about the text just made her heart hurt.
"You haven't been associating with that Stonem girl? I always knew she was trouble, how you were ever able to forgive her after what happened when you were teenagers I don't know... Always knew she'd end up in the papers for all the wrong reasons" Jenna tutted, her dislike for Effy more than obvious. She'd hardly approved of Katie ever forgiving Effy never-mind forming a working partnership with her.
"Drop it mum" Katie muttered, noticing how Naomi glared at her the minute Effy's name was mentioned. It was a sore point that had yet to be confronted between the two girls, Katie knew that Naomi blamed her for Effy's complete free-fall into oblivion.
"She deserves everything she gets." Jenna sniped, making sure to flash a look at Naomi knowing how close her and Effy were.
"Effy's a good person, she just messed up and then her so called friends dropped her like she was nothing..." Naomi grumbled, not able to silence herself any longer but knowing immediately that she was in trouble with Emily.
"Or maybe some people were just smart enough to drop a bad egg before she dragged them down with her" Jenna snapped in return, narrowing her eyes to declare almost all out war on her daughters girlfriend.
"Maybe if 'some people' hadn't introduced her to that world she'd have been fine, but I suppose as long as 'some people' are fine then it doesn't really matter does it?" Naomi returned, knowing she shouldn't bite but she just couldn't help it. Katie refused to make eye contact with Naomi, she just didn't have the energy to get involved in a fight.
Emily could sense something was wrong, it wasn't often her sister sat back and simply put up with someone bitching about her, especially not Naomi. Katie didn't even seem to be registering the fact that there was an argument occurring at all.
"Will you two just shut up for a minute" Emily sighed completely exasperated, trying to catch Katie's eye she wanted to check her sister was ok but it was at this point Katie suddenly stood up, excusing herself from the table.
"Sorry I forgot, i've got things to do. Thanks for lunch mum, see you later dad" Katie rushed placing a kiss on her fathers cheek before gathering her bag and heading for the front door. Emily immediately sprung up to follow her sister.
"See what you've done! Always causing trouble, I will never understand why Emily tolerates you in her life, all you've ever done is cause trouble!" Jenna snapped at Naomi, frustrated that Katie was walking away once again.
"Oh for fucks sake! Me? Why don't you take a bloody good hard look at yourself and then maybe work out why your kids can't stand being in the same room as you for more than a minute!" Naomi retaliated following Emily and Katie out the door, immediately behind her was Jenna who was now absolutely frustrated.
Rob simply sighed, rolling his eyes at James he carried on eating his meal. Girls... Best not to get involved.
"Pass the gravy mate" Rob smiled over the sounds of shouting that came from the hallway.
**
"Katie! Katie please tell me what's wrong, talk to me Katie!" Emily shouted trying to catch up with her sister, knowing Katie would have to stop sooner of later as her car was still parked outside of hers and Naomi's house.
"Emily! Katie! Get back inside this house right now!" Jenna screeched as Naomi trailed behind her looking less than impressed.
"Mum will you just leave us alone! I will phone you later ok?" Emily snapped exasperated at the drama that surrounded her, this seriously wasn't good for her pregnancy all this stress.
"Oh don't bother defending your girlfriend here, your mum can just rip me to shreds and thats fine!" Naomi grunted, sticking out her bottom lip with annoyance.
"Oh Naomi shut up" Emily sighed, burying her face in her hands before noticing out of the corner of her eye that Katie had finally managed to escape amidst all the chaos.
Jenna had finally had enough and slammed the door behind her leaving Naomi and Emily stood out in the front garden of the Fitch family home. Emily turned to Naomi looking for support but it was clear her outburst hadn't gone down well with Naomi as she turned and started to walk away from Emily.
"Oh Naomi... Nai i'm sorry... Nai please don't make me run after you" Emily called after Naomi, waddling as fast as she could behind her.
**
Katie had walked as fast as she could to guarantee she arrived back at Naomi and Emily's place way before they did. Getting in her car the minute she arrived she turned the radio up as loud as it could go, desperate to block out her thoughts and block her feelings as best as she could. She drove probably a bit too fast but she was desperate to get home, but as she turned into her street she immediately regretted it, wishing she'd chosen instead to go to a club, a bar, absolutely anywhere that didn't have a really rather gorgeous, curly haired guy sitting on the doorstep.
The minute she stepped out of her car she could see JJ look at her, there was something in his eyes, an expectation that had come from her not replying to his text. He wanted answers, only Katie didn't have a clue what to give him.
"Katie, i'm sorry. I shouldn't have text you and I shouldn't be here now." JJ stuttered awkwardly, he couldn't help but smile though, Katie always made him smile.
"I'm sorry I didn't reply... I made a promise, a promise that I wouldn't hurt you and if I tell you how I feel i'll end up hurting you." Katie admitted, a tear escaping as she said it because all the emotion of the day was finally spilling out and she couldn't control it anymore.
"Katie do you like me?" JJ asked, holding on tightly to her hand. "Because i'm bad with these things, I can never tell so basically I need you to say it."
Katie couldn't help but giggle at how clueless he could be. Leaning in she placed a meaningful kiss on his lips, short but determined she made sure he knew exactly how she felt.
"Wow... Erm... That was different... From Emily I mean... Oh... Erm... I mean she wasn't a bad kisser, you're just different... Good different... You're good Katie... Oh god." JJ stuttered, blushing red as he realised the mistake he'd made, definitely not a good idea to talk about the kissing ability of the twin sister of the girl you're talking to.
"This is too weird. I'm sorry J, I can't do this." Katie sighed, turning away from JJ she started to open her front door, intent on leaving him behind.
"Katie wait. I've screwed up. I thought we could watch a movie together, kind of a pajama party kind of thing, girls like that right?" JJ smiled opening his bag to reveal chocolate, a dvd and pajamas.
"JJ... Are those fucking teddy bears?" Katie asked laughing as she let JJ inside.
