A/N: Thank you everyone for the warm response to the last chapter :) I'm so glad you guys are excited about the private lessons! They're gonna be worth it! Thank you so much for the reviews and favs and follows. They do inspire me to write faster and work my best to keep this updating pace up! I don't think I could do it without all your kind words!
So here's the first insight you'll ever get into Emily's subconscious :) And entire Emily POV chapter! Yay! I've got to say, this was so much fun to write. Because whoever says Emily says Katie ;) God I love me some KFF. Enjoy!
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Chapter 8: Emily Interlude
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"A fucking flip off! That little brat gave me a fucking flip off!"
Emily lifted her gaze from the essay she had been reading at the sound of her clearly furious sister's voice.
"Pardon?" she asked in confusion.
"A flip off! A bloody fucking middle finger, Ems! That's what she gave me"
"Who flipped you off?" Emily inquired.
"No!" Katie snapped exasperated. "No one flipped me off, she gave me a flip off!"
The younger twin furrowed her brow. She wasn't sure she was following her sister.
"Katie, what are you talking about?" she asked.
"The assignment! You know I gave out a plaster assignment to my students, right? They had to make anything out of plaster, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Well that fucking Campbell brat gave me a plastered middle finger!" Katie yelled in outrage.
Everything stood still for a moment, silence engulfing both women… And then, Emily burst out laughing before she could even consider stopping herself.
"That's not funny! Cheeky bitch told me she'd found my advice to express her inner feelings particularly inspiring!"
Emily laughed harder and Katie only seemed to get even madder.
"This is outrageous Emily! She's clearly defying my authority as a teacher! How can this make you laugh?!"
"Oh come on Katie! You've got to admit it's clever"
"It bloody well isn't!" her sister thundered.
Emily rolled her eyes. Twenty seven years of being around her twin sister had never gotten her used to her ridiculous moods, but at least now she could comfortably let it show. Emily liked to consider herself a smart and calm woman. She thought she was quite diplomatic and she praised herself for never letting her temper get the best of her. There had been a time where she'd been a bit of a whimp, a time where she hadn't really had a voice. Of course, deep inside her, she'd always had her own opinions, but, growing up, she'd often avoided voicing them for fear of causing endless rows with her much more expressive sister. She'd figured eventually though that she could actually let her voice be heard and avoid hostilities. She just had to be a bit confident. It was a relief, nowadays, that she could easily disagree with Katie and the other woman didn't make an almighty tantrum about it.
On this particular topic, Emily had to admit that she didn't see why her sister seemed to have such a thing against Naomi. To be honest, she was getting rather tired of her twin's little feud with the newly transferred student. She wasn't sure what Naomi had ever done to earn herself the wrath of Katie, but she sure had. It seemed to Emily like her sister was gradually taking the whole thing more personally every week and she found it unbelievably childish. She just didn't get why her twin was so bloody bothered by the teenage blonde.
"Katie, relax! You're making more of this than it is!" she said offhandedly, glancing back at her papers.
"She gave me a flip off!" Katie almost screamed.
"So you've said!" Emily snapped. "Look, you've been on her back since she transferred, you've seen what kind of student she is, of course she was going to find a way to retaliate"
"Why are you siding with her? God! You're so annoying sometimes!" Katie whined before sitting herself on Emily's desk. "I'm your bloody sister. You should, like, side with me by default"
Emily smirked and patted her sister's knee.
"Are you going to flunk her?" she asked then as an afterthought.
"I bloody well can't! The execution is actually rather good! Fucking bitch is better than I thought she'd be" Katie grumbled.
Emily had to bite her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing more. As if sensing her amusement though, her sister turned around and gave her an evil glare.
"You could at least pretend you find it offensive" she huffed.
"It's absolutely, undeniably offensive Kates! Hope she doesn't get away with it" Emily piped up sarcastically.
"Bitch" her twin said with a smirk.
Emily let a chuckle escape her lips and went back to her correcting. It didn't take 30 seconds before Katie was interrupting her concentration again.
"And this scene represents the director's love for communism because there's loads of red in it. Urgh! How can you stand reading such crap!" Katie read from an essay she had obviously picked up from her sister's desk.
"Katie!" Emily scolded before taking the paper out of her twin's hands. "Don't do that"
"What?" The other woman defended. "I'm bored and you're not entertaining me"
"Believe it or not, I wasn't born to be your personal entertainer" the brunette said sarcastically.
"Well that makes you completely useless then, doesn't it?" Katie teased with a smile.
Emily rolled her eyes again, but chuckled. Her sister could be the most self-absorbed person on the planet, but she was also very lovable.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Katie piped up before her sister had time to refocus her attention on the essay.
"What is it?" Emily asked worriedly when she noticed the glee in her sister's tone.
"We have dinner plans tonight!" she announced proudly.
"What? Why?" Emily whined.
"Huh, because you need to get out of your flat sometimes and I deserve some time with my twin?"
"Okay…" the brunette sighed.
She knew her sister enough not to argue with this. Besides, dinner with Katie wouldn't be too bad, it could even be nice.
"Oh and I invited a friend of mine as well" her twin added quickly.
"Wait, what?" Emily automatically asked.
She had an idea where this was going and she wasn't happy.
"It's no big deal" Katie defended. "Don't look at me like that, she's really nice and all"
"Katie!" the brunette growled.
"What?" her twin demanded innocently.
But Emily wasn't fooled. Over the past few years, ever since her break up with her last girlfriend, Katie had arranged many dinners where she'd bring some new friend to introduce to Emily and every single time, she didn't show, leaving Emily alone with the stranger. Of course, the younger twin was infinitely glad that her sister was so supportive of her sexual orientation nowadays- she'd been considerably less supportive when Emily had come out in her teens-, but she wasn't sure she appreciated her sister meddling so much with her love life. Also, it had to be noted that Katie had a truly awful idea of the kind of women Emily should date and that didn't help in the slightest.
"How many times do I have to tell you to not set me up with people?"
"It's not a set up!" Katie shot back way too fast for it to be true.
"I don't need you to set me up with a woman Katie! If I want to date someone I bloody well will and I'll find them on my own, thank you very much!"
"As if! Ems, you've been single for like… years! Ever since Hayley. That's like sad!"
"I can be single if I want to. Just because you switch boyfriends every few weeks, you think that I should do the same" the brunette argued.
"I'm perusing the merchandise, I'll have you know. And anyway, why would you want to be single for so long?" her twin scoffed with a grimace. "Oh my god, please don't tell me you're still not over Hayley, babes! Cause that like would be even more sad"
Emily rolled her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. She was over Hayley. Why couldn't her sister accept that she didn't fancy throwing herself into the arms of the first woman she could find?
"Why is it so hard for you to believe I don't need to have a girlfriend to be happy?"
"Because that's what sad crazy cat ladies say to justify how depressed they are"
"I'm not a sad crazy cat lady" Emily scoffed.
"Well…" Katie started. "You do live alone with two cats"
"Leave Morecambe and Wise out of this…" She mumbled, her cheeks reddening.
"Look, it's just a dinner, no need to get all pissy about it"
"You're going to ditch me again with this girl and it's going to be unbelievably awkward!"
"I am not!" Katie exclaimed trying to sound outraged.
"You always do" Emily countered. "Can we just go the two of us Kates? I really don't feel like being set up again" she finished with a pleading look.
Katie had the decency to look a bit guilty afterwards, but she stiffened her back and started chewing on her bottom lip nervously. Emily sighed, knowing what her sister would say next.
"Well I've already invited her so you'll have to deal, but you'll like Mandy I promise!" Katie argued looking positive.
"Katieeee" She whined. "Your taste in women is horrible…"
"Oh come on! Be a good sport!"
"I have been an incredibly good sport for the past few years, Kates! Out of all the people you've introduced me to not one has been my kind of woman!"
"Just give this one a shot! Besides, I'll be there, right? So it won't be that bad"
The brunette groaned. She didn't trust her sister to make it to dinner, she really didn't.
"Well I'm coming to pick you up" she stated.
"Oh no need Emsy, I can make it on"-
"You are not leaving me with yet another stranger! I'm coming to pick you up!" Emily insisted angrily.
"Alright, alright! Jesus! No need to get so frustrated about it" her twin brushed off. "Pick me up at 7 then"
Emily nodded and Katie turned to look at the clock on the wall.
"Shit, I better go, your students will start arriving soon" she announced. "And frankly, I've had enough of Campbell for one day!"
The younger twin rolled her eyes.
"I really don't know why you dislike her so much. I find her extremely sharp and clever. I've never seen a student like her before" she mused.
Katie looked at her with the most disgusted look on her face.
"Why is it that you always like the students I can't stand?" she said disbelievingly before shaking her head. "Anyway, 7 yeah? Don't be late!"
"Just be there!" Emily warned as her twin waved her goodbye and exited her classroom.
She sighed the second she was left alone in the room. Looking at the clock, she figured she had about five minutes tops before the first of her students would start pilling in the classroom, so she grabbed her unmarked essays and stashed them away in a folder. The brunette had barely had time to clear her desk when the first student arrived. She felt a tinge of excitement as she noticed it was Naomi. She seemed in a good mood, a lot more than she usually was after her Arts class with Katie. Emily was pretty sure she knew why. She bit her bottom lip to try not to chuckle.
"Someone looks in a good mood" she commented.
The blonde turned to look at her and smiled wickedly.
"I had an inspiring class this morning" Naomi replied cheekily.
"Is that what you call it?" Emily inquired with a grin.
The blonde snorted and smiled even more brightly.
"You've heard about it, haven't you?"
"I have" the brunette admitted. "And I'm quite sure I'm not done hearing about it either" she added with a pointed look.
"Oh right…" Naomi said, looking a bit guilty. "Sorry about that…"
"It's fine" Emily reassured her. "But I thought I had advised you to lay low with Katie. Guess that particular advice didn't stick"
She didn't want to scold the teenage girl, but at the same time she knew Katie would not forget this.
"Yeah…" Naomi muttered looking even guiltier. "Well it really was the only thing I could think of so…"
Emily laughed lightly.
"Of course, a clever girl like you could only think of that. I'm definitely buying it" she teased.
The blonde blushed furiously and looked at her feet and Emily was swamped with a wave of affection. She didn't know why she'd taken such a liking to this new student, but it was undeniable that she had. Perhaps it was the cleverness, or perhaps it was the soft shyness mixed with the attitude Naomi never showed her, but Emily knew she possessed. The brunette had meant it when she'd said a few moments ago that she'd never met a student quite like Naomi Campbell. And she'd also meant it when she'd told the blonde that she'd been impressed with the argumentation of her essay. What the student had presented to her was Uni level material and the whole thing had made her want to sit with the blonde and have a very long conversation about it all.
No matter what it was, Emily had definitely noticed the new addition to her class and she was a bit shy to admit to herself that the blonde had wedged herself a place as the teacher's favourite. The brunette was a bit embarrassed by it to be honest, because she'd never really had favourites. She hadn't been teaching that long to begin with and no students had ever had that effect on her. She was eager to start their private lessons, eager to try and help the blonde make her writing completely phenomenal. Emily felt sure that Naomi could do it. It was only a matter of helping her let out some of her obvious self-control, enough so that the blonde could pour more than beautiful words on a page.
"Look Naomi, I really do know that my sister can be a handful and, even though you have only been here a month, I know you enough to know that you don't have the kind of temper that takes anyone's bollocks, not even a teacher's" she started and the blonde looked up at her looking surprised. "But you have to know that Katie could make the rest of the year very difficult for you. She can be as sneaky as you just were to her, trust me. You don't want to get in trouble because you didn't want to lose some imaginary fight"
Naomi bit her lip and shifted uneasily on her feet. Emily waited patiently for the student to think about her words.
"I… She just really gets under my skin you know?" the blonde explained a bit lamely.
Emily chuckled because she knew that Katie was probably feeling very similarly and would have actually replied to her along the same lines if Emily had told her a speech of the sort. It was hilarious sometimes how people with close personalities got on each other's nerves. Of course, she knew better than to express that thought for she felt sure the blonde would deny it hotly, as would her twin.
"I know, but you'll be fine" Emily said, getting up from her desk and walking close enough to her student so she could put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
She felt the blonde tense a bit under her fingers and withdrew them right away. Other students started filling into the classroom and Emily gave one last smile to Naomi before turning around and writing the lesson's plan on the blackboard.
The lesson in itself went quite fast. As always, a fair amount of students had participated and they'd had a nice discussion. She made them watch a few clips too and everyone had seemed decently interested. Emily prided herself in having interesting classes. She remembered her College days in a private institution with her 200 year-old teacher that would talk in soft mutters and bore the hell out of everyone. It was only in Uni that the brunette had developed a liking for English, or rather a liking to teaching English. Her first year, she'd met Scarlett Corrigan, a 35 year old beautiful blonde who spoke with a hint of a Geordie accent. She had also happened to be her English teacher that year and Emily was quite certain she was the reason she'd become a teacher at all. At first, Katie had made fun of her because she reckoned Emily was only interested in the woman's looks rather than the actual subject and although it had to be said that the brunette did find her teacher quite fanciable, it had been more than that. Scarlett had been passionate about her subject and original in her lessons. Emily had spent so many hours in the blonde's office asking questions and discussing texts that Katie had even eventually believed she was carrying on an affair with the teacher. Of course it had always been a professional relationship, but it had still been the most defining one of Emily's life. Scarlett had encouraged her a lot to pursue a teaching career and even after that semester had ended they'd stayed in touch. Emily still had dinner sometimes with her old teacher and her husband.
As she reminisced on her past, the classroom slowly emptied. It was probably because she was a bit absorbed in her thoughts and in gathering her stuff that she didn't notice Naomi walking up to her. She did notice though when the teen cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Hi, did you have a question?" she asked politely.
"I huh… Well I was wondering about those classes you mentioned last week" the blonde explained. "That is of course if you still have time for it… I mean, I'd understand if you didn't"
"Of course I do!" the teacher reassured immediately. "I'm sorry I completely forgot to tell you about that what with your newfound love of the arts and all"
Naomi chuckled and looked considerably relieved.
"I was thinking next Wednesday after classes if it suits you" Emily suggested.
"Suits me perfect!" The teenager confirmed with a quick nod.
They stayed facing each other for a few seconds and Emily had to bite her lip again to stop herself from laughing. She didn't know why it seemed like Naomi always had a hard time ending a conversation, but she found it endearing.
"Well, I'll go" she eventually said pointing at the door.
Emily nodded and the blonde left. It was maybe a few seconds before the brunette realised she'd been starring at the door after the other girl's departure. She shook her head and went back to gathering her stuff.
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At 6h30 the same day, Emily was sat on her sofa, Wise comfortably curled in her lap, reading a book. She knew she had to put her book down and get moving because Katie would be expecting her very shortly, but to be fair, she had no desire to go to this dinner at all. If she'd been quite positive about it when Katie had suggested it, her enthusiasm had been completely ruined by the addition of this random friend who Katie would no doubt try to set her up with.
It made her feel trapped, this whole borderline blind date business. She felt like Katie was taking her voice away like she'd done so many times in their youth and it bothered her. Of course, she knew that if she said it like that to Katie, her twin would argue that she was merely presenting them to Emily and not forcing her to date them. Katie always had a way of talking herself out of feeling any guilt.
Emily let a long sigh escape her lips and finally got up. Wise fell to the floor with a grumpy meow as the brunette gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry buddy" she cooed before dragging herself to her bedroom.
Katie lived about 5 minutes away from her flat, so she had roughly 25 minutes to get showered and changed before she had to go. Normally, if she'd been going on a proper date, she'd have prepared earlier than that, but from past experiences with Katie's set ups, Emily didn't want to bother too much.
At 5 minutes to 7, she was showered, coiffed and dressed. She'd decided to wear a simple cream dress with black tights. She hadn't done much to her hair and hadn't put on too much make up either because she didn't want Katie to think she'd made an actual effort, but she had still done a bit because she didn't want to look like crap.
At 7 sharp, she was on her sister's doorstep knocking. When Katie actually answered her door in a nice tight skirt and a satin blouse, Emily had to admit she was surprised.
"You're actually here" she voiced her thoughts out loud.
"Huh duh? I told you I would be, didn't I?" Katie said bitchily.
"I know and that one time with, what was her name? Patricia? You said you'd meet me at the restaurant and never showed. Also that one time with Pauline, you said you were on your way, but then got a "flat tire". And let's not forget that one time with Mathilda when you said-" Emily started ranting.
"Alright, alright! Well I'm here now, yeah? So no need to be like that, is there?"
"Suppose" the brunette mumbled grumpily before Katie laced their arms together.
"Let's go then! Wouldn't want to make Mandy wait!" she said cheerfully. "Oh! You came in your car! Bless you! That motorcycle of yours is a nightmare" she added when she spotted Emily's small compact car.
"Don't you dare insult my motorcycle! And I would have definitely come with it but… well, the dress makes it a bit tough"
"Doesn't matter, I prefer riding in that banger of yours than that god awful bike" she scoffed and with that, they were off.
Katie had booked them a table in some semi fancy restaurant in the north of the city and if the dinner ended up being a nightmare, Emily had high hopes the food there would be worth it all. They arrived sometime after and Katie led them both confidently inside the restaurant. She said her name to the host and they were led to the back of the place. As they neared a table, Emily saw that there was a woman already sitting there on her own. She felt her stomach knot nervously.
When they finally arrived at the table, the woman, who Emily was pretty sure was Mandy, got up to greet them. Katie moved forward instantly to hug the other woman and Emily stared. She felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop in horror at the full sight of her sister's "friend".
It wasn't that Mandy was ugly, although she wasn't the most beautiful woman Emily had ever seen. No, she looked cute enough with her tanned skin, puffy lips and jet black long hair. She was wearing a black dress that looked great on her body too, so that wasn't a problem. The actual problem was that Mandy looked to be about 5'9", in other words, a freaking giant compared to Emily's own 5'3". Katie looked really pleased with herself and Emily knew her sister thought she'd chosen great because the younger twin had expressed once that she liked taller women, but fucking hell she hadn't meant this much taller. She could actually imagine herself getting a crick in her neck just by looking her in the eyes.
"Emily this is my friend Mandy" Katie introduced.
"Hi" Mandy said politely.
Emily managed to close her mouth and put a good enough smile on her face before replying a hello of her own that she hoped was adequate. They sat at the table and a waiter arrived shortly after to hand them menus. They chatted easily for a few minutes as they looked at the food and discussed what to order. Emily was actually surprised because Katie was carrying the discussion, sometimes mentioning things about Emily or Mandy to get them talking to each other. It seemed to the brunette that this method was a lot smoother than what her sister usually did and that was really what was surprising her so much. If she was completely honest, Emily would have admitted she didn't know her sister could actually be this smooth.
When they'd all decided what to get, they closed their menus and it wasn't even 2 minutes later before the waiter came back to their table to get their orders. It was when Mandy had already ordered and Emily was about to that Katie's mobile started ringing. The younger twin frowned when her sister glanced at the screen and excused herself before leaving the table.
"Katie, hang on! D'you want me to order for you?" Emily asked.
"No, no just give me a minute, yeah?" she said before disappearing.
The brunette's heart started hammering faster the second she was left alone with Mandy. The waiter told them kindly he'd be back in a few minutes to get Katie's order and disappeared as well. If things had run smoothly when the older twin had been there, now that she was gone, they were infinitely more awkward. Emily gave Mandy a tentative smile and the tall girl chuckled.
"So you're a teacher too?" she asked and the brunette nodded. "What do you teach?"
"English"
"Oh…" Mandy replied looking a bit crestfallen.
"What, you don't like English?" Emily inquired.
"No I… I mean… I don't really like to read" The other girl admitted.
"What... at all?" the brunette asked instantly, hoping she hadn't sound as appalled as she was.
"Oh, of course I do read" added Mandy, quickly. "I read the TV guide, and, of course, I never do a thing without checking my horoscope!"
She let out a braying snort, that Emily assumed was supposed to be laughter.
"But I don't read any of that clever stuff, like Reader's Digest, or Mills and Boon."
If Emily had been just a little bit ruder, she'd have laughed. Typical Katie, she thought. Of all the girls she could have considered introducing to Emily, she had to choose the one that didn't like to read. The brunette could already imagine herself waving the waiter over and asking for the check for their still uneaten dinner.
Of course, she did nothing and when Katie came back to the table with a weird expression on her face, she feared the worst.
"I'm so sorry guys!" She said quickly, her mobile still clutched in her hand.
When she didn't sit back in her chair, Emily furrowed her eyebrows and felt her stomach churn in anticipation.
"That was Angie on the phone" Katie explained. "She's had a really bad row with Den. He's walked out on her again, and she's in a right state. I'd better get round there before she starts hitting the bottle again. You know what she's like."
Emily nodded at her twin, but in all honesty, she didn't know what Angie was like. Those names sounded vaguely familiar to her- Katie must have mentioned her friend Angie to her before- but she couldn't quite place when. Still, she had the distinct feeling that this was all bullshit, and yet another ploy from her sister to set her up.
"Excuse me?!" Emily exclaimed her jaw dropping wide open.
"Yeah, girl solidarity and all that. I'm sure you can understand" her sister explained.
"We'll go too then" The younger twin announced getting up, her nostrils flared.
"Oh no, please don't! I don't want to ruin everyone else's night! Besides, Angie would be well embarrassed if she knew she ruined your dinner plans too" Katie insisted putting her hand on Emily's shoulder to sit her back down.
If it hadn't been a public place and if Emily hadn't been an adult, she felt sure she'd have punched her sister for the stunt she was pulling. She wasn't happy, wasn't happy at all.
"I don't mind staying" Mandy piped up.
Katie grinned at Emily with a satisfied smirk that made it even harder for the younger twin not to grab her sister by the shoulders and push her roughly against a neighbouring table. If looks could have killed, Katie would have been long gone.
"See? Don't fuss Emsy! Just enjoy dinner! I'm really sorry about this. If I could avoid it… but well, I can't! I'll call you later!" she announced happily before pressing a quick peck to her sister's cheek.
The older twin must have seen how truly livid her sister was though because she paused before leaving, a small look of guilt piercing through her features. She opened her bag and retrieved her purse.
"Here" She said putting her credit card on the table. "My treat! Just have fun, alright?"
And with that, she left. It was only as her sister tottered away that Emily finally placed where she knew the names of Angie and Den from: they were characters from Eastenders. She sat back down and gave Mandy a very tight smile. She was furious, that much was sure. She couldn't believe she'd fallen for another one of Katie's trick. She was done though, she thought, done trusting Katie when it came to set ups. She wasn't sure why she'd ever thought Katie could be smooth and not pushy. Obviously she'd been naïve. She wanted to sigh at the thought. She had a lifelong history of naiveté when it came to Katie. And where had that ever led her? Currently, it had led her to having dinner with a woman who hated reading, which was probably the worst thing anyone could do in the brunette's opinion. Still, she had no choice now and it wasn't in the small teacher's nature to be rude and impolite. So she gave Mandy a tight smile, grabbed Katie's credit card and waved the waiter over.
"Since it's just us two now" she started giving Mandy another smile. "Would you be so kind as to bring us a bottle of your finest red wine please?"
She cast another glance at Mandy, and thought of the long evening stretching ahead of her. If she was going to make scintillating conversation with a woman who held Russell Grant in higher regard than Charles Dickens, then she was going to need some help.
"Make that a bottle each"she added. "And we've changed our minds, we'd both like to have the lobster for our meals please" She finished with a grin.
The waiter nodded politely and left again and Emily had to admit that she already felt a bit better. She turned her attention back to Mandy when she managed to take the vengeful smirk off her lips and she was marginally calmer when she asked in a soft voice "So what do you do Mandy?"
;;
When Emily finally got home later, she was knackered. It had been a pretty long evening and, even though she'd made sure to put as much on Katie's card as she possibly could by ordering desserts and coffees neither of them had eaten, the brunette just really wanted to take a long, relaxing bath and curl up in her bed to sleep now. Dinner in itself hadn't been atrocious and Emily had to admit it had gone better than she had expected. After her impromptu date had confessed her disinterest for literature, Emily had been sure the whole thing would be a dud, but, as it turned out, Mandy was nice enough despite that.
Still, the brunette was more than happy to be back home now. She grabbed an old, battered copy of poem collections and placed it next to her bathtub before running the water. A few minutes later, she was tossing her dress to the floor and climbing in the deliciously warm water, her hair tied in a loose bun, the lights pleasantly dimmed. She relaxed for a while, took her sweet time washing herself, read a bit and finally wrapped a towel around herself when she was done.
She made her way to her room, dropped the towel and slipped under her duvet. She grabbed the book that was lying on her nightstand and continued to read where she had last stopped. She'd barely gotten 5 minutes of peace before her mobile started ringing. She turned a raised eyebrow towards the offending device and frowned when she saw the flashing name of her sister. She clenched her teeth and grabbed the phone, sliding it open.
"Katie Fitch you are a fucking cunt, d'you know that?" she said in lieu of a greeting.
She heard her twin chuckle on the other end of line.
"So how did the date go then?" Katie replied undeterred by Emily's dark mood.
"I swear, I'm going to bloody throttle you the next time I see you!"
"And they say I'm the dramatic twin" Katie scoffed. "Cheer up Emsy! I found you a lovely date, you should be fucking thankful"
"I don't want you to find me dates!" Emily thundered angrily. "Jesus! How many times a day must I tell you?"
"Relax, it's passed now, innit? Just bloody tell me how it went! Mandy is sweet, isn't she?"
"How do you even know her?"
"She's mates with Jordan's sister. I met her at a party he threw last week" Katie explained.
"Who the fuck is Jordan?"
"Huh my boyfriend!" her sister replied clearly offended.
"I thought you were going out with Ian"
"Ian? Urgh, no! Ian is a prick, inne? We broke up like… two weeks ago!"
"Sorry, there are so many I lose count" Emily teased.
"There aren't that many" Katie defended hotly.
"Sure…"
"Anyway, that's not why I'm calling! Stop changing the subject! How was your date?"
Emily sighed heavily. There was no way Katie would leave her alone if she didn't answer, so she might as well get on with it.
"It was alright. She's not as horrible as your usual picks" Emily conceded.
"See? I knew it was a good idea! So when are you seeing her again?"
"How about never" the younger twin answered dryly.
"Wait, what? Why? I thought you said you liked her!"
"I said the date was alright, not that I liked her! Do you even listen to me?"
"Details, whatever, why won't you see her again? She's like perfect for you!"
"Hardly!" Emily scoffed. "She doesn't like to read"
"Which makes her bloody normal…" Katie grumbled. "Look, just go out with her again! I'm sure you guys will hit it off"
"I don't think so Katie… She's not really my type" the brunette defended.
"Your type at the moment is cats! For Christ's sake Emily it's sad! You're still young and beautiful! Use it!"
"I just don't really see myself with her in the future…"
"Jesus Ems I didn't tell you to have some big lesbian wedding, with Reeves and Mortimer as bridesmaids! Just have a second date!"
"My cats are called Morecambe and Wise!"
"Seriously, when's the last time you've shagged?" Katie continued, ignoring her sister's intervention. "I bet there are like cobwebs down there!"
"Oi!" Emily exclaimed.
"Don't deny it! You're so fucking boring! I bet you took a freaking bath when you got home, read some shit poetry and you're probably in your bed right now with like another god awful boring book and your dozen cats" Katie listed off.
Emily felt her cheeks heat up immediately as Morecambe and Wise purred next to her. She guessed Katie had a point somehow. It was true she hadn't really bothered to even try to date anyone in a really long time.
"Did Mandy give you her number?" Katie asked when faced with her sister's silence.
"Yes…" Emily admitted.
"Okay, so like… just think about it but I think you should call her. Just go on another date, see how it goes. Like I said, you don't need to marry her, just… be a bit less sad please"
"Okay… I'll think about it" the younger twin finally conceded.
She heard Katie exclaim a happy "yes" on the other end of the line and a few minutes later, they were saying their goodbyes and hanging up. Emily placed her mobile back on her nightstand. She reached to grab her book back, hesitating at the last moment. She let her fingers trail on the cover for a few seconds, turning her head to look at her sleeping cats. Maybe her life had gotten a bit quiet in the past few years, but she liked it that way didn't she?
She felt a twinge of unease settle deep in her stomach and an empty feeling fill her heart. Maybe Katie was right, maybe it was sad, maybe it was slightly pathetic. Perhaps she could give a chance to this Mandy girl… After all she hadn't had a terrible time.
The brunette decided to call Mandy the next day. She had nothing to lose after all. She still wasn't sure what good would come out of it, but if it made her feel a bit more fulfilled, a bit less empty, then that would be that. She hadn't felt her heart flutter with excitement in years, hadn't felt her cheeks hurt by smiling and her stomach churn in anticipation in probably too long. Maybe Mandy wouldn't give her any of those feelings, but really, did she even have other options?
.
.
.
Well... there's that rather foxy blonde she'd have as an option, but Emily doesn't know that does she? :P Okay, before you guys go into a Mandy-rage, just remember that I don't actually like Mandy! You should feel safe in that knowledge! Also, the idea that Katie would choose atrocious girls for Emily was too funny to me not too use.
So, favourite bits? favourite lines?
Also, coming up next week, we're going back to Naomi's pov AND it'll be time for Naomi and Emily's first private lesson together ;) For all of you who have been craving some more Naomily interaction, you should be happy with the next chapter! :) Cheers, lots of love to all of you!
MM
