"Oh… alright?" Jack asked, putting his keys on the counter and leaning over to say hello to the baby, who was still in his pram.
"What is he doing here?" Katy hissed motioning towards the bedroom where Michael had just vanished.
"He said he'd pop round and get me a shirt." Jack said calmly with a shrug.
"What and go through Ronnie's drawers at the same time?"
"What?" Jack asked, screwing up his face in confusion. Katy was prevented from answering as the bedroom door opened and Michael emerged clutching a horrible hot pink shirt.
"How many shirts you got? How about that one?" He held the garment out to Jack, who smirked slightly. Katy moved to sit on the arm of the chair, rocking the pram gently.
"You kidding me?"
"What?"
"That was a Christmas present from Max, weren't it? A big joke."
Jack shook his head and stalked into the bedroom to choose a different shirt. Michael winked at Katy, who glared back stony-faced, walking out of the flat and closing the door firmly behind him. When Jack emerged from the bedroom he was wearing a pale blue shirt.
"Aren't you supposed to be working? Every time I've seen you today you've been skiving off." He joked. Katy grinned.
"Ha ha. Nah, Ronnie said I should come and drop James off with her, but she ain't here after all." She told him with a sigh, glancing at the time on her phone. "I really do have to get back… can you…?"
"Yeah, course, leave him with me." Jack said smiling and lifting the baby out of his pram. "We'll chill out here, won't we, son?"
The teenager smiled happily watching them together. "Thanks, Jack. Catch you later."
x-x
"Fancy going caf?" Whitney asked as she helped Katy pack up the stall that evening. "I'm meeting Lauren there."
"Sure." Katy agreed, answering her phone which had started ringing just as Whitney asked her question. "Hang on a sec… Hey, Rox."
On the other end of the line, Katy's older sister sounded upset. "Hey… are you free to meet up?"
"Course. What's wrong? Is Amy OK?"
"Yeah, yeah, she's fine. I just need to talk to someone and Ron's busy making up with Jack."
"Alright… I'll see you in the Vic in a minute." She sighed as she hung up, turning to pull a face at Whitney. "I gotta shoot; Rox wants to talk… though after yesterday I don't see why I should go."
"Oh… you know what Roxy's like. She's probably forgotten what she said yesterday. Text me later, yeah?" Whitney said as Katy rolled her eyes and headed in the direction of the pub.
Pushing through the doors, Katy saw her sister already sitting at a table, a white wine in front of her and an orange juice beside it. The teenager dropped into the seat and took a grudgingly grateful gulp of juice before looking to her sister expectantly.
"Hey." Roxy said in a quiet voice. She had a pleading expression on her face, as though she was hoping Katy would forgive and forget the previous afternoon without her having to say anything. She wasn't in luck, however, as Katy was just as stubborn as her older sisters.
"Alright?"
"I'm really sorry, Katy." The blonde said, sighing at her sister's harsh tone. "I just wanted to help."
"Yeah… I know." Now it was Katy's turn to sigh and she forced herself to smile. Sensing that Roxy was about to get emotional, the teenager took another gulp of juice and smiled more brightly. "So… what's up?"
"Michael."
"Eurgh."
"Yeah… that's pretty much how I feel at the moment." Roxy agreed, catching Katy by surprise. "He bought me a present; perfume. Ronnie's perfume."
"What d'you mean?"
"He bought me a bottle of the perfume that Ronnie always wears. You know; that one that smells of Jasmine?" Katy nodded at Roxy's words, remembering seeing Michael smelling the bottle of perfume in Ronnie's bedroom. "And I said he could take it back and the assistant would help him find MY perfume but he said that seeing as he'd bought it I might as well wear it. Then he just kept spraying it on me until I pushed him away."
"Really?" Katy was shocked by this. Obviously Roxy was starting to see how weird he was for herself.
"Yeah… why would he do that, K? He's always going on about Ronnie as well. Like this morning he said that I'm so cheap and should have a bit of class." Roxy confided. She punched Katy lightly as the teenager pretended to agree with the words, a weak smile twitching at the corners of her lips as she instinctively knew her sister was trying to cheer her up. "Then he said that he was surprised we were sisters."
"Rox… you're not cheap and you're not any less than Ronnie. You know that and you know that Ronnie would agree."
"I know, I know." The blonde agreed with a sigh, nodding her head. "But it's not the first time he's compared us…"
Katy took a deep breath. "Don't you think that's weird? It's not normal, is it, to compare your girlfriend to her sister?"
Roxy ignored the question. This was the tactic she always used to avoid answering anything she knew she wouldn't like the answer to. Instead she rested her elbow on the table and her chin on her palm, staring over Katy's shoulder. The teenager could tell that her sister was dying for her to ask what she was looking at, but she refused to give her that satisfaction. Finally Roxy gave in and leant towards her, both her forearms resting on the table.
"So? What's the deal with you and Michael's brother?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and smiling nosily at her.
"Nothing." Katy said honestly with a shrug. "Since Michael had a little word with him he's been avoiding me. Oh… and he hit on Whit right in front of me."
"What?" Her sister breathed, shocked.
"Yeah… men! I've gone right off them. I don't need the hassle."
Roxy leant back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking slightly. "Tell him that."
"Who?" Katy turned to see who Roxy was smirking at and saw Tyler smiling at her. She had to work hard to keep her face blank and turned back quickly.
"Oh… lighten up, sis."
"Lighten up yourself." Katy said grumpily, slouching in her chair and resting her folded arms on her bump. Roxy laughed at little but said nothing else on the subject. Instead they chatted about other things; the possibility of going on holiday later in the summer, whether or not the stall was going to make any money and whether or not there was any chance Lauren would get her claws into Ryan, amongst other topics.
After about an hour and a half, the sisters rose to leave. As Katy stood, a sharp pain shot through her side and ran underneath her bump. She gasped, stooping slightly and grabbing at the table for support, just has she had done in the kitchen that morning when she'd felt dizzy. Taking a deep breath, she arranged her face into a less excruciated expression before Roxy got too worried.
"This bloody baby don't half kick." She muttered as her sister looked concerned.
"Tell me about it!" Roxy exclaimed raising her eyebrows. "When I was pregnant with Amy it was a nightmare!"
Smiling weakly, Katy breathed deeply again and followed Roxy out of the pub, one hand resting on her bump.