A/N: Life has been really full on lately. Sorry I've been Missing In Action these last few weeks, but it's been really hard to find the motivation to keep writing. And thank you to everyone that has pestered and prodded and just all around supported this story (and me). Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and hopefully I can get these stories finished over the holidays (because there are more haha) Thanks again!
"He doesn't feel the same, Cal. I don't know why I even bother." Kate just manages to make herself heard over the pounding bass of whatever club Cal had dragged her to. Her whole body is on edge, crackling as though flooded with electricity. It's more than just embarrassment. She's angry. Angry at herself and at Mike and Patrick and every other moment in her life that has aligned to turn fate against her. "He doesn't love me. Hell, he could barely look at me." She swipes angrily at the wetness in her eyes, blinking furiously. She won't cry for this.
"Kate, stop!" Cal reaches out, but Kate twists her body, so that she's well out of Cal's reach.
"Don't try to talk me out of this one. I should never have done this." She catches sight of her reflection in the shiny metal of the mirror behind the bar and stills, staring at herself. Unlovable. Unwanted. And she heaves a heavy sigh. "No." She turns to her sister. "Look, it's better this way, right?"
"Um..." Cal begins, looking unnerved at the sudden change of heart.
"No." Kate shakes her head. "I was never meant to be with him, Cal. He was just... a distraction. A blip. But... I'm me now and... I should be celebrating, right? I mean..." She lets out a bark of laughter. "I'm thirty! I'm at my prime. Ish. What is he, really?"
"Sis, you sound like a mental patient..." Cal says bluntly, sliding a shot glass across to Kate and downing her own without so much as a shudder. "And I'm sure he-"
"No!" Kate waves a hand, forcing a smile. "No more talk about him, alright? It's better this way." She downs the shot, then winces as the drink (if you could call it that; Kate has no idea exactly what was in it, but it seems more like gasoline than anything) burns its way down her throat. "Fucking hell, Callie." She has to fight the urge to gag, shaking her head profusely. "No. I'm not going to waste any more time on him."
"You do realise you just did a complete 180, right?" Cal rolls her eyes, slamming the glass upon the bartop with such force, Kate is surprised it doesn't break. Cal looks unabashed, however, nodding absentmindedly to the music playing. Kate finds her mind starting to wander as her gaze flicks around at the people around her. Most of them are closer to Cal's age than her own; indeed, Cal has already greeted at least three uni friends.
Kate is saved the trouble of retorting as Cal is approached by yet another, and by the time Cal has said goodbye to them, she seems to have forgotten her previous train of thought. "Okay, so new plan!" Cal calls out several minutes later, tapping at Kate's arm over and over again to get her attention. Kate hums in affirmation, resting her chin on her hand. "And this is a super awesome plan so you can't dismiss it, okay?"
"Come on, Callie!" Kate groans, putting her own shot glass back down on the bar with a little more grace than Cal. "I don't need you to fix my love life."
"What?" Cal frowns, before her eyes widen. "Oh! No! I was thinking we should get matching tattoos!" She brushes a finger over the skin of Kate's wrist. "Right here..."
Kate snatches her wrist back, rolling her eyes. "I am not nearly drunk enough for you to convince me of that." She points out, though she must admit she's certainly feeling the alcohol, especially as Cal signals the bartender for another round.
"It's her birthday!" Cal calls to him, flashing him a flirtatious smile and winking.
"Shut up!" Kate pokes her sister hard in the ribs, and she twitches, always overly ticklish on her stomach.
"Oi! Not fair." Cal tugs her dress lower down her legs, mumbling inaudibly under her breath. The bartender sets two more shots down in front of them, looking Kate up and down with interest and flashing them both a smile that tells Kate he's definitely enjoying the attention.
"On the house." He winks. "Happy Birthday!"
She's determined to have fun. To forget, just for a little, that her life is spiralling. And she does... almost forget. Cal does her best to keep her distracted, dragging her up to dance and drink and beg the DJ for their favourite songs. Cal tries and fails to talk her into getting a tattoo, but after last time with the crew, Kate had made a point to watch her alcohol content, and she just shook her head at her younger sister. She trades $10 into coins at the bar and together, they hit the arcade games in the kids club, failing splendidly at the claw machine but leaving with both their handbags stuffed full of chocolate from the chocolate machine. Then they head for the racing arcade game, although the race quickly descends into sabotage as Kate and Cal both poke and prod each other or jerk rival steering wheels.
None of the digital distractions seem to quell Cal's enthusiasm at having Kate meet new people. She downloads Snapchat and Tinder onto Kate's phone before she can so much as protest, and sets about scrolling through the nearby men. "Uh, I don't need that, Cal!" She groans, trying and failing to grab her phone back before catching sight of a profile of a man who looks to be at least in his fifties. "Wow. He is so not twenty-six!" But she has to admit it's entertaining enough to flick through.
"Of course, we could have just gotten the bartender's number and have done with it." Cal giggles as they leave the club just after one, Kate's eyes itching with tiredness. "He seemed quite keen on you."
"Piss off." Kate quips back, as they slide into the back of an Uber, smiling softly to herself.
"So, how was your night of sinful indulgence and shirking of parental responsibilities?" Bridie enquires idly as Kate makes her way to the kitchen the next morning. Admittedly, she's not feeling as terrible as she'd feared, but the slight headache at the edge of her skull is uncomfortable nonetheless.
"Your aunt is a terrible influence." Kate reports, bustling about making herself a coffee.
"Cheek!" Cal grumbles from the lounge, still in her clothes from the previous night. She'd plonked herself onto the lounge the previous night and declared she wasn't moving anymore, so Kate had let her be. "Kate hooked up with the bartender!"
"No, I didn't!" Kate protests, dropping two Nurofen purposefully onto Kate's forehead, so that she jerks and flinches. "The most wild thing I did was dance with Cal. Your aunt is also a liar." Kate aims a flick at Cal's ear for good measure. Cal groans unintelligibly, but takes the offered medicine, and once she's sure that there is no planned revenge, Kate turns her attention back to Bridie. "How was it with Mrs Baxter?"
Bridie lets out a tired groan. "Urgh, can I please stay home by myself next time? Mrs Baxter just wants to watch Miss Marple with the subtitles on. Has it occurred to you that I'm old enough to be by myself without a babysitter?"
"Not for a night." Kate shakes her head. "But trust me, I think Cal is done for a while. No more nights out for me either. At least not until I turn forty. So you're free from Miss Marple for a while, yet."
"Good! Well, in that case, Happy Birthday." She slides over a gift bag and deposits it in front of Kate. Kate opens it and pulls out a beautiful maxi-dress, all shimmering blues and purples. Bridie grins as Kate holds it up to her body, smiling.
"Oh, Bee, this is beautiful." She exclaims, swishing the fabric around.
"Yeah." Cal agrees, still not sitting up. "Your bartender would like it."
If there's one thing she hates more than anything else, it's having everyone's eyes on her as they sing Happy Birthday, and, most unfortunately, Cal seems to be intent on singing it one word at a time the whole day. Cal trumpets the first Happy after the painkillers kick in, and Kate doesn't hear the last You until she's in the locker rooms at work changing for her night shift, her voice trumpeting through the Snapchat message Kate had just opened.
Deciding that her sister had more than won their little war today, Kate quickly silences her phone (Cal has set the damned video to repeat), but Nikki's excited gaze tells her that she's already lost. She says nothing though, and Kate has just began to entertain the possibility that she didn't understand the message, when Charge emerges holding a cake laden with candles. They sing the whole damn song for her again.
After cake, Kate spends the rest of the afternoon idly checking out rental properties online, scrolling through the limited choices available to her as she nibbles on her lip in an offhand sort of fashion. It's been a slow shift, and after cake and the limited options for wearing off their sugar, 2Dads starts his jokes again.
"I want to buy an owl off you, RO!" 2Dads calls out, barely concealing his grin as he spots Robert sitting dutifully at him communication desk.
RO narrows his eyes in confusion and mistrust, as though he knows that the whole thing is a joke but just can't work out the punchline. Charge has turned around to give 2Dads an equally confused look, and the rest of them turn to observe the rest of the interaction. "I don't sell owls, 2Dads." Robert settles on simply.
"Really? Somebody told me you were selling owls." 2Dads persists, staring eagerly at RO. He looks like a kid anxiously opening a Christmas present, practically bouncing on his feet.
RO hesitates for a moment before shaking his head dismissively. "No one would have told you that."
2Dads' hopeful look starts to fade, but he persists. "Somebody did."
RO irritably shuffles the papers on his desk, scowling. "2Dads, I refuse to continue discussing this."
"Just ask him who!" Dutchy interjects, pushing himself out of his chair. "Geez, we'll be here all day, 2Dads!"
"Dammit." 2Dads shakes his head at Dutchy's outburst and RO's continued confusion. "You're supposed to ask me who, and then I get to say I heard one. Geez, RO, you suck all the fun out of-" The buzzer goes off, alerting them to a traffic incident, and Kate thanks the heavens that the squabbling stops.
The truck cuts its way through the city streets, sirens blazing, and Kate finds herself, already full of sugar from a double helping of cake, quite on edge. The job itself is a simple one though, just using the jaws to cut through the frame of a car to free a trapped passenger, and then working on the clean up. It's enough to distract Kate entirely however as she spots the police officer on the cordon.
For a moment, she considers hiding from the woman. Then, she realises that the notion is childish. She was a professional, dammit, whatever her issues with Mike. So Kate takes a few steps closer and smiles politely. "Maxine."
Maxine looks so different in uniform. Sterner, perhaps. More polished. Scarier. She regards Kate for a moment, then smiles too. "Kate." She grins. "Lovely to see you again." They both turn to face the accident now being swept away. Lovely wasn't exactly the word she'd use. "Bit of a mess, hey?"
"Yes." Kate agrees, wishing she had thought of something of substance to add before making her way over here. Dammit, she was just standing here like some gormless robot nodding when- "How's Mike?" The question escapes her before she's even really considered the ramifications of it all. She flushes. "Sorry. Stupid question. I-"
Kate's half-expecting Maxine to shout her down for hurting her friend. But she also knows that any lecture, she will deserve. But when Maxine speaks, her voice is softer than Kate expects it to be. "You're not too late, you know." She murmurs.
"What?" Kate whips around, completely taken aback. "I..."
Maxine glances around, as though making sure that they're not being overheard. Then she adds, "Fight for him. Mike still loves you. You're not too late."