Chapter three then. Encouraged (and daunted) by the wizardry of mswitsend who's sorcery on Fighting Loudly is dazzling, I'm inspired to continue. Enjoy if you like, ignore if you prefer. Thanks for passing by.

Emily

Mum and dad are out. Mum to take James to school before trying to rescue what's left of her wedding planner business after Dad trashed her credit rating and emptied the joint bank account. Dad to go grovelling to Bristol Council to see if we can get a tower block flat that isn't currently sublet by Johnny White. After the 'Ghost Chilli' incident, which we laughed about for months after, I don't much fancy bumping into the gaunt goon in the lift. He might have just been being 'dangerous', you know, saying we would all be raped if Thomas lost, but I'm not up for finding out.

So me and Katie are having some twin time on the parents bed. Not that, you dirty lot. Even Katie has stopped finding that little urban myth amusing. She used the old twin allure shamelessly when we were at school, but word soon got about that the perennial male fantasy was a definite non starter. Then of course, the gossip de jour was all about me and Naomi, both when I finally managed to tell the world (and the college) about me loving her and all...and then when we were a proper item... kissing in corridors and me finding the flimsiest excuse to drag her into a cupboard or empty classroom to have my wicked way with her.

It was like being happily drunk 24/7 without the hangovers. I could have her...literally... whenever I wanted her...and that was a lot. It was proper intoxicating. I never got tired of her lips, her body and her love.

Except then she went and fucked it up by screwing that poor bitch Sophia, before the sad cow topped herself so publicly. And then I made everything a million times worse by allowing Mandy into my knickers, just as Naomi was coming home with peace offerings….and just when I was starting to weaken about being such a first class bitch. Karma huh?

It all seems like a year ago, not just weeks.

"What am I gonna do Katie?" I pouted miserably. We were both wearing pink onesy's. Katies choice obviously. I think it was probably from the last time I allowed her to choose any of my clothing. I was maybe 15...but I'm not much bigger than I was in those days, so when I was silently handed it after we woke up entangled on the single bunk in the cold morning light and I'd had a much needed pee, I didn't argue. The caravan was fucking frigid, even in the summer. I missed my warm double bed...the one I used to share with my love. The bed in that mundane little end terraced house in Alfred Road that I thought naively would be our forever home.

I hugged myself tighter and waited for Katie to answer.

"You have to decide what you really want Ems. This is not really you girl, is it? I mean, getting pissed up night after night and screwing randoms is more Cook's Facebook profile? I get you're broken hearted...but so is Naomi by all accounts. And you'd never get me to admit this in public, thumbscrews included, but the punishment you've been dishing out to blondie was just a tiny bit OTT...even without the added bonus of her catching you shagging the troll?"

I opened my mouth to argue, but the moral high ground I had been sitting on defiantly for months, dishing out great dollops of vitriol and spite her way, was now well and truly levelled.

Instead I swallowed hard on an unsaid retort. Much as good advice from Katie is usually as common as solar eclipses, this time she was 100% right. I'd been anaesthetising myself with drink, parties and random shags. Going out every night wasn't even really fun any more. And Mandy?...I burned in shame at hearing that name. She was supposed to be a bit of casual entertainment...a convenient arm to hang on and most importantly, someone to remind me every day that people other than Naomi Campbell found me attractive. But she ended up being the flame that scorched the best thing that had ever happened to me. Just call me fucking Icarus?

Maybe it's twin intuition, but when I looked up, guilt plain on my face, Katie went straight in for the kill.

"And what the fuck was all that about with Mandy anyway? Unless she had secret hidden talents..." she shuddered as if visualising Mandy's 'talents' "...and just...fucking no...I have no wish to ever have that image in my head, thanks… You've been just as cruel to her as you were to Naomi. Stringing her along...making her think you had feelings for you. Well, you don't...believe me, I know when you've got the hots for another lezzer...I spent a fucking year watching you drool pathetically over Campbell, yeah?"

Stupidly, I rose to the bait. My eyes flashed.

"Yeah...and look where that got me...she fucking cheated on me anyway..and I even ended up lying to the police about leaving the club early and whether we knew the poor bitch at all?"

Katie shrugged. Like the true sociopath she is, incidents in the recent past are forgotten as soon as she puts 24 hours between them and her. I'd lost track of how many times I blatantly lied to hopeful lads who queued up outside our door, waiting for her to choose one at random. But that was by the way, it didn't solve today's problem. What the fuck was I gonna do about restoring some sanity into my life? Naomi showed no sign of coming back from London...like ever. and Gina was totally uninterested in telling me where she was living. It was like everyone had slammed a huge vault door on all my privileges. Even soppy old Kieran wasn't in the mood to help me out nowadays. Since the final exams were over, even boring Roundview seemed like a happy memory.

Katie sighed and picked at her painted toe nails. Obviously her well known tolerance for other peoples problems was being tested to the limit. I knew I only had a couple of minutes to try to get some advice I could actually use.

"Look..." she said slowly, as if tutoring a remedial stream student "...ask yourself one question? Do you actually want her back...no, fuck that...if you got her back, would you actually forgive her? Because if you can't… then all you're doing is building up more grief for both of you. Her finding you in the arms of Fiona Shrek is a bit of a fail, but this whole thing started to go sideways a long time before that, when she felt trapped by all the plans you had for the future...right?"

There it was...that word again. Trapped. I hated it when my dad said it and I still hated it now.

I wanted to argue...to say that planning a gap year in Goa was actually a joint decision. But that was a pile of doggy doo's. I'd steamrollered her into agreeing without considering her own plans for a moment. But her cheating had sort of drowned out rational thinking for a while. When I found out she'd screwed Sophia, I lost all reason. My idol was all too human after all, and I just couldn't deal with it.

I stared at the ceiling for a moment, actually thinking clearly for the first time in weeks. Then I let out the breath I had been holding and locked eyes with my sister.

"Yes...I do want her back...and to be honest...I think I actually forgave her a while back...I just couldn't bring myself to tell her?"

Katie rolled her eyes.

"Well, that went well for you guys, didn't it? I suggest you get your arse in gear, grovel humbly to Gina...she always had a soft spot for you Ems.. She might be mad at you now, but she's quick to forgive...according to that lump Kieran anyway. Go round there and beg until she gives you an address. I'll even let you use my debit card to pay for the fucking coach. You've probably totalled yours on booze and industrial sized Kleenex by now?"

I kicked her with my sock covered foot. Not hard, you understand...I still needed that fucking debit card, because she was scarily close to the truth about my recent outgoings. Majestic Wine was a constant on my statements…

XXX

Naomi

Bang bang bang…

The fucking door downstairs stayed on its hinges, but it was a close thing. I was dozing in my bedroom...alright, not dozing actually. Suffering. Last nights excesses were still playing havoc with my brain functions. No randoms to throw out this morning...luckily, but I'd definitely caned the gin yesterday. It was fortunate the rest of the house was silent. Everyone else but me having gainful employment...but with one blurry glance at the bedside clock, I groaned at whoever was interrupting my solitary penance. Hangovers now being compulsory at this address.

Bang bang bang…

There it was again. I got up slowly, easing myself off the bed and promising homicide if it turned out to be Jehovah's Witnesses. If one more earnest young man in a suit tells me that Jesus loves me...I'm gonna throw up on his carefully polished Oxfords.

I stumbled downstairs and paused for a moment in the hallway. Well, it wasn't the Witnesses. They hunted in packs and there was only one figure in the fluted glass window. Whatever...I might be a recently dumped Naomi Campbell, but I had years honing my sarcasm to fall back on. Whatever he was selling...I ain't buying, I thought savagely before swinging the door open wide.

Which is of course, when my plan to send dragon flames over the annoying visitor went to ratshit.

"Naomikins!" the visitor yelled cheerfully and swept me up into a bear-hug. I gasped out a noise, but the words stuck in my throat. The visitor walked me inside, swung the door closed with his trailing leg and put me down. Both his hands were now on my arse...copping a proper feel. But this was the first familiar face I'd seen in weeks. My initial impulse to crack him a good one gave way to a wry smile.

"Fucking Cook...how the hell did you get out of HMP Bristol.." I asked.

He held up his ankle and showed me a band of plastic with a blinking green LED on its side.

"Out on appeal babes...fucking ace brief I got this time...not like that cunt who helped them lock old Cookie up...so I'm out!"

Out? I thought incredulously...how the hell is that even possible...surely a tag is tied to a property...and no way had Cook been given this address? My puzzlement only lasted ten more seconds.

"Now...is there a hacksaw in the fucking house…?" he said, walking into the kitchen.

And I thought I had problems before I thought darkly, as I followed him.

Short I know, but there will be more this week. Promise!