Chapter Six: Birds and Turds
He sauntered across the room to the counter, "Well, if it ain't Twin-y from the party, what'chu doin' here?"
"It's Emily. Not 'Twin-y.' And I work here." Emily sighed; it was this kind of person that made her question any job requiring interaction with customers. Stupid tosser. She blamed Katie for the annoying loser that recognized her."What can I get for you, Cock?" She did not even notice the slip until after she had said his name improperly.
"Oi! That hurt my feelings, babes, but lucky for you, I'll forgive ya if ya remember it's Cook from now on. How about two beers for me and a lite beer for the pretty lady?" Emily looked at the girl, who was obviously not Katie - she must've moved on to the next tosser.
The girl had long blonde extensions with some of the tips dyed black. "No, really, I don't thi-"
"O'cmon. Live a lit'le," Cook pushed.
Emily rescued the girl. She did not hesitate to talk in a demeaning tone; "we don't serve beer here. It's Wanderer's Tea Shop. We make tea."
"What kind of pussy shit is that?" He furrowed his eyebrows disappointedly.
The other customers were getting visibly agitated by Cook; some shuffled in their seats uncomfortably, some stared at him in shock of his rudeness, and others tried ignoring him by turning up the volume of the underground music in their headphones. Emily too, had lost all patience for his behavior and excused herself. "I'm sorry, I have to grab something from the back."
"Now?" He asked confused.
"Yep, now. Panda, can you help him?" Emily moved to the back where she could not be seen but could still listen in, in case she needed to return to assist in kicking him out of the shop.
"Sure, Emily!" Panda put down the dishes she had been cleaning in the sink and dried her hands on her apron. "What can I do for you, sir?"
"Have ya got any decent food in this place, seeing as there aren't any quality drinks?"
"We have some of the most delightful crepes in all of Bristol!" She smiled. Panda's naivety deflected his obnoxiousness.
"The fuck is a crepe?"
The girl beside him was started to shrug off his arm a little, creating some distance. She was definitely embarrassed by all the negative attention he was drawing in. He did not seem to notice or care about anyone else.
"Well it's, uhh" she pointed to one of the plates she was going to bring out after dealing with him, "this!"
"So a fancy pancake, eh?"
"Sort of. I guess. But they'll make your taste buds go bonkers with happiness - they're ridiculously delicious for being so simple." She giggled.
"Alright, I'll have five."
"Five crepes? Wow, your stomach must be raging," Panda exclaimed.
"That's nothing. This 'ol thing once demolished twelve pints of lager, a whole chocolate cake, and several pizzas in just one evening." The girl just grimaced in disgust while Cook grinned and rubbed his belly in sheer pride.
"Alright, that'll be thirteen pounds." Panda moved to the cash register. He handed her a note and some change after searching his pockets. Panda counted it. "You're short two pounds."
Cook instantly looked at the girl. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Oh c'mon, Brandy... Sandy..." She glared at Cook angrily through slitted eyes. "Mandy? YEAH! Mandy, tha's it. C'mon help a man out. I totally made you scream my name earlier for a handy. it's the least you could do."
Her cheeks reddened at what everyone had just heard him say, but she was too angry to be embarrassed. She slapped him across the face. "Baby-dick-sized tosser! And stormed out.
"Oi! My dick is man-sized! And you're handy was the worst in all of Bristol, just so you know, darling! A fuckin' gimp with no hands could probably give a better handy than you!" he shouted.
The bell rang as the door slammed shut. Emily suddenly appeared beside Panda. Before she could say anything a smart grin appeared on Cook's face. "Heard about my man-sized dick and now you want some, eh?"
Emily used all her self-control to withhold from gagging. She could not think of anything worse than sex, or any physical contact, for that matter, with Cook. "I'm sorry but we don't tolerate the kind of disturbance you are creating in Wanderer's peaceful environment. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
His face reddened much like the girl from before, in anger. "You can't do that! I've got rights!"
"Not in a privately owned store. You broke the rules and now you have to leave. Get out." Emily looked a bit frightening and was secretly nervous because Cook seemed hotheaded, unpredictable, and careless, but she kept her voice firm and stood with her arms crossed behind the counter.
"I'm not going to fight with no girl." He turned to leave.
"That's fucking right you aren't. I'd kick your fucking ass." For a second, Cook looked tempted to take her up on the challenge for a second, but then he just shook his head and laughed as he stepped out of the shop. He called out, "I'll be around, if you ever change your mind. They all come to the Cookie-monster in the end. The door closed and the shop was completely silent until his figure was no longer visible from the windows.
Many of the customers cheered and got up to put generous tips in the jar on the front counter. Some muttered about Cook together for a while before things settled down. "What a psycho," Panda mumbled. "You totally scared him away, Emily!" She raised her hand in Emily's direction. They high-fived light-heartedly and returned to work. The rest of the day and evening went uneventfully by comparison. Jeremy returned only to ask them to close up for the night. It was not out of the ordinary for them to do so - Jeremy had a wife and two little toddlers waiting for him at home. None of the trustworthy employees minded because he was so nice otherwise.
The last customer shuffled out of the door as they locked the door at midnight. "Have a good night!" Panda shouted, putting the "Closed" sign in the entrance's window. They started the clean up routine by putting the leftover pastries and ingredients into refrigeration or the trash. They washed the dishes, emptied the registers, put the money into an envelope inside Jeremy's safe to be banked the next day. Emily was in the employee's backroom. She had her phone in her hand, intending to check it before taking off her apron. Just before she could open any new messages, she heard a loud thump from another room. "You okay, Panda?" She put her mobile back in her bag and walked in the direction of the sound.
"Whoopsie." Emily saw Panda among a few boxes and some scattered packages of tea.
"Here," Emily held out her hand and helped Panda to her feet. Together they cleaned up the mess and put everything in its proper place. They put their aprons in the hamper, grabbed their belongings, and locked the back door. "Goodnight, Panda."
"Sweet dreams, Emily." Panda walked to her car and Emily walked to her moped.
Emily put on her helmet then remembered she had new messages on her phone. She pulled it out of her bag and was so excited to see it was from Naomi that she made a "yes!" gesture, making a fist and moving her arm downward, toward her body. She accidentally dropped her phone. "FUCKING FUCK. Of course there'd be a fucking drain pipe fucking underneath me. Fucking god damn it."
Panda pulled up beside Emily, wondering what her friend was doing still not on her moped. The blonde rolled down her window to talk. "Everything alright, Emily?"
"No!" Emily groaned then added, "Well, yes, I'm fine. I just dropped my fucking phone in the drain. Didn't even get to read the message."
"Was it important?"
"No-well, yes. Kind of. I'm not sure."
A grin spread across Panda's face slowly but widely, "Was it a girl?" She drew out the sentence giddily.
"I don't know, it just said 'hi.'"
"Well, were you expecting any texts from an unknown number?"
"No-yes," The grin on Panda's face only got wider with Emily's answers changing. "Well, not like that." Panda did not look as though she believed Emily. Emily gave in and sighed, "Okay. I don't know. Maybe. It could have been this girl I study with."
"You study with a girl?!"
"Well, we studied once. And then she came to my house..."
"She came to your house?!"
"I didn't invite her, but yeah."
"Oh." Panda looked completely confused and disappointed.
"She was there for one of Katie's party. We talked though."
"Oh!" Panda smiled again. And Emily laughed at her friend's quick changes in emotions that adjusted to each new piece of information she gave.
"But now my phone is gone. If it was her... well, I have no way of contacting her."
"Oh." Sad tone again.
"Don't worry about it, Panda. I don't even know if she's, you know, like me."
"A muff-munchkin?"
Emily laughed. "Close - a muff-muncher. And yeah."
"Oh. Right. Well, who knows Emily? The world is a small place. Maybe she's your prince who will come and rescue you on a unicorn. Maybe she doesn't need a phone to find you. True love always finds a way."
Emily did not have the heart to tell her friend fairytales do not really exist. "Thanks, Panda. I'm sure you're right. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Panda said goodnight again and rolled up her windows then left. Emily got on her moped and drove home. She was tired of staying at Freddie's.
When she got home and she stopped the table. There was a poorly drawn picture of her and obviously Katie, judging by their similarity, holding hands. I'm sorry. I love you. xoxo Katie A small tear dripped down the side of Emily's face. It had been so long since she Katie had said that. She looked up and saw Katie sleeping on the couch. She figured that her twin had stayed up to wait for her. Emily walked over to her and gently shook her shoulder. "Katie, wake up, let's get you into bed."
"Fuck off," Katie mumbled. But then her tired eyes shot open, "Emily, you're home!" She sat up sleepily and started talking so fast her twin could not understand her.
"Katie, slow down. I'm here, it's alright."
"Emily, please don't go. I've been such a horrible sister. I missed you so much."
"Jesus, I was only gone for a night."
"No, you're at Freddie's all the time. I'm all alone in this apartment most of the time." Katie sounded sad.
"But you're always with people. You're throwing parties." Emily argued.
"It's not the same. All they care about is popularity and alcohol. To them it doesn't matter if it's here or somewhere else, or if it's someone else throwing the parties. I miss having a sister that actually gives a shit about me, not just how good my parties are."
"Who says I give a shit about you?" Emily smirked but her tone wasn't mean.
"Hey, I'm trying to fucking apolo-." Before Katie could finish her sentence she was squeezed into a hug.
"I forgive you."
Katie wrapped her arms around Emily. They both missed being sisters very much. "Are you going to leave me too?" Katie sounded weak and scared because of how quietly she asked.
"Who left you?"
"Cook."
"Fucking bastard." Emily groaned. "Don't worry, I'm staying." They let go of each other and Emily handed Katie a tissue from the stand next to the couch. "For a bit."
Author's Note: My favorite part was the "fancy pancakes" bit, but I want to hear about your favs. Glad we've got some closure on Emily and Katie but trust me, they still have plenty to work out. This story probably has the most drama out of any that I've written but I wanted it to be realistic - as far as time and situation. I hope that's being conveyed. SO let me know your favorite bits or any other comments you have below! Thanks for reading, everyone.