Sketch

52 - Emmy

"Tabs."

"Yeah."

"Remember how we used to cheer each other up?"

She sighs. "I thought you said you were already cheered up?"

"I am, but I'm all alone right now with nothing to do."

"So."

"Tabs, do it."

"No."

I get up from the sofa, stretching out the kinks in my back, before I head to the corner of the lounge.  "Please."

"Emmy, I'll feel like an idiot doing it on my own."

"I do it on my own sometimes."

"You're an idiot."

I laugh properly for what feels like the first time since I left the flat.  It feels good.  "Please."

She lets out a dramatic sigh, the one Mum uses on us to let us know that she's on her last thread of patience.

I lean in towards the stereo, fiddling with the setting for the radio.  "Mum and Dad are out.  No-one's going to walk in on you."

"Why do I want to dance on my own?"

"To cheer me up," I reply.

I can almost hear her eyes rolling.  "Emmy."

"Tabatha."

She gags at her full name.  "Alright, fine.  First song we find."

I nod.  "Here's hoping for the classical station."

She giggles. "That was funny."

"Doing the robot to the violin is actually pretty hard."  I turn the volume up and ease the dial to the left until the static clears, making way to a song that's upbeat and happy.  It's pop, Sam's worst nightmare, but I like it.  I start tapping my feet.  "Ready?"  I can hear bass coming from the other end of the phone.

"Okay," she shouts over the sound of two different radio stations.  "Go."

I set the phone down on the coffee table and dance.  I raise my hands in the air and spin around, laughing as I catch sight of myself in the mirror above the TV.  My hair's flying everywhere and my eyes are wide.  I look like the lead character in a horror film where the girl gets possessed.  I snigger, spinning faster and jumping from left to right.  My heart's pounding hard as I move around the room, shaking my hips and acting out little actions to the lyrics I've never heard before.  I feign being drunk as the singer sings about brandy and falling over.

I laugh, wheezing at my own stupidity, until the sound of the front door shutting makes me pause mid step.  Annabelle's standing still, her eyebrows tilted upwards and her lips parted with a silent question.

I dive to the stereo and turn the volume down.  "Just working out," I say in answer to the confusion in her eyes.

She nods slowly before her lips curve with a smile.  "You and Alex are really similar, you know that?"

I nod and lean into the back of the sofa, trying to catch my breath.  I think I'm a bad influence on Alex at times.  "Yeah.  I think that's why we're friends."

She's still smiling as she slips off her shoes and walks to her room.  "Alex should be home soon.  Feel free to carry on working out."

When I'm not doubled over trying to breathe I rush back around to the coffee table to pick up my phone.  I can still hear music on Tabs' line but I only have to wait a couple of moments before she dims the volume and I can hear her breathing into the phone.

"Having fun," I tease.

"Did someone walk in on you?  I heard voices when I checked to make sure you weren't making me do it on my own."

I snort.  "It was just Alex's roommate but apparently she's used to our weirdness.  She didn't even bat an eyelid after a moment of seeing me do the Dougie."

Tabs laughs.  "I forgot how you corrupted Alex.  She was normal until she met you."

"She'll remember her first day of secondary school forever."

"And the scar above her eyebrow will be there even if she loses her memory."

I snort again, feeling the rush of air at the back of my throat.  "That wasn't funny.  I actually thought I'd killed her."

"A rounder's bat to the face secured your friendship forever."

"Accident."

"Best accident ever."

"Not for the egg like lump on Alex's head."

"Maybe you should hit Sam in the head with a rounder's bat.  That might knock some sense into him."

I smile.  "Though it would have been tempting two days ago, I don't hate him that much."

"You don't hate him at all.  You're just in love."

Hearing it from Tabs makes me blush.  "And how do you know?"

"Because," she says, sounding knowledgeable.  "Love makes people do stupid things."

"Oh yeah?  And since when have you been in love?"

"I haven't but I watch TV.  They always say things like that on TV."

"And TV is never wrong."

"Neither am I," she says.  "Text me when you and Sam have made up.  Mum's home and she's wearing her angry face.  I better go."

"Tell her I love her," I say, home-sickness setting in a little at the thought of a week without my parents.

"Will do.  Speak soon."

I smile when I've hung up, forgetting for the first time in a day that I'm supposed to be feeling sad.  After talking to Tabs and Alex it doesn't feel that way anymore.  I'm actually looking forward to seeing Tanya tomorrow and I can't wait to get back in the band.  Sketch is my life now and so is Sam.  The moody, overly-paranoid, hot guy that I can't stop thinking about may have said some really hurtful things, but he's only human.  We all make mistakes.  I'm just hoping that I'm not one of his.