Chapter 40

Shawna staggered up the steps, getting the key into the lock at the third attempt, as Hope, Elspeth and Brianna followed, laughing gently at her antics. Hope and Brianna hadn't had anything more than soft drinks, but Elspeth's stability was largely due to Brianna's support.

"Oh, look at that!" Shawna giggled, as the door swung open, pointing to Tony and Lorraine stretched out together on the couch watching the television.

"Hi." Marcus managed after a moment, as the other three girls poured in through the door, pushing it closed. Inspired at the sight, Shawna strutted over to Marcus and plopped herself down into his lap with a smile and a squeal, nipping gently at his earlobe.

"So, did Marcus fix you guys back up again?" Brianna asked, staying in the doorway for a moment, fixing Tony and Lorraine with a gentle grin.

"All our own work." Lorraine assured her. "He just lent us a kitchen."

"And kept us on our toes." Tony added, bringing a blush out of Marcus.

"I said I was sorry about that..."

"Don't worry about it." Tony waved him away, and eased Lorraine up. "Would you guys be able to give Lorraine a lift home?"

"What?" Lorraine looked up. "What are you doing?"

"I'm..." he paused, looking around at the others. "Fucking up again, but not like you think. Come here for a minute." He gestured towards the kitchen. "And you..." he turned back to Marcus, who was trying to surreptitiously keep Shawna's hand out of his jeans. "Never mind, you'll stay there anyway."

"Any ideas what that was about?" Hope wondered, as they disappeared.

"We can always ask her in the car." Brianna decided, and a few seconds later they were back.

"Thanks." Lorraine smiled, grabbing her coat from the hook. "Thanks Marcus." They hustled out, ushering Elspeth before them, and Tony grabbed his own jacket with a smile as Shawna slid round in Marcus' lap to straddle his legs.

"I'll let myself out." He called, and Marcus could only manage a wave.

Hope trudged morosely into her room, poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle on the desk, and flopped down into her chair to sip gently at it. An hour later, still barely half-way through the glass, the door opened to let Yvonne in dressed in smaller clothes than she wore, despite the size difference.

"Bet you got some attention in that." She observed with a wry smile.

"Yeah." Yvonne admitted, with a twirl. "I was beating them off with a stick most of the night." She dropped down onto her own bed, staring across at Hope's forlorn expression with a slight frown.

"What about your evening? Anyone at the Black Cat catch your eye?"

"Just one, but she's already seeing someone."

"No-one else? In all that? Maybe you need to try a mixed house."

"All my friends are paired up, now. Even Corrine, in a weird sort of a way."

"She's the one that's seeing Aiden Martin?" Reaching one long leg up into the air, Yvonne stripped off a knee-high boot slowly and wiggled her toes as they escaped. "Oh, that's better."

"Yeah, some of the time. I don't know whether that's an on-off thing, or an arrangement. They seem to have differing opinions."

"Well, Aiden definitely thinks they have an arrangement." Yvonne's leer was obvious, and Hope just nodded, rolling onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. "Oh, come on, someone out there must be up to the job... maybe you're looking in the wrong places?"

"Right places, wrong time." Hope corrected, after a moment's thought, rolling back to face Yvonne and managed a rueful smile.

"Sorry, don't worry about me. I'll just turn in for the night, and see how things are tomorrow."

"Well, I was going to have a glass of wine or two before bedding down... did you want one?" Yvonne twirled the two mismatched glasses in her hands, letting the light flash off the imperfections. "Go on..." she interrupted, as Hope began to object. "You know how bad it is to drink on your own."

"I don't think that's quite what they mean." Hope's smile broke open a little and she gave in and nodded. "Just the one, though."

"Attagirl." Splashing the wine hurriedly into the glasses she passed Hope her's and slumped gracefully onto her own bed, swirling the red liquid in front of the light. "So, come on, why so desperate for company?"

"What?" Hope sipped at her drink, peering over the top of the glass as Yvonne rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.

"You. You don't seem that insecure, so it's not a validation thing. Why is it so important that you find someone."

"I don't... I don't know, really." This time Yvonne rolled onto her side, staring across at Hope with narrowed eyes.

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?" Hope smiled, a little nervously, and tried to laugh it off.

"You know exactly why you're so worked up about this... you wouldn't be this relaxed if you weren't, it's not in your nature to just accept."

"True." Hope sighed, putting the glass aside barely touched. "There are some people I like, but they're seeing other people — each other, actually — so I'm trying to... get them out my system, I suppose. Find someone to distract me from what I can't have."

"See, that sort of makes sense." Yvonne admitted, raising her glass. "Easier ways to forget the world, though."

"I don't really see me getting drunk just to forget."

"Not just to forget." Yvonne's smile broadened, and for the first time since they'd met Hope felt a little uncomfortable. "All sorts of things can happen when you get drunk enough to really let go."

"So?" Lorraine stopped, turning slowly away from Elspeth's slightly unfocussed gaze straight into Briana's far more direct stare.

"So what?" she demurred, fighting the grin away.

"So what was that with Tony?" Briana clarified, dragging her gently by the shoulder back from the doorway before she went in.

"Just... working some things out." This time the grin broke free, and Briana frowned slightly.

"You're not going to tell us, are you?"

"Nope." She confirmed, with a laugh. "But it's nothing bad. Your brother actually sat down and thought about something, for a bit, and put someone else before his rugby."

"Really?" Elspeth slurred only slightly, but stumbled down the step almost falling to the floor.

"Go on, Bri, get her home." Lorraine pushed her gently away, back towards the car. "Thanks for the lift."

"You can't just leave me hanging like this." Bri mock-wailed, slipping an arm around Elspeth to hoist her upright again. "You can't just leave me with her hanging like this, either."

"Why not?" Lorraine disappeared inside with a tinkling laugh, leaving Bri smiling to herself on the path.

"Come on, darling, let's get you home."

"Take me home, Jeeves." Elspeth commanded, leaning heavily in on her, and Bri turned them both in the direction of the car. The dozen yards to the path were nothing like as difficult as getting her into the car without breaking something. That was nothing compared to trying to drive whilst Elspeth rather clumsily tried to grope her for the whole journey back.

"NOW can I kiss you?" Elspeth asked, throwing her arms round Bri's neck as she closed the car door. Bri's eyes narrowed slightly as she quickly surveyed Elspeth's stance, and the sudden clarity in her eyes.

"Just how drunk are you?"

"Drunk enough not to care. Sober enough to act worse than I am. Free enough to want you to take me to bed and f..." she cut off abruptly as Bri's hand clamped over her mouth.

"Someone's lurking just outside the car-park." She whispered in Elspeth's ear, and suddenly the drunkenness dissolved into adrenaline fuelled sobriety.

"Are you sure?" she whispered back, trembling slightly.

"Yeah, behind you, hunched under the signpost." Elspeth turned to look, and Briana headed towards the boot of the car where she kept her hockey gear.

"Bri?" Tony's voice carried easily across the tarmac, and the two girls both visibly relaxed.

"Tony you fucking idiot, you scared the shit out of me." Bri called him over as Elspeth slumped back onto the car, trembling slightly and feeling ill.

"Sorry, I just wanted to talk to you before tomorrow." He smiled, half-way between amused and apologetic.

"Why, what's happening tomorrow?"

"Well, I'm taking Lorraine out to dinner, we're going to pretend we're starting from scratch, I'll see if I can't do it properly this time."

"Lovely, I'm happy for you... why do you need to stalk me at the car park for this?"

"Well..." his grin spread a little further as he surveyed Elspeth's rapidly paling face, "I figured I'd take her home for dinner."

"I'm still not following..." Briana managed, distractedly, rubbing Elspeth's back, gently.

"I got a message on my phone, you've probably got one too." Reaching into her back she clumsily popped her phone open and there was a message waiting.

"Mum and Dad are home? They're not due until Easter."

"And they've invited us back for dinner." They shared a look that Elspeth missed completely, leaving unsaid the part of the message that said to feel free to bring a guest.

Hope woke up slowly, revelling in the warmth of the duvet and the gentle numbness of the last of the previous evening's wine.

Despite her protestations to the contrary she recalled finishing at least two glasses, and it didn't take much more than one to get someone her size drunk. Rolling to get her hair out of her eyes she froze, suddenly, realising someone else was on the bed with her.

Yvonne's long, lithe form draped off the edge of the bed, obviously more unconscious than asleep from the state of her, and then the smell hit her. Stale wine and sex mingled in the air, and she slumped back against the pillow with tears in her eyes, trying to remember what she could of the previous night.

She remembered getting her second glass, and commenting at the time that she couldn't remember finishing the first. She remembered the lights being dimmed, and Yvonne's long, slim fingers running up under her skirt. She pushed them away twice, but after that the memory's were just impressions; heat and sweat, tongues and fingers and long, long legs in a blur.

Trapped between Yvonne and the wall she struggled for a moment to try and get out from under the duvet, and ended up slipping down towards the foot of the bed and escaping there. Dressing hurriedly she turned at the door, wondering if she should roll Yvonne into a safer position — not on her back, and not so close to the edge of the bed — and found herself taking a good look at the taller woman.

Laid down like this she didn't look poised, didn't look graceful and lively, she looked worn. Her hips jutted from a drawn stomach, and ribs showed clearly in a way that even her own didn't. Her skin, without the carefully applied make-up, was slightly grey, and slightly mottled — two large bruises showed on her thigh, ridged like a hand-print. For a guilty moment Hope reached out a hand to compare, realising her own fingers barely stretched half as far.

Rolling Yvonne gently onto her front, covering her properly with the duvet, Hope turned and headed out the door in something of a daze. The air was cold and crisp, bringing her slowly awake to the point she realised it was taking her longer to wake than it normally did. She didn't get drunk often, but even then it didn't normally feel like this the morning after.

"Hey, Dopey." Hope looked up to find Shawna and Marcus sat on a swing by the river, staring at her as she walked slowly past. She looked around, realising the route she'd taken. "You on the way to our place," Shawna continued, "'cause we're not there."