InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "who is Todd Weinstock?"

Kate was drunk. It was nice. She wasn’t thinking about her stupid father or his skank of a wife. She wasn’t thinking about how she was going to have to find a new place. She was thinking about how much fun it was to dance, and how she couldn’t spin too much. She really didn’t want to lose her lunch. (Or, well, not lunch. All she had in her was Long Island Iced Teas at the moment.)

After Kate fell down and spilled some drinks all over, Emma decided (rightly so) it was time to get the dark haired girl home and to bed. They made their way back to Kate’s Place, and Kate fumbled with the keys.

“I’m gonna have to move, you know.” Kate said, then dropped her keys. She couldn’t seem to get the front door open.

Heading out with Kate had been… interesting. They’d go with that one. Emma totally understood needing to blow off some steam, and Kate was at least doing it in a very manageable way -even if the poor girl would be feeling it in the morning.

The fact that Emma wasn’t drinking worked for them just fine. She picked Kate up, they went to a bar, Emma stuck to soda all night and kept an eye on just how much Kate was having and that she was safe while the younger woman got to let some of her frustrations out. Of course when Kate got clumsy it was time to go and getting the girl into her apartment seemed to be the hard part.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bending down to get Kate’s keys, finding the one to unlock the door and get her inebriated friend inside, Emma went about getting the lights on and securing the door behind them, “You’ll find somewhere, it’ll be cosy and sweet and yours, and that’ll make it all the more better.” Emma understood budget living and small places. She moved around enough that she’d always lived like that. It’d be a little bit of a shock for Kate, sure. But Emma was certain it would work out somehow.

“C’mon, out of those shoes before you break your neck tripping over something.”

Kate followed Emma into the darkened apartment, dropping purse and phone and keys and wallet and jacket and whatever else she was carrying. She nodded, hearing what Emma was saying and agreeing to it--she’d find a place that was hers. Eventually. She had at least thirty days. Maybe a little more? She probably couldn’t move out of here until February 1, anyway. Since they wanted a full calendar month in notice? Written notice? Whatever, her drunken mind couldn’t consider it at the moment. She was spending too much mental energy staying upright, let alone thinking about the future six or eight weeks from now.

“Oh. Shoes. I won’t be able to buy new shoes.” Kate said. She wasn’t particularly girly, but what hot-blooded woman didn’t love a new pair of amazing boots? She bent down to unzip the sides of her boots, and nearly fell head-first into the coffee table.

Her hand reaching out to stabilise Kate, something she’d been doing for almost an hour now, Emma helped the girl shuffle back and sit herself down. They’d be better if Kate wasn’t attempting to support her own weight on massively unbalanced feet right now.

“Sure you will, just not for a while and in moderation.” It was terrible that her dad was just pulling the rug out from under her, and that Kate would need to figure everything out so fast, but there were friends to help her out still.

“Besides, you haven’t even started job hunting yet, you have no idea just what you might end up with.” Of course it would still likely be a while before Kate could buy new shoes, but Emma didn’t think she needed to mention that.

Kate wasn’t sure what she’d do without her friends. She probably would have drunk herself to oblivion in her own apartment… or headed to Clint’s. Actually, that’s what she would have done. Clint made everything better. Not that Emma didn’t--Emma was wonderful. But Clint made everything even better.

“I’m not really trained to do anything.” Kate said, letting Emma help her out of her boots and carefully into the sofa. She tugged her socks off, too, something that took three tries to get right. “You think there’s a proper job out there for a slacker like me?” She slurred on every other word.

“Well, I’ve managed just fine.” Emma was trained for nothing and proficient in a lot of things, sometimes you learned on the job, and making ends meet was just the start of it all. Putting Kate’s shoes side by side and off to the other end of the sofa, Emma tucked the socks over the top of them.

She’d gotten pretty good at organising and cleaning up after Henry, shoes and shirts left behind him, sometimes even Neal when it was a busy or difficult day at the ranch. Emma didn’t mind it much. “Don’t over think it, Kate. You’ll figure it out.” Downsizing the apartment, managing the budget better, it might take a little doing, but it would happen. “You want me to get you some water?” Pushing Kate’s hair back from her face, getting the girl to settle back, Emma checked for the general layout of the kitchen because it shouldn’t be that hard to find some water.

Kate’s apartment was swanky, but sparse. She had a really nice entertainment center, really fashionable furnishings, and clean carpets. But there were few knick knacks to speak of, few books on the shelves, few dvds in the case. The kitchen was just as bare, though there were clean dishes in the cupboard. The fridge only held to-go containers with leftovers from a couple days ago.

“Some water’s probably a good idea,” Kate slurred, lifting a hand to flop over her forehead as she lounged on the sofa. She stared up at the ceiling, trying to turn off her drunken, lumbering brain. It wasn’t easy. “There might be bread in there. If it’s not moldy?”

It was a bit memorable; not the swanky stuff. Emma’s homes were always fully furnished, she took on places where she could leave everything behind and move on to the next thing. But she had belongings now, living with Neal and Henry, they had nice things and fancy possessions, kitchen gadgets and the like. But it wasn’t surprising that Kate barely had anything that was adulty in that regard.

A glass of water and finding the bread, checking just how it felt before looking for the toaster. Some toast and water, it’d soak up some of the alcohol that Kate had tried to drown her liver in at least. Get her a little sober before bed, at least hydrated a little better.

“Hey, sit up a little,” Emma got herself settled beside Kate, sitting the plate with a few slices of toast on the table before motioning the brunette to take the glass of water. It would be impossible to stop the hangover all together, but at least they could make it less horrid.

Kate did as she was told. Sitting up, she pulled her legs out of the way so that Emma could take a seat next to her. Mmm. Water and toast. That was probably the best idea in the world. Toast. It was dry and crunchy, and a little hard to swallow. But Kate managed to get it all down. And the whole glass of water, sip after slow, tedious sip.

She glanced over at Emma. “You’re such a good friend.” Uh oh. They were entering into the drunken, I love you, man portion of the evening. “Thank you so much. For everything. What would I do without you?”

“Probably have gotten wasted in your apartment and drunk called someone to cry a little, but it’s okay,” Emma had a soft teasing smile on her face. Normally she would’ve joined in with the drinking, but that was for later, way later all things considered, so she didn’t mind that Kate was completely wrecked and ready for the drunken declarations at this point.

“You’re pretty awesome yourself.” Especially since Kate had been a real sweetheart when Emma first moved to the area. It made it very easy to be a good friend in return. “How’re you feeling? No pukey feelings or anything, right?” Because if that was going to be the ending of the evening, they’d spend it in the toilet.

“Clint would probably understand a drunk call. Though… I haven’t told him about my dad yet. I… I don’t know. I don’t know if he should know. I don’t want him to think I’m a failure.” Kate said, and then shook her head a little. She took another bite of the toast, another sip from her water glass. It kinda hurt to think about how Clint might react to this news. He’d be supportive, right? He was Clint. That’s sort of what he did.

“Nah, I’m not gonna puke. More sleepy than anything else now. But man. I was drunk. Okay, I am drunk.” Kate gave a little laugh. “But not pukey drunk. Sleepy drunk. Are you crashing here, or are you good to drive home?” Of course Emma was good to drive. That was a silly question.

Boyfriends did tend to understand those awkward phone calls at bad times, those blurty-slurred conversations that maybe shouldn’t happen but inevitably did. It was usually a shared occurrence anyway, and Emma doubted it would be the only time Kate or her significant other called each other drunk.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, and you’re not a failure.” Because her dad was the asshole, not the other way around.

She was a sleepy drunk, she’d been a largely happy drunk for most of the night too, and Emma was at least grateful for that -not that she’d have done anything differed, if Kate happened to be a weepy drunk, that would’ve been fine too really.

“Yeah, I’m gonna get you ready and I’ll head home.” Mostly because Emma wasn’t sure when Kate would get up or be functioning, and Emma wasn’t really ready just yet to explain why she was puking everywhere a little randomly -the morning sickness was, thankfully, sticking to the morning for now.

Kate nodded, though her eyes had fallen closed. She didn’t really need to get ready anymore. Now she just wanted to curl on her side on the sofa and crash. Maybe put on Game of Thrones or something. That would be interesting to fall asleep to.

“Emma?” She mumbled, moving to lay on her side, reaching grabby hands for the throw blanket along the back of the sofa. “...can you… just… tell me everything’s going to be okay?”

Okay, so apparently Kate was fine on the sofa, that would be okay. Emma got up to grab the throw that she was reaching for, tugging it around Kate and tucking it down her back. “It’s gonna be okay, Kate,” even if Kate wanted to hang out up at the ranch for a while, they could work on her resume, get some skills down, apply for some jobs, Emma was sure that she could get Kate a few hours to get her some cash in to keep her going at first.

“You’ll get it all worked out, it’ll be awesome supporting yourself, and it’ll all be good.” Petting a hand over the back of Kate’s head, Emma stayed where she was, listening to see if the girl was falling asleep right where she was.

The girl was falling asleep right where she was. Kate’s eyes were closed, her breathing already slowing. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said she was sleepy. It was likely going to suck in the morning, but Kate had experienced hangovers before. She’d survive it. And maybe this would teach her not to drown her sorrows so heavily. Maybe not.

The words echoed in her head as she drifted off to sleep. It’ll all be good.