I'm Effy. It's a shit name but it's short for Elizabeth which is even worse. I live with my Mum and Dad. My brother used to live here too but now he's gone. On the day he left he gave me his duvet cover, half a bottle of Peach Schnapps, and his bedroom. Well, he doesn't need it any more does he? So now it's my kingdom. I drank the Schnapps and gave the duvet to Oxfam.Everything’s pretty much the same with me too. I’m studying at uni, trying to find a job to keep my shit flat. Otherwise, everything’s great.
That sounds shit.
Effy! How nice to see you. How’s everything?
Everything’s fine, I’m back in Bristol so that’s shit but otherwise it’s alright. You?
So how’s my love puppet doing, yeah?
I’m just peachy, waiting for something to peak my interest in Bristol. You?
Hopefully somewhere other than Bristol.
When you live in a house for so long it should feel like home, shouldn’t it? Sitting in her bed, Effy brought a cigarette to her lips and inhaled deeply. The smoke slipped down her throat and settled somewhere deep in her lungs as her eyes wandered the room she’d stayed in throughout college. Her mother hadn’t touched anything since she had been away, which she was thankful for but that wasn’t something she would say to her mother. It used to be Tony’s bedroom, her older brother, but he went away to University and she said “what the hell”, it was much bigger than her old room. She had not seen this room since right after graduating from college. That was her fault though, she packed some things (clothes, spliff and vodka; the essentials of course) and went on her way to Italy, followed by Paris. It was all the same to her though; wherever she went nothing seemed to change. The days were long, the nights were longer and the men got stranger as the days added up. Every man she brought back to her place would remind her of Freddie in so many ways and it wasn’t fair for her to punish herself any longer. Coming back to Bristol was a punishment in itself though because she would be facing the only man she ever truly felt so much love for. Sometimes Effy wished that she never fell in love with Freddie because it caused her heart so much pain in so many different ways. She could always smile and pretend like she was happy, it was the thing that she was the best at, but she wasn’t sure if she could keep up that front if he was around.
Rising to her feet, Effy pressed them down firmly against the cold hardwood floor. Grabbing her mobile from her bedside table, she read over her missed text messages. Being back in Bristol caused so many of her old college mates to text her and ask her how her summer was going and if she wanted to go for drinks. Chris: U need any mdma? Panda: I’m home! America was flippin bonkers, Eff! Cook: Hey babes, come ‘round later? Kat: Drinks tonight? Tony: Hey sis. Effy stopped when she read her older brother’s text message. He had gone away to University four years ago and they hadn’t kept in touch as much as she wished they had. It didn’t change their bond and their relationship with one another though (in her mind, that is), they were always going to have a special connection whether he be miles away or down the road. Tony was her only sibling and she loved him more than she knew how to express. After exchanging several text messages with him, they decided that she had to come over to his new flat and experience it for herself. She wasn’t sure what to expect going to Tony Stonem’s flat. She knew that it would have a resemblance to his personality but she hadn’t been around him in so long, she wasn’t sure if that was even the same with him.
Setting her mobile back down on her bedside table, Effy brought her hand to her lips and grasped the cigarette she had been smoking for the past few minutes. Looking at the full length mirror in the corner of her bedroom, she sighed at her reflection. Sometimes she wondered how she always had men groveling at her feet when she looked this way. Her hair was too frizzy, her eyes were too big, her hips were too wide, and her legs were too long. Placing the cigarette between her lips again, she walked toward her wardrobe and began searching for something to simply cover her body. Setting the cigarette down in the ridge of an ashtray on top of her wardrobe, she shoved clothes around in their drawers; forcing them even more out of their place. Finding black sheer tights, she stepped into them and let them rest around her hips. Brushing her hair out of her face and allowing it time to rest behind her ears, her eyes scanned the remaining clothes she had rifled through. Grabbing a long tank top, she pulled it over her head and looked down as it settled just below her bum. After finding an old sweater she’d stolen from Freddie, she was ready to leave.
Walking down the road, with a spliff between her lips, Effy kept her eyes forward while walking. Remarkably, the sweater still smelled of her ex boyfriend and first love. How did the smell of him still reminisce on that fabric after two years? It made her happy though, the smell. Grabbing the spliff with two of her fingers, she allowed a stream of smoke to release itself from between her lips while she watched an elderly couple holding hands and walking across the street not far from her. Old couples gave Effy the creeps, as did babies. They were so frail and it terrified her, she stayed away from them as much as she possibly could. Passing the couple, she continued walking while glancing at her mobile to remind herself of Tony’s flat address. It was odd, him being so grown up and living on his own. She should probably get her own flat as well, she’s twenty years old which is probably also too old to be living with one’s mother. She practically lived alone in the Stonem flat though, her mother was never around. She hadn’t actually seen her in several days, which wasn’t shocking. Sometimes her mother would just leave town and text Effy a while after being gone, or she would lock herself in her bedroom for days and weeks doing god knows what. Effy was that way in a sense and she understood why her mother did it. It was nice being alone and getting away from your troubles sometimes; as long as they didn’t follow you even when you weren’t surrounded by anyone else. Looking up from her mobile, she realized she was at the flat. Shoving her phone slowly back into the sweater’s pocket, she looked up at the Tony’s new place of residence. It was nice and clean, very modern which is precisely where she could see Tony living. Walking up the front steps sluggishly, she placed the spliff back between her lips and stopped at the stoop. She didn’t want to ring the bell in case he wasn’t the Tony she remembered him being before he left for Cardiff. She wanted the Tony she had known all of her life, she needed that Tony. Growing a pair of balls, she rang the doorbell twice and waited for movement on the other side of the door.
I don’t need to go out I’d love to do so though. I don’t really know anyone here besides you and Tony, I made friends with some girl named Michelle today though. You would? Thanks Effy.
Michelle? Interesting.Anyways, come by mine and I’ll take you to the party.
Well that’s because we’re just similar people or something like that. I hate not knowing where anything is, any parties or anything along those lines.
Well, Tone said he would come to the pub. If you need to go out tonight though, there’s a party I heard about. I can take you.
And drink……alot
We’re in a similar boat, my fellow Stonem.
