Disclaimer: I don't own Skins. No copyright intended.

- Emily –

I woke up to my alarm blaring and clumsily reached over to press the button that turns it off, missing twice before finally silencing the screeching of the repetitive tone. I furrowed my brow in confusion as to why I had set it. Today was a Saturday, meaning I didn't have to get up because I didn't have to go to work until six tonight. I felt my eyes widen in panic as I remembered what today was and I took a deep breath in, twisting my body to the side and getting up to sit on the edge of my bed, wincing a bit as my feet hit the cold of the floorboards. I lifted my hands and gently rubbed my eyes, adjusting them properly to the light, before sighing and standing up to make my way towards the bathroom to shower. Just as I got to the door of the bathroom I heard the familiar sound of my mobile phones ringtone resonate around the room, and I spun around to grab it off my bedside table, rolling my eyes a bit as I saw that it was my twin sister Katie's name scrolling across the display, lightly tapping my finger against the screen in order to answer the call.

'Hey'

'Did I wake you up?'

'No, I was just about to get into the shower'

'Oh, well good, you don't want to be late, which is why I'm calling because I know you sleep in until stupid o'clock when you don't have work, and I assumed you would have been out god-knows-where with god-knows-who last night so I thought that I should phone you to wake your lazy arse up. You still want me to come with you today I take it? Because if you don't, I wouldn't mind going back to fucking bed to be honest...'

I waited patiently during the rant, waiting for the lull to answer her question.

'Course I still want you to come and I didn't go out last night by the way'

There was a pause on the other end, the fact that I had missed a Friday night out obviously surprising Katie into silence.

'Well, that is a fucking surprise'

I chuckled and glanced at the clock to see 7:45 blinking back at me in an angry hue of red.

'I'd better go Katie, I still need to shower and eat and choose what I'm wearing-'

'WOAH' She interrupted loudly, causing me to start a little 'Maybe I should sort that out for you, considering my expertise in that area, you don't want to roll up looking shit, first impressions count and you want to fucking stand out, you know'

I grimaced a bit, thinking back to college and the outfits Katie used to put together, my brain overrun with thoughts of frills and leopard print.

'Welllll' I said, dragging out the word 'I think I should go in something I'm comfortable in, I don't need to add to the nerves do I…' I said diplomatically, squeezing my left eye shut in discomfort waiting for her reply.

'Suppose' was all I got in reply, and I was grateful that she wasn't as brash as she used to be, although it wasn't completely gone she had mellowed out a bit, and considering her customer facing job as a make-up artist, this was probably for the best.

'Look, why don't you come here for about…uhm…nine o'clock? You can give final approval on the outfit, hair and makeup, and then we can head straight over for ten am, yeah?'

'Sounds perfect' I could hear the smile in her voice and felt glad.

'Awesome, see you in a bit'

'Bye bitch'

I rolled my eyes as I tapped the screen of my iPhone to cut off the call and carelessly threw it in the general direction of the bed as I went towards the bathroom for the second time that morning. I went in and looked in the mirror, continuing to stare at my face as I picked up my toothbrush from the holder on the wall and squeezed toothpaste onto it before beginning to brush my teeth. I reached over to my battery powered iPod dock and pushed the middle button on my iPod, which was already resting in the dock, before smoothing my finger round the wheel and selecting shuffle. I smiled as Filters 'Take a Picture' filled my bathroom and finished brushing my teeth before cranking the volume on my iPod to max with a swift flick of my finger and heading over to the shower, twisting it on and undressing before stepping under the hot stream of water.

By the time I'd hopped out of the shower and grabbed my huge fluffy towel off the rail and wrapped it around myself Lily Allen's cover of Naïve was playing and I hummed along, grabbing a second, smaller, towel and frantically towelled my head until my red hair was no longer dripping water all over the bathroom. I walked over to the mirror again and ran a brush through it, wondering at the same time what I should do with it today. This again reminded me I still had no clue what to wear and I poked my head out of my bathroom door and peered into my bedroom to see that the clock now read 8:20. Shit, Katie would be here in half an hour, she was always early.

By 8:45 I had managed to dry my hair and roughly straighten it, not so it was poker straight, but so that it looked a bit tousled. I decided to dress simply in black skinny jeans and a black vest, covered with a black military jacket that had silver buttons, so I accessorised with silver jewellery. I kept the makeup pretty understated with smoky eyes. I assessed my appearance in my bedrooms full length mirror and bit my lip, before nodding my head once assertively and heading out into my front room for the first time today, strolling through the open plan lounge and skirting past the dining table before going into the kitchen and heading for the fridge, opening it with a tug, causing the bottles to clink together. I grabbed a bottle of water and put it down on the side, biting my lip as I decided on what to eat.

I was taking the second bite of my apple when I heard three loud raps on my front door, and I jumped down from where I had perched myself on my worktop to go and answer it to Katie's signature knock.

'Take your time then bitch' she snapped sarcastically, strutting past me into my front room. I ignored it, our relationship having shifted along with her attitude since college, considering we had both grown up significantly since then, thankfully. She spun around as I shut the front door, and I took another bite of my apple as I looked at her to find her eyeing me up and down sceptically.

'Pretty plain, isn't it?' she commented casually.

'Yeah, I don't want my clothes to overshadow anything, you know, I just want them to see me for who I am, for my talent and stuff…' I rambled, and saw Katie ponder over this, before nodding her head.

'Fair point'

I smiled at her and carried on eating my apple as she wandered into my kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out the milk and dumping it on the side before heading to the cupboard above the sink and rummaging through it purposefully. I felt my forehead crease as I wondered what the heck she was after. She poked her head around the cupboard door and I raised my eyebrows in an unspoken question.

'Don't you have any Weetabix? And where's the Nesquik?'

I raised one of my eyebrows sceptically before realising what she was going on about and I laughed lightly, remembering our 'lucky breakfast' routine when we lived together at home, Weetabix covered in chocolate milk. On the mornings before exams or dates or interviews we would sit together and eat it, sure that it would get us through whatever it was we needed for. I looked up from where my gaze had shifted to the floor back to Katie and shrugged my shoulders.

'Don't have either of those things'

Katie chewed her lip deep in thought.

'Perhaps we're a bit old for that anyway' I chuckled again, nodding lightly in agreement, despite having been touched by her thoughtfulness. 'We should make a new thing…' She continued.

I beamed at her. 'Like what?'

'I'm not sure, but something more…grown up maybe' she giggled lightly, obviously realising the ridiculousness of suggesting we sit and eat cereal covered in chocolate milk at 24 years of age.

'How about a shot of vodka' I suggested cheekily, strolling over to my alcohol cabinet and yanking out a huge bottle of expensive vodka that I'd had for ages but never opened because it was just that…expensive.

'Sounds like a plan to me' she laughed as she walked towards the sofa and settled into it, grabbing the TV remote and flicking it on as I grabbed two shot glasses out of the cabinet and unscrewed the top of the vodka, filling each of the shot glasses in turn and screwing the cap back onto the bottle, placing it back into the cabinet and shutting the front of it. I picked up the two shots and placed one in front of Katie, who turned off the TV and picked up the shot, looking at me with a mischievous glint in her eye, a familiar look that she got whenever she did something like this.

'Well, good luck for today Ems' she smiled genuinely, adding 'Not that you'll need it' before clinking her glass against mine. With this we both brought the shot glasses to our lips and tipped our heads back. The liquid burnt a bit as I swallowed it, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut in a grimace, and when I opened them I saw that Katie had been forced to do the same thing.

'You would have thought drinking vodka neat all through college would have meant we could stand it by now, wouldn't you' I stated jokingly.

Katie laughed and looked at her phone. 'It's nearly half past, should we go?'

I nodded silently, standing up and walking back towards my bedroom to grab my iPhone, keys and purse. I strolled back into the front room and headed over to Katie who was standing by the front door, opening it and following her out before turning back around to shut and lock it. I turned to see that Katie had already made her way through the hall and was standing impatiently in front of the lift, glancing every so often at her wrist to where a watch would have been, if she wore one. I smiled a bit at her dramatic reaction to the lift not being there waiting for her, and I dawdled over to stand next to her, hearing the familiar ding indicating that the doors were about to open. It was empty, and we walked in, Katie pressing the button for the Ground Floor as I wandered to the back and leant against the railing. The numbers above the doors indicated that we were going to stop on the twelfth floor.As the lift glided to a stop I looked out of the lift, spotting a familiar face and my heart sank. Shit. I saw the girl's eyes light up as she spotted me and I plastered a smile on my face, one that I was sure didn't reach my eyes, as she stepped into the lift, Katie oblivious to what was going on around her.

'Hey Emily' she said, prompting Katie to snap her head around and look between me and the girl. I coughed lightly, a warning to Katie to save her questions for once we were out of the lift. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it pointedly.

'Hey you' I said, looking at the buttons on the inside of the lift, mentally sifting through my brain, trying to come up with her name, failing miserably. I looked at her and raised my eyebrow seductively before motioning towards the buttons 'Going down?' I asked. I heard a slight snort from Katie, but ignored it, instead carrying on looking at the brunette in front of me, who seemed to have lost her power of speech momentarily, as she stumbled over her words before spluttering out a mumbled 'yeah'. I let out a throaty chuckle, and looked forward at the lift doors rather than at her.

'So, how have you been Emily' She asked politely.

'Pretty good thanks, and yourself' I asked equally politely, hating the awkward small talk that I was going to have to endure for another ten floors.

'Yeah, yeah, good. Yeah.' She cleared her throat, and I turned my head to look at her, sensing she wanted to say something 'I expected to hear from you actually, after, you know…'

Fuck. 'Ah, yeah, been a bit nuts at work and stuff to be honest, you know how it is.' I was still looking at her, but she was avoiding my gaze. She was a really attractive girl with long brunette hair and striking green eyes, and I felt a bit guilty about never calling her back. 'Erm, I'm working tonight but if you fancied getting together one night next week maybe…?'

Her face lit up as she turned to face me, her smile showing off her straight white teeth 'Yeah that sounds good Emily'

'Alright, I'll give you a call or a text or something and we'll get together' I smiled back, inwardly wondering why I had just done that when I couldn't remember her name. I was grateful when the lift let out a soft ding to indicate we had reached the bottom floor and all three of us stepped out together, me and the-girl-with-no-name exchanging pleasantries before me and Katie headed towards the front doors and she headed over to the mail boxes. Katie waited until we were on the street.

'You can't remember her name can you' she struggled out in between laughs as we walked to where she had parked her car. I rolled my eyes, annoyed that she could read me so easily.

'Got it in one'

'You idiot' She continued while still chuckling, pulling her car key out of her bag and pressing down onto it, unlocking the doors of the small black hatchback in front of us. We both got in and Katie pulled away, still bantering me about what had just happened, asking for the details on how I'd ended up sleeping with her. We talked about it all the way to our destination and I happily filled her in, not only hoping that I would regain some sort of memory of her name, but also because it provided a distraction from where we were going. As we got closer to where we were going the traffic got denser and we had to spend ten minutes trying to find a car park space, eventually squeezing into one and stepping out of the car, falling into step with each other as we made our way to where we were going. Thousands of people were standing in a queue waiting to get into the building and I glanced around at the signage that had been plastered everywhere.

'UK IDOL AUDITIONS BEING HELD HERE TODAY'