Real people - Sue Denim. Prompt 003- Ends
Title: The end is the beginning
Fandom: Real People
Characters: Sue Denim, Dee Plume, Dave Brown with mentions of Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Chris Corner
Prompt: Ends
Word Count: 2524
Rating: PG-13 for language
Summary: When Chris lets Sue down she returns to England, to people she can really count on
Author's Notes: This did not happen. I don't own Sue or any of the other people mentioned. I just really, really like them!
“Dee, can I…is it okay if I come and stay with you and Noel for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks I don’t know. There’s so much to sort out, I don’t…”
“Suzy?” It didn’t even sound like her. Her tone was completely flat, numb even and that wasn’t like her at all. On the other side of the phone Dee shook her head at herself, now wasn’t the time for asking questions, it was for answering them. “Sorry, yeah. Course, not a problem. Where are you? Want me to get someone to come and pick you up?”
“Berlin, waiting for the train to Paris I’ll be in London sometime tomorrow, I’ve not really…I’ve not checked the times or anything. I’ll call when I’m on the Eurostar? It‘ll be tomorrow morning sometime,” she explained
“Right, yeah that’s fine. Give me time to get Noel to clean up the flat,” Dee laughed for no real reason other than to attempt to make Sue sound a little happier. “I’ll phone Ju now, or Dave, should I phone Dave?”
“I can get the tube,” she assured her best friend, glancing at the backpack only a little smaller than herself and the suitcase beside it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to stop herself from crying. It wasn’t because of Chris though, it was the stress and fucking ridiculousness of this whole thing. Perhaps running to London wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had, she did have friends in Berlin, but then they were more mutual friends and she couldn’t be doing with that at the moment. “Actually, no, phone Dave. Julian has the twins to think about, don’t disturb him. Listen thanks, Dee. It won’t be for long, I just need to get out of Berlin for a bit.”
It was something to do with Chris, of course it was. Why else would Sue want to get away from Berlin, she loved it there and generally speaking could do without spending time in London, but Dee wasn’t going to push it, not on a mobile phone call from another country. “Don’t worry about it, our home is your home, or something, yeah? I’ll keep my phone on, let me know as soon as you get your arrival time. I’ll come to pick you up, right? Have you got much stuff?”
“Just most of my life,” she laughed humourlessly. “No seriously, you’ll hardly know I’m there, promise!”
Dee rolled her eyes, the number of times she’d cried on Sue’s shoulder over Noel’s antics and Sue felt bad about staying with them? “Suzy, it’s fine, really. We can take the chance to get some new material written, maybe? Or at least a shit load of wine drunk!”
“The wine bit sounds good,” she agreed.
“Oi Noel, get down the off-licence,” she heard Dee order. “Wine, the good stuff, not that crap we normally drink!”
Sue actually did laugh then. “I should wrap this up,” she told her. “The last thing I need is my battery dying when I need to phone you and I have no clue where my charger is. I’ll speak to you tomorrow, yeah? Love you, Dee.”
Dee bit her lip at Sue’s last words, suddenly feeling a little teary, something she put down to hormones and vodka more than anything else. “Yeah tomorrow,” she agreed, “and I love you too, Suki.”
An hour later the overnight train to Paris finally arrived and Sue struggled onto the carriage with her bulky bags, holding her tickets in her teeth as she tried to find her berth. She didn’t feel the need for a bed really, but with these overnight trains there wasn’t a lot of choice and she supposed it was better than trying to make small talk with random strangers. She wouldn’t be able to sleep though, or perhaps she just didn’t want to. It was easier to control your mind while you were awake than when you were asleep and the last thing she needed was to replay that evening in her dreams. The look on Chris’s face when he told her they needed to talk. The way she felt when he’d told her he didn’t love her in the same way as he used to, that he’d met someone else. Someone he wanted to be with more than her. She’d known things weren’t right, but then if Dee and Noel could work things out she was sure her and Chris could. Apparently she was wrong, this was the end. After hitting a number of other passengers none too gently she finally made it into her ‘room,’ dropping her bags inside and shutting the door, tiredly. She sat on the seat next to the window and stared out of it, listening to the announcer thanking passengers for choosing them in German then in French. The train pulled out of the station and just like that she was leaving Berlin behind, if only for a while.
She didn’t realise she’d fallen asleep until the voice of the train announcer woke her up with the news that they were almost in Paris. Slowly she shifted her position, wincing as her back creaked. She should have just gone to bed instead of insisting on staying awake by sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chair all night. Still she’d be in London in four hours if she was lucky, then she could just collapse into bed in Dee’s spare room and sleep for a while. Things would look better after a decent sleep, in a real bed, or at least she hoped they would. There was so much she had to sort out now, moving her things out of Chris’s flat, finding one for herself in a decent area that she could exactly afford and of course she knew Dee would have a lot of questions about what was happening, she just hoped she could rein in her interest until Sue was feeling a little more alive.
Wishing she’d left more of her possessions back in Berlin, Sue dragged herself and her luggage from the platform they had just arrived on towards the one for the Eurostar. Chris wouldn’t throw her things out, he was a reasonable man, he just also happened to be a lying, cheating man.
“Whoa, Suzy, you look like hell!” Dee exclaimed, as she rushed forwards to help her with her bags. Dave, meanwhile stood towards the back of the platform, letting everyone meeting people pass him. He didn’t feel all that comfortable being here really, but then being one of the only drivers in their little group he wasn’t about to say no if Dee needed a favour, she’d probably hurt him if he did.
“You really know how to made a girl feel better, don’t you?” she replied tiredly, trying to smile, but not quite managing it. “Is Dave here, then?” she added, looking around them, through the large number of people milling about the station. “Tell me you didn’t ask Julian instead!”
“He’s waiting out of the way,” the brunette explained, “I think maybe he wanted to give us a minute so we could talk?”
Sighing, Sue trudged forward, squeezing her way past other people, as Dee elbowed them out of the way. “Can I wake up a bit first? Maybe get a shower? A sleep? Just…I appreciate all this, but I don’t even know where to start. My brain’s not exactly working, you know? Later, yeah? We’ll open a bottle of wine and I can tell you all about what a twat Chris is. How’s that?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I can kick Noel out if you like, make it a girly one?”
Sue turned back to look at her friend. “Noel’s girlier than you are,” she pointed out, “I think he can stay. Really I don’t want to disrupt anything. Don’t make a big deal out of this, yeah? It’s bad enough I had to get the two of you involved and now Dave too, urgh. Just…” she trailed off, as a stressed business man knocked her backwards. “Do I really look that bad?” she asked, pushing her way more forcefully through now, already sure she knew the answer. There was only so much you could do in the toilets of a train station with only a couple of hours sleep.
“You look gorgeous, Suzy. You always look gorgeous,” she assured her.
“I’ll take that!” Dave called, stepping forwards and moving his way through a few lost people that were milling around aimlessly. Sue was stumbling towards him, the weight of her bag suddenly too much for her.
“Thanks,” she replied, handing in over with a tiny smile. “Thanks for all of this, you really didn’t have too.”
He shrugged, and gave her an easy smile. “I dunno if you’ve met Dee before but I quite like walking without a limp, so…you know,”
Over Sue’s shoulder Dee stuck her tongue out at him and handed him the massive backpack. “Since you’re the strong manly man,” she told him, grinning manically.
“Dee!” Sue called, looking annoyed and shaking her head at her friend’s behaviour.
“It’s fine,” he assured her, shifting his hold on the two bags. “Dee’s right, strong and manly that’s me! But if we could make our way to the car park about now that would be good, what have you got in these things?”
“Oh you know, the essentials. Pretty much all of my clothes and make-up, stupid little sentimental things, but yeah, lets get out of here, um…which way is it?” Sue asked.
“Come on,” Dave replied, leading the way out of the station.
The journey back to Dee’s was quiet. Sue’s luggage stuffed into the boot of Dave’s small car while Sue and Dee sat in the back. The blonde could feel herself nodding off as Dave drove through the traffic of London, reminded of why he didn’t drive in the city if he could help it. He kept wanting to ask questions, mostly things like whether Sue was okay, whether she was going to be okay and what had happened. Every so often he glanced at the pair in his rear view mirror to see if Sue had given in and fallen asleep yet. He didn’t want to seem like he was prying or being overly nosey, he was worried, just like Dee and Noel were. He just wasn’t sure he had much of a right to be worried, he’d never spent that much time with her, in fact he was only here because he could drive. So instead he just drove on, keeping his thoughts to himself.
“Here we are then,” Dave called, as he pulled up outside Noel and Dee’s flat.
Blinking several times in an attempt to wake herself up Sue stared up at the building as she removed her seatbelt and got out of the car.
“I’ll just get your bags out the car and take them up then…I’ll be off.”
Leaning forward Sue gave him a quick peck on the cheek “I owe you one, yeah?” she said quietly, then went to join Dee at the top of the stairs leading up to the flat, the sooner she could just collapse the better.
“Call me if you need anything else, right?” he said, dropping Sue’s bags just inside the flat.
“Dave…stop being so lovely. I’m not used to it,” Sue told him, looking down the hallway to see if there was any sign of Noel. “I’m fine, just needed to get away from things for a bit. You know how it is.”
He nodded, even though really he had no idea how it was, but if she felt the need to spend time in London rather than Berlin he wasn’t going to question her motives. “Well the offer stands,” he replied, turning to leave.
Sue entered the kitchen wrapped in Dee’s dressing gown a couple of hours later. She hadn’t eaten for over 24 hours, she’d only slept for three hours all together in that time but she knew now she had to face everything that was happening. She knew Dee wanted to know what was going on, now was the time to tell her.
There was already an open bottle of white wine on the table as she sat opposite Dee. “Where’s Noel?” she asked, reaching for the bottle and pouring herself a glass. She knew it probably wasn’t the best idea, drinking on an empty stomach and a depressive state of mind.
“Working on some new stuff for the show. He’s not trying to keep out of the way,” she added quickly, “he’s been like this the past week so before you apologise for pushing him out, don’t!”
“Right, no more apologies,” Sue agreed, handing the bottle over to Dee. “I’m assuming explanations are okay though, right?”
“Explanations would be good, yeah,” she agreed, pouring her own wine. “So…you mentioned Chris, all your stuff is here and you look like crap. So go on, what’s he done?”
Sue didn’t even know where to start so she simply said one word. “Janine.”
Dee placed the bottle back on the table a little too forcefully and scowled. She didn’t like Janine, the way she was always all over Chris, telling him how great he was and generally acting like a fucking whore even while Sue was around and in the same room. “Right,” she hissed. “You want me to sort her out?” she asked.
Sue smiled at that idea, “Would you? Actually never mind, no one’d notice the fucking difference if you rearranged her face anyway. I mean seriously, Dee, what the fuck is wrong with me that he’d go off with her?” Her voice trembled with anger and upset as she asked.
“Oh, Suzy! Men are fucking idiots, yeah? All of them, without exception. The trick is to make them fear what’ll happen when they fuck up, or better still make the tramps know what’ll happen to them if they fuck with you.” She reached across the table and took the other woman’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “So the bags…that’s all your stuff? You’ve moved out?”
“Most of it,” she replied, “everything I could easily pack. I mean there’s furniture, big stuff I had to leave. God there’s so much I’m gonna have to sort out. I need to find someone to go and get my stuff for me, find somewhere to store it, find somewhere new to live. It’s a total fucking nightmare! It’s not just loosing Chris, I’ve lost my home.”
“So kick the bastard out!” Dee said, angrily.
Taking a long drink of her wine Sue shook her head. “Too much trouble, I just want everything to be over. I don’t want to string it out. I just…I can’t even bear the idea of speaking to him right now. Living in the flat we had together, no I need somewhere new. I’ll sort it out as soon as I can. I won’t stay long, I promise.”
“Stay as long as you need, it’s no problem, I wouldn’t mind the company and Noel’s easy. Take your time. We can plot ways to hurt Chris and his tramp.”
Fandom: Real People
Characters: Sue Denim, Dee Plume, Dave Brown with mentions of Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Chris Corner
Prompt: Ends
Word Count: 2524
Rating: PG-13 for language
Summary: When Chris lets Sue down she returns to England, to people she can really count on
Author's Notes: This did not happen. I don't own Sue or any of the other people mentioned. I just really, really like them!
“Dee, can I…is it okay if I come and stay with you and Noel for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks I don’t know. There’s so much to sort out, I don’t…”
“Suzy?” It didn’t even sound like her. Her tone was completely flat, numb even and that wasn’t like her at all. On the other side of the phone Dee shook her head at herself, now wasn’t the time for asking questions, it was for answering them. “Sorry, yeah. Course, not a problem. Where are you? Want me to get someone to come and pick you up?”
“Berlin, waiting for the train to Paris I’ll be in London sometime tomorrow, I’ve not really…I’ve not checked the times or anything. I’ll call when I’m on the Eurostar? It‘ll be tomorrow morning sometime,” she explained
“Right, yeah that’s fine. Give me time to get Noel to clean up the flat,” Dee laughed for no real reason other than to attempt to make Sue sound a little happier. “I’ll phone Ju now, or Dave, should I phone Dave?”
“I can get the tube,” she assured her best friend, glancing at the backpack only a little smaller than herself and the suitcase beside it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to stop herself from crying. It wasn’t because of Chris though, it was the stress and fucking ridiculousness of this whole thing. Perhaps running to London wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had, she did have friends in Berlin, but then they were more mutual friends and she couldn’t be doing with that at the moment. “Actually, no, phone Dave. Julian has the twins to think about, don’t disturb him. Listen thanks, Dee. It won’t be for long, I just need to get out of Berlin for a bit.”
It was something to do with Chris, of course it was. Why else would Sue want to get away from Berlin, she loved it there and generally speaking could do without spending time in London, but Dee wasn’t going to push it, not on a mobile phone call from another country. “Don’t worry about it, our home is your home, or something, yeah? I’ll keep my phone on, let me know as soon as you get your arrival time. I’ll come to pick you up, right? Have you got much stuff?”
“Just most of my life,” she laughed humourlessly. “No seriously, you’ll hardly know I’m there, promise!”
Dee rolled her eyes, the number of times she’d cried on Sue’s shoulder over Noel’s antics and Sue felt bad about staying with them? “Suzy, it’s fine, really. We can take the chance to get some new material written, maybe? Or at least a shit load of wine drunk!”
“The wine bit sounds good,” she agreed.
“Oi Noel, get down the off-licence,” she heard Dee order. “Wine, the good stuff, not that crap we normally drink!”
Sue actually did laugh then. “I should wrap this up,” she told her. “The last thing I need is my battery dying when I need to phone you and I have no clue where my charger is. I’ll speak to you tomorrow, yeah? Love you, Dee.”
Dee bit her lip at Sue’s last words, suddenly feeling a little teary, something she put down to hormones and vodka more than anything else. “Yeah tomorrow,” she agreed, “and I love you too, Suki.”
An hour later the overnight train to Paris finally arrived and Sue struggled onto the carriage with her bulky bags, holding her tickets in her teeth as she tried to find her berth. She didn’t feel the need for a bed really, but with these overnight trains there wasn’t a lot of choice and she supposed it was better than trying to make small talk with random strangers. She wouldn’t be able to sleep though, or perhaps she just didn’t want to. It was easier to control your mind while you were awake than when you were asleep and the last thing she needed was to replay that evening in her dreams. The look on Chris’s face when he told her they needed to talk. The way she felt when he’d told her he didn’t love her in the same way as he used to, that he’d met someone else. Someone he wanted to be with more than her. She’d known things weren’t right, but then if Dee and Noel could work things out she was sure her and Chris could. Apparently she was wrong, this was the end. After hitting a number of other passengers none too gently she finally made it into her ‘room,’ dropping her bags inside and shutting the door, tiredly. She sat on the seat next to the window and stared out of it, listening to the announcer thanking passengers for choosing them in German then in French. The train pulled out of the station and just like that she was leaving Berlin behind, if only for a while.
She didn’t realise she’d fallen asleep until the voice of the train announcer woke her up with the news that they were almost in Paris. Slowly she shifted her position, wincing as her back creaked. She should have just gone to bed instead of insisting on staying awake by sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chair all night. Still she’d be in London in four hours if she was lucky, then she could just collapse into bed in Dee’s spare room and sleep for a while. Things would look better after a decent sleep, in a real bed, or at least she hoped they would. There was so much she had to sort out now, moving her things out of Chris’s flat, finding one for herself in a decent area that she could exactly afford and of course she knew Dee would have a lot of questions about what was happening, she just hoped she could rein in her interest until Sue was feeling a little more alive.
Wishing she’d left more of her possessions back in Berlin, Sue dragged herself and her luggage from the platform they had just arrived on towards the one for the Eurostar. Chris wouldn’t throw her things out, he was a reasonable man, he just also happened to be a lying, cheating man.
“Whoa, Suzy, you look like hell!” Dee exclaimed, as she rushed forwards to help her with her bags. Dave, meanwhile stood towards the back of the platform, letting everyone meeting people pass him. He didn’t feel all that comfortable being here really, but then being one of the only drivers in their little group he wasn’t about to say no if Dee needed a favour, she’d probably hurt him if he did.
“You really know how to made a girl feel better, don’t you?” she replied tiredly, trying to smile, but not quite managing it. “Is Dave here, then?” she added, looking around them, through the large number of people milling about the station. “Tell me you didn’t ask Julian instead!”
“He’s waiting out of the way,” the brunette explained, “I think maybe he wanted to give us a minute so we could talk?”
Sighing, Sue trudged forward, squeezing her way past other people, as Dee elbowed them out of the way. “Can I wake up a bit first? Maybe get a shower? A sleep? Just…I appreciate all this, but I don’t even know where to start. My brain’s not exactly working, you know? Later, yeah? We’ll open a bottle of wine and I can tell you all about what a twat Chris is. How’s that?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I can kick Noel out if you like, make it a girly one?”
Sue turned back to look at her friend. “Noel’s girlier than you are,” she pointed out, “I think he can stay. Really I don’t want to disrupt anything. Don’t make a big deal out of this, yeah? It’s bad enough I had to get the two of you involved and now Dave too, urgh. Just…” she trailed off, as a stressed business man knocked her backwards. “Do I really look that bad?” she asked, pushing her way more forcefully through now, already sure she knew the answer. There was only so much you could do in the toilets of a train station with only a couple of hours sleep.
“You look gorgeous, Suzy. You always look gorgeous,” she assured her.
“I’ll take that!” Dave called, stepping forwards and moving his way through a few lost people that were milling around aimlessly. Sue was stumbling towards him, the weight of her bag suddenly too much for her.
“Thanks,” she replied, handing in over with a tiny smile. “Thanks for all of this, you really didn’t have too.”
He shrugged, and gave her an easy smile. “I dunno if you’ve met Dee before but I quite like walking without a limp, so…you know,”
Over Sue’s shoulder Dee stuck her tongue out at him and handed him the massive backpack. “Since you’re the strong manly man,” she told him, grinning manically.
“Dee!” Sue called, looking annoyed and shaking her head at her friend’s behaviour.
“It’s fine,” he assured her, shifting his hold on the two bags. “Dee’s right, strong and manly that’s me! But if we could make our way to the car park about now that would be good, what have you got in these things?”
“Oh you know, the essentials. Pretty much all of my clothes and make-up, stupid little sentimental things, but yeah, lets get out of here, um…which way is it?” Sue asked.
“Come on,” Dave replied, leading the way out of the station.
The journey back to Dee’s was quiet. Sue’s luggage stuffed into the boot of Dave’s small car while Sue and Dee sat in the back. The blonde could feel herself nodding off as Dave drove through the traffic of London, reminded of why he didn’t drive in the city if he could help it. He kept wanting to ask questions, mostly things like whether Sue was okay, whether she was going to be okay and what had happened. Every so often he glanced at the pair in his rear view mirror to see if Sue had given in and fallen asleep yet. He didn’t want to seem like he was prying or being overly nosey, he was worried, just like Dee and Noel were. He just wasn’t sure he had much of a right to be worried, he’d never spent that much time with her, in fact he was only here because he could drive. So instead he just drove on, keeping his thoughts to himself.
“Here we are then,” Dave called, as he pulled up outside Noel and Dee’s flat.
Blinking several times in an attempt to wake herself up Sue stared up at the building as she removed her seatbelt and got out of the car.
“I’ll just get your bags out the car and take them up then…I’ll be off.”
Leaning forward Sue gave him a quick peck on the cheek “I owe you one, yeah?” she said quietly, then went to join Dee at the top of the stairs leading up to the flat, the sooner she could just collapse the better.
“Call me if you need anything else, right?” he said, dropping Sue’s bags just inside the flat.
“Dave…stop being so lovely. I’m not used to it,” Sue told him, looking down the hallway to see if there was any sign of Noel. “I’m fine, just needed to get away from things for a bit. You know how it is.”
He nodded, even though really he had no idea how it was, but if she felt the need to spend time in London rather than Berlin he wasn’t going to question her motives. “Well the offer stands,” he replied, turning to leave.
Sue entered the kitchen wrapped in Dee’s dressing gown a couple of hours later. She hadn’t eaten for over 24 hours, she’d only slept for three hours all together in that time but she knew now she had to face everything that was happening. She knew Dee wanted to know what was going on, now was the time to tell her.
There was already an open bottle of white wine on the table as she sat opposite Dee. “Where’s Noel?” she asked, reaching for the bottle and pouring herself a glass. She knew it probably wasn’t the best idea, drinking on an empty stomach and a depressive state of mind.
“Working on some new stuff for the show. He’s not trying to keep out of the way,” she added quickly, “he’s been like this the past week so before you apologise for pushing him out, don’t!”
“Right, no more apologies,” Sue agreed, handing the bottle over to Dee. “I’m assuming explanations are okay though, right?”
“Explanations would be good, yeah,” she agreed, pouring her own wine. “So…you mentioned Chris, all your stuff is here and you look like crap. So go on, what’s he done?”
Sue didn’t even know where to start so she simply said one word. “Janine.”
Dee placed the bottle back on the table a little too forcefully and scowled. She didn’t like Janine, the way she was always all over Chris, telling him how great he was and generally acting like a fucking whore even while Sue was around and in the same room. “Right,” she hissed. “You want me to sort her out?” she asked.
Sue smiled at that idea, “Would you? Actually never mind, no one’d notice the fucking difference if you rearranged her face anyway. I mean seriously, Dee, what the fuck is wrong with me that he’d go off with her?” Her voice trembled with anger and upset as she asked.
“Oh, Suzy! Men are fucking idiots, yeah? All of them, without exception. The trick is to make them fear what’ll happen when they fuck up, or better still make the tramps know what’ll happen to them if they fuck with you.” She reached across the table and took the other woman’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “So the bags…that’s all your stuff? You’ve moved out?”
“Most of it,” she replied, “everything I could easily pack. I mean there’s furniture, big stuff I had to leave. God there’s so much I’m gonna have to sort out. I need to find someone to go and get my stuff for me, find somewhere to store it, find somewhere new to live. It’s a total fucking nightmare! It’s not just loosing Chris, I’ve lost my home.”
“So kick the bastard out!” Dee said, angrily.
Taking a long drink of her wine Sue shook her head. “Too much trouble, I just want everything to be over. I don’t want to string it out. I just…I can’t even bear the idea of speaking to him right now. Living in the flat we had together, no I need somewhere new. I’ll sort it out as soon as I can. I won’t stay long, I promise.”
“Stay as long as you need, it’s no problem, I wouldn’t mind the company and Noel’s easy. Take your time. We can plot ways to hurt Chris and his tramp.”