Trust No Bitch: Part 1

Gemma Akintola

"Are you okay?"

It was the question Gemma had been expecting from her roommate, Ellie, the second she walked through the front door to their flat. She knew she should've stayed at the gym for longer, waited until later when Ellie would be asleep. She wasn't in the mood for talking.

"I heard...about your friend Cleo." Ellie continued, throwing her arms around a sweaty, languid Gemma's neck.

"Yeah."

"They've found her...haven't they?" She said tentatively, Gemma dropping her bag on the table and making herself a drink of water, taking a long swill of it and nodding as she did so. She finished the whole glass in one go and plonked it down on the worktop, swinging herself up to sit next to it.

"I'm completely knackered." Gemma murmured, leaning against the cupboard. Ellie pulled a chair out from the dining table and sat down opposite her, looking worried.

"Well, yeah, I'd be amazed if you weren't. It's like, midnight, Gem, and with everything that's happened today..."

"This is insane." Said Gemma quietly. "All this time we've all spent wondering what happened to her and now we finally know but...I just never really prepared myself for what it would really feel like seeing...what was left of her."

"Right. I wasn't there but the people who did manage to see her before they covered her body said that she was unrecognisable."

"Yeah...I heard them saying at the station that she should actually look worse but because the river's quite shaded it was pretty cold in there so the decomposition process took longer and...I won't bore you with the details. But four months she was down there for."

"You had to go down to the police station?" Said Ellie, visibly alarmed.

"Yeah. They wanted to ask us...me, Lilly Philipps, Clara Wright and Alice Jenkins, I mean, some questions. Well, a lot of questions actually. Bit of a pain in the arse."

"That's putting it lightly."

"What can you do?" Said Gemma, shrugging. "It's not so much the questions but the fact that we were the first people they bought in. I assume, anyway. That can't be good, can it?"

"Don't worry about it, Gem. I'm sure it was all just routine." Said Ellie kindly, getting up and giving Gemma a one armed hug. "You look completely whacked. Why don't you get some sleep?"

"Nah, it's alright. I've got to finish typing up my essay draft."

"Listen to yourself, for God's sake. You work too hard. You've clearly just been at the gym and now you want to finish an assignment and you only found out that one of your best friends is dead less than 12 hours ago. No, Gem, I'll do it for you."

"No, Ellie-" Gemma began to protest, jumping off the worktop, but Ellie hooked Gemma's bag onto her wrist and led her to her bedroom.

"It's really no problem. I'm just copying it out, it won't take half an hour. Get some rest, babe." She said, opening Gemma's bedroom door and pushing her lightly into her room. "This is a bed," She added, gesturing towards it, "now get in it and sleep.".

"Fuck you." Said Gemma with a grin.

"You love me." Sung Ellie, Gemma leaning on the doorframe to watch her dance down the corridor, shutting the door once Ellie was out of sight. She chucked her bag onto her bed and peeled the clothes from her body, throwing them to the floor and catching a glimpse of her reflection in the window as she did so. God, you look just as tired as you feel. Brill, Gemma thought to herself. Sighing, she lifted up the duvet cover, all ready to clamber into her bed's welcoming embrace when her phone went off. Her brow creased in concern but she clambered into bed anyway and pulled her bag towards her, propping herself up to sift through it. Her phone had, as always, found its way to the substratum of the bag, Gemma huffing as she retrieved it and pushing her hair out of her face. With another sigh, she prodded the screen with her finger to see who it was from.