Porcelain

The first thing Addison did when she stepped into her townhouse that evening was kick off her heels, a loud moan escaping her as her bare feet hit the wood flooring. The sound elicited a laugh that came from the direction of the kitchen and she made her way along the hallway and into the room to find her housemate standing at the stove.

“Good day I take?” Emma asked as she stirred a pot, before turning around to face the dark haired girl. Addison let out another groan with the question, sinking into a seat at the small kitchen table, letting her bag fall at her feet.

“Terrible actually.”

“Do you ever have good days?” the blonde asked and Addison pretended to think for a moment before shaking her head.

“I have average at best,” she answered, leaning her elbow on the table and propping her head up in her hand. Emma shook her head, returning to tend to the food and Addison idly watched her for a while. Despite the girl being a few years older than Addison they were good friends and had worked well together as housemates for the past four years. Emma had been trying her hand at acting, managing to score a couple of independent films and theatre productions over the years, but most of the time the dark haired girl was the more dramatic one.

“Why do you stay in the job if you hate it so much Addie? All you’ve ever done is complain about it.”

“Because I was barely able to snag it as it is, and like hell I’m going to leave there only to end up in another dead end retail job,” Addison sighed, pushing herself to her feet and wandering over to the fridge to pluck out one of the alcoholic beverages they always had stocked. “Sometimes I consider just hurling myself off the top of the building.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“No you’re right, I only half mean it. Plus knowing my luck the fall wouldn’t be from high enough to off me,” she replied, cracking the bottle open as she returned to the table and taking a swig.

“Surely you can find something better out there, and when you accept it leave Harrods in a beautifully drastic fashion,” Emma said, tapping her wooden spoon on the side of the pot and placing it to the side.

“Em, I love you, but we’ve been through this a million times. I just need to accept the fact that I’m destined to be a sellout and serve others for the rest of my life.”

“Now you listen Addison May Wentz,” Emma started, stepping towards the girl and pointing a finger at her. “Don’t you dare say that, or accept it. You’re an intelligent, amazing woman who damn well deserves to be happy, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit aside and watch one of the most important people in the world to me sink into nothing, or become anything less than they’re capable of.”

“Thanks Em. I just… that’s my problem really, I can’t accept it. I’ve never been able to and I never will. I feel like I’m being eaten away at and there’s not a damned thing I can do to escape it,” Addison admitted, moving to run a hand through her hair and growing frustrated when she found it still tied in a bun. “I literally feel dead inside every time I step into that building.”

“So stop sitting there complaining about it and do something,” Emma said and the dark haired girl furrowed her brow, and pulled her hair from its confines. The conversation was done, at least for her and she signaled as much by taking another mouthful of her drink.

She had heard the words a thousand times and had desperately wanted to follow them. She often envisioned handing in her resignation letter and striding out of the building, however bills had to be paid and every time she looked up a job search she felt sick at the industries hiring. Her biggest problem was that she didn’t know what she wanted; she didn’t have something like Emma did with her acting. While the older woman still had to hold down a day job, at least she was striving for her passion. Addison however, was lacking any form of the emotion as far as a career went. She didn’t even really know what was out there to begin looking and so she always ended up with the advertisements for retail, admin, or some biomedical position in her face. It was enough to make her scream, and instead she found herself cowering away.

“Oh by the way, Tom’s coming around for dinner,” Emma mentioned, interrupting Addison’s train of thought and the girl felt her stomach drop. As if she hadn’t had a bad enough day already, Emma’s brother just had to be the icing on the cake.

“It’s okay, I have a few TV shows I need to catch up on anyway,” she said making to move to her bedroom, but the blonde was shaking her head.

“Nonsense, I’ve cooked enough for all of us. Plus I know you won’t bother cooking at this rate, so just join us,” Emma urged and Addison tried to give a nonchalant shrug, admitting defeat. She had always attempted civility with Tom because of how much Emma loved him, but it never seemed to stop the intense dislike for him that bubbled just beneath the surface. Taking a deep breath she tipped her head back and downed a significant portion of her drink; she was going to need it if she had to suffer through a dinner with Tom Hiddleston.