Chapter Text
"This is going to be amazing! we can have a sofa over here, the TV here..." cried the youngest of the five girls, huddled in the hallway, wearing a pink jumper and skirt and her hair in pigtails.
"Drop the optimism Emma. The place is a dump and we all know it" said another girl, peering down the hallway over her dark sunglasses.
"No we're lucky to have it!" Emma insisted.
"Can't our luck be a bit more... glamorous? Or at least not smell quite so damp?"
"Oh my days, we've only been here five minutes and you're already arguing" A girl complained from the back of the group, waving her tracksuit clad arms around in exasperation.
"Melanie's right." The oldest girl butt in, flaming red hair making her stand out from the group. "There's only one way to sort this: Emma, Victoria you two have to share a room"
"Yay! Oh My gosh Vic this is going to be so fun! We can tell ghost stories and have midnight feasts and do shadow puppets and you can help me write letters for my mum-"
"What about us, Geri?" Melanie asked pointing between herself and the final girl beside her, interrupting the death stare Victoria was punishing Geri with.
"Since when is she our leader?" the girl next to Melanie asked "I'll do whatever I want thank you very much, I don't need her permission. And what I want is a room to myself"
"No, I'm having that" Geri said plainly.
"What? Why?"
"Because, Mel" Geri said raising herself up to her full height (which was still significantly shorter than Mel's) "I'm the oldest"
"But you're also the smallest" Mel retorted, making a point of looking down at Geri.
"Well, yes, but-"
Melanie then took advantage of the situation. "Why don't you two share a room, since you're the ones arguing now?"
Both Mel and Geri then rounded on her "Shut up Melanie!"
"Oh come on Mel" Emma said, assuming her role as peacemaker. "Let Geri have it, you know how messy she is please don't let her make that anyone else's problem"
Geri bit her lip to prevent herself from explaining the method in the madness of her messiness.
Mel narrowed her eyes, making considering Emma's words. Geri saw the exact moment Mel reached a decision as her eyes gleamed a little in the dim hall. "I'll make a deal with you Halliwell. You can have the room if you give me your ABBA t-shirt"
Geri was thrown slightly, Mel's choice perplexing her. That was a rubbish deal for Mel. She'd always stolen that t-shirt and had by now probably worn it more times than Geri herself, so it was really of no consequence to her to give it up. Maybe Emma's cute blue eyes just wore her down. Or maybe it was just that: a rubbish deal. Probably. Anyhow, it was certainly a new record for the shortest argument the pair had ever had.
Geri stuck out her hand. "That's a deal Brown" she said shaking Mel's hand, her bright blue eyes searching Mel's brown for any sign of a trick. She furrowed her brow slightly, finding none.
"Well if we're done here, I'm doing to see is this place is a surface-level-dump or a complete-utter-and-thorough-dump" Victoria announced, sweeping past the other four and into the rest of the house.
Later that day after the five had finished furnishing the house (or as Victoria called it: 'that bloody pig sty) Geri was sat with Emma in the living room. Geri kept finding herself caught up thinking about Mel's deal something about is felt very strange to her. Kind of as if she'd found a different side to her friendship with Mel, where they didn't have explosive arguments all the time. "Did you think it was odd?" Geri blurted out suddenly.
"What was?" Emma asked visibly confused.
"Mel's deal with me- for the room"
"Uh, no. Why?" Emma answered still confused.
"I don’t know. I guess I just think its strange because she rarely gives up on an argument with anyone. And she has absolutely never given up in an argument with me that easily before."
"We're all tired Geri, it's been a busy few days. She probably just ran out of steam and gave in early. Or maybe she's decided to turn over a new leaf with you- you know, new house and all. Why are you even complaining though" Emma laughed "if she's gotten off of your back for a while?"
Geri sighed "I don’t know. It just felt weird to me." They both sunk into silence for a beat.
Emma sat upright suddenly. "Oh my God! You like arguing with her don’t you? It makes so much sense! You've both finally found someone that is so much like you, and that can match your feistiness"
Geri internally winced, Emma's words getting a little too close to the truth. "I don't know Em" she just shrugged unable to come up with a better response in the moment.
She lay back on the sofa thinking after Emma left the room (probably to go and share her revelation with Victoria). So what if she did like arguing with Mel? To her, as they were so similar their arguments were perfect because they were so in sink. Satisfying almost. Another, more hidden part of her admitted that maybe she like their arguments because she enjoyed being at the centre of Mel's attention, or at least the emotions she felt during their rows were much preferred to the white hot jealousy she experienced whenever Mel spoke to one of the other girls for too long- a grotesque bitter feeling she was now well practiced in burying behind a clenched jaw and a beaming grin, but scolded herself for feeling none the less.
"I'm ordering pizza!" Melanie's shout interrupted Geri's thoughts. "What do you guys want?"
Having filled up on pizza, the boxes were left discarded on the floor as the girls lulled around playing cards. Geri was sat comfortably on the sofa next to Mel, Victoria in the arm chair across from them, Melanie perched on it's arm and Emma lying down with her arms propping her head up on the carpet.
"This'll end your winning streak Vicky!" Exclaimed Mel as she slammed three cards down onto the coffee table a mere centimetres from sending Geri's wine glass flying across the room.
Victoria simply rolled her eyes as she placed down a card that dictated that Melanie had to pick up all four instead.
"I can't believe I always loose this stupid game" Melanie muttered, frustrated. "Why couldn't we do a race or something that I could win instead?"
"Because those three would break their necks with their stupid shoes" Mel laughed, pointing at Emma, Victoria and Geri.
"My shoes are stylish" Victoria said simply.
"You only think that because you're posh, Vic" Geri laughed. "I on the other hand understand street style" she said proudly, oblivious to Mel's smirk and eye roll.
The game continued in much the same way, until the final round was reached.
"I've got one card left" Mel said attempting to taunt Victoria.
Victoria looked up, good-natured competitiveness written all over her face. she held a single card up to Mel, raising one eyebrow. "It's Geri's go."
Geri looked down at the cards in her hand. Two cards left. One of her cards would ruin the chance of victory for either Mel or Victoria. But which one?
She placed the card on the table, carefully sliding it over to Victoria, only looking at Mel. "Sorry Vic"
Mel threw the remaining card in her hand in the air, jumping up from her seat, giddy on victory. "High-five Halliwell!" she cried excitedly looking down at Geri with a lop-sided grin plastered across her face.
Geri met her palm, smiling back at her. "You know I've got your back sometimes, Mel" she said endearingly.
Victoria then left the room in a huff, muttering something about being tiered. Five minutes later, Emma and Melanie said their goodnights and disappeared up the stars. Mel and Geri sat next to each other on the sofa in a comfortable silence for a while.
"Right I'm exhausted, I think I'll go to bed as well" Mel said after a while. "Can I grab the t-shirt from your room first?"
Geri turned to face her. "Yeah, course, it should be in the top draw of the dresser on the left."
"I'll go get it, thanks." Mel got up, the sofa sighing as she stood and walked across, pausing in the doorway. "G'night Ginge" she said turning.
"Go to bed Mel" Geri replied smiling as the nickname. "Sleep well."
Their management team had given the girls a few days to settle in to the new house, and they planned to make the most of their time off.
The girls all woke up the next day feeling refreshed. After a quick breakfast Melanie proposed a walk, all four girls agreed and went about getting ready.
Geri stared at her reflection in the mirror as she carefully unfurled rollers from her red-blonde hair. The curls bounced satisfyingly and framed her high cheek bones and brought out her sparking blue eyes. She slowly covered her lips in scarlet red and her eyelashes in dark mascara.
"Geri!" Mel shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
"Yeah?" replied Geri, leaving her room to stand at the top of the stairs.
"I left a pack of gum on my bedside table, can you grab it? I've got muddy boots on."
Geri nodded "sure."
"Also can you hurry up? We're all ready" Mel said, gesturing at the three coated girls behind her.
"There's no reason why you can't go ahead, I'll catch you up" Geri said slightly annoyed.
"Only if you're sure Geri" Melanie said, and Geri nodded.
"Come find us them, when you're ready" Emma shrugged.
Geri returned to her room and heard the front door slam shut. She sighed opening up her wardrobe, standing in front of it for a moment. Eventually, she slipped on a pair of jeans, a red cropped button up shirt and her leather trench coat, before stuffing her feet into some white platform boots. Lastly she sprayed some perfume and switched off the light before going down stairs.
As she put her foot onto the step, she suddenly remembered Mel's gum. She turned and pushed open the door to the two Melanies's room. Geri immediately identified Mel's side of the room, it summed up Mel: to most it would look like a completes mess but to people that knew her best like Geri, really everything was perfectly in it's place and precisely neat. Geri quickly located the gum and now retuned to the stairs, breathing in Mel's perfume as she left.
To Geri's surprise, Mel was perched as the foot of the stairs. "Finally! I was beginning to think you'd gone back to sleep."
"What are you doing here?" Geri asked, ignoring her comment.
"Well, I wanted to walk with you, so I waited" Mel said honestly, smiling gently at Geri.
Touched, Geri smiled, "thanks."
"You know I've got your back sometimes Ginge" Mel said stealing Geri's words from the night before. "C'mon lets go!" she ordered practically pushing Geri out of the door.
A few minutes into their walk, Mel looked Geri up and down, first tracing her face with her eyes then her body.
"What?" Demanded Geri, feeling Mel looking at her. "What's the problem?"
"You're looking... sharp today Ginge. What's the special occasion?"
"You never know who you might meet on a walk" Geri replied purposefully cryptically.
"Wait a second..." Mel said after a second, stopping abruptly, causing Geri to stumble at the unexpected rhythm change. Mel narrowed her eyes. "Is the lovely Miss Geraldine Halliwell... lonely?"
"Mel..." Geri groaned. "I've told you not to call me Geraldine- only my mother does, it's weird." She said, brave enough to stare Mel down but not brave enough to answer her question.
"That doesn't answer my question Halliwell." At this Geri dropped her gaze and tried not to blush.
"No."
"You're an awful liar."
"I'm not lying!" Geri insisted pointlessly as they both knew the opposite was true.
"Good." Mel said, causing Geri to flick her gaze back up in confusion. Good, what? "You'll never replace me, I won't let you."
Geri didn't respond, perplexed by Mel's words. She couldn't tell is it was an innocent joke or something else, wrapped in a joke. After a second she reached out a gently punched Mel's arm. "You wish" she winked.
Mel didn't reply immediately, instead looking Geri dead in the eye. "Maybe I do."
Geri's breath caught in her throat. She was sure that Mel was not joking now.
But before she could form any kind of response, distant shouts of their names forcing the pair to look away from each other and turn to see Emma waving at them from the other side of the park.
"Race you, Ginge!" Cried Mel before speeding off.
Geri shook herself out of what ever trance Mel had put her under, giving herself a moment to take a deep breath in and then out, before jerking her legs into action. "You're on Brown! Last one there has to buy the other a drink!"
Despite Melanie and Emma heading home, Mel still dragged Geri and Victoria down to the pub to claim her winnings. Having payed, Geri and the other two nursed their drinks with cold fingers around the hearty glow of the fire, their faces illuminated in shades of gold and amber in the firelight.
"Budge up Mel, I'm freezing." Geri complained, sitting furthest from the fire.
Staying where she was Mel responded, "No, it's not my fault you decided to where half a shirt out in February!"
"It is not half! It's meant to be like this." Geri responded raising her voice. "Besides I felt rushed with you waiting for me, so maybe I would've wrapped up warmer if I wasn't worrying about keeping you waiting- I shouldn't of bothered worrying."
"Rushed?" Mel said raising her voice to match Geri's. "What do you mean rushed? You didn't even know I was bloody there. You hardly acted like you were hurrying anyway, you took your fucking sweet time."
"Enough!" Victoria cut in before Geri could retaliate. "Can't a girl have a drink in peace? Or for that matter can't the rest of the pub?"
Geri looked around, cheeks red, too embarrassed to meet anyones's eyes despite them all looking at her. Mel on the other hand, stared defiantly onto the eyes of everyone in the pub, daring them to speak.
"Sorry." Geri barely managed to mumble.
Not speaking, the girls finished the rest of their drinks in silence before getting up to make a swift exit, the novelty of being there waring off rapidly. As they stood to leave, Mel handed Geri the fleece that she had previously been wearing, not able to meet her eyes. Geri took it, and looked up at Mel, smiling softly as a peace offering. Mel initially didn't smile back her face slightly hard, and Geri realised incredibly sad looking. However after a second she smiled back gently, her face softening.
"I'm sorry you're cold"
"Don't apologise Mel, it's not you're fault. I should of-"
"I should've moved for you." Mel shrugged, before turning to walk out of the door, leaving Geri to quizzically watch her back as she walked away. She'd never know Mel to apologise quite like that, so softly and so genuinely.
Watching on, at that moment, Victoria knew that Geri and Mel were meant for each other, to her it seemed simply inevitable. Without saying this to Geri she said, "You're her best friend, you know that?"
Geri looked at Victoria, not understanding the extent of meaning behind her words. She nodded then considered something. "You know, in a funny way I don't think I could live without her."
It seemed to be an unspoken decision that Mel and Geri's argument nor their apologies were mentioned to Melanie or Emma. Geri was particularly grateful to Victoria for this, since they had practically armed her with the greatest gossip material.
The rest of that day went by in a blur and after having eaten the dinner prepared by Melanie, Geri decided to go to bed early, not sure enough of how she felt towards Mel to feel ready to sit a room with her yet, still confused about earlier.
Despite being in bed, Geri's mind didn't seem to switch off. For hours she lay in the dark, seeing replays of Mel and her on the walk, in the pub and even Mel stopping to say goodnight the previous day. 'Best friends' Victoria had called them and now Geri tested the phrase out in her head. It suited their relationship, they were friends just like she was with all of the other girls, but there was something deeper, closer between them that Geri didn't feel with any of the other girls, or had felt with anyone she'd ever met. Mel is, she decided, just like how she'd imagined her best friend to be, like an extension of herself, but someone who she wanted to discover everything about.
Eventually, after hours of tossing and turning and thinking, Geri decided that maybe sleep wasn't coming and perhaps a cup of tea would help. She softly padded down the stairs, carefully avoiding the squeakiest floorboards to prevent the other girls from waking. To her surprise, Geri turned off of the stairs to find the end of the hallway lit up from the glow of the bulb in the kitchen, despite the night low since having turned into the early morning.
"Couldn't sleep?" Geri's eyes shot up to meet the warm brown ones of the speaker.
"No I'm sleep walking, Mel" Geri replied sarcastically, with a grin.
"Very funny" Mel responded, the sarcasm used lost behind her genuine laugh. Maybe as an after effect of her previous deep thinking, Geri unexpectedly battled to keep a blush from her cheeks, hearing Mel's laughter.
"I'm having tea." Geri said, once the laughter has stopped. "D'you want a cup?"
"Well, you do make the best tea Ginge, I think I'll have to" Mel winked.
"God, I asked if you wanted tea not if you wanted to go on a date, you flirt." Geri said, mock rolling her eyes as she filled the kettle and put it on to boil. This was one of the reasons she and Mel got on so well, Geri thought, their humour was the same- taking the piss out of themselves, strangers but mostly each other.
Not needing directions from Mel, Geri stirred in a little milk and one sugar into the cup before placing it on the table in front of her.
"Come sit." Mel said patting the chain next to her.
"Thanks for the invite ma'am" Geri giggled taking the seat anyway.
"At your service m'lady" Mel countered in a falsely serious tone.
Taking sips of their tea, the pair sat in silence for a while. Despite her jovial mood, their banter had somehow confused Geri even more about where she stood with Mel, even though it had been so normal for them. This must have shown on her face as Mel reached across and placed Geri's hand in her own. "Tell me what's wrong. What's on your mind?"
Geri looked into the eyes of her friend, her best friend. She couldn't lie to her, but she was also not sure she could tell her the truth either. She took a deep breath, "I'm scared Mel. I'm scared that none of this," she gestured around the room with the hand that wasn't in Mel's, "none of this, our songs, our album, our videos will work. I'm scared that it'll ruin us. I'm scared of loosing my friends. I'm scared that I'll mess up our friendship. I'm scared that... that one day you won't be there." Geri vaguely registered tears falling down her cheeks as she realised that each of her statements where more true than the last. She hid her face, turning away from Mel embarrassed- she hadn't meant to say that much but once she started... well, she's said it now, she'd said it all.
"Geri..." Mel shimmied her chair closer to the tearful red-head and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, pulling Geri into her, all the while she rubbed comforting circles on to the back of Geri's hand with the pad of her thumb. "Hush, listen to me." Mel urged, "Geri this will work, I'm sure of it. Young girls need us, they need a posh girl who wears fancy dresses with a wicked sense of humour, a sporty girl with great determination, a naughty-but-nice girl with cute big blue eyes. Believe it or not they need a loud, crazy girl with big hair." This comment earned a snuffled chuckle from Geri into Mel's shoulder. "And most of all they need a feisty, hilarious, kind, caring, hardworking, brave girl with flaming red hair, who shows them how to speak up and challenge what's wrong. Who shows them how to laugh and pack a punch. Who shows them that being a powerful woman doesn't mean you can't be beautiful" Mel stroked Geri's hair. "I'm never leaving you. I couldn't if I tried." Geri look up from Mel's shoulders tear no longer falling, their faces close. "Because Geri, you've changed my world."
For a while Geri didn't reply, letting the words sink in as she basked in the comfort of Mel's arms. Finally words began to form on her lips. "I love you Mel." She whispered barely audibly. The phrase was perfectly innocent, something friends would say to each other. Yet, Geri struggled to meet Mel's eyes and her pulse raced.
Mel smiled softly at Geri despite her heart beating out of her chest. Looking back at up her, Geri's heart skipped ten beats. She reminded herself that it was just three words between friends, but Mel's gaze was now effecting her in a way it never had before.
"Drink up, your tea's going cold." Mel said breaking the pair back into the reality of being sat in the kitchen in the middle of the night.
"I actually think I'll finish it upstairs." Said Geri suddenly desperate to get out of the kitchen with Mel being sat in it. "Goodnight!" She gushed, springing out of her chair.
"G'night Ginge." Mel replied chuckling to herself.