‘Blimey, how many rooms have you got?’
Elliot was staring around the entrance hall in wonder, hiseye caught by a taxidermied animal. ‘And what the hell’s wrong with that tiger?’
‘Top of the stairs, second left. Off you go,’ said Aggie, ushering him up the stairs with Stella’s bags.
They heard him calling, ‘Bloody hell, Stell, there’s anen suite!’ as they took Stella into the kitchen.
Hetty gripped Stella’s hand as Jemima brought over a mug of tea in a delicate blue and pink china mug with gold lettering – ‘Trans Rights Are Human Rights’ – and a large box of tissues.
‘Thanks,’ Stella sobbed. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘No,’ Aggie said, visibly angry. ‘I’m sorry, dear. There’s no need to explain – Hetty texted ahead. You’ll be staying here, of course, for as long as you want.’
Stella collapsed into tears. Hetty could just about make out her response. ‘I can’t – you can’t—’
Hetty gripped her hand harder. ‘Stella. My aunts rescued me. I think you’re much easier to rescue than I was.’
‘Too bloody right,’ growled Aggie.
‘Now, now, Aggie. Calm down.’ Jemima put her hand on Aggie’s shoulder. ‘Stella, Hetty’s right. This is a place of refuge. Our home is your home, for as long as you like.’
Stella moaned, her head in her arms. ‘I never thought – I never thought she’d actually throw me out. It’s 2024! They literally let us get married in churches now!’
‘Her loss is our gain,’ said Jemima. ‘Now come on, you drink your tea and we’ll show you around the bits you haven’t already seen.’
Hetty was sitting with Elliot tucking into a Full English when Stella came down the next morning, bleary-eyed from crying, and didn’t immediately notice her entering the room.
‘So you’re telling me she just … she just eats loudlyfor a living?’ Hetty enquired, horrified. Elliot shook with laughter as Hetty continued, insistent. ‘But that’s quite terribly indecent! And you’re saying this is viewed bymillions of people?’
Elliot choked with laughter. ‘Yeah, yeah, but Hetty, that’s not even the grossest thing out there. That’s, like, so, so far from awful. Oh! Hey, Stells.’
Stella grinned at them both. ‘Showing Hetty the worst of the internet, then?’
‘Oh, mate, I have no idea where you found this one. She’s hilarious.’
‘Been rizzing her up, have you?’
Elliot laughed. ‘The opposite, I reckon.’
Hetty turned to Stella. ‘Stella, your brother has been telling me all sorts of things and truly, the world really is averydifferent place now.’
Hetty got up as Stella padded over to the coffee machine and plucked a capsule from the tarnished, battered silver vase they lived in. ‘Hetty, if you break that bracelet on me now, I swear to god …’
Without even realising it Hetty put her hand on Stella’s shoulder, feeling electricity but also warmth spreading through her. ‘You know I would never, Estella.’
‘My brother told you my full name, then? What else have you learned about me?’ Stella turned and suddenly Hetty found that her arms were wrapping around Stella’s waist, as though they had a mind of their own.
‘I’ve learned I don’t want you to leave. Ever,’ Hetty whispered into Stella’s ear.
‘Gross,’ said Elliot, pushing them aside and making off with Stella’s coffee. ‘Come on, lovebirds, I’ve got the perfect format for your new bestselling social media offering.’
Stella sighed as Hetty put another pod into the machine and found a chipped mug – ‘Hungry Like The Sloth’ this time.
‘Go on then, Smelliot.’
Stella’s brother paused, toast halfway to his mouth. ‘I say we get you two in your fancy dresses and you can outrage Hetty some more for me. But this time, we film it.’
Hetty looked at the two of them assessingly. It was the second time this idea had popped up. She had learned that it was a popular format, the whole ‘agony aunt/reacting to terrible Reddit stories’ thing, and it was true that her reactions would be, well, authentic. The world was indeed an interesting place.
