Another repost. More recent. I hope it still works for you. Emily and Naomi have been living together, loving together...for 6 years.

Not quite the 7 year itch, but close enough. Loads of angst for those who like that sort of thing, but some redeeming features for those who cringe a bit at the thought.

Naomi

"Emily is having an affair"

5 little words.

If it had been anyone but Katie Fitch saying them, sitting opposite me in my poky little kitchen, I might have laughed in their faces. Emily having an affair? Not a chance.

Let me say straight off that the she bitch that was Katie Fitch has been dead and buried for more than five years now. Katie, of course is alive and well, and not all of her rough edges have been smoothed over. But me and her? Quite good friends nowadays. It took the majority of the time Ems and I spent at different uni's for Katie to admit that, with Emily and me barely holding on to our relationship at times, but after graduation, we moved in together properly and Katie has been a constant in our lives ever since we all up sticks and moved to London.

I work at Save the Children, as a fund raiser cum dogsbody. Emily got a job in an accountancy and probably out earns me by a factor of 3, but that's never been important to us. And Katie? Inevitably, with her flair for design and fashion, she works for an independent fashion house in Margaret Street, just behind Oxford Street, her happy hunting ground.

Ems and I have a basement two bedroom flat in Islington and Katie lives about a mile away, down the Goswell Road. We regularly go out in a foursome with the older Fitch and whatever deluded soul is currently emptying his Amex card into Katies wardrobe. When she stopped being such a cunt to me, we found we shared quite a lot of things...like our sense of humour. World affairs might mean very different things to us, mine being sort of UN based and hers Beckham/Kardashian, but we do laugh at similar things.

But neither of us are laughing at the moment. The words she had just uttered were hanging there like fucking neon lights, between us. My expression must have ben a combination of total disbelief and amusement. This was a wind up...surely?

"Come on Katie...you can do better than that. To what do I owe the honour of this unexpected visit" said, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice.

Her face was a mask of sadness, and the coldness which was creeping up from my toes, started to coil like a snake in my stomach.

"This is no joke babe" Katie said quietly, looking away from me before continuing. "I thought the same thing as you when I found out"

"B...but how...who...?" I stuttered. The enormity of what she was saying was overwhelming me. Nothing in my life could have prepared me for a bombshell like this. From the first time my eyes had met Emily's all those years ago in middle school, I'd never doubted her. Even in the fuckfest called Sophia, when I'd risked everything to try to escape the inevitable, Emily cheating wasn't something I seriously considered. OK, there was Mandy, but even in my extreme misery, I knew she was a distraction, not a serious rival. But this...?

"Listen Naoms" Katie put her hand over mine on the table and I shuddered. Somehow, touching her made it more real, and I hated it. "Haven't you noticed things have been a bit 'off' lately?"

I shook my head, although an insidious fear was creeping through me. I had noticed, hadn't I? Nothing overt, nothing dramatic, just a tailing off of the casual caresses we always exchanged when passing each other, Maybe the goodbye kiss wasn't quite so lingering in the mornings? And if I thought about it...which I was doing now...we hadn't made love for...well...weeks. I thought it was just her work schedule...all those midweek late nights wor...Oh fuck late nights working?"

"Yes..." finally admitted weakly "She's been working late every Wednesday, she said it was for a big presentation...oh Jesus Katie...there was no presentation, was there?"

Katie shook her head sadly.

"No...I only found out when my friend Jenny called me at work...you know she works in the building opposite Ems, said she'd seen her and some skank going out to lunch virtually every day...holding fucking hands?"

That was too much. I lurched up from the breakfast table and hung over the sink, throwing up the pasta I had eaten an hour before. Katie got up and held my hair out of my face, which had the instant effect of making me burst into tears. Only Emily had ever done that for me before. It made me almost collapse with grief.

When I'd thrown up everything in my stomach and Katie had mopped my face with a tea towel, I stumbled back to the table, sitting down with a thump.

"But...why Katie...why?" I said hopelessly "We are...were...special" I choked, in a spectacularly inappropriate reference to a certain mistake of my own. But my brief, loveless hand job with the deceased Sophia was hardly comparable to this was it. Holding hands...intimate lunches...late night fucking working. Yeah, I could guess what sort of work they had been doing.

Suddenly other seemingly inconsequential things swam into my mind. The fact that when Emily got back from her late night 'working' she always crept in and showered before coming to bed. I never slept before she got home anyway, but I convinced myself she was just getting rid of the grime and grit of a hard days work, followed by a trip on the filthy Underground. Now, with a shock that made me physically shiver, I knew the real reason. She was washing the...evidence...off her. Again my stomach roiled, but I swallowed it down. There was nothing left to upchuck anyway now, except my heart.

Katie carried on stroking my hand and watching my changing expressions.

"Tell me everything you know" I said eventually, my voice cold and empty.

"Really" Katie answered "Does it make any difference Naoms? She cheated...no she IS cheating on you. Isn't that enough. When I see her I'm going to cut her a new arsehole...but knowing the fucking details is just going to tear you up more isn't it? Thing is...what are you going to do about it?"

I shook my head and swabbed my eyes to clear the stinging tears.

"I need to know Katie...so tell me...please?"

She took a deep breath and started to talk.

My friend...Jenny? said she was sure it was Ems..you know, coming out with this...Izzie tart..."

"Wait" I said, staring at Katie "You know her name?"

"I found out" Katie said grimly "Once Jenny told me...I went down to Fisher and Gordon and spoke to the security guy on the desk" She grinned mirthlessly "Nice to know a look at my tits still opens the confidence of most guys"

I smiled without humour back.

She sighed and continued.

"It seems Ems and this...cunt...have been cosying up for a while now. Lunch every day...leaving together...you get the picture. Oh...and the late night working? Doesn't exist...quelle surprise. The building gets locked at 6.30. What time has she been getting home?"

"About 10...10.30" I said dully "Plenty of time for a nice screw somewhere...I've been so blind Katie...so fucking blind. But why...after all the shit we've been through...all that with your mother...you?"

Katie blinked at that. We'd long ago put our personal differences aside, but she had the grace to look guilty at her part in the 'hate Naomi' campaign back in college.

"Yeah...well, thats ancient history...I've grown up a bit Naoms...we both have"

I nodded. Like I said before, Katie and I weren't enemies any more...friends really. But now she'd delivered a message no one ever wants to hear. I lowered my head into my hands and sobbed for a bit. When I looked up, she was holding out a half full tumbler of something clear and cold. It wasn't water.

"For the shock" she said quietly, for once without the wry smile.

I took it and swallowed a big gulp, choking at the fierceness of the raw spirit, but needing the kick.

"What am I going to do?" I said hopelessly "I fucking love her so much Katie...she's my world...I don't know what to be...who I am...if I'm not in love with her"

Again Katie pushed the glass towards my lips. I took another generous swig.

"You need to talk to her Naomi" she said flatly "Whatever this...thing...is, it's you she really loves, you she spent two years chasing and 4 more living with. You have to fight for her...after you've kicked the shit out of her of course" she smiled grimly.

"B..but...you said this has been going on for weeks...?" I choked, rubbing my red eyes and looking at her.

She looked away, and my heart sank even further. I didn't think I could bear any more bad news, but I was going to get it anyway, wasn't I?

"Months" she said in a tight voice "The security guard says they've been seeing each other for a few months"

I almost screamed at that. Months?

"But...but that means..." I whispered.

"Yeah...your anniversary...her birthday... all that time"

I swayed in my chair, and I think if Katie hadn't leapt up and rushed round the table, I would have just collapsed on the floor. Months?

When I finally was able to speak, I waved her away. Nothing could penetrate my pain now. Months...she'd been deceiving me for that long. The cold spring in my stomach coiled and stretched again.

I looked at to see Katies face swimming in front of me, holding out the glass again, but I brushed it aside.

"No...I need to be reasonably sober to do what I've got to do Katie...it's Wednesday, remember. Someone will be creeping in at 10...expecting me to be asleep like a nice, obedient little Naomikins. Well, someone is going to get a shock"

Despite Katies protestations about waiting in with me...facing Emily together. I knew this was something I had to do alone. The coldness in my stomach was now circling my heart. It was finished, that much was obvious. The only tiny bit of dignity I had left was to end it on my terms. Katie left after leaving me with one last bit of advice.

"Look Naoms...she's my sister, so I'll always have her back...despite the fact that she's been the worlds biggest cunt. But we're friends, right? Don't do anything so drastic there's no way back, huh?"

I shook my head. I had no intention of beating Emily up over this. It was too late for anything to help. I was just going to end this...thing..as quickly and painlessly as I could.

When the door closed behind Katie my throat choked up and I was a second away from collapsing on the floor and wailing for the next few hours, but I steeled myself and instead, went into our...my bedroom and started to pack an overnight case. I couldn't stay here a second after I had ended it all. I sat in a chair in the lounge with a small glass of vodka in my hand and watched the clock tick round to 10pm.