'How do you know? How do you know I love you?' Naomi paused at the bottom of the college steps and turned to look quizzically into Emily's upturned face. Emily stopped mid-pace and squeezed Naomi's hand a little tighter. A cheeky grin curled across her lips.

'You took on my sister for a start,' she laughed. 'I've lived with her for seventeen years and she still scares the pants off me!'

Naomi nodded, laughing. 'I thought she was going to kill me! She would have if you hadn't turned up when you did.'

'I couldn't miss the fight of the century now, could I?' smiled Emily and Naomi smiled back. For a moment their eyes just locked and they stood there, at the bottom of the stone steps, surrounded by students screaming and laughing and oblivious to all of it. Smiling. They hadn't done a lot of that so far. Not enough anyway, but they both had the feeling that that was about to change.

'Come on then,' winked Naomi finally, swinging Emily's hand and pulling her gently in the direction of the main road. 'We'd better get a taxi. Your feet must be freezing.'

If they were, Emily hadn't noticed. A kind of glow had spread through her body the minute she had decided that she really did have the courage to break free from her twin sister. The dress came off, the shoes came off, and suddenly she was herself. Emily. Not Katie's sister. Emily. It felt good. It felt more than good. And when she looked across the hall and saw Naomi there, standing patiently, her hand outstretched, waiting for Emily to come to her, it felt fucking amazing.

Luck was on their side and a cab with its light on came by almost immediately. Naomi leaned into the front window to give her address. Then she paused a moment and turned to where Emily had opened the back door of the car to climb in. 'Ok?' she asked, in a moment of hesitation. Maybe she was moving ahead too quickly. She knew she wanted Emily to come back with her, but she hadn't exactly asked Emily. She needn't have worried. Emily gave that shy grin that melted Naomi's heart a little and nodded before jumping into the back seat and sliding across.

It was only ten minutes in the taxi but it felt like forever. They sat close together, their knees, their thighs, their shoulders touching, but something stopped them from interlacing their fingers like they had before. They didn't even talk. They just watched the dark residential streets rush by outside the windows and willed the car to move faster, time to move faster, to the moment when they could be alone together again.

As soon as the cab pulled up outside Naomi's chalet bungalow, they jumped out. Naomi quickly paid the driver and before he had had time to turn the car around and head back in the direction he had come, she and Emily were through the front door and heading up the stairs. Only a crash from the kitchen, followed by a loud 'shit' caused them to hover halfway up.

'Mum?' called Naomi.

'Oh hello, love,' called her mother from the kitchen. 'You're home early. Party no good?'

Gina came wandering into the hallway, a dustpan and brush in her hand. 'Never liked that teapot much anyway,' she said, seeing the girls' puzzled expressions. 'Hello Emily,' she added, raising a blonde eyebrow.

'Hi Gina,' said Emily quietly, suddenly self-conscious as she remembered that she was dressed mainly in her underwear.

'We're just…' began Naomi. Uncharacteristically lost for words, she gestured upstairs.

'Oh,' grinned Gina, nodding slowly from one girl to the other. 'That's great. That's really great. Well, Kieran and I are watching a movie. It's one of those loud, violent ones, you know, with guns and sirens. He likes them. Anyway, it's only just started so we'll be down here in the living room for a good couple of hours yet. Maybe longer.'

She headed back to the kitchen, then turned with something that looked suspiciously like a wink in Naomi's direction and said over her shoulder, 'There's a bottle of wine in the fridge.'

Naomi rolled her eyes and shook her head but Emily couldn't help hoping that her parents would take the news of their togetherness nearly as well. She doubted it.

The pair ran up the last few stairs and in another moment, Emily was pushing open the door of Naomi's room. Involuntarily, she paused. Suddenly the thoughts of how she had left it the last time came rushing back into her mind. How she had stood right there in the doorway, all dishevelled and dressed as Katie, heavy with the disappointment that Naomi wouldn't admit what she meant to her.

Things had changed so much in just a few days. Now she stood in the doorway and felt Naomi's arms encircle her waist from behind her. She leaned back her head and Naomi's warm breath was on her neck, and small, tender kisses just where her red hair fell onto her pale shoulder. Emily twisted her body within Naomi's arms so that they were facing each other, and wrapped her delicate hands around the back of Naomi's slender neck. She stepped back slowly, drawing Naomi into the room and letting the door swing shut behind them. They stood like that, close, in the near darkness, just breathing together, looking at each other. And smiling.

'Do you remember…' whispered Naomi, suddenly serious, and Emily gave a little start. She was lost in her own world, the world she had imagined so many times before but didn't dare hope could be real. Naomi's quick smile was indulgent, just as if she knew. 'Do you remember… at the lake…'

'Oh yes,' Emily raised an eyebrow cheekily.

'Not that,' grinned Naomi, squeezing Emily's waist tighter. 'You know, after, when I, when I… went.'

Emily nodded silently, her deep brown eyes still fixed on Naomi's clear blue ones.

Naomi continued in a small voice. 'You stood there, under the tree, and you said that I had to be brave. And it was weird because I wanted to be brave, I really did, but I just wasn't. Not brave enough anyway. But tonight I felt so brave. I just wanted to go in there and grab you and bring you back here. With me.'

Tears pricked Emily's eyes. 'You did,' she whispered hoarsely. 'You did bring me back and now I'm here. With you.' She rose herself up on her tiptoes and lifted her mouth to Naomi's in a soft, slow kiss.

'Yeah,' murmured Naomi thoughtfully as they broke away.

'You made yourself brave,' whispered Emily, pushing away a strand of Naomi's white-blonde hair and gently holding her face, ready to kiss her again. 'And that's how I know you love me.'