Danny parked the car next to the college entrance and Emily sighed as she climbed over the side, leaving Katie and him snogging in the front seat. Her sister never seemed to shy away from public displays of affection, whereas she preferred moments like that to stay private, especially where Danny and Katie were concerned.
Emily started walking towards the entrance when she spied a familiar blonde standing inside the door. She started to make her towards her but stopped when she noticed Naomi initiate a conversation with another girl and shoot a short and uncomfortable look her way.
It had been two days since Pandora's pyjama party and Naomi had been avoiding her. She was last to arrive for class and first to leave and it was starting to drive Emily nuts. She just wanted to talk to her, get some clarification on what the hell was going on, but every time she had managed to get up the nerve Naomi seemed to disappear or start talking to someone else. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realise that Naomi would do pretty much anything to avoid talking to her.
At lunchtime Emily decided enough was enough and sought Naomi out. She finally found her sitting on a bench outside, alone and slowly made her way over, snippets of a conversation she wanted to have running through her mind.
"Hi".
Naomi looked up and sighed. She did not look pleased to see her.
Emily felt a wave of nervousness wash across her but tried again. "Look I just want to talk; I don't want it to be awkward between us".
Naomi rolled her eyes and leaned back against the bench, motioning to the empty space beside her. "I'm not gay".
"What is it with you and labels?" Emily sat down on the bench, careful to leave space between her and Naomi.
Naomi frowned at her. "How many ways do I need to say it? I'm not a lesbian… I'm not gay… I'm not a muff muncher". She looked exasperated and annoyed. There was a furrow forming between her eyebrows and Emily bit her lip in frustration that she couldn't just reach out and smooth it away.
"So?" Emily shrugged her shoulders.
"So, this isn't going to work between us". Her voice took on a patronizing tone and she gestured between them both.
"I'm not asking if this is going to work between us". Emily closed her eyes briefly, aware the conversation was not going very well and unsure of how to continue. What did she really expect to happen? Naomi to profess her undying love for her? Right.
Naomi paused and questioning eyes turned her way. "Then what are you doing here?"
A thoughtful look passed Emily's face, before she hesitantly smiled and held out her hand. "Friends?"
There was silence from Naomi and Emily's heart started beating faster. Not having Naomi in her life was not an option. The brief moments that she got to speak to Naomi were already the only highlight of college and she couldn't imagine not having that.
Finally, after several minutes, Naomi turned to her and placed her hand in hers, a casual smile curving her lips. "No more MDMA kisses and you've got yourself a deal".
The smoothness of Naomi's hand and the close proximity suddenly reminded Emily of that night. She could almost feel Naomi's arms wrapped around her, her lips on Naomi's neck. She flushed with embarrassment and nodded quickly before Naomi could change her mind.
"Cool... there's a quiz at that pub we went to for Cook's birthday tonight, do you fancy going?"