7:24pm, December 31st

"Just knock on the door you idiot" sarah silently whispered to herself, staring at her feet and shoving her hands in her pockets as far as they would go.

She had been standing there for at least 10 minutes, debating whether to grow some balls and knock, or leave. At the moment, running and never coming back was winning. Badly.

Sarah was standing outside a house she had seen a million times, usually when she was walking past it and sighing, trying to hold back a tear. The times when she had been inside the house were always quick and somewhat awkward, because there was something, someone in there that made her lose all sense of control. She saw this person every day, but she never got used to it. Her piercing green eyes, her thick, brunette hair and her melting smile was all she could ever think about, even when she was not around her, she would just close her eyes and picture her face, picture them together, only to be drawn back to the harsh reality that she was sarah slough and she could never be with someone like Emily gibbons.

She groaned loudly and banged her head on the door, making her wince a little, but she disregarded the pain when she realized what she had just done

"oh shit"

someone was walking down the stairs

"oh shit oh shit oh shit"

she could see her silhouette in the window.

Then it was too late to run.

The door opened, and there she was, all her beauty in one, untainted, unaltered, just there. Sarah couldn't breathe.

Sarah sharply drew breath as she felt her cheeks flush red.

"HEEEEEY" Emily beamed as she threw herself at sarah, into a hug that Sarah knew was plutonic and nothing else. And that was the worst feeling in the world. But she closed her eyes and savoured it, all 3 seconds of it.

It was new years eve, and Emily had invited Sarah around hers to celebrate with one of their other friends, Katie.

The hug parted and Sarah just stood there, with her hands at her sides, awkwardly staring into Emily's beautiful eyes, not thinking about how much of an idiot she was being.

"you wanna come in?" Emily asked and Sarah instantly snapped out of her daze and mumbled "yeah…sure."

"oh by the way, Katie isn't coming, she's with family" Emily said as she stepped inside the house "ok…cool." Sarah responded. Emily looked back to briefly see Sarah staring at her jeggings which clung tightly to her hips, she was so obviously eyeing Emily up, which Sarah couldn't help but do. Emily asked her if she was "just going to stand there all night," with a little giggle which sent Sarah's heart fluttering. Emily had never made a sound like that, neither had she stared into her eyes like she was staring right now. Sarah stared at the floor to avoid her gaze and walked inside, following Emily upstairs to her room, unknowing that Emily was blushing bright red and biting her lip.

10:17p.m

Sarah saw Emily just about every single day, and she would always act like they were best friends, and nothing else, but tonight was different, there was an electricity in the air, Emily couldn't stay still at all, she was always moving, like she couldn't get comfortable no matter what position she was sitting in, and Sarah would occasionally catch her staring at her, and when she looked back, Emily would look away and swear under her breath and they would both blush.

Sarah was sprawled out on the bed and Emily was sitting on her chair, looking down at the ground. Sarah turned her head to look at the tv and only just realized the movie they were watching had ended. "Hey Emily" she called over. "hmm?" Emily replied, half asleep. "the movies over ya dope", Sarah jaunted as she leant over and lightly slapped Emily across her face to wake her up. "wha? Ok. Cool"

"you want coffee?"

"sweet jesus yes."

"I'll make coffee"

Sarah walked out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen, leaving Emily to doze.

As she stood in the kitchen, staring blankly at the wall while the kettle boiled silently, she thought of Emily, of her smile, of her lips, of her figure, god she loved her figure, she closed her eyes and bit her lip softly. screaming on the inside to stop torturing herself, but she couldn't stop thinking about her, no matter how hard she tried, her mind just kept going to Emily, everything about her. the sparks that flew when she smiled, how soft her hair was, and just how simply perfect her hugs were. And then her mind started to think of a little bit more of Emily, of her and Emily together, holding each other, of Emily's tongue gliding across hers, of the image of Emily lying on top of her, telling her she wanted her, Emily shirtless and breathing heavily as she begged for Sarah to kiss her as their hips grinded together in a smooth rhythm.

And then the kettle clicked and she was back in the kitchen, she finished up the coffee and walked back upstairs, wriggling her hips to try and free herself from the tingly feeling she had procured.

When she entered the room, Emily was awake again and sitting up straight at the head of her bed, grinning that stupid grin that could only mean one thing.

Sarah sighed sarcastically and shook her head, placing the coffee on the bedside table. "you put avengers on didn't you?" she said.

"maaaaybe" Emily said, grinning even wider.

"god you're so bloody predictable, you know that?"

"that's why you love me though"

Sarah froze and shot a glance at Emily, who's grin had turned into a wide-eyed panic.

Sarah could feel her cheeks heating up again, and Emily was likewise, they both looked away from each other, Sarah was mentally having a hissy fit while Emily was mentally beating the shit out of herself for saying something so retarded.

Sarah sat at the end of the bed and locked her eyes to the screen, and Emily locked her eyes onto Sarah. She wanted to ask her something but she just couldn't, no matter what, so she just stared at the screen, with the occasional glance at Sarah and took a sip from her coffee, when she instantly recoiled in disgust silently. She forgot how sweet Sarah made coffee. But she kept sipping, making a dsgusted face every time, simply just to wake her up.

By the time her coffee was done, she was hyper, like taking over the world hyper. And In her caffeine fueled activeness she decided to just say it, what's the worst that could happen?

"hey sarah?"

"yeah?" Sarah responded, her eyes fixed upon loki shouting KNEEEEEEL :D (had to put it in.)

"you wanna uh….maybe…I guess….cuddle? or…something?"

Sarah's heart stopped.

Emily's heart raced.

Time and space slowed down.

Sarah looked back at Emily with the most wanting expression you could ever see on a person.

"if you want" Emily added.

"sure" Sarah said, trying to be cool about it.

She scooted up the bed slowly, shyly, scared that at any moment, Emily was going to say 'HA! Joking!' but she didn't, her back was up against the wall, she was sitting next to Emily, Emily was sitting next to her, and suddenly, Emily's arm was around her and gently nudging her closer to her, Sarah tried to savour the moment, knowing it would most likely never happen again, but she couldn't, she was too afraid, her emotions were running too high. She leaned her head against Emily's shoulder and stayed perfectly still, with her hands at her sides, Emily seemed extremely confident about it, Sarah thought that was because Emily felt it was plutonic, but in truth, it was because Emily was so hyper and awake that she didn't care about anything except making Sarah happy.

"aren't you gonna hug me or something?" Emily asked quietly, almost whispering, gently blowing hot air down Sarah's neck unintentionally, sending a shiver down Sarah's spine. The fact that Emily had asked her that and the fact that she was so on edge from how warm Emily's skin was was putting her on edge, she was finding it hard to control any part of her body, and she unconsciously wrapped her arms around Emily's waist, her blush growing as Emily squeezed her tighter, making Sarah want her even more.

At least 15 minutes passed, and they had gradually slipped smoothly into each other's arms, and the extreme awkwardness and worry had worn off, Sarah had feelings for Emily, there was no escaping it, it was there.

And, as hard as it was to comprehend, Emily had feelings for Sarah, she had never known it before, but it had hit her like a train the moment she caught Sarah staring at her.

But neither of them had the courage to admit it to each other.

They were stuck in an endless conundrum.

Or so they thought. (bowchikabowwow)

10:53

The next half an hour passed quickly and smoothly, They talked and talked, mainly about ships and anime, nothing special. The aura around them grew less awkward and stiff. Their cuddling became like a cuddle shared between a mother and a daughter, not romantic but not weird. Completely mutual and fine. Although they were both happy to just be in each other's arms, they both longed for more, but that was a hard bridge to cross between two people that had been best friends for years.

Their friends always had known they had feelings for each other, it was so obvious, the way they were so natural together, and how one would stare and then the other would stare back.

It was so obvious, yet they couldn't see it.

"I love Robert downey junior so muuuch" Emily moaned.

"pfft, I don't know what you mean, it's all about the hiddles." Sarah responded.

"whateeevs"

silence.

A minute of silence.

5 minutes of silence

a deafening fucking silence.

"you know I've never been in a relationship?" Emily said, staring blankly at the screen.

"really?" sarah said back.

"yep. I don't know if its my looks or if im just not good at sending messages to people I like. Yaknow, like, giving them hints that I like them"

"I'm sure you are" Sarah said with a little nudge.

(the studio audience would be going ooohhhh right now.)

"how would you know?"

"I dunno, I just do" she said with a smile

Emily smiled back at her.

Their eyes met.

Sarah's cheeks started to go red again.

Emily's heartbeat sped up.

Sarah slowly leant forward

Emily's heart stopped dead.

This wasn't happening.

Sarah was moving closer.

Emily's eyes grew wider.

Sarah closed her eyes.

Their lips touched.

The world stopped spinning.

Sarah shut her eyes tight and hoped that Emily wouldn't move away.

Emily got over her state of shock and melted into the kiss.

Emily put a hand on Sarah's leg and Sarah's mind collapsed.

All those years of want, all those times she had cried herself to sleep knowing she would never hold her in her arms as a lover, none of it mattered, the only thing in the world, the only thing that existed, were Emily's lips, softly pressing against hers.

Emily's mind was racing. She had always liked Sarah, she had always been jealous of her beauty, but she never suspected she had this kind of feeling for her, but now, with her lips against hers, she finally realized what she had somehow known since they had met.

She was in love with Sarah.

And Sarah had realized

She was in love with Emily.

They broke the kiss, after what seemed like an eternity, but in reality had been mere seconds.

Their eyes met, and as soon as they did, they understood, it hit them both at the same time.

Words didn't have to be said.

Emotions didn't have to be displayed.

They both already knew.

They were in love.

And it felt so right.

Emily put her hands on Sarah's shoulders and pulled her into another kiss, a hot, passionate kiss, whereas the first had been soft and loving, this was hungry and wanting.

They both needed each other.

Without breaking the kiss, Emily lay Sarah down and climbed onto her.

If Emily had opened her eyes during the kiss, she would have noticed the tear running down Sarah's cheek. The tear of happiness that Sarah had been saving for years.

The tear that would be ready to break every time Emily looked at her. But she didn't realize it, they were both just simply too lost in one another to notice anything else. Emily's hands softly gripped Sarah's shoulders and Sarah's hands softly gripped Emily's waist. She had wanted to do that for years, just to run her hands down Emily's perfect body, to hold her hips and pull her into a deep, searing kiss. And it was happening.

It was absolution, completion, everything she had ever wanted.

The kiss broke and the two stared into each other's eyes.

Emily leaned her forehead on Sarah's and Sarah kissed her nose.

Sarah rolled on the bed to put Emily beside her.

She took Emily's hand and wrapped her fingers around hers.

They never figured out how long they simply just lay there for. How long they just lay there, hand in hand, realizing they were one, they were together, at last. Completely lost in each others eyes.

11:45p.m

They sat at the head of the bed, watching the new years eve special on bbc1, their legs wrapped around each other, holding each other, constantly kissing.

They hadn't spoken a single word to each other since the first kiss. The only sound that was made were Sarah's moans as Emily kissed her which she would instantly get embarrassed about and hide her face, only for Emily to kiss her fingers until she gave in and kissed her back.

The silence needed to be broken.

And there was only one sentence that could break it.

Sarah looked into Emily's sparkling green eyes

Emily looked into Sarah's beautiful blue eyes.

"I love you Emily."

Emily's heart exploded. She kissed Sarah lightly on the cheek and whispered

"I love you too Sarah."

They melted into each others arms, a minute away from midnight.

They broke the romantic atmosphere to enthusiastically count down with the clock.

"10"

"9"

"8"

"7"

"6"

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

They kissed each other, a kiss of pure love, nothing else.

It was all that mattered.

They had each other.

"I love you Sarah"

"I love you too Emily. So much."

They slept in each other's arms that night.

The End.

i love you guys.

-Alex Martucci 3