AN: This is set sometime around the middle of series three.
She was in the back alley, leaning against the wall of the club with her head tilted back staring at the stars. She let her eyes drift out of focus so each twinkling point of light split in two and the world blurred about the edges. The twinned dots exploded into streaks of fire that burned the sky. She could feel the earth move beneath her feet as aeons passed in the blink of her eyes.
Then voice beside her snapped her eyes back into focus and her mind back to reality.
"Effy, are you even listening?"
She closed her eyes, and by the time they came down to meet Emily's her mysterious smile was fixed in place. She accepted the spliff Emily was offering her and took a long drag, then held the intoxicating smoke in her lungs until it started to burn.
"Something about Naomi?" Her smile twitched slightly as she passed the spliff back to Emily, who blushed and didn't reply.
As Emily exhaled her lungful of smoke, Effy found herself unable to look away from her bright red lips. Their shape almost exactly matched Katie's. She wondered what kissing those lips would feel like, but before she could figure out how to tell her body what to do the smaller girl had grabbed her arm and was pulling her back into the club.
The air inside was heavy. She could taste the sweat and the alcohol and feel the music beat against her chest. Emily guided her through the crowd of faceless bodies until they reached a more open area and began to dance.
Effy was entranced by Emily's dancing. She altered her rhythm subtly when the song changed, and suddenly it was the music was keeping time with her, not her with the music. Every movement of her hips was punctuated with a drumbeat, a flip of her red hair set off a cascade of cymbal crashes and guitar chords, all the while the bass pulsing along with her steps.
When the song was over, Emily's hand touched her shoulder and her lips seemed to be forming words. Then she stepped away from Effy and joined a girl with short blonde hair who had just appeared. Effy smiled, and the music once again claimed her body.
As Effy danced, the beats came farther and farther apart. The seconds stretched out and she could feel her body moving in slow motion. The lights flashed in time with the music; every time they went dark the crowd vanished, leaving her dancing alone in an endless void until they returned.
One of the flashes of light brought a short redhead out of the crowd. They wore the same outfit, but Effy could identify Emily's twin even from the briefest of flashes. Each burst of darkness brought her closer, until she was right in front of Effy, moving with the same beat.
"Katie." She reached and pulled the girl even closer. Katie spoke, but Effy was so transfixed by her lips moving that she missed what she had said.
"I said, you're well fucked up." Katie laughed at Effy's enthusiastic nod, and Effy couldn't help but join her.
"Dance with me, Katie." When Katie replied that they were, Effy giggled. "No, like this." She pulled them together and ground her body against Katie's in time with the music. Katie pushed back, then grabbed Effy by the waist and took control of their dance.
After dancing for several songs, Katie pulled away.
"Come on, let's do shots!" Effy was guided through another sea of faceless bodies. "Wait here, I'll be right back." She only managed to bring her focus to her surroundings after Katie left. She was seated on a sofa in a dark corner off to the side of the bar.
Katie returned carrying a tray of shot glasses filled with vodka. After downing several, Effy's gaze became fixed on Katie's lips again. They were moving, but she wasn't interested in what they were saying.
"Fuck's sake, you're not even listening to me!" This caught Effy's attention.
"Sure I am. I'm just not interested in fit footballers."
"Oh." The look on her face was asking the question that she didn't speak. She licked her lips nervously, which drew Effy's attention to a droplet of vodka hanging at their corner.
Before she could tell her body to stop, Effy leaned forward and kissed the liquid from Katie's face, then pressed their lips together briefly.
While Effy was trying to decipher exactly what the look on Katie's face was, her vision was filled with red hair, and she felt a pair of lips crashing into hers. Katie kissed her forcefully. Everything else slipped away. All that mattered to her at that moment was that Katie was kissing her. To Effy, it seemed to go on forever. When they broke apart, Katie smiled at her, and took her hand to lead her back to the dance floor.