The door creaked as it opened, something Naomi was supposed to fix.
"Here we are, this old dump." Naomi said, although everyone knew she was happy to be back. The high-rise apartment Effy had bought had been repossessed after her arrest, leaving Naomi to move back into their old place. She didn't mind. She hated the cold and unwelcoming feel the new apartment gave her, and she knew that in a place like that she could never really be home. Emily wheeled her girlfriend inside, closing the door behind her and stopping to take in her surroundings. It smelled of Naomi in an unexplainable way, even the odour of Effy's pungent perfumes had seemingly disappeared. It was nice, she thought.
"This is home." Emily said, wheeling Naomi to the sofa and gently helping her sit down. Naomi sighed, tired in every way possible, and let Emily wrap her arms around her.
"What are you going to do, Em?" She said.
Emily ran her fingers through Naomi's brittle hair.
"We're going to get you better, and then maybe we could have a change of scenery."
"America?"
"Anywhere you want. America was fun, but I'm not going back there without you."
"Don't say that, Em," Naomi sighed, "America was the best job you ever had. I won't last forever, and you should go back."
"Shh." Emily said, just as she did every time Naomi referred to her illness.
"You can't pretend forever. I tried pretending everything was going to be fine, and for a while I really believed it, but we both know why they let me come home. If you don't accept it soon, I'm going to die and it'll be ten times worse because you won't be ready."
"Ready? How could I ever be ready? You can't ask me to sit down and say, 'Okay, this is what's going to happen and I'm just going to accept it'. That's not what we do, Naoms. We fight."
Naomi smiled. Only for a moment, but Emily saw it. And then they were both smiling.
"Can I ask you something… something quite selfish?" Naomi said after a brief silence.
"Anything you want." Emily said, holding her girlfriend tighter. Naomi cleared her throat and sat up on the sofa. She was sweating, but Emily couldn't tell if it was nerves or the illness.
"Marry me, Em?"
Emily froze. She had always thought she would marry Naomi one day. The longer they were together, the more she thought about it. Planning details in her head; colours, places, music. It would be amazing. But Naomi was going to die; no one was certain how much time she had left. Could she handle becoming a widow so soon after her wedding? She didn't know.
"We might not last as long as Kim Kardashian's marriage, but…" Emily was crying now, listening to Naomi talk, "… well, you're the only person I've ever loved. I know it's selfish of me to ask, but you're all I ever wanted. I might not be able to travel the world… but if I could marry you, that'd be better."
"Yes. Let's do it." Emily said, smiling through her tears. She was both happy and sad, but as she kissed Naomi, she almost forgot about her sadness for the smallest of moments. She was so happy they were going to get married, however short-lived it would be.
"I don't have a ring… I'll get one, I promise. But for now," Naomi reached behind her neck, taking off a gold necklace and holding it between the two, "This is the necklace I was wearing when we first kissed. I didn't expect to remember that all these years later, but I guess I just kept it. This is the first time I've taken it off since you went to America. But I want you to have it." Emily turned round on the sofa, crying harder, and let Naomi put the necklace on her. She placed her fingers over the heart at the end of the gold chain, vowing to keep it forever.
"It's beautiful." She said, turning back around to face Naomi. They kissed again – a deep and sincere kiss, the type of kiss that cannot be replicated. It lasted for a while; normally they would have moved to the bedroom, but Naomi was too weak, so they stayed on the sofa, Emily wearing the necklace and Naomi's arms around her.
"How are we going to do it, then?" Emily finally asked.
"Hmm. It'll have to be close. We'll find a nice park or something, lots of trees and maybe a bandstand. Find a vicar that'll do it on short notice. It doesn't have to be big."
"When shall we do it?"
"This weekend. It's not exactly like we have months to plan, so the sooner the better, I guess." Emily nodded.
It was true, the sooner the better. A smile slowly crept back onto Emily's face. She was still sad, of course, but she was finally going to marry her first and only love. Long after Naomi had fallen asleep on the sofa she was up, her laptop resting on her legs, searching the internet for dresses. There were so many different ones to choose from, it almost gave her a headache. She looked for rings too, and cakes and bridesmaids dresses. She knew that she couldn't have a big wedding, but it was still fun. The last couple of weeks had been horrible for everyone, Emily, Naomi, Effy, and everyone they loved. It was time for a bit of happiness, a bit of celebration before they were forced back into reality.
Emily liked the idea of being married in a park – the last thing Naomi needed was to be in another stuffy building on her wedding day. They would be surrounded by trees and fresh air, and it would be beautiful. In the dull light of her laptop screen, Emily's fingers tightened around the heart dangling from her new necklace. After a few moments she heard a soft click, and realised the necklace was really a locket. She stood up, walked out into the hallway, and opened the locket. She was surprised to see her seventeen-year old self, smiling up at her from the left side of the locket. On the right was Naomi, seventeen and blonde and healthy as ever. She remembered the day the pictures were taken; the day they rode on their bikes to the pond, the day they first had sex. She had to fight to keep the tears in once more – she thought she would have cried herself dry by now, but apparently not. She closed the locket again, ready to put it back around her neck, when she noticed something on the large, mounted mirror. They were words, written with red lipstick. Emily stopped, the locket in her hands, and read out loud.
"The world means nothing when I have you here. I love you, always."
