A/N: Thank you so much to Kj1313 for being the first to review! Thanks to (insert your name since you didn't write any) for the second! You've made a canuck happy ;), thanks to Portamento for the nice and lovely words! and thanks to EmZ2009 for even reading this! If you don't know her, then shame on you and go read her stories, they're amazing!

So here is the second piece of the intro. Not such a setting as the first one. Some stuff actually happens here, ha! But it still not quite where I intend to take you. :)

Disclaimer: I still don't own Skins. I'm working on it. Really I am...

Manifolds

Chapter 2:

After the afternoon of hell, it was finally the evening and I was ready to head to Keith's. Emily was finishing work a bit later and would meet me there as we had decided. It had taken me a ridiculous amount of time to get ready. I mean, how was I supposed to decide what to wear? I didn't want to wear something too dressy, for Emily would instantly know something was going on, but I didn't want to be underdressed either. After all I was only going to propose to her once. In the end I had decided to wear a nice pair of black skinny jeans with a long white t-shirt and a black vest. To make it a bit dressier I had decided to wear heels instead of my faithful pair of converse.

As I made my way into the pub, I easily spotted Cook, Katie, Effy, JJ and Lara in a booth in the corner. I made my way towards them and was immediately spotted by Cook who exclaimed loudly:

"HEY BLONDIE! COME HERE MY FAVOURITE FANNY LOVER!"

I felt my face flush a bit at Cook's words and saw Katie promptly hit him over the arm.

"Wanker! Will you not yell that in the pub?" she told him severely although we could all see the amused glint in her eyes.

"But babes... this is Keith's! Everyone knows us..."

"Not a reason to sound like a tosser" she scoffed.

"You fucking love me anyways, yeah?" replied Cook waggling his eyebrows at Katie.

She hit him again and rolled her eyes before we all started laughing. Oh yes, you've guessed right, Cook and Katie had been dating for 5 years now. They had started seeing each other after Cook had gotten out of prison for the drug/Sophia business. As Katie said, Cook had properly "sorted himself out" by then. It had been quite a surprise for us to see them together as we had thought then that Katie was revolted by Cook. Turns out she wasn't impervious to the Cookie monster's charms. Funnily enough, they worked magnificently as a couple those two did. They definitely had enough personality to deal with each other. They argued as hard as they loved each other and apparently as hard as they shagged if Cook's comments were anything to go by. Also, after the initial bankruptcy, Ems and Katie's parents had successfully been able to replenish their bank account and Rob Fitch had reopened his gym. Cook had needed a job at the time so Rob had hired him to please Katie. Turns out Cook really had a knack for the fitness business and, before Rob knew it, his gym was overflowing with clients, so much that he had been able to open another center in Bristol and start another branch in London. Now, Rob was taking care of the London branch and Cook had been appointed as the manager of the Bristol branch.

"Hey lezza!" greeted Katie rounding on me as I reached the table.

I gave her my famous Campbell eye roll. She smiled genuinely. Katie and I secretly loved each other to death now (well, it wasn't so much a secret anymore). We had never stopped our little banter though; I guess it was our way to show we cared. It had been a little awkward at first, but I had gained a lot of respect from Katie the night I had grown a pair and won Emily back.

"You ready to propose to my sister, bitch? Are you nervous?" she asked.

"I would imagine Naomi to be really nervous right now!" promptly replied JJ. "I mean marriage is considered in many cultures to be one of the most important rite of passage into adulthoods. It is commonly known as one of the most important decision in someone's life. Also, with nowadays track record, we all know that only 53% of marriages survive whereas 47% of married couples divorced within the first two years of their union. This rate also slightly increases when people marry before the age of 25, which is the case here. Furthermore, divorce has been evaluated as the most common reason for depressions and suicide. But, anyway, you shouldn't worry too much Naomi, after all only 30% of all proposals end in the negative. Even though I guess you could be concerned knowing that married couples tend to have fatter waistlines, which can lead to a decrease in sexual attraction and general health..."

"JJ love!" interrupted Lara.

"Right, sorry" JJ said giving me an apologetic smile.

We all stood in silence for a while after JJ's rambling and my face must have gone as white as a ghost because Effy and Cook both gave me a nervous glance before Cook yelled loudly:

"OI CHRISTINA, MIND BRINGING US SOME TEQUILA OVER HERE!"

He then turned to us and laughed loudly.

"Fucking JJ man! Way to fucking scare Naomikins! Alright, come on you pussies, we're gonna do some shots of tequilaaaaaa"

Everybody laughed after that and quickly took a shot. You had to give it to Cook, he was fucking mental, but at least he knew how to relax an atmosphere. I looked at him and mouthed him the words "thank you" to which he replied with a wink.

Sometime later, we were joined by Panda and Thomas. I hadn't seen them for ages and it felt really good to see them now. They had gotten married two years ago after returning from the U.S. and it had been a lovely ceremony.

"Whizzer Naoms! It's so good to see you! I can't believe you're proposing to Emsy! You two are totally bonkers together it's gonna be super duper cute!" said Panda excitedly.

"Thanks Panda, but it's a secret yeah?" I said to make sure.

"Of course! My lips are sealed!"

We continued talking effortlessly after that. It always amazed me how close we still were despite the fact that we had all went to different Unis (those of us who had gone) and that it had been 6 years since our college days. I was sipping a drink as I went to sit closer to Effy. I wanted to check on her.

"How are you doing?" I asked her softly.

"I'm good. This is good" she replied and I was relieved to see she meant it.

"It's not too hard seeing everyone like that together?"

"It's okay." She said simply. "I have learned to remember the good about Freds, not the bad. He would have liked this, he would have been happy. So I am"

I leaned over and kissed her softly on the forehead as she smile at me.

"You are one amazing woman Effy Stonem" I told her. "Don't ever forget it"

At that moment, Emily walked in the pub. She was as beautiful as ever. I felt my face erupt into an enormous smile as I looked her over. She was simply dressed in a black skirt that fell easily and loosely around her hips showing a pleasant amount of her gorgeous legs and a white t-shirt with a nice design in the front. It still amazed me how, even dressed casually, she could look completely gorgeous.

I furrowed my eyebrows though when I noticed she wasn't alone. As she made her way to our table, Emily was closely followed by a beautiful girl with auburn hair and blue eyes that I had never seen before.

"Hey everyone!" greeted Ems. "This is my friend Abby from work."

Obviously my friends welcomed them both warmly. Ems came to sit next to me and greeted me personally with a quick peck. As she pulled me into a hug she muttered in my ear:

"Naomi Campbell you will be the death of me. You are simply astonishingly stunning"

Well I could definitely not help grinning like a fool as those words made their way to my brain.

"Is that so?" I whispered back holding her closer to me.

"Oh yes, I must say I'm tempted to ditch this party and have my way with you at home"

"Emily Fitch you are insatiable" I said laughing.

"That I am" she concluded shamelessly. "But only with you"

Emily pulled herself off of me and turned around to her friend.

"Abby this is my girlfriend Naomi" she said happily.

"Naoms, this is Abby. She teaches another class. She was bored and really felt like going out tonight so I invited her."

Abby and I exchange hellos and for some reason, I got the vibe she didn't like me very much.

Now that Emily was here, I got quite more nervous. The moment of the proposal was growing closer by the minute. My friends kept giving me knowing glances and winks behind Ems' back. If my stomach hadn't been dancing the conga so much I'd have been worried that Emily would notice because they were definitely not really subtle. I was barely talking to anyone, but I was so nervous my throat felt like the freaking Sahara. I kept on drinking to try and sort it out. It didn't really work but It did successfully got me feeling quite buzzed.

As the night progressed, I got more and more aware of how Abby kept ogling Ems. It was starting to piss me off quite a lot. I mean she hadn't been invited, so what right did she have to monopolize my Emily and stare at her like that.

"Emily invited her you fucking twat" I reminded myself.

Of course, my beautiful redhead had no idea this was her proposal party, I could hardly blame her could I? As much as I was trying to relax, I couldn't help but notice how flirty Abby was being. Surely this wasn't possible. I mean who the fuck hits on a girl in front of their girlfriend? But she kept talking intently to Emily, always maintaining some kind of physical contact. One moment she had her hand on Ems knee and the other she was brushing her shoulder. The contact was never long though, but it was always there. My blood was properly boiling by that point. I wanted to rip that girl's throat out to be honest. I've got to say I've never been the jealous type, not too much anyway, but clearly that girl was pushing the limits. Also, she was ruining everything. I could barely say two words to Emily without her jumping in and interrupting. Let's say it was not the ideal build up to the proposal I had imagined. I could hardly make a scene though, so I kept chugging my drinks at an alarmingly accelerating pace. As Abby laughed loudly, tossing her hair to the side and patting Ems on the knee, I got up quickly and went to the bar.

I ordered a double shot of vodka and was nearly instantly joined by Cook. As I got my shot and tossed it back, the liquor hitting the back of my throat and making me cringe, Cook put his hand on my shoulder:

"Naomio, don't you think you should slow down? I mean you don't want to fuck up your speech do you?"

"Have you fucking seen her with Emily!" I asked him forcefully. "I mean she's practically eye-fucking my girlfriend right in my face! I can barely speak to Ems!"

He gave me a knowing look before squeezing my shoulder. That worried me more than anything. If Cook wasn't denying it, it meant that he had noticed. I knew it! That stupid bitch was clearly hitting on Ems.

"Don't worry about that Naoms. Ems loves you."

"But" I started but Cook cut me off.

"I know it's fucking irritating, I mean if I saw some bloke try to pull moves like that on Katie I know I'd be in his fucking face, but that's me innit? You're better than that. Cuz you're clever yeah? So don't make a scene. Besides you know how Emilio is; she's probably not even noticing it."

I had to give it to my friend there, he had a point. My sweet lovely Emily could be quite oblivious when women hit on her. Usually I found it adorable. Tonight, it annoyed the hell out of me.

The night kept going and Abby got touchier with Emily. I had to say that she was, by that point, slightly tipsy and didn't seem to notice her friend's behaviour. I, for my part, was well on my way to becoming completely fucked up. I knew this wasn't a good idea, but I couldn't help the horrible feeling of jealousy that was building inside of me. The thing is that alongside it, a feeling of paranoia was emerging. What if Emily was noticing Abby's flirting? What if she was flirting back? What if she liked Abby? Ems and I had still barely talked and we had been at Keith for over two hours now. Abby was purposefully grabbing all her attention and, willingly or not, Ems was letting her.

As I got up to go to the bar to have yet another shot, I was stopped by Effy this time. We started arguing as she gave me a speech along the same lines as Cook had about an hour ago. I couldn't look Effy in the eyes because I knew she'd make me feel guilty. I started scanning the room to avoid her gaze and my eyes fell on our table. I noticed right away that Emily and Abby were missing. My paranoia kicking in full spin, I shoved Effy aside and went straight to the washrooms to locate the two missing women. There was no way on earth I was letting them alone out of my sight. As it turned out, they weren't there. I walked frantically around the pub to find them, carefully ignoring Effy's attempts to reason with me. They were nowhere to be seen inside so I walked to the door of the pub.

As I pushed the door open, I was greeted with possibly the worst fucking sight I could possibly imagine. Emily was leaning casually on the wall of the building while Abby, dear fucking Abby, was pressed flushed against her front, her lips locked with those of my girlfriend. I retracted rapidly feeling like I had been burned.

I felt dizzier then I had ever felt before in my entire life and my stomach was in such a knot that I'm still surprised I didn't empty it right there on the spot. I felt a burning sensation in my throat and my eyes automatically filled with tears. Suddenly, my legs couldn't support my weight and gave way underneath me. Luckily for me, Effy was standing right behind me and caught me in her arms. I felt light headed; I could hardly focus on anything. I couldn't even hear Effy's voice or the music playing for that matter. I could only hear a constant eerie buzz. Then, suddenly, I heard Emily's voice behind me. I pushed myself up on my feet again and snapped out of my trance.

"Naomi! Babes please let me explain!"

She tried putting her hand on my arm to stop me from leaving but I yanked it away forcefully.

"Don't you fucking touch me Emily!" I yelled at her before making my way to our table.

By that point I only wanted to grab my purse and leave the premises. Emily was following me closely, tears streaming down her face. I didn't know where Abby was, but I didn't care. So this is how it felt to be utterly heartbroken? Well fuck me it hurt more than I could have ever imagined. Our friends were looking at us in confusion and as I walked pass the stage, Keith grabbed me by the arm and dragged me up. Jesus this night was definitely not going well.

"Ladies and gentleman, please welcome the lovely Naomi Campbell!"

People started applauding shyly. I tried looking at Keith and mentally telling him to let me go, but he didn't seem to understand.

"Naomi here would like to speak to you all. I hope you'll enjoy her little number!" Keith said winking at the audience before handing me the mic and hopping off the stage. Well wasn't this perfect? I could barely stand and I could barely see as my eyes were so filled with tears. From what I could see though, I could tell that my friends were looking at me with worried eyes and Emily was looking hurt and confused. I stood there for a moment, not saying a single word, not moving a single muscle when I saw Abby walk towards Emily in my peripheral vision. A wave of fury hit me again and set my jaw in motion. Somewhere deep inside my brain I knew it was a bad idea, but it was too late. My brain had no control over me whatsoever.

"Well I had prepared something nice and cute to say to you all tonight, but I've had to adapt my speech last minute. I was gonna say something like how I didn't believe in soul mates and all that and then I was gonna say how I thought I might have had it wrong..."

I locked my gaze onto Emily's.

"I was gonna say how much I fucking love you and how much you make me happy, how much you complete me. But you know what hun?" I slurred sarcastically. "I've changed my mind. There is no such thing as soul mates. I had it right. Love is for wankers, it's not real and it never lasts. What were the statistics again J?" I said looking up in the crowd.

"Never mind, the people you love always end up fucking you over in the end." I continued choking on my words.

I rummaged through my pocket and retrieved the small velvet box that contained the engagement ring. When she saw it, Emily started crying even harder shaking her head as she probably caught on to the situation.

"I thought you were the one" I told her with difficulty as my sobs made it impossibly hard for me to speak. "Well you can go and fuck right off, you and your fucking love!" I yelled before throwing the box at her, hopping off the stage and walking out the door.

Well... That went quite well wouldn't you say? Haha sorry. Oh and also, sorry for all you Keffys out there! I do love you! And i do like and enjoy reading that pairing. I just enjoy Katie with Cook more... lol Sorry.

For the outfits, I have to say that i like them in really simple casual wear. So Naoms' outfit here is inspired from what she wore on the season 3 promo (you know the one where they trashed a pub?) and Emily's outfit is inspired from a random photo i saw on google.

Right, so again, thank you for reading! And please if you've got 2 minutes, leave a review. It's always sooo appreciated! Good night/day to you all :) Miss. Maraudeur