Nowhere To Go But Everywhere Chapter 2, a skins fanfic

AN: I forgot to mention that this story is going to be set in America because, well, I'm American and know I would fail miserably at using British English. Sorry if that bothers anyone. Also, sorry if there are any mistakes that I didn't catch, but my brain is not working right now. My weekend activities kind of put it in a coma, I think. Let's pray for a quick recovery cause I have a math exam at 6.

Disclaimer: :(

"Naomi dear, hurry up. You said you would help set up the bonfire." My mom hollered up at me from the ground. I really wasn't that surprised that she found me. Star-gazing in trees isn't the most inconspicuous of hobbies.

"I know, I know. I'm coming, just let me get down and get everyone else." I tore my eyes from the sky and shifted off the branch. It took some concentration; I had picked the highest possible spot to perch on without having to fear for my life and if I happened to slip off, the fall would not be a very pretty thing. After wriggling around a bit, I found sure footing on the branch beneath me and started navigating my way down through the maze of branches leading me back to Earth. When I got to the last one, I swung over the edge, but kept my grip tight, so that I dangled off it, still several feet from the ground, as I looked down at my mother, "Why are you even awake?" I narrowed my eyes questioningly, "It's already past midnight. Normal people your age would be passed out and snoring really unattractively by now."

"That's an awful thing to say! Normal." she shuddered with a face like she had just swallowed a combination of orange juice and toothpaste, "Good lord. Stop insulting me and get a move on. You promised."

I laughed and let go, hitting the ground with a soft thud. "You're right, that is a horrible word. Certainly doesn't apply to you. Don't know what I was thinking. Forgive me?" I stood up straight with an apologetic look so cheesy it was almost edible.

She linked her arm through mine and laughed back, "I always do, darling. Besides, it's not like you're normal either. And thank heavens for that; I wouldn't have the foggiest idea what to do with you if you were."

We started the trek back to the makeshift campground assembled four nights ago, three days after our little troupe's arrival in Plymouth. It was nothing more than a large clearing in the middle of a span of woods, right in between a busy road and the beach. It probably violated several different laws to have even one RV parked there, but none of us ever had any kind of affinity for obeying the rules, so we parked all four of ours there regardless, one on each side of the perfectly square field. I made sure Effy and I got the side closest to the beach.

"I never had a chance with you in charge of my upbringing. That probably would have gone down in history as the most supreme act of rebellion ever. I know I'm good, Mom, but I'm not that good."

"Oh hush you." She tugged on my arm and made me lurch into her side. I knew she could tell I smiled at her, even though she couldn't see it, because I felt her smiling back at me. "Come along, walk faster. I want to get this fire started."

Our arms stayed joined as we moved through the trees and dodged fallen branches together. I wondered if she knew how much it meant to me, being able to be like this with her again. If she remembered as well as I did all the years spent with barely a word spoken that wasn't about dinners going cold or laundry soap running low. Did she ever think about how much farther we had yet to go, despite all the ground we had covered in three short years? I wondered about a lot of things, but what puzzled me the most was why it was so hard to change, without the right reason, and why we never really tried hard enough to be each other's reasons.

"Sweetheart, get out of your head. We're back. Go round up the troops and gather the chairs and firewood and whatnot. I'll go wake up my hibernating bear of a husband and we'll meet you down there" She unlinked our arms and gave me a little shove towards the door of my and Effy's RV, "You do remember the spot we picked out don't you?"

"Of course, mother. How could I forget? You were embarrassingly excited when you found it. It made quite the impression, especially on that poor family trying to relax on the beach. They practically teleported away from us."

She flicked her hand dismissively and pffted, "They were just uptight. A little enthusiasm never hurt anyone. You should give it a try sometime."

I paused with my hand on the door latch and twisted around to glare at her, only half serious. "I am enthusiastic. Just not about stupid things. Stupid things like the difference in 'karmic energy' between two identical spots of sand less than 10 feet away from each other. Besides, even if I wasn't, you have more than enough enthusiasm for the both of us. And everyone else, for that matter." I opened the door and closed it behind me before she could respond and immediately regretted it, throwing my hands over my eyes and wishing I had stayed outside, or at least knocked first.

"COOK! For the millionth and last time; get your fucking hand out of your pants. I swear to God if you're jacking off on my couch again I will-"

Cook's laughter bounced off the walls too loudly for me to even think, much less complete a sentence, "Relax, Naomikins. I ain't playing with myself. Just keepin' Little Cookie company, is all."

I unshielded my face and grimaced, "Eugh Cook. Just don't. Take it out and go like, wash it, or something." His face lit up and I knew exactly where his mind went, "Your hand! Your hand!" I squealed, "Not your dick. Christ. Although," I added in after-thought, "that could probably do with a decent wash as well."

Predictably, he just threw his head back against the couch and laughed harder. He couldn't tell that I was serious. Cook always had a hard time understanding serious.

"I can't, man. I got everything arranged just the way I like it."

"I don't give a shit. Do that," I made a circle motion down at his crotch, "when I can see you again and I'll rearrange you in a way that you really will not like."

He arched his head backwards over the edge of its spot on the sofa's armrest and squinted at me upside-down, "What's the big deal, Blondie? How's it any diff'rent from you reaching in and adjustin' your tits when they get all uncomfortable and shit in your bra?"

Shit. I balked. That's actually a good point. I had to stop and think for a second. Only a second though, and then I fired back.

"Easy." I smugly tilted my head to the side and smirked. "Your cock is gross. My tits are not."

Cook howled with laughter and banged around on the couch so hard he almost rolled off the cushions, "Too right, Naomikins." He settled down to only a few throaty chuckles, "Too fuckin' right."

"Whatever, Cook. Come help set up the bonfire." I walked to the other end of the camper, grabbed my guitar case from off my bed, then spun around and marched right back outside, carefully holding the case and purposefully ignoring Cook's saluted "Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" on the way.

He was out the door and springing up to me like a happy little Jack Russell terrier before I took three steps away from the camper. "What's the plan, Sarge? General Gina given us orders?" he came up to walk next to me and bumped me on the shoulder with a face like a boy poking at an anthill with a stick. I knew Cook well enough to know that all he wanted was a reaction, and he knew me well enough to know that I would humor him. I rolled my eyes dramatically and added a huff for good measure and his grin lost its mischief, but stretched even wider, satisfied with his reward. "We're going to go grab everyone else, you're going to help them carry back chairs and firewood, and I'm going to lead us all to the spot where Mom wants everything set up."

"Hang on why don't you ha–"

"Because I'm already carrying this." I swung my guitar case up into his line of sight for emphasis, "and I wouldn't want to risk damaging it, now would I?"

"Cheater."

"No. I just care more about my guitar."

He froze mid-step, bent over in mock pain, and thumped a hand against his chest, "Ouch, Blondie. That really hurt." He flicked a fake tear away from his eye, "Hurt me deep, that did."

"You'll survive." I pushed his back to get him to start walking again, "It's only a few old chairs and pieces of wood. Surely a big, strong, man like you can handle it." I squeezed his bicep mockingly. It would have been a much more effective taunt if there was less muscle to wrap my hand around.

"Stronger than you, little girl."

I gasped and glared at him, "James Cook. You take that back right now!"

"Prove me wrong then. Carry the case and a chair." He shot me a wicked smile. He knew full well I couldn't turn down a challenge like that. The inner feminist in me wouldn't stand for it.

"That's not fair!"

"Sure it is."

"I'm not talking about carrying the shit."

"I know."

"You're a sneaky little fucker."

"Sure am."

"God, do you two ever stop?" Speaking of sneaky little fuckers. I didn't jump or even falter a step. Neither did Cook. "Oh hey Ef. We're actually just on our way to get you guys. We've got to go start the bonfire."

"Figured." She fell into stride with us, her silent way of agreeing to help.

"Where's the rest of the lot, then?" Cook asked her

"Right over at Panda and Thomas's," she pointed to the RV nearby, "playing some board game. I just left to find you guys. I got, well, bored."

I scoffed, "When aren't you bored?"

"More bored than usual, then." she retorted dryly, "Come on, walk faster. The moon won't shine forever."

"That's the dare. Gonna do it or not?"

"No. Absolutely not, Freddie. You're all crazy."

"Aw come on Naoms! It'd be wicked cool and super mega brave! Braver than Thommo when I made him squish that creepy mutant crawly bug 'cause it gave me the willies. And that was, like, really brave, like a hero from that movie with all the other heroes and powers and capes and stuff, don'tcha think?"

"No way, Panda. I am not, and let me repeat NOT, going swimming in the ocean after you guys have thrown meat into it, no matter how much you're all willing to pay me or how drunk I am."

"Thought you couldn't turn down a dare."

"I'm not turning down a dare, Effy; I'm turning down a freaking suicide mission!"

"Don't be such a drama queen Blondie, Cookie'll keep you safe."

"Drama queen? Do you know what that meat will lure in? There are sharks in the ocean, Cook! Sharks! And they kind of sort of like meat, in case you've forgotten! What are you going to do agai–"

'Naomi! Naomi! Play another song!"

Thank you, Gina Campbell, you wonderful distraction you.

I shifted around in my chair to look gratefully over at my mom and saw her swaying next to me with glassy eyes, a plastic cup full of…something, and a freshly lit joint dangling between her lips. The rest of the group shouted noises of agreement, but I ignored them for the moment, too entertained by the picture of parental guidance in front of me.

"No, Mom." I shook my head chuckling, "Not right now. I think you've had enough."

"Oh dear, I can never have enough of your music!" She wobbled over to me, dropped her drink into the cup holder of my chair, and started petting my face in what I assumed was supposed to be a loving gesture, but all it did was make it harder for me to breathe, "It's lovely music, honey. Loveily music."

"I don't mean my playing, Mom." I got tired of swatting her hands away, so I grabbed them and held on instead, "I mean you've had enough illegal substances for one night."

"This," she stole a hand away, picked her drink back up with flourish and sloshed it around, sending at least half of it into the sand, "is perfectly legal for a woman my age, thankyouverymuch."

"Really? What's in it?"

"Well…I don't know that."

"Exactly. I bet this guitar in my lap that something illegal is floating in that liquid. It's time for you to go to bed, old woman."

"Fine, fine. You drink it then. It is passed my bed time anywho." she plopped the drink back in my cup holder and then pinched her brows together, confused, "What time is it, exactly?"

"It's at least 2:30."

"Is it really?" she slurred astonished, "Good God, you kids are a bad influence. We all should have been asleep by now."

Laughter came from every chair around the fire at that. Remarkably, Cook recovered first. "Nah, G-Ma. Us children are just gettin' started."

"Oh James, I wish you wouldn't call me that. Call me Gina," she started gesturing sloppily all over the place with her hands, like an orchestra conductor with absolutely no idea what movements to make, so they thought they'd try them all and hope for the best, "or Mom or Ma or Mama or Mum or well, you get the point, just don't call me that. Makes me feel like a grandmother. I don't even want to think about you, Naomi or Effy being parents for at least a few more years." she suddenly whipped around to face the other side of the bonfire, where JJ, Freddie, Panda, and Thomas were shaking in silent laughter, "Or any of you either, of course," she added swiftly and then spun back around to me and my two best friends, "It's just, you three, especially. Naomi for obvious reasons, but James and Elisabeth, I love you both just as much. You two are like my children too, you know? You are," she nodded insistently, "and I am a very proud mother. Of all three of you. Very proud of –"

"Right, Mom. Let's get you to bed. I'm sure Kieran's snoring is missing you. I'll walk you back." Effy cut in and stood up to take my mom's arm. I wasn't surprised that she interrupted. In fact, I thought she would have done it sooner, at the first sign of the rambling heading towards drunken over-affection. Effy handled mushiness about as well as Cook handled seriousness.

"You sure, Ef? I can help you if you want. She is biologically my responsibility, after all."

"It's fine. I was going to take a walk anyways. You stay here and do your musical prodigy thing. I'll be back in a bit."

"Someone come drink the rest of this. It's rank." I wiped my mouth and lofted the cup with the remainder of my mom's drink in it. It was luke-warm and tasted like the bodily rejections of a senile old man. I was nowhere near intoxicated enough to stomach it, but I was sure someone else had reached that point by now.

"Give it here, Blondie. Nothing the Cookie Monster can't handle." Of course it was Cook. He tilted over in his chair to grab it from me, and then jabbed a finger of the hand now attached to the cup at my face, "On one condition though;" he demanded as seriously as he was capable of at the moment, "you pick up that guitar and play us another tune."

"Fair enough, I was about to anyways." I grabbed my old, perfectly worn-in six string acoustic guitar, adjusted it back into my lap and plucked a few of the strings, checking the tuning. I quickly, skillfully made some small adjustments and started playing. Everyone else started laughing.

"Feeling the gay tonight are we, Naomi?" Freddie teased with a lopsided smile on his face.

"No," I scowled," For one, I am not gay –"

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot. 'Unlabeled', then. Carry on."

"Yes, unlabeled. It's not a difficult concept, even for someone with THC for brains." I stared at him pointedly, "Secondly, music isn't an indicator of someone's sexuality, Fredrick."

"Well, in the interest of fairness, a significant percentage of their fan base identifies themselves as lesbians, so the assumption isn't entirely unfounded."

I turned my head towards JJ in threateningly slow motion, narrowing my eyes and taking a deep breath through my nose.

"Not helping, Jay." Cook saw the look on my face and spoke up, stopping my building rant in its tracks.

"Please continue playing, Naomi. It's a lovely song and you play it beautifully." Thomas smiled at me, in that special, honest way that he has. I couldn't help but return it.

"Thank you, Thomas. I will." I picked up the song from the beginning again, without any interruption this time.

Built a wall of books

Between us in our bed

Repeat, repeat the words

That I know we both have said

Relax into the need

We get so comfortable

Remember when I was

So strange and likeable

I glanced up shortly and saw all my friends bobbing their heads to the music, all conversation stopped. I smiled to myself as I looked back down.

I just want back into your head

I'm not unfaithful but I'll stray

When I get a little scared

When I get a little

I flicked my eyes up again and saw Cook watching me with a small, almost sad smile. If Effy were there, she would have mirrored the expression. They knew, both of them, why this song always seemed to find its way out of my fingers. We never had to talk about it, they just knew. The first time they heard the lyrics, they knew why the words weaved themselves into my mind. I smiled softly back at him before focusing completely on the song.

When I jerk away

From holding hands with you

I know these habits hurt

Important parts of you

Remember when I was

Sweet and unexplainable

Nothing like this person

Unlovable.

I let myself get lost in the rest of the song and when I finished playing the last note, I noticed everyone burst out in laughter again. I ignored them, preferring to tune my guitar for a new song instead, not wanting to stop playing. I only lost focus on the instrument when I heard Effy's voice say my name. I hadn't noticed her return, so I looked up to ask her if my mother made it back in one piece and –

Holy shit.

I silently thanked whatever powers that may be that I was sitting down, because I had absolutely no doubt I would have tumbled headfirst into the fire pit had I been on my feet. The girl that my eyes landed on was decidedly not Effy. She was staring right at me with big, lively, beautiful brown eyes and I stared back for what I'm sure was only seconds, but it felt like entire civilizations could have risen to power and killed each other off while we did nothing except lock eyes. After an indescribable amount of time, I unlocked mine to look at the rest of her. Her dangerously kissable lips. Her hair, dyed a brilliant shade of red, tied up into a messy ponytail and revealing the most glorious neck and collarbones I had ever seen. The urge to get up and go suck and bite at it was so powerful I almost had to check my mouth for fangs. And her body, every toned muscle that her criminally tight workout gear exposed, was just unreal. She was unreal, she had to be. Things like that just don't exist. Perfection is impossible. Apparently, no one had informed her of that, or if they had, she obviously didn't listen. It wasn't fair. This was completely unfair, her perfect body standing there, looking at me with her perfect eyes and her perfect, slightly parted, lips. I wasn't sure what the correct reaction was to being confronted with something that took a fundamental fact of life and chucked it out the window, but I knew it wasn't the one I was having. Something was wrong with me. I could barely breathe. I was thoroughly overheating. I didn't remember the fire being this hot before.

"Seeing as you two have lost the power of speech, I'll take care of the introductions myself. Emily, this is Naomi. Naomi this is Emily. She's a native." Effy said, observing both of us, amused. I hadn't even realized that this woman, this Emily, had yet to speak a word.

"Sorry? I'm a what?"

I would have done a double take, but the first take hadn't ended yet, so I couldn't. What the fuck was that? That can't have been her voice. She was small, petite, how could her voice possibly be that husky? And sexy. Really really sexy.The universe had to be playing some kind of joke on me.

This was beyond ridiculous.

"A native? What does that even mean?" Emily spoke again and I had to stop myself from throwing my hands over my face and groaning in exasperation (only exasperation, of course; no other reason at all). Fuck you, universe. Fuck you very much.

"It means what it means. You are a native." Effy said plainly, helpful as always

"She means you're from around here." Freddie clarified, curving his lips up loosely like the loveable little stoner boy he was, "We're not."

"Yeah, we're homeless. Wanderin' about, you know. Vagabonds." Cook said proudly, spreading his arms and legs out in his chair, one in each direction, looking like a starfish misplaced from the sea, "The world is our oyster." he grinned toothily

"Homeless?" ventured Emily as she watched Cook with questions swirling in the deep brown pools of her eyes.

"Well no, not exactly. We just don't have a conventional home at the moment. We're living out of recreational vehicles. Or RVs, colloquially." JJ chirped with a boyish smile and Emily's eyes darted around the fire from person to person, trying to give equal consideration to everyone attempting conversation with her, and most likely watching out for any sign of who was next.

"Yeah!" Emily jumped as Panda chimed in louder than a cathedral bell at high noon, excitedly bouncing in her chair and grinning insanely, "It's been a ball! Super duper, tons of fun, hasn't it Thommo?"

"Yes Pandora, it has been a wonderful time." Thomas soothed his girlfriend and then beamed a megawatt smile at Emily, who now looked more than a little overwhelmed with all the attention. My friends and I had developed a tendency to speak as a group, one person would finish a sentence and another would pick it up and carry the story on, but not for too long before it ended up in someone else's hands again. It was like a game of verbal hot potato. Emily hadn't had any practice with this and she was clearly struggling to keep up with all six people staring and smiling and speaking at her, so I found my voice and came to her rescue.

"Everyone chill the fuck out." They all promptly turned their focus away from Emily and onto me instead. All of them except for one. "And Cook?" I waited patiently for him to tear his eyes off of the divine reheaded vision in front of us. It took him several seconds and his mouth was still hanging open when he craned his neck leftwards to look at me, "Wipe your chin and stop looking at her like she's a piece of meat." Wow. Okay. And this year's award for Outstanding Achievements in Hypocrisy goes to…

His lips slowly crawled out sideways in a puckish, openmouthed grin, "Sorry, Naomikins. Can't help it. But can you blame me, really?"

No, I really can't. Not even a little bit. "You are a pig, James. Just knock it off, alright?" I scolded and then rallied every last ounce of confidence I had to turn and speak directly to Emily, trying to ignore the way my breath caught when I met her eyes again "Sorry about them. Him especially." I pointed in Cook's direction, not having to bother looking at him to know that he was still leering openly at her, "They can get a little carried away sometimes. I'm Naomi, but I think Effy may have mentioned that already." I smiled brilliantly at her. I had many different smiles in my arsenal of facial expressions. Happy ones, smug ones, mocking ones, even sad ones, but the one that had just lit up my face felt entirely new and unique. It felt good; better than any smile had before. I was glad Emily got to see it. I thought about reaching out to shake her hand, but ultimately decided against it. I was too afraid to touch her.

"Yeah." her lips twitched amusedly, "I'm Emily, but I think Effy may have mentioned that already." She grinned back at me, her eyes sparkling and crinkling happily at the edges. I lost count of how many breaths I forgot to take as we stayed like that, smiling stupidly at each other until Cook plowed a bulldozer straight through the moment with his usual subtle charm.

"Hey, Emily." She regarded him cautiously, probably wondering where the cocky edge of his voice dropped off to. I already knew, of course. I could only hope she wouldn't deem it safe to jump. "I've got a nice comfy bed about a 10 minute walk away from here. Real springy. Plenty of room for two. What d'ya say, babe? I'll make it well worth your while." He bared his teeth in a predatory smile and bobbed his eyebrows at her. I wanted to rip them off his face.

Emily rapidly glanced back at me with an arched eyebrow and a look that clearly said, 'Is he serious?' I grimaced an 'I'm afraid so.' in reply and her eyes widened as they shot back over to Cook.

"Um, no…thanks? I think I'll stay here." Her eyes flicked over to me again for the briefest of moments before falling to the sand and I noticed the beginnings of a smirk on Effy's face. I raised my eyebrows at her in silent question and she just smirked wider before throwing a meaningful sideways glance and a jerk of the head towards Emily. I followed Effy's lead and caught Emily peeking up at me through her unbelievably thick, long eyelashes, but she ripped her eyes away at lightning speed and I didn't get the chance to wonder what they held.

"What's the problem, Little Red? You want it, I want it. Let's get together and make a night of it." Cook hounded her again and Emily shook her head animatedly with a contrastingly quiet, "No, really. I'm fine here." and went bright red with embarrassment.

"Oh believe me; I know just how fine you are." he winked, still not understanding that his efforts to get to Emily only dug him deeper into a hole, "But you'd be finer alone with me."

The color of my face went from pale to Emily in less time than Cook could blink, but for an entirely different reason, "Jesus Christ, Cook! Can't you just give it a fucking rest for once? She said no!" I snapped and then cowered when seven pairs of eyes flew over to me in shock. I would have looked at myself the same way if I could have. Cook honestly meant no harm. He just got a bit colorblind when it came to crossing lines, confusing red for green and driving on when he should have hit the brakes. And sometimes he kept going even when he knew the line was red, just for the thrill of it, but I knew he would never intentionally cause any harm, we all did. It was just different this time. Emily was different.

"Sorry." I mumbled and tapped out an uneasy beat against the body of my guitar with my thumb, "It's just, aggravating, you know? I mean, she's a person…" I trailed off lamely and tapped harder, biting my lip and trying to avoid everyone's gaze. I couldn't avoid Effy's, though. Her and her fucking heat-seeking missile eyes. If she wanted you to look at her, you were going to look at her. You had no say in the matter. It was going to happen, whether you liked it or not. Effy had no qualms about friendly fire, not even best-friendly fire, and she was staring me down in that infuriatingly knowing way that only she could pull off so well. I could practically hear her sing-songing in my head:

I know what you're think-ing

You can't hide from me-e

Read my mind now, bitch. I mentally gave her the finger and the smirk that I got in return told me she received the message loud and clear.

"Cookie doesn't mean to offend, but, seeing as she's a person and all, why don't we let her decide for herself?" Cook stepped up his game with a filthy tongue waggle and Emily looked about two seconds away from sprouting wings and feathers and attempting to find out just how far she could bury her head in the sand. I sat up straighter in my chair, stunned and speechless. Not because of Cook's unrelenting persistence, that I totally expected, but at Emily's obvious discomfort at being wanted. My brain couldn't comprehend why the most desirable woman in existence was shuffling around shy and uneasy under a lustful eye. I figured she had to dodge puddles of drool everywhere she walked; surely she had to be used to it by now, right?

"I really don't think she's interested, Cook." Effy spoke evenly, but her eyes betrayed little flickers of amusement.

"And how would you know?" Cook challenged. He really should have known better. Effy was as close to infallible as any mere mortal could be.

"Well, apart from her saying no twice and refusing to bring her eyes anywhere near yours, I just have a feeling that you don't interest her in that way. Isn't that right, Emily dear?"

Emily's eyes doubled in size, "Shut up!" she hissed and kicked a wave of sand at Effy's legs. It was ineffective; my friend still looked impossibly pleased with herself.

"So…" she drawled and addressed the group, "I was thinking of playing a game. What do you think, Em?" she set her sights back on the defenseless redhead, "You can…" she paused to unleash the full power of her smirk and arch her eyebrow, "play for Naomi's team."

Emily and I both zipped our eyes towards each other at the exact same time, considered the implications of that statement, reached a conclusion, and then abruptly, simultaneously broke eye contact with matching blushes. Sand had never interested me before, but I suddenly found the little crystalized grains fascinating.

Up until this point, I hadn't even considered the possibility of Emily being attracted to me in the same way I was to her. The thought wasn't unpleasant, quite the opposite actually, but it was huge and heavy and took up way too much space in my mind. It already felt like I had a washing machine between my ears, with all the thoughts swirling and tumbling, getting tangled up in each other and this was not helping in the slightest. This was like trying to shove that thick quilt my grandmother had spent two entire summers knitting into a very full load in the middle of its spin cycle.

"I need a drink." I blurted, whipping the guitar off my lap and getting to my feet in one swift motion. I badly needed to clear some of these thoughts. Alcohol seemed a likely solution.

"Though luck, Naomio. We're fresh out."

"What? No…" I stopped short and looked at Cook imploringly, "That's not possible." It totally was and I knew it. I circled my eyes around the fire to all the guilty faces of my friends and whined, "Why is all the alcohol gone?" A chorus of mumbled sorrys, nervous neck scratches and awkward throat clearings was all I got in response. I rolled my eyes, "Well, is there any back at the campsite at least?" this time I got a series of emphatic nods. "Great. In that case, I'll be right back." I headed off towards the RVs, but only left about five footprints before it occurred to me that I might have been a bit of a bitch, so I turned around and walked back, stopping right next to Emily, "Sorry," I gave her a friendly smile, "Did you want anything?"

I could see the scale tipping in her eyes as she weighed her options before responding, "Yeah, I kind of do, if you don't mind. What do you have?"

"We have…actually I don't know what we have." I faced everyone around the fire. Effy had joined them, sitting cross-legged in the sand in front of Freddie, leaning against his legs, leaving me and Emily standing alone together. It was a deliberate move on her part, "What do we have?" I asked them. They answered with a collective silent shrug. "No one knows what we have?" A collective silent head shake. "Have you all spontaneously gone mute?" another collective head shake. I clenched my jaw, "Converted to Buddhism and joined the monkhood?" and yet another, each one feeding my frustration, "Practicing for a silent film audition?" I said through gritted teeth, but still got nothing but synchronized, robotic head shakes. I wanted to scream, but held most of it back and settled for a marginally raised voice, "Then is someone going to start using their fucking words?" No answer, but to their credit, they at least had the sense to keep their heads completely still this time. "Fucking useless." I sighed as I looked back at Emily, "Sorry. Again." I rolled my eyes good-naturedly and gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, "They aren't usually this weird, I swear." I didn't know why I was defending them. It's not like I cared if Emily liked them or anything.

"It's alright." she smiled "No harm done." That was probably why; I wanted to keep her smiling. I liked it when she smiled. I could feel myself slipping as I looked at her, really looked at her, up close and personal, getting completely lost in eyes that somehow managed to be warm and bright, despite their deep, dark brown color. I was vaguely aware of another one of those unfamiliar smiles slipping onto my face when someone around the fire coughed loudly and I found myself again.

"Right so," I cleared my throat and rubbed my neck, mainly as a reminder that I could still make use of my basic motor skills, "Alcohol. Why don't you give me a few options and I'll grab one that we do have? And if we don't have any of them, I'll just make an uneducated guess and bring you back something else?"

"How about – could I –" she bit her lip, "could I just come with you?"

I gulped. Oh fuck. I desperately wanted to say no, but my tongue held its ground and refused to cooperate when she looked at me like that, all doe-eyed and hopeful, like me saying yes would be the equivalent of buying a little girl a pony for her birthday.

"Sure." I squeaked "Why not? That makes sense, doesn't it?" I giggled, high-pitched and off-key and immediately wanted to slap myself for it. With no small amount of trepidation, I slowly crept my eyes over to Effy and Cook, dreading to find out if they heard it or not. They weren't even trying to contain or conceal the knowing grins splitting both their faces in two, telling me what I already guessed; they most definitely did hear it and an inescapable avalanche of teasing was hurtling my way. I had to get out of there before it started snowing. I grabbed Emily's wrist, shook off the pulse of electric current that jolted through me, made a mental note to wear insulated gloves if I ever planned on touching her again, and tried to be as gentle as possible as I dragged her unceremoniously away from the bonfire.

"Come on, it's getting late. Or early. Or whatever." I shook my head roughly, trying to gain some clarity, "Just come on."

I lead us over to the tree line and soon the loose sand of the beach started becoming denser, changing into dirt at the edge of the woods. I pulled Emily with me into the trees as I found the small path that lead to where I needed to go. We walked along it, framed on either side by tall trees that blotted out most of the moonlight, and stepping over the occasional forest-y obstruction. Our paced was rushed and although I might have postponed getting trapped in the storm being brewed by my two best friends, I couldn't escape the nagging feeling that I wasn't even remotely out of danger, that I was walking off through the woods arm and arm with a full-blown natural disaster.