Naomi

Naomi could not account for how she got to where she was sitting at this moment.

She was sitting at Keith's, in front of this strange red-head with intense brown eyes, four pitchers between the two of them, unable to look anywhere but the eyes and the lips below them. That one lip in particular held the reminder of how this all happened in the first place.

She had, once again, beaten Matt in this one-on-one game that he insisted playing. She was simply quicker than him, but the only thing they ever did together was run and play soccer and occasionally go out. He said he always wanted to be doing something, "Life is too short to not be moving" he had said around the second time she had met him. Really, she knew, he didn't have the attention span for anything involving sitting still. So she had agreed to play.

They had agreed that she got to peg him with the ball if she won. As she set the ball up, telling him to stand still, she caught a glimpse of red in her periphery. She stared at the girl for a solid twenty seconds, noting that she had never seen anyone think so hard while running.

"Naomi, come on! You are making me dread this more and more. Just do it already." Matt was facing away from her, insisting that he would bruise if hit in the face and be made infertile with a shot below the belt.

Trying to shake her thoughts and focus on the task at hand, she rushed through the shot, kicking the ball as hard as she could. However, her eyes flicked up to the redhead at the last second, who was a mere 10 yards away now, which caused the ball to rocket towards her instead of her wanker boyfriend. "Heads up!"

She knew she shouldn't have said anything. The girl turned her head and, instead of getting hit in the back of the head, received a direct blow to the face. She crumpled to the ground immediately.

"Oh shit, shit, shit! I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"

She ran towards her victim, cursing to herself at her idiocy. She saw the girls eyes blink, saw her wiggle her fingers, saw her look towards the sky. And then her eyes landed on Naomi's feet, trailing up towards her eyes. When she looked back into the eyes staring at her, she caught her breath suddenly. She wasn't sure why, but the air went out of her lungs for a second.

Well. That is certainly new. Naomi was actually trying to look away. She just couldn't. Or maybe she didn't really want to.

"Is she okay, Nai?" Brought back to reality by Matt's voice, she couldn't help but get immediately annoyed by the nickname. She had told him to stop calling her that. Ignoring him, she focused back on the girl.

"Are you ok?" She received a grunt in return. Shit. I gave her brain damage.

"I mean, yes. Yes, I think so." Thank god.

From that moment, she wasn't sure how anything happened. When she touched the girl's bloody lip, she felt her fingers tingle. When she saw the girl upset, she was ready to rip her own shirt off to give to the girl (which opened up whole other stream of thoughts that made her neck feel hot). When she found out the girl's name was Emily, she had to suppress the urge to say it out loud. And the strangest part was, when she found out that this complete stranger was gay, she was inexplicably happy. She might have even been flirting with her at some point. She wasn't really sure what was going on. But she felt the urge to go with it.

She had even smoked a cigarette before meeting Emily here, which she hadn't done in at least a year, just to calm her insane nerves. And then they met in front of the pub, and everything changed.

She had never felt anything quite like what had happened then. It was like something shifted inside of her. A slow burn had started just behind her rib gage and spread to the tips of her fingers and toes. She felt like she was being pushed at and pulled towards the girl all at once. Thank goodness her feet were still doing what she told them.

And here she was. What if its awkward now that we have to talk. This was stupid. What are you doing? Should have just apologized and let it go. Before she thought, she spoke.

"So how is your lip? It looks a bit better."

Emily raises her hand to graze her lip. Naomi has to look away so she doesn't end up thinking too much about how attractive she finds the action. "It's fine really. Merely a flesh wound." Emily sighs at her own joke, seeming to regret it immediately. Naomi cannot help but smile widely. She can't believe she finds someone making a Monty Python reference so adorable. "I-I mean, I've been hit in the face before. I'm sure I'll survive."

"Good to know. Sooo…do you play then? Soccer, I mean. You said you had been hit in the face before. I'm assuming you're talking about a soccer ball. Though, if you are part of some sort of fight club, I understand if you can't talk about it." Now the roles were reversed and Naomi was sure she had made an idiot of herself, inwardly admonishing her lameness. But a contagious giggle brought her out of it, and before she knew it, they were laughing, and talking and joking like they had known each other forever.

They didn't talk about anything very important. A little about soccer, some about Matt, some about Emily's job. Most of the next two hours were spent chatting and laughing about nothing. But Naomi kept noting new things she found out about Emily. The first thing was that she was surprisingly witty, in a very a strange way. She always had a retort or comeback, and chose to make very lame jokes. The best part was that she seemed to make these particular jokes for herself, more than for Naomi. She laughed so hard at her lame yet clever jokes, and it would send Naomi into her own fit of laughter almost every time.

Another thing about Emily was that she seemed to be thinking all the time. Sometimes her eyes would look at nothing in particular and she would either chuckle to herself or furrow her brow. Naomi was hanging on every subtle change in Emily's face.

It seemed like any conversation with this girl was sitting in the fence between falling into a fit of side-splitting laughter or deep conversation. She had to find out more about this her.

"So, do you like working at the coffee shop?"

Emily seemed to think for a second. "I do actually. I like being able to work with my hands, talk to people everyday. I feel like I have accomplished something when I am tired after work, more so than I would at a desk job, I'm sure. But I don't think I want to work there forever or anything."

"Well, what would you like to do?"

"I don't know. I haven't found that thing yet."

"That thing?"

"Yeah. That thing that makes my heart beat fast, you know? I was going to go to graduate school, but I was mostly going to go because I like school. Then I realized, once I was done, I would be in a job that I am not particularly passionate about. And I couldn't deal with that."

"What do you mean you couldn't deal with it?" Naomi unconsciously leaned forward, hanging on every word coming out of Emily's mouth, intently staring, alternately, at her eyes and lips.

"Well, I know it sounds a bit lame, but I'm sort of what I like to call an all-or-nothing person. I have a really hard time doing something that I'm not doing a hundred percent. Its annoying, really. Its actually why I ended things with Jackie, the girl I told you about. She was fine with just being content. But I never felt the fire. I need the fire. She made me feel pretty crappy about it, actually. Maybe she's right, but, you know, its just how I…you know…am…I guess…" Emily's face had become slightly pink. Naomi thought it was possibly that she hadn't meant to go into her love life and was embarrassed. Naomi, however, was in complete awe of the girl in front of her. She wished she could be that way with her life. She wished she could stop flitting from thing to thing, person to person, without having any sort of purpose. The only thing she was steadfast with was her job and soccer.

"Sorry, I tend to ramble. And, you know, I guess I could blame the beer, but stuff just comes out of my mouth sometimes…" Emily had a look on her face that Naomi thought looked…defeated? She wasn't sure. But she realized she had been staring blankly at the redhead for several minutes.

"No, no! Don't apologize. And I don't think its lame at all…I think its brave. I mean, it's a brave reason to end something." Emily blushed a little again, but seemed to ease slightly. Naomi, suddenly thought of Matt. Thought of how she never felt that "fire" before with him. Was that something people really felt? She had always thought of all of that stuff as sort of wishful thinking of lonely people. Hell, why wouldn't someone wish for that? But it didn't seem real.

They fell into easier conversation again, Naomi talked about her job teaching history and coaching soccer at the high school. She started talking about how great she thought it was and how she had never planned on it. At times she thought she was getting caught up with herself, but Emily seemed to be genuinely interested and when she tried to change the subject, Emily just asked more questions. Naomi didn't think she had ever met someone so interested by the things she said as Emily seemed to be.

Hours later, she was convinced that she Emily was unlike anyone she had ever met. She wasn't so obviously different, but to Naomi she stood out from everyone else like a sore thumb. In the best way possible. She had never met someone so open. Of course, she could tell that she was closed off a little, stuck in her own thoughts. But she soon found that, if she asked questions, Emily answered. She wouldn't offer any information up, but when pushed, she would not only answer but discuss and talk at length about whatever it was, like all she needed was someone to give her permission to share herself. Sometimes, she seemed to become embarrassed by how much things spilled out of her mouth, but she never seemed very embarrassed about the actual information she shared. She seemed so at ease with herself.

Finally, before Naomi realized how late it was, the pub was closing. They made their way out into the night air, and Naomi became a little sad that she had to leave Emily. She was also struck with how completely ridiculous that though was. She just met this girl not even twelve hours ago. Get a grip! The smell of spring filled her senses and she calmed a bit. That is, until she was hit with another scent. It was slightly floral, but mostly, it was completely unknown. And completely wonderful. As she turned to face Emily, she knew she was the source. It made her want to get closer to her, and simultaneously run.

Suddenly she felt she had to leave. "I had a great time. And I am sorry for, you know" she point at Emily's face, trying to not meet the brown eyes she felt on her face. "Maybe we'll do this again sometime." She chanced a look up at those eyes, only to find that Emily wasn't looking at her any longer and had a sad smile on her face. It was like she could tell what Naomi was thinking.

"Yeah, maybe." Naomi's eye was caught by something in Emily's hair. She reached for it before she thought about it and came into contact with something squishy and…was it liquid? She pulled her hand back to find it had a large glob of red paint on it. Suddenly realizing what she just did, she looked up to find Emily's eyes a little wider and her face a little more flushed than normal.

Naomi cleared her throat. "Sorry, you just had…um…"

"It's paint. I paint sometimes. I didn't realize that it was…I promise I shower regularly. I just, heh, wow. That's a little embarrassing." Naomi just grinned.

"You paint?"

"Yeah. Sometimes. I'm not good or anything. It more like…its calming I guess."

"You need calming?" Naomi smirked, hoping this meant she wasn't the only one feeling nervous before tonight.

"Sometimes. Maybe. I just get nervous about some things. Sometimes. I don't know." Emily looked at her feet shyly and Naomi's heart hurt from how cute she found the tiny figure in front of her.

"That's really cool. Maybe I can see something you have painted sometime?"

"Um…sure, I guess that would be cool." Emily met her eyes again, and Naomi, suddenly remembering her need to flee, quickly recovered.

"Um, yeah, so I guess I'll see you later then." And before she could help herself, she added, "Thanks again Emily. I had a great time." She felt a small shudder at saying the girls name out loud.

Emily, seemingly able to sense Naomi's sudden skittishness, crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, sending Naomi a slight smile. "Yeah, ok. Maybe I'll see you around." Naomi couldn't help but smile back. Emily slowly turned and walked away, after giving Naomi a look that made her think she knew exactly how she was feeling. She watched Emily's tiny frame walk away, the light shining off her red hair, her hips swaying slightly, hypnotizing the blonde for a few seconds.

She couldn't tell if she was relieved that she had escaped the feeling of panic that had been growing in her chest or sad because she hadn't asked for Emily's number. To be friends, of course. I can always use a friend. She knew Emily sensed her growing dread and gave her some space. She was greatful.

As she saw Emily turn a corner at the end of the road, she looked at her hand, which had red paint smeared on it now. She had unconsciously tried to wipe it on her shirt, effectively ruining the shirt. She couldn't muster much annoyance at that fact, but just kept staring at her hand, wondering if she would be able to get it off easily, or if it would stain her hand for a while, like it had stained her shirt, probably forever.

She was convinced it would take some time to fade. For some reason, that made her smile.