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Letters To Emily: Chapter 3

Naomi's POV:

I sigh at my reflection in the mirror as I try on the fourth outfit in a row. All of my clothes are wrinkled from spending quite some time in my suitcase. I don't even know why I am stressing so much about going out. It kind of felt like calm, cool, collected Naomi had flown out the door as soon as Emily had looked at me.

I smile, remembering how flustered and cute she had been when she'd tried to talk to me. She seemed so unconfident and insecure but I could also sense a quiet strength underneath the limits she put herself under. Whatever Emily was, she definitely wasn't weak.

I hear a strangled sounding musical bell. The doorbell. Emily is here. My mom calls, "Naomi, someone is here for you!"

I pull at my skirt one last time and struggle to make my hair look decent. It's a fucking lost cause. I sigh at my reflection and leave the room to walk downstairs. Emily is standing at the bottom and she looks up at me as I come to the top of the stairs.

I take her in with one look but then I have to look again. She's wearing a dark red skirt with tights, ballet flats, and a black lacy shirt. A smile spreads across her face as she sees me starting down the stairs. I have to look away from her and at my feet because I'm afraid I might trip if I don't get rid of this dizzy feeling that's suddenly made my head spin.

I swallow hard to clear the lump that's in my throat, "Hey there, Emily."

"Hey, yourself." Her eyes stare into mine for a moment I forget that my mother is in the room, I forget that I hate it here, I forget that I'm Naomi Campbell because right now there is only the red-head standing in front of me and there are only the brown eyes that are slowly melting me by degrees.

My mom clears her throat and I shake my head gently to clear my mind. What the fuck is happening? I gesture towards my mom, "Emily, this is Gina Campbell…my mom…obviously."

Emily holds out a hand for my mom to shake and I find myself wondering who really does that anymore but my mom shakes her hand, "Hi, Mrs. Campbell…I'm Emily Fitch. I live across the road."

As they are exchanging pleasantries about the weather and the neighbourhood, I'm still trying to figure out why my stomach feels fluttery. It's just nerves. You're in a new place. You want to make a good impression. You're insecure about making a new friend. I try out all of these reasons in my head but none of them seem to fit the puzzle I'm working on.

Emily taps me lightly on the arm with one slender finger, "Ready to go, Naomi?"

I nod, still not trusting my voice entirely to rational speech. We head out the door with my mom calling to us to be careful.

The night is slightly chilly for a summer evening. Emily is walking close to me and I relish her warmth. Her bare arm slightly brushes mine every few steps we take and I hold my breath each time it happens. Her skin grazing mine has my heart fluttering and my face getting warm. I'm not really sure what these feelings mean or why I'm finding it so nice just being here with Emily. I mean, I just met her and we didn't even chat that much.

Emily reassures me that the pub where Cook's party is being held isn't that far away. I kind of wish we could keep on walking though. It's nice just to be with someone and not feel like the silence has to be filled. Emily and I walk without speaking, just enjoying the cool night air and each other's company. This kind of thing doesn't happen to me so I'm taking the time to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, we arrive at the pub just as quick as Emily promised me. Emily reaches forward and opens the door for me. I look at her, a bit surprised but she makes a grand sweep with her hand, gesturing for me to go in.

As soon as I do go in, I'm assaulted by the smell of stale cigarette smoke, beer, and for some reason piss. I wrinkle my nose, just when I was beginning to think that Bristol wasn't that bad. Emily touches my arm and I smile…well it's definitely not all bad.

"EMILEEEEEE!" Some chap that looks like he started the party about a week too early comes running up. He wraps his arms around Emily, lifts her off the ground, and spins her around in a huge hug. He sets her down but his arms are still wrapped around her. He leans in to her and whispers but not very quietly, "Give me a kiss on me birthday."

He pulls Emily's face in and his lips attach to hers like a snail on the side of a fish tank. Emily's hands immediately move to his shoulders and she's trying to push him away. A tight hot feeling twists in my stomach and I want nothing more than to rip that wanker off of her. I hear her muffled voice protesting, "mmCOok…stoppit."

I push the urge to kill this fucking kid down in my stomach and instead I reach out with one hand and grip his upper arm, "Oi…lay off, she don't want it."

He keeps on sucking at Emily's face and I quickly dig my nails into his skin. He jumps off Emily and jerks his arm out of my grasp, "That fucking hurt!"

I pull Emily towards me and away from him. I look over at the guy and see the imprints of my fingernails in his arm. "You deserve it, fucker!"

Emily places her hand on my arm, causing me to look down at her, "You have to ignore, Cook. He's just a tosser sometimes."

Cook apparently thinks this was some sort of compliment because he pounds his chest and howls at the ceiling. I can't help but raise my eyebrows. What the fuck had I gotten myself into?

When he stops acting like a bloody wolf, Cook looks back over at me and whistles, "What have we got here, Ems? My birthday present? Can't wait to unwrap it."

He looks me up and down and I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. He stumbles a little closer to me and I feel Emily's grip on my arm get a little tighter. Cook reaches out one meaty finger and tries to touch my face. I slap his hand away.

Emily who I thought was a typically quiet girl reaches out from beside me and pushes Cook in the chest. He stumbles backwards and almost falls. "Fuck off, Cook," Emily says, "Nobody here wants your Crayola dick."

Cook lets out a short laugh and says, "Wow…who knew? Kitty got claws." With that he turns away and yells out into the party, "Yo! Gay Jay, your girlfriend is here, mate. She's tryin to fuck me so I think you'd better come get her before she comes herself!" He laughs like he's made the funniest joke in history and stumbles off

Just as we've gotten rid of him, another bloke walks up. He has curly brown hair and he looks awfully unsure of himself. Emily lets go of me and pulls him into a hug, "Hello, J." Is this Emily's boyfriend? That's what Cook called him…but I expected Emily to be with someone a bit more fit, I mean she's fucking gorgeous.

When she lets go of him his face has gone all red and he's stuttering, "Hi…umm…yes so…this is Naomi I guess, yes she must be. I think that perhaps due to our conversation on the phone that is what I'm led to believe…"

Emily interrupts him, "J.J. Have you taken your medicine today?"

His face gets even redder, "Well…yes it's just, maybe a bit locked on. I mean, Ems, she is really beautiful…I mean you said she was but she really is... I mean....Bollocks that was supposed to stay in the vault, wasn't it?"

Emily said I was beautiful? I look down at her for some sort of confirmation but her eyes are glued on the floor and I see that the edges of her ears have turned a bright red. When she finally looks up she glares death at J.J, "Yes, J, that one was supposed to stay in the fucking vault."

I place my arm on her shoulder, feeling surprisingly happy that she called me pretty, "Ems, don't worry, I like compliments as much as the next girl." I throw a wink at her and her face splits into a grin.

"Well…compliments are easy to give when they're so true," Emily says while leaning a bit closer to me.

I pull back a little shocked. I mean, that sounded pretty flirtatious and not that I minded it but…I shouldn't like it so much. There are reasons…plenty of them I'm sure…its just right now I can't think of any.

Emily grips my hand and pulls me further into the pub. We go and sit down at a table that's relatively clear. The others all have an assortment of bottles and inebriated people laying on them.

Cook is over by the bar singing a raunchy song with some fat, old guy. J.J. has wandered away to find us some drinks. I take a better look around the pub to get an idea of what the scene is like here in Bristol.

In one corner there is a blonde haired girl sitting on the lap of a sturdy looking bloke. He's feeding her chips with his thick fingers and she's eating them up…the chips too.

Standing against a wall near the couple is a girl with brown hair and bright blue eyes. She's got one foot propped up behind her and an extremely bored look on her face. Her eyes scan over me and I get the feeling like she suddenly knows all my secrets. A small smirk on her face covers her face and she nods her head at me. Then she nods her head at Emily and smiles even wider.

A tall, extremely fit guy busts in through the door just then and the bored look is gone out of the girl's eyes. She turns to him and he immediately wraps one tan arm around her waist and kisses her lips with his full mouth.

"Fredster!" Cook shouts and runs to give him a bear hug similar to the one he gave Emily…without the kissing of course, except it seems like with Cook you'd never know.

J.J returns with our drinks and I frown as he scoots his chair over next to Emily's. She takes a sip of whatever he's brought us and I see the corners of her mouth pull into a tight frown.

"Fuck, J, what is in this?"

J.J. looks confused but manages to stammer out, "Well…I don' t know, Ems. Some vodka, some rum, some wine, some beer…"

Emily interrupts him, "J…stop. I guess I don't really want to know."

She takes another sip and makes a face at me. I smile at her and try the drink myself. Fuck! It is bloody awful. I pull a face and Emily is pointing at me and laughing. "You should see yourself if you think I'm so bloody funny," I choke out.

We take turns sipping our drinks and seeing who can make the ugliest face. J.J. enjoys this game too, even though he's not drinking and he keeps refilling our cups. Soon enough Emily's face starts blurring in my vision and I realize that I'm extremely close to being monumentally trashed.

I drain the last bit in my cup and instantly regret it as the room starts to swirl around me. The fit guy and girl are now making out in the corner; they become a tangle of limbs and her brown hair. Two people…one person, I can't tell. Cook is still up at the bar singing songs and his words reverberate in my ears.

J.J. grabs my empty cup and is off to refill it but Emily grips his arm, "No, J, fuck…we're totally fucked already…that's fucking enough." He walks away with our cups anyways and I'm left alone with Emily. She leans back towards me, "Fucking hell, Naomi…its just...I'm just so fucking…"

I giggle at how she says, "fuck," too many times and lean forward to whisper it in her ear. She pulls me closer than I wanted her too and I topple off my chair and push Emily off of hers in the same smooth move. I fall, hard, right on top of Emily. She's giggling so I know I haven't hurt her but she might feel it tomorrow. I'm feeling it today, right now.

Her brown eyes look up at me and I'm struck with a sense at how right this all is. Her hands gripping my hips, my legs straddling her waist, her hair gently falling over her forehead, her red face smiling and laughing, it's all just so right. Suddenly she's not giggling anymore and neither am I. The pub fades away. There's no Cook singing in the background. No smell of stale beer. I hear Emily breathing out and I want to breathe her in. All I can smell is her vanilla shampoo and something akin to apple pie. I lean down to breathe it in better and suddenly she's too close.

I swallow hard, feeling a bit more sober. She glances down at my lips and back up at my eyes. I want….well, I don't really know but she seems to know for the both of us. She leans up to meet my lips with hers and I'm going to let her but a sudden shout startles her away from me.

I curse my luck and look over my shoulder at the blokes that have just come in. There is a skinny guy wearing a dirty white tracksuit. He looks like he was beat with an ugly stick for the better half of his life. Behind him are two really big guys that look a bit slow.

"Cookie! I need to have words," the scrawny guy shouts.

I roll off Emily and help her stand up. I don't know what the fuck is going on. This guy looks harmless but Emily gives a small gasp and grips my arm tightly when she sees him. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her close to my side. If she's scared, I want to show her she has no reason to be. I haven't known her very long but I'll be damned if I would ever let anything happen to her.

Cook attempts to hide behind the fat guy he was singing with but the guy pushes him forward, "Fucking love you Cookie man but Johnnie just wants to talk, elsewise you'd be hurting already."

The scrawny guy, Johnnie, pulls Cook towards him and slings an arm around his shoulder in a friendly fashion.

I see J.J. edge closer to where Cook is, flexing his fists at his sides and I think I might have to reevaluate J.J.

The fit guy untangles himself from the cool girl and sidles over to where J.J. is standing. He places a hand on J.J and murmurs something in his ear. Whatever it is calms J.J. down but he still looks on edge.

Johnnie doesn't even spare them a glance as he says, "Alright, Cookie, did I or did I not sell you a shit load of drugs for your little get together last week."

I see Cook bob his head affirmative and Johnnie continues, "Well…here it is, a Friday and I don't seem to have my money yet, do I boys?" He looks back at the slow thugs behind him.

One of them scratches his head, "Well, I don't rightly know boss. Do you want me to check your wallet for you?"

The other one pipes up, "Oooh or you know you might've left it in your pocket when you washed your pants and you'll find it later, all wrinkly but it'll smell real nice."

I bite down on my lips to keep from laughing and Johnnie rolls his eyes to the ceiling, "Rhetorical lads…fucking rhetorical."

He then turns back to Cook, "So then…I only accept two currencies. One: Money. Two: Pain. Which will it be, Cookie?"

Cook ducks out of Johnnie's arm and pulls back, "Well the thing is John, is that I don't got the money on me right yet…I'll have it soon though."

Johnnie holds up two fingers, he ticks off one, "No money." That leaves him with only his middle finger sticking up, "That leaves, pain. My favourite."

Just then the door crashes open again and this time there's three guys in green tracksuits. Johnnie takes one look at them and his face looks like he's just eaten a pile of shit, "Oh hi, lads, didn't expect to see you here."

A beefy guy in a green tracksuit grabs Johnnie's collar, "Well this is our fucking turf so I think we didn't expect to see you here. Fucking wanker."

Johnnie's face contorts to an unhealthy shade of purple and with a scream he head butts the guy. Just like that a fucking brawl is started. The fat guy that Cook was singing with grabs a bat from underneath the bar and starts towards the mess, yelling, "Get the fuck out of me pub!"

Johnnie manages to weasel out from the melee and he points at Cook, "I'm going to get you, fucking bastard."

Cook turns and runs for the back door, leaving us all in the lurch. Not for long though because the fit guy grabs his girl and they're running. J.J. grabs Emily, Emily grabs me, the innocent looking girl grabs her boyfriend, and we're all running.

We bust out into the cool night air and sprint down the alley. Cook runs off in one direction and J.J. looks torn. He runs after him, shouting, "I gotta make sure he's ok, Ems! He had a lot to drink!"

The fit guy and girl cut down an alley away from us and I start to follow them but Emily pulls me another way, "Don't go there. That's the wrong way."

The innocent girl and her boyfriend peel off as well; she tosses a, "Bye, Emily. Wizzer night,"over her shoulder.

Ems yells back, "See ya, Pandora."

We slow from our sprinting to a slow jog, Emily is still holding on to my hand and I'm beginning to get a pain creeping up in my side. However, I start to recognize a bit where we are. We're almost back to my house.

Huffing and puffing we finally come to a stop right in front of Grandpa Walt's house. I lean my hands down to rest on my knees as I bend over, sucking in the cool air until it burns my lungs. I've got to give up smoking. Emily seems in a bit better shape than I am because she's just puffing lightly. She rubs comforting circles on my back as I gasp in as much air as I can.

After a bit, my breathing calms and I slowly rise to a standing position again, "Fucking hell, Ems. I take back everything I said about Bristol being boring."

She smiles up at me, "I take it you had fun?"

I laugh, "Fun? Well, it was eventful…"

Her eyes fall down to my lips again and I feel them burning under her gaze, "Yeah…it was eventful."

I'm not sure of how it happened or even if I wanted it to happen. Emily leaned in slowly and like a puppet that is being pulled on a string I mirror her movements. As soon as her hot lips find mine, I forget the fact that she's a girl and this isn't what I usually do. She presses into me…or is it me that pulls her close? I can't tell. All I know is now my hands are somehow tangled in her hair and I was right about how soft it is. Her lips move over mine in rhythm to our hearts beating. Then she bites down on my bottom lip a bit and pulls it with her teeth, I swallow a moan I didn't know was building and slip my tongue into her mouth. Her tongue moves against mine and I know heaven. Her hands grip the back of my neck, pulling me closer than I ever thought possible. Her fingernails lightly rake the back of my neck and I feel goose bumps spread all over my skin.

She pulls apart just for a second and I gasp, "Jesus," before pulling her back to me. This time there's no hesitance to the passion that is in the kiss. Teeth, lips, tongues all clash together and I suddenly know sensations that I never knew my body had.

When we finally have to come up for air, she splits from me reluctantly. I hold her close to me and look down into her eyes for an eternity. What had seemed like raw lust a few moments ago is something more now. I know that whatever has happened or will happen between us, its not just the kissing and the feelings and the wanting that's spread all through my stomach. It's also her eyes and her ears and the way that she protected me from Cook and the way she smoked my cigarette and the way her lips quirk when she smiles.

As soon as I realize this a horrible fear kicks me in the chest and forces me to step back from her. Never need anyone, never love anyone, always be independent, you can't get hurt that way. I see confusion in Emily's eyes and I want to kiss it away. I need to know. I need to know if she feels the same thing for me or if this is just a drunken, girl make out session.

I quirk my eyebrow at her and force my quivering voice to sound neutral, "This is what all those drinks do, isn't it?"

For a second she looks as if I'd slapped her but then a bright smile spreads across her face. Too bad it doesn't dare reach up and touch her eyes. My heart lurches and falls in my chest as she says, "Yeah, I drank a lot tonight."

"Well…better go inside, maybe I'll see you around, Emily." I turn and walk away from her rather abruptly, knowing that I must seem weird.

I just don't want her to see me cry.

*Sorry this chapter was a bit long but there was a lot to cover…hopefully you all didn't find it boring*