"Hey Ginger. Mind if I join you?"
"Sure, take a seat Blondie." Emily grinned at Naomi."So what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Ems." Naomi sat at the table, putting down the coffee and the blueberry muffin she'd just ordered.
"I just came for a wander. This seemed like a nice place to sit and think..."
"Think about what?" Naomi asked, interested.
"Just stuff. You know. Err... How about you? Shouldn't you be working?" Emily changed the subject, tripping on her words a little as she spoke.
"I'm on my break. I come here every day. They do the best blueberry muffins I have ever tasted. You should try one, seriously." Naomi said, taking a bite of her own.
"I'm alright." Emily replied, shaking her head.
"Nope. You have to try it. Here, have a bite of mine. And be fucking privileged that I'm offering, I don't like to share." Naomi held up the muffin to Emily's face enthusiastically, and Emily grinned. She couldn't turn down this offer. She slowly moved her head in, and took a small bite from the blueberry muffin that was resting in Naomi's hands. "What are you, a gremlin? Have a bigger bite than that, you didn't even get any blueberries." Naomi bit her lip, as she watched Emily take a bigger bite. She couldn't help but smile as Emily awkwardly pulled away, holding her hand up to her mouth to brush away crumbs from her lips.
"Alright, that is a good muffin." Emily said, as she finished her bite.
Naomi giggled at the slight innuendo, and took another bite for herself."Damn right it is. So... Emily Fitch."
"So. Naomi..." Emily stopped. Katie had a habit of being a complete bullshitter, and she didn't want to sound like an idiot if Naomi's last name wasn't Campbell. Then again, she also didn't want to sound like a stalker if it was. "... What's your last name?"
"Campbell. Don't laugh. I'm not quite as pretty as the supermodel I'm afraid, and I'm quite a bit paler."
"I beg to differ." Emily flirtatiously replied, surprised that Katie had actually been a help in this situation.
"No, I really am paler. She's Jamaican see. And I'm white."
"I meant about the prettiness you dick." Emily laughed as she spoke, before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Alright, no need for that. And right back at you." Naomi said with a cheeky grin. "Though you're not named after a famous supermodel. You don't have the pressure forced upon you to be beautiful." Naomi joked, making Emily laugh aloud. "You're just pretty because you are." Naomi blushed a little, feeling as though she'd said too much. "That was a bit cheesy."
"It's alright, you like cheese - as long as it's not from heaven." Emily grinned at Naomi, remembering their previous conversation. "Though I warn you, if Katie still needs to get back at you, she's probably got this whole place wired. She can hear everything you're saying."
"Why does that matter?" Naomi chuckled, slightly confused.
"In case you hadn't noticed, me and Katie are twins."
"No way!" A naturally sarcastic reply came from Naomi.
Emily laughed, but continued. "What I mean is, anything nice you say about my appearance, you're saying about Katie's, too."
"Hmm..." Naomi sat, thoughtfully looking at Emily. "It's weird. You're identical twins, but you don't really look identical. I mean, yeah, the first time I saw you I mistook you for her... But in my defence, I was in a right stress so I didn't get a proper look at you. I also figured she'd gone on 'Snog Marry Avoid' or something and they'd made her looking fucking hot. "
"Thanks?" Emily narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, trying to work out if what she'd just heard was a compliment.
Naomi grinned at her. "You're welcome." Emily couldn't hold back a smile, as the pair sat in silence for a few moments. Naomi looked at her watch."My break ends soon." She said grimly. She looked up, to see slight disappointment on Emily's face. "But hey, I finish work at about nine, and think I'm going to be hanging around at the pub for a while with some friends... You know, if you wanted to come along, it'd be cool to see you there." Naomi said, acting confident but a little scared that she was being too forward.
"Sounds fun," Emily said, trying to contain her excitement. There was a hint of shyness in her voice that Naomi found incredibly cute. "I'll see you there."
Naomi grinned, and the pair both took a long drink of their coffees, before the blonde stood up, picking her bag from the floor. Emily also stood up, putting her coat back on and shoving her purse back into the pocket. The pair walked out of the door, Naomi holding it open for Emily, who nodded a thank you at her.
"Well..." Naomi said, wanting to break the silence, and struggling to think of how she should say goodbye. 'Don't be too forward,' she thought to herself."Goodbye."
"Bye." Emily smiled, an infectious smile. "See you later."
'Fuck it,' Naomi thought, grabbing Emily's arm and pulling her in for a kiss; just a peck... At first. Emily willingly kissed her back, shocked at Naomi's sudden movement, but in no way unhappy about the situation. Naomi finally pulled away and grinned. "Yeah. See you." She turned to walk away, leaving a shocked Emily wondering what had just happened.
Emily swiped her fingers across her lips, feeling where Naomi had just been. She smiled to herself as she watched Naomi walk away, before turning to head home. She still kept her eyes on the blonde, who turned around, catching her looking, and gave her a wink. Emily's heart raced, her pace quickened out of sheer excitement; she found it difficult to stop herself from skipping back to her apartment, feeling smitten.
It was only as she neared the end of the street that Emily realised that she'd been walking in the complete wrong direction. She pulled out her mobile, pretending to check a text, before sighing and turning on her heel. She walked back past the cafe with a grin. As she was about to put her phone away, it buzzed in her hand. Impeccable timing.
"Hello?"
"Someone's happy." Effy's voice echoed through her mobile phone.
"Shut up." Emily stopped herself from smiling again. "How do you even know that?"
"I can hear you smiling."
Emily sighed, rolling her eyes. "What's up Eff?"
"Pub, tonight. Me and Katie are heading to this one near yours with some of the others, and wondered if you wanted to come along."
Shit. "What's it called?"
"The Old Palace." Effy didn't question Emily's intention for asking the question.
Shit shit shit. "I'm er... I'm already going there." Emily answered, a little too nervously.
Effy paused, before responding. "I'll be at yours in twenty minutes." The line immediately went dead.
"Okay, what's her name?" Effy asked knowledgeably, as she made herself comfortable in Emily's apartment. She pulled her legs onto the sofa, crossing them.
Emily sighed. Effy had this annoying ability to read her like a book, and there was no point in trying to act like nothing was going on. "Naomi."
"Naomi. And you're meeting her tonight," Effy said, more confirming it was true than asking.
"Yes. I really like her. I had coffee with her earlier. She kissed me before she went back to work. I'm meeting her later, after she finishes her shift." She reeled out pointless facts to help Effy understand the situation.
"At 'The Old Palace.'"
"Yes."
Effy took a sip of the drink she'd made herself as she came in. "What was it like?" Effy asked curiously.
"What was what like?"
"The kiss."
"Um... It lasted about, 10 seconds?" Emily said, unsure of what exactly Effy was asking.
"No. What was it like for you?"
Emily shrugged. She wanted to seem laid-back about the kiss, but her eyes gave her away. She paused, thoughtfully. "It was nice." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "I just want to speak to her."
"So call her."
"I don't have her number." Emily grimaced, knowing what response she'd be getting from Effy.
"You don't have your own girlfriend's number?" The corners of Effy's mouth were slightly turned up into a smile as she spoke.
"She's not my girlfriend" Emily retaliated, before pausing, looking at the perplexed face in front of her. "She's... I don't know, she's just Naomi. She's this gorgeous person who for some reason decided to kiss me, do we have to put fucking labels on everything?"
Effy paused, staring at Emily intently.
"What? Don't fucking psychoanalyse me and not tell me what you think Effy, come on!"
Effy sat calmly, looking through half closed eyes, staring out Emily. Emily in return put on her best poker face. She didn't want Effy telling her how she felt when Emily herself wasn't even sure herself.
Eventually, she opened her mouth slightly. Emily flinched, waiting to hear Effy's conclusion. The brown haired girl instead pulled out a cigarette, placing it in her mouth and lighting it; her attention still completely on the redhead. She took a deep drag of smoke, before eventually averting her gaze, closing her eyes as she blew out the smoke.
"You love her."
"I don't... love her." Emily said, questioning herself as she spoke. "I don't know enough about her to love her, I've known her less than a day..." She paused, thinking about it.
"Bollocks." Effy responded. "It only takes a second."
The pair sat in silence for a few moments. Emily thought about what Effy had said, and Effy just observed her. Effy was the one to interrupt Emily's thoughts. She stubbed out her cigarette as she spoke, changing the subject completely; allowing her thoughts to play on Emily's mind. "Okay. Lets start getting ready."
AN: Hello, people of the FanFiction world! Here's the part where I praise you all for being so awesome!
Special thanks must go to smcl, holysheep, Shadow Apparation, and XA.R.X, for not only being lovely enough to read, but also for reviewing multiple chapters!
Also holysheep: It's been a few days, as promised! :D However, I'm heading down to (weirdly) Bristol for the weekend, so the next chapter will probably be posted on Monday night.
But really just a huge thanks to everyone who's reading. The response I'm getting is so great. Reading the lovely reviews and seeing the Story Updates and Favourites and Hits keep climbing is just amazing! Makes me feel all fuzzy inside.