A/N - Massive thanks to everyone who has been reading, alerting and reviewing!
Time for Emily to audition for the judges, wish her luck.
Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, the characters, the song/s or anything else.
-Naomi-
I was cheering up somewhat from the afternoon break, although still felt particularly grumpy at the severe lack of talent coming forward from the Bristol auditions. I had tried to stop glancing at the clock as often as I had been so that time didn't feel as though it was passing by too slowly. We'd seen a guy that looked like he had the potential to go far and who seemed to have the whole package – the talent, the looks and the likeability. He had sailed through with four yeses and had been the first audition of the day that had made me smile for all the right reasons.
We'd seen a few acts since then, and they were slowly but surely worsening my mood one by one. I was doodling on the blank piece of paper in front of me when I heard the door open, but I didn't bother looking up, instead focusing on the flower that I was drawing.
'Fuck me' I heard Cook mumble under his breath beside me, prompting me to turn and look at him. He was looking forward, his mouth hanging open a little. I felt my forehead crease in confusion as I lifted my head up from my doodles to look at who it was that had walked in. I dropped my pen at the sight in front of me and watched my pens descent as it noisily fell underneath the table. Shit. I pushed my chair back and knelt under the table to grab it, taking the few seconds I had hidden from everyone to inhale and exhale before gracefully standing up and settling myself back in my seat. The gorgeous redhead standing in the middle of the room had watched the whole thing unfold and was looking at us expectantly, waiting for someone to speak. She seemed stuck between confused and amused, her forehead creased but her eyebrow raised, her eyes sparkling. I glanced over at JJ; it was his turn to ask all the introductory questions according to our system whereby we each took it in turns. He was sitting staring at Emily with a similar look on his face to Cook. I shifted my glance over to Effy and found her looking at Emily with an intense stare, probably sizing her up, trying to figure her out, yet making no moves to talk to her. I turned around and looked at Anthea, who was standing to the left of the room with her arms crossed looking at us expectantly, waiting for someone to say something. I rolled my eyes.
'Name?' I asked matter-of-factly, not even looking up from my piece of paper. The cameramen and Emily herself probably thought I had something important written down, oblivious to the fact that I was just staring at my intricate doodle of a lily.
'Emily Fitch'
Inadvertently I flicked my gaze up to look at her again, surprised at the huskiness of her voice.
'Okay, off you go' I said hurriedly, not asking any of the questions I should have, feeling inexplicably nervous under the gaze of her brown eyes. She smiled at me, and nodded her head, wandering over towards Thomas and handing him a CD, blissfully unaware that everyone in the room was checking her out in her skinny jeans. She looked stylish and sexy dressed in all black with her red hair injecting colour into the outfit. Effy turned to me and waggled her eyebrows in a distinctly Cook-like gesture while Emily was turned away and I cocked one of mine back in response. We shared a smile and both turned back to the front as Emily took her place in the middle of the room, looking slightly nervous for the first time at being stood in front of us.
The sound of a piano filled the room for a while before Emily took her cue and started singing.
When the rain is blowin' in your face
and the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
to make you feel my love.
I felt my breath hitch a bit at the huskiness of her voice and at the emotion she was pouring into the song. Her eyes were shut and I couldn't take my eyes off her lips as she sang;
When the evening shadows and the stars appear
and there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
to make you feel my love.
I finally realised I was staring and turned towards Effy who was staring at her too, her head cocked to the side and a slight smirk on her face. I could tell she was excited by the redheads audition. I chanced a glance over at Anthea, who was beaming at Emily, making it clear that we were all in agreement that this girl was something special. While I had been assessing the room, Emily had drawn closer to the finish of her song. The room was silent as she launched into the last two verses, all eyes and ears fully concentrating on her;
Though storms are raging on the rollin' sea
and on the highway of regrets
though winds of change are throwing wild and free
you ain't seen nothin' like me yet.
I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends of the Earth for you
to make you feel my love.
As she finished the song she opened her eyes, looking as if she was just joining us back in the room. I flicked my glance back down to my sheets of paper as the music stopped before looking over at JJ pointedly; fixing him with a steely glare that I hoped would pass over the message that I wasn't saving his arse twice in one audition. Obviously the message was received because he let out a small cough and looked over at Emily who smiled at him kindly.
'Err, hi Emily' he gushed. I rolled my eyes. 'That was really good, you know, possibly, maybe, yeah, definitely, the best we've heard today, very good, and emotional. Passionate and-' Effy dug him in the side to shut him up, knowing that he wouldn't think to do so of his own accord. He nodded once and grabbed his glass of mango juice, drinking it down in one. Emily smiled gratefully at him and looked at Effy.
'That was really good Emily' Effy commented 'I agree with JJ, the best of today. You have a really unique voice actually, I like the fact it's quite….' Effy paused, looking momentarily out of the window, obviously searching her vocabulary. 'Gravelly' she said with a un-Effy-esque flourish and I turned to her with a slight smile on my face. This girl had impressed her.
'That was amazin' Emilio' Cook thundered, grinning at her enthusiastically. She cocked an eyebrow in response to the nickname, but her face lit up in a smile. 'Nice job' he winked at her. She let out a throaty giggle, a lovely sound escaping her lips. She nodded her head in response and then cast her gaze over to me, catching my eyes with hers and I found myself momentarily lost for words. I caught myself quickly and brought my hand up to scratch my temple absentmindedly.
'That was a good cover of the song' I commented, her eyes still locked onto mine giving me that unfamiliar feeling of nervousness, as though I had butterflies. The feeling of butterflies quadrupled as she smiled at me, and I looked back down at my doodles without returning it. 'One of the better versions of that song we've had to listen to today actually' I critiqued, looking up and immediately feeling guilty for making a dig at her song choice after clocking her face drop slightly, 'and Effy was right, your voice is unique. Overall, a good first audition' I recovered, again averting my eyes, this time choosing to scrutinise the patterned wallpaper on the wall behind Emily.
'We'd better vote then guys' Cook commented from his seat on my left.
'One hundred percent yes' JJ enthused.
'Yes' Effy smirked.
'Err, yeah' I answered coolly.
'And with my big fat hell yeah, you're leaving with a grand total of four yeses Emilio' Cook said proudly, still grinning at Emily. 'We'll be seeing you at boot camp!'
Emily's eyebrows almost hit the ceiling and she shook her head in what looked like disbelief, biting her lip slightly. She's hot.
'Thank you JJ, Effy, Cook' she said, looking at each of them in turn as she said their names, before eventually turning her gaze to me 'Naomi'. I gulped at the sound of my name, the huskiness of her voice making it sound sexier than I think I've ever heard it. Again, my doodles became the most fascinating thing in the world to me.
'No….thank you' I heard Effy say, and thirty seconds later the exit door opened and clicked shut. A singular loud clap filled the room, forcing my gaze to find where the noise had come from. My eyes landed on Anthea who was walking towards us, her arms now outstretched, her face split in two with a massive beam.
'We've found something special here guys' she enthused.
'Yeah, she just made Bristol a worthwhile trip' Effy commented, looking at me pointedly, obviously referencing my earlier disdain.
I rewarded her with an eye roll, but didn't really care about the dig, blocking out the others excited jabbering and instead concentrating on the fact that it looked like I was going to be working with Emily Fitch for at least the next few months of UK Idol, and I was couldn't help but wonder why it was that I felt so unbelievably nervous at the prospect.
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