A/N: It's 130pm and I'm already half drunk lol I'm chilling with my bestie and drinking vodka and it's really strong so...

Anyway... Here is the next chapter of this tale... :-D

Dialogue and reminiscences get a little...saucy I suppose. Not so much smut. Sauce Warning™, then I suppose.

On with it, then...

Disclaimer: I do not own skins. Redskin vodka is fucking awesome! Any and all typographical errors are a complete fabrication...

(Emily POV)

In the split second before I fully woke up the next morning, in between consciousness hitting me and my eyes opening, the headache hit me. That horribly hungover feeling of my eyes bulging and barbed wire wrapped around my poor dehydrated brain.

Just breathe, Emily. I thought to myself, as I buried my head under the duvet and slowly opened my eyes. "Oh, fuck..." I groaned. I slid my hand out from under the covers and groped around for...

Hang on.

I groped around a little more... Hmm. That doesn't feel like my bedside table. Oh wait, that's right... I'm staying at Katie's. My head is already throbbing, so I just peel back the duvet and groaned as I let my light sensitive eyes adjust to the light.

...I am not in my sister's flat.

Think, Emily.

Went home... Mandy was there...Mandy left...Katie came and picked me up... Oh, right...then I went out to a bar for a drink and a think... Then Naomi found me... Shit, then Mandy came in with...a woman? I remember Naomi getting me out of the bar, and bringing me back to hers, and then we drank some vodka, and...

Oh god. That's when I realised that I was naked. And that's when snapshots of memory blinded me all at once. Me straddling Naomi's lap and snogging her like my life depended on it. Naomi's hand in my jeans fingering me as we kissed. Then, of course, the more lurid memories of her head between my thighs as her tongue made friends with that part of my anatomy that had been long neglected...at least in the oral sense. A hot electric shock ran through my abdomen as I remembered the exact moment when a deep growl left my lips, Naomi's skilled fingers thrusting inside me as her very talented tongue kept up a motion against my clit that flooded my body with the strongest climax I'd had in months.

But now, Naomi wasn't there. That was odd, maybe she was in the kitchen, or something?

I shook the tangles out of my post-shag, post-slumber hair, and pulled back the duvet, getting out of bed slowly, to stop my stomach from lurching and making me vomit. I looked around for my clothes, and got dressed, checking my phone. Three text messages from Mandy, and one from Katie.

"Emily, where are you? xMandyx"

"It's late, baby. Where are you? xMandyx"

"Emily, it's fucking after midnight. Where the fuck are you?! xMandyx"

Yeah, right. Like she cares. Check the fucking fridge, you stupid bitch. Katie's was a little less nosy.

"Hey, Ems. Hope you are ok... I'm leaving for work early, so I'll see you at home later. xoKatieox"

I put my phone back in my pocket and left the bedroom, to find a brunette woman sitting at the kitchen table. I froze, and she looked up at me.

"Uh... Hi." I said.

"'Morning." She said, with a polite smile.

I stood there, doing my best fish out of water impression while I thought of what to say next.

"Uhm... I don't suppose..."

"She left about ten minutes ago. I'm assuming you're the reason she left without saying a word." She said, matter-of-factly.

I screwed up my nose, nervously. "I'm not sure. I'm-"

"Emily." She said, finishing my sentence. "If I understood Naomi's description right, that is."

"Ah. Yeah." I replied.

"I'm Effy." She said. "I'm Naomi's flatmate. Would you like some coffee?"

I checked my phone for the time. It was just before seven-thirty. I shrugged. "Uhm... A glass of water might be better." I said, holding my hand to my throbbing head.

"Ah...hungover." Effy nodded. "Take a seat." She said, indicating the seat opposite hers. I walked over and pulled the chair out, sitting down in the chair, as she got up and got me a large glass of water. She set it down in front of me, along with two small white tablets. "Not trying to drug you... Painkillers. For the headache."

"Thanks." I said, downing the pills and taking a long drink.

"She likes you, you know."

"What?"

"Naomi." Effy replied.

"She barely knows me. I didn't mean to end up here last night... It got a bit...complicated." I said, taking another sip of the cool water.

"It didn't sound very complicated at two in the morning when you were screaming her name." Effy smirked. I choked on the glass of water, spluttering and coughing. "Careful, you want to make it out of here alive, I'm assuming."

"Yeah, well..." I said, wiping my mouth dry. "...like I said, it's complicated."

"She told me something about you having partner issues."

I raised my eyebrow. "She did?"

Effy nodded. "Don't worry, it wasn't in a gossipy manner. Naomi's not that type of person. I was merely intrigued about her new workmate." She said.

Oh, fuck. I was going to have to face her at work in a couple of hours.

"How much did she tell you?"

"You think your partner is cheating on you."

"I don't think that." I said, bitterly. "Last night I got confirmation of it."

"Ah. I'm sorry to hear that. She also said you were thinking of walking out on her?"

"I was. I'm halfway through doing it."

"Halfway?"

"Yeah... I'm staying at my sister's until I find a place." I explained. There was something a little odd about telling this to someone I didn't know. Not bad odd...just... Oh, whatever, I spent last night shagging my co-worker, how odd can it really get after that?

Did you forget you are going to be shagging her while on the clock?

Yeah yeah, fuck off, brain.

Effy smirked at me again. That was annoying me already. "She probably won't be back this morning... You'd best get to work if you want to speak to her about last night."

I blushed and hung my head a little. "I really didn't mean for last night to happen." I said, quietly. "I was drunk and vulnerable, and... Christ. I'm just going to shut up."

Effy laughed softly. "Either way, I don't think it's me you should be explaining that to."

I nodded. "You're probably right." I said, finishing the glass of water. I stood up, and pushed the chair back in. "It was nice meeting you, I should probably get going."

"Emily? Tread lightly with her, yeah? The way she left this morning, I wouldn't be surprised if she's a bit... Freaked out."

"By me?"

"Yes." Effy replied. "But not for the reasons you think."

I nodded. "Thanks for the water."

"No problem." She nodded, as I opened the door and left.

I went to Katie's and took a shower and got dressed, popping another couple of painkillers to alleviate the rest of the lingering headache, and set off to TI, stopping off on the way for a bacon sandwich, now that my stomach and settled itself and I felt like food. I also got a takeaway latté, figuring I could do with the pick-me-up.

"Hiya Emily!" Pandora beamed, as I entered I the building just before nine.

"Hey, Pandora. How are you?"

She grinned. "Blimey, everyone around here calls me Panda, and I'm whizzer! thanks."

"Panda. Nice." I smiled in reply. She was definitely a cheery sort of girl. "Uh... Is Naomi in yet?"

Panda nodded. "She's in her office."

Oh, good. This would be interesting, I thought to myself. I walked through the corridor and stood in front of her door, raising my hand and knocking on it gently.

"Shit!" I heard from inside. "Uh...come in!"

I opened the door, to see Naomi sitting behind her desk, looking at her computer screen. She looked up and saw me, and I could swear I heard her gulp as she swallowed. "Emily...hi." She said, nervously.

I shut the door behind me, and crossed the room, sitting in the chair in front of her desk. I set my coffee down on the desk, and sat back. The two of us said nothing for a few moments.

"Emily-"

"Naomi-"

Both of us stopped speaking, and laughed nervously. Naomi nodded at me. "You first."

I cleared my throat. "Uhm... I don't really know what to say, to be honest. Last night probably shouldn't have happened." I started. "I got a bit too drunk."

Naomi nodded slowly. "So, you're blaming the alcohol then?"

"Uh..."

She looked at me carefully with her blue eyes. There was something a little...detached about it. "It was just sex...right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Just sex." I said, sipping my coffee. "Really, really good sex." I added quietly. I couldn't really lie, I know it had been a while, thanks to Mandy finding someone else to shag, but Jesus... I don't think I'd ever had sex that good.

Naomi looked back at me with relief and then gave me a slightly smug smirk. "Well, I guess I can still say I've had no complaints." She joked.

"Oh, I definitely had no reason to complain." I said, casually taking another sip from my coffee. "Whatsoever."

Naomi nodded, letting my words hang in the air between us. Could the tension be any thicker in here, or is it just me?

"Well... I suppose we should get started for the day... Oh! I asked Dover about you getting Friday off... He said under the circumstances, it's fine, so that'll give you the chance to do ...uh...what you need to do."

"Really? Thank you so much." I replied.

"No trouble, really. Friday is pretty quiet apart from the paperwork around here, so it's not like it's messing with the schedule." Naomi said. "Anyway, what I wanted to ask was... Exactly how much Dover told you when he hired you. Did he give you the tour?"

"No. Apparently he was busy interviewing all day, and had to make do with a quicker schedule."

Naomi leaned her head back against the headrest of her chair and sighed. "Perfect." She muttered. "I knew he was under the pump to find someone, but that's unacceptable, really, considering the job we do here." She added running her fingers through her hair. I couldn't help the brief flash in my mind, of my own fingers gripping her beautiful blonde hair as she-

EMILY!

Naomi stood up, and shrugged off her jacket, placing it over the back of her chair. "Come on, then... No time like the present." She said, beginning to walk out of the office.

"Is it ok if I bring my coffee?" I asked.

"How much of it do you have left?" She smirked.

"About half, but it's only lukewarm." I replied.

She chuckled, softly. Why did that make my stomach flutter like that? "I suggest you drink it now." She said, seriously. "I know you say you're ok with this, but... Emily... Trust me when I say, it can come as a bit of a shock."

I looked at her for a moment, taking in her serious expression. I drank the rest of my coffee, and raised my eyebrow, tossing the cup into the bin. "Shall we?"

Naomi stared for a few seconds, and then shook herself out of it, opening the door and standing aside to let me out of the room. She led me to a door at the end of the hallway labelled "TESTING AREA, STRICTLY NO ADMITTANCE WITHOUT CARD OR PERMISSION". Naomi swiped her ID card against the sensor by the door handle, and it bleeped as the tiny light went green. The door unlocked, and she pulled it open.

"The testing area is card admittance only. Interviewees are not permitted entrance, however, the company does film demonstration videos that are normally shown during the interview."

"Videos?" I asked, surprised. They were going to film me?

"Relax." Naomi laughed. "Unless you give consent, you won't be filmed."

"Oh. Well, that's a relief." I replied. "Pretty sure there's enough lesbian porn in the world."

"I...uh...take it Dover explained we work exclusively together?"

I nodded. "Yeah, something about how it ensures accurate testing results?"

"Correct. The best way to ensure the quality of the product is to work consistently with someone who knows what gets you off." Naomi explained.

"I can see how that would be beneficial." I smirked. "But how do you... Uh..."

Naomi stopped, and turned to me. "Emily... Can I just say... You don't have to be shy around here. In fact, it's better that you don't. It'll be a lot easier to just spit out what you are saying... We're very frank around here, it's the only way to stop everyone from walking around red faced and squirming in their chairs."

"Right." I nodded. "Of course. I guess what I wanted to say was... How do I figure out what gets you off?"

Naomi raised her eyebrow. "You didn't figure it out last night?" I quickly looked around to see if anyone could hear. She stepped closer to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. "It's ok, Emily. It's just you and me at the moment."

I nodded. "Honestly... I'm trying not to think about the fact that we shagged last night. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it...very much. But..."

"You're trying to be professional whilst trying to avoid thinking about how good it was." Naomi concluded.

"Uh...yeah. I guess." I shrugged. "Is that bad?"

Naomi looked at her feet, then her eyes met mine and she shook her head. "No." She said, softly. "Honestly... I'm trying to avoid thinking about it too."

"Oh."

"Emily... I..." She started, before pausing. She took my hand and led me into a small room that had a desk and a chair in it, and shut the door behind us. She leaned against the desk and folded her arms. "Please don't misunderstand me. I enjoyed it, too. But...personal and professional... It's tricky."

"Weren't you shagging the girl I replaced?"

Naomi dropped her hands to her sides, bracing them on the desk, and looking at her feet again. "Yes." She said, quietly. "That was different, though."

"How?" I asked.

She looked into my eyes, and it felt like her own blue eyes were staring right into me, as if she were trying to tell me something. She bit her bottom lip and sighed softly. "She was different. She just... It was just different, that's all."

I looked at her and mulled it over for a moment. "I understand." I replied. There was something she wasn't telling me, but I thought it best to let it slide for the moment, it seemed as though it was something that she might not only tell me in her own time, but it was only my second full day, after all.

"Plus... You're vulnerable... Being in the middle of getting out of a relationship, and all."

I nodded. "I know."

"Anyway... Each employee is expected to fill out a survey before they start testing... It's basically a questionnaire about your sexual tastes... What you like, what you don't like...what you're willing to try..."

"So... Twenty questions about how kinky I am?" I smirked, and Naomi laughed.

"Putting it bluntly, yeah."

"Do I get to read yours?" I asked, almost innocently.

"Of course." Naomi nodded. "It wouldn't be fair if you had to discover things about me when I knew everything about what you liked."

"Right." I nodded, and a short silence fell between us. "It's so... Quiet around here."

Naomi smiled. "You expected it to be louder?"

I blushed. "Well, I expected to hear something... Moaning, the odd gasp..." I shrugged.

She chuckled. "The testing rooms are soundproofed. It stops girls from getting... Distracted."

I giggled. "I can see how that would be a problem."

Naomi walked to the door and opened it, allowing me to step past her into the corridor. "The rooms themselves have lights outside the door, to indicate if a room is in use, and the viewing status of the room. There are some girls who don't have an issue with doing what we do, but they are self conscious about other people watching them." She explained. "Each room does have a window, but also a set of Venetian blinds. If a girl doesn't want to be watched, they'll turn the red light on, as well as the green, and close the blinds. It notifies that the room is in use, and..."

"...no one is to watch. Got it."

Naomi smirked at me, much like Effy had that morning. I wonder if she picked that up from her? "You're a quick study."

I shrugged, and smiled sheepishly. "I do my best."

She nodded in reply. "Ok, so... Change rooms at the end of the hall... We also have full bathroom facilities, at the end of the schedule for the day, you'll most likely want to take a shower, freshen up...that sort of thing." She said, as she led me to the end of the hallway and opened the door into what looked like a high school style change room. She pulled a key on a small silver keyring, on which was also a metal casting of the letters TI. "Here..." She said, handing me the keys. "All testers are assigned a locker. It's your responsibility to ensure that at the end of the day, there's a fresh bathrobe and towel in it for use the next day."

"Ok..."

"The towels and robes are in this cupboard here..." Naomi explained, sliding open a large cupboard door. "They're laundered by a local hospital laundry service nightly." She said, as I saw rows of towels and robes neatly stacked on the shelves. "Showers are just through the door in the corner, we also supply toiletries that are in the cupboard on the wall by the mirror... Soap, shampoo and the like." She added, indicating the door.

"Sounds sensible."

"Yeah, well... A lot of the job is physical, so... Sweat is sort of expected." She said, with a shy smile.

"What's a typical day around here?" I asked.

Naomi nodded, as she led me back out of the change room and through the corridor. She stopped in front of a large board that was divided into sections. "This is the schedule board. We also print copies for the testers, which will be available in your pigeon hole every morning. The testing runs in two-hourly blocks, to ensure thorough testing. It's normal that we might test one or two products per day, given the two hour timeframe."

"Two hours?" I asked.

"Yeah, it seems like a bit much at first, but it's necessary. You see... We test from both perspectives... For example... I test something on you, you test something on me, yeah? Remember what I told you we look for in the criteria..." She said, as we walked back into her office.

"Yeah, I still need to re-read through it all. I intended to do that last night, but..."

Naomi nodded. "Other things happened." She said, as she sat back behind her desk. I sat opposite and ran my fingers through my fringe.

"Yeah." I said. "Look...um... about last night... Thanks... For being there, I guess. You didn't have to stick with me after all that. It was unexpected, and I'm grateful you did."

Naomi shook her head. "It was no trouble. I couldn't very well leave you alone after that. It must have felt awful."

"It wasn't exactly pleasant."

"I can imagine. How are you feeling about that, by the way?"

I shrugged. "I should be more annoyed, but I'm really not. I suspected it, as I told you... It's still a bit of a shock, but not as much as if I hadn't expected it at all."

"Not like you've been blindsided by it, in other words?" She asked.

"Exactly." I nodded.

"Emily...if it's any consolation, I think you are doing the right thing. No one should stay in a relationship if they are being cheated on." Naomi said."You said Mandy was possessive?"

"Yeah. Always wanting to know where I am, who I am with... Seriously, I can't even see my sister without having a discussion about it. You know she texted me last night...three times, wondering where I was."

"You're kidding?" Naomi asked, her eyebrow raised.

I shook my head. "No. The stupid thing is, I left her a note on the fridge. She obviously didn't bother to look, and just texted me instead."

"Jesus." Naomi scoffed. She sighed, and looked at me. "Sorry, but she's a total bitch... You deserve better, Emily. I know we've only just met, but it think I know enough to know that you don't deserve how she is treating you."

"Thanks." I replied. "I know I do, that's why I am getting out. She's just made it so much easier for me to feel less guilty about it."

"Guilty? You have nothing to feel guilty about... Hell, after last night at the bar, I couldn't even feel guilty for sleeping with me last night. Horses for courses, yeah?"

"That's one way of putting it." I shrugged.

"You..don't feel guilty...do you?" She asked, tentatively.

I thought for a moment. The point was, I really didn't. "I don't see a need to feel guilty. If she's fucking someone else and not me... Well, why should she have all the fun?"

Naomi smirked. "Good attitude to have, I suppose. Although, I don't see why she's shagging someone else... If I was her, I wouldn't even entertain the thought."

I raised my eyebrow. "Seriously?"

A blush spread across her cheeks. Aww, that was cute. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" She said, biting her bottom lip. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't be." I smirked. "It's good to know that lacking sex for months hasn't made me...lose my touch."

Naomi laughed. "Definitely not. Nice choice of words, by the way."

"Thanks." I grinned.

"So... I guess the other things about this place are... You will often see girls walking around in not much else, other than a bathrobe." Naomi said. "It's normal... I meant what I said about the consent thing... If you have no wish to be filmed for demonstration, there's no pressure to."

"Have you?"

She shook her head. "I draw the line there, much like you. Not really that much of a public exhibitionist, truthfully."

"Right." I smiled. "How long did it take you to get used to it? The job, I mean."

"Couple of weeks. It was a shock at first, but you learn to detach yourself pretty quickly. Clinical, like I said."

"Sort of like... Science."

She laughed. "Yeah, pretty much. When you think about it, everyone who buys a sex toy does so with the idea that it's going to get them off... True, a lot of that is down to how it's used, but a good percentage of it is also product design. That's where we come in."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, most of the products we test are prototypes. Or new updates of current products."

"Interesting." I said, nodding slightly. A sly smirk crossed my lips. "Sort of strange to know that so much goes into it, really."

"Oh, I know. This job has been a complete eye opener. Even my flatmate had no idea, and she sells them for a living."

"Effy works in a sex shop?"

Naomi's eyes went wide. "You...met Effy?"

"Ah...yeah. I woke up about ten minutes after you left, apparently." I explained. "She made it sound Iike you did a runner.

Naomi's eyes lowered and she blushed again. "I'm really sorry about that." She said, softly. "I... Kind of freaked out a bit, I suppose. Sophia... My previous colleague... She never spent the night. She always left when we were done."

"I see." I replied.

"She didn't give you a hard time?" Naomi asked. "Effy, I mean."

"Not at all. She offered me coffee, but I settled for water and painkillers." I laughed.

Naomi smiled. "Yeah, she's good like that. Really, though... I am sorry for leaving without explanation."

"Don't be. It was just sex, right?"

She paused, and then nodded. "Yeah. Just sex."

But there was something strange about the tone of her voice that told me something different...

A/N#2: Hmm... I think Emily might suspect something is up, no?

Anyway... I'm off to watch some movies...or something. Probably or something.

BYE!

Er... Until next time, I mean.

:-D

~GN~ xo