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Chapter nine
"I'll meet you in an hour at Bell's' I text Emily. It's 6pm already and I'm down Bell's setting up.
The disco's all sorted, the tables, the DJ is arriving shortly all that needs to be done is the decorations. "Naomi" Katie shouts as she walks in, a box in her hand.
"Katie, thank fuck, I'm panicking" she looks around,
"You've only got the decorations to sort out, that won't take long, and I'm here to help"
"I'm glad I got ready before I came down" I sigh, "What's in the box?"
"A cake"
"Awww, nice thinking"
"Take a look" She smiles widely, I lift the lid up and have to swallow the vomit that suddenly rises up in my through, on the cake is a cheesy picture of Emily and Freddie, underneath it says, 'To happily Ever Afters' "Cute huh?" She smiles giddily.
"Yeah, lovely" I smile, I turn around, "Tony!" I shout the landlord, "Give me some vodka please" He smiles as he pours me a double vodka and lemonade. I take a sip, "Ahhh, that's much better. Now, these decorations" Katie is tolerable, but the only reason I tolerate her is because of Emily.
I suppose I'll have to tolerate her a lot tonight. Vodka will help.
Panda and Effy arrive about half an hour later, I kit them out in their hen night gear and get them blowing up balloons. It looks a tacky, but then again, hen nights are supposed to be tacky!
'I'm on my way, see you in five xx' My phone buzzes in my pocket,
"Guys, five minutes, she's on her way" I shout, laughing as I see a blue faced panda struggling to blow a balloon up,
"I'm gonna faint" She says, swaying a little.
"Stop then, twat" I laugh, Effy just smirks her usual smirk, while Katie laughs.
I have a quick cigarette, occasionally glancing up the road to see if I can see Emily. I drop my cigarette to the floor, stamping on it and look up the road once more, I see her. I run back inside,
"Ok she's here, right, all of us hide and jump out to surprise her"
"Ok" Everybody says. I hide behind the door, and the others hide somewhere else in the bar. I the door opens slowly and I see a flash of red hair, "Surprise!" I shout as I jump out, startling her, the others jump out screaming surprise, but as soon as Emily looks at me, she bursts into tears. I frown at the others as I go to embrace her, "Emily, hun, what's wrong?"
She grips my back tightly, "Emily" I say, Panda, Effy and Katie come rushing over.
"Freddie and I had a huge fight" She says inbetween sobs,
"Oh, no. What about?" I ask,
"It doesn't matter" She waves her hand as she steps away from my embrace, she glances around the pub, "Awww thanks guys, this is great" She says, smiling.
"I don't mean to make you worse, but" Katie starts, "The wedding is still on, right?"
"Yeah, yeah... just had a fight that's all" She says, "Come on, lets get fucked up" She says, walking to the bar. "Vodka, give me your biggest glass and fill it with vodka and lemonade please" She says to Tony who just nods his head and does as she says.
"Come on, lets's get the music going!" Katie shouts. I'm imagining she's already well on her way.
**********
An hour and a half later, and we're all pretty wasted. Well, I say all, I mean everybody but me. We've been dancing for the past half an hour to your classic dance songs, Cotton Eye Joe, Saturday Night, Macarena, YMCA. The best cheese ever! I had to get a breather as it's getting a little hot, I'm sat on the step outside Bell having a cigarette.
"Thanks" Emily says softly as she sits down next to me, "For tonight, I mean"
"Don't be silly, I'm your Maid of Honour, it's my duty" I smile, nudging her a little. "So are you gonna tell me what happened with Freddie, the wedding isn't still on is it?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure it is" She says, waving her hand again,
"Emily" I say, raising my eyebrow. She bites her lip,
"No..." she sighs, gripping the step with her hands, "I just didn't want to spoil tonight, I mean you made so much effort"
"Don't be silly" I say, trying to comfort her, "Look" I say, wrapping my arm around her shoulder, pulling her close, "Have your fun tonight, do whatever you want, cause I guarantee that you and Freddie will be back on by this time tomorrow"
"Really"
"Yeah, of course. I mean it's a silly argument, you're getting married next week for god sake" I say laughing, "It's gonna take more than an argument to break you two up" Her head nuzzles into my neck,
"Thanks"
"Don't mention it, another of my duties" I smile, "Now come on, I'm not nearly as drunk as I oughta be"
"No, you're not" Emily laughs, I stand up and pull her up, we go back inside and burst into laughter as we see Katie busting some moves on the dance floor, "At least I got the rhythm" She laughs,
"I give it an hour before she passes out" I say.
*******
Three hours later, a hell of a lot more vodka and some MDMA and we're actually getting kicked out of our own party for being too rowdy. "You have officially lost our business, forever" I point at Tony as he escorts us off the premises, he just smiles, "I mean it" I say as I stumble backwards a little. I see Effy walking off down the street, well, stumbling down the street, "Hey, where are you going!" I shout,
"To have a little fun" She turns around and grins,
"She is so off to see Cook!" I tell Emily.
"Oh, no Effy, don't!" Emily shouts, Effy just waves and turns around, walking backwards,
"Thank you my beautiful ladies for such an amazing evening!" She says, blowing us all kisses. Right before she falls flat on her arse.
"I'm not ready to go home yet" Emily says, grabbing hold of my waist, "I need more vodka!"
"I have some more at mine" I answer,
"Ohhh, sounds like a plan!" Our giggling forms are startled to hear somebody throwing up down the alley behind Bell's. We laugh as we approach the shadows and eventually see Katie throwing up while Panda holds her hair back.
"I've called Thomas, he's coming to pick us up in five, do you guys want a lift home?"
"Actually we're going to to Naomi's for more alcohol, you coming?"
"Nah, I think I'll go home" She says,
"I'll come!" Katie screams,
"No, I think you need to get home" Emily says, smirking at her elder sister for being such a lightweight.
"Who'd of thought, Sensible Emily Fitch getting completely hammered and out drinking her sister" I laugh,
"Hey, I always out drink my sister"
"True"
"Are you ok with Katie or do you want us to wait, cause I really need to pee" I ask Panda,
"No, I'll be fine, you two get off, Thomas will be here shortly, he will give you a lift you know?"
"No, it's ok, I'm only up the road" I say to Panda,
"Ok, thanks for tonight, bonkers night" She says grinning,
"Yeah, it was" I smile, "Come on you, lets get you more vodka" I say, grabbing Emily's hand,
"Bye Panda!" She shouts as we walk away.
"So, how come you didn't bring Jess tonight?" She asks as we are slowly walking towards my house,
"I did invite he, but she said that you'd be a bit annoyed if she came cause I'd be ignoring you and paying attention to her" She laughs,
"Smart girl"
"Hey!" I slap her, "As if I'm gonna ignore you on your bloody hen night, stupid"
"Well, it wasn't technically a hen night seeing as there isn't a wedding anymore"
"Shh, don't talk like that" I say, she hesitates,
"I don't think there will be a wedding"
"Why not?" I look at her, and her gaze falls on me, she looks at me like she's never looked at me before, and it scares me, it scares me so much,
"Just that... I... I" She swallows, "I need more vodka" She lets go of my hand, "Come on, quick, it's only a minute away"
"I'm coming" I say, frowning, wondering what she was just going to say, and why suddenly my heart is aching like it's never ached before...
"I thought you needed to pee"
"I do"
"So get a move on then" I do as I'm told and practically jog to my house.
"You know where everything is, I'm gonna pee myself" I say, running to the bathroom.
I finish and walk into the kitchen where she has four shot glasses laid out, all filled with vodka. "Come on, Nim, lets see if you can still do four shots in a row"
"Of course I can" I smirk, walking up to the shots and downing them with ease. "Now, you" I smile, pouring them, Emily has never been good at shots, but impressively, she downs them all one after another until she consumes them all. "I am impressed" I smile, while she wipes her mouth, cringing at the bitter taste. "I have to ask you something Emily, and I need you to be completely honest with me, otherwise I'm gonna kill myself trying to figure out what it was" She pours herself another shot and downs it, obviously knowing what I'm gonna ask,
"Ok"
"What were you going to say earlier?"
"When?"
"You know when"
"Freddie?" She says, I nod, "It's nothing"
"Stop that" I say,
"Stop what?" She says, raising her voice a little,
"Stop running away from whatever it is that's bugging you"
"You couldn't possibly understand what is bothering me, Naomi. So don't act like you do"
"Try me"
"Why do you want to know so bad?" She asks, her voice accusing,
"I'm your best friend for god sake, don't I have a right to know what it is that's bothering you"
"Not this you don't"
"Ok, fine" I say, turning around,
"Naomi..."
"No, don't 'Naomi' me, you've been like this for ages now Emily, I need to fucking know what's going on, ok? I need to know because I care about you a lot and it is obvious to me that you're not happy, and it's killing me that you're not telling me why"
"You really wanna know why?" she shouts,
"Yes"
"I'm not fucking happy, I haven't been for a very long time. Are you happy now?"
"Why?"
"You don't need to know that"
"Emily" I shout,
"What do you want me to say? Huh?" She looks at me, anger written all over her face and I feel my stomach drop, "What do you want me to say?"
"The fucking truth for a change, I don't need to hear another fucking brush off, another lie, it's killing me"
"Oh, it's killing you is it? What about being stuck in a relationship with somebody you despise? What about the thought of getting married to that person out of fucking fear? Fear, because you know that that person is not the right one for you, and never will be? And you know exactly who the right fucking person is but you are so much of a fucking coward to admit it to yourself? What about that?"
"Who" I say, my voice sounding incredibly weak at the minute,
"Does it matter? It's never going to happen" she sighs heavily, "You know what? I've had enough of this shit, I'm going home to try and sort my relationship out" She starts to walk towards the door, "Thanks for tonight"
"No, Emily, you're not gonna just fucking leave me here, tell me. Tell me what's going on and I'll help, you don't have to be alone through this"
"Yes I fucking do, will you just drop it" She says, still walking towards the door, but this time I chase after her, grabbing her wrist and spinning her around as she is just about to open the door. I'm too angry to realise exactly how close we are, but I swear I hear her breath hitch as soon as she notices,
"I will not drop it Emily, I'm worried about you ok, tonight... your drinking, it's not you"
"You don't know who I am" I frown at her, "If you did, you wouldn't need to ask who it is I'm talking about"
"Well I'm sorry, it's fucking hard to read through the amount of fucking walls you put up Emily" I take a breath, try to calm myself down, "Just tell me"
"Why do you need to know so desperately?"
"I just do"
"Oh, so I'm expected to give you full explanations but you're allowed to leave me with cryptic answers"
"Don't change the subject, just tell me what you're talking about, what the argument was about with Freddie, just tell me everything, I'm not going anywhere..." I say quietly,
"No"
"Why not?"
"Cause I don't want to lose you" She says, and finally we're getting somewhere, "I can't lose you"
"You won't lose me"
"I will"
"Why?" Suddenly the atmosphere changes, this thick layer of something falls between us, something that I can't quite put my finger on... Emily's eyes find mine and I'm sure she feels it too, there is a slight sense of confusion masking her eyes, but as I stare into those brown orbs, I notice as she quickly glances down towards my lips.
"Kiss me" She says, almost inaudibly, but I feel it against my lips, I stare down at her lips and notice that she's biting her bottom lip, I can feel myself leaning in, so close, I feel her breath get deeper and deeper,
"You're drunk" But then I feel myself take a step back, I wanna fucking scream at myself, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOUDOING? I watch as her darkened brown eyes suddenly change, they looks straight to the floor and it's that I realise exactly what she's talking about.
But I need to hear it. I take a step closer, startling her. I stare deep into her now darkening eyes, I whisper as I lean in, "Tell me" I can almost hear her contemplating it, my now sober thoughts knowing exactly what I'm going to hear, but also absolutely petrified if she says it, Her head falls against the door as my lips lean in on her neck, "Tell me" I breathe against her neck,
"You" She breathes out, and my heart stops, there is a sudden ache residing between my legs as I move my head up and stare intently into those brown orbs, "You're the one I want" Her eyes beg for me to make the first move, to kiss her.
Like I said before, I may be a whore, but I'm not evil.
I close the gap between us within a split second, our mouths crashing together. My tongue urgently penetrates her mouth, quickly finding its mate. I groan into her mouth as her hands quickly wrap around my neck, greedily clawing away. My hands fall to her waist, squeezing a little. I have to stop kissing her, because I can't breathe, I pull away, my lips falling to her neck, I love the shape of her neck. My tongue trails up it, and my lips gently kiss and suck at her neck, "Oh" She groans. Her hands clawing desperately at my back, "Make love to me" She demands. I pull away, staring into her now black eyes,
"What?" I ask, not sure if I heard her right,
"Make love to me" She says, her voice so quiet, so timid, like she's never uttered those words before in her entire life. I stare at her, asking for permission. It seems odd, she asked me, but I still need to confirm it. She bites her lip and then pulls me in for another kiss.
All the confirmation that I need.
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