A/n: First thing's first: for those of you that don't already know this is another two-parter. Because I seriously can't help myself. And also because I like the symmetry of them both having two chapters. And also because you lot have been so patient with me while I've been busy with school and working long hours. I'm hoping to get part 2 up soon, maybe at the end of the week? Tentatively shooting for Sunday.
Second thing second: A big round of applause to lizardwriter for beta'ing this while sick. And a good way to thank her is to go over and read and review her new story, Heart of Stone. No really. Go do it. Now. It's okay. I'll wait right here. (It's lizardwriter, and it's Effy as a mob boss why aren't you reading this already?)
Also, the first part of this chapter gets the teensiest bit heated, so if you're reading it around small children with mind-reading capabalities...don't?
Klytaemnestra if you don't catch the itty bitty shout-out in this I will be very disappointed.
Disclaimer: Nope
When Emily opened her eyes and found herself back in Freddie's van, for half a second she thought that she had entered some kind of ridiculous time loop, and that she would be stuck replaying the same day over and over like a horrible version of Groundhog Day where she never got to have sex again.
But then she remembered that not only was the trip in Freddie's car on Sunday night, but that she distinctly remembered falling asleep on Thursday night. And then she noticed that the car was completely empty, no driver, and was driving through fields of green candy floss. After that she figured it was just a really vivid dream. Well, either that or someone had spiked dinner.
Her subconscious had taken her right back to Freddie's car, complete with Sex on Fire blasting her ears off and Naomi's arms wrapped around her from the side.
"Hot as a fever, rattling bones. I could just taste it, taste it. If it's not forever, if it's just tonight. Oh, it's still the greatest, the greatest, the greatest."
She had never been more comfortable sitting in someone's lap than she had been with Naomi that day. She'd just fit in a way that was completely impossible to describe. They were so comfortable touching each other these days that Naomi had even let her play with her hair. She'd spent most of the ride over to Keith's running her hands through that wonderfully soft blonde hair, and if the way Naomi had leaned into Emily and practically purred was any indication then she enjoyed it.
She didn't know how long she could stand Naomi being so comfortable touching her, though. Not when Naomi had tucked her hands inside Emily's jacket during the ride on her moped, and it had taken all of Emily's self-control not to grab Naomi's hand and shove it down her pants.
Just like in the van it had taken all of Emily's self-control not to shift a little farther down and situate herself more firmly in Naomi's lap, or run her fingers down Naomi's back and up again and kiss her headache better (or whatever it was that had Naomi looking so pale and tense).
If she closed her eyes (not that she would close her eyes in a dream…would she? This was getting confusing) she could still imagine how it felt to have Naomi pressed in all around her, to have her hands resting lightly across her thighs. She'd never been more comfortable, and she'd never been more turned on.
The ride to Keith's had been so physically comfortable and so mentally uncomfortable, because she couldn't stop her brain from constructing scenarios all on its own. Scenarios where Naomi leaned forward and kissed her, where the rest of the people in the car ceased to exist and she could simply turn around and have her wicked way with Naomi without anyone else being the wiser.
It was only when she felt Naomi's lips press against her neck that she remembered that she didn't have to imagine it. This was her fucking dream, after all. She had her wish: there was no one else in the car, and she was going to damn well have her wicked way with her.
She moaned as she felt Naomi suck on her earlobe for a second before moving back down, running her lips over Emily's skin, stopping to pay special attention to certain spots with her teeth and tongue.
"You, your sex is on fire."
"Fuck," she hissed as Naomi pulled her shirt down to place open-mouthed kisses against her collarbone.
She wiggled away from Naomi's arms and turned to straddle her. Jesus Christ, this girl was gorgeous. With her hair all disheveled and her eyes hooded and looking down towards Emily's shirt and that fucking top button undone on that shirt that had looked so fucking good on Naomi that day that Emily had fantasized about ripping it off immediately. It had taunted Emily all fucking day during the real thing, and now that she was in her dream she acted on what she actually wanted to do, grabbing that top button and yanking so the shirt ripped open completely. The buttons went flying and pinged off windows but she couldn't honestly give a fuck, especially not when Naomi was tugging on the bottom of her t-shirt and pulling the cloth up and over her head. As soon as the fabric was gone Naomi's face was in her cleavage, kissing the space between her breasts, trailing her tongue over Emily's collarbone and ending with a gentle bite to the underside of her jaw.
"Consumed with what's to transpire."
Emily threw her head back and buried her hands in Naomi's hair, enjoying the little moan Naomi made against her neck when she tugged gently at the roots. Naomi's hands trailed up to brush across the sides of her breasts and Emily couldn't stop herself from grinding down into Naomi's lap, seeking friction almost desperately.
Naomi lifted her head and Emily leaned down to kiss her; not the chaste brushing of lips from the night of the wedding but a kiss so hot Emily felt a small bonfire start in the pit of her stomach. It was hard and rough, all tongues and teeth and passion, and Emily loved every bit of it. She brought her hands up to cup Naomi's face and slowed it down, taking advantage of Naomi catching her breath to place little kisses on first her top lip, then her bottom one, sucking on the bottom gently until Naomi moaned again and pressed in for a deeper kiss.
Two words were gasped into Emily's mouth and she couldn't make them out over the buzzing in her head. She placed one final kiss against Naomi's lips and pulled back. "What?" she heard herself ask from very far away.
Naomi leaned her head against the back of the seat and her eyes opened. They looked up at Emily, bright and blue and focused. "You're beautiful," she said again, and this time Emily heard it clearly.
Tears pricked the back of her eyes and she hastily blinked them away, refusing to have anything block her seeing Naomi look up at her like that. She leaned back down and this time it was soft and gentle when she kissed Naomi, as she wrapped her arms around the back of the seat and tried to mold her body as close to Naomi's as possible. But even kissing her she couldn't shake the image of those blue eyes staring straight into her soul, seeing every piece that made her who she was and accepting all of it, loving and cherishing every bit of it with an intensity that was mind-blowing.
She couldn't be projecting these feelings. She just couldn't be.
"I love you," she whispered into the kiss, because she couldn't say it out loud, not in real life, but she could say it here, where only her own ears and her love for Naomi could hear it.
"I know."
Of course she did.
THWACK. THWACK.
THWACK!
Emily clawed at the pillow as it hit her face a third time and bounced off. She inhaled and all she got was fabric, so she wound up coughing and shoving the pillow off of her.
"What the fuck Katie!" she screeched. Every part of her body was throbbing, specifically her heart. She could feel her pulse everywhere: in her throat, at her wrists, in her stomach. Blood pumped lethargically through her body as it remembered it wasn't supposed to just be between her legs.
Very vaguely she registered her alarm buzzing somewhere over her head. Oh, so that's what that buzzing sound was. It had been getting in the way of her Naomi dream.
Something else that got in the way of her Naomi dream? Her fucking sister, hitting her in the face with a pillow. She wondered if homicide was legal in England if you claimed you were provoked. She could just tell the court that Katie had interrupted a sex dream about Naomi. No lesbian on the jury would convict.
Katie rolled her eyes dramatically. "Yeah, fuck is the operative word. As in, I don't need to listen to you getting one. You were fucking moaning and shit. There are some things about my little sister I just don't need to know."
Emily threw her covers off and ignored her sister in favor of rooting around her pile of clean clothes. She went through a process of picking up and discarding several things by just throwing them back, including her favorite band t-shirt that she studied for a moment before tossing it back into the pile. Eventually she came up for air holding a blue plaid button-up and a pair of black jeans.
Katie snorted. "If that outfit could get any more lesbian hipster, please tell me."
"You could give useful advice, you know."
"Why are you worrying about your clothes? It's not like Naomi can enjoy the view."
"Can you just stop!"
Emily whirled around to glare at her sister, eyes flashing dangerously. Katie blinked at her. She was probably surprised by the intensity of Emily's reaction, but then again so was Emily. Katie's words had sparked the memory of Naomi's eyes in the dream, and the way they had pierced right through her, and she'd just reacted without thought.
"Sorry," Katie grumbled petulantly. "What's got your knickers in a twist today?"
Emily took a deep breath and let it out again, feeling some of her annoyance flow out as well. "Nothing," she said. "I was just having a really good dream is all."
She groaned as Katie's face broke into a smug grin and her sister spun around to completely face her as she curled her legs underneath herself. "Was Naomi good?" she asked slyly.
"What? I don't – I mean – how –" Emily blushed violently as her dream surged forward and started replaying in vivid, high-definition detail. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and pressed her legs together. "How did you know it was Naomi?"
"I didn't," Katie said, her smug grin growing exponentially, "until you just said so."
Emily's jaw dropped and she gaped at her sister. Holy…that was manipulative. That was cleverly manipulative and a little Effy-like, to be honest. She was torn between being annoyed and being impressed. She settled on annoyed and scowled at Katie. "I'm going to take a shower," she said stiffly. "Do you want a ride to school?"
"No," Katie waved the offer away, "I don't mind bussing it. Besides, you're going to go pick up Naomi anyway and there's not enough room on your lesbian joy ride for all of us."
Emily rolled her eyes and grabbed a clean towel. She was halfway into the hall when Katie called after her.
"Oh, and if you're going to finish yourself off in the shower try not to moan Naomi's name too loudly, yeah? That's another thing I don't need to hear."
Emily slammed the door behind her so hard the hinges rattled and the 'sexy' sign fell off of the nail that Katie had convinced their father to hammer in. She kicked it away and opened the door to shout, "Stop spending so much fucking time with Effy!" at her sister before she slammed the door shut again and stalked off down the hall.
James stuck his head out into the hall, his hair still sticking all over the place, and said, "What'd Katie just say about you and Naomi and a shower?"
She kicked him and felt marginally better.
She felt even better after she was showered and dressed and on her moped racing away from her house, and not just because of activities that may or may not have happened in the shower.
Her mum had been acting weird ever since Sunday night and Fitch Family Dinner. She hadn't been as aggressive as normal, and Emily could not recall one fight they'd had in the last week. The closest they got was on Tuesday, but even then her mother had backed down and simply asked her to go clean her side of the room instead. And sometimes, when her mother thought she wasn't looking, her mum would stare at her. Not in a disgusted way, but in a thoughtful way.
It was kind of creeping her out, honestly.
She barely even had to think about the route to Naomi's house anymore. It was literally one turn, a ride that she could actually drive in her sleep, which was convenient considering how long it took her to wake up some mornings. Naomi had started waiting for her outside the house each morning, which made her stomach flutter with butterflies, and so she knew when she turned the corner and pulled up into the driveway that Naomi would be sitting on the front porch.
Sure enough, there she was. Emily parked up and took a moment to blatantly stare at her best friend in a way that went so far beyond friendship it was ridiculous. Naomi was leaning back on her elbows with her head tilted to the sky, vaguely reminiscent of the first time Emily had drawn her on the school steps. Her jeans had a few worn places along the knees, her grey jacket looked comfy as fuck, and Emily thought she could see a bit of green peeking out from underneath. Her white trainers bounced against the pavement as she tapped her foot to whatever song was on her iPod and Emily couldn't stop her heart from melting.
She was wearing a beige knitted beanie, with her blonde hair a little wet and curling underneath it, and her nose was scrunched up as she mouthed along the words to the song. She was wearing a cute beanie.
How did the world not explode with the amount of adorable this girl projected into it on a daily basis?
She approached carefully so she wouldn't scare her, since Naomi was pretty wrapped up in the music, but she must have only had one earbud in because her head tilted down towards Emily as she approached.
Emily beamed at her, and for a split second she expected Naomi to push up her sunglasses and smile back, to tuck her hair behind her ear and meet Emily's eyes and say she liked her outfit. It wasn't until Naomi cocked her head slightly to the side the way she always did when she was trying to distinguish someone by their footsteps and then grinned at a spot slightly to the left of her that Emily remembered.
It is comforting to realize that nightmares are not real; it is painful to remember that neither are dreams.
Emily was getting way too good at repressing her feelings around Naomi, because it was absurdly easy for her to push down the crushing disappointment that threatened to break her heart in two and say instead, "New sunglasses?"
Naomi smiled her 'Emily' smile and any bad feelings disappeared completely, washed away by the affectionate quirk of Naomi's lips.
She'd spent a lot of time recently just looking at Naomi's face (which probably meant she should give herself all the Stalker Points in the world and then in the event that more would be needed she could take all of the sketches she'd made of Naomi recently and turn them into more Stalker Points), but she just couldn't help it. Naomi had a wonderfully expressive face and Emily was quickly becoming an expert at telling the emotions apart.
For instance, she had a different smile for different people. The general population got a politely cold smile and nothing else. Freddie, Thomas, and JJ all got slightly different versions of the friendly smile she gave to people she liked. Cook's smile was two parts annoyance and one part affection; Effy's was two parts affection and one part annoyance. Panda's smile was tolerant and slightly wistful, while Katie's was accompanied by an eyebrow quirk. But Emily liked her smile the most, obviously since it was just for her and no one else: a gentle upward tick of the corner of Naomi's mouth that slowly morphed into a crooked grin.
She noticed a lot of other tiny things about Naomi too. Her fingers always moved when she was nervous, fiddling with her glasses or the edges of her clothes or rubbing at the back of her head. If she got startled by a loud noise some kind of physical contact calmed her down almost immediately. Her right eyebrow had this way of tilting up when she was amused and trying not to show it. She bit her lip when she was thinking hard or was trying to stop herself from saying something. She always ran her hand through her hair when she was frustrated. Her hand came up to trace a tiny scar just below her ear when she wasn't thinking about it. Her eyes cycled through emotions and colors when she was reading, just like anyone else's: dark with apprehension to light with playfulness to bright with mirth and back again. Emily could spend a whole day watching her read.
The list of things that Emily knew about Naomi Campbell was far too extensive.
"Thought I'd try out a different style," Naomi answered, tapping the aviator glasses with one finger.
"Looks good. What's on the playlist?" she asked as Naomi stood up and dusted off her jeans, fully aware that Naomi's taste in music changed with her mood. One day Naomi had been pissy as hell and you could hear the Linkin Park blasting through her headphones from a mile away.
"Mumford & Sons."
"No way!" Emily grinned widely and hooked her arm to lead Naomi to the moped, even though it was just a few feet away. "What song?"
She really liked that there were still things she didn't know about Naomi, like that she listened to Mumford & Sons. She really liked that she could be constantly surprised by the things that came out of her mouth.
Naomi smiled her crooked half-smile again. There was something a little sad about it. "Winter Winds."
Emily frowned as she tried to place the song, but couldn't quite remember it. She knew she'd heard it before but the lyrics were fuzzy in her head. She shrugged as she slid onto the seat in front of Naomi. "Let's listen on the way, then."
"How do you expect to do that?"
She reached back and grabbed part of the headphones out of Naomi's hands, wriggling the right earbud up inside her helmet and squishing it in. "There," she said. "Now you use one too and we'll be sorted."
"Gee, Naomi, you think I could borrow half of your headphones? Thank you ever so," Naomi mocked gently.
Emily revved the engine and shot forward a bit. Naomi shrieked and quickly wrapped her arms around Emily's stomach.
"I hate it when you do that!" she said, but she was laughing.
"I only do it when you deserve it," Emily retorted.
"You do it all the time!"
"Exactly." Emily giggled at the indignant squeak from her passenger. "You holding on tight now?"
Naomi squeezed her waist for emphasis. "Yes."
"Good." Emily turned out of the driveway and accelerated, enjoying the feeling of Naomi pressing tightly against her back and she leaned her head so their helmets bumped together. Whenever they rode on her moped Naomi felt the need to be as close as possible. Emily figured it was because she still didn't trust that the moped would not one day kill her, and she wasn't complaining.
Her only problem was that it was very distracting, and even more so since Naomi's hands had a tendency to wander. Not on purpose, she was sure, it was probably just that keeping your hands in one spot was boring and tiring, but how was she supposed to concentrate when Naomi's hands would hook into her pockets or slide up to the top of her stomach?
She almost jumped when the music started to play in her ear. Then she recognized the opening chords and she smiled. She was right; she had heard this song before. Emily found herself mouthing along to the words as they drove while Naomi hummed in her ear.
"As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts, oh the warmth in your eyes swept me into your arms. Was it love or fear of the cold that led us through the night? For every kiss your beauty trumped my doubt."
She was startled again when Naomi sang the chorus low and sweet in her ear as they twisted around the cars in traffic, occasionally getting beeped at. Emily didn't even flip them off like she normally would have. How could she, with Naomi singing to her?
"And my head told my heart 'let love grow'. And my heart told my head 'this time no, this time no'."
Effy met them by the east entrance to walk Naomi to class, since Emily had a free period that morning while Effy and Naomi had history class first thing. Naomi hopped off the moped and placed her helmet carefully against the seat like it was going to hold her spot. Emily bit her lip to keep herself from smiling.
"Bye darling," she cooed sweetly. "Have a good day at school."
Naomi flipped her off and Emily laughed, which made Naomi giggle right back. Effy rolled her eyes and grabbed Naomi's arm. "You act more like a couple than Thomas and Pandora sometimes, I swear to God," Effy scoffed.
Emily glared at Effy so fiercely that it was surprising Effy didn't burst into flames on the spot. Her friend didn't even turn around to acknowledge the glare, just lifted her hand and waved cheekily as she guided Naomi away. Emily scowled and started up her moped again, bringing Naomi's helmet around to sit between her legs so it wouldn't fly off and frowning as she heard the clanking sound the engine made when it started up. She hoped that was just a one-off thing and nothing was wrong with it.
She parked up and grabbed some books from her locker before heading into the library. She nodded at the librarian, who barely looked up from her newspaper to acknowledge her, and made her way to the back corner of the library where she usually read to Naomi. There was a particularly squishy armchair back there that she liked and it was hidden behind the stacks right near the windows so she would have fresh air and sunshine if she wanted it. Spending an hour curled up reading, surrounded by peaceful quiet and the smell of books did not sound like a bad way to start her morning at all. She opened the window and settled down to read.
That is until her text notification pinged loudly in the silence. She smacked her phone to quiet it and then quickly put it on vibrate, her eyes glancing around to see if the librarian was going to pop up out of nowhere and pummel her to death with a copy of Great Expectations.
She glared down at the source of the interruption and almost groaned out loud. A text from Effy. Like those ever ended well.
You don't have a class this morning.
How very observant of you, Emily responded, would you like to recite my work schedule too?
You woke up an hour early just to bring Naomi to school, didn't you?
Yes, she thought sheepishly. No, she texted back stubbornly.
She put her phone back in her pocket and was three paragraphs into her book when it vibrated again. She dropped her book back into her lap and sighed.
You missed out on sleep just so you wouldn't miss out on a morning of Naomi riding bitch on the way to school. That's priceless.
Emily frowned at her phone. Pay attention in class. And don't call it riding bitch.
What's the matter, Ems? Wish she was riding Fitch instead?
Emily blushed so hotly she half-expected steam to start pouring out of her ears, and she started breathing in shallow bursts as her body vividly remembered her dream and unhelpfully supplied her with the appropriate physical reactions. That was vulgar.
This reminds me of a song.
Emily rolled her eyes. Something by Nickelback?
No, older than that. Sweeter.There was a pause between texts, long enough for Emily to get curious. A dream is a wish your heart makes…
Did Elizabeth Stonem actually know everything? Did she have spies that constantly circled around overhead, reporting everything back to her in a timely fashion? Emily was honestly scared for a moment that Effy had the ability to read minds, before a far more mundane explanation presented itself.
She tapped on her keys so hard she was surprised she didn't break the phone. Do your mornings always consist of wake up, take a shower, drink coffee, talk to Katie?
Usually. So you liked the outfit I put her in for dinner on Sunday, then?
Fuck you, Eff.
Going take that as a yes.
Bloody hell, fuck Effy. Now she was completely turned on in the middle of the library, her brain filled with nothing but thoughts of Naomi and scenarios of the same kind as her dream, this time with less clothes and more movement, and there was nothing she could think of that would cool her down.
"You're looking fit this morning, Ems," Mandy purred as she sat on the arm of the chair across from Emily.
…that would do it.
"Good morning, Mandy," Emily said politely, tucking her phone between her thigh and the arm of the chair, making sure to keep the screen tilted up at her. She kept her eyes firmly focused on her book and continued reading, trying desperately to ignore the burning sensation of Mandy staring at her. She managed that for a full thirty seconds before she tilted her head up to the ceiling and stifled a sigh. When she looked back down she managed to catch Mandy's eyes flickering over her body. Her skin crawled a little. "Can I help you with something?
"I'm sure you can," Mandy dropped heavily from the arm into the chair itself and Emily had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from protesting that that was Naomi's seat. "My problem is that I've got no plans for tonight."
Emily reluctantly gave up on her book and packed it way, since Mandy showed no signs of taking the multiple hints that Emily was throwing at her and vacating the library. She knew she was spending too much time with Naomi when her automatic response to Mandy was sarcasm. "I can't imagine why," she said, clicking her tongue against her teeth.
Mandy's eyes narrowed but she stuck her chin out stubbornly and kept going on. "Well, a little birdy told me you and your troop are hitting up that new club off of Rochester tonight."
Emily blinked. She couldn't fathom how Mandy could possibly know that. "That seems to be the plan," she said neutrally.
There was another extended silence before Mandy sighed and leaned forward a little, putting her elbows on her knees, and Emily purposefully kept herself from looking down at what she was sure was an open view of Mandy's chest on display. When Emily's eyes stayed firmly on her face her smirk faltered momentarily. "Effy's always on the list," she said.
Effy was never on a list. Effy was just the type of person that people wanted in their clubs.
"So?"
"So I figured I could be your date for tonight."
"I already have a date for tonight," Emily said quickly. It wasn't even a lie, since everyone was going together as a group.
"Who?" Mandy's smirk morphed into a scowl and Emily practically saw the light bulb appear above her head. "Oh, right. Naomi."
Emily's spine stiffened at the amount of venom Mandy imbued in Naomi's name. She met Mandy's eyes and shrugged, neither confirming nor denying the accusation. Let Mandy think what she wanted.
Mandy snorted unattractively. "Sunk to lusting after straight girls, Ems?"
Emily was getting ready to snap at her for the familiar nickname when her phone vibrated against her leg. Her eyes flicked down to it. Group text from Cook: Headz up every1 Panda sez Mandeh iz prowlin. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Thanks for the warning, wanker.
"I'm not lusting after anybody, for once," she said, her eyes occasionally flicking back to her phone. It was blowing up now as a few acknowledgments got mass-texted back when people responded. It would be impossibly rude to answer for herself so she didn't, but she kept an eye on the conversation anyway.
Mandy scooted just a little closer and reached out to touch Emily's wrist. "You're lonely, Emily," she said. "I can see it. Why won't you let me help? I want to help."
"Your version of help and mine are wildly different," Emily said. She shifted her hand to the side and Mandy's fingers fell onto her knee instead. Well, that was counter-productive.
Thankfully Mandy moved it a second later as she leaned back in her chair and scowled again. "And you think your precious perfect Naomi can help more?"
She already has, she thought, thinking of the holes in her heart that Naomi filled simply by existing. She raised an eyebrow at Mandy and frowned. "I never mentioned Naomi," she pointed out. "Although you've now done it twice."
Her eyes flicked down to her phone again. Group text from JJ: Why hasn't Emily responded?
"And what the fuck is going on with your phone that is so much more interesting than me?" Mandy snapped.
Listening to JJ recite the entire detailed plot of the Lord of the Rings series would be more interesting than talking to Mandy at the moment. Iron self-control was the only thing that stopped Emily from saying that, and then she was thankful for it when she looked down to see what her friends had responded to that with.
Cook was first. Fuck it were too l8, he said.
Mandy's got her! Panda replied, with lots of exclamation points and one keyboard smash she was pretty sure Panda hadn't meant to put in.
TROLLLL IN THE DUNGEON, was Freddie's addition.
Katie's reply was sent directly to her phone instead of to everyone. Hold on Ems we're coming for you.
Naomi's got a rescue plan, Effy said to the whole group.
"Emily!"
Emily's head snapped up and she grimaced at the thunderous look on Mandy's face. Perhaps annoying her was not the best way to go about getting her to leave peacefully. She couldn't help it, though, when her friends were being ridiculous.
Shit, Mandy was still staring at her waiting for an answer, and the more Emily struggled to find one the harder she glared. She wanted Mandy to back off and move on, find someone else to lust after, but she didn't want to end on a sour note. She'd already hurt enough people in her life and even if Mandy was obnoxious and annoying she refused to hurt her feelings just for the sake of making her go away.
But my God did she wish the other girl would just fuck right off. Mostly because she couldn't concentrate on giving her a straight answer when she could barely keep a straight face, because she just had images in her head of her friends huddled in a little circle trying to plot a Mission Impossible-style rescue plan and it made her want to giggle.
Not only that, Mandy had the most horrible timing in the world, most often interrupting her thoughts when she was in the middle of thinking about Naomi. It's like the other girl had some sort of radar that told her when Emily was happy and she immediately dropped everything in order to put a stop to that. And okay, maybe Emily wouldn't go skipping off into fields of wildflowers with Naomi once Mandy was out of the picture, but at least she would be able to fantasize about it in peace.
"You're not even willing to give me a chance, are you?" Mandy snapped.
Emily scrambled. "Mandy…I…" She faltered a little and then thought of blue eyes and a sweet smile. "No," she said firmly. "I'm sorry but that ship sailed a long time ago. There isn't anything between us and there isn't going to be."
She felt guilty as she watched Mandy's face crumble at the very solid rejection that Emily gave her. Not guilty enough to take back her words, though. Mandy looked at her for a long moment; not glaring, just a kind of narrow appraising stare.
"Fine," she said, sitting straight up and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You want to chase after your Naomi, then that's fine," she overrode Emily's voice when she started to protest Naomi's inclusion in the conversation again, "but I'm not going to give up. She's going to break your heart, Emily, and when she does you're going to need someone to pick up the pieces."
Emily had no answer to that. How could she be expected to respond, when Mandy was staring at her with all the fervor of a religious fanatic? When had it reached that point? Maybe she should have been more firm with her before, maybe she'd been unintentionally leading her on by not rejecting her outright, but since the party (since Naomi entered her life, really) she'd told Mandy off twice now, and still the girl persisted.
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she struggled to find words. She didn't know whether she wanted to send Mandy away or keep her there and call the nice men in white.
"Fitch twin!"
Emily looked over at the stacks and blinked in surprise. Kieran loomed in the aisle between two racks of shelves, looking scruffy and bored as he eyed the two of them suspiciously. He was glaring, which was an impression she'd never seen on his face before. Sure he scowled, but never a glare.
"Yes?" she blurted out, and then tacked on to the end after his glare intensified, "Sir?"
"Just who I was looking for." He crossed his arms over his chest. "You didn't hand in the first draft of your essay."
"What?" Emily's jaw dropped. She absolutely had, and she'd even emailed it to him to be safe. She told him that.
"Then you're coming back to my classroom and showing me the email to prove it or you're failing that part," Kieran shrugged nonchalantly, and then to Emily's surprise he caught her eye and winked.
Emily almost laughed at herself. Kieran was a surprisingly good actor, but hadn't Effy just texted to say that Naomi had a rescue plan in mind? She made a face and scrunched up her mouth so she wouldn't smile.
"Yes, sir," she said grumpily. She gathered up her bags and turned to look at Mandy again.
Mandy looked surprised and disappointed, and her jaw set when she saw Emily looking at her. "I meant what I said," she started to say, one hand held out towards Emily.
"Now, Fitch!" Kieran ordered as he turned on his heel and left. Emily followed obediently, running a little to keep up with his longer strides.
Neither of them said anything as Kieran led her back to his classroom until they got inside and he shut the door. She caught his eye and they both burst into laughter.
"You should have seen the look on your face," he guffawed.
"You're an ass, Kieran," Emily accused as she wiped some wetness from the corners of her eyes. "I thought you were genuinely upset with me."
"In order to be upset about you missing coursework, I would have to give a fuck about whether you missed coursework." He settled back behind his desk and started digging around in the drawers, coming up with a small ball. He leaned back in his chair and started throwing it against the wall and catching it again. "Wait for the signal and then you can go. And tell Naomi I expect those pints of Guinness in my hands by five o'clock sharp."
"What signal?" Emily asked. Just as the question came out of her mouth she heard a soft "Cacaw!" drift in through the open window. And then again, louder: "Cacaw!"
Kieran stopped tossing the ball around and looked at the window strangely. "Naomi's new friends are weird," he said finally.
Emily snorted.
Panda's head popped up in the window to check and make sure that Emily was actually in the room, and then she disappeared again. Emily heard whispering noises and then a voice that was clearly JJ's said, "The smoke monster resides in a green paradise."
When she stuck her head out the window to look down, JJ and Panda were gone, although she did manage to catch a flash of rainbow color as it turned the corner. Shaking her head and smiling, she thanked Kieran for the rescue and left.
Just as she suspected the group was on the college green passing a spliff between them. Freddie waved lazily as she joined them.
"I don't think this is what those signs mean when they ask us to help keep the college 'green'," Emily snarked as she dropped into the empty space between Katie and Naomi. Her hand landed so close to Naomi's that she almost reached out and grabbed it, but stopped herself at the last second. When she looked up again Effy was studying her closely.
Freddie handed her the spliff and she took a drag gratefully. "We're interpreting it loosely," he informed her after he blew out a ring of smoke.
"So did Kieran get there in time?" Effy asked.
"Not really. She'd already been there a while before you lot figured out I needed rescuing." She shrugged like it didn't matter, but Effy's eyes focused and narrowed.
"Anything I need to kick her ass about?" Katie glared and looked around as if Mandy was going to appear suddenly out of the grass so that she could get walloped.
Emily shrugged again and plucked a few pieces of grass from the ground. She let them drop through her fingers and float back down to disappear among their brethren again. "Nothing she hasn't said before," she said.
She felt pressure on her hand and glanced down. Naomi had hooked two fingers around Emily's pinky and ring finger and was squeezing lightly. When Emily looked up she saw Naomi turned towards her with such sweet concern all over her face that it made her heart beat faster inside her chest.
"God, Ems, you should just tell her to fuck off!" Katie snapped, breaking her out of her happy Naomi bubble.
Emily smiled. "I did."
"What?"
"I told her to fuck off. I mean, more politely than that, but that was basically the gist." She decided to keep the fact that Mandy hadn't listened to herself.
"Shit. Doug!" Cook warned.
Effy, who had the spliff, smoothly put it behind her back as Harriet's right-hand man ambled past them. He stopped and Emily held her breath as he studied them for a moment. She was pretty sure that the wind had carried away most of the traces of weed, but you could never be positive. Anyway she was glad it was Doug and not Harriet, because out of the two administrators he was more likely to be clueless.
He proved that when he smiled at them and nodded, seemingly finding nothing wrong with a whole group of students out on the green when most of them should be in class. "No hats on school grounds please, Miss Campbell," was all he said before he wandered away again.
Everyone in the group started to breathe again collectively, and Naomi frowned. "Really?" she said incredulously, "That's what he was worried about?"
The bell rang in the distance and Emily sighed. She twisted her grip on Naomi's hand to she could pull her friend to her feet. "That's us for English then," she said. She reached up and snatched Naomi's hat off her head.
"Hey!" Naomi grabbed for it and pouted adorably when Emily tugged it out of reach.
Emily put it in Naomi's bag and reached up, running her hands through Naomi's hair and playing around with it until her messy hat-hair was gone and it lay flat again.
Naomi brought her hand up to her hair and smiled sheepishly. "Thanks, Em."
"Always."
The end of the school day saw Emily riding home on her moped by herself.
Naomi had been very firmly kidnapped by Katie and Effy, since according to Katie when Naomi had said that Katie could dress her up for their night out that meant they had to go get a new outfit. Emily, who knew exactly how her sister could get about shopping, quickly said that she had to go get her scooter checked.
That wasn't actually a lie. The machine had made another clunking sound when she started it up again and she really did want to get it looked at.
She was still grinning at the look of horror on Naomi's face when she'd realized what she'd gotten herself into, when the handles of the scooter wobbled dangerously underneath her hands. She put on the brakes immediately and pulled to the side of the road, letting her shoes skim along to keep balance as the steering wobbled again.
"Fucking hell!" she cursed as she coasted to a stop. She wasn't anywhere near where the shop they usually took their car was.
She quickly glanced around, and as luck would have it there was a petrol station nearby with a garage off the side of it. She could see a few cars parked in the lot and one propped up in the garage. Thanking her father for every time that he ever made her go on the naughty bar, she pushed her moped down the road and into the garage. The sound of metal clinking together and cursing told her that someone was inside of it, but when she looked around she saw no one.
She leaned her moped against its kickstand. "Hello?"
"Be out in a second."
Emily looked down and saw a pair of legs sticking out from underneath a car. They were clad in the shortest shorts she'd ever seen, and when the owner of the voice pushed herself out from underneath the automobile Emily saw a tank top that was riding up a little bit, toned arms with a tattoo down one bicep, a grease stain smudged across a tanned cheek, and the blue eyes of a brunette girl a few years older than herself.
Blue eyes that were currently laughing at her.
"Good perve?" the girl asked.
Emily fought to keep herself from blushing. "I wasn't – " she started to defend herself, except she totally was and she'd been caught, so instead she finished with, "there's something wrong with my moped."
The girl winked at her and wiped her hands off on a nearby towel before she turned to look at Emily's baby, abruptly all business. Emily watched studying her moped nervously; it kind of felt like she was bringing her first child to the doctor because it had a cough.
Her phone pinged! and she snorted as she looked down and saw a new text message.
I cannot believe you left me with them. N xx
She smiled. Suck it up. Imagine 17 years of that. E x
"Who's Naomi?" the girl asked suddenly.
Emily looked up from her phone and stared at the girl for a second, jaw hanging like an idiot, until the girl motioned towards the seat of her moped and grinned. "I was going to sit down," she elaborated, "but apparently it's not allowed."
Oh, that. Emily smiled at her moped. It already had a few random decorations on it when she got it (the most noticeable being a big smiley face sticker on the back) and so Wednesday afternoon the gang had decided they were going to personalize it themselves. JJ had drawn a little graph around the gas meter to remind her the best time to change it, Panda had doodled a girl on the front, Cook had thought it was fun to put a big rainbow sticker next to the smiley face, and underneath that her sister had written "The Lezmobile" in big block letters. Thomas had added stickers of bands, Effy had written words along the pedals almost too tiny to make out, and Freddie had drawn flames along the muffler.
But Naomi's was the best. She'd gotten a few stencils and went straight over to the seat, getting Effy to help her out (and ordering Emily away until she was done), and when Emily was finally allowed to see it she didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry. Naomi had stenciled "Naomi's spot. Don't you fucking dare!" onto the seat.
"No one else in the world is allowed to ride there?" Emily had teased around a tight throat.
"Nope, just me," Naomi had beamed at her.
Emily shook her head and brought herself back to the present where the mechanic was watching her curiously.
"Girlfriend?" the girl asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"No," Emily answered a little too quickly and a bit too unconvincingly. "My best friend."
"Hmm," she gave her a look that said she didn't quite believe her and Emily bristled. "Well, I'll still be sure to obey the rules," the girl said with a teasing glint in her eye. She rounded the other side of the moped and stooped down to check something underneath the front wheel. Emily averted her eyes to fight the temptation to check out her ass. She texted Naomi instead.
How's the outfit coming along? E x
You're a traitor, Emily Fitch. N xx
"Looks like you've just managed to knock something loose under there. Five minutes and it's fixed," the girl said cheerfully as she stood up.
Emily quickly dropped her phone away from her face so she didn't seem rude. She smiled at the girl. "Great! What do I owe you?"
"Thirty," the girl said. She looked at Emily and her eyes raked up her body from her shoes to her eyes. "Or nothing and you come out with me tonight."
Emily separated her life into two sections nowadays: BN and AN. BN (Before Naomi) she would have said yes to this girl. The girl was gorgeous, confident, and obviously gay if she was asking Emily on a date. Normally she would have jumped all over that offer, figuratively and literally. But she lived in AN (After Naomi) now and all she thought was: your eyes are the wrong shade of blue.
Just as she opened her mouth to answer her phone went off again. It was Naomi asking if she was going to come save her from Katie at any point in the near future. A smile snuck onto her face without permission. When she looked back up the mechanic had one eyebrow raised at her.
"The best friend?" she asked, motioning to Emily's phone.
Emily blushed again. "Yes."
The girl tilted her head to look at Emily's home screen, which just happened to be a picture of herself, Naomi, Katie, Effy, and Panda. They were all squished together in a booth at Keith's pub. Katie was caught in between Effy and Panda, the three of them pressing their heads close together so they could all fit in the shot, and Emily was leaning back into Naomi, who had her arm wrapped around her.
"You make cute 'best friends'," the mechanic girl smiled at her, the air quotes palpable. She pulled back and smiled wider when Emily glared at her. "So, about my proposition?"
It only took looking at Naomi's latest text (No seriously help me N xx) for Emily to know her answer. "I can't," she said apologetically. "Sorry."
The girl's mouth scrunched up a little bit and she nodded before she went to work on Emily's moped. It took her maybe five minutes to fix it, and she wrote out a receipt for Emily when she took her money. Instead of handing it to her, though, she reached over and slid it into Emily's pocket.
"If the best friend thing doesn't work out, give me a call," the girl said as she sauntered away.
Emily pulled the paper out of her pocket and looked at it for a moment. Underneath the actual receipt was a string of numbers and the name 'Jen' in neat cursive. She pulled her helmet down onto her head and revved her engine, but she didn't want to seem like a bitch, so she waved at Jen, shoved the paper into the pocket of her jacket, and promptly forgot about it entirely as she drove off.
"If you lot don't hurry up we're going to be waiting in line forever!" Emily shouted up the stairs.
They'd been hanging out in the foyer of the Campbell house for the last fifteen minutes as Katie and Effy and Naomi finished getting ready. Gina had offered for them to sit in the living room but they'd turned the suggestion down, since the three girls were supposed to be right down. This was Katie Fitch, however, and nothing happened on time with that girl, at least not where clothes were concerned.
It hadn't taken Emily herself long to get ready at all: she'd thrown on dark skinny jeans and a black top that she actually stole from Katie, sleeveless and made of a light meshy material that hung off one shoulder and had a swooping neckline. She straightened her hair and put on smoky eye makeup; some black ankle boots with a significant heel and a silver necklace with a key dangling from it completed the look and that was all she needed.
Except now she was sitting in the hall with the boys and Panda while the three of them dawdled upstairs. Bear was sitting obediently at her feet with his head on her knee, eyes closed in satisfaction as she scratched him behind the ears. Finally, though, she pushed his head off her knee and went up the stairs.
She could hear Naomi's hairdryer whirring through the partially open door, and Katie and Effy talking quietly in her room. She slowed down and stopped altogether just before she got to the top, keeping just out of sight and turning her head to the door so she could hear the conversation better. Eavesdropping was wrong, she shouldn't do it, she was…totally curious.
"…so fucking stubborn, the both of them." That was Katie, her lisp more pronounced as she tried to keep her voice down. Emily couldn't imagine what they were talking about. Who was stubborn?
"So we use one of the most powerful emotional motivators known to man," Effy's voice answered, even more quietly.
"Love?" Katie asked.
"Jealousy."
Emily leaned forward some more and tripped, falling onto her knees at the top of the stairs. She pulled herself up before the door flew open all the way and hoped it looked like she'd just gotten to the top.
Smooth, Emily. Nice. Queen of subtlety.
"Are you ready to go now?" she snapped when Katie and Effy both poked their heads out of Naomi's room to look at her. Effy's face said she wasn't fooled but she didn't say anything and seemed to let it slide.
"Naomi's just finishing up, yeah?" Katie said, rolling her eyes and walking back into Naomi's room. Emily followed obediently. "Perfection takes time."
Not when you're already perfect, Emily thought, just as she heard the hair dryer shut off in the bathroom.
Perfection is defined as being free, or as free as possible, from all flaws or defects. Therefore by its very definition perfection cannot be improved upon, and Emily believed that up until the moment that Naomi stepped out of the bathroom and she was no longer capable of forming coherent thought, let alone coherent words. A small noise formed in the back of her throat and escaped her mouth, which she realized belatedly was hanging open, as her eyes widened in their attempt to absorb the sheer perfection before her in the form of Naomi Campbell.
Emily had seen Naomi in sweatpants, in jeans and a t-shirt, absolutely breathtaking all done up for the wedding, but apparently all of that paled in comparison to Naomi when Katie Fitch got her way.
The tight black leggings made her long legs look like they went on forever, and the bottom of her silky blue top hugged her hips while the top exposed her neck and part of her collarbone. The blue of the shirt and the dark makeup around her eyes made them pop, and her hair was straight and silky. Naomi bit her lip shyly and Emily had no idea what her body wanted to be doing it was thrown into so much havoc, but it was definitely something involving being as close to Naomi as possible.
Katie cleared her throat and Emily abruptly remembered that her sister and Effy were in the room too. For once she was glad that Naomi couldn't see her, since she had absolutely no doubt that she'd just given away the depth of her true feelings, especially if Katie's glib expression and Effy's smug smirk were anything to go by.
"Did you bring the lipstick I wanted?" Katie asked. The sound of her sister's voice seemed too loud for the room to Emily, although she was sure Katie was just talking normally.
"Yeah, in the right pocket," Emily glanced at Katie just long enough to toss her jacket to her without completely taking her eyes off Naomi. The longer she stared at Naomi the higher Effy's eyebrows inched upwards, but Emily was beyond the point of caring.
"Do I look okay?" Naomi asked, and Emily's world narrowed again. It wasn't about the lust anymore, but about the fact that Naomi could make the rest of the world cease to exist.
"You look great," she managed to get out.
"Um, excuse me?" Katie scoffed, offended. "Great? She looks fucking stunning, thank you very much. If I wasn't so completely into cock I'd almost consider going gay for her looking the way she does right now."
The wave of jealousy that surged through her body was completely irrational. It was ridiculous, it was Katie for crying out loud, but she couldn't help the possessive little devil that reared its ugly head when Katie said that. She beat the feelings down and shook herself out of it.
"Katie's right," she said, smiling when she saw Naomi's blush deepen. "You are stunning." She almost bit her tongue when she stammered over the last word and resisted the urge to kick herself.
Naomi's answering smile made her insides melt, and of course like most things it was interrupted when her sister finally finished digging around in her jacket for her lipstick case and came up with a piece of paper in her hand instead.
Fuck, the receipt from the mechanic girl. She'd kept it because she needed to show their dad the repairs to her moped and just forgotten to throw it out afterward, and now Katie was looking at her with the spark in her eyes that never preceded anything good.
"Who's Jen?" Katie asked, drawing the 'e' out for as many syllables as possible as she waved the piece of paper in the air, "And why do you have her mobile number?"
Emily's eyes flickered over to Naomi, who now had her back to them as she rooted around a pile in the corner for shoes. Her eyes traveled across the tenseness in Naomi's shoulders and her brain immediately went into overdrive. She wanted to go over and talk to her, ask if she was worried about going out, tell her they could stay in and listen to music if she wanted. That actually didn't sound like a bad idea: she could get out of her constricting club clothes and borrow some of Naomi's, they could spend the night in together away from all the stress of going out that Emily very abruptly deemed not worth it. Jesus, what had Naomi done to her? She didn't even want to go out anymore?
But Katie was still waiting expectantly for an answer, and so she reluctantly gave up her daydream and grabbed at the receipt instead. "It's nobody," she growled when Katie wouldn't give it up.
"Nobody who signed her name with a heart and wrote call me?" Katie sing-songed.
"The moped broke down on the way home today, okay?" Emily said, glaring at her sister grumpily and keeping Naomi in the corner of her eye, watching the way Naomi's hair fell in front of her face as she bent over to pull on the modest heels she'd grabbed. "The mechanic wrote out the receipt and I kept it for dad. She said I should call her if I had any more problems."
"She signed it with a heart," Katie pointed out.
"So?"
"With a heart."
"Will you stop harping on the fucking heart, please?"
"Was she cute?"
Emily shrugged. "She was…not unattractive," she conceded with a sigh. She knew if she tried to lie her sister would just sink her teeth in deeper and refuse to let it go. "She gave me her mobile number in case of I had trouble again, like I said."
Katie raised an eyebrow, and damn her sister for being able to read her so well. "And?"
"And she may have told me I didn't have to pay if I went out with her tonight," Emily mumbled.
There was a crash and her head swung away from the floor to see Naomi bending over and swinging her hand down to grab her bookbag that she'd just knocked off the side of her bed. Emily went over to grab it for her but was waved away with a curt, "I got it, Em," so she backed off and frowned, confused.
"So what'd you say?" Katie prodded. She sat down on Naomi's bed and crossed her legs, looking at Emily expectedly. "Is she coming with us tonight?"
"No, obviously. I wasn't interested."
Katie rolled her eyes. "Why the fuck not? She was hot, she was gay, she was obviously interested in you if she was offering free services, and babes I'm not being funny but you need a shag like nobody's business."
"Hey!" Emily protested while Naomi coughed and Effy tried to hide her smirk.
"Well it's true!" Katie waved her hand for emphasis. "You haven't had one since, like, before school started and I would know, 'cause I never have to cover for you when you're not home at night anymore. A good shag would stop you from being all mopey and shit all the time like you've been lately."
"I'm not mopey and shit all the time, and I just wasn't interested, all right?"
"See, this is what I mean. You wouldn't be so stroppy if you just had a good fuck against a wall."
"Katie!"
"Separate, twins," Effy said warningly.
"You ready to go, Naoms?" Emily changed the subject, cutting her eyes back over to Naomi in time to see her pulling her jacket on with shaky hands, her face completely red.
"Yeah, just about," Naomi sent her a quick, strained smile and Emily frowned again. All the sex talk had made Naomi uncomfortable and she hadn't even noticed. Wasn't she supposed to notice those things?
"All I'm saying is call her," Katie said again, still holding up the receipt. "Have her meet us at the club. It'll be fun. I'll do it for you, if you like."
Emily wouldn't call her. She wouldn't call anyone. It was true she hadn't hooked up with anyone since before school had started (since before they met Naomi) and she didn't particularly have the inclination to now. She was stuck in a horrible kind of stationary limbo: too afraid to move forward and destroy one of the greatest things that had ever happened to her, and too afraid to stay still and let an opportunity for something beautiful slip by. So instead of doing anything about it, she remained cowardly in her limbo, and tried to ignore it.
"I'm. Not. Interested," Emily repeated in answer to Katie's proposal, putting an emphasis on each word. She stalked over and grabbed the paper out of Katie's hand before she could move it away again and very purposefully ripped up the paper, sticking her tongue out at Katie when she threw the pieces away in the bin.
Katie made a face right back. "Real mature, Ems," she said.
Effy rolled her eyes and hooked her arm through Naomi's, tugging them away. "Come on, then. We're going to be late."
"We're already late," Emily grumbled.
"I heard that!" Effy called over her shoulder.
"You were supposed to!"
She didn't miss the quick wink that Katie sent Effy when they got downstairs, and it confused her more than ever, but the rest of the group was filing out the door already and so she put it in the back of her mind to examine again later.
Time to hit the club.
A/n: So, worth the wait? And worth the slight cramp in my hand? I can't collectively marry all of you for your reviews but I can shower you with Naomily chapters *showers*. You know the drill by now. Favorite part? Something you particularly liked? Something you didn't like at all? Reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy, like diving into a basket of kittens, except without the animal cruelty. That went off on a weird tangent. I apologize.
(The songs in this chapter are"Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon, "Winter Winds" by Mumford & Sons, and a teensy tiny bit of "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" from Cinderella.)
Some fic reccing while I have you here: Besides Heart of Stone (seriously read it) a bunch of new stories have caught my eye. Particularly Miss Peg's new one "Home", MoaningMyrtle's "Capes and Capers", "Nowhere To Go But Everywhere" by kirkpattycake, and "Shutter" by imoan-campbell, the last two you can find under the "M" rating and THEY DO NOT HAVE NEARLY ENOUGH REVIEWS FOR THEIR FLAWLESS FIRST CHAPTERS.
Okay I'm done. Back to writing part 2 now. Love and rainbows to you all.
Cheers! ~FS