Hello everybody! Thank you so much for continuing to read and review this story! I'm updating a bit earlier than usual this week as I suspect I will be dead on my feet tired tomorrow - sorry I couldn't update last week on Friday as I'd said, things came up last minute and I couldn't get out of them. Anyways, enough rambling, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Oh and as usual I don't own Skins or the characters but this story is based on true events.

Chapter 10: Effy

I walked into my apartment, feeling rather lonesome after Gina dropped me off and hugged me and helped me with my bags. I set my bags down in my bedroom and went to turn the kettle on to make some tea. I'd texted Effy on the drive from the train station back here and let her know that I was going to be at home and that she was welcome to come over. I'd expected her to say that she was busy but she didn't and was apparently already on her way.

Effy was my best friend and had been since college. I think the reason I liked her was because she never really said much but could speak volumes within one sentence. She knew me in and out, and I'd grown to know her just as well. When I first met her she was wild and essentially afraid of herself. We were actually quite alike – Effy was trying to come to terms with what love meant to her, and I was just starting to realize that I liked girls. Effy and I fucked the pain away (not together, obviously), did drugs, got drunk, made messes of our lives really. When Effy finally started to calm down and accepted that she was in love, it sent me even more off the rails. Effy's relationship with Freddie showed me what I was missing out on. What a normal relationship with a guy could have been like. I'd felt as though a part of my life, a potential path I could have taken was taken away from me when I realized I was a lesbian. I suppose you could say I went into a period of mourning. Mourning the white picket fence, 2.5 kids and a life that society deemed acceptable that I was now never going to have.

But Effy was having none of it. I'd confided in her and told her about my suspicions that I was gay. As she watched me heading deeper into my downward spiral, she began to plan her method of attack.

And that method of attack was to take me to an acid party and make out with me. She was the first girl I'd kissed, which sounds weird but in a way it felt right. Effy was also my first real friend, so why shouldn't she have been the first girl I kissed?

I knew from that moment on that I wasn't missing out on anything. I'd kissed boys before, I'd had relationships with boys before, I'd had loads of sex with boys before, and when I was in those relationships it was when I felt like I was missing something. I'd never felt complete with a boy. When Effy kissed me, something clicked. It was dangerous, really. I could have easily developed feelings for Effy after that, I'd already cared about her so much. But I knew that it wasn't about the kiss really, it was about acceptance. Effy showed me just how much she accepted me no matter what I was by kissing me. And if Effy could do that for me then I owed it to myself to accept who I was.

Effy'd managed to combine my past self and my real self by kissing me at that acid party. And I learned that who I wanted to be and who I was weren't as different as I'd once thought. The acid helped with that realization.

Now Effy and I had both settled down in our own ways. Effy and Freddie lived together in a two bedroom flat a few blocks away from my flat. Freddie was a freelance photographer and Effy styled the models for his shoots. Of course this meant that most of Freddie's models ended up looking like grunged out hookers, but it suited his photos. I ended up working as a political journalist for a small online newspaper. The pay wasn't great but I got to work from home and they occasionally sent me to different countries experiencing some kind of political issues or revolts.

I heard the front door open as I was pulling out some mugs and tea bags from the cabinet.

"Eff?" I called out as I heard light footsteps behind me. She jumped onto my back, making me slightly off-balance, but Effy was so small and light that it didn't really affect me. She wrapped her arms tightly around my shoulders and buried her face into my neck.

"I missed you so much Naomi!" She said as she hopped off my back. I turned around to face her and hugged her tightly.

"I missed you too, Eff," I said as she smiled up at me. The kettle boiled and Effy went to go sit at my small table as I started to make our tea.

"So how was France?" She asked with a knowing smile as I set her cup of tea in front of her. I blushed.

"I guess mum told you about Emily, then," I said as she smiled and nodded. "Well, France was great, but only because she was with me."

Effy aww'd and told me that I'd gone soft. I simply shrugged. I changed the subject and asked her about Freddie and her mum and brother, all the usual things we'd talk about to break the tension. I could feel Effy slowly trying to steer the conversation back to Emily, and I'm not quite sure that I was ready to talk about her yet. I was already missing her enough without talking about her. To be honest I wasn't even sure that I'd be able to sleep properly tonight without her.

As soon as Effy had basically told me to cut the shit and tell her a bit about Emily I knew there wasn't really any escaping it.

"Well she has red hair and has a twin and she's small and has a husky voice and I really like her and I miss her a lot and I'm worried that we'll drift apart and nothing that happened in France will matter and it will all turn into a story I can tell my grandkids one day."

Effy's eyes widened and she took another sip of her tea.

"I really want you to meet her, Eff. I think you'd like her. She said we should organize a pub night with all our mates some time before Christmas, so if she ever phones me and we manage to arrange it will you come?" Effy nodded her head and continued staring at me, almost as though she knew I had more to say.

"I don't want to sleep without her tonight, Eff," I said, so quietly I barely heard it myself. I looked down at my hands and watched as Effy reached out towards me and squeezed my hands gently.

I looked up at her as she smiled knowingly at me. "You'll be fine, Naomi," she reassured me.

I wasn't quite sure what exactly was going to end up being "fine", but for some reason I believed her.

Effy pulled out her pack of cigarettes and offered me one before lighting one for herself.

"You said Emily has red hair?" She asked with a slight frown on her face. I nodded.

"And lives in Bristol?" I nodded again.

"Hmm," she said cryptically. I didn't bother to ask her what she meant. Effy always clarified things when she felt the time was right, and now obviously wasn't the right time for her.

She smiled brightly at me and nodded to herself. "You'll be just fine," she said with yet another nod.

Thanks so much for reading! Please don't forget to leave me a review and let me know what you thought of cryptic Effy!