Okay...number ten, here it is. I know this story develops kind of slowly, and I'm afraid I slowed it down one more notch witch this one. I hope you'll be bearing with me, though, they're getting there...in this life! ;-) Loads of thanks to all the reviewers - you make my day, honestly!!

Chapter 10

Naomi flung her bag on the steps and flopped down beside it. She tried to light the cigarette she'd propped between her lips, but her lighter wouldn't produce a single spark. Fuck. She waved Effy over who'd just ended her conversation with the dark-haired guy she'd cast an eye on in the park a couple of days ago. It was kind of funny to watch her in action. The poor guy had clung to her every word, clearly mesmerized by the full flirty-mode she'd switched into and her good looks and next to nothing skirt she expertly used to turn his head.

"You've got a light?"

The other girl nodded and searched her bag for her packet of cigarettes.

"God, what have you done to him, he's almost drooling." Naomi laughed while her eyes followed Effy's latest victim who still seemed to be slightly dazed.

Effy shrugged with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "Men are so easy to impress. And even easier to manipulate." she added as an afterthought. "So how's it going with the nice twin?"

"Emily?" Even saying her name out loud was enough to make her heart skip a beat.

"No, the Olsen twins." Effy replied sarcastically and blew a cloud of smoke into the air.

"It's going okay." Naomi relented. "We already finished the first two parts of our topic." she answered, trying to sound slightly bored.

"I don't give a shit about your fucking paper. How's it going with Emily?"

Naomi swiveled around and met her gaze. "What are you talking about?" Keep it cool, Naomi, then she'll back off again. But fucking hell, how can she know?

"I'm neither blind nor stupid." Effy simply said.

Naomi exhaled slowly and stared into space before answering. Fuck. I don't believe this. "Is it that obvious?" she whispered almost inaudibly. So much for playing it cool.

"No. I'm just kind of gifted to spot when someone's fallen head over heels." She sat down beside her and nudged her with her knee. "Don't worry about it. I'm also gifted to keep my mouth shut."

Naomi still didn't look at her. Jesus fucking Christ. What have I gotten myself into? "Fuck." she groaned and shook her head.

"Come on, what's so bad about it?"

"You mean besides the unimportant fact that she's a fucking girl for a start?"

"So what?"

"So what? Jesus, Effy." She shook her head once more, clearly frustrated.

"Okay. So, obviously that's usually not your cup of tea. But, hell, I guess you're not the only person on earth who's decided do discover the other side of the bridge as well."

"Effy, Christ! I haven't decided anything! I don't even want this. It's just happening to me and I can do fuck about it." She sighed. "Don't you see that this is a fucking disaster?" she looked at her almost pleadingly. "What the fuck am I supposed to do now?"

"Naomi, come on, you're not three years old. I bet you've been with a couple of guys, either in relationships or just for the fun of it, whatever, and you haven't been rendered speechless then, right? You don't really seem the type to be lost for words then."

"It's not the same and you know it."

"So I take it you haven't talked to her yet? Or….shown her without words perhaps?" she said with a smirk and wiggled her brows at her.

"Yeah, right." Naomi snorted. "This is not funny, Eff."

"It wasn't meant to be funny. Tell her and it'll be fine, you'll see."

Naomi looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "It'll be fine? Perhaps if I'd be able to grow a dick anytime soon, yeah, that would be a possibility." she said sarcastically. "Or how would you react if another woman told you she had a crush on you? You would tell her to fuck the hell off, that's what you'd do."

Effy laughed at that. "That's the nice way of telling me what a heartless bitch I am?"

Naomi just rolled her eyes, clearly not in the mood for jokes at the moment.

"I really thought you'd have figured it out by now."

"Figured out what?"

"Emily. I told you – she's smart, she's caring and everybody who isn't half blind can see that she's not exactly hideous. Why do you think she hasn't had a boyfriend since ice age? And I'm not talking about the movie here."

"How the hell should I know? Because the guys around here are plain stupid?"

"If you're always so thick then I wonder how you even managed high school." Effy said and rolled her eyes.

"Christ, Effy, could you stop talking in riddles for once?"

"Naomi, how hard can it be? She's staring at you with puppy dog eyes whenever you're around. Please don't tell me you haven't noticed that. Besides that, she's so nervous when she's talking to you that I'm surprised she doesn't gulp her tongue in the process."

Naomi swiveled around and stared at the other girl as if her last sentences had been spoken in Swahili. She couldn't possibly be saying that...no. Impossible. Effy read the unbelieving look on her face and laughed.

"Don't look at me as if I'd revealed to you that I am the Messiah." she laughed. "Do I really have to spell it out for you? She's got a huge crush on you and you're obviously too blind to see it. And I'm not jumping to conclusions here, trust me." Naomi still didn't budge. "You just have to be brave for once. Go on and talk to her." She gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder and walked away.

Naomi felt numb, as if her mind had been swiped clean of any sensible thought. No. It can't be true. Naomi ran her hands over her face, then her fingers through her hair. She tried to remember parts of the conversation they'd had yesterday when she'd jokingly asked her about her boyfriend-situation.

"Why? Are you having a date with some hot guy or something?"

"Yeah, sure. That's me – dating all the hot guys here."

"No?"

"That's my sister's part, remember? And what would I do with some 'hot guy' anyway?"

Fucking hell. She'd been so delighted by the fact that Emily wasn't seeing anyone that the redhead's phrasing hadn't really registered in her mind. Naomi groaned and rested her chin on her knees. Shouldn't she jump with joy now? Assuming Effy was right and Emily indeed wasn't interested in men, the seemingly insurmountable obstacle had vanished into thin air now. She wasn't quite ready to accept Effy's conviction that Emily had cast an eye on her, but still, now there'd be a vague chance to broach the subject without Emily telling her to get lost before she'd even finished the sentence.

And that's exactly the problem here. She'd got used to the fantasy of being allowed to touch her, to kiss her, to just be with her for heaven's sake. Her mind had constructed all kinds of different scenarios and played those in never-ending loops inside her head, thoughts that only belonged to herself and would never be spoken out loud but which were enough to lighten her mood any time. She'd given herself over to the sweetly-torturous feeling of craving for something – or make that someone – she couldn't have, not in a million years, had created her own fantasy world of 'What if's', assured that they would remain just that – fantasies which would never come true but remain securely stashed inside her mind. End of story.

But this. This changed everything. Now that there was a chance for her daydreams to come true, even if it was only theoretical, this made the whole situation far too real for her. It was easy to warm to the idea of having a crush on a girl when you knew deep down that you'd never act on it. Okay, scratch that, it wasn't all but easy. It was a fucking pain in the arse. But knowing that it could possibly become real – that was another piece of cake altogether. She was straight, for fuck's sake. So what if she'd been dreaming about a girl lately, there were probably a lot of women who did that once in a while without being gay or something like that.

She'd never have taken Emily for being gay, though. After all she was beautiful, a real eye catcher actually, and funny, and easy to be with, and….. Yeah, and this disqualifies her for being gay? Jesus, Naomi, since when have you turned into such a prejudiced prick? She shook her head as if to brush the thought away. Perhaps her separation from Steven had affected her more than she'd acknowledged to herself and thrown her off balance somehow. About time to straighten that out. Literally.

"Hey."

Naomi gave a start. Fucking hell, why do people always have to sneak up to me? She looked up and gazed straight into the chocolate brown eyes which had haunted her in her dreams so often lately. Of course it was her. She would recognize that husky voice effortlessly out of thousands. She felt that warm tingle in her stomach again which seemed to be naturally linked to the redhead's presence. But this feeling was overwhelmed by a sudden bout of anger. How could she do this to her? How could she drive her out of her head just like that and make her doubt so many things she'd taken for granted so far?

"Hi Emily. I'm sorry, but I'm in kind of a hurry right now, so…erm….I've really got to go." She jumped up and left her on the steps, guilt settling upon her at once like a heavy dark cloud. She hasn't done anything wrong, you bitch.

So...don't hate me! ;-) As always I'd be happy about any kind of feedback!