"I'm not going to do this with you. Make it into a big thing where we both avoid each other and make excuses to leave the room and all that childish shit."

"Make it into a big thing? Emily, you're the one who's bringing emotions into it, making it something. It was just a stupid drunken mistake. I'd had too much to drink, I just felt like kissing someone, okay?"

"Naomi–"

" Shh, keep your voice down!"

It was Monday, and Emily had followed Naomi into the bathroom after the morning meeting. Over the weekend Emily had decided that she wasn't going to let Naomi ignore and avoid her like she'd done in the past. Oh, Emily wasn't stupid. In fact she was great at reading body language, had seen through all those times Naomi had pretended to have her head buried in work when she'd walked past.

Emily sighed, and spoke more quietly.

"Naomi, can we just talk about this like adults? Clear the air yeah?"

Naomi had turned back to the bathroom mirror, was pretending to adjust her hair. "No need. Consider it cleared," she said, still avoiding Emily's gaze.

Emily looked down and realised she was wringing her hands, crossed her arms instead. She said slowly, "It doesn't feel cleared…"

She moved to lean against the wall Naomi's mirror was on, trying to get the blonde to look at her.

"Emily, it's cleared. Let's leave it at that." Naomi's eyes flicked briefly to Emily, then back to the mirror. She applied lip-gloss, and Emily watched as her finger spread the silken liquid over her pink lips. She doesn't even realise what she does to me. The power she has, Emily thought. No. Emily wasn't going to let the "straight girl" have the power this time. Stick up for yourself, Emily. You've had enough of people trampling over you.

"You know what Naomi, fine. If this is the way you want to play it, to ignore the fact that something happened, that there's some weird energy between us, fine. But for someone who once accused me of playing a game, you're certainly being a total hypocrite now."

Naomi finally turned to look at Emily, her blue eyes hard, arms crossed. Defensive body language. Emily took a deep breath and plowed on regardless.

"You know, I'm suddenly having this revelation, Naomi. That the friendship I thought we'd built over the last month or so isn't quite what I thought it was. Because I thought we'd shared some moments that felt… real. Not work colleague moments, but real friend moments."

Naomi was watching Emily. Her cold stare had softened, but her face remained unreadable. She sniffed, changed her stance so her weight was on one foot.

"And maybe I have a tendency for the emotional, maybe I'm making a big deal out of this. But until the moment when you…" Emily suddenly stopped and peered around to make sure no one else was in the bathroom. "…kissed me…" Emily said in a barely audible whisper, "…I thought I knew where we stood. I thought I was your friend."

"You are my friend, Emily." Naomi uncrossed her arms, placing one hand on the sink.

"Am I? Because I'm not quite so sure. Friendships aren't like this, aren't this full of ups and downs and…" Emily threw her hands up in exasperation. "…tension. Come on Naomi, can we be adults here and stop pretending we don't see the tension?"

"Some people just have tension, you know, Emily? I have tension with a lot of people."

"No, that's called them being fucking terrified of you!" Emily smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Naomi allowed herself a small smile and the mood lightened slightly. But Emily wasn't going to let Naomi off the hook this time. She wanted to push the girl, thought she needed someone to push her.

Emily's smile faded and she looked at Naomi seriously again, looked her right in the eyes. "Naomi, this isn't just tension. Maybe you don't know that but I do, I know what this type of tension means." Emily took a deep breath, dared herself to say the next words. "This is the tension that arises between people who are into each other, and…" Emily talked over Naomi's protestations. "And – listen, just listen. I'm not saying that you're into me into me..." Emily let those words sink in. "But I think that there's an attraction."

"Emily, I –"

"Just let me finish, please, before I lose my nerve."

Naomi fell quiet, but her arms were crossed again and she had unconsciously moved around the sink so it was between her and Emily.

"It could be attraction to me as a friend, it could be a curiosity attraction… it could be something more. But you know, tension like this, there are only a limited amount of ways to get rid of it." Emily looked at Naomi from under her eyelashes. Naomi had a sudden flash of insight. This was a mild version of the look that hooked the girls. That look had power; that look spoke of frantic kisses, intertwined bodies, gasped breaths. Spoke of potential for so much to be experienced. Naomi shifted uncomfortably, crossing her legs.

"But we have to acknowledge it. Because tension doesn't just disappear. It corrodes things. Sometimes it snaps. Sometimes… it turns into something beautiful." Emily pushed off the wall and leaned on the sink, face-to-face with Naomi. "So here I am, acknowledging the tension."

There was a pause, both girls looking at each other, although Naomi couldn't quite meet Emily's eyes. The air was thick. Naomi let out her breath in a rush.

"Well that was a lovely speech, Emily, I can tell you're a born copywr–"

"Naomi! Don't. I'm telling you something here. And I know you're smart, I know you know what I'm saying. But you're scared of acknowledging it too in case you get it wrong and you get hurt or embarrassed. So I'm telling you. I'm…" Emily faltered, her brave front failing for a second. Naomi saw the scared, shy Emily in there, just for a flash. Then the red head seemed to gather herself. "I'm attracted to you, Naomi."

She waited for what the other girl would say. She felt sick.

"Funny way of showing it."

Emily's heart sunk. She's not ready, I knew she wasn't ready. I shouldn't have pushed it, I should have known I'd just be hurt. Now Emily was angry. Angry she'd allowed herself to care, to get fucked over again.

"Fuck, Naomi. Grow the fuck up. You're mad at me because I wouldn't let you kiss me in a seedy bathroom in a seedy club when we'd both had too much to drink – even though I wanted to, I really fucking wanted to. But now I've come to you, sober, and told you I'm attracted to you. Don't you see what that all means? Are you that fucking dense?" Emily was yelling in a loud whisper, furious.

Naomi had the grace to look contrite. A slight waver in her hand was all that suggested there might be more going on behind the cold front she'd worked so hard to put up.

"Can't we just be friends?" she said in a small voice, not raising her gaze from her hands.

Emily looked as though someone had just pulled a valve and deflated her. All the anger left her body.

"I think we'd better just keep this professional, don't you?" she replied sadly.

Emily pushed her red hair out of her face as she turned and left. Naomi watched the door swing shut behind her as the words she'd said to herself so many times echoed in her head.

….

It was Wednesday. "Hump day!" yelled Cook, grabbing on to the nearest available female and humping her. She shook him off with a disgusted look and he turned to find another victim, spotted Emily and Effy walking towards him from the Creative Department.

"If you come within two metres of me you'll be humping yourself straight to the hospital to get your cock sewn back on, Cook." Emily didn't even stop walking as she delivered the line. Effy, walking next to her, gave her usual amused smile as he pulled back, hands covering his crotch in defence.

"You'd better hurry up, Cook. Anthea wants us all in the kitchen for an important announcement and Emily won't be the only one threatening to rip off your cock if you're not there on time."

Cook laughed and scampered after the pair, throwing his arms around them as they disappeared into the kitchen.

….

"Thank you all for coming, I know you're in the middle of a busy working week".

Anthea called for quiet from the 150 or so Ogilvyites who had once again squeezed into the kitchen area.

"The reason I've called you all here is because we're getting a visit from some very important people. The Sanitarium clients are coming by for a tour of the facilities and review of work today, and you know what that means."

Whispers and a few groans spread across the crowd. Sanitarium was a long-standing brand, and a client of Ogilvy's who made many of New Zealand's favourite breakfast cereals. They were also Seventh Day Adventists, with strict rules about do's (and mainly don'ts).

"So." Continued Anthea. "While they are on the premises I want no swearing, no blaspheming, no sexual innuendos…"

Emily giggled at Cook's look of mock alarm.

"…no talk of aliens, vampires, werewolves or supernatural beings of any kind."

"What?" Emily whispered to Effy. "No aliens?"

Effy nodded. "That's not the worst of it. Just wait…"

Anthea continued.

"I'm relying on all of you to play your parts here. You are each responsible for tidying up your own workstations. I want no lewd cartoons stuck to monitors, absolutely neutral screen savers, even some of our more "edgy" creative ideas are to be tucked away for the time the client is here. If there are any mishaps, I'll find a unique and torturous way to punish you."

Now Anthea cracked a small smile. She knew how absurd this all was.

"Oh, and one last thing. I know not all of them adhere to this, but many of the clients don't drink coffee as a part of their religion. As a mark of respect, I will be banning coffee for the duration of their visit."

The room responded with horror across the board. Coffee was a staple for any business, but for advertising, well. Let's just say it was almost as bad as if Anthea had said she was taking away the booze fridge. Emily smiled. She wasn't a huge coffee drinker herself, had never really liked the stuff. Except when she was hungover, and then she liked it strong and black. Effy, on the other hand – Emily thought that coffee and cigarettes might be the only things keeping Effy alive. Already she had powered over to the espresso machine to get a fix before her source was cut off.

Emily smiled as she watched the other people who had rushed for the machine back off when they saw Effy coming. What is it with me being drawn to powerful, intimidating women, Emily wondered. As if on cue, Emily looked up to see Naomi staring at her from across the room. But she disappeared towards the account service department before Emily could decide how to respond.

Emily slowly slid off the table she'd been sitting on and looked around to find JJ, gesturing that it was time to go and work on some concepts. Although she doubted it would be possible for her mind to settle on anything but the blonde who still occupied so much space in her thoughts.

….

"Alert, alert, the cereal clients have been spotted entering the carpark building. So zip those lips everyone, no bleedin' swearing or we'll all be up the shit with Anthea… what?" Pandora's voice coming over the PA system was muffled as she spoke to someone off-mike, then came back on. "Oh, fiddlesticks, I just blinkin' swore already, fuckin' 'ell, I mean, no, no swearing everyone, oh Christ, oops! Right, shutting up now."

A new voice came over the PA system: Anthea.

"Thank you, Pandora. A good example of what you will all not being doing from now until the Sanitarium clients are packed back into their hybrid Toyotas and well out of earshot. No swearing, no blasphemy, and no coffee, from now. I expect you all to be on your best behaviour. That is all."

The PA system snapped off. Emily turned to Effy. "God, I feel like I'm going to say something wrong simply because we've been told so many times not to."

"You just did, blasphemer," murmured Effy, eyes scanning over an artwork proof of an ad about to go to print.

"Well fuck me," joked Emily. Her and Effy shared a smile. Effy had been Emily's saviour over the last few days. Being the oracle that she was, she'd immediately picked that Emily was sad over something, but knew well enough not to ask. Didn't need to. She just had to watch the way the interaction between Naomi and Emily had changed to get a fair idea of what had happened between them.

"Helloooo ladies! Fuck me if I'm haven't, but have I told you how bloody shaggable you're all looking today?"

Cook banged his way into the creative department, literally knocking into a desk and almost sending the Mac on top of it onto the ground, had JJ not grabbed it. He was drunk. Emily could smell the fumes coming off him from metres away. Shit. This is not good timing.

Emily turned and scanned down the open corridor towards the other end of the building, spotted a group of people heading this way slowly. Unless they stopped to look at work in the Mac studio, it wouldn't be long until they got to the Creative Department.

Emily jumped up and grabbed Cook by the arm, dragging him towards Effy's office.

"Reddd. Knew you'd come around someday, leave behind the muff munching for a piece of the Cookie Monster…" Cook slurred over his words and tried to cuddle Emily.

"Cook! Fucking hell, the Sanitarium clients are going to be here any minute, you can't be seen like this you fucking idiot! Where have you been?"

Emily managed to get Cook into Effy's office, where he slumped helplessly on the couch.

"Production meeting Red. Over lunch – liquid that is. Let's go partayyy! Fuck yeaaahh!"

JJ, Emily and Effy stood over Cook as he lolled about on the couch. Effy had an amused smile on her face while JJ bounced up and down nervously.

"And this is the Creative Department…"

They froze as they heard Naomi's voice leading the Sanitarium clients in, just 20 metres away.

"Under my desk", Effy's calm but urgent voice spurred them into action.

The three half dragged, half carried Cook behind Effy's desk and crammed him into the small space. Effy pulled up her chair and sat down at her desk, blocking Cook in while JJ and Emily grabbed some ad mock-ups and pretended to be discussing them.

"Hellooo, Ef, what a view– OW!"

Effy gave Cook a kick to shut him up just as Naomi leaned in and knocked on the open office door.

"Knock, knock. Oh good, you're here too Emily and JJ. You can meet the Sanitarium clients." Naomi turned back to the group of people behind her. "Come in everyone."

The people trooped dutifully into the office, all dressed in conservative business outfits.

"Meet our Creative Director, Effy Stonem, and one of the creative teams who have been working on your brand – Emily and JJ. This is Mary, John and Adam."

"Hello…" They all piped back politely.

"Effy, I thought perhaps we could have a quick discussion about the latest brand document we've been drawing up. We might as well make some progress while everyone's here in the building."

"Sure," said Effy.

"Great." Naomi turned to usher the clients towards the couch and a brief flicker of alarm ran across Effy's face. She gave a kick.

"Oof!" came from under the table. Naomi looked up suspiciously. Effy, JJ and Emily all let out various coughs at the same time.

"Sorry, there's been a bit of the flu going around the creative department. Don't worry, we'll keep away from you!" said Effy. "In fact, Emily, JJ, why don't you take off? Wouldn't want to make our clients sick."

Emily and JJ nodded and said their goodbyes. Naomi eyed Emily up suspiciously but she averted her eyes as she pulled the office door closed.

Naomi turned back to the client.

"Right. Just let me get sorted…" She pulled up a chair but fumbled and dropped her pen to the floor, stooping to pick it up. As she did, she spotted a pair of eyes looking at her from the slim gap where the front of the desk didn't quite meet the floor. Cook stuck his tongue through the gap and wiggled it around. Naomi's eyes widened and she stood up quickly.

"Okay, so let's skip to page three, an overview of the Sanitarium brand values. Refresh our memories a bit."

Everyone turned to the page and Naomi took the opportunity to catch Effy's eye, giving her a "WTF?" look. Effy just shrugged helplessly and struggled to stop a smile. Naomi shook her head, before turning back to the clients.

….

"They've been in there an awfully long time. Thirty… six minutes in fact" said JJ nervously.

"Yeah, and I bet Cook is dying for a wee by now!" Emily grinned at JJ, who gave her a worried look. "Don't worry J. There's nothing we can do, we just have to wait and hope that the drunken idiot can keep still…"

Just then the door to Effy's office opened and Naomi led the clients out.

"Thanks everyone, that was really productive. I'm just going to stay behind for a quick word to Effy. I'll get Emily to take you to Anthea's office, she has afternoon tea set up for you. Emily?"

Emily hopped off the desk and led the clients off down the hallway.

….

Emily arrived back to see the door to Effy's office swing open and Naomi come storming out. She swept past Emily without looking at her, heels clicking away down the long hallway.

Shit, thought Emily. She looked around at the other creatives. Jack, one of the designers, grimaced. "It was bad, Em. Surprised you couldn't hear it from the other end of the building."

Emily walked into Effy's office to find JJ ashen faced on the couch next to Cook, who was slumped in a posture of defeat. Effy was her usual stoic self, twirling her hair round her finger.

"What happened?" Emily asked.

"A bollocking. A big fucking bollocking by that super bitch Campbell," said Cook.

"We're just lucky she agreed not to tell Anthea, aren't we?" said Effy, giving Cook a stern look.

"Yeah, but I think I'd rather face Anthea than that fucking bitch-on-wheels," said Cook. "Bitch must be on the fucking rag."

"Cook!" Emily shouted. "That is fucking uncalled for. Firstly, that's really offensive to women, and secondly, you deserve to be hauled over the coals for that stunt, you fuckhead. That could have lost us the account, just like that. You know how sensitive they are!"

"Come on, Ems. Campbell could have seen the funny side, but once again she was Miss High-and-Mighty, prim and proper."

"At least she cares, Cook." Emily was towering over Cook now, towering as much as her five foot something height could allow. "She doesn't take her job as a fucking joke like you do."

Cook laughed infuriatingly. "Gotta see the fun side of life, Red. Splash about. Else what's the point?"

"Argh! You're so fucking annoying!" Emily gave up and strode to the door.

"Red! Come on, she's a hard-out!"

Emily turned back to Cook.

"She's different. And that's something great."

Emily swung open the door and left, not noticing Naomi standing quietly, hidden by the door she'd been about to open herself. The blonde watched her walk away down the corridor. Watched with her heart full of feelings she knew she was going to have to confront sometime soon.

…

Naomi knocked on the front door of the brightly coloured villa in Grey Lynn. She saw a figure appear behind the glass and the door swung open.

"Hello, love! Fancy that, a visit from my big important daughter, what could I have done to deserve such a privilege?"

Naomi smirked and stepped inside, heading for the kitchen. She slumped down into a chair at the table, laying her face against the worn wood.

"Oh no, I've seen this behaviour before. Cup of tea, quick."

Naomi stayed still, staring into space as her mother moved around the kitchen. She felt a hand stroke the back of her head, playing with the loose curls there. It was something she'd loved since she was a child.

"Come on love, talk to me. What's up?"

Naomi sighed and raised her head from the table as her mother sat down across from her.

"I… I think I like someone."

"Well, that's usually a good thing."

Naomi looked at her mother sadly. "Yes, but, it's not that simple, is it? It never is."

"No, not always… but you can usually make things harder or easier on yourself. And unfortunately, my child–" Gina smiled, "–you tend to make things harder on yourself. Never one to take the easy road…"

Naomi smiled with closed lips.

"So this person you like. Do they know? That you like them, I mean?"

Naomi noted the way her mother avoided using gendered pronouns. Typical Gina, knew just how to play along. To not assume things. Naomi wished she'd gotten that trait from her mother.

"I don't know… no. Well, maybe. I, we, kissed. But… the person, stopped it, pulled away. I was mortified."

"Hmm." Gina rested her chin on her hand, watching her daughter. "Why?"

"What? Why?" Naomi was confused. "What do you mean, why?"

"Why did the other person pull away? Have you thought about that?"

"Yes! Because I made a mistake. Because… the person didn't want me. I made a fool out of myself." Naomi's eyes glistened with tears.

"Oh hun." Gina looked at her daughter and smiled. "I'm sure you didn't. There must be lots of reasons why it wasn't right for you to kiss this person. I know you; I know you wouldn't have just kissed someone who had no interest in you. You must have felt that there was something there."

Naomi wiped a tear and thought about her mother's words. It was true, she did think that maybe Emily liked her. Even before she'd told her she was attracted to her, before the kiss. There was something about the way Naomi would catch her watching her. And there was the sparkler incident after the Christmas party, ages ago now. There was… something.

"So if the person likes me, then why didn't they respond?"

"I'd say because it wasn't the right time. Would that be a fair assessment?"

Yes, Naomi thought to herself. Off our faces in a filthy club bathroom was definitely not the right time. But Naomi had given in to impulse. Something she never did – perhaps that's partly why she was so angry with herself.

"But how do you know when is the right time, how do you really know how they feel and how you feel…"

"You can never know exactly how they feel. You don't always know how you feel." Gina took a sip from her cup of tea, looking at Naomi over the rim. She set it down. "That's when you just have to take a leap of faith."

Naomi took a sip of her own tea, now lukewarm. But she clasped the cup in two hands anyway as though it could warm her, running it along her bottom lip as she thought about Gina's words. She let out a sigh and placed the cup back on the table.

"But what if I take this 'leap of faith'–" Naomi pulled air quotes, "And something happens, but then I realise it's not what I want after all, that I made a mistake?"

"Well, sometimes what seems like your biggest mistake turns out to be the most wonderful thing that ever happened to you," Gina smiled and got up from the table. She brushed a lock of hair back from Naomi's face, kissed her on the side of her head and said, "That's life and love, darling. No risk, no gain."

….

Emily frowned as she heard a knock on her door. She put down her knife and fork, finished her mouthful. When she got to the door and opened it she stared for a second at the person standing there.

"Naomi?"

Emily quickly wiped her mouth with her sleeve, taken aback. She guessed she should be wondering how Naomi had found out her address, but all she could do was think about the appearance of the woman in front of her. Naomi stood nervously on her doormat in scuffed up sneakers and a pair of blue jeans. Her hair, usually perfectly coiffed, was pulled back in a messy ponytail that draped over the back of The Kills t-shirt she wore.

"Wow. You look so different." Emily remembered she was supposed to be mad at Naomi. "What are you doing here? We're supposed to be keeping it professional, you can't just turn up–"

"Emily." Naomi's blue eyes implored the girl. "Please."

"Will you let me–" Naomi started again. "Can we go somewhere?"

Emily blinked, unsure of how she should respond.

"I want to take you somewhere Emily." Naomi looked down as she scuffed her shoe on the ground, looked back up. "I want to show you about me."

The two girls stared at each other in silence. Emily's head wrestling for control over her heart. And Naomi, trying to keep her courage together long enough to jump in.