Oh man! Guys! This new job is so great! It's also taking a LOT of my time though! So here is a surprise early update, because i know i won'thave time to post tomorrow! It's an extra long chapter so I hope it'll keep you satisfied in the events that it takes a bit longer to get the next one out afterwards! I'm going to do my very best, but I'm pretty knackered and pretty busy!
Thanks for the reviews and follows and favs. You guys are the best!
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Chapter 10:
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Cook knowing about her crush on Emily hadn't turned out to be that bad… at first. After having laughed himself into exhaustion, her friend had admitted that Emily was indeed a particularly gorgeous woman.
"It's cool mate, I get it, yeah? Proper fit bird and all that she is. I mean, I'd go for the other twin personally, but eh, I'm not judgin' ya" he'd said.
"Of course you'd go for Katie" Naomi had replied with an eye roll. "She's vulgar"
Cook had laughed and shrugged and dropped the topic momentarily. The blonde had actually thought her friend would leave it at that, that he'd be satisfied with the knowledge of who her crush was, but of course, she had been wrong.
Naomi drove them to her flat, not even bothering to ask if Cook wanted to hang out. She knew he did and, if she was honest, she kind of wanted to hang out with him too. They decided to order in because neither felt particularly partial to cooking- Cook was shit anyway and Naomi had only limited skills: she could make an absolutely delicious root vegetable bake, but she couldn't work out how to make burgers; she partially blamed her mother for that. So instead of bothering, they ordered two pizzas from a nearby pizza place, one meat lover for Cook and a vegetarian for herself.
They cracked open a few beers and ate in their usual relaxed easiness. It was funny to think they'd not always been friends, not when they were like this, just sitting together, just being.
"So" Cook said taking a long sip of his beer, more than half of his pizza already gone.
"So what?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"So… When do you start showing your lady bits to that crush of yours?"
"What?!" she scoffed, in half laughter, half shock.
"Yeah, you know! When d'you like, charm her pants off and have some lady lovin' wiv her?"
"Urgh, how about never?" Naomi replied with an eye roll.
"What? Never? Why the fuck not? She's hot babes, you should totally try it on, Cookie approves"
"That's hardly the point though, is it?" She said mildly annoyed.
"Well what else is there?" her friend asked her seriously and Naomi had to roll her eyes.
There really was just Cook to consider absolutely nothing but looks when it came to sex. Surely he couldn't be that thick though could he? There were loads of reasons why she couldn't make a move on Emily. Even someone like Cook had to see that.
"How about the law?" she said sarcastically.
"What d'you mean?" the blond boy asked, clearly confused.
Naomi stared at him in disbelief.
"Seriously Cook?" she said.
"What?" he defended. "It's not like you and Emily would be illegal or anything, would ya? She's like… Probably 25, isn't she?"
"27 actually" Naomi corrected.
"Well there you go, same age, what's illegal there?" Cook announced confidently.
Naomi scoffed.
"Yeah, but Emily doesn't know that, does she?" she explained.
"Oh… right… Well she thinks you're what? 17, yeah?" he asked and Naomi nodded. "Good! So still legal, innit?"
The blonde frowned and shook her head.
"No Cook, not legal"
"Wait what?!" he exclaimed, his face looking very pale all of a sudden.
Naomi continued frowning. Cook couldn't be that thick about the law, could he?
"Isn't the age of consent like 16?" he said.
She frowned even more because, that wasn't the point was it? What was illegal about her and Emily getting involved, or what would have been illegal if Naomi had actually been a 17 year-old student, was that they were teacher and student. The fact that Naomi was passing as a minor and Emily was supposedly her teacher; that was what made it illegal. The blonde didn't know much about the British law, but she knew that these kinds of relationships were called something like position of trust or authority or something. So age of consent really had nothing to do with it, not within the particular relationship she was supposed to have with Emily, the relationship Emily thought they had.
"Naomi!" Cook snapped the blonde's attention back to him. "Age of consent is 16, right? Right?!" he insisted.
The blonde wasn't sure why her friend seemed so alarmed all of a sudden. His eyes were a bit wild and his face white. Why did he care so… Oh fuck. Oh God no… He hadn't… He hadn't slept with Effy had he? Naomi thought about it for half a second before she felt a wave of rage build in her chest. Of fucking course he had. This was Cook.
"You shagged Effy" She accused.
"Huh…" the boy faltered, looking at anything but her.
"Jesus Christ Cook! I asked you not to!" Naomi shouted, her voice scathing.
"Well she offered!" he defended poorly. "She was just willing and and"
"Do you have no care at all about what I ask of you?" she continued, shaking her head.
"Of course I care Blondie! I just… I needed to get my dick damp and she's so hot and… The age of consent is 16, though, yeah? I mean, it wasn't illegal or summat, yeah?" He asked nervously.
A part of Naomi wanted to put the boy out of his misery, tell him that in his case, he'd done nothing wrong legally, that, yes, the age of consent was 16, so therefore he was okay, but she was so furious that she just couldn't. He'd betrayed her! She'd specifically asked him not to sleep with the teenage girl and he had done it anyway. She was livid, proper, full on, livid. If Kieran found out about this he'd sack her for sure. Not only had she let her best mate intervene with her assignment, but now he was shagging the student body. If it got out, the Paper would take the hit. They'd sent her in after all, so obviously it would take the hit for Cook's poor lack of judgement. She didn't reckon the housewives that read their publication would be too pleased to know what happened to their precious daughters.
"Actually it's 18" Naomi lied.
"What? No… No it's not. It's 16, I know it's 16!" he argued.
"They changed it mate, didn't they? Cameron, the conservatives and all that. They moved it up to 18" she continued.
"Fuck!" Cook exclaimed obviously buying her lie. "Since when?"
"I dunno, a while mate. Why? Been fucking loads of teenagers have you?" she sneered.
When he gave her a sheepish look, she rolled her eyes. Cook was her best mate, he really was, but sometimes she wondered why the fuck that was.
"Better not let the coppers find out then Cookie" she said, deciding to push the joke. "I reckon you'd be in a lot of trouble if they did"
"You think so?" he asked uncertain. "They wouldn't know, would they? I mean, I'm safe, for sure"
"I dunno… Are you quite certain none of those girls you shagged have talked?"
"I… I…" he tried, opening and closing his mouth a few times.
"Then I'd say you're not that safe, are you Cookie?" Naomi announced with a grave look.
Her friend was full on fretting then. His face was pale and his eyes skipping all over the living room. If she'd been a bit nicer, Naomi would have put her friend out of his misery, but, as it was, she was still pretty angry. She had just decided to let him worry a bit longer when her doorbell rang. They both snapped their head in the direction of the front door.
"D'you… you don't reckon…? Can't be the coppers, yeah?" Cook asked completely petrified.
Again, if Naomi had been a bit nicer… Perhaps just a little bit less angry.
"Shit I don't know…" She said, putting on a worried face. "Might be best if you bugger off though, yeah?"
"Yeah" the boy said, nodding vigorously. "Shit… How? You've only got a balcony on the back and no stairs yeah?"
"No choice mate, use the window!" she urged him.
He jumped to his feet when the doorbell rang again. Naomi stood up with him and bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing when she saw her friend run to a window and climb out quickly.
"I'll call you later!" he muttered hurriedly before climbing down her gutter.
Naomi nodded and chuckled once he was out of sight. She walked calmly to her door and opened it to see her elderly neighbour Stella on the other side.
"Hello Stell, May I help you with anything?" she asked politely.
"Actually love, would you be a doll and lend me some flour? I'm trying to bake something and I've run out"
"Sure thing" Naomi assured with a smile, feeling herself considerably cheerier than she had been before.
Cook would figure out sooner or later that she'd messed with him, wouldn't he? Unless, of course, he was half way to Heathrow by now.
;;
The next day had been quiet altogether. Cook had sought her out though at some point. Apparently he had already figured out that Naomi had played him about the new age of consent.
"That was a cheap trick mate!" he'd complained. "I was proper shitting meself!"
"Yeah? Well good for you" she replied unapologetically.
"It was just a shag! I didn't hurt anyone, did I? As a matter of fact I think I pleasured someone"
"Urgh, what's the number 1 rule of our friendship Cook? No details. Besides, if Kieran finds out, I'm done for. We're already playing with fire with you being here at all"
"Right" He'd conceded. "I hadn't thought about that"
"Shocking" the blonde had deadpanned.
They hadn't discussed the topic much more after that. Naomi was considerably calmer then she'd been the day before. After all, the deed was done so what was the point in dwelling over it? She'd just have to make sure Kieran didn't learn about it. She could probably manage that.
Once her classes were over, Naomi made her way to her office for her special meeting with Kieran about the pyjama party. She didn't exactly loved the idea that her boss thought she needed extra instructions before attending the party, but, admittedly, she probably needed the help. It's not like she had any real plan as to how she'd proceed once at the party. Honestly, she was only going backwards as it was.
Naomi walked directly to Kieran's office when she stepped into the building. She found him already there, sat at his desk calmly reading a few papers and making notes.
"Wow, it actually looks like you're working" she said. "I'm impressed"
"I know. I'm impressed as well!" Kieran replied casually, making Naomi chuckle.
She sat down in front of him and waited for him to finish up what he was doing. It didn't take long before the man was putting aside his current work to turn his attention to her.
"Alright girly, tell me what you know about pyjama parties?" he started off.
Naomi sighed heavily. This was going to be a long meeting.
She told Kieran about how she'd never actually been to a pyjama party and they started from there. As she'd expected, the meeting had been rather long. They'd discussed everything they knew so far about both Effy and Panda and Kieran had even tried to give his insight on female bonding activities. Not that it had been thoroughly needed though. Naomi hardly considered "how hard can it be really? Braiding each other's hair and chatting about fit lads, yeah? You can make braids, can you?" to be a helpful tip. Eventually, they seemed to reach some sort of conclusion.
"Alright so how are you going to get there?" Kieran asked as a last thought.
"Not sure" Naomi admitted. "I was thinking about riding my bike actually. I mean my car is a bit too expensive for college student standards. I don't want to pass off as some brat with rich parents or something"
"Bicycle sounds good then" Kieran agreed.
"Can I interrupt?" The voice of her mother said before Naomi had time to add anything.
She turned around and, sure enough, her mother was stood in the doorway with a wide grin on her lips. If her life had taught her anything at all, it was to dread anything that started with an interruption of her mother and a grin like that.
"Of course Gina!" Kieran allowed graciously.
Naomi tutted loudly and rolled her eyes because she knew her boss would have barked furiously at anyone else who'd have dared interrupt a meeting they weren't invited to.
"I was walking by and I heard that last bit of conversation and I was thinking, I could drive Naomi to the party myself if you'd like"
"Eh?" Naomi asked, her eyes widening.
"Well I am your mother love. Isn't that what mothers do, drive their kids to parties and such? It would make you appear like a normal 17 year-old at least" the older blonde continued.
"What a delightful idea!" Kieran piped up with a smitten smile.
"What?! No! Not delightful! No way! You're not driving me!" Naomi intervened.
"Why not?" Gina asked.
"Because I'm supposed to be 17, not 13! No one wants their parents to drive them around at 17, it's embarrassing"
"That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think love?" her mum replied not sounding quite sincere.
"It's not! You're not driving me! I'll either take my bicycle or catch a bus, but you're just not driving me. I actually have pride, I'm not having my mother take me to a party" Naomi argued hotly.
"Your mother is quite right Naomi, you are exaggerating. I think it's a great idea personally. Loads of 17 year-old have their parents drive them around I'm sure" Kieran countered with an obvious smirk.
The blonde was sure he didn't believe a word of what he'd just told her, but was only saying it to support her mother. She groaned loudly.
"Look, you two can think I'm exaggerating for all I care, point is, I'm not having mum drive me to this thing. End of" she nearly shouted.
"Oh no Naomi" Kieran said with a grin. "Not the end of, actually. I think this is a great idea, so your mum will drive you to this thing"
"I said that's not happening!" the blonde argued.
"And I said it was. Thing is Campbell, you'll find that I am your boss. So you will do as I say. Understood?" the man countered.
Naomi wanted to argue, she really did, but what was there left to say? Her boss was giving her a direct order and as much as she knew he was only doing this to get into her mother's good graces, there wasn't anything she could do, was there? She nodded curtly and heard her mother cry out in glee. She clenched her teeth together to keep the snarky comments from getting out.
"I'll call you tomorrow so we can fix everything, alright love?" her mother continued excitedly, bending behind Naomi, wrapping her in an awkward hug and kissing her cheek.
Then, she skipped out of the office and the second she was far enough away Kieran started laughing loudly.
"You're a complete and utter tosser, you know that?" she said angrily.
"Careful, Junior" he answered with a grin. "Still your boss"
She shrugged and shook her head.
"You do realise she only wants to drive me to that party so she can snoop into my life, don't you?" Naomi explained, clearly annoyed.
"Of course I do!" Kieran confirmed with a huge smile still on his lips.
"And you still agreed obviously… I'll look like a prick" she whined.
"The way I see it" the man started. "You may look a bit clueless on Saturday with your mum driving you and all that, but Gina will be happy about it. So I'm granting her wishes and I get to laugh at your expense, what's not to love about this decision, eh?"
The blonde glared at him and he just started laughing harder. God her boss was the biggest knob of them all. Still, he was her boss. Perhaps she needed a new job?
;;
Her Friday passed in a blur. Katie had been snappy and generally unpleasant, but Naomi had expected as much. Honestly, apart from her English class, where she'd gotten to stare at Emily as much as she wanted, there hadn't been many perks to her day at all so far. It didn't help to make her day any better when Katie sauntered into their classroom at the end of the lecture.
Most students had already departed, but, as always, Naomi was taking her time to gather her stuff just so she could stay in Emily's company longer. It was a bit sad, but whatever.
"Ems!" Katie exclaimed. "Please tell me you're not, like, busy with Little and Large tonight, because there's this new club opening tonight and Pete scored us VIP entries!"
"They're called Morecambe and Wise, it's not that hard to remember" the other twin grumbled.
"Whatever" Katie brushed off. "Club opening, yeah? I'm telling you, it's gonna be well lush and Pete went through a lot of trouble to get us on the VIP guest list"
"Pete?" Emily asked her brows scrunching adorably.
"Yes, Pete! My boyfriend!"
"What? Didn't you say something about Jordan last week?"
"Huh, yeah, like, last week, like you said! We broke up, whatever, anyway, you have to come tonight!"
Emily stared at her sister looking bewildered and Naomi chuckled to herself. Perhaps she shouldn't have because Katie suddenly seemed to notice she was there.
"Oh hello Campbell. Hanging behind on a Friday, how very thrilling must your life be" she said with her usual false sweet voice.
"Katie!" Emily scolded as Naomi glared.
The bitchier twin rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, just run along, why don't you?" she continued indicating the door to the blonde.
Naomi rolled her eyes and shook her head, but still grabbed her bag and made her way to the door.
"Have a good weekend Naomi" Emily said before she had disappeared in the hallway.
Naomi turned around to give the brunette a genuine smile and then left the classroom feeling much better all of a sudden. She felt even better when she heard the distinct reproachful voice of Emily say "Do you always talk to her like that?" as she made her way to the school's exit.
;;
When Saturday rolled around, Naomi wasn't entirely sure she was ready. For one, she knew that if she messed up during the party, there were little chances of her getting any useful information afterwards. Also, she really wasn't looking forward to her mother driving her. Of course, Gina had called her the previous day to make sure Naomi couldn't conveniently forget about this little arrangement and on the Saturday morning, she was outside her daughter's front door with a wide grin.
"You do realise I don't have to be there for several hours, yeah?" Naomi said in lieu of a greeting.
"I know sweetheart, but I figured we could have some mother/daughter time before!" Gina replied, pushing the younger blonde aside to walk inside the flat.
"What a fabulous idea" she shot back sarcastically, closing her front door. "You didn't want me to leave before you got here, did you?"
"There's that too!" Gina admitted absolutely unconcerned about being so obvious in her motives.
Naomi rolled her eyes, but let her mother be anyway. By the end of the afternoon, when it finally came time to go to the party, she was half glad her mother was there because it stopped her from spending too long wondering what to wear. She grabbed a pair of dark jeans, a loose vest top and a light blue long sleeved shirt and figured it'd have to do. She didn't fancy her mother seeing how nervous she actually was. Of course, Gina being Gina, she still noticed.
"I'm sure they're going to love you darling" she said once they were both seated in Naomi's own car- ironically, even though she'd offered to drive her, Gina didn't even own a car.
"Yeah…" Naomi muttered. "I just hope I can get something and then I can be done with this whole article nightmare" she said a bit louder.
Her mother nodded, but didn't add anything. Moments later, they were in front of a cute two-story brown house where three pink balloons had been placed in the front driveway. From her seat in the car Naomi clearly saw the words "Pandora's pyjama Party" written on the balloons.
"Jesus" she said under her breath.
"Well this looks lovely!" Her mother said energetically. "Come on! I'll walk you to the door!"
"Mum! No! Wai-" Naomi started, but too late.
Her mother stepped out of the car and started walking to the front door. The younger blonde whined and swore a bit, before stepping out as well. When she reached her mother's side, she plastered a fake smile on her lips.
"Please don't embarrass me further" she said through her clenched teeth.
"Oh pish posh love, you worry too much!" Gina replied before ringing the doorbell.
They waited for a few seconds only before the door was promptly opened by a woman in a mint green cardigan, beige skirt and an apron.
"Hi!" the woman said happily. "I'm Mrs Moon, Pandora's mother, you must be Naomi"
The younger blonde nodded and before she had time to say anything, her mother stepped forward holding out her hand.
"And I'm Naomi's mum, Gina!"
"Gina! How lovely!" Mrs Moon exclaimed clasping both her hands around the older blonde's. "It is so refreshing to see a mother willing to drive her child to a birthday party. We don't see that often nowadays"
"Oh well of course!" Gina replied joyfully, sending a sly smirk in her daughter's direction. "I wouldn't want her to get lost. Bristol can be such a big city"
"Oh I completely understand" Mrs Moon nodded. "And it can be such a dangerous city too!"
"Oh I quite agree" Gina replies sarcastically, her lips curved in an obviously amused smile.
Naomi bit her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing. Okay, so maybe her mother was a pain in the arse most of the time, but she was also quite hilarious.
"There are so many bad things in the world" Mrs Moon mused. "Boys and drugs, guns, alcohol… boys… Evil things!" she concluded. "I'm glad I'm not the only one looking out for my daughter!"
Even Gina had to pause there. She shot her daughter a look, her eyebrow raised and Naomi shrugged. She'd never met Mrs Moon, but she was surely turning out to be quite the character.
"I do my very best" the older Campbell said with a fake smile.
"Oh, actually!" Mrs Moon exclaimed, looking like she'd just had a moment of genius. "If you have a mobile, you could give me your number if you'd like and I could keep you updated on the party. So you don't have to worry, of course!"
"Of course!" Gina piped up. "What a splendid idea"
The older blonde handed her phone over after finding it in her purse and as Mrs Moon was busy putting her contact details in, she gave her daughter another look. Naomi suppressed a giggle as her mother mouthed "Is this woman for real?". Seconds later, Mrs Moon was giving Gina her phone back and was about to speak when Pandora's voice came from somewhere inside the house.
"MUMMMMMMM!"
"Pandora! We have spoken about shouting like a goat in the house!" Mrs Moon shouted back, looking a bit flustered and embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Panda gets over-stimulated sometimes. We do exercises nightly" she explained, looking back at the two Campbells.
In the distance, Panda shouted again and Mrs Moon winced.
"If you'll excuse me" she apologized. "Let yourself in Naomi, don't forget to wash your hands and put your shoes in the special box"
And with that she disappeared in the house, Panda's voice resonating for a third time. Naomi and Gina stayed rooted to the spot for a few seconds before they both started laughing hard.
"Oh my god!" Naomi wheezed between giggles.
"She was a bit intense, wasn't she? This woman makes me look like a bad mother!" Gina said with a head shake when they had both calmed down.
"Actually, I can't believe I'm even saying this, but that woman makes you look like a normal mother. That's quite impressive now that I think about it"
Gina snorted and shoved her daughter playfully.
"Well I hope you behave or I'll hear about it" she said showing her phone.
Naomi rolled her eyes.
"I can't believe she's going to be texting you"
"Yeah well, better wash your hands" Gina teased. "Honestly though, that woman is in dire need of relaxation. You might just want to slip something in her drink. That ought to loosen her up"
"Mum!" Naomi exclaimed with a laugh. "I'm not drugging her"
"Oh you're no fun at all Naomi" Gina complained with a smirk.
As Naomi rolled her eyes again, Gina grabbed her daughter by the neck and tugged her closer to kiss her cheek.
"Try to have fun love" She said. "Oh and really do wash your hands" she teased smacking Naomi's ass playfully and walking back to the car.
The younger blonde chuckled and rolled her eyes again. Her mother was a goof, but she had to love her for it.
Naomi walked inside the house, closing the front door behind her. She pulled her shoes off, threw them in a box beside the door and walked towards the voices she could hear in the distance.
Sure enough, she found herself stepping into a kitchen with bowls and flour everywhere as well as a plate full of brownies on the counter. Naomi barely had time to walk in before Pandora hug-tackled her in the doorway.
"NA-O-MI!" Panda shouted, squeezing her tightly.
The blonde tried to answer, but nothing came out.
"Panda!" Mrs Moon exclaimed. "Please, do calm down!"
The younger blonde let go of Naomi and mumbled an apology before turning to her mother and starting something that looked like a breathing exercise. Naomi's eyebrows rose as high as they could as she observed the two. She heard a small chuckle behind her and turned her head to see Effy, arse perched on the kitchen counter while casually eating a brownie. Naomi gave her a quick nod and a smirk, before turning her attention back to Panda and her weird mother.
"Alright!" Mrs Moon said happily once her daughter had calmed down. "Pandora, would you help me fetch the pyjamas?"
The younger blonde nodded energetically and Mrs Moon beamed.
"They're pink and very very clean" she informed the two other girls with a bright smile that made her look slightly like a lunatic. "After you girls are dressed we could play monster in the dark or pin the tail on the donkey!"
"There's twister too!" Panda added joyfully. "This party is going to be twistomatic baby!"
And with that she was running off to presumably find the pyjamas with her mother following. For the second time that day, Naomi was speechless. She was also seriously starting to doubt her decision to attend this party at all. She had better get a lot of good information for her article, she thought, because, if she didn't, this was totally not looking worth it.
"Well looks like we're going to have a wild old time" she muttered under her breath and Effy chuckled.
"Don't worry Naomi, I've seen to that" the brunette replied mysteriously.
"Have you?" the blonde asked, a feeling of anticipation crawling inside her chest.
"I spiked the brownies with MDMA" Effy admitted casually. "Mrs Moon has already had 2… It's bound to get interesting, isn't it?" she continued with a satisfied smirk.
Naomi felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop.
"You… what?"
"Is that problematic for you, Naomi?" Effy inquired.
"I… huh, no, course not…" She said nervously. "Actually, I'd planned on doing something like that, myself" she lied trying to look nonchalant.
Of course, Effy didn't look the least bit fooled. She had probably spotted the blonde's discomfort.
"Relax Naoms" she said with a hint of teasing. "Eat a cake, it's going to be a long night"
She trailed her fingers from Naomi's shoulder to her elbow and left the room, walking so smoothly she could well have been gliding. Naomi sighed loudly and pushed a hand through her hair. This party was not going to end like she had initially thought, that was for sure. She had no way of knowing what would happen, but she could only fear how it would turn out.
Naomi tried to shrug and felt how stiff her shoulders were. She glanced at the plate full of brownies and took one. Being this nervous and wound up was not going to help her, was it? One brownie couldn't hurt.
;;
15 minutes. That's how long it took for the drugs to take full effect. After Effy had walked out of the kitchen, Naomi had eaten her brownie slowly and left to find the others all gathered in a room upstairs.
"Naomi!" Mrs Moon exclaimed perhaps a little bit too cheerfully upon her arrival. "I'm so glad you found us!"
The blonde nodded slowly, seeing Effy stifle a giggle in the corner. Mrs Moon started looking around her, her eyes dangerously glossier by the second.
"Oh, I forgot the brownies downstairs!" she whined. "I'll go get them"
Naomi thought of stopping her - clearly, that woman didn't need to eat more brownies- but she was under Effy's penetrating gaze, so she sighed and let Mrs Moon leave. Panda was changing into what appeared to be a very pink quarter sleeve top and equally pink shorts in the middle of the room, seemingly completely oblivious to her mother's sudden good mood.
"Here!" she said happily throwing a pyjama labelled "Sexy Poo" to the blonde's face.
Naomi held it out in front of her, her brows scrunched. She was not going to wear that. She knew she had a job to do, she knew she had to be on her best behaviour to gain the teenagers' trust, but there were limits and these pink pyjamas were her fucking limit.
"Come on silly!" Pandora encouraged.
"I'm not wearing that" she half snapped, trying not to sound too disdainful.
"Why not? It's a pyjama party!" the teenager exclaimed, looking crestfallen.
There were many reasons Naomi could recite off the top of her head why she didn't want to wear the stupid pyjamas, but she found she couldn't say any of them in Pandora's face.
"Yeah Naomi" Effy drawled. "It's a pyjama party"
The brunette walked closer to her and lowered her voice.
"What are you afraid of Naomi? I've heard you were quite keen to undress at parties…"
Naomi gaped at her for a few seconds before closing her eyes tightly shut. What the hell had Cook told this girl? She'd never taken her friend for someone with a vivid imagination, so she wasn't sure where he'd taken his inspiration. Then, a thought occurred to the blonde and she blanched a little. Surely he hadn't told Effy about that one particular party in their College days, had he? She'd been well munted and it had been a dare anyway…
Naomi shook her head and tried to focus back on the present. She couldn't believe she was considering putting on the god ugly pjs. She opened her eyes and sighed again. Mrs Moon had better not take a picture of her dressed like that to send to her mother or Naomi would never hear the end of it.
She only had time to take off her long sleeved shirt though when Mrs Moon waltzed back in the room, the platter of brownies in one hand and a half eaten one in the other.
"Shit…" the blonde muttered under her breath.
"Girls!" Mrs Moon greeted loudly, her limbs looking limp as she leaned on the door frame to hold herself upright.
Effy giggled in the distance and, when Naomi turned to look at her, she was staring at the ceiling absentmindedly, looking completely out of it.
"I don't know what I did to those brownies" Mrs Moon mused. "But they are delicious"
Then, she started giggling slightly hysterically and handed the plate to Pandora. The teenage girl frowned and looked at her mother as if she didn't recognize her. Naomi thought she had a valid point. She had probably never seen her mother so intoxicated before.
"Mum?" The teenager said uncertainly.
"Ohhhh wow, can you hear that?" Mrs Moon continued, completely ignoring Panda. "What's that lovely music?"
The older woman turned her head slowly around, half closing her eyes as if she could hear the best melody, but of course, there wasn't the slightest sound around.
"Mum?" Pandora repeated as her mother started humming appreciatively.
"Oh that's beautiful" Mrs Moon said again, a large grin plastered on her face.
Then, she started moving her hips to, presumably, a beat only she could hear.
"What is she doing?" Panda asked with alarm, looking at Naomi.
Mrs Moon had started dancing a bit more quickly now and she was swinging her head from side to side, her eyes completely unfocused. She groaned and hummed and giggled, until Effy walked closer and started dancing as well.
"Yeah, I'm getting it" the brunette whispered, her eyes closed.
Mrs Moon whooped in pleasure and grabbed the teen by the shoulders, throwing her head behind her and laughing loudly.
"Oh this is so good!" she purred and continued dancing as if it was completely normal.
"What have you done?!" Panda exclaimed looking at her mother.
Naomi stared and had to stifle a fit of giggles when Pandora's mum started dancing against Effy. She swallowed her amusement though when she caught the horrified look on the younger blonde's face. Maybe she shouldn't have eaten that brownie. It was making her feel a lot mellower than she knew she should have probably felt. Then again, she figured it couldn't be that bad because although her body was now humming pleasurably, Naomi still felt like she was somewhat in control of herself.
"Woohooooo!"
The blonde was brought out of her thoughts by a shrill yelp from Mrs Moon who had peeled off her cardigan now. This time, Naomi couldn't retain her laughter and a let a snort escape her throat.
Pandora looked about to comment again, but then the doorbell rang. She frowned at both Naomi and Effy, but if the blonde noticed, the brunette seemed completely oblivious as she continued dancing with Mrs Moon. So Panda turned on her heels and walked out of the room to answer the door. Naomi followed her promptly.
By the time it took both girls to reach the front door, the doorbell had rang again and loud knocks could be heard. Naomi was a bit apprehensive, but before she had time to say anything, the teenage girl had opened the door wide. They both stared then as a mass of about fifteen people started walking inside the house, bottles of spirits and packs of beers in hands.
"This Panda's party, yeah?" one boy asked as he walked in.
Both blondes were still staring in surprise when more people rounded the corner of Panda's street and walked towards the house. Then, someone must have found the family's stereo system because loud music started playing and both girls snapped out of their daze.
"Bugger!" Panda exclaimed. "Mum will flip!"
She turned towards Naomi then.
"Please Naomi! Help me get those people out!" she pleaded, but before either of them had time to move, Mrs Moon was making her way down the stairs.
"What's going on here?" She said loudly so she was heard above the music.
The few people that had started drinking and dancing already stopped and turned to look at the older woman.
"Huh… This is where the party's at, innit?" someone from the crowd said tentatively.
It felt like the whole room was holding its breath for a moment, until a big smile broke through Mrs Moon's face and she exclaimed: "Well turn the music up, then, will you?"
Cheers of appreciation broke through the house as the music was indeed raised and Mrs Moon made her way to the makeshift dance floor that had been improvised in her living room. Naomi and Pandora stared as she threw her arms in the air and started dancing like she was either having an epileptic fit or krumping. Naomi wasn't sure.
"What did you guys do to her?" Panda almost whimpered and Naomi turned around to see that Effy had come down the stairs as well.
"You wanted a memorable birthday party, didn't you Pandapops?" Effy said with a shrug.
"Did you invite all these people?" the blonde teenager asked sounding slightly shocked.
Effy smirked and nodded and Pandora's eyes welled up with tears.
"Why?" she demanded angrily.
When the brunette shrugged again, but averted her eyes, the teenage blonde let a sob escape her lips and trotted away rapidly.
"Panda!" Naomi tried to call after her, but it took barely a second before she had lost sight of the teenager.
She tried following her afterwards, but the second she stepped forward, she realised that the room was spinning slightly.
"Shit" she mumbled.
Maybe the drugs had affected her a bit more than she had thought at first. She turned around to talk to Effy, but the brunette was gone as well.
"Just fucking great" she groaned and then made her way to the dance floor in hope of finding Panda.
As she walked there, she noticed in her peripheral vision that more people were coming through the open front door carrying more alcohol. The evening was also well underway now and the sun had almost set. As Naomi finally made it to the living room, she noticed with horror that Pandora's mother had taken off her top completely now.
"My name is Angela!" She yelled as she climbed onto her living room's coffee table. "And I love to have sex with my neighbour!"
The crowd yelled excitedly as Mrs Moon started laughing loudly and resumed her dancing. With everyone bumping into her, Naomi could tell that she was stoned because she could feel her body hum happily at the sensation instead of the usual annoyance she felt, but she wasn't stoned enough to ignore that. She'd have to find Panda later.
The blonde walked quickly to the older woman and stopped when she was directly next to her.
"Mrs Moon!" she called loudly. "Mrs Moon! Please, come back down"
"Naomi!" the woman said as if she'd just noticed the blonde.
Her eyes were completely glossed over, her pupils so large Naomi couldn't see the colour of her irises anymore.
"Come up here, it's wonderful" Mrs Moon continued, blissfully unaware of anything.
She dragged her own hands along the length of her arms and smiled lazily, a fit of giggles escaping her lips.
"Come on Mrs Moon" Naomi tried again, reaching her hand up.
"Call me Angela!" the woman reprimanded. "My name is Angela and I really love having sex!"
"That's great Mrs… Angela" the blonde said happily. "But please come back down before you fall"
Naomi reached her hand higher, trying to make it as appealing as possible in the hopes that Mrs Moon would take it and get down from the table. The older woman was completely ignoring her though and had now taken her phone out and started snapping pictures of the party goers. Naomi's hopes completely vanished when a boy that had to be 19 tops jumped on the table next to Mrs Moon and started grinding into her.
If the blonde journalist had had any small bit of hope that Mrs Moon would push the boy away, it was completely smashed when she, instead, started pushing her hips back forcefully into the boy's and started giggling. Then someone threw a can of beer at them and the boy caught it effortlessly. He pierced a hole at the bottom, turning the can towards Mrs Moon and when she pressed her lips to it, he opened it. The older woman chugged the beer effortlessly, lifting her arms in the air triumphantly the minute she was done. Then she draped them around the boy's shoulders, and started snogging him energetically. Naomi decided to abandon her attempts to calm Mrs Moon down. It would take more than a few breathing exercises to do that. Instead, she decided to find Pandora.
She repressed a shiver when, as she was leaving the living room, she heard Mrs Moon ask loudly;
"How do you feel about whips?"
Naomi quickened her pace and made it to the kitchen. There, she tried to find the blonde and usually bubbly teenager, but there were only strangers there. Strangers who were raiding the fridge. Naomi spotted the remnants of Pandora's birthday cake as she passed through the room and tried not to wince when she heard the sound of someone puking in the distance.
She wasn't sure how on earth the party had come to life so quickly, but there was no doubt now that it had. She walked through the hallway, still not seeing a hint of Pandora anywhere, and passed by a few broken things. She had to give it to Effy, she knew how to start a party.
It didn't take Naomi too long before she had finished looking through every room of the main floor without finding Pandora- or Effy for that matter- so she took her search to the second floor.
There weren't that many people here, but Naomi swore under her breath when she passed Mrs Moon's bedroom and saw a busy couple occupying it. She mentally then hoped the couple wouldn't be kicked out by Mrs Moon herself later if she decided she rather liked that boy back there.
Naomi continued to walk further and the music didn't seem so loud anymore. That's when she heard voices and found both the teenagers she was sort of looking for.
"Come on Panda, let me in" she heard Effy's strained voice say.
"Go away!" Pandora's voice answered sounding muffled.
Naomi walked closer carefully because she didn't want to interrupt. She looked around the corner of the hallway and saw Effy leaning against a door by her extended arm, looking both tired and upset.
"It was a joke. I thought you'd like a real party" the brunette explained.
Then, she lifted herself from the door and Pandora opened it sharply.
"You always bog everything up!" She accused, her face red and wet.
Obviously, she'd been crying. Effy looked a bit stunned at all the rage emanating from Panda.
"It's always about you! You do everything you like just 'cos your mother is depressed! You don't care about others, just about yourself. It's not my fault your mum was taking your brother's pills and it's not my fault he got hit by a bus! It's not anyone's fault"
Effy didn't answer and looked completely shocked. It seemed like Pandora was on a roll though because she didn't stop.
"This was my party and I'm upset because I wanted to play twister and eat jelly and ask questions about making monkey because I've never! I wanted it to be whacker and be happy because I had two friends and you were there, but you ruined everything"
"For Christ's sake, I'll show you how to do a blow job if-" Effy started, but Panda cut her off.
"I don't want a blowjob. I wanted my friend back! I wanted you to care!" the teen yelled before breaking into sobs and closing the door again in Effy's face.
"Panda…" the brunette mumbled, her voice shaking. "I just…" she tried to explain, but nothing came.
Naomi walked a bit closer and she could see that tears had developed in the usually so calm and composed teenager.
"Effy…" she tried, but when she saw her, the brunette shook her head, turned on her heels and left.
Now Naomi was torn, well and truly. She knew she had to do something, but exactly what, that was the problem. On the one hand, there was Panda, crying her eyes out in the room beside her and on the other there was Effy, gone to god knew where, who was also probably crying now. Her natural reaction would have been to forget about the both of them and head home. She hated drama, hated girl drama particularly. There was a reason Cook and her got along so well, neither of them did drama. Whenever Cook had a clingy one-night stand, they'd laugh about it together. It was simple and Naomi was never obliged to care.
But now she had to. She had to choose one of the teens and help them, or at the very least, talk to them. She sighed loudly. She knew Kieran would have wanted her to go after Effy. Admittedly, from the journalist point of view, there seemed to be a bigger story there. Hadn't Panda mentioned something about the brunette's mother nicking pills and her brother being in an accident? But as Naomi made her way to follow Effy, choosing to leave Panda on her own- she'd be safe in her own house wouldn't she?- it had absolutely nothing to do with her story or her job. She was surprised to realise that she actually wanted to go after Effy.
Naomi wasn't sure where to find Effy, but when she saw that the front door was open, she knew instinctively that the brunette had stepped out. She felt a surge of relief when she looked down the street and saw the shape of Effy walking in the distance. The blonde followed at a quick pace to try and catch up. When the teenager stopped to sit by the pier, letting her feet dangle just above the water, Naomi approached her carefully.
If Effy had taken off when the blonde had approached her earlier, she didn't make a move to flee this time. By the time it had taken Naomi to reach her level and sit next to her, Effy had lit a fag and was smoking silently. Not too sure what to say, Naomi remained silent as well. She figured she was lucky enough that the brunette hadn't told her to fuck off, so she wouldn't press her to talk. Naomi wasn't a great talker anyway and neither was Effy.
The blonde waited patiently, taking the time to look at the water. She wasn't really in any hurry to jump into an emotional talk. Effy offered her a fag and she took it. They smoked together and it might have been 5 minutes later or 30 when the brunette finally spoke up, her voice coarse.
"People… They fuck you up"
Naomi waited a beat, before answering. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to answer at all. Then she had a flash of a smile and clenched her teeth.
"Yeah, they do" she agreed.
They both fell silent after that for a few more minutes. This time, Naomi was lost in her thoughts and she had almost forgotten about Effy altogether when the teen spoke again.
"You're not going to ask me about what Pandora said?" She questioned.
"No" Naomi shrugged turning her head to face Effy. "If you want to talk about it, you can though"
The brunette waited a few extra seconds, her eyes staring Naomi down, but when the blonde didn't move or react, she gave her a small smirk.
"My brother was crossing the street one day and, like a twat, he didn't look. He got hit by a bus"
"Fuck…" Naomi muttered.
"Double fuck is that I was there to see it happen"
The blonde didn't try to say anything to that and waited for the teenager to continue.
"He survived, but he wasn't the same for a while. My mother was never great with these sorts of things; she dealt with it by taking his pills. There would be entire days when she'd just stay in bed completely stoned off her arse"
"What happened then?"
"Then one day Tony got better and so did she"
"That's good, right?" Naomi inquired and Effy sneered, shaking her head.
"It was until she started shagging my dad's boss"
"Oh…"
"Yeah… My dad found out this morning. He fucked off. I think they're getting a divorce. " Effy finished, her voice quieter on the last words.
Naomi could tell she was upset.
"Huh… That's… that's shit, actually. I'm sorry" she replied, feeling thoroughly inadequate.
"Yeah, it is" the brunette agreed, seemingly satisfied with Naomi's answer.
They didn't add anything for a while again, not until Effy finished her fag and threw it in the water.
"Your turn Naomi" she said then, not facing the blonde.
"My turn?"
"Yes. Tell me something true" the teen requested.
For once in her life, the blonde didn't even think and just answered the first thing that came to her mind.
"I don't know how to be a friend" she admitted simply.
When she turned around to look at Effy, the teenage girl was smiling. Naomi gave her a sad smile back and the brunette nodded before getting up.
"I'll see you around" she said then and left without looking back.
Naomi was fairly sure that Kieran would be furious once he learned that she hadn't pushed for more information than that. Her boss would flail and yell and he wouldn't think she'd made much progress. But as Naomi looked at the slowly disappearing shape of Effy in the distance, she couldn't help, but think that this was some progress. Something had shifted. She didn't know what, but she was sure of it and that would have to be enough for now.
.
.
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I know there wasn't a lot of Emily in this one, but you should know she'll be a lot more present in the next one! Also, guys I'm gonna need love and support from you! I mean I am sincerely so tired when I get home from work now, it feels like a huge task to open my laptop and write anything at all! But I know that your words of encouragements are enough to give me all the energy I need :)
Oh and I hope you're still enjoying the story even if it's a slow development ;)
Love as always!
MM xx