As always, thank you all for the lovely comments; I love knowing people think of my stories and it's always a wonderful motivator to get me writing so keep them coming.

Chapter 12

"So darling," Naomi's mom said, looking at her daughter. "What did you do last night?"

Naomi shrugged. "I went out."

"Who with?" Gina further inquired.

"Why does it matter?" Naomi asked.

"You just look really cheery today," Gina replied. "I've never really seen you like this before."

Naomi couldn't help but smile.

"That's what I'm talking about." Gina nodded, indicating the smile on Naomi's face.

Naomi sighed. "I had a date."

"Oh!" Gina said, brightly. "Who is the lucky fellow?"

"Well…" Naomi said, biting her lower lip. "Her name is Emily; she's Katie's sister actually."

"That's wonderful dear," Gina replied.

Naomi rolled her eyes; only she could tell her mom she had been on a date with a girl and get no reaction but delight. Her mom was a bit frustrating at times, but Naomi wouldn't change her for the world.

"That's it?" Naomi said, eyeing her mom.

"Well what do you want me to say dear?" Gina asked.

Naomi shrugged. "I don't know."

"You know I believe people can fall in love with anyone," Gina said, shrugging. "And if this girl is going to make you happy then there's nothing wrong with that."

Naomi smiled and hugged her mom. "Thank you."


"So how was your date last night?" Katie asked, watching her hot cocoa swirl around in her mug.

Emily smiled. "It was great."

"So you and Naomi managed not to fuck it up this time?" Katie asked, receiving a glare from her sister.

"No, I managed to keep my idiocy under wraps for the night," Emily sarcastically replied.

"Good," Katie said. "Maybe there is hope for you two."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Can I tell you how much I did not miss conversations like this?"

Katie smiled. "You know you missed everything about me."

Emily stared at her hands on the table and Katie suddenly looked serious. "Mom wants you to come for dinner on Sunday."

"She's not stupid enough to think I would actually do that, is she?" Emily scoffed.

"She misses you," Katie admitted. "She's missed you for a long time, but you know how she is; she has too much pride to say anything. She's always hoped you'd be the one to make the first move, but you're just as stubborn as she is."

"Why would she miss me?" Emily asked. "She hates who I am."

"You left before she had time to get used to it," Katie replied. "I can't say she's exactly thrilled about it, but she does miss you and wants you in her life."

"She had plenty of time to get used to it," Emily said angrily.

Katie sighed. "You've barely talked to her in nine years. Give her another chance like you gave me; I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but please try."

Emily looked into Katie's pleading eyes and nodded. "Not this weekend though, but maybe sometime in the next few months."

"I'm really sorry, you know," Katie said.

Emily frowned. "About what?"

"For making everything worse," Katie said, hanging her head. "I know I used to take mom's side and we would gang up on you. I just wanted you to be normal or at least what I thought was normal. Even when I heard you crying in bed at night, I would think good, now maybe she'll stop all this shit and realize she's wrong. God I was such a bitch; I really deserved it when you kicked my ass."

"Yes you really did," Emily replied, smirking. "So does this mean you are going to back me up when the inevitable lesbian comments come up?"

"Of course I will," Katie replied. "But I don't think she'll say anything anyway."

"She's never been able to stop herself before," Emily said, bitterly.

"I'm telling you, she's changed," Katie said.

Emily broke eye contact and stared out the window. "I guess I won't believe it until I've seen it."

She wanted to believe Katie; really she would love to have her mother back even if she would never admit it to anyone else, but she'd been disappointed one too many times when it came to Jenna Fitch.


Later that day, after Naomi got off work, she walked to the restaurant that the gang had always gone to after college. Today she was going there to meet Cook, Freddie, and Effy, but she was currently running about five minutes late. Once she got there, all three of her friends were standing outside the front door waiting on her.

"Naomikins!" Cook exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the blonde. "It's about fucking time you got here."

"Sorry Cookie," Naomi said, ruffling his hair.

"Eh, I still love you," Cook said, releasing Naomi.

"Hey Freddie," Naomi said, giving him a small hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"I know," Freddie said, heading inside the restaurant. "I've been swamped with work."

"I hear you there," Naomi replied, following everyone else in.

"What are you two complaining about?" Cook asked. "Work is fun!"

Naomi laughed. "Well we can't all work at a pub all day and drink."

Cook scowled at Naomi and the group went to their usually booth which was actually free. No one bothered to pick up a menu since they'd all been coming here for so long and knew it by heart.

"The usual?" the waitress asked, approaching the table.

"Yep," Cook said, winking at the young woman.

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Why do you even bother? It's been three years; she doesn't want to fuck you."

"A man has to try," Cook said with a shrug.

"A man also has to know when to give up," Naomi countered.

Cook put his arm around Naomi. "Never."

Effy laughed. "Yeah, you definitely might want to give up there."

"Why's that?" Cook asked look between the two.

"I'm sort of kinda dating someone," Naomi replied. "Or we've at least gone on two dates and hopefully more eventually."

Cook shrugged. "Since when has that stopped me?"

"Well just don't do it around Katie then," Naomi requested.

"Why not?" Cook wondered.

Naomi smiled. "I don't know how much she'd appreciate it when I'm kind of going out with her sister."

"Her sister?" Cook's jaw dropped and he looked to Effy for confirmation. "She's joking, right?"

Effy shook her head. "Nope."

"Is she much like Katie?" Freddie asked.

Naomi laughed. "Would I be able to stand dating her if she was?"

"True," Freddie said, smiling.

"Okay back up a moment," Cook replied. "You're suddenly a lesbian?"

Naomi shrugged. "I don't know what I am, but I do know I like Emily, which I have now accepted and have stopped panicking about."

"Oh," Cook said, nodding. "I'll be right back."

Naomi frowned and watched Cook head for the restroom.

"I'll be back as well," she said to Freddie and Effy.

Naomi followed Cook and waited outside the men's restroom until he emerged.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Cook nodded, but looked more serious than he usually did. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Don't lie," Naomi replied. "And don't act like I don't know you well enough to know when something is wrong with you."

Cook sighed and looked away. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"

Naomi could see the hurt in Cook's eyes. "I guess I was just sort of in denial; I never even admitted it to myself."

"Fine, but why am I just now hearing about Katie's sister when Effy and Katie already know, but you don't call and tell me?" Cook asked.

Naomi opened and closed her mouth a few times. "I just…I'm sorry. We haven't really talked a lot lately and it just never really occurred to me to call and tell you. In the beginning I was so freaked out about it that I didn't want to talk to anyone about it."

"Don't keep things from me," Cook requested. "At least not big things like this. I know we're all adults now and people are bound to drift apart some, but I don't want that to happen to us. At least not you and me."

Naomi nodded and hugged Cook. She hadn't really expected him to react this way; she really figured he would turn it all into a big joke and start inquiring about threesomes. She had rarely seen him this serious, but they were like brother and sister and she guessed it had just hurt him that she had kept such a big thing from him.

"C'mon," she said, pulling away.

They walked back over to the both where their food was waiting on them.

"Food just came," Freddie said, shoving a fry into his mouth.

"Good, I'm starving," Cook said, rubbing his stomach and looking a little more cheerful.

Cook and Freddie were both devouring their food when Katie came in and spotted them.

"Hey," she said, approaching the table.

Naomi smiled. "I thought you were busy."

Katie shrugged and sat down. "I am, but I figured I could stop in for a few minutes."

"So I hear Naomi is doing your sister," Cook said through a mouthful of food.

Naomi and Katie both kicked his legs under the table. "I am not doing her sister."

Katie looked disgusted. "Thank you for that mental image."

Cook howled with laughter. "No problem."