Hi everyone, massive apologies for posting the same chapter twice. I didn't check for the first time ever and it all went tits up. Sorry :(
We walk through the shopping mall until we get to the fast food restaurant close to the end. After saying goodbye to Nate and Ollie we've walked through the streets playing the favourite things game.
Favourite movie of all time, obviously To Kill a Mocking Bird. Favourite Movie Series, Pirates of The Caribbean. Favourite Song, Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. While we're discussing these random things I see something out of the corner of my eye that I have to do.
"Oh my god!" I start pulling Greg through the empty shopping centre up to the photo booth.
"What? Naomi, just a photo booth." He says after I've ducked under the curtain and am now sat on the chair digging around in my purse for some coins. For a long time I've gone into photo booths with the people that I've met in various different cities and I've had a load of pictures taken and then I've put them into photo albums. I do this with all of the people that have been good friends so I don't forget them when I leave. I roll my eyes and pull him into the booth.
"You are way too drunk." He says laughing.
"Sit on the god damn seat." I say shoving him into it. He falls onto it and I sit perch on his lap. He looks at me as if I've just thrown up all over his suit. "What?" I ask putting the money into the slot.
"So what is this?" He asks.
"Just a thing I do whenever I move to a new city, all of my closest friends and me do it. So feel honoured." I say sticking out my tongue. He smiles.
"I am, incredibly." He says, so sincerely that I have no choice but to believe him. The first picture is about to take.
"Okay, so number one fat face?" I ask. He's turning to look at me, but I'm already puffing my cheeks full of air and looking at the camera with wide eyes. He laughs.
"Oh right, so this is you being a moron." He says. I nod.
"Pretty much." Picture two, we decide on fish lips with the same wide eyes as fat face. One more picture to go.
"Three pictures, what the fuck kind of rip off is this?" I ask glaring at the screen. Greg laughs quietly next to me. "Okay what shall we do for the last one?" I ask turning to him, bur Greg isn't looking at me as if this as if it's a joke anymore. This look is more serious as if shit is going to go down. He looks me straight in the eyes before his own flicker down to my chin.
"What do I have food on my face?" I ask rubbing at my chin with my fingertips. He smiles and pulls the hand away gently and slowly. And then shit gets real. I only realise what's happening when I feel the pressure of his lips on mine and I can feel the heat coming off of him. I freeze. I am completely petrified. The kiss lasts around ten seconds and then Greg realises that I have turned into a statue. I feel like I've looked into the eyes of Medusa and now I am forever trapped in this stone casket. He pulls away quickly and averts his eyes from my direction. I snap out of whatever I'm in and suddenly feel like an utter bitch. He's obviously embarrassed by my rejection, if that's what it was. All I could remember was feeling far too conscious of the rules I had laid out for myself after the Matt incident and by Greg kissing me I have broken the biggest rule. No emotions, no love, no romance no nothing.
"Sorry." He says awkwardly. The box in which we are now sat in feels even smaller and I feel that I am far too close to him. I stand up.
"No, Greg I'm sorry. It's just I try not to... I'm in a weird place right now and I can't really get myself into anything..." I say as we exit the box.
"Yeah I get it." He's now sounding pissed. More pissed at himself than anything else. He's giving me the cold shoulder, and even though I know it's because he's just pushing me away so he can hide his embarrassment. I pick up the pictures from the dispenser. My heart drops at the last picture. I hold them out to him.
"Do you want them?" I ask. He shakes his head and looks away so he doesn't have to look at the moment that I turned him down.
"You keep 'em." He says and looks at his wrist. "Actually, I gotta get home, I've got work later. Bye Naomi." He turns and walks away leaving me feeling bewildered in the middle of a shopping mall in the middle of the night. And they say chivalry is dead.
When I get home, I go straight to bed. I leave my dress as a pile on the floor and leave on my underwear. I don't feel like a shower and I just want to sleep to get this day over and done with. I toss and turn for around an hour and when I look up at the clock it's three in the morning. I can't sleep, there's no way I will sleep. Not after what's happened today. Instead, I get up and creep out my room. I walk into the kitchen in my underwear, my bare feet padding along the ground. Hank looks up at the sound of my footsteps and by the time the ice cream is out of the freezer and there's a big spoon in my hand he's looking up at me from the ground. I sit on the work surfaces and take a massive spoon.
"You're lucky Hank." I say looking down at him, "you don't ever have to think about your feelings. To you it's just having a baby." Right now I wish I was this dog. "You don't ever have to make rules for yourself and then question them when something happens." I take another spoon of ice cream and consider what I've said. Do I now doubt my rules? Yes. Definitely. Do I doubt myself? Yes. What Greg did today totally flustered me. Despite my negative response, I liked it. A lot. And a large part of me is kicking myself for not eating his face off. But the rest of me knows that I can't afford to get attached to anything or anyone. I'll be gone soon and then I will have managed to hurt myself and Greg. That's what angers me the most. All I can think of is Greg. The way he looked when I first met him, the trial, the wedding, and the kiss. All of these moments, all of the emotions I felt. Were they worth it? Really? I thought about the things I had been through since Matt. I had turned into a recluse for weeks because of how hurt I was. I could barely eat, barely sleep.
"I wish I was you." I mutter looking down at Hank. He's my captive audience, staring up at me as if he cared for nothing more than the things I felt and thought. In reality, he cared about the ice cream in my hand. "Fine." I dig out a big spoon and give it to him, laying the spoon on the floor. He licked up all of it. I watched him for a while my fingers brushing idly over my tattoo. This was why I couldn't let anything happen between me and Greg, because those who you love the most will always be your downfall. There's a quiet knock on the door, quiet but insistent. I sigh and jump off of the counter.
"Yeah I'm coming." I hiss as I scrabble to find the keys. I unlock the door and open it to find Greg stood on the doorstep in his forensics jacket and a look of shock on his face as he looks me up and down.
"Greg?" I ask, and then I remember that I'm practically naked. "SHIT!" I grab the nearest item of clothing I can find. It's uncle Gil's heavy winter jacket, which luckily goes past my butt. I run my hand through my hair and as I turn back to him. "Can I help?" I ask.
"Naomi, what's going on?" Uncle Gil has emerged from his room and has seen me stood at the door revealing a lot of leg to Greg.
"Grissom, we've been called in." He says looking to my Uncle. "You weren't answering your phone so I was sent to get you." He says.
"Right, I'll go get dressed." My Uncle turns on his heel to go back into his room. I'm stood in front of Greg with a now hollow feeling in my stomach. My mind is screaming.
He kissed me. He did earlier, and it wasn't because he was pissed. Maybe.
"So, you didn't tell me you were on call." I say wrapping my arms around my chest in order to stop any more wardrobe malfunctions, or rather brain malfunctions.
"I didn't think it mattered." He says.
"I wouldn't have asked you to come if you were working, your job's more important than a wedding." I say. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and stares at the screen intensely.
"No. It was fun." He says. He puts his phone back in his pocket and looks up at me. My heart leaps in my chest and at this moment I know that I am desperately in love with him.
"Look Greg, about earlie-
"Right I'm ready, I've called Sara and she says she'll be a bit later than us lot." My Uncle has successfully blundered straight into the middle of my declarations. He pauses when he realises that he's crashed a conversation. "You ready?" He asks looking at Greg who nods once curtly. My Uncle passes me and they walk off down the drive.
"Bye." I call into the darkness as I stand in the doorway watching them leave, the hollowness from stomach creeps into my chest as I watch them leave. I close the door once the car has driven away and I take off the jacket and slip it back onto the coat stand and lean my head against the door breathing slowly. I turned to go back to bed walking past a frantic Sara who yelled out a "night" as I settled back under my covers.
The same morning at half nine, I am stood outside my office, leaning against my car looking at the picture again. The kiss. I hate myself for freezing up and it's all I can think about. I slept for three hours last night, but it doesn't matter. I am wired on the new found things I have realised.
"So you are dating him!" Maddy is stood in front of me holding a coffee cup from the Starbuck's across the street. I shove the picture into my pocket. I shake my head.
"No, I'm not." I say. She nods.
"Right." She looks at me questioningly. "So, what you doing at work on a Sunday of all days?" She asks.
"Well I could as you the same thing." I say. She smirks as if she's glad she's out done me.
"I'm not in work, officially. Me and Pete met up for coffee, and we're going to the movies later." She explains. I laugh.
"So you are dating him!" She looks up from her coffee shyly.
"Yeah, I guess we are." This is the first time I have seen her look awkward. "I really like him though, so I wanna take it really slow." She's serious deadly serious. She might even be in love with him. My hand that is wrapped around the picture reminds me of how lucky she is. "Anyway, I need to go get something out of my office. See you later." She says. I wave as I watch her disappear into the office.
"Grissom, what you doing here?" Pete asks just as I'm about to get into my car.
"Hey." I hug him and smile. "So, you and Mads, eh?" I ask. He nods.
"Well I hope so; I've really liked her for ages." He says. I nod and I'm about to tell him that I knew already when my office explodes.