Authors Note: Ok I feel stupid. Really stupid... I sort of accidentally uploaded chapter 22 as chapter 21 and now chapter 21 is chapter 22... I'm trying to fix this...

Chapter twenty one

At Naomi's house

Emily

I woke up at the sound of the creaking staircase. I had fallen asleep, for how long I didn't know. My face was dry and stiff from my dried tears, and so was Naomi's pillow I had desperately clung onto.

'I knew I wasn't alone.'

I sat up and waited for someone to open the door. I could hear the footsteps approach outside the half-closed door to the bedroom.

The door opened and in came Kieran. I did not get too surprised about that, after all he and Gina had probably stayed here while Naomi was in hospital.

"How are you Emily?" He asked and sat down beside me on top of the bed.

"I'm fine…" I sniffled out.

"How long have you known I was here?" I asked.

"Well I heard someone in here and after a while I looked in but then you had fallen asleep. I called Gina so she knows you are here. I didn't want to wake you up." He gave me an awkward pat on my shoulder.

'Kieran. I had never really understood him, the man who hates being a teacher.' Luckily for him he had taken some time off to go travel with Gina. But he was sort of nice when you got to know him. In the beginning I just thought he was a fucking idiot with a bad attitude… sort of like Naomi. They fit well together Kieran and Naomi.

'Naomi…'

"…So Gina knows I'm here?"

"Yeah, she asked me to tell you to call her up after you woke up." He handed me his cell phone.

"No it's all right I have one myself." I smiled gratefully and picked up my own cell phone and waved it slightly in the air.

I stood up and prepared to leave. I felt as if I had intruded someone's home, which I in reality had…

"Thanks, and sorry if I showed up like this." I smiled at Kieran and left the room.

"This house is always open for you." He called after me.

'Yeah, but there is no need to if Naomi aint here for me…'

"Don't you want something to eat? It's lunchtime after all." He stood up and walked ahead of me down to the kitchen.

I never really answered his question but I followed him and sat down on a chair by the table. It felt all weird. It had been a good while since I last sat by this table. I looked at the empty chair in front of me and imagined Naomi sitting there.

In my imagination I saw Naomi smiling at me, smiling with her crooked beautiful smile with a bit of sarcasm behind it. I felt a tear running down my cheek. And I felt how the whole Niagara was on its way out of my eyes so I shook my head to prevent me from continuing to imagine. The last thing I needed now was to drown in the house that meant so much to me… and it wouldn't be good if Kieran drowned either …

I heard how Kieran started a water kettle. I looked around in the kitchen and the blackboard caught my eyes, still with the words half filled in. My attempt to restore it had been week since Effy turned up outside.

For the first time since that morning at the hospital, that time my mum hit Naomi, I actually doubted my interpretation of what I had heard. Maybe Effy loved her, but maybe she had said something else. I actually didn't know. But I was tired of running after Naomi. If she wanted me back she had to come for me. But at least I decided not to be mad at Effy, I was a pretty damn good mess myself.

I stood up and walked towards the blackboard. In one swipe I rubbed out the words. Kieran put a plate onto the table. I could hear the sound of porcelain hitting wood. I turned around and saw a plate with warm food.

"Here you go." He said and sat down on the chair on the other side of the table.

"Thanks."

At the hospital

Naomi

"You don't move." The nurse put a hand on my shoulder as I tried to get up.

"You have to stay in bed. I don't know how this happened but you are not allowed to go anywhere for at least a week." The nurse continued as she tucked me into the bed.

'No, I have to find Emily!'

I didn't care about what the nurse said so I sat up anyways when she turned away from me. But as I did I felt how my head started to spin and I sat down again.

"Are you sure that nothing else happened, this seems far more severe than if you just bumped into a wall…" The nurse examined my head.

"No. I am sure."

Actually I lied. I knew that it must had been after getting slapped first by Mandy and then by Emily's mum, because I had certainly not bumped into a wall lately. But I didn't want to tell the nurse that had been slapped…

"Well something must have happened… The stitches are not in place and the healing process it taking far longer than expected… It is a miracle that you still can stand straight." She smiled towards me.

"Where is your mum?" She asked. "We have to tell her too."

"I don't know…"

Just like on demand my mum stepped into the room. She carried a little tray with a plate with food and a bottle of juice. She smiled, but her smiled disappeared when she saw the nurse examine my head.

"Erm… what is going on?" My mum sounded worried.

"Oh, there you are." The nurse straightened up and walked towards my mum.

"She is not allowed to go out of the hospital for at least a week. We want to have her under observation because it is not looking too good." The nurse made a faint gesture towards me as she said it.

"Why?" My mum walked past the nurse and put the tray on the little side table. Then she started to check my head too.

I pushed her hand away, annoyed. I didn't need a pair of extra hands going through my head and touching on sore spots.

"We'll have a doctor here at dinner time. We will ask him to check your head and give his judgment." The nurse smiled and walked out through the door.

Why did the nurses smile so much? If I worked with seeing sick people every day I wouldn't be so keen on smiling all the time…

"What happened?" My mum said when we became alone in the room.

"I bumped into a wall…" I said not looking at her.

"You are lying. I can tell." My mum laughed slightly.

She knew me all too well.

"I got slapped, a proper bitch-slap… well, two to be honest." I looked at her waiting for a reaction.

"You have got to be more careful." She smiled and put down the tray in my lap.

"I need to talk to Emily…"

'No that was an understatement. I didn't need to, I had to. I had to put everything right…"

"You said she doesn't believe I like her." I continued. "Well, I have to tell her how it really is."

'I still can't believe it.' I didn't know if I was supposed to feel sad or angry about the fact that Emily didn't believe I liked her, or least of all loved her. She had gotten it all wrong and this was as winded up as it could ever be.

"I asked Kieran to ask her to call me when she wakes up." My mum said and sat down in front of me on the bed.

The first thought that hit me was 'No don't say she went into coma as well, we have had enough of that already!'

"What?!" I asked desperately.

"Well, she is asleep at ours right now… at yours." She corrected herself.

Thank God for that. It felt all weird to know that I had a girlfriend, and the weirdest thing was that it was Emily. But that scared me a lot too. I felt such a strong desire for her that it was almost scary. And because it was a new feeling I was afraid to give in to it. But what if she wasn't my girlfriend, what if Mandy had told the truth… That was even more frightening. I shed a tear but wiped it off quickly with the back of my hand.

"It's gonna be all right." Mum gave me a hug and kissed me on my cheek.

"Sure about that… what if she won't call back if she knows that it has something to do with me… She hates me, with all rights." My voice trembled.

"I'm sure she will come back. She loves you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"She told me when we had a chat earlier."

"You had?"

Mum nodded and smiled lightly.

I couldn't believe that she had talked to Emily without telling me. Had she known how desperate I had been to find her…? Well, that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that Emily called back.

I turned to my tray with food. But it was just one problem… I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital…