The next day passed way too quickly for Naomi's liking. She spent every possible minute either kissing, touching, hugging, or talking to Emily. She felt like she couldn't breathe properly whenever the redhead wasn't by her side.

Was she being clingy?

Maybe.

Was it necessary?

Definitely.

Naomi still hadn't worked up the courage to tell Emily that Gina was coming to pick her up in less than 24 hours. She had however confronted Emily about the whole naked-boy-in-the-shower thing.

"So who is he?" Naomi asked as she absentmindedly stroked Emily's silky red hair. They had just finished making love for the fourth time that morning and were lying naked and entangled in each other's arms on Naomi's bed.

Emily sighed heavily before answering.

"He's a guy I used to know. I dunno why he's here though."

"Just a guy you used to know?" Naomi pressed, putting an emphasis on the word 'just'.

Emily sighed again and propped herself up on her elbow. She traced a line from Naomi's forehead down over her nose and mouth.

"What do you want to know?" she asked, her voice huskier than usual due to overuse.

"How well did you know him?"

Emily kept her eyes trained on her fingers.

"We had sex," she muttered.

Naomi literally felt her heart stop beating in chest when the redhead's words sunk in. Emily, her Emily and that guy?

No.

It wasn't possible.

"I thought you said you were a virgin," Naomi said, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

Emily's eyes met hers. She looked ashamed and Naomi hated that she actually felt bad.

"I said I'd never had sex with a girl, not that I was a virgin."

Naomi felt like she'd been punched in the gut. It was true, Emily had never specified, but still, she couldn't help but feel betrayed.

"Why?" she asked civilly, using all the self-control she could muster.

Emily looked down at her fingers again.

"It's a long story."

"I have time," Naomi countered. Liar, screamed the little voice inside her head. Time is running out.

"Remember when I told you that for the three months after my parents died, all I did was cry?"

Naomi nodded her head, wondering what the hell this had to do with her sleeping with Freddie.

"Well, one day I woke up and I just didn't feel anything. I think it was my body's natural way of defending itself or something, I don't know." Emily glanced up at Naomi before looking back down at her fingers.

"Anyway, for months I couldn't feel anything. I had finally stopped crying, but as a consequence, I also stopped laughing. I wasn't ever happy or sad or angry. I just was." Emily paused for a second, seemingly collecting herself before adding, "my body was an empty shell. I was simply alive, nothing more nothing less."

Naomi was startled by the revelation despite the anger she was feeling. She knew things had been hard for Emily after her parents had died, but Emily had never gone into detail about the specifics before.

"After a while I started experimenting with certain things," Emily continued, "I tried anything and everything that would make a normal person feel something. I started with adrenaline-pumping sports, hoping to feel fear or excitement or exhilaration or anything at all. When that didn't work I moved on to other things…" she trailed off.

"So you fucked Freddie and then you started feeling again?" Naomi snapped, her jealous finally getting the better of her.

Emily looked up at her and smiled softly.

"That's the thing though, everybody says that sex makes you feel things, that it changes things. Well, in my case the fact that I didn't feel anything is what changed things."

Naomi opened her mouth to speak but Emily interrupted her,

"I know this sounds like a cliché, and we all know how much you hate clichés, but I realized that sex without love is pointless, and consequently realized that life without love is pointless and that the reason I couldn't feel anymore was because I'd forgotten how to love." Her voice had gotten quieter and quieter as she spoke, eventually ending in a whisper.

Naomi placed her hand over Emily's and rubbed her thumb over it.

"You have a roundabout way of coming to conclusions, don't you?"

Emily choked out a laugh and looked up at Naomi,

"Sorry for having lied about it."

"You didn't lie, you just didn't tell the whole truth," Naomi assured her.

"There's not much of a difference though, is there?"

Naomi swallowed the lump in her throat as the truth of Emily's words sunk in.

"No, there isn't," she agreed quietly.

.

.

Naomi watched with a thumping heart as the taxi pulled up in front of the hotel. She was looking out of the window in Emily's room and buttoning her shirt back up when Emily came up behind her and looped her arms around her waist.

"That's odd, I didn't know anyone new was checking in today," she remarked.

Naomi didn't answer. She didn't need to.

Both girls watched as Gina stepped out of the taxi and made her way towards the front door.

Naomi felt Emily's grip tighten around her waist.

"Your mum?"

Naomi turned around and looked down into Emily's confused brown eyes.

"Em-"

"Did you know she was coming?" Emily asked, the panic rising in her voice.

"Ems, listen to me," she took the redhead's petite hands in hers, "I'm leaving."

Emily visibly blanched as she took a step back.

"What?" she breathed.

"Em, I'm sor-"

Emily's hand connecting with her cheek quieted her instantly.

"When were you planning on telling me, before or after you fucked me?" she hissed.

"Oh wait…I guess after," she added sarcastically.

Naomi shook her head helplessly.

"I didn't know until after –"

"So you didn't know five minutes ago?"

Naomi let her hands drop to her side as she shook her head in defeat.

"Fuck. You." Emily said with venom in her tone before she turned and started for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Naomi asked feebly.

"To help a guest check out," Emily said without so much as a backwards glance.

.

.

Naomi approached Emily slowly. The redhead was standing on the front porch with her arms crossed over her chest while Tim helped Gina pack her own bags into the trunk of the taxi.

"Emily," she said quietly as she held her hands out.

"Don't you dare say you're sorry again, Naomi."

"I love you."

Emily's brown eyes snapped to hers, the anger in them melting away as tears flooded in.

"That isn't fair," she croaked.

"I know. It doesn't make it any less true though."

Emily dropped her head as a tear fell down her cheek. Naomi stepped forward and kissed it away.

"I'm so, so sorry Ems, but I have to go. Mum says it's a family emergency."

"I know, she told me," Emily answered, trying desperately not to let any more tears fall.

Naomi brushed her lips against Emily's lips one last time, savoring their taste.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, please believe that."

Emily nodded her head somberly, unable to speak without sobbing.

Naomi pulled the redhead in for a tight hug, relishing the feeling of her small body pressed against her own, before turning and making her way towards the taxi.

"Ready, love?" Gina called from the front seat as she buckled her seatbelt.

Naomi didn't answer.

She turned to look at Emily still standing on the front porch through the window of the taxi. The redhead had tears flowing freely down her cheeks now, and Naomi found that she did too.

The taxi started its engine and began pulling away, making Naomi's heart feel like it was being ripped out of her chest. She watched the form of the girl she loved getting smaller and smaller as the taxi drove down the driveway.

"I love you," she whispered and put her hand up to the cold glass of the window.

As the taxi turned out of the driveway and onto the main road, Naomi wondered if the acute ache in her chest would ever go away.

Somehow, she seriously doubted it. At least not until she was back in Emily's arms.

.

.

.

End.

.

.

.

For now.

Please don't hate me, I have a good reason, I promise.

I'm going to be going to New Zealand and Australia for 3 months starting tomorrow. I'm already up way too late as it is, but I really wanted to get this up before I left instead of leaving you all hanging.

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading, and of course all those who reviewed. You have no idea how inspiring you've been. I don't know, it feels good to know that there are people our there who are actually reading, ya know?

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm going to write a sequel for this. What else am I going to do on the plane for 16 hours? ;)

Please, don't hesitate to lace into me...heck knows I totally deserve it for leaving the story like this!

Thank you again, and I'm pretty sure you'll be hearing from me in a few months. Until then, enjoy all the fabulous fics on here!

Tootloo,

-Colibio