Author's Note: Fun times accommodated by plenty of character development. It's a really long one, soooo grab some munchies and get cozy :)
Naomi's PoV
Emily had insisted that we get ready for the evening separately… something about wanting to surprise me. Although, I'm pretty sure that whatever Emily wears is going to stun me regardless of whether I saw her in advance. Knowing the way she never ceases to take my breath away you would think I would be dead…Thank goodness I'm not because tonight is looking to be very lively and promising.
Wanting to treat the fancy dinner I had scheduled with the utmost formality, I left Emily to go find some place where I could clean up. She questioned me when I didn't take any evening wear along but I told her I wasn't going to be wearing any of the boring things I had in my suitcase. Those were from the night events I had that were strictly professional back home and I didn't think I could go out with her looking less than decent, knowing the lengths Emily was going to, to make herself impossibly more gorgeous.
I ventured the city and allowed myself to be taken by the crowd. I was eventually herded into a giant Macy's by a group of tourists blocking any other path. I really wasn't much of a shopper so I immediately called the only appropriate person when it came to fashion advice, despite my mind blatantly alerting me that I was digging myself into a deep hole by making contact with her… let alone on a matter she could endlessly ramble about. I mean I had to be all ready and back at the hotel in four hours so time was of the essence.
"Hello?" I said unsure when the ringing stopped but no voice answered. I heard muffled sounds coming through a probably covered speaker. Rolling my eyes I wondered if this was even worth the bother, then I remembered that I was doing this for Emily and repeated a bit louder, "Hello?"
"Shut up for a second." She whispered harshly into the phone. I could make out the clacking of heels on tile as I waited. I scoffed and nearly hung up at her rude behavior, but then again, I expected nothing less going into this. "Alright, what do you want?" She said in a less than interested tone.
"Lovely to hear your voice, Katie," I sighed.
"Yeah, right. Again, what was it you wanted?" Fucking hell. You'd think her demeanor would've matured slightly after meeting Andrew…
"You know what? Never mind." I wasn't in the mood to deal with her and all that was her attitude for the length of time it would take to follow through with anything positive she could possibly offer. I was about to hang up when I heard laughter and struggling before another familiar voice got on the phone.
"Hello?"
"Um, hello? Little man?" I was moving while I spoke on the phone because otherwise I would have been trampled. I managed to find an exit that was a more quiet area meant for smoking. The scent soothed me; it had actually been quite awhile since I had last smoked. Emily had taken my last pack back in England while we were clubbing, and since then I hadn't really ever been away from her to even consider buying a new one. I wasn't interested in deliberately going behind her back to smoke. In fact, I hadn't even asked her if it bothered her. Of course I'd stop if she asked; I'd do anything for her, but it would be slightly difficult to kick the habit when times got more stressful, particularly with the hard cases I knew I'd be returning to when I got home.
"Naomi, what are you doing?"
"Shopping." I said casually. However, with the frequency of the occasion, I probably should have said it differently.
"You like shopping?" Apparently it was that easy to tell I wasn't the type to be searching racks for the latest trends. His voice was further from the phone when he continued talking and after I second I realized he wasn't talking to me anymore. "Yeah, she said she's going shopping… Ummmm, I don't think she's joking." More shuffling noises.
"Andrew says you're going shopping, is this true?" Katie returned speaking seriously.
"For fucks sake, yes. Problem?" Of course she'd take an interest.
"No. But why are you shopping?" She quickly added, "Is Emily accompanying you?" Unsure why, I felt she knew the answer to the questions before I complied with a response.
"I'm shopping because Emily and I are going out tonight and I've got nothing to wear. And no, she's back at the room getting ready… she was insistent on surprising me by getting ready separately."
"I see… and what exactly is it you are calling me for?" Yeah, we were both very conscious of the fact that Katie was one of the last people I'd go to for advice. Maybe in the future I could see myself asking her a few things about Emily-on those occasions Emily feels like being sly and avoiding questions purposelessly… well not purposelessly, her goal was to be sly… I rolled my eyes at the thought yet smiled because ultimately, she was just too damn cute.
"Don't make me say it Katie." I sighed.
"Say it Campbell." I could hear Andrew in the background asking "Say what? Say what Katie? What is she going to say?" Katie laughed at Andrew's childlike curiosity and answered him; "I'll put her on speaker so you can hear. After all I think I need a witness to this moment, if only because you're going to deny it forever when I recall upon it frequently in any fitting situation." There was a beep. "Speak loud and clear Naomi, we're listening…"
"If you weren't in the presence of a child I'd be cur-"
"Hey, watch it." That's shocking. I felt approval of Katie's motherly protectiveness kicking in. Perhaps she wasn't going to be all that bad. Support her for Emily… Right… Emily. I took a dramatic deep breath, not wanting to appear out of character and accepting this feat as easily as I honestly could…
"I need your help." I said quietly, trying to lightly cough away any commitment to the absurd statement.
"Nuh-uh."
"For fu—I mean, shi—no." I shook my head at myself and wondered how I was going to prevent myself from swearing at Katie in front of Andrew. She was probably one of the people who could bring out the sailor in me the quickest, other than a ridiculous court sentence and high-horsed judge… "Katie, I need your help."
"Great for you to finally admit it."
"What are we helping her with?" Andrew, again in the background.
"Nothing. We are really busy Campbell, so sorry, I can't be bothered to help you." "Heyyyyyy. That's not very nice." Andrew and Katie began going back and forth. "Who said we have to be nice to Naomi?" "It's the golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated." "You don't see me asking her for fashion advice." "Apologize." "What?" "Apologize to her. That wasn't nice." "You've got to be shi—kidding me…?" "No. Do it or you have to go into a timeout! That's what Mrs. Potts makes us do if we say not nice things." I could not believe I was getting to hear this conversation. Was Andrew really lecturing Katie? This was just unreal. I made a mental note to buy Andrew a big gift next time I saw him. My previous dramatic sigh was nothing compared to the one I overheard next.
"Sorry Campbell." There was nothing sincere about her voice.
"That doesn't count. You have to say it nicely. Mrs. Potts would have sent you into a timeout AND made you repeat it if you said it like that." I wondered how frequently he was going to be quoting Mrs. Potts and her actions… it was one of those kid things, he must look up to her a lot. I guess with time it would fade away and we would all be hearing incessant parroting of anything Katie says.
"I'm sorry, Naomi. Do you forgive me?" Fuck me, that was sincere sounding.
"I forgive you Katie." The smarter bit of me told me not to earn myself a lesson from the little man and sound as sincere as possible. There was an uncomfortable silence that fell on us at the realization we were supposed to act like adults and this child should not be telling us how to behave. I think we almost felt regrettably stupid. That was the beginning of neutrality between Katie and I. At least in front of Andrew, we silently agreed to behave ourselves and act appropriately.
"…right. Wear something black to emphasize your blue eyes, she'll love that. Emily can't stop telling me about them whenever I bring up the color blue. Oh, and try something sleeveless for once. You're always covering up your arms with blazers. Don't make this another business meeting Campbell, yeah?" I blushed at the thought of Emily saying nice things about me...
To anyone else the bringing up a color in conversation would be weird, but Katie and her job to keep up to date with the trending colors would keep her sister in check regardless of Emily's interest. Emily was nice to Katie; she was able to fake interest a lot longer than I ever could. Then again, sometimes I wasn't so sure my redhead was faking it; maybe it was just her love for her twin that I was seeing… They were remarkably close for what fights they had in the past and the obvious differences in their personalities.
"Thanks Katie." I started heading towards the eveningwear section.
"Yeah, send me a picture before you buy anything. I don't trust your taste."
"My taste in women is notably outstanding."
"Woman." She corrected, but I could tell it was a warning as well.
"She's the only one for me Katie. I promise you that." I attempted to assure her and meant it entirely.
"I think Naomi and Emily are fucking perfect together!" My jaw slacked—that was not Katie that had just said that.
"ANDREW! YOU CAN'T SWEAR!" Katie scolded and then repeated more calmly and seriously, "We don't swear because it's not nice. If you swear again we're going to have to put you in one of those time-outs Mrs. Potts does."
He groaned, "But I was only just repeating what yo—"
"I've got to go Naomi. Send me the pictures. Bye." She hung up quickly. I think the smile on my face couldn't have gotten bigger. It was fairly obvious that Andrew was saying it because it had been Katie whom originally said she thought Emily and I were perfect together. Content with the new information I began my shopping. It took several attempts to find something that Katie approved of via texting pictures of me awkwardly standing in front of a mirror dressed up, but when I finally found the right dress she practically virtually pulled the credit card out of my pocket and bought it for me.
I looked at my watch, two more hours until I had to pick my beaut up. Conveniently on my way out I saw some bored women at a makeup counter and entrusted them with my face. I think my ego inflated about ten-times larger than normal with the amount of compliments they were showering me with as they did their work. When I looked in one of the mirrors on the counter I couldn't help but hope Emily would think I looked as pretty as they were saying I was. When they finished they wished me a lucky evening they were fully informed about. They had gotten me to loosen up by getting me to chat about Emily after noticing how uncomfortable I felt for the first few minutes they were doing their job. I left with their directions to the nearest place I could pick up a fresh bouquet and a curling iron. They had instructed me that a curled-do would best compliment my make-up and dress. I had a feeling Katie and these ladies would have gotten on quite well…
Thirty minutes to eight and I was standing in our hotel's single-person lobby bathroom. I must've occupied it for quite awhile, not including the additional time I had spent standing in front of the full-length mirror making minor repetitive adjustments to how I looked. My arms were folded over my waist and covering each other, unused to feeling so uncovered. I still had enough fabric to go out and look appropriate at a nice restaurant but the lack of sleeves and bareback combined with a lower neckline made me feel nearly naked. It was a sleek black dress that was very fitted and rested an inch above my knees. My bleach-blonde hair cascaded down and covered my shoulders in almost perfect curls. This was actually the first time I had worn it in curls so I was nervous whether Emily would like it, maybe it would be too different. To accommodate the classiness of my dress I had on a circular diamond pendant that rested neatly against me skin and a matching bracelet. Both very simple yet very nice. I felt pretty.
Wrecking any confident feelings I had, I started practicing my smile. I had thirty minutes to kill and it suddenly popped into my mind that I should greet Emily in a better way than with just a casual 'hello.' I grabbed the roses off the counter and held them behind my back and pretended to be revealing them to Emily, "Just saw these at a market today and they reminded me of your gorgeous red hair." I thought of numerous other lame lines, but that one prevailed them all. Which just goes to show how lame they were… By the time I had decided to stick with that line after practicing pronouncing and emphasizing the words in all different ways I realized if I didn't make my way to the elevator I'd be late—unbelievable for someone in the same building as their date.
When I got to the door it was already six minutes after eight. Unfortunately it was a Friday so the hotel elevator and lobby were fairly crowded and we had to make more stops than I had grown accustomed to during the week. I quickly practiced the line and the flower presenting once more before knocking on the door. Nothing could have prepared me for what was about to be revealed to me. However, before such a revealing, I was standing there for a solid two minutes, panicking and thinking I maybe I had knocked on the wrong door. I regained my wits and grabbed my bag of stuff that I had worn today and rummaged through it and found my room key. It worked on the door so I slowly pushed it open and entered, roses still held behind my back.
From the inside of the room I could now hear music playing from the bedroom, probably why she couldn't hear me. Dropping my stuff from earlier beside the door and closing it gently I started walking to the bedroom. My heels clacked on the tile of the floor as I went. She must've heard me because the bedroom door opened and there she was…
I think I was staring at her with my jaw dropped the entire time her sexy legs were heading in my direction. There was just so much and to take it in all at the same time I had to keep telling myself she was really my girlfriend. I suppose you want to know what she looked like…
First off, her hair looked freshly colored, a bit brighter red than it had been before. The way she was wearing it down just past her shoulders, straightened with these two thin braids forming a crown around the rest of her cascading hair I thought she was a fucking angel. I didn't know if there were angels of specific kinds, but if there were, Emily was hands down the top angel of beauty. I so badly wanted to reach out and touch it, it somehow looked soft and I bet it smelled amazing. Then her makeup, as though her face could look any more lovely, she had her eyes lightly lined with black forcing those amazing light-brown eyes to stand out more than usual. I stared into them until my gaze automatically flicked to her lips, widely spread into a smile between two lines of some gorgeous dark red shade that contrasted her bright white teeth perfectly. Once again my gaze drifted downward. She was wearing a similar diamond as I was, around her neck but I wouldn't doubt hers was nicer-dangling there above the most amazing cleavage I've seen in my life. Fuck. I still haven't seen her naked but I knew that she must've been wearing a demi-cup bra showing just a bit extra for my pleasure this evening. I still thought classy and incredibly sexy when I looked at her. The dress she was wearing was sleeveless too, wonderful because that meant I would get to rub my own arms against hers and feel warm the rest of the night. I hoped the place we were dining at had a one of those private booths where we could cuddle behind the table. Back to her outfit, it was probably the prettiest shade of deep dark purple, almost black, fitted tightly around her body and ending just a few inches above her knees. (We both would have worn something longer for a formal restaurant but we still planned on going clubbing after so we tried to compromise I guess.) She had a thick black belt around her waist reminding me just how petite her form was. Chills went through my body when I was on the brink of imaging her without her clothes…
"Naomi?" She was quiet; probably shy because of the way I was looking at her. But when I looked up I realized she was looking at me the same way. "You're hair looks amazing." She said coming closer and touching my curls gently with her fingertips, giving them a little bounce. As I was reaching to touch hers as well now that the lack of distance would allow me to, I realized my hands were pre-occupied by the bouquet of roses I was supposed to have given her already… "I was at the roses and the market reminded you of my red hair." FUCK. I was blushing now. The look on her face meant she obviously noticed every mistake I made. I think she giggled but I didn't hear it because my heart was beating loud in my ears after she took the roses, set them on the table and turned back around took my hands and led me inside the bedroom.
I did not expect to see Katie and Andrew on our bed. "SURPRISE!" He shouted in laughter. Katie just had her eyebrow raised in approval, giving me the up and down look. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, first of all because I was unusually dressed up, and secondly, because the thoughts on my mind weren't so appropriate in the presence of company, I started fidgeting with the metal band around one of my fingers. I think Emily noticed because she politely encouraged Katie to take Andrew to dinner. I heard Katie excitedly telling Andrew their plans for the night as they were leaving. Just when I thought we were alone I had already drifted a few steps closer to where Emily was stood. "WE'RE COMING BACK A MOMENT. HOLD UP." Katie shouted, knowing too well what I was about to initiate. I bit my lip disappointedly and turned back towards the door my redhead was facing.
The older twin looked up before folding her arms and down at the ground. I think Andrew who had his arms around her waist nudged her a little bit before she looked up at the two of us and smiled shyly, "I think you both look nice." We both looked at Emily and saw a small smile creeping on her face, I just raised my eyebrow challenging Katie, because hell, Emily looked fucking light-years beyond 'nice'. "Alright, alright, you look like…really stunning. You too, Naomi." The smaller twin initiated a hug with her sister, which Andrew quickly joined before leaving and pulling a reluctant me into as well. "Okay, okay, little man, I'll join your little group hug…" I laughed as he pulled me and I think everyone else started laughing too when he shoved himself between us all so he was getting squished in the middle. "I think all of us look beautiful. Even…Mommy." He said that last part so quietly we all just sort of silenced as though he were going to repeat himself. When he didn't, Katie was still smiling more happily then I'd seen before. "That's right young man, you're definitely the most beautiful of them all. Shall we go to dinner?" We had all separated from the hug but each of us was standing close to our partner for the evening. Katie crouched lower to Andrew's height, "We shall." She reached out for his hand, which he took while giggling. "LET'S GO! LET'S GO!" He started dragging her at the pace of a running child compensating for shorter legs while Katie was telling him to slow down but she ended up just going along with it in her heels. "Can we get ice cream for dinner?" was the last thing we heard before our front door was closed.
The two of us smiled at each other as we were eliminated the gap. She put her arms around my waist and held me tight as I moved my own arms instinctively over her shoulders. Our foreheads rested together, both of us just looking into each other's eyes before I tilted my head slowly and pressed my lips against her inviting soft ones. The moment was so sensual I think I was more turned on than I had been in my entire life. They were short, small, soft kisses, just grazing each other's lips and I felt as though I was going to collapse. Emily bowed her chin closer to her chest so I couldn't kiss her properly anymore but our foreheads remained in contact. We both caught our quickened breath and I lowered my arms so that I was now clasping her fingers between mine at our sides. "You look beautiful Emily." She smiled up at me and kissed my cheek, I don't think she was gathered enough to talk and say thank-you yet, clearly as affected as I was. She temptingly glanced at my lips several times before letting go of one of my hands and pulling me towards the door. We both knew it would be worthwhile to prioritize our plans over the desires promoted by our hormones, at least for tonight.
I grabbed her black jacket off the hanger in the open closet by the entry. It definitely suited her the way it easily emulated beauty and class, ending past her waist, close to wear her dress stopped. As she buttoned herself up I slipped on my short white jacke. It was kind of poofy and certainly less classy than Emily's, but I knew it was going to be a little bit chilly out tonight and perhaps I would have the opportunity to act all chivalrous by wrapping Emily in it, if hers was not managing to fulfill it's purpose. I was well aware her coat was more for fashion than warmth. And being the more practical one, mine was the opposite.
Holding the door open and closing it behind us, after making sure I had my wallet and room key in my clutch, I escorted Emily out of the hotel with her arm hooked around mine. I had arranged for Thomas to take us to the restaurant but we would walk from there to the club afterwards. Depending on how sober we were, we would walk to the hotel when we were done dancing.
"Ladies, you are looking beautiful this evening." He said opening the door for us. "You are both very lucky to have each other." He said as he closed it. Despite the fact we had stopped walking and were now going to be sat together for a while as he pushed through city traffic in his classic black limo, (not stretch, I mean I didn't think either Emily or I had any need or desire for the greater attention of the public…), Emily still held my arm. She laid her head on my shoulder, looked up at me and sighed happily. "I have the most amazing girlfriend in the world." "I don't think that's possible, babe." Embarrassment flooded over me when I saw Emily's smile stretch. I hadn't ever called her babe before, or any of the like classic pet names you heard around newly-weds or in lovey-dovey romantic movies. "Don't fret babe, that felt nice." She whispered in my ear. I think my heart melted when she called me it back. What the fuck? When was I into this romantic, love-mush type of shit? "And just why not?" She asked, carrying on the conversation as though that minor moment hadn't happened. I recovered, "Mmm, because I am the one with the most amazing girlfriend in the world. In fact, even if they could prove there were life-forms elsewhere in the universe and that they had girlfriends, I'd still say you are the most amazing girlfriend of any galaxy to existence." Fuck that, I'm all love-mush when it comes to Emily.
To be continued. Lol. Sorry, I thought the date would actually happen in this chapter, seems I got a bit-carried away with the pre-date stuff. Hope this suited everyone's taste. TRUST ME, the moment you've all been waiting for is getting closerrrr! If you can just hang on xD
To the lovely reviews – you make my day and push me to keep writing. It would be delightful if I heard more from you guys Y'all turn me into love-mush. Thanks everyone.
(It will be discussed in the next chapter, but in case you didn't realize-Katie had been over with Andrew while Naomi was shopping to help her get ready.)