Title: Love Accidentally - Chapter 29

Author: kreia03

Rating: M

Warnings: Swear words.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I hate that fact. Seriously.

Summary: She was torn between being glad and being entirely blasé about it, because, if truth be told, what had happened during the past days weren't easy to forget. There were words spoken out between her and Naomi that just couldn't be ignored or forgotten that easily, words that would surely take time to be effaced completely, to heal the wounds it had inflicted on both of them. A single phone call couldn't make up for all of it, for it would take far more than that to fix things.

A/N: Next chap guys. Not pretty sure of this, but I did my best to bring out something good in it. I hope you all like it though. Thanks for all the comments and reviews. And if you have time, kindly review on your way out. Thanks again.

Emily stirred from the bed and let out a huge yawn, rolling onto her side to stretch out wide as she slowly roused from her deep slumber. She shuffled over the soft cream sheets, the thick covers rustling as she shifted and propped on her elbows, rolling her head from side to side to stretch her neck. Another yawn escaped from her lips and she breathed deeply, the morning breeze filling her chest with fresh, cool air. She shifted again to sit properly this time, arranging the pillows first before sliding out of the covers. Her eyes were still a tad bit lidded that she had failed to take notice of the slumbering form lying inside the thick black sleeping bag on the floor, right next to her bed, tripping on it as she took a step. She toppled over a still snoring JJ, the impact eventually startling the poor boy and rousing him up completely, his piercing scream filling up the whole room as he fluttered his eyes open and shielded them with his hands. The red head quickly rolled away from him and heaved herself up to sit on the floor, her face pulling up at a hundred different directions all at once as she grimaced.

"JJ!" Emily called out amidst the loud screaming as she winced from the shrill sound echoing around. "JJ!"

"Mum!" He continued to scream, like he was having a nightmare or something. "Help!"

"JJ! Calm down yeah?" She gripped him by the shoulders and shook him as hard as she could, his head rocking to and fro as she did so. "JJ!" If he wasn't her best friend, she swore she would have slapped him ages ago.

Shaking JJ seemed like a good idea for he abruptly stopped screaming, his eyes wandering around the room as he slowly came into his senses. "Bugger." He finally managed to speak upon seeing the red head in front of him, while he tried to catch his breath concurrently, gasping incessantly for air as if his screaming sucked his lungs dry. "H-hey Emily." He dropped his hands down and let out an abashed smile.

"What the fuck are you doing sleeping on the floor?"

JJ blinked a few times and stared at Emily, looking like he was suddenly in a daze, his mouth hanging agape as he panted. "What am I doing here." He murmured, though mostly to his self.

"Yes JJ." Emily exhaled, the air blowing out of her nose quite noisily. "What are you doing sleeping on the floor?" She drawled out, the words rolling out of her tongue haltingly.

"What am I doing on the floor? What am I doing on the floor? What am I doing on the floor?" He mumbled hastily as he tried to recall the very reason why he slept on the floor in the first place. He lowered his head and shut his eyes tight, repeating the exact same words like a spell, until something flicked like a flashbulb in his mind. "I remember!" He broke into a grin and raised his forefinger enthusiastically. "Naomi called me last night." He smiled even wider, as if he was able to answer the one million pound question on some bloody game show.

Emily couldn't help but roll her eyes. "What does it have to do with you sleeping down here?" She spat out, harsher than she had been meaning to.

"She told me to sleep here last night." He paused as he watched Emily's hardened expression turn into confusion. "So you won't be scared."

" Me? Scared?" Emily's forehead folded into a crease. "Of what?"

"There was a thunderstorm." JJ went on. "She called and I told her you were already asleep. But still she wanted me to, to check up on you."

"She did that?" Emily asked hesitantly, her brow arching up.

"She did." JJ nodded his head frantically. "She wanted to make sure that you won't get scared or anything, if ever you wake up in the middle of the storm. So she asked me to sleep here. Told me that she'd, and I quote, beat the life out of me if I leave you alone."

"Really?" The red head fell into silence, her bottom lip caught in between her teeth as she stared at JJ with disbelieving eyes, the words he just spoken out ringing loudly in her ears. His voice grew fainter and fainter as he continued to babble, while she conversely got caught up in her own stream of thoughts, until she couldn't hear him anymore, the frenetic beating of her heart being the only sound she was aware of.

Naomi called to check up on her. She remembered.

She was torn between being glad and being entirely blasé about it, because, if truth be told, what had happened during the past days weren't easy to forget. There were words spoken out between her and Naomi that just couldn't be ignored or forgotten that easily, words that would surely take time to be effaced completely, to heal the wounds it had inflicted on both of them. A single phone call couldn't make up for all of it, for it would take far more than that to fix things.

Although, she couldn't help but relish the thought that Naomi made an effort to call in the middle of the night, couldn't help but bask on the idea that somehow she cared for her. She smiled inadvertently.

She wanted to just let it pass and put not much thought into it, because a phone call couldn't mean that much, yet every little unexpected thing that Naomi did seemed to make a mark on her memory. One of the few things she hated about herself and the effect Naomi had on her.

"Emily?"

The red head snapped out of her musings, the wafture of JJ's hand slowly registering in her eyes. She swallowed quickly and subtly shook her head, as if getting rid of her flying thoughts. "Yeah?" She turned her gaze and fixed her eyes on him.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." She nodded her head, probably too animatedly.

"You sure?"

"Yup." Emily nodded at him again. "Come on, let's go grab some breakfast." She stood up and was about to leave and head straight to the kitchen, when something flicked on her mind. She stopped by the door and propped her hand against the threshold, peering over her shoulder to call on JJ who was rolling up his sleeping bag. "Oh, erm, JJ?"

"Yes Emily?" He answered without looking up, busy wrestling with the zipper of his gear.

"Will you call Naomi for me?"

JJ stopped abruptly, his head snapping up so quick that it was a wonder he didn't get a whiplash or something. "You want me to call Naomi?" He watched as Emily nodded sheepishly and broke into a wide smile. "Sure. What do you want me to say?"

"Just say thanks, you know, for calling last night."

"Okay, no problem."

Emily flashed him a thankful smile before walking out of the room completely, biting on her bottom lip to stifle the huge grin that was breaking through.

Still, she couldn't help but be happy.

O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O

"Ugh. Bloody hell." Naomi batted her eyes open, blinking a few times as her vision slowly adjusted to the bright sunlight coming from the window, its rays scattering all over as it passed through the thick window glass. She groaned loudly and kicked her feet in the air when she heard a few knocks, the incessant ringing of the door bell being the very thing that woke her up. She grumpily rolled onto her side to get the door, a loud thud echoing around the whole house the moment she fell down face first from the couch, having been forgotten that she slept in it the previous night. Her nose collided with the cold marbled floor with such a strong impact that she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from bursting into a fit of loud curses, biting it hard up to the point that she could almost taste the rusty flavor of blood. A strangled scream escaped from her throat when the knocks on her front door didn't stop, the annoying sound of the doorbell ringing along with it. "I can hear you okay?" She cried out as she heaved herself up, her hand clutching her throbbing nose, gently rubbing it to somehow ease the pain. She walked up to the door and twisted the handle, swinging it open violently to show how ungrateful she was on having visitors this wee hours of the morning, or whatever time of day it was already.

Panda's face lighted up at the sight of her, the grin she wore spreading from ear to ear. "Naomi!" She animatedly greeted, making Naomi wince a tad bit. She swore it was Pandora who was ringing the door bell.

"Morning Panda." She greeted back, her voice sounding muffled and a little bit weird because of her hand still pinching her nose. She turned hesitantly to Panda's companion and muttered a small "Hey." out of courtesy, not even expecting to get a reply.

Effy shifted her weight on her heels and uncrossed her arms, answering the blonde's greeting with a half nod. Naomi opened the door wide and stepped aside to give way for the two, leading them on the couch as they came in along with their stuff.

"What happened to you?" Panda asked as she took a seat, noticing the blonde's watery eyes. "Were you crying?"

"What? No." Naomi cried out. "I fell on the floor and hit my bloody nose."

"Ow, that must have hurt Naomi."

"It does Panda, it does."

"Why did you even fall on the floor?" Effy butted in.

"Fell asleep on the couch last night." Naomi answered, watching with quizzical eyes as Effy's brow quirked.

"Waiting for Emily to come back?" She asked in such a tone that sounded sardonic and jealous at the same time, her classic smirk curling up on her lips.

"Eff—" Naomi drawled out wearily. "I've just woken up. Don't start, please."

"Right." Effy tore her gaze away from the blonde. "We need to get dressed for the party tonight." She stated as nonchalantly as she could, stacking up the boxes they've brought in over the coffee table.

"Isn't it still a little bit early Eff?" It was Panda, her eyes fixed on the boxes being piled up, looking all amused.

"There are three of us who's gonna get ready." She replied as she stood up from her seat. "We need to be all set by six pm since the limo will pick us up around that time. And it's already one in the afternoon."

"Shit!" The blonde exclaimed. "I woke up that late?"

Effy merely let out a shrug. "I'm just gonna go get our shoes. They're in my car."

Naomi pressed her lips in a tight line as she hesitated for a few beats, before launching herself to follow Effy outside. "I'll help you." She softly spoke so as to not startle the brunette, yet let her presence be known. "Look, Eff." She took a deep breath while stacking the shoe boxes that the brunette handed in her arms. "About last night—"

Effy froze, stopping all of a sudden from rummaging through the car trunk. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before she started to speak without looking at Naomi. "What about it?" She tried not to sound affected or anything, but her wavering voice gave her away.

"I-I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"If I did, I mean—" Naomi paused as she placed the shoe boxes gently on the ground, her hand reaching out to Effy's to turn her around. She caught her by the chin and made Effy look her way when the brunette averted her gaze and refused to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry if I did anything to hurt you." She muttered sincerely and offered a small smile.

"I'm sorry too." Effy answered after a few moments, along with a sigh. "I mean, I know I shouldn't have acted like that."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it." The blonde replied, leaning in to plant a kiss on top of Effy's hair. "We're sorted now yeah?"

"Yeah." Effy nodded at her. "Sure."

Naomi pulled her into a tight hug and planted another kiss on top of her hair before picking up the shoe boxes as they headed back to the house.

A couple of burned ears from hair straighteners and one broken make-up kit later, mostly Panda's fault, Naomi picked up her phone that started vibrating on top of her night stand. Glancing on the screen, her forehead folded into a crease when she saw JJ's number calling. She hit the green button and placed the mobile in between her ear and her shoulder, stooping down to reach for her shoes on the floor. "What's up JJ?"

"Hey Naomi." JJ greeted back cheerfully. "Emily asked me to call you."

She immediately froze at the sound of the red head's name, her mouth opening and closing as she attempted to say anything, but no words ever came out. Not even a single gibberish sound. "Naomi, are you there?" She heard him say and she swallowed hard to free her frantic beating heart that seemed to have lodged itself on her throat. "Y-yeah. I'm here." She stammered, finding it so pathetic because it wasn't even Emily she was talking to. Yet she was being like this. "What about her?"

"She wanted to say thanks." JJ replied casually, oblivious to the effects of his words to the blonde. "You know, for checking up on her last night."

"You told her that I called?" She cried out, her eyes growing wide with utter surprise, her cheeks turning bright pink.

"Well yeah." He answered hesitantly. "Was it meant to be a secret?"

"No, no." She shook her head and let out a small chuckle, laughing at herself mostly. Why was she even panicking? "It wasn't a secret."

"Oh, cool. I thought it was."

"No JJ."

"Well, that's all Naomi." JJ muttered. "I hope I didn't bother you or anything."

"Oh, no, you didn't. Don't worry. Hang on." She paused as she took a deep breath to settle her nerves. "Is Emily there?" She asked, the words spilling out from her tongue haltingly, perfectly unaware of another body freezing at the sound of the same name, it's grip on the eyeliner tightening that the poor thing was almost breaking in half.

"She's out at the moment." He replied apologetically, as if he was afraid that Naomi would blame him for letting Emily out.

Naomi's forehead crumpled into a scowl. "Is she out with Freddie?" She blurted out, the question escaping from her lips at breakneck speed that she sounded enormously jealous.

"Yeah, she is." JJ confirmed, incognizant of the grimace pulling out of Naomi's face. "He dropped by this afternoon and brought Emily's synopsis with him. He invited her out for a snack to talk about it."

"Why do they have to go out?" She retorted, her voice rising up a notch. "Can't they talk about it inside your house?"

"I-I don't know Naomi." JJ answered nervously. "At first Emily didn't want to go."

"But why did she go?"

"It's just that, Freddie said it wasn't a date. Just business with some hanging out."

"Business my fucking arse." She muttered in between her clenched teeth. "Did they tell you where they were going?"

"They didn't. Sorry."

"It's alright JJ." She heaved an exasperated sigh, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"No, it's okay, really." She heard JJ laugh on the other line. "I know how jealousy works. I've got to go now though. Have a nice day Naomi."

"What? Hang on! JJ!" She screamed on the receiver, rolling her eyes when the line went dead. She tossed her phone back to the nightstand after she pressed the red button, perching herself on the edge of the bed. She licked her lips furiously a couple of times as she tried to catch her breath, which had gone shallow without her knowing it. She clucked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, her fingertips gently rubbing the smooth skin of her forehead to help her uphold her composure, pushing back the impending rage she was starting to feel. She swallowed hard for the umpteenth time, the vile taste burning the back of her tongue, her stomach twisting once again into violent knots.

"You're going to ruin your make-up if you keep doing that."

Naomi quickly snapped her head to face Effy, throwing her an apologetic look once she met her eyes. "Sorry." She murmured, pressing her lips in a tight line as she closed her eyes and tipped her head up, letting it hung for a while.

"You've said sorry way too many times today." Effy snorted, much to Naomi's surprise. "Now, fix yourself. The limo's gonna be here any minute now." She turned around on her heels and bolted out to the door, leaving Naomi and her own thoughts alone in her room.

O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O

Naomi was still fuming when she rode the shiny black limousine, still grumbling gibberish under her breath, Effy's presence not helping her to calm down, surprisingly. She fixed her eyes past the car window and onto the blurring streets outside, ducking out of Effy's, Pandora's and Thomas' meaningful exchange of glances as she busied herself on various things she was seeing, anything to just get her mind off of that particular something.

Freddie and Emily together, hanging out once again.

She couldn't stop the muffled groan that escaped from her throat as she thought of it, her teeth sinking deeper on her already dented thumb, her free hand curling into a tight fist.

"Naomi, is everything alright?" Thomas worriedly asked, reaching out one hand to place comfortingly on top of the blonde's knee.

She took a deep breath and screwed her eyes shut before nodding her head. "I'm fine Thomas." She answered almost breathlessly. "Really, I am." She added when Thomas didn't remove his hand from her knee.

Thomas gave her a gentle squeeze before withdrawing his hand. "Naomi, remember to keep your cool tonight yes?" He reminded her. "A lot of people will be asking you questions, possibly the same questions over and over." He paused, throwing her a serious look, trying to say that he meant real business. "Don't fuck this one up."

She opened her eyes to answer and that's when something hit her, a flash of blurring red hair across the street they had just turned into. Fiery red hair that was all too familiar to her, too familiar to be mistaken as someone else. She quickly shifted on her seat, her head turning around to see for herself, smiling at once as soon as she had proven that she was right. Because, really, how could she be wrong about it, about her. She twisted on the other side to see even better, completely ignoring the quizzical stares she was getting, her smile turning into one massive scowl when she remembered who was with her.

"Freddie." It wasn't supposed to come out. She was pretty sure she spat it acerbically just on her mind, but it was probably because she was feeling so enraged, so fucking jealous that it escaped from her lips as well, the name rolling out of her tongue like there was venom in it. She could feel Effy suddenly stiffening by her side, the awkward atmosphere inside the vehicle quickly changing into something else, something thick, that it made Naomi feel like she was choking, her breath hitching by the littlest second passing. She saw him bouncing on his heels as he made his way to Emily who was standing by the lamp post, with a bouquet of roses in hand and a wide stupid grin on his face. She watched him as he trailed the path, her mind working out on things at the same time, because there was something about roses and Emily, something she felt could go wrong.

"Actually, I'm allergic to roses. I can't stop sneezing if I smell one."

Shit!" She blurted out of nowhere as she quickly shifted back on her seat, startling everyone else who seemed to have been frozen as well. "Stop the car!" She shouted, ignoring the sudden tight grip of Effy's hand over hers.

"Just continue driving." Thomas countered, raising his voice.

"I said stop the car." She muttered in between clenched teeth.

"But Naomi—" It was Panda.

"There is no need to stop the car." Thomas shouted, his fingers balling into fists.

"I said stop the fucking car!" She shouted furiously, surprising the driver completely, leading the car to jerk into a quick stop. She hastily threw the car door open and was about to step out when she felt a pair of hands stopping her from getting out. She turned her head around and saw the pleading look on Effy's eyes, but the stern look on her face didn't falter a tad bit. She shook her head at her as she mumbled a soft "I'm sorry." before pulling her hand away forcefully from Effy's hold and stepping out of the car, leaving Effy in a daze, Thomas in fury and Panda in confusion.

Because right now, there was only one thing that mattered on her hazy mind.

O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O

Emily rocked back and forth on her heels while she waited for Freddie to come back from wherever he went to, her gaze wandering around as she tried to guess the direction where he could be coming from. She smiled when she saw him turning from around the corner, walking towards her with something on his hand, noticing it at once no matter how hard he tried to hide it. She decided to meet him halfway and was about to take a step when something caught her eyes from across the street, a flash of peroxide blonde hair walking towards her as well, if she wasn't mistaken. Her eyes grew so wide, that is seemed like it was going to pop out, her mouth hanging agape as the blonde drew nearer. She knew she was supposed to be turning around and running away from her, because she wasn't ready to see her yet, let alone face her. But then, here she was, helplessly rooted in place, as if her feet were glued intact on the bricked pavement, unable to move or even twitch. All she could do was flicker her eyes between Naomi and Freddie, both of them fast approaching while she remained frozen from where she was standing.

If there was any moment that she wished the ground would open up and swallow her, now would be the perfect time.

Naomi was getting nearer to her faster than Freddie was, her stern expression faltering, turning into something soft, something she couldn't give a name to. Emily couldn't help but watch Naomi intently, like she'd been put under a spell and couldn't look away as much as she tried to. The way Naomi's hair bounced while she walked, the way her pristine blue eyes flash a certain glint of warmth in them, the way her lips quivered and twitched as she got closer, drew nearer.

The way Naomi reminded her of Kiera Knightley on that Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Commercial, although she found Naomi much more gorgeous.

She could feel her breath hitching when Naomi finally got to her, stopping a mere inch away, Naomi's long slender arms reaching for her and pulling her closer. It was when everything had happened too fast, Freddie stopping midway of his walking, Naomi gripping her hand tightly.

The next thing she knew, a pair of warm lips was brushing against her own, Naomi's free hand cupping her cheek, the pad of her thumb gently stroking her now flushed skin. And she found herself kissing back, after all the wrong things that had happened, she was kissing her back.

She closed her eyes, letting herself be lost in the kiss, forgetting everything else that mattered altogether, even for just a short moment.