The Avalanche Has Already Started

by esdiferente

Post Season 4 follow on from Dragons, once again Naomily with guest appearances, lots of them hopefully. If you haven't read Dragons then please do, this will make a lot more sense.

35. Leaving, On A Jet Plane

"The Avalanche Has Already Started."

Disclaimer – I still own nothing but a large amount of debt and a considerable lack of talent

I certainly have nothing to do with Skins apart from a desire to write about their characters and an appreciation that the owners don't get all legalistic about it!

Authors Note – So here we are, Chapter 35, the final chapter of Avalanche, the snowdrifts have been cleared and the damage finally repaired, time to put this natural disaster to bed. Hope this last chapter makes it all worthwhile; I've tried to make it a good one for you all. I'll post credits because, well, there are a few in a separate note, just to show I'm not totally numbers obsessed…well ok maybe I am (-:

So if you're all ready, let's all hold hands and follow our girls on the last part of this particular journey together and see where it takes us. This is the L'Oreal chapter guys, because they're worth it. Don't shoot me if there are any mistakes ok?

Oh and by the way...(Zero), Thunderbirds are Go!

Chapter 35 – Leaving, On A Jet Plane.

Emily

"Emily?"

'Fucks sake'

"EMILY! EMS, HAVE YOU SEEN MY FUCKING BOOTS?"

She's been like this all morning; honestly I don't think I've seen anyone so flustered in all my life. She's supposed to be this calm, aloof, smooth and unruffled character, but honestly her reputation has suffered so much today it's practically untrue.

I gathered the other day, when she had her first minor breakdown, just because she didn't have a list organised of things we needed, that she was a bit of a worry-wort but today is fucking hilarious. Or it would be if she'd leave me alone to sort my own shit out for five minutes.

I stood in the doorway to our bedroom with a pair of brand new, barely broken in, hiking boots in my hand.

The same brand new, barely broken in, fucking hiking boots that I'd shown her half an hour earlier.

The same brand new, barely fucking broken in, fucking hiking boots that she'd so carefully and deliberately placed on the sofa bed in the corner of the room so she "don't forget where I put them."

The same fucking brand new, barely fucking broken in, fucking hiking boots that I'd picked up from that very same fucking sofa bed in the corner of the room barely a second after I walked in.

'Fucks sake Naomi, I don't have time for his shit'

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, reminding myself of my new mantra when dealing with her whilst packing.

'Breathe Emily breathe; it's not her fucking fault she's a bag of nerves, it's ok!'

She's sat on the floor, her new rucksack, a present from Kieran and Gina, zipped open in front of her. I swear she's put nothing new in there since the last time I came in half an hour ago when she was looking for her boots.

'Fucks sake indeed, breathe...just breathe. It'll be ok.'

"EMILY!"

"I'm right behind you babe, there's no need to shout."

She jumped and turned around quickly, "Sorry hun, I thought you were downstairs still." Her eyes fixed on the boots I was holding.

"Where did you find them?"

I looked at her, trying to hide the exasperation and amusement that I knew must be leaking into my expression. Judging by the blush that appeared on her cheeks I'd failed.

"Go on then…tell me."

I nodded down at the sofa and put the boots back down where I'd found them.

"I put them there didn't I?"

I simply nodded, lips twitching.

"I put them there a few minutes ago didn't I?"

I nodded again, tongue firmly in my cheek, she really is cute when she's embarrassed; she's even cuter when she's embarrassed and flustered.

"Sorry Ems, it's just…"

"I know Nai, it's ok." I sat down on the floor next to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, my anger at her ebbing away. "But seriously, you've got to stop panicking about this, it's not like you."

I looked around at the selection of clothes and shoes and equipment that had scattered around the room and sighed dramatically.

"Naoms have you even started packing your bag yet? There seems to be more stuff on the floor than in that bloody rucksack."

She glared at me, then her face crumpled into her trademark laugh, it was nice to see her finally relax; she'd been wound up since we'd dragged ourselves out of bed this morning.

I had absolutely no idea how I even got to bed last night, I do know we'd had a good night at the party, I know I'd had more than a few drinks throughout the day, but they'd been spaced out and I don't remember being that drunk. I do remember lying in the garden and that's pretty much the last thing I do remember before waking up, wrapped in her arms under that familiar duvet. I'm not worried about it, I know she was there with me and even if I had done something severely embarrassing she wouldn't mind.

I am a little intrigued though, and sitting here with her I've got a sudden desire to know.

"Babe?"

"Uh-Huh" She replied, distractedly rooting through a pile of clothes that I'd put out for her first thing this morning

"Just wondering, how did I end up in bed last night? Did I do anything really embarrassing?"

"Well if you don't count howling at the moon and then telling the neighbours to fuck off at the top of your voice when they opened their windows to complain, no you didn't do anything embarrassing at all. I thought it was rather funny actually. Though I do think throwing the wine bottle at their conservatory was a bit much though, I mean, I don't think it was even empty, though thinking about it perhaps you'd already polished it off. Especially judging by how far it missed."

I could feel my cheeks start burning as the realisation that I'd done something really, really stupid began to dawn on me. I could barely register what she was saying as I thought of how I should go round next door and apologise.

"Yeah, then you started shouting about how you didn't care because we were leaving and never coming back, then you had an argument with me because I said that gullible isn't in the dictionary and you wanted to look it up because you were sure it must b..."

She didn't get any further as finally my brain clicked onto what she had said and I pushed her onto the floor and began beating at her shoulders with my hands.

"You fucking bitch, Naoms, you totally had me going then. Jesus I've just been thinking how I was going to face them today and what I could say to apologise. Sometimes Campbell, I really hate your sense of humour. How did I get to bed then?"

She pushed me off with practiced ease and knelt by the side of me and pulled my arms around her neck.

"Hold on tight," she whispered as she slipped her arms under my back and legs; with a small grunt she rose to her feet with me and carried me carefully to the bed, gently put me down and removed her arms; standing slightly sheepishly next to me.

"You carried me to bed, from the garden?"

She shrugged and nodded.

"Aw babe, that's so sweet."

"S'nothing," she said looking at the floor. "It was getting really cold and I couldn't wake you so I carried you to bed then went and locked up."

I thought about that for a second, something wasn't quite right about what she'd said. Then, with a realisation that was like being hit like a freight train, I knew what hadn't clicked.

"I woke up naked this morning Naoms, did I get myself undressed or did you..."

I left it hanging at her raised eyebrow.

"Girls got to have some perks you know, I had just carried you all the way upstairs, I thought it was only right I got to undress you and have a quiet perv."

She winked at me and smiled, "besides Em, those clothes needed putting in the wash. Yesterday was a long, long day."

I think it's time to play a little game with her, such a gesture shouldn't go unrewarded and I am Emily Fitch, I always reward people for being nice, but I do like to play games with her though, it's so much fun. Besides, she's teased me this morning, time for me to get my own back. I let my face fall into an annoyed frown at her words.

"So let me get this straight, last night you stayed with me in the garden, let me freeze my arse off whilst I slept, failed totally to wake me up to come to bed and then carried me up here, stripped me naked and perved at me…"

I forced my voice to sound angry, using the months of practice at taking cheap shots at her to make it as realistic as possible. All that was behind us, but the skills were still there; and hey if you've got them, use them...it's all in a good cause.

"…is that right Naomi?"

"Well when you put it like that, I guess yes."

"and where exactly are my clothes now?"

"Er, I put them on the line whilst I made breakfast this morning. I know you like that skirt and I thought you might want to pack it."

I scowled at her, I mean I properly pulled my face in and scowled. I'm giving it my all, going for the full on "proper gone rah-rah" effect as Panda would say.

"So not happy with all that, you put my favourite skirt out to dry whilst you cooked fucking breakfast."

She nodded, just a little sheepishly; though I don't know why, it's not as if she's got nothing to be ashamed of. It occurs to me that perhaps her paranoia is kicking in again, perhaps it's time to end the game. I want to tease her, not hurt her.

"Jesus fucking Christ Naomi, what did I do to deserve you?"

I changed the tone of my voice in an instant, softening it, making it less aggressive, more affectionate. I made it a question, a good question, not an exasperated, 'how has Naomi fucked up again' question. I watched as her shocked expression grew as her brain registered the change and I reached out and pulled her down onto the bed to lie next to me. I bushed my hand across her cheek and ran my thumb gently across her soft, red lips.

"Seriously hun, what did I do to deserve you eh? Thanks for doing all of that Naomi, it was thoughtful of you."

Her face froze for a second and then she let out a big sigh of relief.

"Fucking hell Ems, I thought you were pissed off at me again, you've got my heart racing ten to the dozen here."

I lay back onto the pillows and stretched out a hand.

"Well Naoms, you know what they say a racing heartbeat is good for you, keeps you healthy. In fact they say the faster it beats the better. They also say scream if you want to go faster; fancy a bit of screaming babe, get that heartbeat going that little bit faster?"

So it was a lame come-on, but you know, it worked. Well, judging by the way she rolled herself on top of me and stared into my eyes it had worked. I have no idea what goes on in her head most of the time, but whenever our eyes meet like this I feel like I know everything about her. I know her fears, her dreams, her insecurities and her doubts. I've always known about the way her eyes betray her, how one look helps me unravel one extra part of the enigma that is Naomi Campbell.

When I stare into her eyes, those beautiful blue eyes that everyone tells me are cold like ice, I feel anything but cold. I'm warmed by the passion, heated by the pleasure and melted by the love that appears in them. Perhaps that's just me, perhaps that's just the look she's always had for me and no-one else; I hope so.

So now she's lying on top of me, staring down at me and I know, I know that she's about to lose herself again, that she wants nothing more than to lose herself in me; and it's beautiful, erotic, and absolutely wonderful.

She leans down to kiss me, placing her lips on mine, before pulling back; teasing me and making me strain my neck to reach up to her, to kiss her again and to pull her back down into my embrace.

As she lowers herself carefully onto me, as I feel her weight push me down into the bed, as her hands roam to the hem of my shirt and slip underneath it caressing my bare skin, as all of this floods through my senses I feel my love for her, my overwhelming, unbridled, unparalleled love for her, reborn once more as it does every time we connect like this. A love that's as strong if not stronger than it ever was; and on that morning, in that room and on that bed I know that I want nothing more than to lose myself in her like this, every day, for the rest of my life.

o+o+o

Naomi

So I'm making a list and despite the stupid jokes my girlfriends sister has been making I'm not checking it fucking twice.

Seriously, Katie Fitch has been driving me fucking mad this morning. In fact the only thing that's stopping me beating her to death with, well, anything I can get my hands on really, is that there are two people in this house that I actually care about that would never forgive me.

In fact Emily probably would never sleep with me again if I beat her twin to death, no matter how provoked I was, and that's not a future I want to contemplate.

So I just run the scene over and over in my head in glorious 3D. The scene where I break off a chair leg and start swinging and I simply hum happily to myself as I write out all the things I need to make sure I pack. I did actually contemplate asking Effy if it felt good to hit Katie in the head that night at Gobblers End but thought against it...it's perhaps not very tactful to remind her of nearly killing the girl she's now head over heels in love with.

…and she is; she may still try to be all 'silent and mysterious' but Katie Fitch has changed her and she can't fool me. She is head over heels in love with Katie Fitch and I guess in my own strange way I kind of love Katie myself. I've said this before though...I'm fucked if I'm telling her, and I'm fucked if there aren't times like this when all I want to do is beat her to death.

Besides, the list needs to be done; someone, and it wasn't Emily - oh no, she never touched it - has thrown away the packing list that I carefully and patiently wrote out. Judging by Katie's smug face at my dilemma it actually was Emily and she knows it but won't tell; or it was actually her and she's delighted by my predicament.

Either way, the chair leg is calling!

"Naoms, what the hell are you humming?"

Emily's arrived in the living room where I'm sitting, probably having completed all her packing in the forty minutes since we finally got out of bed. I'm not complaining though, she really knows how to take my mind off things and in the nicest possible way as well.

"Nothing hun, nothing at all."

She fixed me with a look, an amused smirk on her lips. "That wasn't 'nothing' Naomi, Christmas songs, in August? Really?"

I heard a laugh from the kitchen where Katie is probably destroying every pan there in the name of 'cooking lunch' for us all.

"Fucking got you lezzer; we totally put that fucking tune in your head."

There's more laughter, from the two of them this time then faintly the fucking lyrics come through the door.

"Oi Katiekins," I shouted over the singing of fucking Santa Claus is coming to fucking town, "would you open the back door, something's fucking burning."

The singing stopped abruptly and Katie appeared at the living room door her face like fury. "There is nothing burning in the kitchen Naomikins I'll have you know I've been practicing and I'm becoming a very good cook."

"Er Katie," Emily said sheepishly, "I really can smell burning."

"FUCK! Fucking Effy, if she's gone out for a smoke rather than watch the pan I'll fucking kill her!"

She vanished back into the kitchen and all we heard was a squeal of outrage and the strangled cry of 'Effy Stonem.'

"Guess lunch is off then," I said happily. Ems did not look at all impressed and raised an eyebrow at my smile.

"Oh come on Ems she fucking deserved it, she's been taking the piss out of me making my packing list since she arrived."

I watched her as she thought about it. It's really funny when she does that, her eyes go distant and she always looks up when she thinks and her mouth always makes this cute little 'o' shape that I want to kiss. Though to be fair, any shape her mouth makes I generally want to kiss. I'm waiting patiently for the penny to drop, I always know when it's coming because I see the slight furrow appear and disappear from her forehead. It's like her brains way of announcing the light bulb coming on.

"Making a list...yeah I get it," she laughed, "that's funny; well it's funny for Katie anyway," she caught my look and changed tack seamlessly. "You done anyway, want me to take a look?"

I nodded and passed the journalists pad over to her, her eyes flicked up and down it before pausing.

"Fuck, I totally forgot to pack that. Shit, right, won't be a second. Looks fine babe, don't see the first aid kit on there though."

She threw the pad back to me and disappeared upstairs; I heard the thumping of drawers and the stamping of feet as I stared at my pad and added the first aid kit to the list of things to pack.

Actually scratch that, we haven't even bought the fucking first aid kit.

'Bollocks; that means another fucking trip to that stupid camping shop!'

o+o+o

Emily

It's finally here, I didn't think that it would ever happen but it's finally here. I know I'll probably regret this at some stage today but I'm up at the crack of dawn.

It's Thursday, not just any Thursday but the Thursday, the day of our flight.

It's a wonderful day again, as if God is smiling down and making sure we have no more hiccups in our travel plans. Naomi had a small panic yesterday, with the packing and the first aid kit, but one trip to the camping shop that's become practically our second home and we were sorted. I've even convinced her that it was a good thing, because a short chat with the assistant over sterile needles resulted in our bags being packed out with a couple of other smaller items they recommended for our trip.

So now our rucksacks are packed, zipped closed, locked and tagged along with the nylon stuff sack we've put anything in that we plan to strap to the outside, sleeping bags and kip-mats and the like. We've checked and double checked everything and at Naomi's insistence pulled on the bags and gone for a short walk around the block to make sure we're not carrying too much weight in them for us to manage.

For someone with such a bohemian background she really is a nervy traveller; but her insistence on things being "right" has saved us a couple of times during our preparations and I can't really complain.

So as the sun beams in through our window I lie in our bed, in this room, for the very last time with the sprawled figure of a blonde lying next to me. This time tomorrow I'll be sitting on a plane with her on the last leg of our flight to Goa. How awesome is that?

I've been watching her sleep for the last half hour, I haven't got the heart to disturb her she's looking so peaceful at the moment which after the teasing and torture that my sister subjected her to last night she deserves it.

I think she actually enjoyed last nights dinner, it was a last supper of sorts for us, the last evening meal, the last time we'd eat with Katie and Effy and on the whole it was a really nice evening. But I think both of them, Katie especially, were determined to get the last few final shots in at each other before we left.

"You're looking smart this evening Naomi," Katie had started, "Where did you get that dress, from the local charity shop?"

Effy and I shared a glance and sighed at their looks.

It had gone downhill from there.

"Something like that," she'd replied sweetly as she took a mouthful of the pasta dish Katie and Effy had prepared. "Hey this is nice Katie; you can hardly taste the burnt bits."

I wouldn't have minded but I'd pre-warned Naomi to behave herself before we'd started; as we'd dragged the table outside so we had more space for the meal.

"What?" Naoms had asked, acting innocent but I knew she understood me clearly. "We don't mean it anymore, we're just playing. Having a laugh."

"I know that Naomi, but this is our last night all together. I'd like to spend a happy evening with my sister, her girlfriend and you, you know? Have one last happy memory before I don't get to see Katie for a year."

Bless her she'd looked abashed and had leaned over to put her arms round my shoulders. I felt the familiar little surge as she pulled me close, especially as she looked me straight in the eyes again.

"I'm sorry Ems, I didn't think about that. I'll behave if she will."

"I suspect Effy is giving her the same lecture Nai; and if she isn't I'll sort her out myself."

Naomi pulled me in tight and almost automatically my hands came up to grip her waist.

"I'll behave Ems, I promise," she'd kissed me on the top of my head, inhaling deeply as she pulled away. "Even if she tries to beat the crap out of me I won't ruin this for you ok?"

"Thanks babe," I'd replied happily, standing on my tiptoes to kiss her lips, "I promise I'll make it worth your while."

"Telling you Ems, you already have."

So the evening only deteriorated on occasion to caustic comments thrown by Katie. Naomi, to the best of her ability, soaked them all up, only replying in kind on a couple of occasions. They were both clearly on their best behaviour and their banter was definitely nowhere near their old levels of abuse. In fact Katie only referred to Naomi as 'lezzer' once during the meal and Nai had cleverly circumvented the jibe by blowing a kiss at Effy who battered her eyelashes at her coquettishly and flirted back, much to Katie's annoyance.

To be fair I think they were both enjoying it, there wasn't any real malice in any of their comments, not any more. Whether they'll admit it or not that last few months have brought us all together, even those two and I'm so happy they've developed a grudging respect for each other. It's hard being stuck between two people you love when they're intent on tearing strips off each other all day long.

I'd been surprised, however, to hear Katie's plans for studying in Bristol as we'd chatted over dessert; and even more surprised to hear that her and Effy were thinking about moving into Kieran's flat.

"You're moving in together? Isn't that a bit soon?" I'd blurted in surprise, regretting my words as soon as I said them.

"No Emily," Effy had replied calmly. "We're not planning to move in like that. We think that it would be a bit soon for us to put ourselves under that kind of pressure. Katie suggested that we just share at first, then I guess we'll see where it takes us."

"So what are you going to study Katie?" Naomi had asked, neatly diverting the attention from the whole 'moving in' thing.

"I'm not saying, I haven't had my confirmation yet so I'm not telling anyone. It's all a bit last minute, but I was hoping to have heard by now. I'll have to e-mail you at that stupid address of yours."

I'd stared at her, honestly not believing that she wouldn't tell her own sister what her plans for the next year were. Especially as she'd spent the last two years telling me all about her plans for studying in Manchester. One more reason I'd applied to Universities in London.

"It's ok Emily, she wouldn't tell me either." Effy had replied, "and normally I can't shut her up."

She'd looked across at Katie fondly and I was struck once again at how comfortable they were together and I made a note to chat with her about it. I had got my chance a bit later on in the evening when I managed to get five minutes with Effy as she'd stood at the bottom of the garden having a smoke.

"Are you ok Emily?" she'd asked as I approached, I had just nodded in response. "What's up then?"

'Damn her perceptive nature.'

"I'm jealous of you and Katie you know?" I'd told her frankly as I sat on the grass next to her. She'd looked down at me with a quizzical look.

"Why?"

"I don't know, you just seem so comfortable, so confident together. I'm jealous of how good you guys look when you are together. Like a proper couple."

She'd simply smiled at me before tossing her cigarette over the wall and stepping past me, heading back in.

"Have you ever stopped to consider the fact that we might be like that because we've got a good pair of role models? That we might both have wanted what you and Naomi have?"

She walked back up the garden, trailing her hand over my shoulder as she walked away.

"Talking of which," she had said as she walked across the grass, "I think you're wanted Emily, but then you know she's wanted you for years now don't you?"

I glanced around to see Naomi stood in the kitchen looking out at the garden. I raised an arm to wave and watched her as she waved back and smiled at me.

"See what I mean?" she'd said as she trailed back up the garden.

And for once, I did.

o+o+o

The evening came and went and before we knew it we were sharing hugs and promising to see each other the next day. Effy had promised to drive us to the station so we could catch our train but had been adamantly refusing to stay the night.

Katie had summed up their objections to staying and having a few extra drinks with us in her own succinct way.

"I'm not sleeping here tonight and having to listen to you two shagging your way around the house because it's your last night here. No way. We'll see you in the morning, you'd better be ready or you can walk to the fucking station."

As we'd watched them walk down the path to their waiting cab and waved them off. I'd felt Naomi wrap her arms around me.

"It's ok hun, you'll see her tomorrow. She just wants to give us some space that's all."

I'd turned in her grasp, and tilted my head at her, silently asking her to tell me more.

"I spoke to her in the kitchen babe; she told me that they wouldn't be staying. She's going to pick up her things tomorrow or the day after then her and mum are going to swap their keys."

"Wow," I'd said holding her tight, kicking the front door closed behind me. "You mean you had a conversation with Katie without fighting. How did that start?"

"Well you know the usual, she threatened me about being with you, I told her to fuck off. It kind of went from there."

"Really?"

"No not really hun, I think Katie was a bit upset about us leaving tomorrow and wanted to tell me to look after you. She cares you know, I don't think she likes to show it all the time, but she really does care about you."

"She's been an absolute bitch most of my life, but I never doubted she cared babe. She just wanted me to be her doormat when she felt bad about herself that's all."

"Yeah well, you're not that doormat any more are you Ems? I'm really proud of you for that you know? I know I shouldn't be, but I really admire the way you started standing up for yourself to her. I think I like this Emily more than I ever liked the old quiet one, and she was perfect."

"Does that mean I'm perfect-er now?" I teased.

"Guess so," she'd said as she shrugged and let go of me, "Much more perfect-er."

She had wandered off into the kitchen, grabbing the remains of the washing up and putting them into the bowl of soapy water she'd been using earlier to soak the plates. As she grabbed the scourer and started scrubbing away I'd slipped up behind her and grabbed her waist.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" I'd asked as I pressed myself to her back. She'd just snorted in response as if the question was so daft it wasn't worth answering.

"I mean what are you doing the washing up for?"

"It needs doing hun," she'd said simply, "I don't want to be messing about with it in the morning. I'd rather have a lie in."

"Fair enough," I'd replied, snuggling myself further into her back and sliding my hands up her toned stomach past her ribs and onto her breasts, "I just thought that Katie had a really good idea earlier, you know, the one about shagging our way around the house on our last night here."

She had ignored me, continuing to wash the plates and glasses she had in the sink and stack them on the drainer. I wasn't to be daunted; ever so slowly I had run my fingers over her nipples, stroking them erect through the cotton weave of her shirt, making her take a deep breath as her body betrayed her feigned disinterest.

"Ems hun I'll admit that, for once, Katie might have had the best idea in the world," she'd said, her voice low and breathy, "give me thirty seconds to finish this and I am, quite literally, all yours."

I'd ignored her request for thirty seconds grace, I carried on doing exactly what I was doing, except this time I dispensed with her shirt and her bra and any other items of clothing I thought were in my way, forcing her to stop what she was doing long enough for her clothes to clear her arms as I did so.

Finally, with no little effort, I had her stood at the sink totally naked. She had done her best to ignore me throughout; playing the game like a champion. I wasn't going to be discouraged though, and I continued my soft caressing of my favourite parts of her body laying a trail of soft kisses along her neck and shoulders as I did so. Finally, with a flourish, she'd placed the last glass on the drainer and turned to face me, presenting my lips with a brand new, and infinitely more preferable, target.

"Jesus Emily, feeling horny tonight are we hun?"

I'd not bothered replying; frankly I had been far too busy worshipping at the altar that was Naomi's tits. She gave me a rude surprise moments later when I felt warm, and very wet hands reach under my arms and grab me, soaking my t-shirt where they touched.

"Oh dear, how sad," she had scoffed at my now drenched shirt. "You're all wet Ems; I guess this had better come off then."

She'd tugged hungrily at the shirt I was wearing and pulled it swiftly over my head, disturbing me momentarily from what I was doing. I'd expressed my displeasure by biting down on her left nipple, pinching it between my teeth, not too hard of course, but hard enough to make her draw breath, or perhaps that was due to the finger I'd slid between her legs or more accurately the fingernail that I had just scraped across her clit.

As if nothing had happened she'd reached around to unzip my skirt, I'd been forced to move my attention from her tits to her neck as she'd leaned down. As I kissed the soft, tender tissue of her throat I felt the gentle rustle of my skirt falling down my legs and pooling around my ankles.

I could almost smell her arousal, or was that my own, as her hands had swept over my bum and up my back, skilfully divesting me of my bra. Before I knew what was happening she had slid to her haunches in front of me, pressing kisses across my breasts and my chest and my stomach making my own heart race faster and faster.

I love the fact that she could do this to me, despite having been in the driving seat until that point; with one set of movements she'd turned the tables and brought me, figuratively speaking, to my knees. As her lips swept down my stomach and her tongue dipped in and out of my navel, flicking at my piercing as she did so, her hands had slipped up my legs, hooked through the sides of my knickers and she had slowly and sensuously drawn them down; her nails scraping at my skin as she did so; her tongue and lips following her arms, moving steadily downwards.

As I'd stepped out of my clothes, finally as naked as she was, she had pulled me down and laid me on my back on the kitchen floor, using our discarded garments to protect my body from the cold tiled floor. I had so desperately wanted to be in control at this moment, but I couldn't bring myself to move. As her hands ran lazy trails across my skin, as her lips kissed my lips and my skin in that slow yet passionate frenzy, my whole body was humming with pleasure and moving is the last thing I thought about doing.

We had no words to say to one another, there was no 'kinky' teasing, no playful 'dirty' talk; there was only a hot passion that seeped through the both of us rendering us both speechless. With the most exquisite of teasing she had run her tongue up the inside of my thigh until finally, with a groan, she had pressed her mouth against me.

I felt my body heave as her tongue flicked against my folds, running up and down, darting inside me then pulling away; either flicking against my clit or sliding in slow strokes across my lips. I could feel and hear exactly how wet I had become at her touches as her tongue slid across me, lapping at my arousal, sending me higher and higher up that pleasure curve.

Lost in it all, I had grabbed at her long hair, wrapping my fingers around it anxious to pull her deeper and closer into me to satisfy the need I had, I have, for her. As I had yanked at her, as she sent me spiralling again with the deftest of touches, she had paused and lifted her head, the tip of her tongue hovering over my clit, barely touching it in a pleasurable torture. As I had raised my head to look down at her my eyes were met by hers, the blue almost completely gone, hidden by her dilated pupils, black with lust.

As our eyes connected she had stared back into mine and slowly and deliberately blinked, like she had that night at the lake; lowering her eyes as she did so, raising them up to meet mine once more as she opened them again. Then with almost agonising tenderness she flicked her tongue against me, sending yet one more spasm of pleasure through my body.

As I had reopened my eyes she was still staring at me and I could feel her tongue poised again. As my breathing steadied and my brain reconnected she had winked at me, raised her eyebrows and then swiftly buried her head between my legs once more, fingernails digging into my hips as she pulled herself into me.

"Scream if you want to go faster" I'd told her that morning to initiate the lovemaking that had put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. As the day had ended I used that phrase in the way I'd meant for her to use it. Drowning in a heady mixture of love and lust, she had me screaming down our kitchen as we made love in there for the very last time. As my body had writhed beneath her in the throws of my orgasm I screamed out her name into the night; and as I recovered, I dragged her to me and clung to her, looking into her loving eyes as she held me tight.

Later, when I was capable of doing so, I had pulled her into the living room, pushing her down onto the sofa before kneeling and parting her legs. As I stared at her, my eyes darting around her beautiful body and involuntarily licking my lips; I heard her breathing increase and sensed her heartbeat racing in anticipation of the pleasures she knew were to come.

"Scream if you want to go faster." I'd said as I kissed my way along her leg; inching my way towards to that most hallowed of spots and before the night was done she had screamed and screamed and screamed.

I just love making love to Naomi; it's my most favourite thing in the world!

o+o+o

My head is dragged from the memories of the night's fun, and the night's passion, as I catch a glimpse of the sun shining in through the window; it's glinting off her freshly bleached hair, making it shimmer in the light. She's beautiful when she sleeps, it's almost like she's a different woman. All of the cares and worries, the fear and the heartache that has made up so much of her life vanish from her face when she sleeps and on this glorious morning, our last morning in Bristol I vow to lie right here and watch her wake.

She must have known I was there, her sixth sense - that blasted 'Fitchdar' - must have been set to 'really fucking sensitive', because within moments of me propping myself up on my elbow to look at her she's shifting on the mattress and beginning to stretch. As I lay there silently, not moving a muscle, hoping she'd fall back to sleep; she rolled over and faced me her eyes still tightly closed before opening them and looking me squarely in my own.

"Morning beautiful," she said, holding my gaze and smiling gently, "I really wanted you to be the first thing I opened my eyes to today Ems, thank you."

"For what?" I asked, a little taken aback if I'm honest.

"For being here, for being here with me when I woke up, for being the person I get to spend the next year travelling with and waking up with. Most of all for being my girlfriend; for putting up with all my shit. It means a lot to me you know."

I can only stare across at those ice blue eyes and shake my head, part in wonder and part in disbelief.

"Well where the fuck else would I be babe, I keep telling you, I love you. I don't want to be anywhere else. Now if you've quite finished making big bloody speeches, I would appreciate it if you would put those lovely arms around me and give me a cuddle. It's early and I'm freezing."

With barely a seconds hesitation I'm pulled into her body. Somehow she's managed to roll me as she pulled and she curled around me sliding her right leg in between mine and pressing her tits into my back. I felt a slight draft as the bunched duvet was grabbed and pulled back over our bodies before her hand returned as she wrapped it around my chest.

"Better?"

"Much."

We dozed for the next couple of hours, happy just to be holding each other. I didn't really need anything other than to be held and Naomi seemed more than content to just hold me. The one time that I tried to twist around and cuddle into her she squeezed my shoulders with her arm and gently stopped me moving.

"Shhh," she'd said drowsily, "go back to sleep. I'm still here."

I wanted to ask her what she meant, but I could tell by her breathing that she had fallen asleep again. As I allowed myself to drift off as well, wrapped in that comforting embrace, I thought to myself how nice it was to be loved. How nice it was to be loved by her.

o+o+o

Naomi

There are mornings when I hate my alarm, I hate the way it goes off and wakes me up. Especially when I know I have to get up and go to college, or more recently go to work.

I don't want to get up; I don't want to get out of bed. Firstly I'm very warm and I'm very comfortable. Secondly I'm wrapped around a beautiful redhead who is making the cutest little wheezing sounds as she sleeps and thirdly getting up will break this little loved up cocoon I'm currently in and bring back the reality that I have to get on a plane today and fly to Goa.

It's not the Goa part I'm worried about it's the trip. I've never flown before; I've never even been abroad before and now I'm about to pick up a rucksack, get on a train, a coach and then a plane and spend the next twelve months of my life backpacking around the world.

It's pretty daunting; I think I'm going to allow myself to be scared, just a little. At least I have Ems though, she's the seasoned traveller, and she's been abroad with her parents loads of times. So I have that to fall back on when all else fails. I know she's being kind to me with my list fascination, telling me I'm thinking of things she never would, but in truth I'm relying on her as I'll probably be doing for as long as we're together.

She's stirring now; I can feel her breathing change under my hand. Soon she'll be awake and it'll be time to get up, time to put the last of our things into boxes and put them in the spare room, time to make the space for mum and Kieran to take the house back and make it their own.

For the next twelve months or so I'm going to be totally homeless and, as I gently stroke the long red hair that's splayed out in front of me, I'm not sure I'd want it any other way.

I'm still scared though, I'm going to allow myself that. But I'm not going to let it affect me. If I've got anything to do with it I'm not going to let anything spoil my time with the stirring redhead next to me.

As she wakes I'm captivated, as I always am, by just how stunning she looks in the morning. She's gorgeous throughout the day don't get me wrong but in the morning, as she wakes, she's at her very, very best.

As her body comes back to life I'm unable to resist the desire to kiss her shoulders and neck, my favourite parts of her body for this very reason; wanting nothing more than to kiss my beautiful girlfriend awake. I could practically feel her smile as I kissed her and her husky morning voice pierced my senses.

"Feeling horny this morning babe?"

'I wasn't Ems, but now you come to mention it…'

She turned in my arms and pressed her lips to mine in a passionate kiss before breaking away and saying one word that caused my insides to liquefy.

"Good."

o+o+o

Emily

It's finally here, it's finally time to go; there's a silver car parked outside the front of the house and my sister is sat on our sofa looking a bit grumpy. Naomi's outside with Effy sorting out our rucksacks and giving everything a quick check to make sure we have everything, one last time.

"Katie, what's the matter, you look like I've spilt paint on your favourite shoes."

"What do you think is the matter Emily. We're about to drive you to the fucking station and I won't see you for a year. Do you not think I might be a little upset about that?"

I plonked myself down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"You could try being happy for me Kay. I know it's going to be difficult, not being together, but we've not been together for a while now have we? Not really; besides, I've got Naomi and you've got Effy, we'll be fine."

"Yeah, but who am I going to boss around? Who am I going to tell what to do all the time? Who am I going to tell everything to? It's not going to be the same Emsy; I'm going to miss you."

To my surprise Katie buried her head into my shoulder and started crying, wrapping me up in an awkward hug.

"Hey, it's going to be ok Katie. I'm going to miss you too," I said. "You're my big sister and it's going to be hard not being with you, not being able to meet up with you whenever I want, but we knew this day would come and it's not long, not really. Let's face it after 18 years together we're probably due a bit of a break from each other. Might stop the pair of us wanting to kill each other every other day."

I heard her snort through the tears that were falling; it was a joke but there was also an element of truth to it as well. For the last ten years or more we've been at each others throats in one way or another. I've told her I hate her and I've meant it and she's tried to make me her in so many ways.

It's funny really, but we've only become really close at a time when we're going to be split apart. Freddie's legacy, his last contribution to our little gang, is me and Naomi, Katie and Effy and me and my big sister. In a very real way he's brought us all together and as I hug my sister I send up a little prayer of thanks for what he's done.

"You will be in touch won't you Emsy? You won't just go off on your new life and forget about me?"

"Not a chance, I'll write, or call. If you need to speak to me send me an email. Naomi or I will pick it up at some point. It might take us a while depending on where we are but I'll definitely be in touch."

She pulled back and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue she had dragged out of her bag, "You make sure she looks after you Emily, don't take any of her shit yeah?"

"I think we're past all that Kay, I think that's all over."

She looked out of the window at the sight of our girlfriends stood by the car laughing over something as they slid in the rucksacks.

"Yeah," she replied eventually, "I think you might be right."

I got up from the sofa and offered her my hand. "Help me lock up and check everything's off yeah?"

Katie grabbed me and pulled herself onto her feet. "Emsy, you've done all that, it's time to get you and Blondie on the road. We can't put it off any longer."

She's right, it's nearly mid-afternoon and I've promised Naomi that we won't leave things to the last minute, we'll get to all our stops in plenty of time to make sure that we can start our journey with no stress. Our train out is just before four at Bristol Temple Meads and the journey to Heathrow is a couple of hours. It's time to get going.

Katie and I walked out of the house and I pulled the door behind me, slamming it closed for the last time, slamming it closed on this chapter of our life together. As I stood there, looking at the chipped blue paint and the scratches around the keyhole where either one, or both of us in a drunken or drugged up state had missed the slot, I couldn't help but be happy that it was finally closing behind us. Ending the chapter, closing the book.

"I'll still do anything you know." I heard whispered in my ear, I turned in surprise and grinned at her as she spoke. "Absolutely anything for you."

"Take me to the station then babe, let's get this holiday started."

o+o+o

Naomi

We had a nice surprise at Temple Meads station, we had another send off. Ef drove us over and when we got there we found a little deputation of family awaiting our arrival.

As we pulled into the car park we were met by mum and Kieran and surprisingly the rest of the Fitch family; Rob and James waving at us as we approached, Jenna stood slightly to one side, a slightly forced smile on her face.

"Did you arrange this guys?" Emily asked our chauffeuring team.

"We might have mentioned it during the party," Katie replied turning around to smile, "everyone wanted to be able to say goodbye."

We got out of the car and I grabbed the rucksacks out of the back of the car and helped Emily on with hers.

"You look like a proper backpacker now hun," I joked as she closed the belt strap around her waist and shuffled it on her shoulders to get it comfortable whilst I grabbed my own.

"No she doesn't," Katie scoffed, "You can't be a traveller wearing a summer skirt and flats. Why are you both dressed like that, I thought you'd be in those scruffy walking shorts and boots. Especially you lezzer, they're right up your street they are."

I ignored her comment, not wanting to cause a fight on a station car park; anyway Emily had it well and truly covered.

"We're dressed like this Katie because it'll be more comfortable to travel in. Besides," she said with a sly look on her face, "We've got to spend eleven hours on a plane and shorts or jeans are so restrictive don't you find. A skirt offers all sorts of interesting opportunities during those long night hours."

She looked across at me and winked, "I've always fancied joining the mile high club babe, what about you?"

I flicked my eyes to Katie, making sure I had her attention before slowly and carefully looking Ems up and down.

"I don't think I'll be able to resist it love, Eleven hours sat next to you without having sex might be a bit too much for my willpower."

"Ugh, fucks sake did you have to put that image into my head?"

"I absolutely had to Kay," Emily laughed at her, "now at least I know you'll be thinking of me whilst we're on our way."

The good natured banter continued as we walked over to the rest and headed in through the impressive entrance into Brunel's Bristol masterpiece. I had a weird feeling of separation as Emily had been gripped by her family and I'd been grabbed by mine, well mum, Kieran and Effy, they were as close to a family as I had, we had only been apart for a couple of minutes and only separated by a couple of feet but I missed her already, wanted to be as close to her as possible.

"Are you going to be all right?" Mum asked as we stood in the gleaming concourse.

"I'll be fine mum, just don't sell all my stuff or fucking move again and I'll be more than happy."

"And you'll remember to keep in touch, let me know you're ok yes?"

"Mum I've told you, Emily and I will ring when we can and I'll write and send you an E-Mail whenever I can. Don't worry."

"I'm your mother, I'm supposed to worry."

I gave her a tight hug, before turning to Kieran. "You look after her or there will be trouble, I don't have to be nice to you any more, you're not my teacher."

"I'll look after her Naomi; you make sure you look after Miss Fitch. Deal?"

He held out his hand, and was probably surprised when I pulled him into a hug.

"That's a deal Kieran; I'll hold you to that."

Finally I looked across at my newest friend, who's giving me her very best enigmatic smile.

"Hey Eff, time to go I guess. You look after Katie for Emily and don't take any of her shit ok?"

She nodded at me, was that a light tear I saw in her eye. I actually think it was.

"Tears Eff? That's not like you." She straightened and blinked.

"Fuck you Campbell." With a smile and a wink, to rob it of any offence.

"Fuck you right back Stonem."

We smiled and for, I think, the second time in our lives we hugged each other.

"Feels strange doesn't it?" she said. I just looked at her, not really understanding what she meant.

"Saying goodbye to friends. Not something either of us is used to I guess."

"No, but it's a good feeling Eff. I think I'm going to miss having you around."

"I'll miss you too Naomi, here I've got you a present for the trip."

She shouted Katie over from where she'd been stood hugging her sister and dug around in her bag.

"What's up," Emily asked joining us.

"Effy's got me a present for the journey apparently." I sniggered as Ems' eyes lit up at the word present. "You are such a kid, you know that?"

"Shut up," she said watching Effy with interest as she brought out a small white paper bag from Katie's capacious handbag.

"Katie and I thought you'd need this for the journey, to make sure you two don't start fighting before you've even got to India."

"Thanks guys," I said opening the bag and peering inside, making sure Emily couldn't see my present. I smiled when I read the label on the box before tucking the package under my arm and grabbing them both, pulling them into a tight hug. "That's thoughtful, and the one thing I didn't have on my list. It'll come in very useful I'm sure."

"What is it Naoms?"

"It's a vibrator Ems," I teased, "a pocket sized one to keep a pocket sized girl happy on the trip so I can get some sleep."

"Funny."

I showed her the boxes of nicorette patches and she grinned and hugged Effy. "Thank fuck you thought of them Eff, I never thought what a fucking nightmare she'd be not being able to smoke for most of the day. I know what a moody cow she can be without nicotine."

I was in such a good mood I wasn't even offended by that little jibe.

o+o+o

We said our last goodbyes there in that station entrance, surrounded by people and pigeons. There were plenty of hugs all round from our little gathering. I even got a big hug from Katie, which surprised me; but not as much as it surprised me when she told me to take care of myself. I even got a hug from Rob and James and what's more James didn't even try to feel me up; which made a nice change actually. Ems was bawling her eyes out as she hugged the woman she now insisted on calling mum and was promising to call or write as soon as she could.

Finally though I managed to convince her it was time to go. There was only ten minutes to our train and this was one journey we weren't going to miss. As we headed for the platform I felt a hand grab my arm, stopping me from going any further. I turned to face the bitch herself; Jenna fucking Fitch the bane of my life.

"Look after her please Naomi; don't let anything happen to her."

Her eyes were filled with concern and for the first time I actually felt sorry for her. She'd been on the outskirts of our little party, ignored by everyone with only a cursory little hug goodbye from her daughter. I still hate her, she's been a fucking bitch to Emily and as far as I'm concerned she had burnt her bridges good and proper; but Emily seems to think she was genuine in wanting to try to change and seems to want her to succeed. Because of that and only because of that I didn't say anything to hurt her; I didn't take my chance for revenge. I simply nodded, smiled weakly and walked away.

'It wasn't worth mentioning really Jenna; I have no intention of doing anything else.'

Ems was waiting for me at the barrier to the platform.

"Anything wrong?" she asked with a hint of concern in her eyes at seeing her mother talking to me.

I shook my head, "Everything's fine, but please, let's go and get our train before one more person tells me to look after you and make sure you're ok."

She laughed at me, "Is that really such a chore babe?"

"Not at all, I just resent everyone reminding me to do it." I linked our fingers together as we walked onto the platform, "like I'd forget something as important as that."

"If it's any consolation babe, they all told me the same thing, including mum."

"Your mum told you that?" I asked incredulously

"No silly, our mum, Gina told me to keep an eye on you, so did Effy and Katie."

"Thank fuck for that; that would have been far too weird coming from Jenna. I was expecting her to tell you to kill me and bury me under a tree somewhere far off the beaten track in India and come straight home. Or ideally in her world come home straight!"

"The thought probably crossed her mind babe."

'It wouldn't fucking surprise me.'

o+o+o

We stood on the platform, hand in hand waiting for the Reading train that would take us to our bus transfer to Heathrow. She keeps glancing back and waving at the little group that's still stood near the barriers waiting for us to depart.

"You ok Ems? Any regrets?"

"Only that leaving came around too slowly and arrived too fast. I really wanted this day to come, and now it's here, well, I wish I had the chance to spend another day with them that's all. I'm missing them and they're only stood over there."

"Bored of me already?"

She squeezed my fingers, "Not at all Naoms, not ever."

"Good, now look sharp Miss Fitch, our carriage awaits." I nodded behind us as the train pulled into our platform and screeched to a stop, the automatic doors hissing open. With one last wave to our families we boarded the train and left our old life in Bristol behind us.

o+o+o

Emily

I much prefer the train to the coach. I know I slept through most of the coach journeys to and from London but I do remember that the seats were cramped and uncomfortable and that it took fucking ages. This train is quite modern and we're only going to be on it for an hour so in my book it's more than worth the extra cash it cost.

It also means that we go to Reading and then take the coach to Heathrow Terminal 5 rather than have to travel all the way into London and transfer via the tube. It gave me more time with Katie and less time being travel sick.

"Here you go hun, one coffee."

Naomi's finally back from the buffet car up ahead, and she's trying to pass me a cardboard cup whilst swaying slightly as the train sped through the countryside.

"Thanks babe," I said taking the hot cup from her hand. Well it probably was hot once, but like all drinks on trains they seem to change temperature the second you leave the car. Cold drinks go flat and warm and hot drinks go tepid or cold the second you attempt to drink them, no matter how much your fingers were burning carrying them back.

We sat in one of those "couple" silences, the ones where neither of us has anything to say and we have no need to fill the silence with crap. We were content to sit there just sipping our drinks; I've been wasting a bit of time staring out of the window as the fields and farms flash past.

Eventually I'm forced to get up, I don't want to, I really don't but needs must. Excusing myself past Naoms I walked like a drunk down the swaying carriage to the toilet. There's something particularly unsavoury about train toilets and I'm not looking forward to having to use one. As I stepped through the glass doors into the end of the carriage I pressed the lit button that opened the bathroom's electric door.

As it slid into its little recess I can't help but retch. I've been in some really nasty toilets in the last couple of years. There have been more than a couple in some of the pubs and clubs that the gang have gone to that weren't very nice; but this one on the train makes me sick.

It's not that it's unclean, because, apart from the obligatory sheets of toilet paper that are stuck to the floor where they've been dropped, it is; or at least it looks it. It's just the smell. It's a strange mixture of crap, vomit and cleaning solution and there is no way I'm going in there and closing the door. Turning away I headed back to my seat, all thoughts of toilets gone; my brain taking over my bladder and convincing me I'll be ok, there's only half an hour to go until the station and I'm sure I'll be able to make it.

"That was quick hun, you ok?" she asked me with a raised eyebrow as Naomi got up from her seat to let me in. I shook my head.

"I can wait."

"That bad eh?" she said looking at my face, "You look like you've gone green hun."

"Worse," I said, ending the conversation and trying to clear my head of the memory.

Thankfully the toilets at Reading Station were clean and relatively fresh and I took the opportunity to use them before our forty-five minute bus journey to the airport. Naomi had laughed at me as she pulled on her rucksack and grabbed mine and the rest of our luggage. I grabbed the small shoulder bag we were using to carry our essentials and at her insistence ran for the toilets the moment the train doors had opened.

I found her outside the station having a cigarette as promised. She was stood next to a large white coach that had the bright orange sign of the front reading 'Heathrow T5'.

"Found our ride then? What time does it leave?"

"About five minute's hun, but you didn't need to run, I wouldn't have let him go without you."

She stubbed out the cigarette on a nearby bin and put the remains into the ash pan.

"Shall we?" she asked, gesturing at the open coach door. I nodded and turned to board the coach; as I took one step onto the raised platform I felt a hand grab my arse and I turned round quickly to see her laughing at me.

"Sorry hun, it's just I haven't grabbed that delightful bum of yours for fucking ages and I thought I'd take the opportunity whilst it was presented to me like that."

I winked back at her and wiggled my arse as I stepped quickly out of her reach and onto the coach.

"Bloody tease," she said as I winked at the driver and disappeared onto the coach.

"You love it."

o+o+o

Naomi

Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. British Airways' Public Relations Disaster and yet another example of business crushing both the local residents wishes and the environment.

It's also the place where we're supposed to be flying from later tonight and I don't have a fucking clue what I'm supposed to be doing or where I'm supposed to be going. So I'm stood in, what I assume is, the main entrance hall looking at sign after sign listing internal and international departures, arrivals, check-ins and a whole host of gate references I don't want to even pretend to understand.

It's at times like this that I wished Mum had had a proper job whilst I was growing up and had taken me abroad at least once. I'd had to break it to her one dismal rainy afternoon that protesting at the nuclear submarine base in Scotland doesn't count as a holiday in Europe.

I'm looking at Emily, stood there with her bright red rucksack on her back and our grab-bag in her hands and she's looking at the boards like the seasoned traveller she is.

"There we are Flight BA0199, gate A16 we can go and check in and head through to departures if you want."

I looked at her blankly; it's as if she was speaking Martian. I mean I'm not stupid, I've got a pretty good idea how airports work, but she's just rattled off a load of numbers at me and expected that I'd get what she meant first time around.

"What's up babe, do you not want to put the bags in or something?"

'Oh shit, perhaps it's time to come clean.

"Ems I have no idea what we're supposed to do. I've never flown anywhere before. I've never been outside the UK before. It's…well, it's all a little confusing at the moment."

"But what about Cyprus, and Spain that time," she said staring at me incredulously, "you said you were thinking about going there…I just assumed you'd been before."

I shook my head, "Nope, they were just places I thought about going, they were places I knew I wanted to visit. I never actually went there remember? I stayed at home while you went to bloody France."

I didn't mean it to sound so gloomy, but that's what happened. The whole Love Ball, the big public declaration of love, a blissful few weeks together and then she left for her family holiday. Leaving me moping around at home without her; feeling depressed and lonely.

"I said I was sorry about that babe, I didn't want to leave you."

I'm filled with regret at the tone of hurt in her voice, this is supposed to be a new start for us and here I am bringing up past insults. Quickly I grabbed her and pulled her as close as our baggage would allow.

"I know hun, I'm sorry for bringing it up, it's just…I don't know what I'm doing and I'm a bit out of my depth here; and that doesn't make me very comfortable. That's all."

Her smile was like the rising sun we'd saw at the balloon festival, full of warmth and promise. I immediately felt one hell of a lot better.

"That's ok babe, you stick with me I'll see you right. We'll go and check in first and put our hold baggage in. That way we can go through security with our hand luggage and wait in the departures lounge. We can get something to eat whilst we wait for them to tell us we can board the plane. It's quite simple to work out, you look at the departure boards for Flight BA0199, that's our flight to Mumbai; and it tells you what gate we have to go to when we're ready to board, in our case that's gate A16 which if I'm reading this right is in this terminal not the other one."

She gave my hips a light squeeze, "why didn't you tell me you've not flown before?"

"I didn't want to look like an idiot to be honest." I replied sheepishly. "I thought I'd be able to blag my way through it like I usually do."

I got a two handed slap to the shoulder straps of my rucksack for that, complete with a shake of the head and a look of exasperation.

"Come on," she said grabbing my hand and leading me off, "Let's go and get rid of these bags so we can relax a little. Don't forget to take those patches out though; once we're through security you might need them. I don't think you can just pop outside for a smoke on when you're flightside."

Check in was simpler that I thought it would be, Ems found the desk that dealt with our flight and, after having our passports and tickets checked we put the bags onto the small conveyor to be tagged and rolled away. I prayed to Gods that I didn't really believe in that we'd see them again at the other end, and not have to deal with the fact that everything we'd carefully packed ended up in Italy or Australia or somewhere.

I noticed the man behind the desk give me a funny look as my name appeared on the screen, but I'm kind of used to that now. They handed back our tickets with our boarding passes and sent us on our way, the first part of the ordeal over. With only the shoulder bag left to carry between us we made our way through the doors to the security search.

It is an absolute indictment of the fascist state that we live in that innocent people like us are subjected to an ordeal like this in the name of 'Security'. I'm pretty sure that even Cook wouldn't have been put through the public humiliation that is airport security when he was taken to prison. I'm holding back my indignation in the queue and biting my tongue because Emily asked me to.

"Don't annoy them Naomi," she'd asked, just a hint of a plea in her soft voice. "Don't give them a reason to mess us about all right? No protesting in the queue."

I'd readily agreed all I really wanted was to get through to the other side with the minimum of fuss.

We stood in that endless snake of people watching the antics ahead. Shoes and belts were removed, bags and coats were placed into plastic trays and pushed through the X-Ray machines and at the other end, the humiliating scrabble to retrieve your items and find a micron of space to sort yourself out.

As I watched grown men and women were beckoned through the huge magnetic scanners like schoolchildren in a lunch queue. As I watched the sullen staff operating their equipment, searching for hidden weapons I'm glad, and not for the first time today, that I decided a comfortable sports bra was the best thing to travel in. I've got the sudden feeling that if I'd worn a wired one I'd have set the machine off and been taken away to a tiny, windowless room to be strip searched. That would be just my luck.

Eventually, as the screens that littered the sides of the tensa-tape barriers nagged at us repeatedly about what we needed to do, we found ourselves at the front of the queue; the businessman in front of us having already divested himself of belt and jacket and shoes. We were sent to one of the long roller units where a bored looking woman dropped a couple of trays in front of each of us.

"Coats and shoes in one tray, bags, belts keys and wallets etcetera in the other please. Then step over to the line."

We dumped everything we had into the trays and walked over to the sign that told us to wait until called. Emily went first, skipping through the grey machine, receiving a green light and the gesture to tell her to move along. The man behind the machine gestured me through and I crossed my fingers and hoped for an easy ride.

It wasn't to be, fucking typically. With a loud noise and a red light my fate was sealed and images of strip searches by some perverted old man came flooding into my head once again. I could see Emily grinning at the chagrin on my face as she stood waiting in the background as one of the security team beckoned me over.

If you could just stand there, feet apart and arms out please," he said, waving a flat piece of metal over me as I did so. As it got near my head it began emitting a loud beep and he looked across at me.

"Would you mind pulling back your hair please madam?"

I pulled my hair into a loose ponytail and he waved his probe next to my ears, it beeped alarmingly.

"Thank you that'll be all." He looked at the relief on my face with a slight smile. "Next time madam I'd suggest not wearing metal earrings like those ones if you don't want to set the scanners off."

I touched my metal button earrings and thanked him for his advice before walking away to where Emily was stood holding my shoes and my jacket. As I slipped them on she couldn't resist teasing me.

"Your face when that machine went off was priceless hun. It's a real shame that the camera was still in the bag."

"Sod off Ems," I replied, leaning on her as I balanced on one foot pulling my shoe onto the other.

"No really, it would have been a brilliant start to our Flikr collection, you know? Naomi is threatened with body cavity search because of her desire to wear large earrings."

I scowled at her, treating myself this once because I'm good at it and I haven't done it at all today.

"Well it was entirely your fault anyway Fitch, you bought me the bloody things."

She held out my jacket for me to put my arms into, laughing at me all the way.

"Come on grumpy," she said sniggering still, "Let's get a coffee now we've got rid of those bags. Then perhaps take a wander around duty free, get some perfume or some booze or something."

Coffee sounds good, as does food come to think of it. I'm actually quite peckish but I'm not sure I want to eat a lot, despite having a long flight ahead of us. I'm not sure I want to bring it all up again when we're in the air.

Taking me once again by the hand Ems led me off and we strolled down the corridors from security into the large departures area. We're surrounded by screens with incomprehensible data, but Ems pointed out our flight number on the departures board and that it still read 'wait in lounge'.

"We're ok until that says go to gate, then we can head on down and get ready for boarding. But we've got fucking ages yet, this whole 'have to be checked in at least two hours before departure' is a pain in the arse. Come on I'll buy you a drink."

o+o+o

We ended up in the food hall area sitting with our cups of coffee in front of us when someone collided roughly with my chair, knocking my arm and causing me to spill my drink over myself and the table.

"Oh god, I'm really, really sorry," came a flustered sounding voice. Here let me get you a cloth or something.

I grabbed the napkins off the table and patted at the coffee that had fallen onto my skirt, it wasn't a big spill and it'd mop out with a bit of water. The woman came rushing back with a roll of cloth from the counter and she and Ems cleaned up the mess on the table as I dabbed away at my clothes.

"I'm really sorry about that," the woman said as she saw me cleaning myself down. "I wasn't looking where I was going I'm afraid. Tell me did you see a bag around here when you sat down? I've lost a small blue handbag and I really need to find it."

I looked at Ems and we both shook our heads, "No," she continued, "apparently no-one's seen it and I was only gone for a minute before I realised. It's got my ID and purse and everything in it."

I knew that had to be serious, judging by the pale expression on her face she was really worried about it.

"We'll give you a hand looking for it," Ems suggested and I nodded in agreement, "It can't be far away or someone would have reported it. We're in no hurry, it's ages until our flight"

"Yeah," I said, "give me a minute to nip to the toilets and clean this up and I'll give you a hand looking."

Leaving Ems with the woman I wandered off to the toilets and pushed through the door. Sterile isn't the word, not sterile in the clean sense but sterile in that "we're trying to look posh without actually spending any money" type way. Everything was modern and shiney and all too stainless. It also looked and felt like at least ten thousand women a day used the damn place and even though it was relatively quiet now it wasn't exactly spotlessly clean.

I walked over to the sinks, grabbed a piece of hand towel from the dispenser and held it under the tap until it was nicely damp and dabbed away at the coffee mark until it had faded into the dark cotton of my skirt leaving only the damp patch behind. The white T-Shirt I had worn that morning was, I decided after a bit of effort, a goner; but with lots of shops around me that wasn't a problem. T-Shirts aren't exactly expensive and this one wasn't anything special and I certainly wouldn't miss it. Satisfied with my handy work I walked over to the hand driers and stood and dried my clothes before walking out.

As I stood at the drier, something caught my attention; out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small blue handbag sat next to one of the sinks. Looking around there was no-one that seemed to be interested in it so I stepped over and opened it just in case. The inside was a jumbled mess of make-up, a notepad and pens and a large matching purse. A glasses case near the bottom caught my attention because caught around it was a lanyard with an ID card attached to it. Carefully I pulled it out to see a picture that looked like the woman who'd spilt my coffee. Sarah Gough the nametag read. Well I'd check that when I was outside before handing it over.

I grabbed the bag and held onto it whilst I finished drying my skirt and wandered outside to see Ems chatting with a cleaner and the fraught woman still searching under tables.

"Excuse me," I asked as she popped up, hiding the bag slightly behind me. "Could you tell me your name please?"

"It's Gough, Sarah Louise Gough. Why?"

I pulled the bag from behind me and looked on as her face lit up.

"I think this might be yours. I'm afraid I had a root around in it to see if there was an ID or anything; you'd left it in the toilets so it might be worth checking to make sure nothing's missing."

I felt arms slip around my waist as Ems came across to see what was going on.

"You found it then Naoms, nice one."

"Everything's here as well, God I can't tell you what a relief that is. Here, let me buy you both a drink to replace the ones I spilt. It's the least I can do."

I excused myself whilst Ems took another table and headed off to the shops. Bypassing Harrods as too damn expensive for a plain T-shirt I found myself in a basic sports store and picked up a cheap blue polo shirt. After a quick pit-stop in Boots for some toiletries I headed back into the horrible toilets, dumped the cheap shirt in a convenient bin and after a quick clean up and a spray of deodorant pulled on the new one.

There's something indescribably nice about feeling fresh and having a bit of a wash. Now, having pulled on a clean new shirt, I felt really good about travelling and having a good idea I popped back into the store and bought Ems a fresh shirt as well.

I hoped she'd appreciate it.

Feeling a lot better about myself I joined them at the table where Ems was chatting away animatedly with the woman.

"Hey babe, you ok?" she said as I approached her.

"Yeah, I am now hun." I leant down to kiss her on the head as I dropped the carrier bag next to her and sat down; dragging my chair nearer to Ems and slipping my arm around the back of her chair. As I did so the woman with the lost handbag stood up from her seat, her drink barely touched.

"Look, I'm sorry I have to go I'll leave you two girls to it. Thank you for finding my bag and thank you for being honest enough to return it."

I shrugged, "No problem, glad to know you've got it back."

She smiled and excused herself, leaving us alone with our drinks. I can't help but feel that she seemed a little uncomfortable at my rather public display of affection. Well fuck her if that's how she felt. I'm not going to be ashamed of showing how I feel about my girlfriend any more. If Ems noticed I couldn't tell, she was just blatantly staring straight at my tits, as seems to be her wont at the moment. Not that I'm complaining.

"Nice shirt hun, suits you. Tighter than the other one, looks great."

I deliberately folded my arms across my chest causing her to pout at me.

"My old T-Shirt was ruined babe so I bought this one. It was cheap enough not to be an issue really. Besides it feels good to get changed. I was getting a bit sticky carting that rucksack around."

I know what you mean," she said sipping her drink with a frown, "wish I'd thought to pack some bits and a couple of clean shirts. Would have been nice to feel fresh for the flight."

I picked up the bag I'd placed by her chair. "You can tell me how much you love me later babe," I said passing it to her. She pulled it open and smiled.

"I'll be right back."

She was back before I could finish my drink, the shirt was a little snug on her but one quick wash and a change of clothes seemed to make her all the more beautiful. She looked a lot happier as she sat down and she was beaming at me which always makes me feel good.

"I love my present Naoms, thank you."

"Feels good doesn't it?" I said smiling back at her, watching her nod enthusiastically. "Shame about the toilets though. They were fucking disgusting when I went in. I think the cleaner missed a shift."

"Ugh don't, really. At least they were better than the toilet on the train."

I raised an eyebrow, "it was that bad was it?" she just shuddered in reply.

"Fuck Naoms, you just don't want to know," and judging by the look on her pretty face, I really didn't.

o+o+o

Ten minutes later and I think I'm the happiest woman in this airport, I've made my girlfriend happy with a couple of cheap purchases and we're now wandering around the shops, hand in hand, waiting for the gate announcement. I guess I'm being very optimistic as it's at least an hour to go before we're due to begin boarding, but I'm listening to every announcement that the speakers broadcast.

As we stroll around the open plan duty free store picking up and smelling perfumes and thinking of things that won't cost the earth but would be useful on the travels. I'm naturally drawn to the cartons of cigarettes that the store has on display but Emily is rather less than subtly keeping me away from them.

On the whole it's quite fun, we're together, there's no one around to give us any crap and despite the fact that we're technically shopping I'm actually enjoying myself

I dragged Ems over to the booze section to look at the huge bottle of Smirnoff vodka I'd spotted; disappointingly she convinced me that it was far too big to carry and as much as we would eventually drink it, it was rather a waste of money.

In return I'd stopped her from trying to buy a new pair of sunglasses.

"Emily you have an expensive pair of sunglasses in your luggage," I'd said as she preened herself in the mirror. "You don't need another pair."

"That's true," she chuckled with a cheeky smile, "but if I buy these then I'll have two."

I firmly took the glasses off her and put them back on the display.

"But Naoms, you need a decent pair of sunglasses as well. If I get those you could have my old pair."

"No Emily, I'm very happy with my own pair of glasses that I'm perfectly happy with; and they are a decent brand, there's nothing wrong with my Wayfarers thank you very much."

"But Naomi, they're so old fashioned. You really need a new pair."

"Katie Fitch they are classic, not old fashioned and I'd like to have Emily back now please."

She laughed at my sarcasm, which is always nice, and graciously allowed me to walk her away from the counter without too much of a protest. We strolled over to the large WH Smith bookstore and indulged ourselves in a few trashy paperbacks on a 3 for 2 offer, and a couple of gossip magazines to while away the long flight.

"Are you bored yet babe," Ems asked grabbing my arm as we walked back across the concourse towards the seating area.

"…and why exactly would I be bored Emily Fitch?" I'd replied with my best 'down-the-nose' voice.

"Well we are shopping babe, and I know you hate shopping."

"I'm not shopping babe, I'm on holiday."

"There's a difference?"

I sat down on one of the hard metal chairs that were conveniently placed near to one of the departures boards and pulled her down with me.

"There is for me Em, if I'm on holiday I don't have to worry about college, or grades, or Katie, or your mum or my mum or anything else any more. I don't have to worry about anything but you and me because we're finally on holiday together. I'm so worry free that shopping isn't really shopping."

I considered it for a moment; the holiday comment was less of a throwaway comment than I thought when I said it. It actually explained a lot about how I felt at the moment. From the very second that I'd placed our bags into the luggage rack on the train at Temple Meads station I'd felt lighter; and when the doors hissed closed and Emily hugged my arm as we pulled away on the start of our journey, I'd felt like a boulder had been lifted from my chest. Honestly, my breathing seemed to ease and nearly six years of tension seemed to just ebb away as the miles increased between us and Bristol.

I tried to explain all of that, everything I felt since we started our little adventure, and everything I was still feeling now. But no matter what I said, or how I said it; it never came out right. Eventually I settled for the simplest explanation, the one that I thought would allow her to understand what I meant.

"What I'm trying to say honey, pretty fucking badly I have to admit, is that I'm happy Ems. I'm happy and I can't see a single thing to worry about as long as I'm with you."

She looked at me for a long time before replying, staring into my face with those big brown eyes as if trying to look beneath my words to find the emotions below.

"I'm happy for you babe I really am. I'm happy too." She eventually said, presumably satisfied; she paused for a second before continuing. "We've come a long way you and I haven't we? You know since middle school; I've dreamed about this day for years, and now it's finally here. You and me, no-one else."

"Yeah," I replied practically sighing out the word, "we're finally here. Our big adventure eh?"

"Our big adventure," she agreed, "you think it'll change us babe? They say travelling changes people, will it affect us do you think?"

"I don't know hun," I replied as honestly as I could, "I hope so, I hope it brings us even closer you know?"

I really mean that as well, I hope it makes us even better together because I swear nothing is going to fuck up this trip for us. The trip that heralds the rest of our life together.

"I know what you mean babe," she said cuddling against me, "I really do."

We sat on the seats in the departure lounge just relaxing. I was slumped back in my seat watching the screens and watching the people, pretty much zoned out. Emily was idly flicking through the latest issue of Heat.

It was nice just to be together, taking the opportunity to vegetate whilst we waited for something to be announced about our flight. It didn't take long for something to come over the tannoy, however when it did it wasn't quite the message I'd expected to hear.

"Would passengers Campbell and Fitch on British Airways Flight BA0199 please make themselves known to the staff at the information desk immediately please, that's passengers Campbell and Fitch on British Airways Flight BA0199 to the information desk please. Thank you."

We looked at each other in surprise and horror; both speechless, both thinking the same thing.

'Oh for fucks sake, what the fuck is all that about?'

o+o+o

Emily

"Would passengers Campbell and Fitch on British Airways Flight BA0199 please make themselves known to the staff at the information desk immediately please, that's passengers Campbell and Fitch on British Airways Flight BA0199 to the information desk please. Thank you."

Naomi paled perceptibly at the announcement and looked at me with just a hint of fear in her eyes.

"What do you think is wrong?" she asked, "why the fuck are they calling us?"

"No idea babe," I said as calmly as I could, "guess we won't know until we ask."

We got up from the uncomfortable metal seats and made our way over to the man and woman stood underneath the backlit 'British Airways Information Desk' sign.

"Hi, I'm Naomi Campbell, and this is Emily Fitch, you just asked for us on the announcement."

The man looked up from his paperwork and regarded us both before fixing on Naomi.

"You're not Naomi Campbell"

I could tell she was getting annoyed, the trepidation replaced by the usual hatred of people laughing at her name. I gripped her arm a little tighter to remind her that everything was going to be ok. She's never flown before, I don't think she's even been in an airport before and all of this is stressing her out. It's been one thing after another since we got to Heathrow and I'm getting the impression that her very last straw is about to be plucked out of her grasp.

Quickly, before she could let rip I dug into the bag I was carrying and pulled out our passports.

"She is Naomi Campbell, see? Passport, photograph, everything. She might not be the Naomi Campbell you were expecting but she definitely is Naomi Campbell."

They just looked at me as if I'd grown another head before picking up our passports and looking at them carefully.

"Bu you're not the real Naomi Campbell, I can't, well I can't let you…" he tailed off and looked at his colleague who shrugged and turned away quickly to deal with another customer. The balding customer services agent who had first spoken looked at us with a sheepish half smile.

"I'm afraid Miss Campbell, Miss Fitch; your seats have been allocated to another passenger."

Naomi blew her top; I can't honestly blame her; if she hadn't I think I was about to.

"WHAT? What the hell do you mean 'allocated to another passenger?' What kind of a fucking joke is this?"

I touched her on the arm, silently imploring her to calm down a little. "Could you explain what's going on please?" I asked the balding man who seemed to have withdrawn into himself under Naomi's rage.

"There's been a bit of a mix up and your seats have been allocated to a passenger who failed to meet the previous flight."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"Well we were, but I can't…I mean if you…then we could but...well you'll have to wait for the next flight I'm afraid."

"WHAT?" we both shouted together. Jesus, the guys sounds like fucking JJ at the moment, and not in a good way either.

"I think you'd better get us someone in charge pretty fucking quickly," Naomi concluded, despite my reassuring arm. We're making a scene, I know we are, I'm pretty sure Naomi knows she is as well but I think we're both more than a little beyond caring. People are staring at us and there's a security guard casually walking his way towards the desk.

"I'm sorry there's nothing I can do, as I said there's been a mix up." The toad of a man continued, his voice now smarmy and his fake smile plastered back on his face. It was as if he was remembering the lines from his "how to deal with angry customers" training course; the one he'd obviously failed spectacularly.

Naomi looked at his obsequious smile with the kind of glare I'd only ever seen her seen her use on my sister in the past. She's about to go off on one, I know it. She's going to make one of those speeches she used to deliver at the rally's she used to be involved in. The ones I'd sneak along to so I could listen to her voice. I have the sudden feeling that we're going to get arrested if she does so and I interrupt her quickly before she gets a chance to vent.

"Look, this is our dream holiday, the first time we've been away together. We've been looking forward to this for months and now you're telling us there's been a mix up and there's nothing you can do. That's not good enough."

OK perhaps I'm lying about the months bit, given that she only bloody told me about it a few weeks ago in Freddie's shed, or maybe it's only the 'we' part that's not true; I assume she had been looking forward to it since she bought the tickets nearly four months ago. Anyway I don't think I'm stretching to truth too far; as far as I'm concerned I've been looking forward to this trip since I first really noticed her at school. I'd been dreaming about her and me and holidays and houses and everything else since that fateful Tuesday in May nearly four years ago.

"Miss," the toad interrupted my thoughts, "I'm afraid the next available flight is first thing in the morning but I can make sure that you have a priority booking on that service for the first available seats."

"I'm sorry even that's just not good enough." I find myself saying, "We had seats on this flight, I suggest you contact your other passengers and tell them there's been a mistake. Can we see your manager please?"

He went to speak but my look and Naomi's scowl seemed to convince him it wasn't worth arguing any further. We weren't going to be budged. He pulled his two way radio from his belt and muttered into it, I couldn't make out the disembodied voice at the other end, but he turned back to us smugly.

The duty manager will be along shortly, now if you don't mind taking a seat while you wait I'm sure she'll be able to explain the situation to you."

Naomi bristled at his attitude, but I dragged her away to sit on one of the metal benches where she fumed quietly.

"It's ok Naoms we'll get this sorted."

"I know hun, it's just…I wanted this to be fucking perfect you know? I wanted our first holiday together to be absolutely perfect for you and now we're having all this crap right at the start."

I squeezed her arm and put my head on her shoulder, "It's fine babe, there's nothing we can do about it apart from what we are doing. Let's just stay calm and make them sweat yeah? It's their fucking mistake."

"It's not fine hun, we don't deserve this, you don't deserve this. You deserve the best Ems."

I snuggled my head into her arm, rubbing it up and down to get myself more comfortable. It amuses and pleases me that she's got so concerned over everything to do with me, that everything has to be just right. She's treating me like I'm royalty or something and I actually kind of like it. I, rather selfishly I guess, like feeling special.

As long as it's her that makes me feel that way and I get the chance to show her how much it means to me.

"I've got the best babe, I've got you." I said simply, for no other reason than I like making her feel special too.

o+o+o

After we had been sat on the cold metal seats for a few minutes our names were announced over the public address system once more, calling us back to the information desk that was only meters away from us. This time it was my turn to lose my temper

"Why did you tannoy us? We were only sat there," I asked as we approached, "you saw us sit down, you've been watching us ever since. What the hell is going on here?"

"Is there a problem here Simon?" a voice called from behind him. I looked up to see the figure of the woman that we'd met earlier in the coffee shop.

The man behind the information desk that had called us over turned around and whispered at her in a voice that could have back carried to Bristol without any problems.

"Sarah, the VIP, the one that was flagged on the list for the Goa transfer flight, well it's not the VIP. It's not the model…it's this girl and her friend."

"Girlfriend actually," Naomi called out, her voice level though I could still hear the tone of annoyance in it at his refusal to actually deal with us or let us have our say with the manager. He totally ignored her and carried on talking, dismissing us totally.

"Look, can someone please tell me what the problem is here. All we want to do is get on our flight. We've got our tickets, we've got our passports all we want to do is get your mistake sorted out and take our seats on our plane to India. I'm not prepared to sit around this departures lounge until sometime tomorrow on the off chance that you can squeeze us onto a plane."

"Just one second Miss Campbell," the woman we now understood to be the Duty Manager said quickly. "I'll try and sort this for you. Would you mind taking a seat once more for me please?"

I caught the characteristic roll of her eyes out of the corner of my own and pulled at Naomi's arm. "Come on hun, let's sit over there again, I'm sure it's nothing that can't be sorted."

At this point I'm clutching at straws, if I'm honest I'm pretty convinced that we're screwed, that there's nothing we can do and were destined to have the very first international leg of our trip ruined by this visit from the fuck-up fairy. I can't tell her that though, I'm staying positive to stop her blowing her top again.

Thankfully Naomi allowed me to drag her away from the desk and back to our seats. As well as being angry I'm also somewhat confused by the whole situation. I've travelled with mum and dad a few times now and we've never had anything like this happen before either at an airport or when we've taken the ferry. We've never had our seats on anything arbitrarily taken away from us and handed to other people without so much as an apology. It's not even as if we'd failed to check in, we've been here for fucking ages, they must have known that we were here.

We're watching their conversation with some interest; it even looks slightly heated with the guy on the desk gesturing at his screen and at us. Sarah seems to be taking it all in her stride before pointing back at the desk and shooing him away. She unclipped the radio on her belt and spoke to someone for a minute before coming over.

"Miss Campbell, Miss Fitch; would you follow me please?"

We stood up, grabbed our bag, and followed her as she led us away from the desk and down a corridor.

"Is there some kind of problem?" Naomi asked as we walked, "I mean, the tickets are genuine aren't they. I got them online but I did think they might be a bit too cheap..."

"There's no problem Miss Campbell, none at all, you don't have to worry about that." she replied opening a door and taking us into a spacious lounge area with only a couple of other people in it.

"I apologise for any concerns you might have had ladies, Simon was just a little rattled that's all. You see, one of the check-in staff saw your name on the passenger list Miss Campbell and flagged it as a VIP I'm sure you're used to that." Naomi just shook her head but Sarah continued regardless.

"Anyway, Simon was a bit confused as you're, no offence, not exactly the Naomi Campbell he was expecting to see arrive at the desk, and he didn't know what to do. I'm afraid to say that he had already reallocated your seats to another two customers who had missed an earlier flight. But it's all sorted now."

"I'm sorry," I said, still confused, "but what exactly is sorted? What's going to happen to us, do we have to wait here for the next plane is that it?"

She looked at me blankly as if she couldn't grasp what I was asking, and then comprehension dawned on her face.

"Oh Miss Fitch I am sorry, I thought Simon had explained everything to you, the reason your seats had been reassigned to the other passengers was that you had been upgraded ladies. Welcome to the First Class lounge courtesy of British Airways."

We stood there and stared at her, Naomi was doing her best impression of a landed fish and I'm pretty sure that I was doing the same. My newest best friend in all the world, Sarah, just laughed at our expressions and waved over a colleague.

"Paul, this is Naomi Campbell and Emily Fitch. It's their first trip abroad together and they're probably a bit nervous, could you make sure that they get anything they need and show them around. They're on the 21:45 flight to Goa via Mumbai so make sure they don't miss it if you would."

She turned back to our stunned faces and smiled.

"It was lovely to meet you both; I hope you enjoy your flight and your holiday. I'll leave you in Paul's capable hands"

We stammered our thanks as she shook our hands and left us in the warm, bright and luxurious room.

"Ladies can I get you a drink, wine, or champagne perhaps?"

Naomi began rooting around in the bag drawing out her purse, "Couple of glasses of wine Ems? We should have enough English currency for that left, I wish we hadn't changed so much now...do you take cards?" She asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry Miss Campbell, you may have misunderstood. This is the First Class lounge, everything is included." He smiled at us both. "I'm afraid your money isn't any use to you once you come through that door, unless you want to order Duty Free that is and I can arrange that if you'd like, you can collect it on the plane. If you'd like to take a seat I'll bring your drinks over for you."

We ordered a couple of glasses of white wine and Naomi fished in her purse for her debit card and ordered a couple of cartons of cigarettes with undisguised glee on her face. I made a note to make this trip the one where she finally quits the demon weed. At some point she will run out and I want her to agree not to buy any more when she does.

Her order finally placed she joined me on one of the plush twin seats near to the huge glass windows that overlooked the runway. "First class eh babe?" I said snuggling into her shoulder as we looked out into the night.

"Only the best for you hun, well as long as we don't have to pay for it that is…I can't think how much these tickets would have cost us otherwise."

"I bet that's the first time you're glad someone's got your name mixed up with hers."

She nodded in reply, "Yeah, first time that mistake has actually fucking paid off for me."

"Your drinks ladies," Paul said from behind us as he approached carrying a tray with a bottle of wine and four glasses. "Sarah mentioned it was your first trip together so I hope you don't mind but I brought you a couple of glasses of champagne to celebrate with. If you need anything else, more drinks or some snacks feel free to call me."

"Thanks Paul; before you go, could you tell me where the toilets are please?" I asked as he placed the drinks on the little tables that clipped to the sides of our seats. He pointed out the doorway at the end of the lounge before leaving us to our drinks.

"Champagne again Ems," she said, grabbing the glasses and passing one to me, "at this rate we'll be turning into a right couple of it-girls."

"I think we might as well make the most of it babe, I don't see much champagne in our future. Not likely to be top of the shopping list when we're backpacking around Asia."

"Think you might be right there Ems. To Goa?" she asked raising her glass.

"To us," I said chinking the delicate flutes together and listening to the chime.

o+o+o

First class is definitely the way to fly. Not only is the wine good quality and the light snack we've just eaten very tasty, but the bathrooms are a sight to behold. It's a dramatic contrast with the wipe clean steel ones we'd entered and been appalled by in the main terminal. Gone are the nasty utilitarian, stainless sinks with their push to use taps vandal proof soap dispensers and their automatic hand dryers. Here it is white ceramic sinks, bottles of expensive designer soaps, and clean white towels that you take from a rack as you enter and place into a basket on your way out; presumably to be laundered by unseen assistants. The bathroom is bright, clean and smells of roses and oranges and after the horrors of the terminal and the train it's an oasis of luxury. I know bathroom facilities on our trip are going to get worse rather than better so I'm anxious to make full use of this slice of heaven while I can.

As I dried my hands I heard the door open and close behind me. Hands grabbed my hips, spun me around and I found myself pushed up against the sinks and kissed by a gorgeous blonde. As she pushed her tongue firmly into my mouth, toying with my own, I felt her hands slip under my new polo shirt and I was forced to firmly push her away before she went too far.

"Naomi stop it."

"Stop what?" she asked pressing her mouth to my neck and nipping at the soft skin at the base of my throat.

"I'm not having sex with you in a toilet Naomi; I've told you that the last time you tried it on."

"It wouldn't be the first time Ems, and this is a first class toilet, much nicer than the one in that nightclub."

"Yes, and it's a first class toilet I'd rather not be thrown out of babe, I rather like the idea of having an eleven hour flight in the lap of luxury rather than stuck in cattle class with the annoying children."

That got her, as I knew it would, and she pulled away after giving me one, last lingering kiss to savour.

"Oh go on then, disappoint me," she smirked back, releasing my hips and walking into one of the cubicles. "Paul's brought some more drinks around, I asked for some soft drinks this time. I didn't think you'd want to be drunk on the plane."

"Thanks babe, I'm going to see if I can find a pay phone and ring Katie."

"Ask Paul, I'm sure they'll have a courtesy phone somewhere."

They did as well, in fact when I asked where the nearest pay phone was he told me in no uncertain terms that I was to use theirs. As long as it wasn't an international number of course; giggling I told him what I was planning to do and he laughed as he went to get me the phone.

I have to say I'm definitely impressed with the whole First Class experience, drinks, food and staff that are so helpful it should be illegal; such a huge contrast from the train we took earlier. As Paul returned and passed me the small handset I dialled the number I knew by heart and waited for the reply.

"Hello?"

"Hi Sis it's me, didn't disturb you did I?"

"Well yes, I was trying to have sex actually, what do you want?" I know she's lying because I can hear the sound of the television in the background and even she's not that shallow, the call muffles for a second and I heard her say, "It's Emily" to someone in the room with her.

"Effy say's hi, now what do you want. I'm busy."

"You're watching the TV Katie, don't give me that. Anyway I just wanted to call you and tell you where I am."

"Well I hope the pair of you are in the fucking departure lounge Ems, it's ten to eight so you need to be there. Doesn't your flight board in about an hour?"

"I'm not in the departure lounge Katie and neither is Naomi."

There was a long pause as she relayed this to Effy followed by a flurry of voices followed by the typical echo of a phone that has been put onto speaker.

"What do you mean you're not in departures Emily?" Effy's voice came over the phone. I smiled and winked at Naomi as she sat down next to me and sipped at her drink.

"I mean just that Eff, we're not in departures…we're in First Class Departures, sipping free champagne and eating free food."

"You fucking WHAT!" I heard Katie exclaim, the disgust in her voice unconcealed, "How the fuck did you scruffy tramps end up in First Class?"

"We got an upgrade Sis, there's a special deal for scruffy teenage tramps at the moment, there was a sign on the door when we arrived so we applied…obviously."

"Don't be sarky Emsy it doesn't suit you. Go on then, how did you get an upgrade?"

I smiled over at Naoms and gave Katie the honest reply, "Well let's just say that it's not the first time I've been happy to be travelling with Miss Naomi Campbell. Anyway, gotta run Sis, there's a waiter here with some canapés and some more champagne. I'll make sure we get some photo's just in case you don't believe me. I'm pretty sure we can upload them to the Flickr account before we fly out, or maybe when we get there."

"I paused for a second to let that sink into Katies brain, I can hear Effy chuckling in the background as I waited...3..2..1..."Actually I might be able to upload them from the plane as we travel...this First Class cabin's got absolutely everything. Even beds Katie, think about that."

I winked at Naomi, I wasn't going to mention that the beds were single sleeper, and little more than the folded down seats; but she wouldn't know that, and I knew the thought of us travelling First Class would drive her mad.

"So love to you both, Naomi sends her love too. Have a good evening Kay, have a good evening Eff speak to you both soon."

I heard them say goodbye, Katie still sounding pissed off at our luck and put down the phone with a happy smile.

"Did that feel good hun?"

"You have no idea."

o+o+o

Naomi

Finally we were called to board the plane, Paul had come over and politely handed us our newly printed boarding passes for the First Class section and asked if we were ready for our priority boarding. For some reason Emily seemed quite exited by this prospect; I've never flown before so I guess this is one more privilege of the whole First Class Service.

There's an part of me that's still an activist that thinks the whole First Class principle is an elitist and wholly inappropriate hangover from a less enlightened time; but there's an absolutely massive part of me that's telling the activist to shut the fuck up and enjoy the luxury to come and not feel guilty about the privileges we've received already. I've no doubt we'll be slumming it for almost all of the next twelve months so why not enjoy a bit of comfort whilst we can.

We took a few minutes to thank Paul for looking after us before heading for those ultra white toilets again. Ems had pointed out that eleven hours was a long flight and we had drunk quite a bit. I'd laughed off her weak bladder, but mere seconds after she'd mentioned it my own told me that it wasn't such a bad idea and I was forced to follow her.

I patiently ignored her sniggers as we washed our hands, it really wasn't that funny.

We walked through the boarding gate doors and into the narrow corridor that led to the gate. With one hand I clutched at the small shoulder bag that contained our passports, our tickets, our cards and money and everything that she said we needed for the flight. With my other hand I clutched at the only thing that I needed for my life…her.

Emily Fitch, my only reason for living.

We walked slowly along the linoleum, wipe clean floor oblivious to the small groups of people that were bustling past us in their hurry to board the plane. I am in no hurry at all, I know that our seats are reserved and that the plane won't go without us now. I'm in no hurry at all, because we only have this small bag so we don't have to fight for luggage space in the fabled overhead lockers and I'm in no hurry at all because I want to savour every single second of this walk.

I want to remember every single step, every sound, and every smell as we begin this journey together; as we begin this new portion of our life.

If I'm honest I'm excited by the prospect and fucking terrified at the same time. I can almost see our lives stretching out ahead of us and it's beautiful and awful at the same time. I'm looking forward to this trip, this life, but that's not to say that I don't still have some doubts about it all; it's not to say that I don't still feel like running away again. Running back into that terminal and to the safety and security of my old life, but this time my old life with her, no longer alone.

As we walked hand in hand to the doors she stopped and pulled me to one side.

"You ok Naoms?"

'How the fuck does she know? How can she tell by just walking with me that I've got all this shit going on in my head?'

"You seem a bit distracted that's all babe, you haven't said a word in fucking ages."

"and I usually have a case of 'I don't ever want to shut my mouthism' yeah?"

She smiled and bumped me affectionately with her shoulder, "Pretty much babe. Are you ever going to let me forget that I said that to you?

I shook my head and smiled, "Well I still think considering we'd spoken so little that it was a bit cheeky hun, but I forgave you your cheek almost instantly."

"Almost?" she asked linking her arm through mine and pulling me tightly towards her.

"Well it was a couple of days later really, I forgave you almost the second you snuck your hand onto mine at the lake, you know that really smooth move you did when you poked the fire."

I had as well, it had been the moment when I knew that I couldn't hate her for how I felt, that it wasn't about me anymore, that she'd wriggled herself totally into my soul and made herself comfortable. It had been the moment when I realised, if only for one night, I could allow myself to be happy with the girl that I loved. That one simple touch that told me that it was ok, that she felt something for me as well and that I could grasp whatever courage I had and take what I wanted.

"It was a bit lame wasn't it?"

She looked almost embarrassed for a second, then her face brightened.

"It worked though."

She said that with her very best goofy smile, the one she'd given me moments after that fateful blowback, the one that had lead to us sharing the look that pushed me over the edge and finally gave me the courage to seize the moment. I can't tell her that though, it's far too serious for this moment, but I will tell her. I'll tell her all about that one day.

"Ems it was the equivalent of yawning and stretching in a cinema to put your arm around me."

"I've never done that in my life," she protested quickly. I laughed at her and pulled her into a hug, kissing the tip of her nose and smiling happily. She looked up at me, her face suddenly serious, her voice low.

"But you have been quiet, are you ok Naomi?"

I'm fine hun," I replied seriously, "I'm just trying to take it all in you know? Trying to take in the fact that we're about to get on that plane, that we're about to set off and leave this all behind."

"Scared?"

"Just a little hun, but only of the unknown. Besides," I said trying to lighten the mood a little, "I've never flown before so I'm probably going to spend the next eleven hours vomiting my lungs up."

"Well I'll hold your hair for you if you are babe."

I can't help but grimace at the image but I suspected she knew that wasn't the real reason I'd been quiet, or scared. I was proved right a second or so later when she fixed me with a look and spoke again.

"It's going to be ok Naoms, you know? You and me, it's all going to be fine."

She led me to the gate and we waited until the crowd of people had crossed the boarding ramp and entered the plane.

"You see that?" she said pointing at the floor. I had no idea what she was referring to and shook my head.

"That line Naomi, that's the line between this building and our plane. Once we cross that line we're leaving the airport, leaving the country behind. Once we cross that line we've got a brand new start ok. We get to put Bristol and all our old problems behind us and we get to move on, together, like we wanted to.

Once we cross that line babe we leave everything behind us agreed? We put all our baggage on this side and we leave it behind. As soon as we cross it's me and you and no-one else to come between us for the next twelve months and forever after. If you've got any doubts about this trip, any at all, now is the time to tell me. We can still walk away; it's still not too late."

I stared down at that thin black line, the two thin metal strips that separated where we stood now from our future together. As I stared down I could sense the tension that had crept over us, I could hear the faint rattling of a cage as those dragons that still inhabited my soul fought for release; and in that one instant I realised that I'd already made my decision, she'd given me the reason to go on and she'd given me no reason to turn back. I took a deep breath, turned to face her, grabbed her hands and kissed her softly on the lips.

"I don't want to do that," I said; echoing the words I had said to her in bed once, words that had caused her anger and pain. Words that had meant that I was rejecting her; rejecting us.

"I really, really don't want to do that Ems. I want to cross that line; I want to get on that plane with you. I want now, I want forever and I am going to be brave. I'm going to be brave for us because it's what I want…no more cat flaps, not any more…I love you Ems. I've always loved you and I always will."

I'm rewarded with a broad smile, a broad smile that reached past her lips and deep into her eyes. She slipped her delicate hands from mine and wrapped them in my hair, pulling me down and kissing me as if she had never kissed me before. It was one more pivotal moment in our lives and we both knew it.

"I love you too Naomi…shall we?"

"Lead on Miss Fitch."

She took me by the hand and led me over to that black line in the floor, the symbol of the beginning our new life.

"Together?" she asked as we stood in the doorway looking down the boarding ramp.

"Together." I replied and we stepped, as one, across the line and ran, giggling like schoolgirls, hand in hand down the ramp and into our future.

Our future, together…forever as one.

.

.

.

fin