First off, thanks for the well wishes and hugs on behalf of Mr. Max. You guys are lovely, really. It's a bit of a weird time in my life, sort of like the end of my childhood. Between the passing of Mr. Max and then becoming an aunt earlier this week (SO excited about Miss Olivia Mae) its weirdly cyclical—like Lion King circle of life stuff. I will do my best to get the next chapter up sooner.
Thank you to: yy4nmes, too tired to respond properly, Lovecraft, LoveTypeThing-SureTypeThing, phantomfundraiser, T, Rach, ifsomebody'sgotsoul, and StayWithMeForTheKids for reviewing, it really does mean a lot.
Please do let me know what you think. And as always, thanks for reading.
I don't own Skins or anything of the sort.
Chapter XIV: Don't get so uptight
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YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A ZOMBIE TODAY
Naomi read from the piece of lined paper Emily slid in front of her. The two were sitting together again in math class.
Naomi had waited an extra few minutes before going to class, not sure if she should sit with Emily again or not. She was freaking out in her head about Sophia, but that didn't mean she still didn't over think most other things in her life as well, like sitting next to Emily for example. Knowing Emily would already be in class, she entered the lecture hall and looked for her bright red hair. When Emily saw her she nodded toward the seat next to her. Naomi dutifully joined her. Simplicity.
Is that a compliment? Are you complimenting me?
Naomi smirked sliding the paper back toward the redhead.
NO. JUST AN OBVERSATION.
Naomi suppressed a laugh looking up to meet Emily's mischievous eyes. Emily looked away a moment later innocently taking notes. Cheeky, Naomi thought but didn't write down. That would be more blatant than there current blatant banter.
I didn't think so.
I HAVENT BEEN PESTERED BY THAT BIRD OF YOURS RECENTLY. SHE STILL NOT BACK YET?
Nope.
The sigh Naomi emitted as she slid the paper back to Emily was not lost on the girl.
YOURE SUCH AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE, I SWEAR
Naomi rolled her eyes, her frown concaving into that smirk that always seemed to appear around Emily.
You know people actually thought we were dating?
YOU'RE NOT?
Naomi's eyes bugged out as she read it. There was no way Emily could seriously think there was even a possibility her and Alex were dating. She lifted her gaze to find Emily failing to contain a smirk. The redhead snorted a laugh quickly clamping her hand over her mouth to quiet herself. They both snapped their heads down when the professor looked up in their direction.
Oh you're just a fucking comedian aren't you?
THEY SERIOUSLY THOUGHT YOU WERE DATING?
Naomi rolled her eyes incredulously at the thought.
Yes. Twats. Bloody ridiculous. Can't a girl have a best mate?
YOU MISS HER DON'T YOU
Naomi wasn't a fan of all the questions, but she was a fan of Emily. So she entertained them.
No.
LIAR
Fine. Maybe a bit.
NOT A BIT MORE THAN A BIT?
Naomi's mind instantly flashed back to her not so sober conversation with Emily in the hall after she had attended her first rugby drink up. She wasn't sure if she should be embarrassed or pleased that Emily remembered her drunken chatter.
Haha. It a crime to miss your best mate?
NO. I THINK IT'S CUTE. BESIDES YOU AND THE GF WILL BE REUNITED SOON. ONLY A COUPLE WEEKS LEFT TIL HOLIDAY.
Emily was right. If Naomi wasn't mentally freaking out so badly she be able to rationalize that while she hasn't been able to talk to Alex recently, in a few weeks she'd be back home having chats face to face with her annoying best mate.
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"Naomi!" Sarah bellowed as Naomi walked into the room where she was meeting for the paper. "How goes it Champ? We need to go out together more often."
It was the first meeting since the formal. She joined the rest of the group at the table.
Naomi smiled. "Yeah."
Sarah laughed "Definitely need to get you that drunk again. You were fucking hilarious."
"Hah, don't know about that drunk…" Naomi laughed awkwardly trying to suppress the fear bubbling up inside of her. Countless times since she woke up hung over Saturday morning she had wondered, worried, and hoped no one had seen her and Sophia. Not that they had snogged in the middle of the dance floor or anything. She had hung out with Sarah and the rest of the freshman journalists for most of the night meaning if anyone were to have seen something, it'd have been one of them.
"How many games of 'ruit did you play?" Brandt asked lounging in the chair across from Sarah.
"Duno." Naomi shrugged. Maxxie had attended the shindig with some bloke that covered the papers arts section. Of course the two blondes played together instead of with their respective dates. She had almost felt bad for keeping Maxxie away from his date for due to their continued winning streak. Though it had also caused her to be away from Andy and Sophia for a bit of the night. She had remembered appreciating the reprieve.
"You guys killed us toward the beginning of the night," Brandt said. "How many did you lose?"
"We didn't." Naomi smirked. They stopped playing when part of the dance floor was changed into an actual dance floor and Maxxie wandered off into the shuffle on the heels of his date.
"You two must have some kind of school record at this point." Brandt said in awe.
Naomi just shrugged. She had fun with Maxxie and he didn't constantly hit on her, like some other blokes she'd played with did. Them winning was just a bonus.
The freshman continued to ramble on about different events from that night, Naomi listening along and laughing with the others. The bubbling fear starting to quell in her stomach as there was no mention of her and Sophia.
As if on queue the girl that was plaguing her thoughts (and not in the nice way) entered the room. As soon as their eyes met, Naomi cast her eyes down keeping focused on her notebook in front of her.
"Hey." Sophia said quietly to the group sitting down in the open seat next to Brandt. Naomi was suddenly thankful she had put her bag down earlier in the open seat next to her. Naomi nodded her head in welcome as the others said hi before continuing on in their recants of the formal. She could feel Sophia's gaze on her refusing to look up herself. Even as the actual meeting began and all throughout Naomi addressed Sophia only when necessary for the most part talking ideas with Sarah. She didn't know what to say to Sophia in all honesty, so she said nothing.
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"Wait what?" Alex exclaimed. Too shocked to chuckle. That would come later.
"Where in fucking hell have you been?" Naomi asked in the near frantic voice she'd been containing to herself for days.
"Umm, America." Alex deadpanned.
"I thought you were supposed to get back yesterday?"
"Delays. Flight was overbooked, so the parentals took the deal, some posh hotel and first class. We didn't leave til the next day." Alex explained. "I'm never flying coach again. First class girl from now on. It's amazing the amenities...did you know there's complimentary wine? "
"Alex." Naomi stated getting the younger girls attention through the phone line. Her voice was the kind of calm that came before a storm. That made the hairs on your arm stand.
"Right, right," Alex said focusing. "Sorry. Sooo Sophia huh?"
"What do I do?" Naomi nearly begged the question. It was awkward. It was weird. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to act. She didn't know what to say. And the way Sophia had been acting wasn't make it any easier to deal with.
"Well…" Alex hesitated, calculating her response, "You agreed you weren't to tell anyone right?"
"Yes." They had. To Naomi's surprise it had been Sophia's idea that they weren't going to tell others. Not that Naomi was about to yell it from the rooftops anyway. If it were up to her everyone parties included should just forget it ever happened.
"And that it wasn't going to happen again?"
"Yes."
"And that you were going to just be friends?"
"Yes."
"And just go back to the way things were?"
"Yes."
"So…" Alex paused, "it's sorted then?"
"Yes."
"Okaaay…"
"But it's not!" Naomi fussed. "It's absolutely not the same. Its awkward as all hell. I don't know what to do or say around her. It's fucking weird mate."
"Well, what did you expect?"
"I don't know." Naomi stated. "Obviously wasn't the sort of thing I thought out beforehand now was it?"
Alex laughed for a moment speaking once she'd caught her breath. "Apparently not."
"It's not funny!" Naomi stressed.
"It is kind of." Alex said before slipping back into laughter.
"You done?"
"Yeah, yeah." Alex said, "You need to fucking relax, yeah? This whole freaking out thing isn't going to do you any good. Stop fucking over thinking it. Distract yourself, think of something else, like how much you missed your bestest mate, or I duno, Emily."
"I think I need to stop thinking about girls all together."
"Naw," Alex said, "Just the crazy ones."
"Wasn't it you that said all girls were crazy?"
"Fine, the mental ones, better?" Alex quipped.
"Is there a difference?"
Alex chuckled, "Trust me, there's a difference all right."
The two were quiet for a moment.
"Alex," Naomi sighed, "When did everything get so tits up?"
"Fitting word choice."
"Sod off."
"Okay, okay," Alex relented taking a serious tone. "I dunno mate, somewhere in between you telling the girl you semi-stalked you like her, snogging the girl that's stalking you, and said stalker finding out about your former stalking."
Naomi laughed despite herself. "It's all fucked up." She heard Alex laugh through the line. "And for the record I did not stalk. She just was always there. I just noticed. I noticed her. A lot." Naomi defended.
"Sure. Sure."
Naomi let out a breath that felt like she'd been holding in for days. In a way she had.
"I can't believe this is what happens. I leave you for two fucking weeks." Alex ranted, "You just had to wait til I was gone didn't you?
"Oh fuck off." Naomi rolled her eyes, though she was laughing despite herself.
"Watch, I'm going to leave for America for university next year, and you'll get yourself a girlfriend or something."
"Not funny." Naomi sulked.
"Too soon?" Alex joked.