Emily studied the figures on the navigation display. No signs of abnormality in the current wind speeds and wind direction. She took a quick glance at the flight route information. Based on the coordinates stated, there was a possibility of slight turbulence when they flew somewhere above the Alps in Germany. She made a mental note of that, and after one last check of the figures on the primary flight display panel, her hand reached forward to engage the autopilot system.
Even though it was almost completely dark in the cockpit, Emily saw that the Captain who was sitting next to her had given her an approving nod. She had worked together with him a few times on previous long-haul flights and initially, the reputation that the old chap had for being really difficult and strict had made Emily rather nervous. Rumors had it that it didn't matter if you were male or female, his superior or his subordinate, how many flight hours you had clocked or how much experience you had in flying; he would let you have a taste of his hard-handed ways as long as you made one teeny weeny mistake. In other words, you had to be perfect. But the last we heard, nobody was perfect. So you could imagine the number of 'casualties' that had died in his hands so far. Captain Velleman was his name, but the younger pilots preferred to call him Captain Ironman (behind his back of course).
But right after her first time flying with Captain Ironman, Emily decided the rumors were clearly exaggerated. Sure, the man was strict to the point of being pedantic (or anal in slang, if you like) about pre-flight navigation plans and their degree of accuracy, but Emily had always thought that those were necessary as well; safety was of paramount importance in her field. After a couple more opportunities to work with the legendary Ironman, Emily had come to appreciate his wealth of knowledge in aviation and his unwavering professionalism. Their last flight together to New York saw Emily handling a crisis calmly and skillfully during a major turbulence that disrupted radio communications, and Ironman was obviously impressed with the young lady's abilities when he said to her shortly after they landed, "well done, kid," with his usual expressionless face. Poker face or not, Ironman never praised anyone, and since that one incident Emily's name spread like wildfire in the company. Almost all the senior pilots would have heard of her name while the younger pilots would talk in hushed voices whenever she walked into a room, and these were at times accompanied by some blatant finger-pointing and prolonged staring that really got onto Emily's nerves. Those with nerves of steel who dared to go forward and ask for a date, were curtly rejected with a "That's nice of you, but too bad I'm really gay."
That didn't help matters much though, for thereafter there were three other female pilots and a handful of air stewardesses who asked her out on dates, and who would make flirtatious eye contact whenever she walked past them. Emily scowled at all this attention and had no idea what the whole fuss was about; she'd only wanted to do her job well. Fame was nowhere on her agenda.
This time round, Emily was excited that she was assigned to fly with Ironman again, and was secretly delighted when he placed her in command for taking-off and most part of the flight. It showed that Ironman trusted her enough and was giving her an opportunity to gain experience.
Emily leaned back and exhaled deeply as she stared ahead into the night sky. It was a relatively cloudless night, and the innumerable stars scattered across the darkness reminded her why she would prefer a seat in the cockpit to a seat in the passenger's cabin any day.
Why do people always say that stars twinkle? Emily had seen enough stars in her life to know that they don't. She knew that because when she was young, she had spent many nights alone on the rooftop watching the stars above her head. She even tried once to keep her eyes wide open without blinking at all for one full minute so that she wouldn't miss it if a star had twinkled. But no, the light never did go out once. Her conclusion for that night was that the world's most famous nursery rhyme was lying to all the children in the world.
It's true that her mind was always filled with random and meaningless thoughts like that.
A smile escaped Emily's lips as her mind wandered off to the night before, the scene of her and Naomi in the rain replaying in her head. Naomi was standing before her, her eyes closed and her face towards the sky, her arms spreading wide open to embrace the rain and that dazzling smile on Naomi's face had taken Emily's breath away. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life.
Nature's shower, she had said with a wink.
Emily didn't think Naomi had a clue just how swiftly and deftly she had unwittingly captured her heart in that one moment, without even having to try.
Since they parted the night before, Emily couldn't keep her mind off Naomi no matter how hard she tried. Whatever she was doing, images of Naomi seemed to creep stealthily back into her thoughts. This morning when she woke up alone in the hotel room, the first thing that came to mind was the pair of beautiful blue eyes that could make her heart beat crazily fast with just one glance. At the hotel lobby when she was gathered with Cook and Freddie and the rest of the pilots, she found herself constantly distracted from the conversation thinking about the slender fingers she had locked in her own as they both ran in the drizzle. Earlier that evening the charming cheeky grin Naomi had while leading her into the rain had kept breaking her concentration when she was doing the navigation plans in the pilots' lounge with Freddie and another 2nd Officer for their flight. Freddie was surprised to see Emily spacing out; the red-head was always focused when it came to work.
"Ems, you okay?" Freddie asked in a concerned voice.
"What?" Emily said, awakened from her daydream. "Y- Yeah, I'm fine." She replied as she registered Freddie's question in her mind.
"Jesus, you sure? It's not like you to be distracted during work," said Freddie as he observed Emily closely.
Yes, Emily Fitch, it's not like you at all to lose control of your mind like that. Why the hell are you so affected by a random stranger you've just met last night? What's wrong with you?
Emily sighed. She was really annoyed with her own lack of self-control, but the more she painstakingly tried to chase those thoughts of Naomi away, the more they kept returning to ambush her on all fronts. It was as if her mind was laughing at her as it said, Nope, you can't fight it bitch. Just take it and quit this meaningless struggle.
As Freddie and the 2nd Officer went back to discussing the flight route, Emily's mind had already slid off to some alternate universe where she was reliving the kiss at first sight with Naomi. The kiss. The kiss that sent one megawatt worth of electricity through Emily's body crippling her heart and all other vital organs. The kiss that left a tingling feeling on her lips long after they parted. The one kiss that Emily's body surprisingly didn't resist.
Why, Emily, why do you feel this way? You have kissed dozens of women before, why does this one just feel so different? Had it been so long that your body forgot how it's like to be kissed?
But no, Emily thought. Her body had resisted the brunette back at the club when she planted her lips on her own. Why didn't her body resist Naomi then?
Why, why in the world does it feel like a first kiss when it wasn't one?
Emily couldn't put her finger on it as to why, but she knew Naomi was definitely different.
"Captain Velleman, Ms Fitch, Mr McClair, Mr Pitt," addressed a voice politely from behind her that cut off her thoughts and brought her back to the cockpit.
Emily spun her head back on her pilot's seat and saw a tall and sweet-looking blonde in cabin crew uniform who was smiling down at her. Her hair neatly combed and tied into a bun. She was pushing in a little cart piled full with food through the door.
"Hey," Emily said with a gentle smile when she recognized that it was Hazel, one of the air stewardesses she had flown a few times with.
Emily turned to her left, and saw Captain Velleman raising his brows and cocking his head slightly in the direction of Hazel.
"I'll take it from here," he said as he looked back ahead with a stoic face.
"Thanks, Captain," said Emily as she stood up to go to the toilets. Finally a break to stretch those limbs that have been in the same position for far too long. Behind her Freddie and the other 2nd officer were hungrily gobbling down the sandwiches they had grabbed from the cart.
Emily smiled at Hazel warmly as she made her way past the blonde to get to the door, but she felt a hand tugging at her arm.
"Ms Fitch," the blonde began.
Emily stopped in her tracks and looked at Hazel in surprise before saying with a smile, "Call me Emily."
Hazel blushed and bowed her head a little as she said, "Emily," her voice trembling a little saying the red-head's first name out loud. Her eyes darted to Captain Velleman as she said to Emily in a whisper, "Th- There's a note from a blonde lady in the economic cabin for you," as she handed a folded airsickness bag to Emily. "She said she knew you. We are not allowed to do this, if Captain Velleman knew, I'd be dead… but I thought it might be important to you."
The familiar fluttering in Emily's stomach returned as she smiled knowingly and took the bag from Hazel.
"Thanks for doing this, Hazel," whispered Emily back with a grateful smile.
Emily unfolded the airsickness bag and knew who it was from before she saw the sender's sign-off. The words were large and generous and were written cursively in black ink across the bag.
You sneaky person!
Will confront you after we land - since my life is unfortunately in your hands now.
Fly me home safely and don't doze off on the job!
xx Naomi
Hazel watched Emily closely while she was reading the words on the bag. Her face fell when she saw the red-head's lips curled into a blissful smile as her eyes scanned the words on the airsickness bag.
"Hmm, who is it from?" Hazel ventured, trying to sound casual about her question. She was wildly jealous that someone had managed to make Emily Fitch smile like that.
"Just a really great girl I bumped into on the streets last night," replied Emily distractedly with a dorky grin plastered on her face as she studied the words again and again, her eyes never leaving the bag once.
"Oh," said Hazel, her heart sinking.
"Thanks Hazel," said Emily with a wildly charming smile as she turned her attention back to Hazel, who barely managed to force out a weak smile as she replied, "You're welcome, Emily".
Emily walked out of the gate into the arrival hall, pulling her carry-on suitcase behind her. Her eyes scanned watchfully around the spacious hall for one particular blonde, but she was nowhere in sight. Freddie was walking beside her, gesturing animatedly as he ranted on about Captain Velleman acting like a jerk during the flight. Apparently Freddie had yawned and unwittingly made a casual comment in the cockpit that he was really tired from the "wild last night in Bangkok", and that had summoned an hour-long lecture from the Ironman, coated excessively with his unique brand of rock-cutting sarcasm.
"You know the health and mental state of a pilot are as crucial as pre-flight plans and inspections," Emily said impassively after Freddie had ranted long enough. "We owe a responsibility to all whom we bring onboard our aircraft, Fred. Ironman was right in lecturing you for drinking your ass off last night," said Emily with a roll of her eyes.
"But that was more than 12 hours before our flight, Ems! I haven't even broken any rules; he had no right to make me listen to his shit talk for one whole freaking hour!" Freddie retorted agitatedly, feeling sore that Emily should take Ironman's side.
"Still, it's a fact that you were obviously tired during the flight. You almost dozed off while eating your sandwich! Plus I kind of found a few mistakes in the navigation plans that you made, though I'd covered it up for you," replied Emily quietly.
"You did?" Freddie asked in surprise, the anger in his eyes gone in his flash as he lowered his voice a little in embarrassment.
"Yeah," said Emily as she laughed at Freddie's quick change of expressions and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "So quit talking and buy me a drink, bitch."
The duo walked on for a while more in friendly chatter before Emily's attention was caught by sudden fervent screaming and wolf-whistles from the other end of the arrival hall. She turned and saw that a group of people was crowding in a circle as a familiar figure walked out of the arrival gate; on both sides of the figure were apparently two burly and stoic-looking bodyguards who were pushing back the crowd gone wild.
"God, that's Naomi Campbell!" cried Freddie as his jaw dropped open upon recognition of the blonde who had her shades on.
"You know her?" asked Emily as her eyes widened in utmost surprise. She had no idea Naomi was that famous.
"Are you kidding me? Frontman of Ace of Wands? I'm like their biggest fan!" Freddie replied with an incredulous look, obviously taking offence that Emily knew nothing about the existence of the band.
Ace of Wands..?
Emily thought she heard that name somewhere before.
"Internationally acclaimed alternative rock group from our very own town? Took home a whopping five Grammy awards last year?" beamed Freddie proudly as he enthusiastically advertised his favorite band to a clueless Emily who was severely retarded in pop culture.
In a second, realization hit Emily suddenly as she recalled what she read in the papers once.
Ace of Wands. The band that started with humble beginnings in their little town to achieve international fame all over the world. The band that got famous for rejecting a role in Woody Allen's new movie because they wanted to "stay focused on their music and keep it real". Ace of Wands. The pride of Britain. The pride of Bristol.
Wait a minute, Naomi is the FRONTMAN of Ace of Wands?
Emily snapped out of her thoughts as she recognised a familiar figure with platinum blonde hair walking in their direction. Not far behind the blonde were several security guards and bodyguards who were forming a line to hold an entire crowd back screaming out a name Emily knew so well.
"Oh my god, she's walking over to us!" sputtered Freddie nervously as a squeak escaped his voice and he tugged urgently on Emily's blazer, his eyes still watching the girl who was making her way over.
"Hey," said Naomi as she neared Emily, removing the shades to reveal the beautiful blue eyes behind.
"Hey," said Emily, smiling gently as she locked eyes with Naomi. God, how she missed those eyes.
"Wha- What the… You.. You two know each other?!" Freddie stuttered in shock as his head switched back and forth the two girls in a rapid motion, his face an incredulous expression.
"Hello, you must be Emily's colleague. I'm Naomi," said Naomi politely as she tore her eyes off Emily to look at Freddie, her hand extended out for a handshake.
"H- H- Hi, Naomi Campbell… I'm… I'm… I'm Freddie," stammered Freddie, as his trembling hand took Naomi's hand and shook it weakly, his reaction making Naomi laugh heartily. Emily's heart twitched a little at the sound of her laugh.
"Jesus, I shook Naomi Campbell's hand," said Freddie dazedly as he looked at his palms like a child.
"God, Fred, you're such an embarrassment," said Emily, rolling her eyes. Her eyes flickered to Naomi and saw that the blonde was staring at her in a dreamy gaze. A blush broke out in Naomi's cheeks when she realised she was caught.
"Well, 1st Officer Fitch, why did you mislead me into thinking we were taking the same flight? That was really sneaky of you," Naomi changed the subject quickly to let the awkward moment pass over, her eyes narrowing at Emily in mock anger and her lips pursed into a straight line.
"Well, I didn't exactly mislead you," reasoned Emily gleefully. "We were taking the same flight, just that I was in the cockpit and you, were in the passenger's cabin," she added with a playful glint in her eye.
"Very clever," scorned Naomi.
"Besides, you were not so honest yourself huh. You didn't tell me that you were that famous," added Emily, her head cocking towards the crowd that was far behind Naomi and still struggling to get past the guards.
Naomi turned her head back at the crowd, at which the screaming abruptly became louder, and sighed as she turned back.
"Believe it or not, I'm not really liking all this attention," said Naomi, a tinge of unhappiness clearly lining her voice as she looked down at the floor.
Emily watched that troubled expression on Naomi's face closely. She realised that after their little adventure that night, she had already seen many of Naomi's different expressions. She saw her being nervous and afraid as they leapt on the boats; she saw her gleeful, mischievous look when she started the puddle fight; she saw her looking all calm and blissful when she let the rain fall on her face; she saw her delighted face as they laughed and played in the rain. This was the first time Emily had seen Naomi being sad, and she didn't like it at all. For some reason she felt a really strong urge to lean forward and hold Naomi in her arms to comfort her.
"Anyway," Naomi said as she snapped out of her own melancholy and forced a weak smile at Emily, "I just wanted to give you this."
Emily looked at the two long and rectangular pieces of paper in Naomi's hands. They looked like entrance tickets for a concert.
"No shit, tickets to an Ace of Wands gig?!" Freddie yelled a little too loud as his eyes widened in amazement at the tickets still in Naomi's hand.
Naomi smiled cheerily and nodded at Freddie. She turned back to Emily and said, "I really hope you would be able to come," as she glanced a little shyly into those hazel-brown eyes. "It would make me..,"
"I'd love to," said Emily almost immediately, her eyes sincere and soft as they stared back into Naomi's eyes.
"… very happy," Naomi trailed off at the end of the sentence as her heart leaped a little at what Emily had just said, her cheeks flushing as she bashfully broke eye contact.
"Great," Naomi said, looking up after a while, the megawatt smile on her face could be spotted from a mile away. "I gave you two tickets, so you could bring someone along," added Naomi. She studied Emily closely in anticipation of her reaction, searching for an answer to the question she really wanted to ask: if Emily had a someone to bring along?
"Me! Me! Bring me! Please, Emily! You're the best. Bring me, you won't regret it, I promise," Freddie began a series of pleads as he tugged onto Emily's blazer again like a kid, his brows furrowing in a manner Emily could only describe as fangirling desperation. (Well, in this case, fanboying desperation).
"Fine," said Emily with a roll of her eyes. Freddie had successfully managed to make the suave pilot uniform they were wearing look bad with his childish and pathetic public display of obsessive fandom.
"ALRIGHT BABY! Ace of Wands, here I come!" yelled Freddie as he punched his fist in the air in a dramatic fashion, doing a little skip on the spot, making Naomi laugh and Emily look around them embarrassedly to see if people were staring.
"I could give you another ticket, if you like," said Naomi as she glanced at Emily.
"It's fine," said Emily. "I wouldn't have known who else to bring anyway," she added.
Emily thought she saw Naomi's eyes lit up for a moment, but she brushed it off as only her imagination.
Naomi turned her head back to the crowd as she heard her manager shouting to her above all the screaming.
"I've got to go, they can't hold it out any longer," said Naomi as she stuck a tongue, shrugging her shoulders and smiling amusedly as she pointed her thumb at the crowd behind.
"I'll see you at your gig," said Emily as she nodded with a quiet smile.
"See you," Naomi said as she was about to turn to walk away, when she paused and looked hesitantly at Emily.
Emily felt her breath hitch as Naomi leaned forward to her left shoulder in one quick motion like she was going to kiss her on the cheek. But it seemed like Naomi had suddenly realised something, and had stopped herself in time before her lips could touch Emily's cheek.
Instead, Naomi leaned back as her hand reached out and dusted Emily's blazer gently on the shoulder, her fingers tracing the buttons and badge on the blazer.
"This uniform suits you," said Naomi softly as she pulled away with a gentle smile.
Waving goodbye to Freddie, she took one last look at Emily before turning and walking back towards the crowd.
Emily's heart was beating furiously against her rib cage. Her cheeks were scalding from the close proximity she and Naomi had shared moments ago and the trailing of the blonde's fingers across her chest had left a peculiar tingling sensation in her lower torso as she watched the blonde slip away into the crowd. On the other side of the hall, the crowd was turning wild at the sight of their idol returning.
Was it just her or was Naomi really going to kiss her on her cheek? And if she was, why didn't she in the end? And what would it have meant if she did? Does that mean that Naomi liked her too?
Emily inhaled deeply as she closed her eyes and opened them again.
This blonde was driving her a little too crazy for her liking.
"Yoohoo, come back to earth," said Freddie as he waved a hand in front of Emily's dazed face.
Emily scoffed at Freddie and started walking off in the other direction.
"Dude, save it," said Freddie as he caught up with Emily and looked intently at her.
"What's that?" said Emily as she eyed Freddie questioningly.
"She doesn't play for your team. You can forget about her," said Freddie with a knowing look on his face.
"How do you even know that?" Emily rolled her eyes as she scorned.
"She said so herself in interviews! She dates men! And tons of them, at that. Well, at least the rumors say so," explained Freddie in a matter-of-fact tone.
Emily's heart sank at Freddie's words.
"Well, you must be really developed in your mental faculties to believe what those dumb tabloids say," said Emily curtly as she tried to defend Naomi. She couldn't help feeling that she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Freddie.
"Believe me, Emily. I know it," said Freddie, exasperated that Emily refused to listen to him.
"You don't know shit, Fred," retorted Emily sharply, as her mind flashed back to the scene of Naomi and her running through the alleys away from the paparazzi. She knew those tabloid reporters would blow anything out of proportion just to publish a good ol' tantalising scandal, however far from the truth it was. Emily was confident that Naomi wasn't like what Freddie had said.
"Fine. But at least she's admitted that she's dated Tom McDowell before. That is no rumor; that is a fact. She's straight, Ems. Straight as an arrow," Freddie reasoned as he exhaled deeply.
Emily stopped in her tracks at Freddie's words. Straight as an arrow. That familiar dull pain shot through her heart as she recalled those words, "You know I love you, Emily. Just not in this way."
Leia.
Emily felt hands on the side of her arms as Freddie turned her to face him.
"Ems, I just don't want you to get hurt, you understand me? It's far too complicated to get involved with these… people. They live in a world that is different than our own. You read it in the news; they toy with feelings and fool around a lot. Relationships mean a fuck to them," said Freddie, who now had a solemn look on his face.
"And don't get it wrong, you are fucking hot and all, Ems, and hell yeah I'll chase you right this minute if you were into cocks. But seriously, who knows if she's not seeking you out just for the fun of it, just like another one of her experiments? You're like a breath of fresh air to her from her usual dose of glamorous celebrities. Someone gay and part of the common crowd, someone exciting and different. But she will dump you and go back to the hunks when the next celebrity comes along. Trust me, it's not her fault Ems, it's just the way the industry is."
"I love you very much Ems, and I don't want her to break your heart," Freddie said as his brows were locked in grave solemnity, his eyes looking at Emily with genuine concern.
Emily paused a moment and burst into a short laugh seeing Freddie's serious expression. She wasn't used to seeing him so solemn. Sensing that Freddie was not amused by her laughter, she bit her lip from laughing further and looked at Freddie with a softened expression in her eyes.
"Thanks Fred, I know you mean well," said Emily gratefully. "But hmm, wasn't someone swooning like a fangirl in front of his idol only a moment ago?" said Emily, teasing.
Freddie scoffed. "It's different. I'm her fan but I would never date her. It's just too different, our worlds," replied Freddie matter-of-factly.
"Could it be that you are saying all these so that you could be the one to chase her instead?" asked Emily as she eyed Freddie suspiciously.
"Oh, come on, Ems. If I were to chase her, you would have no chance at all," said Freddie cockily, folding his arms and pretending to look around smugly.
"Yeah sure, you're the most charming in this world," said Emily as she laughed, pushing Freddie along as they made their way to the exit of the hall.
Amidst the cheer and laughter, Emily's face fell as she thought back about what Freddie had said.
You're like a breath of fresh air to her from her usual dose of glamorous celebrities. Someone gay and part of the common crowd, someone exciting and different. But she will dump you and go back to the hunks when the next celebrity comes along. Trust me, it's not her fault Ems, it's just the way the industry is.
Emily bit her lip hard as she felt a faint, lingering ache in her chest.
I don't want her to break your heart.
p/s: wanna take this chance to thank everyone who had taken the time to read my story. i know my story's really painfully slow-moving, so to all who's made it to here (if any), hats off to your enduring patience! wanna say hello to all guests who left a comment too; i couldn't pm some of you, so i'll say my thanks here. (:
since i hardly come up here to leave a message, just a little more about why i wrote this story: so i stumbled upon author fitchswitch's [what the heart sees] a few weeks ago and got hooked onto it - which if you haven't read yet go do so now! shoo, shoo! - and well, the author sort of inspired me to write a naomily story. there were all these ideas running around in my head for quite some time, but i only decided to pen them down after i got restless waiting for an update from [what the heart sees].
so, there you go, the story behind this story. ;)