Title: Love Accidentally - Chapter 26
Author: kreia03
Rating: M
Warnings: Swear words.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I hate that fact. Seriously.
Summary: "My point is, though that star shines less than the other two." He stretched his hand out, pointing to the lone star. "It doesn't mean that it's far from them." He gestured at the other two stars. "Sometimes, one star just shines so bright that it overshadows the other, though the truth is—"
A/N: Next chap! Terribly sorry for the delays, I'll try to update as early as I can. Erm, if it helps, the next chapter is being written already. XD Thanks for the really awesome comments and reviews! Gives me a huge boost to write!
Dedicated to: Fellow A-teamers, because you two are awesome! ^^ and those who supported me on the GLBT and Naomily thread! You guys know who you are!
Naomi found herself crossing the distance between hers and Freddie in quick giant strides, squeezing furiously through the mass of pressed sweaty bodies as she jostled her way among the crowd, down to the corner of the club where he stood. She watched as he too moved from where he was, her eyes locked with his until they met halfway eventually, standing toe to toe opposite each other, wearing one another down as they exchanged sharp, dagger-like glares that pierced through their defenses and resolves. Naomi didn't have the faintest idea where her sudden guts were coming from, granted that she was somewhat threatened by Freddie's determination just a few moments ago. Maybe it was the anger that was fueling it, giving her the nerve to walk towards him and meet him face to face. Or maybe, it was the mere sight of him being that close to Emily that infuriated her inside. It could also be that she felt like standing up for Effy, because this could be hurting her even if she didn't say so. Or it could be a mixture of three. But whatever it was exactly, it's turning fast into one giant ball of revulsion against her so-called friend.
"Will you just stop this?" She snapped, scowling at him as they stood before each other, face to face.
"Jesus." He grimaced. "Stop what Naomi?"
"Stop this, this—" She paused, searching for the right words, her hands flailing everywhere. "This, whatever you're playing at."
"I told you, I'm not playing anything." He spat back, the words rolling out of his tongue acerbically.
"Then what are you doing?" She cried out, her voice rising from her usual tone, though the change was almost undistinguishable as the loud music drowned any other sound.
"I'm stepping up." Freddie answered firmly. "I backed out before because you were my friend." He pushed even further, taking Naomi's momentary silence as an opportunity to speak his mind. "I gave up because she's your girl."
She could feel her fingers clenching into fists while she listened, her jaw strained tight as she tried to resist the urge of doing anything stupid that she might regret later on.
But, God knows how much she wanted to hit him.
"You had countless chances Naomi and you wasted them." He added with a firm shake of his head. "But I'm not gonna hold back anymore."
She was on the very verge of lifting her hand and connecting her fist on his face when she suddenly felt a tight grip encircling around her wrist, stopping her completely. She snapped her head and met Effy's gaze, her lips pursed uptight.
"Don't." Effy warned with a shake of her head, her eyes warily scanning the place. It seemed like their little commotion had now attracted a fair amount of whispering and attention, on which some of the people had even stopped dancing just to take a look. "Let's go yeah?" She tugged on Naomi's arm, beckoning her to leave already, tugging it once again when the blonde remained unmoving, eyes now back to Freddie. "Naomi." She hissed, tugging for the third time but much stronger than the previous.
Snapping back to her senses, Naomi averted her gaze and turned to Effy. She nodded half-heartedly and allowed the brunette to drag her out of the club, throwing one last sharp glance towards Freddie before turning around to leave. She could hear the constant clicking of cell phone cameras as they made their way out, though she couldn't be bothered at all, the thought of the possible consequences of her actions being completely overwhelmed by the raging anger, which brought about a sudden blood rush coursing through her veins. She was still breathing shallowly even when they were at the safety of her car, her head tipped up and leaning against the head rest.
Effy closed the car door. "What just happened in there?"
Naomi blew an exasperated breath. "I have no idea." She drawled out after a long pause, shutting her eyes tight as she caught her breath.
"Right." The brunette's brow quirked, watching Naomi intently under her gaze. "Jealous?"
"Shouldn't you be asking yourself that?" Naomi blurted out, quickly shuffling on the driver's seat to look at Effy.
The brunette let out a mere shrug. "Don't know."
"Jesus Christ, Effy." Naomi rolled her eyes. "You're being bloody cryptic again." She shifted once more, leaning her head back to the head rest.
"I don't know if I'm jealous or not." Effy murmured after a moment of silence, much to the blonde's confusion, her eyes trained on the car window beside her.
"Why don't you know?"
"Because you're here." She turned around, meeting Naomi's now quizzical expression.
"But he's the one you love Eff." The blonde protested, her voice dropping low.
"And you're the one I like."
Naomi's mouth parted open, her eyes growing wide as she was definitely surprised by Effy's words, her hand on top of the steering wheel gripping the arc tightly. She swallowed hard as her breath hitched once again. "Eff." She called out faintly, almost inaudible.
Effy smiled genuinely, though just a little. "Relax. I'm not trying on anything." She watched as Naomi pressed her lips together. "I'm just saying." She shrugged. "Or maybe I'm just starting to accept that he'll never really like me."
"Effy –"
"I'm not gonna cry, you idiot." She broke off and smiled sadly before heaving a sigh. "I haven't really thought about it, but I will, eventually."
The blonde took a deep breath before speaking. "Maybe it's time to let him go." She replied with a shrug. "So you'd stop hurting."
"Maybe." Effy paused, bringing her gaze back to the car window. "And maybe it's time for us to go home." She cocked her head, pointing to the crowd that was starting to build near the car, cameras and mobile phones in hand.
"Jesus." Naomi blew out a noisy breath and rolled her eyes before revving the engine and driving down the road. "I'm guessing I'd be on the headlines again."
O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O
"Freddie?"
Freddie turned on his heels quickly, his scowl disappearing along with his anger as soon as he laid his eyes on Emily. "Hey." He cheerfully called out, flashing a warm smile.
"I've been looking all over for you." Emily stated as she handed him another glass of drink. "You weren't there when I got back."
"Did you just get back?" He gulped. "I mean, you didn't see anyone, did you?"
"Just got back." Emily nodded gently, her forehead folding into a crease. "Am I supposed to see anybody?"
Freddie shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. "No, no." He paused. "You weren't." He lifted his hand and took a glance at his watch. "It's getting late. I think we should go."
"I suppose so." The red head smiled as Freddie escorted her out of the club and into his car.
"Can you drop by my office tomorrow?" Freddie asked halfway through their drive back to JJ's place, his eyes flickering between Emily and the road ahead. "So we could talk about your synopsis. We haven't really discussed it ever since you gave it to me."
"Tomorrow?" Emily repeated, thinking deep. "I guess I'm free." She smiled.
"Good. I'll see you then?"
"What time?"
Freddie broke into a huge grin. "Anytime." He happily answered as he brought his attention back to driving.
"I've had a lovely time." Emily smiled timidly upon arriving to JJ's house. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned back to Freddie. "Do you wanna go inside?"
"Nah." He shook his head. "JJ might already be asleep."
"Oh, alright." The red head replied. "Well, see you." She bid him goodbye and stepped out of his car to get inside the house. "JJ." She softly called out, so as to not wake her best friend up in case he was already asleep. She craned her neck, noticing the still open lights on the kitchen, and decided to check up on there. "JJ?" She saw a figure past the kitchen door, seated onto the bench at the backyard, and could make out JJ's ruffled hair. She took a deep breath and gently pushed the door open, heading outside the yard to sit quietly beside him.
"How was your date?" He asked without glancing, knowing too well who had just arrived.
"It wasn't a date J." Emily snorted. "Freddie and I were just hanging out."
"Well, since you put it that way, might as well think about it as hanging out and not a date." He chuckled and turned to the red head, smiling widely, his braces showing.
Emily smiled back. "What are you doing here? I mean, you should be sleeping right?"
"I can't sleep." JJ answered, tipping his head up to look at the sky. "So I went star gazing instead."
Emily inched closer and laid her head on JJ's shoulder, gazing up at the stars as well. "Why is it that every time I look up, I always seem to see those three stars first?" She blurted out in a frustrated tone after a few moments, pertaining to the three stars that she had started to refer to as her, Naomi and Effy.
"Which ones?" JJ asked.
She raised her hand and pointed the stars out. "That one, it looks like it's losing its glow." She sadly murmured, talking about the lone star that she thought about as herself. "It's probably so far away from those two."
JJ let out a small chuckle, his shoulders shaking, which made Emily shift on her seat and look at him quizzically. "What's so funny?"
He shook his head gently. "Nothing." He replied. "It's just that, people always have this misconception that the brighter the star, the nearer it is."
"Well, it is like that." Emily answered skeptically, her brow arching up. "Studies say that the brighter the star, the nearer it is."
"But studies also say that brightness alone is not enough of a basis to know a particular star's distance." JJ lifted his forefinger. "Take the sun as an example. It's a star right?"
"Well, yeah, technically." The red head replied haltingly.
"The sun, as astrologers say, is the brightest star. Yet—" He paused, preparing to make his point. "You can't say that the sun is the nearest star. There are other stars nearer than it."
"And your point exactly?" Emily grimaced as their conversation seemed to have quickly turned into a bloody science lesson.
"My point is, though that star shines less than the other two." He stretched his hand out, pointing to the lone star. "It doesn't mean that it's far from them." He gestured at the other two stars. "Sometimes, one star just shines so bright that it overshadows the other, though the truth is—" He shuffled on his seat to get a better look at Emily who now seemed to be lost on the topic and totally confused. "Let's put it this way. That lone star would be star number one." He paused and watched as Emily nodded. "The middle star would be star number two. Then that bright one is star number three."
"Okay." The red head murmured hesitantly.
"You see, star number one could be much, much, much nearer to star number two, compared to star number three. It just so happens that the third star shines so bright that people think it's nearer, even though in reality, it could be farther than star number one. This theory still needs to be proven, but it's a big possibility." He finished with a grin, sounding all smug. "I'm guessing that both star number one and number three want to be near star number two huh?" He smiled playfully yet, full of meaning.
"Maybe." Emily let out a small sad smile and took a deep breath. "Maybe it's just star number one, because number three is already near."
"You're forgetting my theory." He scowled lightheartedly. "Are we still talking about the stars?" He bantered.
"Yeah. What else could we be talking about?" She answered innocently, though she knew perhaps JJ had already known, or rather, had always known.
O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O
Naomi dropped herself wearily on the couch, tipping her head up at once as soon as her body had hit the soft seat. She spread her fingers open and let them crawl up to her hair as she let out deep, exasperated sighs. Too much had happened in just a short span of time and things just seemed to keep getting complicated, not that they weren't already.
Indeed, an eventful night it was.
She huffed out loud and screwed her eyes shut. Just as when she seemed to have figured things out and was just preparing herself to admit and accept certain things, somewhat, somewhere, something would go wrong and everything she had managed to stack up would come stumbling down again and she'd find herself back to square one.
Just as when she was ready to accept that Effy would never love her or like her the same way as she felt for Freddie, the brunette would suddenly come along and blurt out confusing and rather blunt confessions. Just as when she had finally decided to give up on her and be nothing more than a friend to her, Effy would do or say something that would send her thinking and weighing about her decision and options over again.
Naomi shifted on her seat and propped her elbows against her knees, her face now buried on her open palms, her deep breaths escaping noisily through the spaces between her fingers.
Emily, on the other hand, was a completely different story. There were things going on between her and the red head that she didn't even want to think about, things that she kept hidden and locked on a vault at the back of her mind because she was afraid to face or even acknowledge them, for it would make them more real. Things she just couldn't come up with a proper and sensible explanation, feelings that she never wanted to feel, didn't even know what they were exactly and couldn't put a finger on it, yet she had no control over them and they made their way to her almost always.
Perfect example? Her willingness to open up to Emily without feeling uncomfortable about it one bit. Because there's something inviting and oddly comforting about Emily, like a magnetic pull that you just can't resist. Call it aura or something or whatever, but there was definitely something about Emily. Freddie surely could feel the same.
Ugh. Freddie.
She groaned loudly when Freddie came to her mind again, feeling a sudden burning anger rise on her chest. She'd never admit that she's jealous though. She'd like to put it, not as jealousy, but as infuriation against Freddie's 'all smug attitude' like he's a fucking savior or something.
She rolled her eyes and decided to just go to sleep and stop thinking, for her sanity's sake. She shifted along the couch and laid her head on the arm rest. She didn't bother to go upstairs to her room, the effects of booze slowly kicking in and making her feel somnolent, much to her delight.
That night she dreamed of a playground with little red heads playing on the swing, Freddie and Emily standing on a corner and watching them with stupid grin on their faces. Best part was, she was the nanny.
That wasn't a dream. That was a fucking nightmare.
O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O
The incessant ringing of her mobile phone was what woke Naomi up. Shuffling from the couch, she reached out at the coffee table and grabbed her phone, not even bothering to glance at the screen as she hit the green button. "Em?" She spoke hesitantly, albeit not knowing why she was the first person to come to her mind. Emily, of all people.
"Naomi!"
The blonde winced as she pulled the phone away from her ear. "Jesus, Panda." She groaned gruffly. "Don't yell."
"Oh, sorry." Pandora apologized on the other line.
"It's okay." Naomi answered, voice still thick with sleep. "What's up?"
"Thomas told me to call you. He said that he needs you in his office right now."
She glanced at the wall clock hung above the flat screen tv and mouthed the time soundlessly. Eleven am. "But I just woke up." The blonde protested, shuffling on the couch to stretch out, the phone intact between her ear and her hand.
"He doesn't care. He's gone ape Naomi!" Pandora cried out. "He's been doing agony flips ever since he came!"
"What?" Naomi exclaimed, her forehead crumpling. "English Panda, English." She added, rubbing her temple with her fingers. "I've just woken up for fuck's sake!"
"He went bloody rah-rah and threw a whacker load of new papers on his table Naomi." The PA replied.
"Oh shit." Naomi slapped her hand against her forehead. "Fucking hell."
"Hurry up! Get here already!"
"Yeah, yeah. Am on it." Naomi replied as she got off the couch, practically running upstairs to fix herself. "Tell Thomas I'll be there as soon as I can yeah?" She bade Pandora goodbye, tossed her phone on the bed and headed directly to the bathroom, slipping under the showers once she had wriggled her way out of her clothes.
Yep, on the headlines once again. Sometimes she wondered if she's part psychic.