Title: Love Accidentally - Chapter 38
Author: kreia03
Rating: M
Warnings: Swear words.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I hate that fact. Seriously.
Summary: "Should we--" Emily paused and bit her bottom lip, her eyes squinting as she let a shrug roll out from her shoulders, the next words she was planning to push out all left bundled in her mouth, dangling at the tip of her tongue, waiting to be spilled out. Only that, she had no idea how. Hell, she didn't even know if she should be asking questions at all, not with the awkward atmosphere suddenly looming around the room. "I mean, do you--"
A/N: Apologies for the delay! Really sorry guys! Had to deal with my real life for a few days. . Anyways, I hope you like this one! If you have the time, please leave a comment/review.
She had woken up into a set of nimble fingers running along the smooth skin of her forehead, toying with the scattered, peroxide blonde strands of her fringe. Fingers moving so swift, but in such a comforting way that she felt like she'd fall back into another dreamless sleep in no time, the first time she had in years, could even fall asleep for an entire eternity with those soothing fingers around, with her around. With a stifled yawn, she stirred on the bed and fluttered her eyes open, batting her lids slowly as she adjusted her vision from the sunlight suddenly flooding the whole room, bit by bit, squinting and widening her eyes alternately in the process, the beaming rays streaming past the curtains and spraying all over the bed.
"Sorry." A husky voice filled her ears, and she couldn't help the half-sleepy smile which broke forth of her lips, brought about by merely hearing it. "Did I wake you up?"
A low groan reverberated from deep within her throat, something she actually meant as a 'no' but sounded as an agreement instead, into which Emily murmured another "Sorry." for, inches away from her ear but wasn't exactly that far for her to feel the hot breath hit her sensitive skin, sending about another wave of relentless tingles that ran down past her spine, and she shuddered in the process, the tingling sensation settling straight away on the inside of her thighs and in between, unraveling her completely. She rolled onto her side, planting a kiss, almost ghostly, on Emily's neck while she nuzzled comfortably in it and closed her eyes again because she felt like she wasn't ready to wake up entirely, to leave this now indescribable yet secure bubble they had managed to conjure. Not ready to face the real world yet and the inevitable questions it had brought with it, something she'd confront later on and get bombarded with.
Just, not now.
Emily took it as a good sign nevertheless, Naomi's fingers running up and down her spine while lazily tracing erratic patterns as they went past the small of her back by chance, and the ghostly, yet wet, barely there kisses Naomi was planting on her neck as she created a trail out of them from the corner of her jaw and down, then back up again. Because, at the least, Naomi wasn't freaking out, or worse, running away, and as much vague and unclear as they could be, she'd rather take them than nothing at all. "Good morning." She whispered in a raspy tone after a few beats, inclining her head in an angle that allowed her to kiss the top of Naomi's hair without disentangling herself completely, the feel of Naomi's grip around her waist tightening that she almost couldn't breathe. It felt oddly good in some way though, this sudden lack of air in her lungs, for the reason behind it was not because she was hurting, but, rather, the other way around.
Naomi straightened herself out after finally pulling away, dragging her half-sleepy eyes up to meet Emily's, her one hand unknotting itself from the other as she raised it to brush Emily's sprawled fringe away from her eyes. She watched as the corner of the red head's lips twitched up into a sheepish smile, one mindlessly breaking forth her own, probably a mirror image of the one Emily was wearing. She let her hand drop, her palm running along the side of Emily's cheek, and felt her chest turnover as she watched Emily lean against her touch with closed eyes and a warm, fond smile.
"Nai?"
"Yeah?" She called back, voice low and raspy, and she could see Emily's throat working its way down as the red head swallowed hard, like Emily's throat had dried up all of a sudden, just by hearing the sound of her voice.
"Should we--" Emily paused and bit her bottom lip, her eyes squinting as she let a shrug roll out from her shoulders, the next words she was planning to push out all left bundled in her mouth, dangling at the tip of her tongue, waiting to be spilled out. Only that, she had no idea how. Hell, she didn't even know if she should be asking questions at all, not with the awkward atmosphere suddenly looming around the room. "I mean, do you--"
"First." Naomi quickly pressed her forefinger against Emily's lips to shush her, giving her just enough time to finish what she intended to say. "Before you ask anything, I just want to say that I'm not sorry about what happened last night." She added, the words said firmly that it took Emily by a complete surprise, had to pull back a little just to see if Naomi was being serious about it.
Emily's eyes widened for a brief moment, a mix of various emotions flashing in them that Naomi couldn't point out what exactly were those. "I'm not sorry about it either." She shook her head gently, her actions accompanied with a smile, the sudden confession giving her enough boost to finally push the words out, ask what she had been meaning to ask. "But what's next?" She followed after a few beats and a hard swallow, her tongue darting out to lick her drying lips and she could taste the stale, tensioned air. "What are we going to be?"
"Honestly Em." Naomi wavered for about half a beat, hand hesitatingly reaching out for Emily's own, intertwining Emily's fingers with hers. "I really don't know." She lowered her head and fixed her gaze on their laced hands instead, avoiding Emily's eyes at all cost as if she was afraid to see something in them, something akin to disgust or hatred or just plain disappointment. "I'm just-- just confused as you are."
Emily wanted to protest, to shout that she wasn't anywhere near as confused as Naomi had thought. She was a hundred percent sure about her feelings, always had been, yet she seemed to have swallowed her tongue, couldn't find the right words to say, remained in silence for what seemed like an eternity.
"Em." Naomi slowly lifted her head up and eyed her with a look that was torn between worry and concern, squeezing her hand in the process, as if Naomi was inducing any form of response or reaction from her. "Hey."
Emily blinked, a few more times more than usual, like she was suddenly seeing something that once used to be invisible and hidden from her eyes, because the answer was lying right before her, just in front of her.
And it was now or never, the only chance she'd ever get.
"I want us to try." She managed to answer back after a good while, breathing shortly and rapidly as a result of her frantic beating heart.
"What?"
"I want us to try." She repeated, firmer and with enough conviction this time, holding her breath altogether as she carefully watched Naomi's reactions. "Try and be together." She swallowed hard, pushing back her heart that had seemed to have lodged itself in her throat, its deafening beats wildly reverberating in her ears. "For real, this time." She saw Naomi's face freeze for a moment, her skin turning paler than ever, like all the colors had suddenly drained out of it, and she stopped breathing entirely during that short span of time, deeply afraid of what Naomi would answer, although she was bracing herself for it somehow, for the impending rejection she could almost see coming. She watched, warily, as Naomi's forehead furrowed into what seemed like several layers of thick creases, the blonde looking rather engrossed in her own thoughts, though Naomi's gaze stayed with hers, and she could feel her heart ceasing to beat, time freezing, because she was drowning in pools of blue all of a sudden, the answer she had been agonizingly waiting for forgotten momentarily, like all that mattered was to get lost in those ocean clear blue eyes. "Please say yes." She murmured surreptitiously, so low and so soft that Naomi wasn't able to hear it. "Please."
"Call me babe and I'll kill you." Naomi mumbled after a few beats, breaking into a sheepish smile afterwards, much to Emily's relief, her cheeks turning from pale into red in an instant. "It reminds me of Cook. It's fucking disgusting." She rolled her eyes, shoulders shaking in the process with a cringe.
In a matter of seconds, Emily's lips curled up into a wide smile, her nose scrunching up altogether as what the answer had meant dawned on her. "I don't think you'll have a problem with that." She snorted a soft giggle and lifted her hand up to cup Naomi's face, letting the pad of her thumb run along the flushed skin, and she could feel her heart doing back flips underneath her chest when Naomi leaned against her touch.
It was a 'yes', Naomi's own, unique way of saying so, and Emily found herself actually half ecstatic and half terrified of it, because 'trying' meant a thousand possibilities, both good and bad, and endless 'what ifs' if ever it failed.
"Aren't you going to kiss me good morning?"
Emily more than gladly obliged, dipping her head to capture Naomi's lips into a searing kiss, her tongue gliding along Naomi's lip without any hesitation or holding back, just because, she can now.
It felt like an experiment, a huge risk that could fuck both of them up in the worst way possible, and Emily had to kiss Naomi deeply to remind herself why this was so fucking worth it.
***
There was an overwhelming sense of pride and something akin to ecstasy that surged through Naomi, out of nowhere, once her eyes caught sight of Emily.
She was on her way to the kitchen for breakfast, popping her head on the threshold first for a quick check with her eyes roaming around, and she smiled upon seeing the red head moving unreservedly in the kitchen, reaching here and there while she prepared the food, completely oblivious to her presence. She stepped inside quietly, more like stealthily actually, and crept behind the red head, stopping dead on her tracks when she noticed what Emily was wearing. An oversized shirt which she realized belonged to hers.
Emily was wearing her shirt with just a pair of bra and knickers lying underneath it.
It probably was the hottest thing Naomi had ever seen, an image that would remain etched in her mind for the longest time, burned in there like a scar. The way the sleeves would fall off Emily's shoulders, the shirt defining Emily's curves even though it was oversized and was meant to be fucking big. Hotter than any other model that would sport the same clothes, her clothes. And it was so fucking overwhelming at the same time, with an odd satisfying feeling settling in her, somewhere deep within the pit of her stomach that made her want to throw up, though for a totally good reason, probably out of euphoria or something deeply akin to it, and she had to swallow hard, again.
Emily in her shirt felt like branding in some way, where she could finally call Emily "Mine." without the hassles and awkwardness of it.
"Hey." She watched, with utter awe that she was pretty much sure of her mouth hanging wide open, wide enough for flies and any other sorts of insects to get in and out freely, when Emily spun around on her heels with a smile so fucking radiant that it almost caught her off guard, disarming her completely. "Breakfast will be ready in a few." Her slack jaw dropped on the floor altogether as her eyes raked up and down Emily's form, because Emily wasn't wearing a fucking bra, too lazy to put on one (not that she was complaining), Emily's already perked up nipples pushing their way out of the shirt.
Sweet torture.
"Jesus Christ."
"Nai-Nai, are you okay?"
"Why aren't you--" She paused, biting her lip in time just before she could spill out something utterly stupid, because, really, what she had in mind wasn't the most sensible thing to say. "I mean, what's for breakfast?"
Emily twisted around and Naomi had to fix her gaze onto somewhere else so her eyes wouldn't follow the perfect curvature of Emily's hips or she'd end up labeled as a hopeless pervert or something of the same kind.
Turned out, her eyes were as stubborn as her head was.
"Well." Emily turned back quickly, a smug smirk instantaneously gracing her features upon catching Naomi staring. "We've got-- are you sure it's breakfast that you want?" She bantered, her smirk falling into a soft giggle as she watched Naomi's cheeks taint bright red.
"Yeah." Naomi exclaimed, sounding rather defensive, tipping her head up in the process because seeing Emily looking this way was doing her head in. "What else?"
Emily's shoulders hunched up into a shrug. "I don't know." She mumbled, spinning on her heels again, and Naomi had to swallow hard for the umpteenth time that morning, because, Jesus, the shirt was just barely covering Emily's lower torso, the hem not even passing a quarter part of Emily's thighs, that the little shrug Emily had let out lifted the shirt and showed a peek of the red head's knickers.
The blonde quickly averted her gaze before she could do something she'd most likely be embarrassed later on, heading to the tap instead to fill herself a glass of water, icy cold if ever possible, anything to cool her down because she felt like she was burning inside all so suddenly, like her body was being set into a fit of blazing, invisible flames, searing, smoldering. She moved in such haste, her clouded head spinning into a sudden daze that she didn't notice Emily walking beside her, reaching for a mug by the cupboard. She spun around without warning and bumped into Emily in the end, her glass tipping from the impact which caused the water to spill, on Emily's shirt, of all fucking places.
Exactly the last thing she needed at this very particular moment.
"Shit." She heard the red head mutter before blanking out completely, and all she could do was to watch Emily throw her hands on her shirt, attempting to dry it with sheets of tissue paper she had managed to grab somewhere, with bits and pieces of "upstairs" and "change" barely passing her ears, but was enough for her to piece the entire sentence together. And there was no way she was going to let it happen, not now.
She found herself dropping the glass on the sink and pulling a now surprised Emily closer to her, a soft, needy moan resonating from deep within her throat as she felt Emily's body pressed up against hers. She wasted no time and leaned in at once, capturing Emily's lips in a feverish kiss, and she wondered for a second why she had to endure half an hour of sweet torture, when she could do this freely from now on, just because she can, she had a right to.
"Nai-Nai." Emily tried to mumble in between kisses, a half hearted attempt of protest, though her snaking hands, which wrapped around Naomi's neck instantaneously, pretty much belied her gripes.
"What?" Naomi answered still, smiling in the kiss as she heard a sharp gasp coming from Emily while her fingers purposely grazed their nails up and down the red head's exposed thighs.
"What. About. Breakfast." Emily tried to huff out, punctuating each word with a jagged intake of air, her breath hitching because Naomi had started to roam her hands around, digging Naomi's fingertips along her hips before dragging them up, slipping under the oversized shirt and just above Emily's taut stomach.
Naomi's answer was to lift Emily up, her hands dropping to cup the red head's arse while she let her wrap her legs around her waist, as she walked them towards the island counter, which fortunately was empty. She laid Emily down gently on the tiled surface, their lips never breaking apart even for a second while they moved together, hands caressing whole lengths of smooth skin. She pulled away, for a rather brief moment, just enough to tug on Emily's shirt and pull it over her head, because Emily's lips were so fucking addictive that Naomi could actually spend an eternity kissing them, each second she squandered away from it killing her.
"Naomi."
She heard Emily exhale a jagged breath as she blew on the spot that she had just finished marking, and later on found herself blowing out uneven breaths as well when Emily's fingers started to work on its own, tugging on shirts, unclasping bras and unbuttoning jeans so quickly until they were both almost naked, with her standing on the kitchen floor and Emily seated by the counter, their bodies covered in thin sheets of sweat and breakfast long forgotten.
Making love without holding back, just because they could, both of them having a right to.
***
Breakfast turned into lunch, or rather, brunch because Emily was just that insatiable, or at least that was Naomi's excuse, not actually admitting that she was too. She was the one who started it anyway, her teenage boy hormones kicking in all at once, and it so happened that Emily had the same raging hormones, ensuing a wild frenzy in the end.
Katie came over, and the first thing she noticed was the state of the kitchen. "God, why is it so messy in here? Like, some hurricane dropped by or something." She hovered by the threshold, eyes catching Naomi and Emily seated by the dining table, opposite each other, and her twin was blushing terribly, for some unknown reason. She stepped inside, lifting herself up by the island counter and Naomi had to suppress the laughter that bubbled up inside her at the comparison of who was sitting at the tiled surface before and who was occupying it now, images of a flushed, sweaty Emily smiling dreamily at her deluging her mind all at once, which made her reach for her glass of water in an instant because she could feel her body blazing into flames again.
"You alright Ems? You look flushed." Katie asked innocently, somewhat craning her neck to check up on her sister properly.
Emily choked on the food she was chewing, coughing in the process because she swallowed it accidentally, had to chug on a full glass of water just to push down the bits of food blocking her throat. "The fuck, Katie." She tried to cry out in between her coughs, balling her hand into a fist to pound her chest with it.
Seeing the red head's struggle, Naomi quickly rose to her seat with her own glass of water in hand, and she brought it to Emily's lips as soon as she reached her, her other free hand rubbing soothingly at Emily's back. "Okay?" She asked, anxious, while Emily slammed the glass on top of the table, breathing out a sigh of relief when the red head looked up to her and answered with a nod and a small smile.
"Yeah, thanks."
She could feel her heart somersaulting beneath her chest when Emily titled her head slightly to plant a soft kiss on her hand, one which was resting on Emily's shoulders, and she let her free fingers run along Emily's hair for a brief moment, while whispering "It's nothing." in her softest tone.
Katie had seen it, of fucking course.
"What's up with you two?"
Naomi could swear Katie had eyes for everything. "What?" She cried out, almost innocently, though obviously feigned, and Katie watched her, scrutinizing, as she went back and flumped down her seat.
"Nothing." The older twin hopped down the counter and sauntered her way to the chair right next to Emily, her gaze bouncing back and forth between her twin and Naomi as she sat down, purposely slow, eyes lingering at Emily because she had this God-given gift of blushing terribly when something was up, and with the way the younger twin was looking now, Katie had never been this sure that there was definitely something, and she was determined to find it out. "So Ems--"
"I'm thinking about having my car repainted." Naomi saved, breaking Katie off because she could see where the older twin was heading. "What do you guys think?" She swayed the topic off, surreptitiously praying that Katie would bite on it because as much as she hated the fact, Katie wasn't daft when it came to things like these, probably one of the things she was actually good at, extracting the truth out, aside from everything which concerned clothes and fashion of course. It was like Katie being a predator and Emily was her prey, because the younger twin was a much terrible liar compared to Naomi, feeding on the details she'd be able to squish out and Naomi could already see her life as a living hell the moment Katie would find out, which would lead to Cook blurting out insinuations and innuendos in the end. Because with Katie, there would always be a Cook.
Katie's head whipped towards Naomi's direction, eyes squinting skeptically as she looked at her. "You do know that I don't speak like, car and drive, yeah?"
"I was gonna ask about the color Katie." The blonde let out an exaggerated eye roll, in which Katie returned with a matching one, and for a second it looked like they were actually heading into an eye roll bout.
"Oh, right." The older twin averted her gaze and turned her head around, eyeing Emily with a quizzical look, whose head was still bent down and the tip of her ears were still bright red. "What color?"
"Probably red." Naomi kicked Emily in the shin to snap her out of it, encouraging her to join the conversation because Katie was just growing more suspicious with the way Emily was suddenly acting.
Like a wakeup call, Emily snapped her head up, eyes nervously flickering between Naomi and Katie as she opened her mouth to speak, words tumbling stupidly when she blurted them out. "Red? You mean the Ferrari red?"
"I think it's a nice color, but a bit dark." The older twin chanced a quick look at Naomi, not even lasting for more than a second, her gaze back at once to her sister.
Emily shifted uncomfortably on her seat and placed her fork down gently. "I thought you don't like that red?" She asked, this time genuinely interested of what they were talking about, because she was wondering why Naomi had chosen red when she had always hated it. "You've always wanted your car to be colored uniquely right?"
"Not that red."
"A different shade then?" Katie butted in, eyes still wary.
"Yeah." Naomi nodded in agreement, stuffing her mouth with a forkful of lean meat before continuing. "Something brighter."
Katie didn't miss Naomi's quick glance at Emily's hair and that small smile her twin shared with the blonde, but decided to shut her mouth about it, since it would seem that she didn't even need to pry. Things were surfacing on their own.
***
Emily walked them to the front door, leaning against the frame as she waited patiently for Naomi to grab her keys while Katie ambled straight away to the car, head ducking low to check herself out on the tinted mirror and smiling in satisfaction upon seeing her reflection.
The thing about tinted car windows was, they could catch and reflect almost everything in their range, that even when someone hovering by the doorway would lean in and claim the other's lips, furtively as Katie would like to put it, the tinted windows would still be able to mirror it.
Furtively, but still caught red handed.
***
"Don't you just love tinted cars?"
Naomi averted her gaze from the road for a brief moment to chance a glance at Katie, her brow arching up as she wondered what the older twin was blabbing about this time. "Well, yeah. Kind of gives you some sense of privacy."
"Too right." Katie nodded, a bit too animatedly for Naomi's liking. "And, well, you know--" She purposely broke off, turning her head as a knowing smile shaped on her lips. "It's got awesome reflections, like, you can see two people kissing even if you aren't exactly looking."
Naomi snorted out loud at first, but as it dawned on her, what Katie had meant, her grip on the steering wheel tightened, so tight that she could almost feel her knuckles snapping in half. Her eyes grew so very wide, almost up to the point that they were bulging, her face suddenly turning stark white.
"Not that it's bad or anything." Katie brushed off with a shrug, returning her attention back to staring at the blurred streets past the windows.
Naomi was so close to believing that Katie was born with an extra set of eyes, or two, and it was hidden somewhere along the mass of red hair that covered her head.
***
Effy greeted them with a smile and an additional hug for Naomi, much to Katie's discomfort, surprisingly, for known and unknown reasons.
"You haven't been down here for quite a while." She heard Effy say, not that she was eavesdropping or whatever, it was just that loud. Alright, maybe she was, but, like she'd actually admit it. She sidestepped a little bit, shuffling closer to the two stealthily, her hands gliding along the lines of dresses and tops hanging on the racks, pretending to look at them while her ears were trained on the conversation. She was actually supposed to be looking for clothes that Naomi could try on, but she preferred listening, like there was a huge mystery to be unraveled before her.
"You look different today." Effy commented, when Naomi was experimenting with the first outfit.
The blonde's brow shot up, eyed Effy with a quizzical look. "Different?"
Effy merely let out a shrug. "Radiant." She mumbled, tilting her head to the side while her lips twitched up into a sly smile. "You're like fucking glowing or something."
"Don't be ridiculous Eff." Naomi rolled her eyes, even matched a snort with it. "Don't tell me, I've got a halo on top of my head."
"Not that kind of radiant, you cow." Effy fell into a chuckle as she propped her shoulder against the wall, eyes never leaving Naomi's form. "You look like you're, I don't know, in love or something." She quipped, snorted it out even, her head tipping up as she let the laughter roll out of her throat.
Naomi forced out a small laugh, a bit off key and rather shaky, her eyes quickly searching for Katie because she could so much use any form of saving or distraction right now. Effy's stares were boring into her, unraveling her nerve by nerve that she could almost feel the weight of it sink in onto her skin, burning as it touched, blazing.
Effy's wavering smile disappeared altogether, her face turning into something serious and equally pained that Naomi couldn't even bare to look at her, straight. "Are you?"
"The fuck, Eff." The blonde blurted out and fought with her impulse to suddenly run and envelope Effy into a hug, because she had seen her wear that kind of expression once, when she became so jealous of some random girl that Freddie had brought home one time. "What kind of question is that?"
"You didn't answer it."
"Don't you think that's kind of private?" Naomi countered, looking all puzzled with Effy's sudden interest on her love life. "And really, Effy, here?"
Effy pondered with the thought for a moment, her forehead folding into a massive crease which later on, appeared to be a scowl. "Yeah, sorry about that."
A small comforting smile broke forth Naomi's lips. "S'okay." She turned around and walked towards Effy's direction, accepting the new set of clothes being handed to her.
"Been busy?" The brunette asked after a good while, once Naomi had stepped out of the changing room.
"Kind of." Naomi answered with a timid smile as she checked herself in the mirror, studied the outfit Effy had given her to try on. "Y'know, loads of things going on." She straightened up, smoothing the edges of the skirt and the top, and busied her eyes on the clothes instead, because she just couldn't stand the way Effy was looking at her right now, the emotions on Effy's electric blue eyes unreadable. It felt weird somehow, the way Effy stared, like she was more reserved and careful with her words and actions, which was rather very unlikely of her.
"Oh, right." The brunette hunched her shoulders into a shrug. "Let me guess, new deals? New commercials?" She paused, rather purposely, and pursed her lips first as her tongue darted out to lick it, a perfectly sculpted eyebrow arching up when she spoke. "New contracts?"
Naomi twisted around and looked at Effy quizzically, studied Effy's expression in fact, because she could swear that there was something lying beneath Effy's words, the hint of an accusing tone masked perfectly with a nonchalant one, and Effy's sudden change of expression before the straight face was back up. "Yeah, yeah. New deals and contracts." She answered in a haze, only, after a few beats, which brought about another round of mixed expressions from the brunette, as she could see, Effy's stoic one faltering, but was all too quickly that Naomi didn't even have the time to decipher a single one, let alone, all.
"Wanna tell me about it?" Effy's brow rose higher, as if she was actually challenging Naomi to spill, if not everything, at least one thing. "Spare me some details. I haven't heard from you for a long time."
Naomi could see through it, through Effy's insinuating smirk, and she could tell that Effy was onto something, a particular thing she still couldn't put a finger onto. Her mind had started to go through the endless possibilities of what the brunette could be talking about, even had a few good choices about it, but she just couldn't bring herself to jump into conclusions because there were still chances that she could be wrong, that she could just be over reading things, overanalyzing Effy. "The usual." She answered instead, with a tentative shrug that appeared like a brush off in some way. "Commercials and photoshoots here and there."
Katie had a different feeling about it though.
She was halfway through walking towards Naomi, finally able to pick out an outfit of her taste which she wanted Naomi to wear, when Effy's words suddenly filled up the entire room. She stopped on her tracks and waited for more, hid behind a rack of clothes while she stared keenly at Effy, never been thankful of her height because it perfectly hid her from sight, her eyes trained on each and every expression that Effy was showing and was going to. Katie could read past it, past the insinuations, the knowing looks, expectant gazes, mysterious and sly smiles, and the way that Effy had worded her questions out. She could even hear the hint of accusation being masked with something else. Naomi might be probably too blind to see the signs, and she couldn't really blame her since she was friends with Effy right from the start, the fact somehow explaining why Naomi was just that trusting.
But Katie couldn't be fooled.
She came out from behind the rack and sauntered straight to Naomi, handing a pile of clothes for the blonde to try in the process and shooed her away to the changing room. She fished her Blackberry from her purse and smiled at Effy, which somehow seemed sarcastic and threatening at the same time, fiddled with the stylus for about half a beat before clearing her throat, a bit too sounded than usual. "Yeah, Naomi's in for a lot of stuff. We actually need to fly to, like, a hundred different places just to, you know, sign contracts."
"Oh. Is that so?"
"Katie's right." Naomi emerged from the changing room and planted herself in front of the mirror. "I don't even know-- I like this outfit Katie." She twisted around, offering an impressed and rather pleased smile to the older twin before continuing. "I mean, I don't even know where to go first."
Effy eyed Katie with a meaningful look which was rather intimidating, as if the brunette was telling her to just sod off because she wasn't part of the conversation at all. The older twin returned it with a determined look and folded her hands over her chest, because, clearly, she wasn't going to back off.
Katie had always seen Effy as a threat. And with the way the conversation had stirred, she had a sudden uncanny feeling to warn Emily and prepare for something she could feel coming their way, looming on the corner, just waiting for the right time.
***
"Hey, I've got two tickets for the The Prodigy concert tonight." Effy cried out, hand rising up as it rested on top of Naomi's shoulders, stopping the blonde completely from darting out to the shop door. "Do you want to come with me?"
Katie raised an eyebrow as she observed the exchange with watchful eyes, and she could see the way Effy's hand slowly slid down to Naomi's arm, fingertips circling around the wrist, almost flirtingly.
"I'm completely knackered Eff." Naomi grumbled with a small groan escaping from her throat. "I can barely stand."
"Alright." Effy breathed out a resigned sigh. "How about my place?"
"Can't too."
"Why not?"
Naomi took a deep breath and pressed her lips in a thin line, eyeing the brunette with an apologetic look. "Emily's waiting for me. We're kind of having dinner together."
Effy relinquished her hold on the blonde's arm ever so quickly, like it had suddenly burned her skin. "Oh, I see." She struggled to keep a straight face, fought hard to hide the impending scowl threatening to break loose. "Next time then."
"Sorry Eff."
In her silence, Katie saw it all. And it didn't take her that long to put the pieces together. The slight blush that spread like wild fire across Naomi's cheeks at the mention of "Emily" and "dinner", the obvious dodging of Effy's questions earlier, the reflection of the kiss on the tinted car window, why Naomi suddenly wanted her Ferrari to be painted bright red, of all colors.
"Come on Katie." She heard the blonde call and she dutifully followed, grinning stupidly because she was just so proud of herself for what she had mentally done. "Oh, by the way." She stopped all of a sudden, almost colliding with Naomi and she had to hold onto the blonde's shoulders for support when she sort of lost her balance and had to steady herself.
"What?" She asked without the mandatory roll of the eyes, which was a little bit surprising even for her. She was probably in such a good mood.
Naomi produced a couple of paper bags from behind her, and Katie wondered for a good while where those came from since she didn't even see the blonde holding one when they left Effy's shop. She eyed the paper bags quizzically, gaze flickering between them and Naomi. "What are these?"
"Maternity clothes." The blonde replied casually. "I saw you checking those out earlier."
Katie's eyes grew wide with surprise, her already slack jaw falling on the floor. "You bought these for me?"
"Sort off."
"Oh my God." She fumbled with the paper bags as she took it from Naomi's hands, bringing out one of the dresses and she nearly swooned over the car, had to steady herself again because the fucking prices were draining the life out of her. "Naomi--"
"I bought two colors for each style." The blonde interjected, sounding all casual, like they were talking about 100 pounds or less worth of clothes, and not 400 pound ones. "I wasn't sure what color you would actually like."
Katie remained silent for about a beat, considered the idea of throwing herself and hugging the life out of Naomi, though she figured it would probably be awkward since it was not their thing at all. So she settled for a simple, yet meaningful "Thank you." instead, and probably a lifetime of servitude out of gratefulness.
"It's nothing. Come on then."
She hopped inside the car, while Naomi took the driver's seat, and pondered on the recent things that had happened, with the blonde's out of the blue generosity adding up to the pile of evidences (how she'd like to call the signs she saw) that pretty much proved her conclusion about Naomi and Emily. A small smile pulled up at the corner of her lips, as she let her thoughts spin around, pushing the Effy mystery and everything related to it at the back of her mind, because there could only be much that her head could take in one day. She'd deal with it on another.
"So." She started the small talk, which she later on intended to turn into prying for more. "Bright red huh?"
Naomi tore her gaze away from the road ahead and chanced a puzzled look at the older twin, Katie's knowing smile pretty much telling her what she thought the older twin had meant. "Yep." She muttered, popping the 'p' loudly. "Bright red."