Sorry it's been as long as it's been—I've had a busy couple weeks with school, but that's mostly over with now except for a paper and a few exams so I should be able to update a little more regularly again.

Chapter 6

"There's my girls!" Rob Fitch bellowed the moment Emily had opened the door.

There redhead found herself being picked up into one of his infamous hugs. "Hi, dad."

"How are you?" he asked as he set her down.

"Good," Emily said, rubbing her ribs; her dad sure knew how to give an enthusiastic hug.

"You too, Katie," he said, opening his arms, and motioning for his other daughter.

Katie just shook her head and walked into the embrace. "Hey, dad."

Rob released her and walked over to Effy, giving her a hug as well; she smiled at him as he released her. "Hello, Mr. Fitch."

"Are you doing okay?" he asked, concern etched on his face. Effy just nodded and smiled slightly. "Are your parents coming as well?"

Effy shook her head. "No, but my brother said he might pop in for a while."

"Where's mum and James," Emily inquired.

"Having a talk in the car," Rob replied, shifting his eyes.

"What did James do?" Katie asked.

Rob shook his head. "You know him."

"Snuck into the girl's bathroom?" Katie asked.

"Looked under a girl's skirt?" Emily tried.

"Women's dressing room," Rob replied. "Your mum spilled something on her top and ran into a store on the way; James said he needed to use the bathroom, so he went with her. Your mother wasn't done yelling at him when we pulled up, so she's still down there with him."

Katie shook her head. "When's the little perv going to learn?"

"Hopefully before he ends up in prison," Emily replied.

"Hello," Jenna said, coming in through the open door with a very subdued James behind her.

She hugged Katie and Emily and gave a curt nod to Effy; Jenna still hadn't forgiven Effy for what she'd done to Katie in college. The girls had tried numerous times to get Jenna to warm up to the brunette, but it was futile.

"So," Rob said, clapping his hands together. "When do we get to see this school of yours?"

"Are you guys hungry?" Katie asked.

"Starving," James replied, but Jenna gave him a stern look and he backed away.

"What about you two?" Katie asked. "Do you want a tour of campus first or do you want to eat first?"

"A tour would be lovely," Jenna replied, causing James to grumble.

"Come on. then," Katie said, ushering everyone out.

"You coming, Eff?" Emily asked.

Effy shrugged. "I guess."

The six people walked out into the hall and Emily noticed a considerable difference—it was a lot fuller than usual. This weekend was parent's weekend, so there were a lot of older people walking about. The girls hadn't told their parents about the weekend, but Jenna had apparently been snooping around on the university website and discovered it, so they had no choice but to let them come down. Luckily, they were only staying for the day; Jenna had originally wanted to get a hotel nearby and stay the weekend, but Katie managed to talk her out of it.

Emily and Effy lagged behind, following the other four to the elevator. When it opened, there were quite a few people already in it.

"Looks like it'll be a tight squeeze," Rob said, his smile never faltering.

"Why don't you guys go down and wait," Emily said, not wanted to be squeezed in next to James. "Effy and I will be right behind on the next one." Rob nodded at Emily as the doors closed in front of her face. "Just looked at that was making me claustrophobic," she said, turning to the brunette.

"Naomi, love, stop looking so moody," Emily heard a voice saying several yards down. The redhead looked down the hall and saw what she could only assume was Naomi's mother. The two looked a lot alike, except their eyes. The older blonde had darker, warmer eyes—the complete opposite of Naomi's icy, blue eyes. "When am I going to get to meet your friends?"

"Mum!" the blonde said, sounding exasperated.

Emily snorted to herself; she highly doubted the blonde had a single friend here—or anywhere.

"What?" the older woman asked. "Can't a mother be curious? I know you've never been the most social person, but you've been here for over a month and a half."

"Please just drop it," Naomi begged.

The elevator doors opened again; this time it was considerably more empty. Effy stepped in as Emily looked down the hall for a moment and then looked over at Effy, locking eyes. "I'll be back."

"Do you want me to hold the elevator?" Effy asked.

"No," Emily replied. "You guys should go on—I'll catch up with you in a few minutes."

Effy shrugged. "Okay."

"Hey, Naoms," Emily said, walking up to the blonde.

"Wha—" Naomi started saying, but Emily elbowed her in her ribs, effectively cutting off whatever she was going to say.

"Hello," Naomi's mum said, looking at the redhead. "Who are you?"

"Emily," she replied, shaking the older woman's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you," the blonde replied. "I'm Naomi's mum, Gina."

"You should have told me she was coming," Emily said, nudging Naomi.

A door slammed down the hall and Gina looked in its direction.

"What are you doing?" Naomi mouthed to Emily while her mother was distracted.

Emily just smiled. "So Ms. Campbell—"

"Call me Gina," the woman interrupted.

"Gina—" Emily said. "Are you here all weekend?"

The blonde laughed. "No, I'm afraid I could only get Naomi here to let me stay for the day."

"Too bad," Emily said, receiving a glare from Naomi

"So, how do you two know each other?" Gina asked, looking between the two girls.

"Mum!" Naomi said, scowling at her.

"We met in class," Emily answered. "We got partnered up for the semester."

"Well, I'm glad to see my daughter has one friend," Gina said, smiling and putting her arm around the clearly embarrassed blonde.

"Mum!" she said again, trying get at of the other woman's grip.

Emily laughed and Gina looked at the redhead for a moment, her nose wrinkling. "Have we met before?"

Emily stopped laughing and shook her head. "I don't think so."

"You look so familiar," Gina said, staring at the girl. "What's your last name, dear?"

"Fitch," Emily replied.

"Emily Fitch—why does that sound familiar?" she asked, turning to Naomi, who just shrugged. "Oh well. Who knows—maybe you just remind me of someone."

"Must be," Emily said with a shrug.

Gina looked back to Emily and smiled warmly. "We were just going to go grab a bite to eat. Would you like to join us?"

"I'd love to," Emily replied. "But my family is here, too, and I'm supposed to go meet them, but I saw you and thought I would come over and say hello before I went downstairs."

"Maybe next time, then," Gina replied. "It was lovely meeting you." She turned to Naomi. "I'm going to use your restroom before we go."

Naomi nodded and watched her mum leave before turning to Emily. "What was that?"

Emily shrugged. "I overheard you two and through I would come help."

"Who said I needed your help?" Naomi asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No one," Emily said, not wanting to fight with the blonde right now.

"I thought you had to go meet your family," Naomi said, coldly.

"Your mum's nice," Emily said, ignoring the blonde's attitude and looking at Naomi before walking away and looking back over her shoulder. "You're welcome by the way."

Emily hit the button, took the elevator down, and called Katie to ask where they were Katie informed her that they were at the food court because James had started complaining the moment they left the building, so Emily headed down the sidewalk to meet up with them. The large room was crowded when she got there, but she immediately spotted Effy; for some reason, even in a huge crowd, she could always feel her eyes on her and know where the brunette was.

"I ordered for you," Effy said as the redhead approached. "I hope you don't mind—it was kind of crowded."

"It's fine," Emily said, smiling. "Thanks, Eff."

"What took you so long?" Katie demanded knowing.

Emily shrugged. "Nothing."

"Nothing took you ten minutes?" Katie asked.

"Apparently," Emily replied.

"Whatever," Katie huffed, turning to her parents.

"So—what did take you so long?" Effy asked, smirking.

Emily blushed. "Nothing."

"Uh huh," Effy replied. "Does nothing look like a gorgeous blonde?"

Emily blushed even more. "Maybe—yes."

"You helped her," Effy stated.

Emily shrugged. "I guess—although she didn't seem too happy about it."

"Of course she didn't seem too happy about it," Effy replied. "Now she owes you and that's probably killing her."

"She doesn't owe me anything," Emily said, shaking her head.

"So Emily," Jenna said, looking at the redhead. "Katie's already told us about her—what's been going on in your life? Meet any cute guys?"

"No," Emily replied, taking a drink of the soda that Effy had gotten her.

"Katie tells us you went on a date last month," Jenna said, looking intently at Emily.

Emily shrugged. "Katie dragged me along on a double date."

"That sounds like fun," Jenna said, smiling.

Emily couldn't help but laugh. "Not really."

Jenna sighed. "When are you ever going to start acting like normal girls? I swear, you don't seem at all interested in guys."

Effy smirked as Emily choked on her soda.

"Honey," Rob said sharply to his wife.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," Jenna replied. "You didn't bring a single guy home all through college; I thought maybe once you got to university it would be different, but it doesn't seem to be. Just look at your sister—"

"I'm sorry I don't want to date half the guys in the country," Emily interrupted her. "We can't all be like Katie."

"Hey!" Katie said, scowling.

"I'll find someone when I find someone, okay?" Emily quietly said.

James had been watching the exchange and Emily noticed he was grinning.

"Don't even start," Rob said, eyeing his son.

The six people ate the rest of their meal in silence, which Emily was grateful for. She didn't need her mother interrogating her even more especially because that usually meant Katie would join in as well. She loved her family, but they drove her crazy sometimes. Her dad was the only one who knew when to leave things alone and just let her be.

"So, give us the tour," Jenna said, standing up.

Katie, James, and Rob followed suit, but Emily hung back when she noticed Effy still sitting down, staring at her phone.

"We'll catch up," Emily said to her sister, who nodded.

"We'll wait," Jenna said.

"No, no," Katie said, grabbing her mother's arm. "It's okay—they'll be right behind us."

Emily watched her family leave before turning to the brunette. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Effy said, putting her phone down.

"Eff," Emily said, cocking her head.

The brunette sighed. "Tony sent me a text."

"And?" Emily asked.

"He's not coming," Effy quietly said.

"I'm sorry," Emily said, putting her hand on Effy's.

"He promised," Effy stated, looking angry. "But what else is new. I've only seen him once in the past few years; he keeps promising to come see me, but then he always cancels at the last minute."

"He's a twat," Emily said, causing Effy's face to soften a bit. "He's a twat and if I ever see him, I'm going to hit him."

"You wouldn't do that," Effy stated.

"Watch me," Emily replied.

"Isn't hitting more Katie's thing," Effy asked.

"Yes, which means I can learn from the best," Emily replied, causing Effy to smile slightly.

"We should catch up with your family," Effy said, looking off toward the doors.

"Give me a few more minutes," Emily said, sighing

Effy smirked. "What—don't want to be quizzed about boys?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "I wish she'd just leave me alone about that."

"You know what you could do," Effy said quietly.

"And what's that?" Emily asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Tell them the truth," Effy replied. "Tell them you're gay."

Emily sighed. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Effy asked.

"Uh, can you imagine my mum and Katie?" Emily asked, causing Effy to smirk. "What?"

"That's the first time you've ever admitted it," Effy replied.

Emily blushed. "Well, technically I didn't admit anything."

"Close enough," Effy stated.

"Fine—yes—I'm gay," Emily admitted. "Happy now?"

"Yes," Effy replied.

Emily smiled a bit. "You're the first person I've actually told."

"Why don't you tell people?" Effy inquired.

"Who would I tell?" Emily wondered

"Katie," Effy said simply.

Emily scoffed. "Oh yeah, I'm sure that'd go over so well."

Effy shrugged. "Maybe you should have more faith in people."

Emily stared and Effy for a moment and then shrugged. "Come on—let's go find my family."