Chapter 13

"What the hell are you going to see that bitch for?" Katie asked.

"I told you already that we have an exam tomorrow and we're studying," Emily said, her voice laced with annoyance.

"You could study with Eff, yeah?" Katie asked, watching her as she walked across the room to grab her book.

"Effy doesn't study," Emily stated.

"She's right," Effy commented.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Fine, loser, spend your whole evening with that bitch, studying like a big dork, instead of coming out and having fun with me. Are you coming, Eff?"

"No," the brunette replied.

Katie huffed. "Whatever—you can both be losers."

Emily watched as her sister rolled her eyes at both of them, grabbed her purse, and walked out of the room. She knew Katie was a little hurt that neither of them would go with her, but she really did need to study and had already made plans to go to Naomi's since her roommates were out for the night.

Emily didn't know where she and Naomi stood; their date was four days ago, and other than having an awkward conversation the previous day, they hadn't had much contact. She didn't think it was because of the date since it had gone surprising well. They had talked throughout a lot of the movie, finding that they actually had more in common than they originally thought. The school had a concession stand set up for the movie night, so they had eaten there, but afterwards they went to a small café that was open late and got a cup of coffee. They managed not to argue too much, which was definite progress for them. They finished off the night with Emily walking Naomi to her door, where she gave her an awkward kiss before walking down the hall to her room.

The kiss was the one thing about the night that she wished she could do over; at the time, she had been overthinking it too much, wondering whether or not she should kiss her, which made the kiss less than stellar. She really hoped it wasn't the reason things were a little weird between them.

"Have fun," Effy stated.

Emily hummed and looked at her friend, who pointed at the clock. "Oh, I guess I should be going, shouldn't I."

"Unless you want to be late," Effy replied.

"I'll see you later," Emily said, grabbing her bag, and dropping her textbook inside.

She noticed Effy smirking at her and she rolled her eyes as she shut the door. She made the short trip down the hall and knocked on Naomi's door; she heard a small bang from inside, and a few seconds later, Naomi opened the door, rubbing her elbow.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked.

"I was picking up before you came and hit my elbow on that damn bookcase," Naomi said, frowning at the offending object as she stepped aside to let Emily in. "If you didn't notice the other day, my roommates are complete slobs."

"A little bit, yeah," Emily said with a light laugh.

Naomi rolled her eyes. "I don't know how one of them even got to uni and the other I like to call Satan because I'm fairly certain she is evil."

"That's why I didn't want to live with strangers," Emily commented as she sat down on the couch. "I might not always get along with Katie and Effy, but at least I know what to expect from them."

"One day I came to the dorm after visiting my mum over the weekend and all of my shit was thrown everywhere," Naomi said, shaking her head. "Satan had gone through everything and didn't even try to hide that she'd done it."

"Are you serious?" Emily asked.

Naomi nodded. "I thought she and I were going to come to blows, but then the other roommate came in and stopped us, which is too bad. I'm not a violent person, but I really wanted to hit her."

Emily laughed. "I can imagine. I know how that is, actually. My brother, James—he's a little perv and goes through all of mine and Katie's stuff. He even steals our underwear and stuff."

"That's just sick," Naomi replied.

"Which is why I kick the shit out of him every time I catch him," Emily said, shaking her head. "Believe me when I say I'm glad I can finally take a shower without wondering if he's outside the door, watching me."

"Makes me even more glad I'm an only child," Naomi replied.

"Sometimes I wish I was," Emily said. "Katie's driving me nuts; she wanted me to go out to some club tonight and was trying to get me to not come. I had to tell her five times that I needed to study."

"I guess we should do that, huh," Naomi said, walking toward her desk.

Emily sighed. "Probably."

"I need a break," Emily said, yawning.

"Want anything to drink?" Naomi asked.

Emily shook her head. "I am getting hungry, though; want to maybe order a pizza?"

"I can do that," Naomi said, grabbing her phone. "Peperoni okay?"

"Perfect," Emily said, smiling.

Naomi walked into the back room and Emily tossed her book to the side. They had been at it for over two hours, and Emily was finding it more and more difficult to concentrate. Part of the problem was that she didn't care about the subject at all and the other part was that Naomi was across from her.

"It's ordered," Naomi said as she walked back in the room and sat down next to Emily. "Want to watch TV or something while we wait?"

Emily shook her head and glanced down at Naomi's mouth; the blonde seemed to catch the action because when Emily looked up, Naomi started leaning forward. It was the first time Naomi had initiated any of their kisses and Emily leaned back at a little bit in surprise, but the blonde just moved forward even more. Emily couldn't help the moan that escaped and she could feel Naomi smirking against her lips.

She pulled away briefly to look at Naomi and then leaned back in. Naomi ran her tongue along Emily's bottom lip and the redhead opened her mouth. As their tongues met, Emily put her hands on Naomi's shoulders, pushing her back so she was resting against the arm of the couch, knocking their books off in the process. Emily had her hands on either side of Naomi's head and the blonde had hers encircling Emily's waist, pulling her down closer.

There was a sudden knock at the door, though, and Emily pulled back. "That isn't the pizza already, is it?"

"Can't be," Naomi said, sitting up onto her elbows.

Emily crawled off her and sat down while Naomi stood up and walked to the door. When it swung open, Effy was on the other side and Emily could immediately tell she was upset about something, and it must have been something major because she never would have come there if it wasn't.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked, standing up.

Effy didn't answer, and Emily looked down, noticing she had a tight grip on her phone. She grabbing Effy's arm, pulling it toward her, and pried the device out of the brunette's hand. When she turned on the phone, trying to find out what had upset her friend so much, she came face to face with a picture of Freddie. It wasn't one she had seen before and she instantly recognized the clothing; they were the ones Cook found at Foster's house.

"Where did you get this?" Emily asked.

In the picture, Freddie was smiling but he looked sad; Emily recognized the room as the one Effy was in at the institution, and she came to the realization that it must have been taken right before he died. She didn't know why he had taken the picture—maybe it was something for her to wake up to.

"It was one my phone," Effy finally answered. "You know I haven't—I don't look at—"

"I know," Emily interrupted.

Effy hadn't looked at the pictures on her phone since Freddie died, which is probably why she had never seen the picture before. Emily didn't know what she was doing look at them now, but she really wished Effy hadn't done it while she was alone.

"I have to go," Emily said, looking over her shoulder at Naomi.

"No, stay," Effy said, reaching out for the phone.

"Eff—"

"I'm fine," Effy said, backing away.

"You're not," Emily argued.

"You need to study," Effy said, shaking her head.

"Why don't you just stay here?" Naomi said, looking at Effy. "I mean, you're in the class, too, so you should study with us."

"Yeah," Emily said, turning back to the brunette. "I know you don't study, but it can't hurt, right?"

"I—"

"We ordered pizza," Naomi added.

Effy finally nodded and walked into the room. Emily watched her carefully as she walked over to the couch and sat down at the far end. She gave Naomi a smile in thanks and walked over, sitting between the two.

"Do you want to watch anything?" Naomi asked. "We were taking a break from studying this shit."

"Do you have any musicals?" Effy asked.

Naomi looked a little surprised by the request. "I think Satan does."

Effy looked a little confused as Naomi walked toward the stack of DVDs on the shelf, and Emily laughed lightly. While Naomi searched through the movies, Effy and Emily looked at each other. The redhead was worried about Effy, but the other girl gave her a slight nod; Emily knew it was her way of saying she would be okay.

"I know—" Naomi sounded a little hesitant about whatever she was about to say. "I-I know what it's like. No one really gets it and they try to help, but you feel like it's your fault and there's nothing anyone can say that makes it go away."

"What happened?" Effy asked.

Naomi turned around to look at her. "There was this girl, Sophia—we met at an open day and I fucked her. I don't even know why; she was just there and my life completely fucking sucked at the time. Somehow she found out where I lived in London and I would see her around sometimes. One day I finally confronted her and told her it was a one-time thing and I wanted nothing more to do with her, but she kept stalking me. One night I was at this club and she walked in and jumped from the balcony.

"I felt responsible for a long time, but what I eventually realized was that you can't hold yourself responsible for other people's action. I still feel fucking terrible that it happened, but I didn't do anything wrong and I had no way of knowing it was going to happen." Naomi's phone began buzzing and she grabbed it. "I think the pizza's here." She threw three movies onto the couch. "These are her movies; pick whichever."

As Naomi left the room, Emily tried to digest what the blonde had just revealed. They both remained silent for a minute until Effy suddenly said, "I like her."

"What?" Emily asked, looking over at her friend.

"Don't fuck it up," Effy replied.

Emily nodded and grabbed the movies from beside of her, holding them up. "West Side Story, Rent, or Funny Girl?"

Effy shrugged. "You pick."

She had never seen Funny Girl, but she knew people died in the other two movies, and she didn't think Effy needed the reminder, so she picked the Streisand even though she really didn't want to. She put the movie in and turned on the television, but she had no idea how to get it to show the DVD, so she sat down to wait for Naomi. The blonde kicked the door only a few moments later, though, and Emily jumped up to open it.

"Thanks, forgot my keys," Naomi said, walking in.

"I have no idea how to work that thing," Emily said, motioning to the television.

Naomi smirked as she handed off the pizza. "Paper plates and napkins are in the cubby in the hall."

"Thank you," Emily whispered.

"I haven't fixed the telly, yet," Naomi replied.

Emily nodded toward Effy. "Thank you."

"Oh," Naomi said with a nod. "No need to thank me."

"Still—thanks," Emily said, smiling at her.

"Don't mention it," Naomi said, smiling back.