Final chapter…

Chapter 20

"Move your ass over," Katie said nudging Emily's shoulder with her tray.

Emily rolled her eyes, wondering why Katie couldn't just take the other seat, but she scooted over nonetheless. "Where've you been?"

"Got stopped after class," Katie said, sitting down.

"A guy?" Emily asked.

"My professor from last semester," Katie answered. "She wanted to talk about my major. She said she read my term paper again and she thinks I'd make a good primary school teacher."

"Really?" Emily asked.

"Yes, really," Katie said, scowling at her.

"Sorry, but you just don't seem like the teaching type," Emily replied. "I mean, when we were eight, you tried to teach me how to tie a bow, and you punched me when I didn't understand it."

Katie huffed. "That was like ten years ago."

"Does that mean you're thinking about it?" Emily asked.

Katie shrugged. "I dunno—it's not like I know what I want to do with my life or anything, and you know I like children as long as they don't wipe their snooty noses on me."

"And what're you going to do if they do that?" Emily asked with a laugh.

"Gross," Katie said, scrunching her nose in disgust.

"You'd make a good teacher," Effy commented.

"Yeah?" Katie asked.

Effy smirked. "Yeah."

The more Emily thought about it, the more she actually thought that it could be a good idea. Katie always wanted children, but a year ago she learned that she would never be able to have any of her own. Her sister never talked about it, but she knew it hurt; maybe being a teacher—being around children—would help ease the pain. Emily just worried it would have the opposite effect, though, and it would make it even worse. If Katie wanted to do it, though, she would support her like she always did, and Katie was going to need the support because their mother would never be happy about it.

Emily caught a flash of blonde hair and looked in the direction, but it wasn't who she thought it was. Katie followed her gaze and rolled her eyes.

"I'm shocked she isn't here," Katie said. "You've been attached at the damn hip."

"She has class right now," Emily said, shrugging.

The day after Naomi finally came to her, Emily went to Naomi's house. She was surprised she made it that long; she was up half the night, thinking about going over there even though it was the middle of the night. Naomi had made her wait around for weeks, so she knew how it felt, and while she didn't want to let Naomi off the hook so easily, she also didn't want to make her suffer.

She knew a relationship with the blonde was never going to be easy—Naomi wasn't exactly the most agreeable person in the world—but she knew it would be worth it. She had seen the other side of Naomi, and that was the side she first fell for. Emily didn't even know when exactly that happened; all she knew is that it had, which is why she forgave her. Emily wasn't one to hold a grudge, and she didn't want to waste any more time.

Naomi legitimately seemed sorry and Emily could tell she was making an effort, which is all she asked for. She didn't want to change Naomi—she just didn't want to be shut out. Naomi could take all the time she needed to sort things out, but Emily needed to know that she would be back. She needed to know that she wasn't going to leave and never come back.

"Speaking of class," Effy said, looking at Emily. "You're going to be late."

Emily looked at her watch. "Shit."

"Tell Naomi I said hi," Effy requested.

"You can tell her yourself," Emily replied. "I doubt I'll see her until she comes by later."

Emily grabbed her bag, ignoring Effy's raised eyebrow, and headed for the door. Her class was going to start in six minutes and it would probably take her that long to get across campus. She weaved her way between the slowest people–why people wore heels to class, she would never understand—and got to the building with a minute to spare. She was glad her class was on the bottom floor, and she made it just in time. The class was nearly full and Emily looked around for an empty seat. There was one near the back of the room and Emily laughed when she saw who it was next to.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Emily said as she approached.

"I know," Naomi said, removing her bag from the seat.

"And you even saved me a seat," Emily said, sitting down. "Thank you."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to end up next to some wanker," Naomi replied.

Emily laughed and looked around. "Think we'll be partnered up with someone all semester again?"

"God I hope not," Naomi said, smirking. "It was fucking terrible last time."

"Yeah, my partner was a total bitch," Emily commented.

"Mine was annoying and way too cute," Naomi replied. "It was very hard to concentrate."

Emily laughed just as an older man—who she assumed was the professor—came in. He had white hair, which was spiked up all over his head, he had on plaid sneakers, and a tie with butterflies all over. She smiled and instantly knew this was going to be an interesting class.

"Alright, we're going to start by playing a little get to know you game," the professor said, putting his briefcase in his seat, before sitting on top of the desk. "Pick a partner and one of you will start off by telling the other person two truths and one lie; your partner has to guess which is the lie and which is the truth. You'll then switch roles. Take all the time you want; we have to be here for an hour and I'm sure you'd rather do this than listen to me rant about politics. Have fun."

"This shouldn't be too hard," Emily commented.

"No?" Naomi asked. "You think you know everything about me?"

"No, but I'm learning," Emily replied

Naomi smiled. "You go first."

"Okay," Emily said, trying to think of what to say. "When I was seven I accidently broke my sister's finger, I hate peas, and I love the smell of petrol."

"Seriously?" Naomi asked.

"Seriously," Emily said with a nod of her bead.

"I'm frightened that two of those are true," Naomi said, shaking her head. "I don't think you hate peas, though."

"Actually, that's true," Emily replied with a laugh. "I didn't accidently break Katie's finger—it was her toe, and it wasn't necessarily an accident. She made me mad because of something she said, so I stomped on it."

"Remind me to never make you mad," Naomi said.

"Too late for that," Emily joked. "Your turn."

"Alright," Naomi said, tapping her fingers on the table. "When I was five I ran away from home to live in the forest because I thought that's where the fairies lived; I've loved the same girl ever since I was twelve, even though I also sort of hated her at some points; and—I don't ever want to be with anyone but you, because for the first time in my life, I'm not scared, and I know this is going to work.."

Emily was speechless for a moment, but then she cleared her throat and said, "I don't think you ever believed in fairies."

Naomi smiled. "I did, actually, but I was six when I ran away."

Emily smiled back. "That's adorable."

Naomi hummed. "Before I forget, my mum called this morning. Fuck if I know why she was up before eleven, but she called and she's coming down in two weeks. She threatened again to disown me if I didn't invite you to dinner with us."

"I'll go," Emily said, laughing.

"Good, because she's only coming here for that," Naomi said, rolling her eyes. "She realized she never officially invited you to dinner and she keeps saying she's a terrible human being for it."

"I ate dinner at your place several times," Emily said, frowning.

"Yes, but not 'officially'," Naomi said with air quotes.

"I'm surprised my mum doesn't come, but to drag me away, claiming this place made me gay," Emily joked.

"That would require her acknowledging it," Naomi commented.

"True," Emily replied.

Needless to say, Jenna had not taken the news very well; Emily told her the truth instead of making up some excuse, but Jenna completely ignored it and continued to ignore it for the remainder of her time home. Anytime Naomi came over, Jenna essentially pretended the other girl didn't exist.

"Okay, since most of you are no longer talking, we'll get started," the professor said, jumping down from his desk.

"You still coming over today?" Emily asked.

"Is your sister still going to be there?" Naomi asked.

Emily laughed. "Yes."

"I suppose," Naomi said, sighing, but then giving Emily a small smile.

Emily looked at Naomi and smiled back. It was amazing to her how quickly things could change; less than five months ago, she was just moving in and had never even seen the other girl. Now, she was finding it hard to imagine her life without the blonde, and for the first time in her life, she felt free and truly happy.

She'd never been so thankful to run into someone with a box before.

Thank you to everyone that has read this, and especially to those that have commented along the way. Also, an even bigger thanks to those who kept asking about the story and encouraged me to finish. If it wasn't for you guys, I probably never would have come back to this story, but the fact that people were still interested meant a lot.