A/N – So it's been a week since I wrote anything on this story since I got a little caught up with "Solving the Cancer Enigma". I'm feeling slightly schizophrenic when I switch back and forth between stories but I'm hoping it doesn't show in the writing!

We're on a boat…

Skins is not my creation!

Chapter 9

Cook's POV

I was waiting for everyone by the van smoking a morning fag when Naomi walked up. Her face was sporting a couple of impressive bruises but aside from that, she had a slight skip in her step. The cut on her lip had a nice, bright red crust on it and the bruise on her cheekbone had turned a dark blue overnight, actually spreading into her eye, making it look like she had a good, old-fashioned black eye. Her lip was less swollen though but there was no way Gina and Kieran weren't going to notice. She looked a lot like she had last year after our little incident down at the pub one village over. Kieran had been forced to come and pick us up and do some damage control after that little skirmish. Luckily, everyone always took a liking to the guy and he had been able to smooth things over for us. Well, technically, we were still banned from visiting again but I was pretty sure they wouldn't mind if we took the gang there some time as long as we didn't cause trouble. Fat chance of that though!

Despite herself and the bruises on her face, Naomi seemed oddly cheerful as she walked up and took the fag from my hand. She leaned against the side of the van and closed her eyes as she exhaled grey smoke.

"Looking good, Naomikins", I joked as I lit another fag.

She shot me a sideways smile as she exhaled once again. "Yeah, I've been meaning to try this new eyeshadow for a while now", she said and pointed to her swollen black-and blue eye and cheek. "What do you think? Too much?"

I laughed and was happy to have Naomi back to her old self. Last night had been unnerving, her acting too out of character for my comfort zone. The only other time I could recall that happening was when I had visited her at Uni a couple of months ago. Regardless, seeing her act like such a, well like such a girl, made me uncomfortable. It's not like I don't think she's allowed to act like a girl because I am very much aware of the fact that she is one, but she is usually so tough and always has been, so I wasn't sure how to handle it. Any other girl and I would have tried to smooth-talk and pat them on the back or whatever, but Naomi would just get pissed if I did that. I suppose the problem with keeping most people at arm's length is that they actually stay at arm's length when you need them a lot closer.

"What are you gonna tell your Mum?"

Naomi sighed and placed a finger on her lip, tapping it gently. "Well, I was thinking of a classic. You know, the walked-into-a-door-in-the-dark-type of thing."

"Won't work, you used that last year after our 'infamous' bar-fight."

"Yeah, but Mum found out about that anyway since Kieran felt so guilty about keeping it from her."

I nodded in agreement. "Still, Gina knows you lied about walking into a door last time, so she won't exactly be prone to believe you know, will she?"

"Well, I can't really tell her Katie Fucking Fitch beat me to a bloody pulp because I was snogging her sister in a lounger, now can I?" She rolled her eyes and reached into my pocket for the fags. "Got any brilliant ideas?"

I shook my head and lit her fag. Looking up, I noticed Gina and Kieran walking towards us carrying picnic baskets and rucksacks. "You better think of something quick, though."

Naomi's POV

After leaving Emily's room, I had taken a very necessary cold, no fuck it, freezing shower. I decided against going down for breakfast because I needed to avoid both Mum and Katie for a little while longer. Under normal circumstances, I would have simply confronted Katie but the situation was a little more delicate than usual and I needed some time to think about how to approach it. She deserved to know exactly what I thought of her but at the same time, I was going to be forced to live and work beside her for another five weeks. But honestly, the main reason for not telling her off had nothing to do with my work ethic or supreme social skills. It was all about Emily, of course. Despite everything that had happened between us last night, I was painfully aware of the fact that given an ultimatum, Emily would choose her sister over me. And I really, really needed to make sure that didn't happen. I was already addicted and had decided to swallow my otherwise unrelenting pride for the sake of feeding my insatiable appetite for Emily Fitch. I still wasn't sure how I would react to seeing Katie again but I had at least decided to keep schtum, for now.

Once Mum noticed my face, she looked positively horrified. "Oh Naomi, now what have you done?"

I decided the best defense was a good offense and turned the tables on her. "Why do you always assume that I did something?" I narrowed my eyes at her. "Good parents would be concerned about my wellbeing first but you just go directly into automatically assuming that I'm solely to blame for this", I said and pointed to my cheek. I acted upset and violently opened the side door of the van and jumped all the way in the back. I threw myself down in a seat, crossed my arms and looked out the opposite window, away from Mum and Kieran. I felt guilty but at least Mum would too and therefore keep the questions to a minimum.

JJ and Effy joined us carrying coolers and another basket which they put in the back with the other supplies. Effy joined Cook for a quick smoke while JJ spoke excitedly to Kieran and Mum about something out of hearing range for me. Finally, the twins showed up, Katie prancing confidently in front of her sister and Emily shyly looking down, arms full of the blankets we had been using around the fire last night. She put them in the back and quickly jumped in the van. She didn't speak to anyone and didn't look at me which made my heart sink more than I had ever thought possible. It had been less than an hour since I left her room and I for one was still on fire from the whole experience but apparently, Emily could turn that switch off whenever her sister was around. She took the seat directly in front of mine and stared aimlessly out the window. I was a little hurt that she couldn't even acknowledge me and felt anger start to build but gritted my teeth to keep from calling her out. Effy jumped in next to me with Cook taking the final seat in the back. He pulled the seat in front of him in place, allowing JJ to jump in and sit next to Emily, leaving Katie to take the seat in front of Cook. She shot him a challenging look but it wasn't genuine and I wondered what had happened between them last night. I knew what hadn't happened but I wasn't sure if she had actually been up for rolling around with Cook or if he had rejected her. The look on her face told me it was probably the latter and I smiled to myself at Cook's loyalty. That can't have been easy…

Kieran started the van and set off toward the coast. We had about one hour by car before reaching the harbor where Kieran had a ship, yes ship, waiting. It actually belonged to Doug but he wasn't much of a sailor so Kieran did most of the maintenance and in return, Doug allowed him unlimited use of it. Mum quickly got bored and turned on the radio, scrambling for something interesting to listen to. When she found a station that was having some sort of Sunday countdown, resulting in a flow of current hits, Katie and JJ let out appreciative sounds and started singing along. The music lightened the mood in the back of the van and eventually, even Effy started singing along to the tunes.

Emily was however still staring out the window, her head resting against it. My anger at being ignored had subsided but it pained me to see that Emily obviously wasn't sharing in on the fun. Was she regretting last night? Had Katie said something this morning that upset her further? The memory of the intensity of this morning came rushing through me like wildfire and I fought a strong urge to run my hand through the bright-red hair draped across the seat in front of me. For the second time in just a few hours, it felt like Emily read my mind. Almost without moving, her hand slipped back through the small space between the seat and the side of the van and found my calf. I jumped a tad at her touch, it taking me by surprise, before leaning forward to rest my head against her seat. This allowed me to reach down and take hold of her hand, caressing it gently before a burst of pure joy shot through me as she intertwined her fingers with mine.

Emily's POV

I suppressed the smile forming on my face by biting down hard on my lip. I needed Katie to keep believing that she had completely deterred me from spending time with Naomi but being stuck a car in such close proximity to the object of my obsession, made it impossible for me to keep up appearances. I simply had to reach back and touch her. I wondered at how it was possible to feel such a level of excitement simply by intertwining my fingers with hers. Glancing toward Katie, I was happy to see her oblivious to my defiant caress of Naomi's hand. She was busy having a grand time singing along to the music, at times in happy duet with JJ.

We spent the rest of the car ride holding hands. From time to time, Naomi's other hand would gently brush along the part of my arm that was hidden in the space between my seat and the van, sending happy flashes of energy up my arm and making my stomach flutter. Occasionally, I glanced toward my sister and reminded myself to thank JJ for sitting between us and for distracting her. Katie had ignored me during breakfast and had yet to speak as much as a word to me.

None of us knew where we were going today, since Kieran kept claiming it would be more fun to keep us guessing. All he had told us was to bring bathing suits and towels. As we pulled up to a harbor parking lot, Naomi let go of my hand and I instantly felt my heart sink. The mood was however light as we all climbed out of the van, stretching our limbs after the one hour drive. Kieran was practically giddy with excitement as he ran to the back of the van and started handing out picnic baskets, rucksacks and blankets. I noticed Gina talking softly with Naomi before reaching out and gently stroking her bruised cheek and I wondered what Naomi had told her. I was guessing it wasn't the truth because despite Gina's tranquil, goodhearted nature, I doubted she would drop the whole you-physically-abused-my-child-thing for the sake of keeping the peace. Katie noticed the scene too and I recognized the look of terror that momentarily surfaced. My twin looked ready to dart at any moment as she stood there, visibly agitated, watching Gina pull Naomi in for a quick embrace. Realizing that Naomi had kept quiet, Katie relaxed and if I didn't know better, I would have thought I saw her throw Naomi a thankful look as she quickly walked passed them carrying a load of blankets.

"All right then! Follow me!", Kieran exclaimed excitedly and set a steady pace toward the pier. Cook walked alongside me carrying a heavy cooler in each hand, while I had picked up a rucksack.

"Didn't think I would see you smile today, Red."

I turned and looked up at him, trying hard to conceal the even brighter smile currently forming on my face. Frankly, I hadn't even realized I was smiling to begin with. "Yeah well, you should give yourself and your fags a little more credit then!" I smiled warmly at him.

He smiled that goofy, endearing smile before winking at me and saying, "or maybe I should give Blondie some of the credit, eh?"

I felt my cheeks turn red and my smile disappeared as I came to an abrupt halt. Had she already told him? Cook winked at me again before tipping his head back and laughing earnestly as he walked away. Fuck! Somehow, I felt less confident about the entire situation than I had a couple of minutes ago when Naomi's soft hand was still locked with mine. I sighed and quickly closed the distance between myself and the rest of the group.

We walked out on a long pier that stretched about 100 meters into the water before stopping at the end in front of a huge two-mast ship. Kieran turned around and looked expectantly at us, relishing in seeing our jaws drop to the dry boards of the pier. I dared a look in Naomi's direction and saw her watching me with a brilliant smile. Her eyes were sparkling and bursting with an excitement almost matching Kieran's. She bit her lip shyly when she realized I was watching her and turned around to jump onto the ship. She dropped the picnic baskets and released the small plank attached to the side of the ship, making it possible for the rest of us to cross without having to jump across the gap between the ship and the pier.

Cook, Naomi and Kieran dropped anchor and set sail with JJ watching, as always, eager and willing to learn and help where he could. I settled down at the bow beside my sister and Effy. Gina had gone down below to arrange the baskets and bags before joining us, handing out yellow lifejackets. I expected Katie to put up a fight at the thought of ruining the chance to work on her tan but she accepted the jacket without a word. She was acting out of character today but I suppose the thought of Gina discovering that she was the cause of Naomi's bruised face was enough to deter her from her usual bratty behavior.

Feeling the cool morning wind against my face as we darted through the waves was nothing short of amazing. The ship quickly picked up speed as we started heading north along the coast, passing several small villages that all seemed identical to Ogmore-by-Sea. Naomi was busy showing JJ how to properly tie the ropes down but Cook had disappeared below deck. Effy pulled out a packet of fags from a seemingly invisible pocket in her shirt and settled against the ropes of the railing. She offered us one but neither Katie nor I were smokers, well, unless you count the three I had smoked with Cook last night, so we declined. Effy shrugged and put the packet back inside her shirt. Katie complained a little about giving us cancer from secondhand smoke and left. I watched her disappear below before reaching out and taking the lit fag from Effy's fingers.

"Not a word", I said, smiling secretively, as I took a drag and handed it back to her. Effy raised a curious eyebrow before shrugging and tipping her head back to enjoy the early morning sun. Gina was sitting behind Kieran at the helm, where JJ was busy asking a million different questions. I glanced toward Naomi and my breath hitched as I saw her lift her t-shirt over her head, exposing her amazing upper body to the world. Or maybe just to me, since I was the only one presently perving on her. She bent down to pick up the lifejacket and caught my eye as she did. Reading the expression on my face, she sent me a devious smile and took a good long time before standing and slowly securing the jacket around her. I swallowed hard in an attempt to gather my wits but it was futile as Naomi picked up a water bottle and walked towards us, looking so sexy in that stupid, yellow lifejacket, that I thought I would burst.

She took a seat next to me, so close that our naked shoulders were touching and as she shifted to lounge against the ropes, she moved her arm to rest on the deck behind me. I noticed her glance toward the hatch and stairs leading below deck before moving her hand ever to rest on the naked skin at the small of my back just below the rim of the lifejacket. Her fingertips slid down the back of my bikini-bottoms, effectively squeezing my butt slightly. The simple touch sent ripples of electricity through me but this time it didn't make my stomach flutter as much as make me aware of a familiar tingle between my legs. I leaned into her while keeping an eye out for the reappearance of my sister.

KFF isn't being the bitch to Naomi I thought she would and Naomi is being a bit of a wuss in order to stay close to Emily. That can't really last long, can it?

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