A/N – It took me two months to update this story but I'm hoping it won't take me more than two weeks to update it again!
Thank you for your continued patience and for (hopefully) sticking with me and with the story! This is much easier to write but seems to be less popular and is therefore sometimes a little further down the priority-list.
Anywho, I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 16
Naomi's POV
Last night's dinner had been a true treat but it had also worn Emily out. Once the sun had set, Kieran had lit torches and the candles on the tables provided us with more than enough light for conversation. I can't remember the last time I had laughed that hard without involving alcohol. Then again, I might have been slightly subjective since endorphins were still coursing through me after my little encounter with Emily just before dinner.
Every once in a while, I glanced in Mum's direction and could tell she was relieved to find Emily in such a healthy and happy state. Although still weak, a result of the strain the infection had put on her body, she was otherwise in good health and in a fantastic mood. I had been placed directly in front of her, painfully far away and completely unable to touch her. All I could think about was dragging her off to a secluded part of the beach and show her how much she meant to me, over and over again. Hell, at this point, I was praying for a lunar eclipse or comet crashing into the Earth, anything to make the rest of our companions too distracted to notice my ripping Emily's clothes off her back. Different scenarios played out in the back of my mind during the evening, all of them completely outrageous and unrealistic but at least they kept me glued to my seat all night, as opposed to following my impulses. Every minute or so, Emily sent warm and all-too-knowing smiles my way, making staying seated utterly unbearable.
Surprisingly, Kieran and Mum hadn't gone off early like they usually do. They had both stayed until everyone else went off to bed, Emily being the first to turn in. She had fallen asleep with her head resting on JJ's shoulder and he had cradled her like a child and carried her off to bed with Katie trailing them. I had been planning on sneaking into Emily's room but thought better of it the moment she started looking exhausted. Instead, I had spent the last part of my night in Cook's shed, filling him in on the gory details of our drive home. He explained how he had met Emily on the stairs and figured I had finally managed to 'complete my mission', as he so delicately put it.
The past weeks of drama were finally behind us and I woke rested and refreshed on Saturday morning, with a smile on my face and a plan forming in my mind.
I rolled out of bed and quickly pulled on a top and some shorts and went in search of my usual partner in crime. Cook was lounging on the bench by the beach, sharing a fag and a laugh with Effy. I greeted them both with a smile, before sliding down in the warm sand in front of them and held out my hand for Cook's fag.
Effy surprised me by handing me hers but I gladly took it and smiled, "Thanks."
"You're not upset with me then?", she asked with a sly smirk across her lips.
I frowned, "Why would I be?"
"Effy here was worried you were feeling a little left out since we didn't let you in on the dinner."
I couldn't help but feel a little amused by the annoyance written in Effy's face when Cook interjected. She was a woman of few words but she wasn't the type who appreciated other people speaking for her either. Cook was oblivious to his mistake and busied himself with pulling his shirt over his head. He never missed the chance to go shirtless and catch some sunlight, even during the early hours of the day.
I shrugged, "I might have been a little hurt that you didn't feel you could trust me with a secret…" I paused and Effy's eyes seemed to express a slight sadness which was absolutely horrifying to experience. She was a stunning girl, truly esthetically beautiful, and when she looked even the slightest bit sad, it felt like the sky darkened and the world cried. Naturally, I changed my tune immediately and since I wasn't even really affected by the deceit, it wasn't much of a sacrifice. "But I really enjoyed the evening and I think I enjoyed it even more because I didn't know about it." I sent the girl a warm and earnest smile.
Effy returned the smile and the three of us sat in silence for a while, enjoying the early morning rays.
"For future reference, I do think you can keep a secret. I just know how hard it is to keep secrets from someone you love."
I almost choked on my own breath and Cook took one look at my astonished expression and absolutely cracked up. He was bent over laughing and eventually rolled off the bench and down in the sand next to me. I started pounding on him to make him stop and to give myself some time to recover from the shock. Once Cook stopped laughing, I looked up at Effy who just sat there looking like she had just made a comment on the weather or some other mindless shit. How could she possibly know? I don't' even know!
I opened my mouth and was about to try and form words to deny the whole thing when she surprised me a second time by beating me to it.
"Please don't." She held out a hand as if to stop me from speaking. "I've known since they day you called out her name at the museum."
"But I didn't even know then!"
"You admit it then, Naomikins?" I turned my head in Cook's direction with a stunned and baffled expression. He already knew in great detail about my interactions with Emily, so I really didn't understand what he was referring to. Had he gotten amnesia since last night? "That you are in love with Red?" He was watching me intensely, his blue eyes somehow both hopeful and amused.
My face turned a different shade of red than it had from being in contact with the morning sun. I looked back and forth between Effy and Cook, desperately trying to figure out what to say. He knows what a big deal this is to me. I've never been in love before… I searched my emotions and found every inch of my being was either thinking about Emily, reminiscing about time spent with her or complaining about the lack of her physical closeness. Fuck it.
I took a deep breath and allowed my defensive frown to turn into a shy smile. "Shit, I think I am…"
"Ha!" Cook instantly put his arm around my shoulders, giving them a tight squeeze. He seemed truly happy at my admission, although I couldn't figure out why it meant so much to him.
"Fuck it, I suppose I might as well ask you both then, seeing as it is apparently not the big secret I foolishly thought it was." I threw my hands up in capitulation which got Effy's attention. She leant forward slightly, her interest peaked.
"I want to take Emily out to dinner but I need a good excuse so Mum won't think twice about it and I need you, Cook, to keep Katie busy for the entire evening so she doesn't notice either."
Effy lit another fag and sat in quiet reflection for a few short moments. Cook wasn't much help because all he could come up with was shagging Katie so senseless she would lose all sense of time. Despite probably being a very capable lover, I doubted his abilities stretched to actually fucking someone senseless, so I was actually happy to have Effy there to assist.
"I doubt you will need much of an excuse with you mother and I can talk to JJ and make sure he doesn't mention anything to Katie about it." She paused for a moment before turning to Cook. "Really, all we need is for you to plan a romantic evening of your own with the twin and then everything will sort itself out."
Cook's POV
Effy had been right on the money. Gina didn't think twice about it when Naomi explained how she felt guilty and wanted to make it up to Emily by treating her to a nice dinner. Gina even offered to drive them back and forth so they could share a bottle of wine before remembering that Emily wasn't allowed alcohol while on medication. She didn't question why it had to be kept quiet from the rest of the group either. It might be because she had picked up on Katie's hostility and her overprotective nature when it came to Emily. Either way, she understood the need to keep schtum and seemed excited to be in on the secret. After pondering the possibilities for a few moments, Mrs. Campbell simply told her daughter to sneak off around six p.m. and that she would make sure and keep everyone else busy while the two of them slipped away.
Naomi surprised her mum with a wide grin and an enthusiastic embrace and I almost broke out in laughter at her obviousness. I think I like the idea of Blondie in love… Naomi released her mother and ran out of the kitchen and upstairs to change. I didn't miss the look Gina had on her face as she watched her otherwise grumpy daughter bouncing away. Gina's got her number, alright. Effy was right about that too. I was starting to suspect that young girl was some kind of superhuman, seemingly able to read people's minds.
"James?" Gina put her hand on my shoulder and gaining my attention, "Was there something else you wanted?"
Unlike Naomi, I didn't feel the need to beat around the bush but then again everyone already knew about me and Katie. "Well, I was planning on doing something nice and romantic myself..." I instantly felt like I had put my foot in my mouth by putting my own romantic ideas in the same context as Naomi's dinner with Emily. Gina didn't seem to take notice of my poor choice of words, yet another sign that she indeed already suspected that Naomi's intentions were of a romantic, rather than innocent and guilt-ridden, sort. I still felt the need to try and salvage the situation, "Effy has been putting ideas in my head, I think."
Gina smiled warmly and patted my shoulder. "And does this 'something romantic' include my food by any chance?" I answered her with a wide grin and an enthusiastic nod.
"I was thinking a picnic basket and some wine? And access to Doug's ship?"
"The ship? I don't think Kieran will have any objections but you can't take the ship out yourself, James, you know that. And I doubt Katie is any good on the ropes."
"Oh no, I wasn't planning on actually taking the ship out – just using it as an aphrodisiac." I winked at her and was awarded with an overbearing giggle.
"Fine, I'll make sure Kieran understands. I can have the food ready by two p.m., how does that sound?"
I smiled at the wonderful woman. "Perfect."
Emily's POV
After literally having been asleep for the entire week, I somehow still managed to spend most of the morning in bed. Gina finally woke me with a tray of steamingly delicious brunch around eleven and placed a sweet peck on my forehead before leaving me to it. I was very aware of the fact that she felt responsible for everything that had happened and honestly, between her, Kieran and Naomi, there was enough guilt going around for an additional accident or two.
What had happened was an unfortunate accident and Gina had realized that I was in trouble early on and had sacrificed herself by watching over me. Were it not for her quick actions once I started on my downward spiral, I would have ended up far worse off than I actually did. To be quite frank, I was the one who should be busying myself with trying to show her my appreciation for her effectively saving my life and not the other way around.
I happily gulped down the breakfast and was happy to find that Gina's cooking had, if possible, gotten even better while I had been away. Perhaps it just felt that way because it was such a massive contrast to what they had passed off as food back at the hospital.
Relaxed and painless, another sign that the infection was being evicted from my body, I slid down into a more comfortable position in my bed and sipped the hot coffee. This is totally worth going against Mum's wishes… The vivid memory of fighting with Jenna was almost enough to bring my mood down a notch but a soft knock on the door brought me back to the present.
"Yes?"
The second Naomi's smiling face showed in the crack of the door, my stomach fluttered, as it had gotten accustomed to in her presence. I mirrored her smile as she entered and shut the door behind her.
"No Katie?", she asked, honestly surprised at not finding my sister attached to my hip at the moment. Katie had been quite possessive last night and I had found myself stuck between her and JJ for most of the evening. I didn't mind really – it was nice to just be with all of them again – even though I had been eager to spend more time with Naomi, preferably in the privacy of her, or my, room.
I shook my head, still smiling as she walked to my bed and sat down. "Your mum just woke me, I'm not sure where Katie – " the rest of my intended sentence was silenced by Naomi's smiling lips pressed against mine. My free hand found the back of her neck and I pulled her towards me, carefully removing the cup of steaming coffee from the space between us. The kiss was innocent but still managed to fill me with an almost uncontrollable desire to throw the coffee against the wall and rip Naomi's clothes off her back. Yesterday's adventures had only added to my animalistic attraction to the gorgeous blonde and I couldn't wait for darkness to fall and the house to grow quiet so I could sneak off to her room. I had planned to do that last night but exhaustion took engulfed me and put my plans on hold for 24 hours.
She released me from the grip of her lips and pulled back, examining me with her eyes as if to make sure I wasn't showing any signs of the infection coming back. Seeming satisfied, she smiled and visibly relaxed. "She's probably already outside, Cook and Effy were already out there hours ago." Naomi hinted at the window and the brightly shining sun beaming in through the opening in the curtains.
I nodded in agreement and snuck a peek at the weather. It does look fantastic…
"How are you feeling today?" Naomi's voice was laced with anxiety but when I turned back around to face her, I was met by a conniving, sly smirk instead of a worried frown. She bit her lip in the most endearing and enticing way as I held her eyes but she refused to break as I channeled my most scrutinizing gaze.
"Why?" I narrowed my eyes at her, my smile widening in the process. "Naomi? Tell me!" I almost shouted as she broke into a mischievous grin. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards me, eagerly attacking her with teasing kisses along her neck and jawline. She was giggling when I pulled her to me but those giggles were quickly replaced by shallow breaths. Damn it, this was supposed to be forcing her to tell me, not rewarding her for her secrecy! I stopped abruptly and pushed Naomi away gently, leaving her pouting.
An idea occurred to me. "Tell me", I started and sent her the most enticing look I could muster. "Or I will cut you off from access to these", I pointed to my lips as I licked them, "And this… ", I ran a finger slowly from my neck along my stomach, "And – "
"Alright, alright, stop it!"
I did as asked and raised an eyebrow, enacting my best Effy-impersonation although my heart was pounding in my chest. I can't believe I just did that…
Naomi held my gaze and I almost faltered from the inferno currently on display in her eyes. She reached up and ran two fingers along a few strands of my hair, carefully placing it behind my ear. She continued down my cheek before brushing her thumb along my lips, making me tremble under her gently touch. She had me in her spell and I knew there was no way I would ever be able to deny her anything of mine. Not for long anyway.
"Emily Fitch", she whispered and seemed to relish in speaking my name, almost as if it were precious and belonged only to her. Something in the tone of her voice and the intensity of her gaze made it impossible for me to form words and all I could muster was a slow nod. She inched closer but was still far away from where I realized I desperately needed her to be. "Would you like to go on a date with me tonight?"
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and remember that I always and happily accept feedback in any way, shape or form :)
As you can imagine, a date-night for both Cook and Naomi will result in different kinds of shenanigans but at least I can promise some good-old Naomily interaction in the coming chapter… That Effy had it figured out can hardly be a surprise to anyone and she can be a powerful ally. She is the original no. 1 Naomily-shipper, after all!