"Do you ever wonder what would've happened if I hadn't met you?"
"Probably be the same as I was before, a bit taller, but still invisible."
"Better thank my Mum for meeting Kieran then." Naomi placed a small kiss on her girlfriend's temple. The view was amazing, the sun beat down on the two of them, blue skies above, the park was pretty much full apart from the small place they had found under a large oak tree that was offering them shade from the heat.
"Not yet though, yeah." Emily turned back around, sitting between Naomi's legs, reaching for her hand and slowly linking the two of their fingers together.
"Of course." Naomi whispered, burying her face in the mass of sweet smelling hair in front of her.
--
DAY THREE
--
School was back in session, and for Emily that meant books being knocked out of her hands, getting shoved past in the corridors and eating lunch on her own. There was no sun shining today, rain was blowing hard against weak fake-glassed windows as everyone shook themselves off, brushing down their coats, closing their umbrella, desperately trying to salvage any style that their hair had been in before. Emily sat -- her hair dishevelled, a darker shade of red – at her desk, her hands linked in front of her and her foot tapping away with the ticking of the clock. Her iPod connected up, one bud in her left ear and the other on the table in front of her, the volume low so no one could figure out what she was listening to. She watched as Keiran entered the room, his arms filled with now soggy pieces of paper and books. He piled his work down on the desk in front of them and turned to the class.
"Bloody weather." She heard Kieran mumble, and pulled her head up to look at him. "Fucking rain." He mumbled again, and Emily could help but chuckle a little bit at his approach to teaching.
"Ok, everyone, settle down yeah, got quite a bit to get through today, and I don't want to be stuck in here any more than you do…" The door clicked open and everyone turned to it. "Naomi, love. Y'alright?"
"Yeah, erm, I'm in your form, apparently."
"Oh, ok, well take that empty seat next to Ems yeah?" Naomi nodded and smiled as she heard Emily's name, watching her eyes glaze over and smile at her, like no one else was there.
"Why the fuck is she so happy to sit next to her?"
"Who the hell would want to sit next to Emily?"
"Fuckin lezza."
Emily couldn't help but gaze around the room to spot people talking to her, that was, until a soft breath was felt on her ear.
"Don't worry about them…" Naomi pulled back and smiled. Emily just turned towards the front, focusing on Keiran as he began his teachings. Naomi was confused. At the weekend, they were fine; Emily even kissed her for fuck sake, so why was she blanking her now. She just turned towards Keiran also, hoping that maybe things would get better through the day. As Keiran trailed off, well in Naomi's mind he did, as she gazed down at Emily's interlocked hands. She was playing with he nail varnish, chipping off the blue colour, brushing it off of the desk and on to the floor. She could hear the slight music coming from her headphones as one of them lay on the desk beside her.
"Are you not going to speak to me now then?" Emily turned to her with a solemn look on her face, eyes brimming with tears, and Naomi couldn't help but gasp a little.
"What's going on?" Emily shook her head vigorously and turned back to what she was doing before, but this time, holding back a sob that was sure to escape.
The bell rang for first lesson and Emily was the first to get up out of her seat and rush out of the door. Naomi did the best to follow her, but with everyone else coming out of their form rooms, she lost her very quickly. She sighed and pulled out her timetable, scanning her eyes over it and finding she had a free lesson. What to do when you don't know where you're going, and don't really know anyone. As she walked the gradually emptying halls she couldn't help but notice how quiet it was now everyone had disappeared, that was, until someone came stomping around the corner, and Naomi found herself slammed into the locker behind her. A little cough escaped her as an arm was pressed against her.
"What the fuck!" Was all that came out of Naomi's mouth as she recognised the person in front of her.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing to my sister?"
"Oh so you do care?"
"Fuck of Nicola."
"It's Naomi."
"Whatever, so? What's going on?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Of course you fucking know. Why the fuck did you kiss her? She's not gay."
"You think… you actually think… fucking hell." Naomi laughed, very amused.
"What? She's not gay ok? Just stay away from her!"
"Ok, I'll stay away, whatever."
"I mean it Natasha, seriously."
"Naomi…"
"Whatever! I've told our Mum, she's not gonna be seeing you any more."
"What?! You can't do that! She's a grown girl!"
"I can do whatever I like… after all… I'm the favourite twin…" Katie smirked, letting go of Naomi a walking off down the corridor to her history class.
"Fucking hell." Naomi shook her head, straightening down her dress and taking a deep breath. Gathering herself together again, she made her way to main entrance, hoping to run into someone she knew. She cautiously made her way around the empty college corridor, her steps echoing. She reached the entrance hall and sat down on one of the chairs, gulping as she remembered what Katie had said. Jenna hadn't really taken a like to her when they visited, especially after she went after Emily that time. And now, Katie had seen them kiss, told Jenna, and obviously the whole family had shunned her. She just hated the fact that Katie had used such a spiteful smirk when she had said 'I'm the favourite twin.' She took advantage of how much her parents worshipped her to punish her sister for something she couldn't help.
Such a spiteful cow.
"Naomi!" Keiran appeared, his expression a little surprised to see Naomi sitting on her own.
"Oh, hey Kieran…" She smiled back, and watched as he sat down on the seat in front of her.
"Why are you on your own?"
"Free lesson."
"I see, no Emily?"
"She's in history. I couldn't catch her before she went either."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"I sat next to her in form, and she just blanked me. And then when the bell went she just ran, and I didn't know what to do. Keiran let me ask, has Katie always been like she is?"
"Undermining, sly, crafty, always acts like she's above everyone else? Yep. That's Katie all over."
"So Emily has always been the quiet one everyone walks over?"
"She has."
"Keiran, you think you could help me? I know it's quite a huge favour to give, but it would be great."
"Go ahead."
"Do you think you could, I don't know, call Emily to your office, but I'm there instead? I think that's the only way she's going to talk to me properly."
"Mind me asking why she's not talking to you? Don't worry, I can keep secrets." He winked and smiled.
"It's just… you know on Saturday, I took Emily to the beach, and things we're great you know, but as soon as Katie calls it's like Emily's happy mood just goes. And for some reason I hate seeing her like that. Well anyway, we got back to mine and said our goodbyes and well she…she kissed me."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"Well it wasn't at the time, obviously, but Katie saw us, and she thinks I like pounced on Emily or something. Anyway she's told Jenna, and I wasn't really in her good books anyway because of sticking up for Emily at dinner. And now, Katie says I'm not allowed to see her. I just need to talk to her alone, so I can sort things out."
Keiran coughed, it was a lot of information to take in, in under 10 seconds. But he nodded, and stood up.
"Don't worry Naomi, I'll get another teacher to go and grab her. You go and wait in my office ok, everything will be fine. I promise." Keiran took her hand, pulling her up. She nodded and walked away from him, down the corridor to her form room, and through the door behind it, filled with crap of course, but she couldn't expect any less from Keiran.
--
A knock on the door made everyone in Mrs Russell's class turn to it, and a teacher's assistant popped her head through the door. Mrs Russell motioned her in, and she read from the note she was handed.
"Emily…Fitch? Mr Foeinaiugh wants to see you in his office." Emily's head shot up and she nodded vigorously. Anything to get out of the most boring lesson in the world, especially since her sister had been shooting her the most evil looks she had ever seen. She gathered her things up, and followed the assistant out of the door, towards Kieran's form room slash politics room. As she opened the door she noticed his classroom was empty, so she assumed he was in the room behind his classroom. As she sauntered through, she closed the door behind her, and turned back to the desk, totally not expecting to see whom she saw.
"Naomi?! Where's Keiran?"
"Fuck knows." She laughed nervously.
"Did you…have you…have I been set up?" She smiled playfully. Naomi liked this Emily a lot better than the Emily before. Maybe it was because they were by themselves. She didn't have the pressure of the other people in the form talking about her.
"Seems so."
"I've never been set up before. How strange."
"Very strange."
"Why am I here anyway Naomi?"
"I wanted to talk to you, ask you why you were like that with me this morning, and why Katie is so crazy…"
"Wait, you talked to Katie? Why? How does she even know you?"
"She um… she stopped me…well I wouldn't say stop…she forced me to stop in the corridor earlier, told me about your mum."
"She did? I had the worst day yesterday. She seriously wouldn't stop riddling me about it. I was so annoyed."
"You don't regret it though?"
"Regret what?"
"The erm… the kiss."
"Oh! Of course not!"
"Ok…good…"
"I'm sorry about earlier. It was just the weather…and my mum, and everyone talking. It's just, I hate the attention, and I know its weird, I've been pretty much alone all of my life and I don't really want it to change that drastically."
"I know what you mean. I've been the same pretty much."
"Really?"
"Yeah, with my mum moving a lot with her job, it's been hard to make friends I guess. I'm just really glad this is where we are staying now." She smiled bashfully at Emily, who in turn ducked her head to hide the shade of red that her cheeks were turning. Naomi shuffled closer a little, pulling up Emily's face by the chin with her finger. They were so close now as they both leaned towards each other, their noses brushing. Their breaths mingled together and Naomi couldn't help but whisper a small 'are you sure?' Emily's eye's widened a little as she nodded and then their lips touc…
"COME ON BOYS AND GIRLS, SETTLE DOWN!"
They darted away from each other as Kieran's voice echoed through the classroom in front of the room they were in. "Fucking hell." Naomi whispered under her breath, and Emily couldn't help but laugh, as they sat down on the desk together. Naomi took hold of Emily's hand, tracing circles around her knuckles and then leaning down to place a soft kiss on top of it.
"I'll go out the back way. You go out through the form room ok." Emily nodded and reluctantly dropped Naomi's hand, watching her as she walked out of the back door and into the busy corridor. Emily took a deep breath, tried to calm her insides and walked out of the office and into the form room.
"Sorry Keiran." She mumbled as she noticed everyone look at her. Keiran winked.
"No problem Emily. Everything ok now?"
Emily nodded and avoiding her sister's look of disgust, sat down in her seat. The door clicked open and Emily couldn't help but smile as she spotted the blonde.
"Sorry I'm late Keiran got a bit lost you know."
"Ah, very well Naomi. Just make sure it doesn't happen again." She nodded and sat down next to Emily, both grinning at each other a little before turning back to the front.
--
"Don't you dare tell me you're walking home with that Natalie girl."
"It's Naomi, Katie, and no I'm not, I've got to speak to Keiran about the presidency thing that's going on."
"If you're lying to me, seriously…"
"Fucking hell, no, I'm not. Go."
"Fine…" Katie ran off, hopped into Freddie's car and sped off, leaving Emily on her own, outside sitting on the steps. Naomi spotted her first as she exited the college building, her red hair blowing in the slight winds, her legs crossed on the ground, the coat wrapped around her waist tucked under her bum so she wouldn't get a damp skirt. The blonde girl smiled and walked down the steps, sitting beside her, making her jump a little at the new company. Naomi laughed a little as Emily turned with a shy look on her face.
"Do you need a lift home?"
"No, it'll be fine, I can walk."
"Emily… You live next door to me, car sharing is good."
"But…what… surely Katie, or my mum…"
"I can drop you off around the corner if you'd like. I'd feel like a complete meany, but if it'll stop you're family saying anything…" Emily nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat from getting nervous about her family's reactions. Naomi wrapped an arm around Emily's shoulder, rubbing at her arm soothingly.
"Now come on… its too cold to walk home anyway…" She winked and Emily ducked her head through blushing. Naomi got up, and held out a hand to Emily, who looked around cautiously before taking it, and linking their fingers together as they walked to the student's car park. They climbed into Naomi's mini, and she put the heaters on full blast, watching Emily's face erupt in a smile as they drove towards their house.
--
"Are you sure you want dropping around the corner? I feel like such a bitch. I could just park up in my driveway?" Emily thought about it for a second, sometimes people could be so nosey and especially her parent and Katie who had a tendency of looking out of the window when she thought something was up. Finally, Emily shook her head.
"Go on, park up at yours. I'm not bothered; I'll just get in shit with Katie. Who cares." Naomi gazes at her sadly and carries on down their street pulling into her driveway. As they both get out, Emily scans the area, checks if Katie is peeking from anywhere. Naomi walks around to the same side as Emily and pulls her into a hug. They hold each other for at least five minutes, both taking in the scent of the other.
"Thank you." Emily says, not just thanking her for the ride home, but for everything else.
"It's no problem." She pulls away, and waves Emily off as she disappears into her front door.
--
"Mum?!"
"In here."
"Hey, y'alright love, how was school?"
"Like any other school, full of people who don't give a shit about anyone but themselves."
"Did you see Emily?"
"Yeah, actually I wanted to tell you about that."
Naomi sat down on the chair opposite her mum, who was clutching a hot cup of coffee in her hands.
"What is it?"
"Mum, you met Emily didn't you?"
"Yeah I did, she was lovely."
"Well today she seemed a bit… I don't know, closed off, like she's always scared."
"She's very quiet. Maybe it's just how she has been brought up. Even I noticed that the Fitches talked about Katie a lot more than they did Emily."
"It's just, one thing bad is said about her and it's like she shuts down. She doesn't want to talk, she doesn't keep eye contact and she's really hard to get a decent conversation out of, especially when other people are around."
"I think she's afraid of people's reactions. I'm sure whenever she's had an idea or some sort of thing she has wanted to tell her parents, Katie has overshadowed her, gone one better. She doesn't want to be hurt."
"I get it."
"How are you and her going by the way?"
"Me and her? What are you talking about?"
"I may be old Naomi, but I'm not stupid. I know you like her. You just need to break down that iron wall that's been built around her, and she'll be yours." Naomi went to speak but nothing came out, and she couldn't help but agree with her mother, she was right this time. She really did need to break the walls. She wasn't much different to her when she was young. She never had friends because she would never be there to actually stick out their friendship. She was always tired of saying good-bye and never seeing them again. So she built these walls. The walls that had broken down as soon as she had met Emily Fitch.
--
"You think I'm fucking stupid don't you."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Emily tried to move past Katie up to their bedroom, but she wasn't quick enough.
"I'm not a retard Emily. I know you came home with her."
"And so what? There's nothing wrong with that."
"Yes there is, Mum forbid you from seeing her."
"She can't forbid me from anything."
"Oh yes she can."
"Fuck off Katie, I'm not in the mood ok." Emily finally pushed past her and up the stairs into their room. Upon noticing the mess she groaned, slamming the door and collapsing on to her bed. She couldn't get much thinking done as Katie barged right in.
"Who the fuck do you think you are? Talking to me like that. Mum would be furious."
"I can talk however the fuck I like, and I can see whoever I want to see. You don't own me."
"You can see whoever you want, yeah, but not that lezza next door. You're not gay Emily."
"And how do you know, and why does it matter? Afraid it'll ruin your little identical twin plan? People will think you're gay too is that it?"
"No, I…"
"That's exactly it Katie. If I want to be with Naomi I fucking can! No-one can stop me either, not you, not Dad, not Mum-"
"Yes I can…" Both girls turned to the noise, their mother stood almost frozen in the doorway. "You will not see that girl again. She's corrupting you."
"But Mum…"
"No buts Emily. No more Naomi. If I hear you've been with her, even looked at her, you'll be grounded, you hear? Now, stay here, Katie come with me, I've made something to eat… I mean it Emily." And that was it, she slammed the door after her, causing the Emily sticker to peel off at the impact and fall to the floor. Emily turned over buried her face into the pillow, begging herself not to cry, but he couldn't help it, and so the tears came, and they kept coming.
--
Naomi's night consisted of three things. Dinner – a wonderful arrangement of roast chicken and stuffing, Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes, drowned in gravy – a bit of TV, and then some quiet reading in her room. Her TV was blasting, some sort of music channel that she was fond of because of the music it played, obviously. That was until her phone began to vibrate and she began to get a little worried that Emily on the other end seemed breathless and sounded like she had been crying an awful lot.
"Naomi… can you… can you come get me? I need… I need to get out of here. Please?"
"Do you think you can sneak out? Meet me by my car?"
"I'll try…" She sobbed and cut off the line. Naomi placed her book down on the side and got up, slipped her converse on her feet and made her way downstairs. She passed the living room, and spotted Keiran and her Mum snuggled up on the sofa.
"Where you off to love?"
"Emily needs to get out of the house."
"The lake?" Naomi nodded and smiled.
"Don't be too long. College in the morning yea?" Naomi nodded again and walked out of the door. She smiled shyly as she spotted Emily waiting by the side of her car. Her eyes red and damp and her clothes screwed up, as if she had been tossing and turning.
"Come on, get in…"
Emily climbed in and they drove, just drove. Emily head rested against the cold glass of the window as she gazed out at the dark night, the stars almost visible. The heaters blew, the only noise that was filling the comfortable silence between the two. Naomi drove, and it was almost like this journey was etched into her mind, especially as she turned down a quiet country road that she had been along too many times to count. As she pulled up beside secluded pathway, Naomi reached over to Emily pulling a stray piece of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear, breaking her out of the trance she was in. Emily turned to Naomi and her mouth turned up a little at the edges as she noticed where they were. Both girls got out, and Naomi grabbed the blanket from the boot. She grabbed a hold of Emily's hand and led her through the bushes, finding their favourite spot opposite the lake. She laid the blanket down, below the sky, where the clouds were clear and stars were visible now.
"When you look at the stars what do you see?" That was the first thing either had said for the last half an hour, and it was a thoughtful thing to say as they both lay back to the ground, gazing up at the blanket of stars that covered the sky.
"I think of baby teeth." She smiled playfully when Emily turned to her with a confused look on her face.
"Baby teeth? Why?"
"You never got told that story?" Emily shook her head. "When I was little my mum always said that every time you lost a tooth, the tooth fairy would take it and add it to the sky. That' why there are so many, and that's why they are all different sizes."
"I never got any money for my teeth when I was little… Kate did, of course… but I never got anything, so I just kept my teeth in a little pot in my bedside draw. I bet they are still there."
"That's gross!"
"It's for the memories." She laughed. Emily turned to face Naomi, sitting up a little and leaning back on her elbows.
"I'm sorry about Katie."
"Hey, don't apologise for her. She should be the one apologising. And anyway, is she here right now?"
"No…"
"Then we don't need to talk about her." Naomi sat up also.
"I'm not really an open person. Things frighten me easily, big crowds, awkward situations, meeting new people…" Naomi nodded.
"I've always been like it, even when I was little, that's why I've not had anyone. Apart from you of course."
"Well then aren't you lucky I moved in next door…" Naomi replied playfully.
"Cheeky sod." Emily said, and pushed Naomi, accidentally too hard as she came tumbling down on top of her.
"Em… do you ever… have you ever had you know, funny feelings in your stomach when you see someone?"
"I have that now… is that normal?"
"I think it is…" Their faces drew closer together, their noses brushing like they did in the classroom before, their breaths mixed, and then it happened. Lips on lips. It was simple at first a simple peck, and they both pulled back, serious looks on their faces.
"My stomach is going crazy right now…" Emily whispered.
"Mine too." Their lips crashed together, this time filled with so much more vigour and lust. Their tongues met and Naomi couldn't help but moan a little at the feeling. Emily pulled herself over so she was fully on top of her. Nothing else happened, no hands moved, their bodies did not move against each other. Only their lips did. They did not want this to go to far and ruin what they already had. Their kisses deepened, occasionally they broke for air, but they weren't stopping. The feeling that filled each of them made it difficult to stop. Naomi rolled them over, so she was now on top, and pushed Emily down into the blanket, the passion in her kiss was like a release of everything the two had been through already.
They broke apart, both breathing heavily. Naomi didn't move from her position and instead pulled a hand up and stroked a fallen piece of hair from Emily's face. She smiled thankfully and leaned up to place one softer kiss on the swollen lips in front of her. Naomi rolled off of her, and they lay side by side again, their hands interlinked this time, in the most intimate of ways. Emily's thumb stroked around Naomi's hand causing small goose bumps to rise on her skin.
"Emily…"
"Mmhhmm?"
"When you look at the stars what do you see?"
"I see you."
--
"Katie!"
"What? What do you want from me? You obviously don't care about me as much as you do your precious Naomi. Go on, fuck off back to her."
"Of course I care about you Katie! But she needs me right now!"
"You've really changed Emily."
"I have Katie, but it's for the better."
"If you think so."
"I know so." Emily ran out of the door before either could say anything else, leaving Katie to slump back down on her bed. Emily ran, ran as fast as she could without injuring herself. But she needed to get to her. Naomi needed her, needed her more than she had ever needed her. And there was no way she was going to refuse that.