Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea, Naomi fought hard to convince herself as she moved restlessly around her room trying to make it presentable for Katie's arrival. She had been getting on much better with Katie of late, and she was being a lot nicer to her as well. They'd spoken more since the breakup than they had the whole time Naomi and Emily were together.
Maybe it would be fine.
Maybe she should stop pacing before she wore a whole in her bedroom floor. She stopped in her tracks when the doorbell rang, a split second later she was racing downstairs to answer it, almost knocking her mother over in the process.
"Hey," Katie greeted her in a relaxed and friendly tone.
"Hi," Naomi's voice was tight with nerves, "come on in."
"Hello," Gina smiled cheerfully at their guest, "you must be Katie, it's lovely to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too, Ms Campbell," the brunette smiled sweetly, extending her hand to the older woman.
"Please, dear, call me Gina," she insisted.
"All right then, Gina."
"We're going upstairs," Naomi interrupted their exchange of pleasantries by dragging Katie away.
"Your mum seems nice," Katie smiled when they reached Naomi's room. She looked around. The protest posters, intellectual book titles gracing the shelves and the cluttered knick knacks covering every available surface all screamed Naomi.
"Yeah, she's all right," the blonde shrugged, not feeling half as awkward as she'd thought she would. "Shall we get started then?"
Katie nodded, dropping her bag on Naomi's bed and pulling out her books. "I did make an attempt at it, but it's shit."
"Let me see," Naomi rolled her eyes. She didn't have high hopes for Katie's draft of the essay, but she was sure it wasn't complete shit.
"I just don't get all this American politics stuff. I just can't listen to that man talk. His voice puts me to sleep," Katie shook her head and frowned. She didn't know why she'd decided to do history, anyway. "And those discussion questions are so bloody vague I never know if I'm doing it right."
"Well..." Naomi began when she finished the last lines, "it's not bad. All the ideas are right and the structure is...good. You just need to spice it up a little."
"Spice it up?" Katie's brow furrowed.
"Yeah," Naomi grinned, handing the essay back to her, "add a little bit of that Katie fucking Fitch personality to it. Otherwise you're just spewing out facts from textbooks and Wikipedia."
"Personality...right," Katie nodded even though she had no bloody clue how to add personality to a history essay.
"Don't be afraid to voice your opinions. I know you have plenty of them!" she smirked.
"Oi! Fucking bitch!" Katie pouted, but chuckled in spite of herself.
Naomi gave her a few tips on how to improve the structure of her essay and pointed out where she should include opinions and where she should stick to facts. She had been pleasantly surprised when she'd read Katie's original draft. She hadn't expected it to be so good. She hadn't expected it to be so easy to work with Katie, either, but Katie was more than willing to listen to her advice. She seemed a completely different person than the girl who had started those rumours about her in middle school (even if they did turn out to be true).
Katie was just grateful for Naomi's help. She knew she didn't deserve it. She'd put a lot of effort into making Naomi's life miserable last year. Hell, she'd slapped her round the face and thrown her into a desk, yet here Naomi was helping her. For the first time, she felt like she was seeing the real Naomi, without her well aimed sarcastic defences or Emily standing by her side. For the first time she began to see Naomi Campbell as someone she could actually be friends with, her poor taste in fashion aside.
After about an hour of working on the essay, Katie's enthusiasm began to wane and her focus began to slip away.
"You know what? I think we need a drink," she sighed stretching her arms out over her head. All this history was making her feel stiff and old, it was time to bring some life back into them. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of vodka.
Naomi scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Where did you get that from?"
"The off sales on my way over here," Katie grinned proudly.
Naomi narrowed her eyes wondering how she managed to pull that off.
"The boy who works there is such a little geek. All it takes is a low cut top and some over the top flirting, and he won't bother asking for I.D!"
"I should have known," Naomi remarked in an amused tone.
"What?" Katie huffed defensively. "It's not a crime to use whatever tools you have at your disposal to get what you want out of life. You were given brains, I was given tits!" she shrugged and unscrewed the cap.
"You were given brains, too," Naomi threw back, feeling a strange need to assure Katie that she was more than just tits. "And, if you spent half as much time flicking through a newspaper as you do flicking through glossy magazines, then you'd know how to exploit those, too."
"Yeah," Katie couldn't help but feel oddly flattered by the blonde's comment, but she wasn't going to let her know that. She took a slow swig of the clear liquid before speaking again. "Well, if you spent half as much time flicking through fashion magazines as you do reading those big arse newspapers, then maybe you'd be able to pick outfits that don't make me wish I was blind."
"Fuck off, Fitch!" Naomi smirked, and snatched the bottle from her friend's hand.
With each swig from the bottle they took, the remaining awkwardness between them dissolved. The history essay was soon abandoned in favour of getting drunk. They passed the bottle back and forth and just talked, which was strange because they'd never really talked before, and both of them were acutely aware of that. What was stranger still was that it didn't feel forced or uncomfortable.
"I should thank you, you know," Katie began.
Naomi cocked her head to one side and looked at Katie in confusion. "For what?"
"Well, this is probably the closest I'll get to an A in history, and it's all because of you, so, thanks," she said sincerely.
"You're welcome," Naomi smiled back.
It happened on a Thursday. It was inevitable, really. Roundview wasn't that big, so they were bound to bump into each other eventually. Of all the ways, in all the places that it could have happened, it happened where they least expected it to.
Naomi pushed open the door to the girls' toilets, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Emily standing at the sinks. Her heart stopped, and it felt like all the air had been sucked from the room.
Emily's eyes widened and her stomach clenched. It seemed like every inch of the room was suddenly filled with tension.
They stared at each other uneasily for a few seconds, neither of them prepared for this moment.
"Hi," Emily croaked when she eventually found her voice. She offered her ex a weak smile.
"Hi," Naomi replied with a curt nod, somehow managing to sound a lot surer of herself than she felt.
"How are you?" they asked at almost exactly the same time.
"I'm fine," Emily answered moments before Naomi replied with, "I'm all right."
A brief silence followed. For all their time spent together talking about stupid shit, they couldn't find anything to say right now.
Naomi looked around the room feeling incredibly awkward. The pale pink paint around the faded white tiles, the dark, almost maroon coloured stalls, the porcelain basins running underneath the streaky mirrors, all of these things suddenly became much more interesting than they had ever been before.
"I better go." She took a few steps backwards, unable to stand the tension any longer. She just wanted to get out of there.
"Don't you need the loo?" Emily asked, her brows knitting together in confusion.
"What?"
"I mean, isn't that why you came in here?" she chuckled softly.
Naomi remembered that sound. It tore through her heart like a dagger.
"Yeah...right...yeah...I did," she nodded and shifted uncomfortably. The need to get away from this awkward situation suddenly became more pressing than her need for the bathroom. "But I don't have to go anymore so I'm just going to...go."
"Right," Emily nodded. "Well...I guess I'll see you around."
"Yeah," Naomi agreed quietly, turning to leave. She paused for a moment, her hand lingering on the door handle. She was about to turn back and say something else to Emily, but whatever it was died on her lips. Shaking her head she pushed the door open mumbling a brief "goodbye" as she did.
Alone in the bathroom once more Emily shut her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, struggling to deal with the overwhelming feeling of guilt that had just hit her. She knew it had been for the best. She knew if they'd stayed together, she would have ended up resenting Naomi. She knew she was happier now that she was truly free. She just felt horrible that, in order to achieve all that, she had hurt the first person in the world who loved her for who she really was. Really fucking horrible.
Katie was home alone and loving it. Her parents had gone to dinner to "reconnect with each other" and James was staying over at his friend's house. Emily was out somewhere, gaying it up, no doubt, so Katie was lounging about their room, using her laptop to catch up on the latest celebrity scandal. There was some loud banging on the stairs and Emily appeared in the door with some random girl in tow. It was a different random girl than it had been the last time.
"Katie-" she seemed surprised and disappointed to see her sister there, "what are you doing here?"
"I'm doing the fucking Great North Run, what does it look like?" she scoffed and rolled her eyes. She could tell that her sister was slightly drunk and, judging from how dilated her pupils were, she was definitely on something.
"Aren't you going out or something?" she asked hopefully, strongly hinting that it was a request rather than a question. The nameless girl's hands were wrapped around her waist and she was licking the back of her neck.
Katie wrinkled her nose in disgust. Didn't that girl see her sitting there? Whatever it was they had taken, Katie wished she had some. She contemplated staying, protesting her right to be in her own room, but they looked so fucking out of it that she didn't think her presence would make any difference. They'd probably just fuck each other anyway.
"Whatever!" She slammed her laptop shut and glared at her sister. If looks could kill Emily would have been a goner. She grabbed her jacket and bag and stormed out of the room on a wind of fury.
"Fucking slut, bitch!" she cursed her sister as she slammed the front door. Why the hell couldn't they have gone back to the slut's house? Why did they have to come here and ruin Katie's night? She was pissed off now, even more so because she was standing outside in the cold, so naturally she went to the one place in the world all cold, pissed off people go: she went to the pub.
Uncle Keith's bar was a dive, and that was putting it nicely. It was a grotty little hole full of gruff looking old men and chavs. It also had this very distinctive smell to it, like something, possibly one of the patrons, had died there. Ordinarily it was the last place Katie wanted to be, but tonight it was her first port of call. It was the only place in town that she knew she wouldn't get asked for I.D. and where she might actually meet someone she knew that would save her from drinking alone. She cursed her sister once again before pushing open the door.
"Katiekins!" she heard his booming voice before she saw him. She turned around to find Cook sharing a booth with Naomi, and an odd feeling of relief washed over her. At least there were people here that she knew.
"Hey!"
"What brings you to this fine establishment this evenin'?" Cook asked. He was a bit surprised to see her there, since Katie never really tried to hide the fact that she wasn't a fan of Uncle Keith's pub.
"I just...had to get out of the house, you know?" she replied with a shrug. She didn't elaborate on why she had to get out of the house because she wanted to spare Naomi's feelings. Why should the fact that Emily was currently shagging some random girl ruin both of their nights?
"I get ya!" he grinned. "Come on, have a seat! Join us!" he insisted, then bellowed to the barmaid to bring Katie a drink. "You can help me cheer good old Naomikins up!"
"I don't need cheering up!" Naomi protested shooting him a death stare.
"I practically had to drag you out," he reminded her.
"Just because I didn't want to go out doesn't mean I need to be cheered up."
"Yeah well maybe you can help me find Naomi a new bird then?" he suggested as an alternative, giving Katie a wink.
"I definitely don't want one of those!" she rolled her eyes.
It was clear Naomi wasn't ready to move on just yet. Katie thought it was a shame because Emily didn't seem to have any trouble moving on.
"Come on Naomi!" he urged her. "I haven't seen you so much as look at another bird since the breakup! It's time to move on. Get some lesbian rebound pussy, you know?"
"Can't we just have a drink and a laugh instead?" Naomi requested firmly, her tone telling Cook to drop the subject and get as far away from it as possible.
"That...we can do!" he fired that sly Cook grin at the girls. "Christina! A bottle of your finest and three shot glasses over here please."
The middle aged blonde woman behind the bar arrived at their table with three shot glasses and a bottle of tequila. Katie gagged at the very thought of drinking the stuff, but it wasn't like Cook was going to give her a choice in the matter. He filled the glasses and handed one to Katie and Naomi.
"Lesbian rebound pussy!" he toasted, raising the glass in the air. Katie and Naomi shared a disapproving look and downed their shots wincing at that first taste of tequila. As soon as the empty glasses hit the table Cook refilled them.
Half the bottle disappeared in a blur of Cook's obscene toasts and that feeling of forcing down a mouthful of liquor.
The evening was fun, if a little uneventful. It was just the three of them having a laugh, getting drunk together. They played a couple of games of pool, polished off the bottle of tequila and stayed in the bar long after the regular bar flies had gone home. It was the first time in a long time that Katie had felt comfortable enough to let her guard down and properly enjoy the night.
Outside on the darkened street Cook pinched one of Naomi's cigarettes and bid them goodnight.
"Goodnight," Naomi called back, her cigarette bouncing between her lips as she tried to light up. She looked up at Katie and smiled, nodding in the direction of their houses. "Shall we?"
"I think we should. We've got college in the morning, after all," she chuckled.
Naomi noticed that her lisp became more apparent when she was drunk. She also noticed that it was incredibly cute. "I'm glad you showed up tonight, you know?" Naomi pouted thoughtfully, her inner filter completely disabled by all the alcohol in her system.
"Yeah?" Katie looked at her curiously, a hint of shock glittering in her eyes.
"Yeah," Naomi nodded and chuckled slightly. She turned her head to look Katie in the eye, her blue eyes suddenly lacking in the sadness they'd held for weeks. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm starting to have fun when I'm around you. I never knew you were fun, Katie." She grinned.
"I'm the life and soul of the fucking party, Campbell," she replied cockily, in a way only Katie fucking Fitch could get away with. "Who knew you could be fun to be around? You're a right laugh, Naomi, when you're not being a complete cunt that is," she smirked.
They looked at each other and laughed. Naomi sighed and threw her arm around Katie.
Katie drew a deep breath and looked at Naomi, realising that something had changed. They were friends now. She smiled and put her arm around Naomi's back.
They continued their stumbling home with their arms wrapped around each other, putting one drunken foot in front of the other as they continued to throw compliments disguised as insults at each other and revelled in their newfound friendship.
When the alarm sounded the next day it felt like someone was operating a pneumatic drill inside Katie's skull, and she knew exactly who was to blame: James fucking Cook and his cunting bottle of tequila. She forced one eye open so she could locate her phone and put an end to the incessant ringing before the sound waves punched a hole in her cranium. The inside of her mouth tasted like she'd licked a rusty gate. Forcing both eyes open and blinking hard, she noticed that her sister was actually asleep in her own bed for a change, and that she was alone. She must have chucked the skank out after they'd fucked. Hump 'em and dump 'em. The new Emily was definitely like the old Katie.
"Wake up bitch!" she shouted across the room, hating the sound of her own voice as it pounded the sides of her brain.
Emily groaned and mumbled incoherently at her.
Katie managed to manoeuvre herself into an upright position, grimacing as her stomach began to punish her for drinking excessively the night before. It felt like it was actually ablaze within her abdomen. She mentally cursed Cook through every circle of hell, thinking every one of them was probably too good for him.
Emily had finally managed to drag herself from her sleep and turned to look at her sister through bleary eyes. Her brow furrowed in thought.
"Where did you go last night?" she wondered out loud.
"I went out," Katie answered, trying her hardest to get out of bed.
"Out where?" Emily blinked a few times to clear the morning haze from her eyes.
"Funny, where I went didn't seem to matter to you last night," she spat back venomously.
Emily's face fell. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"Well, don't be! I ended up having a good time," Katie shrugged, stretching when she got out of bed. "Now come on, you'll probably want to have a wash or something before we go to college."
Fucking James Fucking Cook was the devil incarnate. Or at least that was what Naomi decided when she woke up the next morning feeling like she'd gotten in the way of some stampeding elephants. She could taste the distinctive tequila after taste in her mouth, and it was making her gag. She forced herself out of bed to go brush her teeth. She should know better by now than to let her so called best friend drag her to Uncle Keith's on a school night. Nothing good ever came from Uncle Keith's. When she went downstairs, her hair still damp because she couldn't summon the strength to hold the hairdryer above her head any longer, she poured herself a cup of coffee and loaded it with sugar.
"Please tell me Kieran's here," she groaned at her mother.
"He's upstairs," Gina nodded.
"Thank God," she sighed in relief. At least she wouldn't have to walk to college.
Arriving at college with Kieran meant she was in the form room before most of her classmates, who usually didn't show up until 5 minutes after the bell had rang. She trudged to her seat, dropped her bag on the floor and buried her head in her arms. Kieran sat behind his desk with his feet up laughing at her pain. She lifted her head to glare at him.
"Do you want me to give him detention?" he asked.
"I don't think being the cause of my hangover is a valid reason to give someone detention," she argued, her voice muffled by her arms.
"Yeah but it's Cook. It wouldn't be hard to find a valid reason to give him detention."
Naomi laughed. He had a point. Cook's behaviour was hardly exemplary.
"No, it's all right. Thanks, though." She buried her head in her arms again and listened to the sounds of her classmates arriving.
"Must have been a good night last night." Effy's voice forced her to lift her head again. Somehow she had managed to sit down beside her without making a sound, cementing Naomi's theory that Effy is most definitely part ninja.
"Must have been," she shrugged. Truth was it had been a good night. She hadn't expected it to be, but it turned out to be the most fun she'd had in ages.
"Looks like you weren't the only one indulging in a bit of midweek drinking," Effy remarked when the Fitch twins walked through the door looking worse for wear.
Katie caught Naomi's eye and smiled as best she could given how awful she felt.
Naomi smiled back. Knowing Katie was sharing her pain seemed to ease her suffering a little.
"Who were you out with last night?" Effy asked, noticing the exchange of smiles between her two friends.
Naomi gritted her teeth. Of course Effy had noticed her smiling at Katie; she was nothing if not perceptive.
"All right fuckers, is everyone here?" Kieran's gruff voice cut through the din of a dozen private conversations and saved Naomi from the analytical eye of Effy Stonem.
"I've come to the conclusion," Katie said in the middle of history class, "that tequila is the devil's piss in a bottle. It's evil!"
Naomi laughed, earning herself a glare from the teacher.
Katie stifled a giggle of her own, and shot her an apologetic look.
"You feeling that bad, eh?" Naomi grinned.
Katie gave her a look that answered the question for her.
"These things to happen when you go out with Cook."
"Cook might have ordered the tequila but I didn't see you doing anything to make the tequila go away." Katie raised an eyebrow at Naomi. "Aren't you supposed to be like his conscience or something?"
"Probably the or something," Naomi chuckled.
"Well the next time I think there should be a rule: no devil's piss!" she said decidedly.
"All right then, no devil's piss," Naomi agreed, pleased to hear that she wasn't the only one who wanted there to be a next time.
Just as Naomi was starting to wonder if Katie was ever actually going to arrange another night out, she came running at her in the hall brandishing a few sheets of paper.
"Look at this!" she cried out, waving the pages in her face.
Naomi wasn't sure whether she should be curious or concerned. "What is it?" she asked, unable to read anything because Katie kept moving.
"My history coursework!" she said excitedly. "I got an A! A fucking A!"
A grin spread over Naomi's face when she took the paper from the girl and examined it for herself. "Congratulations! I told you, you could do it."
"Yeah, well, I never would have been able to do it without you," she replied honestly. She knew Naomi's help was the reason she'd gotten higher than her usual B grade.
"I didn't really do anything," she shrugged. "All the ideas were yours, I just helped you structure it."
"Since when are you all modest and shit?" Katie scoffed. Naomi rolled her eyes. She wasn't being modest, it was the truth. "I know I did the work myself, but I never actually understood any of it until you explained it, just accept the thank you, for fucksake."
"Fine," she said shortly, "You're welcome."
"You know what this means, though, don't you?" Katie asked, leaning her body against the locker beside Naomi's as she waited for her to get her books out.
"What's that?" Naomi asked, again unsure whether she should be worried.
"It means you have to help me study for the Christmas module," she grinned.
Naomi laughed. "Yeah, all right." She could do that. Spending time with Katie was not only getting easier, it was starting to become fun.
"Thanks," Katie said excitedly, not only because she wanted to do well in her exam, but also because she was starting to enjoy Naomi's company. "But before all that boring stuff we have to go out and celebrate! That's not a request by the way, it's an order. Go home and search your plaid and floral wardrobe for something that could pass as a decent outfit 'cause we're goin' out tonight, yeah?"
Naomi agreed, knowing she wasn't going to get a choice anyway. Besides, she'd been looking forward to going out with Katie again.
"Actually, I'll call round to yours before we go and make sure you're fit for public viewing," Katie informed her, again not giving her an option.
"I can't wait," Naomi replied sarcastically.
Naomi was still getting ready when the doorbell rang. She heard the muffled sounds of her mother moving to answer it and then addressing Katie as though they were old friends. Their muffled conversation lasted at least five minutes while Naomi stood upstairs wondering what they were talking about. Footsteps on the stairs warned her of Katie's approach. She straightened up and prepared herself for a barrage of insults about her outfit.
"Hi," Katie greeted her cheerfully. She was, in true Katie Fitch style, dressed to perfection in a little black dress and killer heels that brought her to Naomi's eye level. Katie's eyes flicked over Naomi's body appraisingly. "Well thank fuck for that!" she sighed.
"What?"
"The fact you've managed to pick a decent outfit without my help," she explained. "I was afraid I was going to have to rummage through the sea of floral and plaid that you call a wardrobe."
"Fuck off, Fitch!" Naomi pouted, although there was no denying the fact that she was secretly pleased Katie liked her outfit.
Katie rolled her eyes. It was tough giving people compliments.
"Anyway what delights did the fabulous breasts of Katie Fitch procure for us tonight?"
Katie didn't seem the least bit insulted by Naomi's back handed remark. She just grinned and reached into her bag to pull out a bottle of sparkling wine.
"I thought that since this is a celebration and everything we should have something a bit classier than raw vodka straight from the bottle," she beamed proudly. "Go get some glasses Naoms."
The blonde did a double take at Katie's use of the familiar nickname. She'd never heard Katie call her that before, but it seemed to roll off her tongue so naturally, curling off with the s sound at the end. She smiled and nodded, ignoring the fact that she had just taken an order from Katie.
She watched fearfully as Katie tried to pop the cork on the bottle shouting at her to at least try not to break anything.
"Your lack of faith in me is amazing," Katie huffed indignantly as she skilfully opened the wine. "This is not my first time."
"You don't say," she smirked while Katie filled her glass. She maintained eye contact with her as she took a sip. Something about the way Naomi was looking at her caused a faint blush to rise to Katie's cheeks.
After polishing off the bottle of wine, which didn't take them very long, they snuck into the kitchen in search of more alcohol. It didn't take Naomi long to locate Kieran's whiskey. Stealing her form teacher's whiskey was somewhat of a game between them. He kept trying to hide it from her, and she kept finding it. Although, she would admit to having an unfair advantage after quite a few years spent hiding her own possessions from the collection of freaks and weirdos her mum used to let stay in their house. They sat down at the table and Naomi poured them each a large measure of the golden liquid. Katie wrinkled her nose at the strong smell that seemed to burn the inside of her nose, and winced when she took a sip. Naomi couldn't help but smile smugly over her glass as she took a healthy gulp of the stuff, relishing the familiar burning sensation as it travelled from her throat to her stomach. It seemed the longer Kieran and her mother were together the more she seemed to appreciate the taste of whiskey. Must be all his drunken rambling about the fine flavours and finishes, she mused.
"You found it again, then?" Gina sounded amused when she nipped into the kitchen to refill the wine glasses. She found the game between her boyfriend and her daughter entertaining. It was nice to know that Naomi approved of her partner.
"Is he even trying anymore?" she sighed. It was getting too easy.
"How much of this stuff do you have to drink before it stops tasting like flavoured paint stripper?" Katie asked sticking her tongue out to convey her disgust.
"Quite a lot," Naomi replied honestly.
"And even then it's not guaranteed," Gina shook her head. She still hadn't come round to the taste.
"Come on, Katie," Naomi goaded her, "I thought you were hardcore."
Determined not to let her reputation falter in front of Naomi, Katie finished the remaining liquid in one gulp. Fighting the urge to gag, she held Naomi's gaze as she delicately wiped the corner of her mouth and smirked triumphantly.
It should have felt weird, a night out with her ex-girlfriend's twin sister. It should have felt like she'd stepped into the fucking twilight zone, but it didn't. In fact, the more time she spent with Katie, the more she seemed to forget that she was Emily's twin, if that was possible. There wasn't the slightest bit of awkwardness as they entered the club together under the influence of more than a little bit of Kieran's whiskey. Or when they moved together on the dance floor after knocking back a few more drinks at the bar. Katie didn't even complain about having to stand outside when Naomi wanted a smoke.
They were dancing together when Katie spotted a familiar flash of red over Naomi's shoulder that made her heart sink. Of all the night clubs in Bristol, Emily had decided to come to this one and ruin their evening. Sod's fucking law. It was a shame because they'd been having a fantastic night together. She hoped blindly that her sister would leave before Naomi saw her, although she knew it would never happen. A random brunette holding Emily's hand pulled her in the direction of the dance floor. She hadn't noticed them yet, but Katie wasn't willing to take a chance.
"Let's go for a smoke," she suggested, dragging Naomi towards the door before she had a chance to respond.
"But you don't smoke," Naomi replied in an adorably confused voice as she was thrust through the doors of the smoking area.
"Well there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" Katie shrugged, accepting a cigarette from Naomi. Truth was she had smoked before. When she was fifteen, she had taken it up in order to appear older to impress a boy. She had puffed her way through twenty fags in a little over an hour, which resulted in her being violently ill. She had avoided cigarettes at all costs after that.
Naomi sniggered as she failed to properly inhale the first couple of draws. Rolling her eyes she held her own cigarette in between her lips and reached over placing her hand on the exposed flesh of Katie's chest.
"You have to pull the smoke into your lungs," she explained. "You should feel it here." She applied gentle pressure with her hand, holding it there until she felt Katie's chest expand when she inhaled.
Katie wasn't sure if the warm sensation she was feeling was due to the smoke or Naomi's hand.
"That's better," Naomi smiled, her hand lingering on Katie's skin for a minute too long before she reminded herself to remove it.
Katie smoked slowly, enjoying the nicotine rush she was experiencing and prolonging their return to the dance floor. She knew she couldn't put it off forever. If she asked Naomi for another, Naomi would surely get suspicious about why she'd suddenly taken up chain smoking, so she linked her arm through her friend's and they went back indoors.
Back inside Katie's eyes scanned the crowded dance floor for her sister, but she couldn't find her. Maybe the gods had smiled and she had left with the random brunette. Just as she had breathed her sigh of relief and began to relax, Naomi froze behind her, telling her she'd been damned wrong in her optimistic opinion of the powers that be. She followed Naomi's gaze to where Emily was kissing the brunette vigorously on the edge of the dance floor.
"Oh for fucksake!" she muttered under her breath. The hurt look in Naomi's blue eyes pained her. She couldn't stand it, she had to do something. She had to get her out of there, as far away from Emily and her slut as she could. She laced her fingers through Naomi's and gave her a sharp tug in the direction of the door.
Naomi followed numbly, grateful to Katie for doing what her feet were incapable of.
The cold night air brought Naomi back to her senses, and her brain tried to deal with everything she had just witnessed. Emily kissing another girl, at least, that was the polite way to put it. Hundreds of questions flooded her mind. Who was this girl? Were they seeing each other, or had they just met? Had there been others? It took her all of 10 seconds to realise she didn't actually want to know the answers. Instead she turned and looked into the calming brown eyes of her saviour, Katie Fitch.
"Thanks," she mumbled, her voice coming out raspy and uncertain.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," she said sympathetically.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn't it?" Naomi shrugged.
"Probably," Katie conceded, "but it can't have been a pleasant experience."
"It's definitely not one I'd like to be repeating any time soon," she managed a weak laugh, then sighed. "That completely ruined my buzz."
"Yeah," Katie agreed.
"We should fix that," Naomi mused, feeling more alcohol was definitely needed to put the night back on track. "I guess it's too late to go to another club."
"Probably," Katie shrugged. She didn't really care, though. It didn't really matter where they went, it was Naomi's company she was enjoying more than anything.
"I know where Kieran hides his emergency bottle of whiskey," Naomi suggested with a mischievous grin.
"Emergency whiskey?" Katie chuckled as they began to walk in the direction of Naomi's house.
"Yeah, like back up whiskey in case he runs out when the off sales is shut," she explained. "Or in case I drink all of his other bottle," she added.
"I see," Katie giggled, she could practically see Kieran's face when he realised Naomi had pilfered all his whiskey.
"I won't even make you drink it straight," Naomi continued, trying to sweeten the deal. "You can have as much mixer as you like."
"Well, how could I say no to that?" Katie rolled her eyes.
"You'd be a fool if you did," Naomi responded dryly, and Katie gave her a playful shove. "Besides it's not like you've got any better offers," Naomi teased her further and shoved her back.
"Oi! Watch it!" Katie cried out. "I'm wearing heels!"
"I noticed!" she remarked with an approving pout. She definitely appreciated the aesthetic value of Katie's heels. "It was nice not having to crouch down to talk to you all night."
Katie's jaw dropped in mock indignation and she shot Naomi a killer glare. "Never heard the expression 'good things come in small packages'?"
"Yeah, well...so does arsenic."
"Fuck off, Campbell!" Katie huffed. "Now, come on. Let's get that emergency whiskey before I change my mind about actually enjoying your company."