Hey again, here's the next chapter. I'm being drowned in school work, so updates will probably be quite sporadic.
"I think I might be coming down with something, we could go some other time." I continue to glare at her. "Come on, Ems, please?" My resolve is wavering, but not crumbling.
"Naoms, stop it." The fact that I have to plead my girlfriend to visit her own mother is pathetic in itself. "This dinner will be fine, and your mother will be lovely, just like you." She looks at me incredulously. I sigh. "Stop looking at me like that, we're going, end of." Her face falls and I almost give in and stay home. Almost. Instead I walk up to her and kiss her, but before she can deepen it, I pull away.
"Hey, I wasn't done!"
"There will be more time for that later when we get home from dinner at your mum's." She grumbles indecipherable profanities under her breath. I just walk out the front door, leaving it open for her to follow me.
We arrive at Ms. Campbell's house ten minutes late because of Naomi's childish whining. Sometimes she acts like a five-year-old who doesn't get her way. Just another one of the qualities I love about her though. We haven't said our 'I love you's' yet, but I can tell we're almost there. Naomi is still grumbling about this dinner, but I seriously don't understand why. Anyone else's parents are a step up from mine, to an extent. I'm sure Naomi's mum is perfectly normal, well, closer to normal than my mum.
"Let's go."
"Are you sure we couldn't just reschedule, or, maybe, not?" I continue to glare at her, so she gets up and rushes into the house without me. Is she honestly going to start a fight about this? It's dinner with her mum, not fucking Anthony or some shit. I just sigh before getting out of the car, and making my way inside cautiously. When I enter the cozy looking house, Naomi is nowhere to be seen. Instead I am greeted by who is undeniably Naomi's mum. The same peroxide blonde hair with piercing blue eyes.
"Hello, love. You must be Emily." She greets me warmly with a large smile. Hm, Naomi must have gotten her icy side from her dad. Or she's just angry at the world for dealing her such a shitty hand with Anthony. Nah, probably just her dad. I realize she is looking for some sort of affirmation that I am indeed her daughter's girlfriend.
"Oh, yes, I'm Emily." I reply and smile shyly.
"Aren't you just lovely. You'll have to excuse Naomi, I saw her storm in here. Not even so much as a hello. You'd think she hated me or something. Well, bless your soul for sticking with that one."
"You're absolutely right, Ms. Campbell, your daughter can be a right cow, but I love her all the same." I smile even thinking about her. Even when she acts like a five-year-old, she's still my five-year-old.
"Call me Gina, dear. Ms. Campbell makes me feel so old."
"You are old, mum." Naomi chimes in from the doorway. She walks over , grabs my hand, plants a kiss on my cheek, and whispers a quick 'sorry' into my ear. I just smile up at her to let her know that it's fine.
"It's lovely to see you too, love. Now, I've made you dinner, so let's eat." Naomi looks somewhat skeptical at this statement, but follows us into the kitchen nonetheless. I take a seat next to Naomi, and she rests her hand on my leg. We start eating in a comfortable silence, but Gina breaks it not too long into our meal. "So, Emily, what do you do?"
"Mum." Naomi warns. I just smile at her.
"I'm not working anywhere right now. I'm keeping my options open at this point. Well, that's not entirely true, I know what I want to do, I'm just trying to figure out how to get there." I blush faintly at my rambling. Gina just smiles.
"What is it that you want to do?"
"I want to be a photographer." Gina nods appreciatively.
"What's stopped you from following that dream?"
"My parents." I answer quietly. The reason that I was, and still sort of am, mad at Naomi for not wanting to visit her mum is because my parents have always kept me in a bubble, and that bubble is restricting in every sense of the word. They don't want me to follow my dreams because they don't want me to drift away from them. I'm kept on a tight leash, and I've had more than enough of it.
"Right, anyone for a drink?" Gina kindly steers the conversation away from my sad excuse for a life.
"No , thank you Gina, I'm driving." She just smiles and nods before looking to Naomi. Naomi looks at me for permission, which is ridiculous because she is an adult and can do whatever she wants.
"Go ahead, babe." Naomi gets up and retrieves two wine glasses and wine. She pours herself and her mum a drink and we move into the living room. The night progresses, and I notice Naomi downing her wine. She's had at least four glasses already. I think Gina's noticed too because the conversation has ceased, giving us an opportunity to leave. Before I can say we're leaving, Gina asks Naomi a question that may very well ruin the entire night.
"How have you been, Naomi?" I look to Naomi, struggling to keep the horror off my face. Not that Naomi and I haven't talked about Anthony, but it is still a very sore subject. The tone in which Gina asked this question is what immediately triggered worry in my expression. I know she's talking about Anthony, and so does Naomi. Naomi's expression is completely blank. She looks down, her hair covering her face. I reach my hand out to touch her leg, but she immediately flinches away.
"How have I been?" She whispers in a tone that holds far more anger than any yell ever could.
"Naomi." I whisper quietly. She ignores me, and continues to silently fume. I can tell she's trying not to explode on her mother. When she looks up at Gina, tears are slowly but surely making their way down her face.
"I went through hell." she starts in a whisper. "And you had no idea." I just sit in shock, watching Naomi break in front of me. "You invited us to dinner and he charmed the shit out of you. You couldn't even bother to notice that your daughter was in pieces. Not to mention the bruises. At first he was discreet, but they soon became noticeable." I try hard not to flinch, not that I think Naomi would notice. She is completely zeroed in on Gina, not looking like she's stopping any time soon. "You didn't bother showing up to the trial." I glance at Gina and notice that she's cowering away from Naomi, looking genuinely afraid of her. "The only person who helped me, who noticed how broken I was, was a complete stranger. Is that a good enough answer for you, mum?" She gets up and walks out.
"I-" I start to speak, but get up and walk out after Naomi instead. I expect her to have walked away, but she is sitting in the passenger seat of the car. I walk to the drivers side and silently start the drive home. When I pull into the driveway Naomi just sits in her seat, staring straight ahead. I get out and walk to the passenger side. I pull open the door and reach around Naomi to unbuckle her seatbelt. She walks inside, clutching my hand. We get into bed and curl up next to each other.
"I love you." She whispers.
"I love you, too." Is my automatic response.
So, there you go. Review please.