Author's Note: THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS YOU GUYS!

Chapter Four: Passively Persuasive

Emily was rather tired of drinking. She could already feel a headache coming on. Effy had a knowing smirk on her face and was not saying anything, which happened to be seriously pissing Emily off. She did not want to be angry, so she decided it was time to sober up. Since she could not go back home without facing Katie, she decided the next best thing to sleeping was eating to recover from a hangover.

It was early morning, birds tweeting, as she walked down the block into the twenty-four hour diner. A chipper waitress served her some buttermilk pancakes that Emily happily drowned in maple syrup and hungrily scarfed down. Rubbing her full tummy, feeling a bit less hung-over, she wondered what to do next. The brunette left some cash and a small tip on the table and exited. She pulled her camera out of her backpack and turned it on.

Flash. Flash. It did not matter what time of day or where she was, Emily could always find new, interesting things to photograph. When her feet grew tired of taking her around the shops she settled on one of the sidewalk benches near her parked moped. Flipping through her pictures she deleted the ones she did not like and added some filters to various other ones. She had come to the end of the day's photos and was starting to flip through the pictures from her last session, when Freddie had skateboarded. She smiled to herself remembering the better parts of that evening, her fondness of their friendship.

A sad feeling emerged from the back of her mind when she thought about what happened last night. Freddie had attempted to stop her from making bad decisions after Naomi left, but she had taken some of her anger verbally out on him. Regret. She tucked her camera back into her bag and put on her helmet. It was clear what she had to do next. Driving around until she found their skate park, she searched for him. He was not there. She parked her moped next to his dorm and walked inside. It was 8:35 am; the door was no longer locked.

When she knocked on the door, JJ called out, "Come in." She opened it. "Oh, hi Emily."

"Hey Jay, how are you?" She did not want to be impolite and immediately start questioning him with her agenda.

"I'm fine, but I imagine you are here for something other than checking on how I'm doing this morning. Freddie left." Always so smart. "I'm sorry, I don't know where."

"Oh." Shit. Now what?

JJ felt bad he did not know any more useful information regarding his roommate's whereabouts. "He looked frustrated and upset and grabbed his skateboard before leaving, if that helps." Shit. My fault.

"Thanks, Jay."

"He'll have to come back at some point. I'm sure he's fine."

He doesn't have a clue this is my fault. I upset him. "Yeah," Emily said sadly. "Do you mind if I stay here 'til then?"

"Not at all - be my guest. You're always welcome here," he said and smiled optimistically. "Are you alright, Emily? I could call him for you. But I imagine you probably already tried that. And let's be honest, he's way more likely to pick up a phone call from you than from myself, so my calling probably wouldn't help very much. But I can try anyway, if you'd like." You're so nice to me. Too bad I'm not interested in more than friendship from you.

Emily tried smiling but ended up starting to cry instead. She shook her head despite saying, "I'm fine." Her voice betrayed her, elevating in pitch at the end as the tears fell down her face. She laid down on Freddie's bed and pulled the covers to her chin. Not wanting JJ to see her cry, she turned to face the wall.

The curly-haired boy comforted her with a few last words: "It will be okay, Emily. I promise." He then left her alone so she could fall asleep in silence. The blanket muffled her cries until they faded out entirely. Nothing like an eventful evening fueled by emotional drama to send her into a deep sleep.

The bright light from the uncovered window showed through her closed eyelids. Emily opened her eyes and moved her hand closer to her face. She had fallen asleep with her mobile in her hand. 3:56 pm. I was asleep for over seven hours, damn. Where's Freddie? She turned around to see if JJ was there. A smile spread across her face when she saw what was on the bedstand. She pulled the sticky note closer and read it:

Emily - I left you a brownie and some green tea. I'll be back by 8pm in case Freddie isn't back yet. Hope you are feeling better. Love, JJ, aka the Puzzle Master.

Sure enough, there was a brownie wrapped in cling film and a thermos on top of a napkin. Her eyes focused past the food to see Freddie on the futon. He was nodding his head rhythmically with headphones in and sketching. She felt peaceful watching him for a while until he glanced in her direction. "Hey," she said sleepily and smiled.

Freddie smiled in response but felt self-conscious, wondering how long she had been watching him draw. He did not think his artwork was bad but he had also been heavily moving to the music and silently mouthing the words while he sketched. "Hey," he said a bit loudly, forgetting his concept of volume was off when he had music still going in his ears.

Emily motioned to her ears and Freddie sheepishly took his headphones out, "Sorry. Hi, Emily."

"Hey," she repeated.

"Have a nice nap?"

"Mhmmm." Emily stretched her arms and back then relaxed again. "Your bed is really comfy."

"My bed says thanks." They lightly chuckled.

"Are you mad at me?" Her voice was always a giveaway when it came to her emotions. It lowered when she was sad or worried.

"I'm not mad, Em; I love you. I can never be mad at you." There was something deeper to what he said, but it went unnoticed by sleepy Emily.

"What about after last night?" Are you sure? Last night was bad.

"I was frustrated, but I wasn't mad." He sighed, but smiled to let her know it was okay. "I know you're hurting, Em, and sometimes I wish I knew how to help you."

She did not like talking about her stronger feelings, even with him. Her best defensive response was reassurance. "I'll be alright, Freddie. I just need to find somewhere new to live."

"You're always welcome here."

"No offence but the all guys dorm smells of something, and it ain't roses," she laughed. Thanks, though. "I want a place of my own. I'm one week away of having enough money to make a down payment. Unfortunately, there isn't much room for promotions or raises at the teashop, so I'm always saving up for lengthy periods of time."

"I could lend you the money?" He offered.

"Nah, just one more week with Katie shouldn't be so miserable. I was planning on telling her I was going to move out in a nicer way some time this week anyway. It just sort of came out all wrong last night."

"Are you alright?" His forehead wrinkled with concern.

"Stop worrying, Freddie. Katie will cool off and I will too. It just takes time, y'know?"

"Yeah." He sounded uncertain, but did not press for more assurance. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help..."

"I know where you live." Emily finished the sentence for him, but said it with the connotation of stalking him. They laughed.

"You sure you don't want to stay the week?" Why are you so persistent? Your bed isn't that comfy...

Emily shook her head, "You're so nice to me."

He shrugged nonchalantly and opened the window behind him. Placing the sketchpad that was in his lap onto the futon, he got up to grab something from his bedside table. Freddie pulled out a joint and lit it. JJ had illegally tampered with the smoke alarm in their room as a birthday present to Freddie, on the condition that he only smoke while JJ was not around. As long as their window was open, the smoke alarms in the old hall would not detect it. And the building reeked of body odor so much that a little weed unrecognizably mixed within the blend of mostly pungent scents.

Emily got off Freddie's bed and scooted into his side to cuddle when he sat back down. He wrapped his hand that wasn't holding the joint around her shoulders and laid his head on hers. "It will be alright, Em," Freddie softly said.

"Love you too, Freddie." Emily watched him take back his arm and return to drawing, while still managing to cuddle.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Walking out of the pub and down the sidewalk, Effy pulled out a fag and lit it. She ignored the coughs and reproachful looks from the onlookers who inhaled her exhalations. The automatic doors opened as she stepped into the corner store. She grabbed Advil and two water bottles. Having spent all her money on alcohol she needed to get resourceful; Effy walked up to a few boys in the beer section. "Anyone care to do me a favor...?" All their eyes slowly dragged from her feet upward until they saw her suggestive smirk and raised eyebrow. They nearly all said some variation of "yes" at once. She held out her items and one of the boys eagerly took them and strode past everyone to the register, only looking back to smugly grin at his friends.

Effy followed him and waited until he paid. "Thanks."

She started heading out the door, turning around when the boy called out, "Hey, don't I get a blowjob now or something?"

"I didn't say I would give anyone a blowjob."

"You implied it."

"How did I imply it?" She smirked.

"You know, with a look." He mimicked the suggestive smirk she had shown them earlier.

"What am I implying now?" She took two fingers of one hand and put them entirely in her mouth, slowly sliding them out while staring directly at him. It was very dirty - a gesture on the brink of giving boners to the guy and all his friends that witnessed it. When her fingers were completely out of her mouth again, all of her fingers aside from the middle one were bent: she was flipping him off.

"Fucking bitch," he shouted as she swiftly turned on her heels and left the shop.

The wind outside blew her shirt-dress up slightly as she walked around with her items. She stood at the bus stop; impervious to the waiting adults that gawked at her scantily clad body. Never one to give a flying fuck, she boldly stared right back at anyone who dared to keep on looking. As expected, none could withstand more than a few seconds of direct eye contact. When the bus arrived she made sure to get on first, giving them a good view of what they had been judging. She was sure that she saw a jealous wife angrily nudge one of the male onlookers. Effy internally laughed. Bet he's already cheating on you.

She had a rather depressing outlook on love. Her parents had gone through a messy divorce when her mother cheated on her father with his boss. Her mother tried explaining that there was not exactly something wrong with their marriage that had made her cheat, there was just some element of adrenaline rush - something that accompanies new love and fades with old - missing. Effy figured that was probably why she herself was more of a-let's-fuck-and-skip-the-after-cuddling kind of girl - always looking for an adventure instead of a relationship that could deprive her of sexual freedom. Boring relationships could lead to all sorts of heartache. Furthermore, Effy felt bad for her father, missed him, and did not want to hurt someone like her mother had. Effy had never had a boyfriend. Not even friends with benefits. She liked her sex with random unknown individuals and with as little shared information and attachment potential as possible. She could understand Naomi's resistance to befriend anyone that could get attached. At least they had each other. There were no romantic feelings, or even sexual ones, to muck things up. Not that Effy had not mentally considered Naomi once or twice for a casual, drunk shag. Her friend was gorgeous and there was no denying it.

The bus stopped in front of the flat complex, where she got off and headed indoors. Naomi lived on the third floor. They both hated having to climb the steps. Aside from clubbing it was the best exercise Effy got every week. She figured anything would help combat the damage she was doing to her lungs as she pulled out a fag and smoked it. Before pulling a key out of her small bra and opening the door to the single-flat, she grabbed Naomi's mail. The blonde had given her a house key a year ago when Effy spent most nights platonically in her bed, with nowhere else to go.

She set the envelopes on the counter and walked into the bedroom. Clothes were still sprawled out everywhere. Effy took some hangers from the closet and started cleaning up the mess. At some point she had turned on music with Naomi's stereo to a decent volume, which a sleepy Naomi blockaded out with pillows. Naomi was always very stubborn about sleeping late into the morning, especially after being awake late into the evening.

When Effy finished being helpful, ensuring there were no clothes on the floor anymore, she sat on the side of the bed with the Advil and water bottles in hand. She took a few pills herself before beginning her monthly (give or take a week, depending on Naomi's willingness to go out) ritual. "Naomi, time to get up. It's three in the afternoon. We have things to talk about."

There was a muffled groan from beneath the pillow. Effy saw Naomi's knuckles turn white as they clutched the pillow for dear life, as though she expected Effy to take it away. Instead, Effy took away the blanket. Naomi stubbornly resisted uncovering her face, even though she was wide-awake now; the blonde was going to pretend she could still sleep more.

"I have pills."

Another grunt came from beneath the pillow, which may have actually had meaning. Effy was not going to accept any muffled conversation anyway.

"And water."

One hand released the pillow and opened expectantly. Naomi always expected to get what she wanted. The other arm wrapped around the pillow to secure it so her single-handed grip was no weaker.

"No. It's a bright and shiny day, if you want these pills, you have to come out."

"Bright and shiny is exactly why I'm staying under the pillow. Don't you know how hangovers work?" Naomi grunted, annoyed. She had spoken louder so the muffling wouldn't be so bad.

"Come on, Naomi," Effy said, with a bubbly tone that was unusual for her apathetic personality.

"Why are you so cheery?" Naomi finally came out. The oddness of Effy's behavior had intrigued her enough. "My head's fucking killing me."

No response other than a shrug. Effy gave her the pills and water, which Naomi took immediately as she squinted in the lighting.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because we are friends," Effy sighed.

Naomi felt guilty, not realizing that Effy's sigh was not directed toward her, "I'm sorry I wasn't around when Katie bitched at you last night. I swear I would have punched her in the motherfucking boob if I had been."

"I know. Don't worry about it. I did not bother trying to find you because you had not finished your night's goal yet."

"Oh, what? Being distracted?" Effy nodded to answer Naomi's question. "I never reached that goal anyway. In fact I ran into the fucking problem itself. You should have gotten me."

"I know - about the 'problem.'"

"Look, I know you're really intuitive and observant and shit, but how could you possibly know; I haven't told you anything."

"I saw where you went during the party before I left. And I saw the 'problem' at the bar, after I left."

"What? Why was she at the bar? There was a party with loads of alcohol already in her flat."

"If you want the details, you should ask her."

"Effy, tell me."

"There's nothing to tell, we didn't talk." Effy was serious; not that she would have shared the information with Naomi anyway, when she thought Naomi hearing it directly from the source would be of benefit.

"Was she alright?"

"Ask her," Effy repeated. Only this time, she held out Naomi's phone, already open to Emily's number.

"What the fuck, Effy?! You went through my phone?!" Naomi was easily pissed by invasions of privacy. Their friendship did not have many boundaries but they still existed.

"I borrowed it to text my Mum and tell her I was alright 'cause I lost mine last night. I happened to see Emily's number in there." Effy held out the phone firmly. "Call her." Naomi had entered the number into her mobile the night Emily handed the digits to her on scrap paper. She had stared at it before, internally debating whether or not to text it; ultimately, she decided to withhold texting and to put her mind to rest by going right to bed.

"What do I say?" Naomi sighed.

"What normal people do - start with 'hi,'" Effy smirked.

Author's Note: I'm still two chapters ahead of you guys, but they both need to be edited. My editor is on vacation but they should continue to be up on a weekly basis. Thanks everyone! Review and let me know how you feel!