After my last author's note, did anyone else have trouble getting the image of Penn & Teller getting passionate with each other out of their minds, or was that just me?

Big development for you this chapter, and a big surprise ending. Well, except for anyone who suspected that this is where I was going. Which probably quite a few of you have. Or maybe not, but I don't know.

Shall I just let you read on? Okay!

Enjoy! Myrtle


Chapter Eighteen: Behind Blue Eyes

Emily

"So, good night last night then?" I asked Katie as she walked into the rehearsal room. After me, she was the first one to arrive. Katie, Cook and Naomi had all gone out to a nightclub after our show last night. There had been a special guest DJ on somewhere, and Katie had been desperate to go. Cook had quickly agreed, but Naomi had taken a little more persuading. But once Cook began complaining that she never went out anymore, he soon won her around.

"Yeah" said Katie with a grin. "The others not surfaced yet?" I shook my head. "Well, it was a late one."

"You're here" I pointed out. Katie chuckled.

"Yeah, I had to get up early to get rid of Daniel. Didn't want him thinking he could stick around for breakfast."

"Daniel?" I asked, arching a questioning eyebrow at my sister. Katie grinned broadly.

"Yes. Fit as fuck, and really well hung. The sort you would have gone for, actually." I bit my lip. How Katie thought she knew what my taste in men would be was beyond me. I guess she just assumed that I liked the same things as her.

"I thought you and Cook were together?" I asked, anxious to change the subject from my non-existent taste in men.

"Cook?" Asked Katie with a surprised snort. "Where'd you get that idea?" I simply shrugged. I could hardly tell Katie that I got that information from Chloe. "No, he's a good laugh, but I wouldn't shag him! I think he pulled as well, last night." Katie suddenly frowned. "Naomi was acting odd though." Her words piqued my attention, but I tried not to show too much interest. It didn't really matter – Katie rarely needed any encouragement when she had something to say. "Yeah, she had plenty sniffing round her, but she didn't seem interested in anyone."

"And that's odd?" I asked, unable to contain myself. Katie nodded emphatically.

"Well for her it is! That slut's working her way through the entire population of Vegas, normally!" I bristled at Katie's assessment of Naomi, but refrained from passing comment. I knew it would greatly surprise Katie to learn that she herself had slept with more people than Naomi since coming to Vegas, but I wasn't about to try convincing her of that. Katie continued. "Anyway, she had a right face on her when we got to the club. Then she got a text message, which really cheered her up. But after that she seemed more interested in checking her phone every five minutes, than pulling." I suppressed a smile at this unexpected information. Naomi had texted me not long after they had all left, telling me that she wished she was with me instead of at the club. I had replied that I would prefer that, but I still hoped that she had a good night. I had been tempted to reply that I was in bed, and definitely wished she was there, but I felt that would be a flirtatious step too far. Naomi had texted back shortly afterwards telling me that she would take me out dancing soon. I was glad that she had made such a promise in writing – Naomi is normally a very reluctant dancer. Not wanting to intrude too much on her night out, or be perceived as a possessive girlfriend, I had not replied to that text. But it seemed that I had been in her thoughts all night. It was a particularly pleasant realisation, given how little emotion she normally shows.

I know that Naomi feels something for me, but she rarely gives anything away. We seemed as if we were taking baby steps forward, then baby steps back in our relationship. I felt a delicious thrill deep in my stomach whenever I thought about our recent make-out session that had progressed rapidly to something more intimate. But whenever Naomi showed me more affection, it was swiftly followed by her retreating within her own thoughts, and closing me out. She was scared of making this thing between us into something real, and I longed to know why. She kept me at arms length whichever way she could, and it was all that I could do to keep hanging on even that close.

My own feelings were easier to read. Having tried to convince myself for so long that I had no strong emotions for her, I was way past denial by now. I'm in love with Naomi. Plain and simple, head over heels in love. And trying not to blurt that scary little detail out to her at an inopportune moment was driving me crazy.

"Morning." The very woman that is constantly in my mind made her presence known at that moment. She looked quite bleary-eyed, and a little delicate, but the smile she gave me when our eyes met was so full of warmth.

"Hi" I grinned back shyly. God, I was so pathetic. How can she not know how I feel? How can anyone not know? There were probably little cartoon hearts emanating from my eyes! "Good night?" I asked.

"Yeah, shame you couldn't be there" she answered, averting her gaze from me.

"Fuck me, last night was great!" Declared Cook as he burst noisily into the room. Naomi winced at his raised voice. "Got myself some quality pussy action!"

"Charming" said Naomi with sarcasm. Cook raised his eyebrows at her.

"Well what about you?" He asked. "Not in the mood for it?"

Naomi shrugged, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

"Not really" she muttered. Cook stared at her, as if waiting for her to add more.

"No, you haven't been for a while" he said eventually. Naomi just shrugged again, still not raising her eyes to meet his. Cook flashed a quick glance in my direction, and I found myself holding my breath. Did he suspect what was going on? Once again, I wondered why Naomi seemed so reluctant to keep Cook in the dark about our relationship. She had said it was because she didn't know how he would react, but I didn't fully believe her. Surely he would be hurt more by her keeping something like that a secret from him? Perhaps she thought it would all be over before he had a chance to discover it – a thought that gave me no comfort whatsoever.

Before I could think more about it, Cook flopped down into a seat and changed the subject.

"Shame that prick Freddie was there."

"Hey, I forgot to ask!" Said Katie suddenly. "We saw his show the other night. How the fuck does Effy do that mind-reading thing?" She glanced between Cook and Naomi, waiting for one of them to fill her in. Cook and Naomi exchanged a look, before Naomi answered her.

"Well, it's kinda obvious if you think about it" she said slowly, before Cook and her dissolved into a fit of giggles. Any tension that I thought there was between them was at an end. Katie and I both stared at them with curiosity, waiting to be let in on the joke.

"We don't know" Admitted Cook eventually. "But most magicians hate to admit that something fooled them, so they usually just act all mysterious when someone asks them how something was done."

Katie and I exchanged a shrug. Clearly, this was an old joke between them. Probably one of those 'you had to be there' types.

Cook rose swiftly to his feet, startling us all slightly.

"Look, let's blow off our practice today. The show's fine, and we're all a bit hungover." He looked expectantly at Naomi, but I didn't rate his chances. We had one day off a week, and Naomi rarely gave us any more than that. She surprised me therefore by nodding at Cook's suggestion.

"Yeah, why not" she answered. "I could probably do with more sleep anyway." Cook and Katie were out of the door before she had even finished her sentence. As soon as the door closed behind them, I crossed the room to reach Naomi. I slipped my arms around her and pressed my lips against hers.

"I missed you last night" I told her as we broke apart.

"Yeah, it's a shame you weren't there" was her only answer. From what Katie had told me, I felt sure that Naomi had missed me too, but it seemed that she was in no mood to admit it to me.

The two of us hung back for a while, until Katie would have had time to reach her room. Then we ventured away from the theatre. We hadn't gone too many steps, before we spotted Freddie making his way towards us.

"What the fuck's he want?" Muttered Naomi under her breath.

"Great night last night!" Said Freddie, with his usual swagger. "We were treated like VIP's all night."

"So were we" answered Naomi with a disinterested shrug. She was clearly getting sick of Freddie's games. "But I'm knackered, so I'm off for a lie down. Unless you were here for a particular reason?" When Freddie made no answer, Naomi turned away from him and walked towards the elevators. I made to follow after her, but Freddie caught my arm.

"What the fuck was all that about, Katie?" He hissed, anger evident in his voice.

"All what?" I asked indignantly, stepping easily into my impression of my sister. Freddie scowled.

"Who the fuck was that guy you were with?" He demanded. Alarm bells instantly began to chime inside my head. Why the hell did Freddie care what Katie did on a night out? I hastily wiped any sign of surprise from my face.

"Oh, you mean Daniel?" I asked with a simpering smile. Freddie's expression darkened.

"Don't play games with me Katie!"

"What about you?" I snapped. "What about Effy - aren't you and her together?"

Freddie sighed, and tried to calm his temper down.

"Katie I told you, it's not like that anymore. It's just for appearances" he insisted. The sickly pleading note to his voice was excruciating. Everything about the man spoke 'liar' to me.

"I'm not in the mood for this" I told him firmly. I walked away before giving him any chance of a come-back. I had to get away before I said something that might make him suspicious that I wasn't Katie. I caught up with Naomi by the elevators.

"What was that about?" She asked. I gave a vague answer as reply, but luckily she just accepted it. I knew Naomi would go mad at Katie if she knew what I was beginning to suspect. It seems that Katie has been playing with fire, and I was determined to find out the truth from her before sharing it with anyone else.

As Naomi and I stepped out of the elevator on the floor for our rooms, she turned towards me with a guilty look on her face.

"Look, I really am tired Em" she told me. "I'm just going to head for a lie down, okay? I'll see you later." She headed off towards her room. I felt a little disheartened at the certainty that this was just more of Naomi's 'avoiding intimacy' shit. We had been getting closer, so naturally her reaction was to back away from me. I sighed into the empty corridor, and wondered if I would ever get to know what was going on in that head of hers.

I turned my steps towards my own room, but ground to a halt outside of Katie's door. My conversation with Freddie was still fresh in my mind. I knocked on the door and waited until she let me in.

"What's going on with you and Freddie?" I demanded without preamble, as I stepped into her room.

"What?"

"Don't give me that!" I snapped. "I just saw him. He thinks I'm you, remember?" A look of guilt flashed across Katie's face at my words. It vanished almost immediately.

"We snogged once!" She insisted. "That's all! But he won't let it drop." I wasn't convinced that she was telling me everything. I tried my best to get more details from her, but Katie just maintained that there was nothing going on between her and Freddie. In the end I let the matter drop, but I vowed to myself to keep an eye on Katie from now on. Not exactly easy, since I could never go out at the same time as her, but I would do my best.


Later that evening, I was lying next to Naomi on her bed. She had surprised me by inviting me there after our show. Once again, her mood towards me had changed, and a thaw had set in.

"So how was your night last night?" I asked. I was still hoping to get some admission from her that she had missed me. Naomi sighed.

"Boring, actually. Katie and Cook were both on the pull, so I was left by myself." I was tempted to point out that we had been on many nights out when I was the one left by myself, but I didn't. Instead I decided to push Naomi a little bit to see if I could find out more about her.

"Have you and Cook ever…" I let my sentence trail away, and watched Naomi carefully for her reaction. My question caught her off-guard.

"What!" She asked, with a laugh to her voice. Her erubescent face told me that it wasn't quite such a ridiculous question as she tried to pretend.

"Have you ever slept with Cook?" I pushed, determined to find out the truth. It wasn't from jealousy – her attachment to Cook was clear, but it was obvious that there was nothing romantic between them. My motivation was purely to try and push through another of Naomi's layers.

"Nearly" she told me with a half smile. I arched an eyebrow at her. Naomi sighed, and launched into an explanation. "It was when we first met in New York - I told you I was screwing around back then. Cook and I hooked up, we went back to his place, but…" She shrugged, as though the rest should somehow be obvious.

"So what happened?" I asked with a smile. Naomi rolled her eyes, exasperated by my perseverance.

"Nothing" she muttered, before seeing that I was still looking for more of an answer. "He could tell that I wasn't really up for it, so he stopped" she continued. She avoided my eyes, staring absently at the space on the bed between us. "I hadn't been up for it with any of the people I shagged really, but Cook was the only one to notice." She frowned to herself. "Or the only one to care, maybe."

"So why did you shag them?" I asked. I had always suspected that Naomi wasn't the type to sleep around. I wondered why anyone would do that if it wasn't what they wanted. Another sigh escaped her lips.

"'Cause I wanted to feel that I was…" Her words dried up. She didn't have an answer for me, not because she wouldn't tell me, but because she didn't really know herself. Instinctively, I knew that I had pushed her far enough for one day. I reached forward and gave her hand a squeeze.

"It's okay" I told her as I slid closer to her. I pressed my lips to hers, effectively ending the conversation. Clearly relieved, Naomi deepened the kiss. As our tongues met, we settled more comfortably back on the bed, and our hands did their now familiar dance over each other's pliant bodies.

Just as things were beginning to get interesting, the phone rang, startling us both.

"Shit, who the fuck's that?" Muttered Naomi with a frown. It was unusual for us to hear the bedroom phone ringing – we mostly used our mobiles to communicate. Naomi clambered off the bed and picked up the handset. I could only hear her half of the conversation.

"Hello?... Oh, right… Well who is it?" As the person on the other end of the line answered, I saw a flash of shock cross Naomi's face. "No!" She snapped. "I don't want to speak to him, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, she slammed down the phone. Startled by her reaction, I sat up.

"Naoms, are you okay?" I watched her as she wrung her hands nervously together.

"Yeah" she answered mechanically. I rose from the bed and stepped towards her.

"What is it?" I asked. Naomi shrank back from my grasp. It hurt me to see that she did it instinctively.

"Nothing" she said, shaking her head as if to clear whatever had just happened away. Her face still revealed that the phone call had really shaken her up. Then she turned her eyes on me and seemed to return to the room around her. "It's getting late" she told me with a small smile. "Maybe you should go." I knew an evasive Naomi when I saw one. I tried my best to ask her what was wrong, but she simply claimed that everything was fine. She repeated again that I should go, and eventually I had no choice but to leave. I left her room with a frown on my face, wondering yet again just what was going on in Naomi's life.


She began avoiding me after that evening. Not entirely, but she shunned any chance to be alone with me. Her mood was very unsettled, and she seemed constantly distracted. Even Cook and Katie noticed, but Naomi claimed that everything was fine whenever they asked her about it. Believing that it may just be more of her usual fear of intimacy, I thought that it would pass soon enough. But after a third day went by without me talking one on one with her, or kissing her, or even touching her, I decided to confront her. She can't keep messing me about like this. I know we haven't made any commitment to each other, but we're still having a relationship here. At least I think we are. Shit, what if she wants to break it off?

I knew that I had to find out more - the constant flow of insecurities in my mind was driving me mad. I chose a time when she couldn't avoid me. I walked up to her room one morning, before we were all due in rehearsal. I hammered forcefully on the door. Eventually, it swung open.

"Emily" she sighed. "Is everything alright?" I marched past her into her room.

"I want to know why you've been avoiding me" I asked. Naomi's shoulders slumped.

"I haven't, I've just been busy."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" I crossed my arms and stared firmly at her. I couldn't take this any more. I deserved to know what exactly was going on. "You've been avoiding me ever since that phone call the other night, and I want to know why!" Naomi stared back at me, looking very uncomfortable. I gazed into those fabulous blue eyes, so adept at hiding her secrets from the world. I dropped my harsh stance and adopted a softer tone. "Nai whatever it is, you can tell me" I pleaded. She simply blinked then turned away from me.

"It's nothing" she muttered. For God's sake, did she think I was blind? I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Naomi, I can't keep going like this." She turned back to face me, a look of anguish across her features. It gave me some hope that she really does feel something for me. I pressed on with what I had to say. "You keep pushing me away, when all I want to do is help. Just tell me what's wrong." She could no longer meet my gaze, and her eyes drifted down to stare at the carpet. I felt tears stinging the backs of my eyes, so I hastily blinked them away. Naomi made no attempt to say or do anything. "Right" I said quietly. With an inner strength that I didn't know I possessed, I turned my back on her. I opened the door, and had every intention of walking right through it without a backwards glance. I prayed with everything I had that she wouldn't really let me leave like this.

"Emily!"

There was a tremble of emotion in her voice that caught me by surprise. With hasty steps, Naomi closed the distance between us and pushed the door shut. My heart leapt at the realisation that she wanted me to stay. But her next three words brought my whole world crashing down around my ears.

"Emily, I'm married."


Cue dramatic excitement music...

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