AN: These are getting later! And sadly a bit shorter!
I'm sorry about both of those things! In my defense, it's honestly extremely hard to write a chapter every day! XD I don't want to give up though because you guys are too incredible! I mean I do know what each year sort of includes so it's not impossible, it's just hard!
This is the roughest version of a chapter there can be! I've just finished it so it's probably horrendously filled with mistakes! I'm sorry about that, but I really wanted to get it to you sooner rather than later!
Keep being fantastic human beings!
Oh, you'll see some of you have inspired me this chapter! Proof that I do read all the reviews and absolutely LOVE them! :D
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Chapter 4: The fourth year
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Emily liked to think that she was a fairly spontaneous person. She had never really been one for plans to begin with, she prided herself in being always willing to experiment new things and she was always ready to go on a random adventure.
Despite all that, when a car containing some of hers and Katie's Uni mates stopped in front of her house on Christmas Eve, she was a bit shocked. They had just finished cleaning up after dinner when her mobile rang. Emily had looked at the phone, frowning uncertainly when she had seen the name 'James Cook' flashing.
The thing about James Cook was that he was quite a lot of trouble. Sure, he was fun and quite entertaining in his own special way. Sure he inspired laughter with his trademark dirty polo t-shirt, his boyish grin and ruffled sandy blonde hair, but that didn't stop him from usually putting them in all sorts of trouble.
The funniest thing was that even though Katie and Emily usually thought of him as a 'University friend', the boy didn't actually attend University. In fact, when she stopped to think about it, Emily didn't even know how they had ended up meeting him, let alone befriending him.
Emily was sure they'd started seeing him at parties first. Partying seemed to be, after all, the boy's main activity in life. She didn't know for sure, but she still suspected that their meeting and subsequent friendship was probably Freddie's fault. After all, the two boys had been best mates since elementary school. It was only logical.
Freddie was a tall boy with dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin that Emily had met one day in one of her classes. She had thought that he seemed to be a nice enough guy if only a bit dopy at times, but she hadn't really thought they'd end up actual friends. Of course though, when she had ran into him at a coffee shop one morning and had waved at him, Katie had gawked. She'd made it quite clear then that Emily needed to introduce them.
That was how they'd ended up talking more and somehow, some time after that, they had started talking to Cook as well. In retrospective, Emily couldn't say she regretted it. They were a nice duo- who apparently had been a trio up until the last member of their 'men gang' had decided to go to Cambridge. From all she'd heard about this third friend, JJ, Emily thought he sounded like a really adorable boy. She had never met him though.
"Emilioooo!" Cook had yelled into the phone the minute Emily had put it against her ear.
"Christ Cook, you're going to make me deft!" she had replied with a chuckle.
"Come outside, me favourite lezzer!" he had continued forcefully, ignoring the petite woman's response.
"What?" she had replied, confused as hell.
"Come outside!" He'd repeated. "Oh and bring that sexy twin of yours. No man and woman left out tonight!"
Emily had rolled her eyes even if he couldn't see her. She'd grabbed her sister as he'd requested though and when they'd stepped outside, they had seen them, Cook, Freddie and Effy, all sat into some old blue station wagon, sloppy grins plastered on their faces.
"Emilio! Katikins!" Cook had greeted them, throwing his arms in the air from the car's window.
"Jesus Christ Cook! How did you get our address?" Emily had demanded, dumbfounded.
"Yeah, how?!" Katie had said as well, looking a bit alarmed.
"Chillax babes, both of ya! I didn't know, did I? But apparently Effy did, dincha love?" He'd explained pointing at the girl sitting behind the steering wheel.
Even if neither Katie nor Emily had any clue how the girl had gotten their address, they weren't that surprised this time. Knowing their address without either of them having told her was definitely the sort of thing that made Effy... well Effy.
They'd met Effy at the end of the previous year. It was Katie this time who had met the ridiculously elusive brunette. Effy was everything her sister would have looked for in a friend when they were in College, but she'd still been surprised when Katie had introduced them. She'd been even more surprised when they had introduced Effy to the two boys and both of them had seemed to take a fancy to her. Emily had expected her sister to be jealous, but apparently she'd thought wrong.
Actually, the two girls had seemed to get along so well that Emily had suspected them of shagging at one point. It's not that she had ever thought her sister could be bisexual or something, but there really was something uncanny about her friendship with the brunette. Apparently though, she'd been wrong. She had confronted Katie about it once and her sister had laughed. She'd told Emily to stop imagining lezzers everywhere and they'd moved on.
"Okay... So, what exactly are you doing here n Christmas Eve? I thought you guys were in Cardiff" Emily had asked them.
"Well yes, but as it turns out, Freds' old man was being a dick, Effy's mum was drunk off her tits and mine was her usual fucker self, so we decided to ditch those party and make our own little Christmas celebration. What d'you say?"
"What do you mean our own celebration?" Katie had asked.
"I mean full on, pub crawl, drinking frenzy, Christmas thing, don't I? Come on girls!"
Katie had looked at Emily hesitantly for a bit until Cook had groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Come on!" he'd insisted. "It'll be memorable I promise ya! Besides, I stole me mum's credit card. Party is on her tonight..."
Katie had grinned widely before throwing her sister a look Emily knew meant she'd been won over.
"Well why didn't you say that first?" She'd said, sealing the deal.
And that was how they'd found themselves packed into an old station wagon, listening to Motörhead, Cook bellowing at the top of his lungs. They had parked the car eventually and had began what would be one hell of a night.
At the first pub, Cook had bought them all rounds of tequila shots along with drinks. Emily had tried to be reasonable, she'd tried to control her drinking. The thing was, she didn't want to get too drunk in case it made her forget that here was one pub she really needed to get to tonight. Even if, like every year before that, Emily hadn't seen Naomi again, it didn't stop her from wanting to meet up.
There was just something about their little tradition that was getting to Emily. It wasn't like it was official, it wasn't like Emily still genuinely expected this weird friendship to turn into one that was a bit less occasional. Despite all that, she really did want to see the blonde. So what if it was only a Christmas thing? She enjoyed the other girl's company and she didn't want to go another year without it. Actually, she couldn't bear the thought.
So yeah, because she had wanted to keep some of her wits, Emily hadn't wanted to get too inebriated. Of course, as noble as that resolution had been, it hadn't lasted long.
After perhaps the third pub they'd walked into, Katie had gotten mad at her.
"What the fuck is up with you? Quit being a boring cow and just drink, will you?" She'd said.
Emily hadn't wanted to listen to her, but then Effy had walked up to her, an enigmatic smile on her face.
"Hey Ef" Emily had greeted.
The brunette hadn't even bothered to answer, walking closer still to the redhead, her smirk firmly set. She'd settled somewhere behind Emily, her thin arm circling around her, her long fingers opening to reveal a lone pink pill.
"Ef, no... I don't..." she said shyly, but had stopped when the other girl had giggled, her breath falling on Emily's ear.
"What are you afraid of Emily?" Effy had tease.
"Nothing..." the redhead had defended, her heart beating loudly in her chest.
"Then let go..." she'd whispered softly.
And Emily had. She'd grabbed the pill and had swallowed it and that had been that. It was around maybe that time that the night had taken a much fuzzier turn. Her surroundings had started spinning almost instantly, her senses had tripled, her heart had accelerated and her head had gotten heavy.
Still, somehow, Emily had found herself guiding their little group right into the one place she really longed to be.
And that's where she was now. How long they had been there though, Emily had no clue. Still, she was feeling rather good, her lips fixed into a contented smile, a mug of hot cider in her hands. She took a sip and hummed to herself, her entire body warming up, her entire brain screaming comfort and Naomi.
Naomi, she thought fuzzily. What a really pretty name. It fitted her poetic blonde perfectly. Like beauty, beauty fitted her blonde perfectly, she reckoned. She started giggling on her own. Where was her blonde?
"Someone looks a tiny bit intoxicated" a voice muttered into her ear.
Emily turned around, feeling like her entire chest had expanded.
"Naomi!" she exclaimed loudly as her eyes met the other girl.
The blonde looked at her with wide eyes and a completely shocked look on her face.
"Scratch that, someone is really fucking intoxicated!" she corrected giggling.
"Not that bad" Emily said, with what she thought was a casual shrug.
Her head spun though and she lost her footing.
"Jesus!" the blonde exclaimed as she grabbed the redhead by the arms to keep her on her feet.
Emily giggled loudly, her hands grabbing Naomi's biceps. She giggled louder when her brain registered how firm they felt.
"Okay, mayybee" she conceded.
The blonde looked at her doubtfully and Emily let her. Her own eyes started to roam Naomi's face, taking it all in, her heart beating loudly when everything felt so familiar.
"Your eyes are really blue, d'you know that?" she said lazily.
"Urh... yeah..."
"But like, pale blue. Like... like... like pale blue blue, yeah?"
"Oh my god... how much have you had to drink?" Naomi chuckled.
"Just like... Oh and you've got a scar on the side of your nose, had you noticed?" she continued, her vision getting a bit blurrier.
"Yeah... It's a remnant of chickenpox..." the blonde replied.
"Oh my God!" Emily exclaimed her eyes becoming wide. "Have you just revealed something about yourself?!"
Naomi looked dumbfounded for a moment and then she started chuckling.
"I guess I have..."
"Wow! We need to celebrate! Let's do a shot!" Emily said happily.
"I think you've had enough..." the blonde told her.
"Nones- Shit!" the redhead started, just before her legs wobbled and she fell into Naomi's arms again.
She locked her fingers behind the blonde's neck to keep herself from falling.
"Ems?" the blonde inquired softly. "Are you okay?"
Emily's heart fluttered and she grinned sloppily at the nickname. She lifted herself back up, leaving her fingers behind Naomi's neck. Her eyes racked over the other girl's face, her breath a bit laboured.
"You're real, aren't you?" she asked, her voice low.
"What?" Naomi giggled.
"You're real, yeah? I mean, you're not some stupidly attractive Christmas ghost, yeah?" she asked genuinely curious.
The blonde laughed hard and shook her head.
"You think I could be a Christmas ghost?" she teased, sounding the most Naomi she had all night.
"Or a Christmas angel" Emily confirmed with a nod.
Naomi's lips curved into a satisfied smile, then, her grip hardening on Emily's waist, she leaned in. She let her nose drag along the redhead's cheek and Emily shivered, her fingers twitching on her neck. She brought her face closer, her nose almost touching the blonde's skin, her senses filled with her perfume.
"Do I feel like a ghost?" the blonde asked directly in Emily's ear.
"Sometimes you do..." the redhead replied her voice shaking.
Naomi giggled in her ear.
"I'm not a ghost Emily" she said.
"Promise?"
"Promise, I'm very real" she said through another chuckle.
"Good..." Emily grinned. "In that case, come meet my friends!"
She tried to step away, but the minute she let go of Naomi, everything spun out of control and she crumpled to the ground.
"Emily!" the blonde exclaimed.
"S'okay..." she tried to brush off. "I'm good..." she continued, trying to get up.
Her stomach had lurched during the fall though and she wasn't feeling so good anymore. Her head felt heavy and she couldn't see anything properly. She tried to squint to find some focus, but it didn't work. That's when the panic hit, gripping at her heart, terrifyingly overwhelming.
"Na... Naomi..." she whined, her voice a bit shrill. "Naomi, Naoms, are you there?"
She couldn't see her anymore, she couldn't see anything or anyone and she was panicking. Her heart was feeling like it was about to explode, her stomach tied in knots.
"Emily, Ems! I'm right here" a voice muttered in her ear, a strong arm grabbing her around the waist.
She felt her body being lifted, but she still couldn't see. She could feel Naomi's perfume though so she cling onto the body that was carrying her, breathing with difficulty.
She focused on placing one foot in front of the other and then, suddenly, everything was much colder. For the first time in a while, she noticed she was actually hot, ridiculously so. She could feel the sweat on her forehead now, her vision slowly clearing up, her lungs filling up on fresh air.
A minute later, she blinked and saw concerned blue eyes looking at her.
"Are you feeling better?" Naomi asked her, her voice definitely not as confident as usual.
Emily blinked a few more times, licking her lips slowly. Her breathing had slowed back down now and she could see. They were standing outside, Naomi and her, just beside the pub's main door. She nodded slowly.
"Yeah... thanks..." she said, closing her eyes, feeling like the weight of her body had tripled.
She slid down the wall and sat on the cold snowy ground.
"Ems?" Naomi asked.
"Humm?" she hummed, her eyes still closed.
"Ems..." the blonde repeated, her hand finding the redhead's cheek.
Emily let her draw pattern on her cheek. She opened her eyes though when she felt the girl's fingers brush aside her fringe.
"Hey..." Naomi muttered when their eyes met. "You okay?"
"Not... I don't know..." she replied truthfully.
Her heart was still feeling weird, her body so warm although she could feel the cold wind on her cheeks. Naomi placed a hand on her forehead.
"You're boiling..." she assessed, worry evident in her voice.
"You're worried?" Emily said, a slow smirk forming on her lips.
"Yes, I am" Naomi admitted, a frown forming on her face.
Emily lifted a hand and dragged her fingers on the blonde's frown.
"Don't worry..." she said.
"What did you take?" the blonde ignored, sounding upset now.
"I... I don't know..." Emily replied sheepishly.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" she asked, her voice curt.
"I just.. Ef gave me a pill and I..." she babbled, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm sorry..."
"Woh Ems! Hey, don't cry" Naomi muttered, her voice no longer cold and angry. "Emily..."
She raced her hand on the redhead's cheek again, her thumb brushing a tear away when it fell from Emily's eye.
"It's okay... Don't cry" she said, her blue eyes sparkling so bright.
"But... I've ruined Christmas..." she said, her bottom lip trembling.
Naomi's face broke into a smile and she giggled.
"Gosh, you're adorable..." she mused, looking at the redhead with so much affection that Emily's heart thumped loudly.
"I'm sorry..." the petite woman repeated.
"It's okay, don't worry about it" Naomi reassured her.
Emily tried to nod, but she stopped when a searing pain shot through her head. She winced and closed her eyes for a second.
"This isn't how I wanted Christmas to go..." she eventually said when she opened her eyes again.
"How did you wanted it to go?" Naomi asked.
"I wanted to get to know you..." she admitted.
The blonde smiled at her cheekily.
"Well you did learn a few things..." she said with a shrug.
"No I didn't..." Emily argued.
"Of course you did! You learned that I had chickenpox as a kid and that I'm not a ghost. Better than nothing right?" she laughed.
"I guess..." the redhead replied. "I wanted to learn more serious things about you though..."
Naomi looked at her hesitantly for a few seconds, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip.
"You did... you did learn something serious and important" she whispered, looking at anything, but Emily's eyes, her cheeks reddening. "You learned that I worry about you..."
Emily contemplated her in amazement for a long time after she blonde had admitted that. She waited patiently for Naomi to finally meet her eyes. When the girl finally did, she gulped slowly.
"You're right. I did learn something important this year..." she muttered.
Naomi blushed harder and Emily stared in wonder. It was a really weird look for the usually so confident blonde.
"Will I... Will I learn more next year?" she asked tentatively.
"Yeah... Okay" Naomi agreed with a smirk.
Emily beamed.
"So I really haven't ruined our Christmas Eve tradition?" she said in astonishment.
The blonde chuckled.
"Our Christmas Eve tradition, eh? Have our meetings turned into a tradition?" she pondered out loud.
"I think so, yeah" Emily said with a firm nod.
"Then I guess you haven't ruined our tradition" Naomi finished with a wide smile.
They looked at each other for a bit after that, no one adding anything, Naomi's fingers still caressing the redhead's cheek softly. It was so nice and tender, so different. Emily was loving it though. She never wanted it to end and, of course, as soon as she thought that, it did.
"Emily?!" Katie's alarmed voice resounded into the night.
She heard Naomi sigh and the next second, Katie was appearing before her.
"Oh my God Emsy! Are you alright?!"
"Yeah... just a bit tired..."
"What happened? Did she hurt you?!" Katie continued, throwing Naomi a glare.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" the blonde scoffed in surprise, sounding a bit offended.
"No! Gosh Kay! She took care of me!"
"Oh... okay then..." her sister said slowly. "In that case... thanks, I guess"
"You're welcome..." Naomi replied sarcastically, with an eye roll.
Emily saw her get up on her feet and her heart tugged painfully inside her chest.
"You should take her home" the blonde told her sister roughly. "Merry Christmas Ems" she then added, her voice back to its softer tones.
"Merry Christmas" Emily replied right away. "Thank you for taking care of me..."
"No problem" Naomi said sincerely that time.
"See you next year" the redhead said.
"Yeah, see you" the other girl confirmed, before giving her one last smile and walking away.
Emily watched her walk away until she couldn't see her anymore. Somewhere inside her brain, she was aware that Katie was talking to her, but she didn't pay attention, couldn't bring herself to care.
Naomi cares about me, she thought happily. And that was all that mattered.
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So yeah, Naomi is not a Christmas ghost/angel! Although I thought the idea was lovely! :D I will do my best to get the next chapter earlier tomorrow! In all honesty it has to be done earlier because I'm going snowboarding in the evening!
Love you all, thank you forever and ever!
MM xxx