Love Lessons (Part Eight)
The rest of the walk home, was conducted almost entirely in silence. James didn’t dare say anything, he was hoping Katie would have all the right words to make Emily smile again. But Katie simply hung on limply to Emily’s hand, because she knew there weren’t words, knew that Emily didn’t need to know that this was a product of her own actions.
The silence continued as they entered the Fitch house, the only sound being made as they closed the front door. The minute she was inside, Emily sprung up the stairs, closely followed by Katie, desperate not to face the person she despised most right now, shuddering slightly as she heard Jenna’s voice cut through her like glass.
“Emily! Katie! Aren’t you going to tell me how your night was?” Jenna called, only catching the back of her girls running up the stairs.
“Mum leave them.” James insisted, gripping onto his mothers arm. Urging her to drop it, because he knew that Emily needed to cry, she needed to cry and Katie needed to hold her, and all he could do as a brother was to keep their mum away.
“James, will you go in the room or something, I want to talk to your sisters.” Jenna tutted, pulling herself away from the younger blonde Fitch, who was trying to act like a man, trying to protect his sister.
“No mum, please just leave Emily alone. You’ve hurt her enough.” James snapped, shrinking away as his mother glared down at him, she wasn’t used to her son voicing his opinions. James quickly took this as his cue to leave.
“What do you mean? James Robert Fitch come back here right now! I will not tolerate this behaviour! I'm sure your father will have a stern word with you when he arrives home! You’ll be doing a fair few reps on the naughty bar tonight!” Jenna raged, following James into the living room, where he’d slumped in front of the television.
“No he bloody won’t! He thinks you’re treating Emily like shit as well, we all do.” James snapped, jumping up and running up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door.
Jenna stood frozen, her heart racing. She tried to force down the lump in her throat, she wouldn’t cry over this decision, she couldn’t cry over a decision that felt so right to her.
Katie jumped at the sound of James’s door slamming, she was pretty sure she’d heart James shouting at their mother and felt kind of proud of the little shit. Epic perv he may be, but he knew where his loyalty lay. Katie shifted on her bed, turning to look at Emily, neither had said a word since they’d arrive home, but Katie felt it was time to cut the silence.
“Emily, come on Emily you can sort this out. I’m pretty sure that it didn’t mean anything, it’s been like a day, she’s probably just a friend.” Katie insisted, anything to try to shift Emily out of this zombie like state.
“It was the girl from last night, the one Naomi tried to give her number to. The one that said Naomi was cute...” Emily sighed, her eyes fluttering down to the passport photos that were stuffed down the side of her bed, away from the prying eyes of her mother. The first was of Naomi, stony and serious, because she’d needed to get her photos taken for her passport. By the second one Emily had popped her head in, for the third they were sat cuddled together and by the fourth their lips had met.
“Just fucking text her then, tell her she’s out of line, tell her you want her back and end this fucking stupidity!” Katie sighed, shaking her head because the answer was just too simple.
“You don’t get this at all do you Katie? You just don’t understand!” Emily insisted, burying her head into her pillow.
“No Ems, I don’t fucking understand. Neither does Naomi, and to be honest I don’t think even you understand why you’ve fucked this up. You are going to lose her Emily.” Katie growled, getting angry because she decided it was the only way to get through to Emily. For someone that was so intelligent, Emily could be fucking stupid sometimes. Feeling the buzz of her phone, Katie grabbed it and saw she had a text, scanning it she stood up and grabbed her bag. “I’ve got to go Ems, have a careful think yeah?”
All Emily could do was watch Katie practically sprint out the door, leaving her sat wallowing in self inflicted misery. Staring at passport photos of the perfect life she’d thrown away, the perfect life she’d so desperately wanted. Fuck this, Emily thought. She was going into town, going to buy something amazing to wear... Or, failing that, a magazine with lots of tits in.
**
“I have a date. A real date, in a restaurant. I’ve never been on a real date in a restaurant before.” JJ stuttered to Katie, showing his phone with the message from Jodi, to her.
Katie took the phone to read the text. She hummed in acknowledgement before passing JJ’s phone back to him. Katie sat down on JJ’s sofa, crossing her legs as she watched JJ pace the room awkwardly. Katie raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a stern look which told him to sit down.
“You gave her your number didn’t you? What did you expect, of course she was going to ask you out.” Katie sighed, sometimes JJ could be a little infuriating with his naivety. Perhaps he would still need a fair few lessons yet.
“That’s the thing, I didn’t. She must have got it from someone, she rushed off so quickly the other night I didn’t have time to ask. Furthermore my mother said I had to be careful about giving my number out to strangers.” JJ admitted, blushing because he was still surprised that anyone would make such an effort to talk to him, to ask him out, he still couldn’t believe that someone was interested.
“Right first, she’s not some creepy old guy asking for your number, I think you’re safe. Second, she really is keen, or desperate, I'll leave that for you to decide. Third, it’s a meal J, you know how to eat, you know how to talk, that’s all a date consists of.” Katie explained, turning JJ’s television on and flicking through until she found something of interest.
“I thought you were supposed to be helping me. We have a deal remember?” JJ grunted, annoyed at Katie’s lack of attention. Slumping down in the armchair, he tried to catch Katie’s eye, but she was far more interested in some plastic looking American on the TV.
Katie felt a little bad, but she could hardly explain to him that she had some odd jealousy. It was probably because she’d been single for a little while, that was it she rationalized. It wasn’t about JJ, she was certain.
“JJ have a bit of confidence in yourself, yeah? Without me you’ve managed to talk to her, get her to like you, she’s texted you, wants to date you!” Katie reminded JJ, all her really needed was self belief, she’d be an idiot not to fall for someone as sweet and amazing as JJ.
“There’s still so much I don’t know! I’m nervous ok?! Nervous! I’ve only ever kissed two girls in my entire life!” JJ yelled, blushing bright red, clutching his fists together in frustration, Katie looked surprised at the outburst.
“Who’s the other one?” Katie asked simply, interested in who else JJ had been kissing, obviously she knew about her sister, but she couldn’t quite figure out who else. Surely Effy had never...? Well, she’d had everyone else it wouldn’t be that big a surprise.
“What?” JJ asked, calming down from his previous rant, now just a bit confused what Katie was asking him.
“Who’s the other girl you’ve kissed?” Katie questioned, maybe it was just some random at a party, she wasn’t quite sure why, but it was bothering her not knowing.
“Oh... Er... A... Erm... Mehmehmeh.” JJ muttered, far too embarrassed to admit who the other girl was. The prostitute called Megan, who’d given him his first proper kiss for a grand total of £10.
“A what?” Katie asked, screwing her face up in confusion, as she tried to figure out precisely what a mehmehmeh was.
“A prosmehmeh.” JJ stuttered, almost telling Katie but trailing off, because really it was quite embarrassing. He wasn’t the kind of guy that did things like that, it wasn’t something he was proud of, it was Cook, it was always Cook who got him into bad situations.
“Fucking talk English JJ!” Katie snapped, truely getting frustrated now, whoever this girl was it must be a right minger, because JJ was a red as a tomato, and looked about as comfortable as she did in that fucking blue thong of Emily’s that cut her in half.
“A prostitute!” JJ called out exasperated by Katie’s pushing. He could barely meet her eyes, but he could make out the look of surprise and slight disgust that sat on Katie’s face.
“Eww! Fucking hell are you desperate or something?” Katie cried out, she sounded a little harsher than she meant to. She could see it wasn’t something JJ was particularly proud of, but still it was weird.
“It was Cook, he made me go. I didn’t want to. We only kissed, that was it.” JJ defended, desperate for Katie not to think he was some creep that could only get a kiss if he paid for it. It wasn’t like that, it was never that seedy.
“That’s still disgusting.” Katie muttered, she expected that kind of thing from Cook, she could imagine Freddie doing it as well. But JJ... She wanted JJ to be different.
“Well, I had to learn somehow.” JJ blushed, shifting at how awkward the situation was. Holding his head down, he didn’t notice when Katie got off the sofa, stood up and walked over to him, sitting on his lap, straddling him.
“Oh fuck it, come here.” Katie sighed, taking JJ’s face in her hands and kissing him, it was forceful. Caressing his lips with hers, it took a minute before he started to respond, gripping the back of Katie’s head, kissing her back. The ‘lesson’ lasted too long, both of them enjoying it far too much. It was JJ that eventually pulled away, his eyes meeting Katie’s as she jumped up, away from JJ.
“That was, different.” JJ managed to muster, a little shocked by the whole event. He could still feel Katie on his lips, could still taste her lipgloss.
“Good different or bad different?” Katie asked, intrigued by what JJ meant, she’d been told plenty of times she was an amazing kisser.
“Good different, very good, you’re a very good actress.” JJ stuttered out, nervous and embarrassed by Katie’s intense glare. He wasn’t just saying it though, the kiss had been very good.
“Am I?” Katie asked confused, not quite sure what JJ meant by ‘actress’.
“Well, when I kissed Emily, you could tell she didn’t really mean it. But you, i’d almost think you liked me. But thats stupid.” JJ explained, laughing to Katie, at how preposterous the whole idea was. Katie was just a very good actress, she should be taking drama.
“Yeah pretty bloody stupid.” Katie muttered, blushing, she could feel her cheeks blush red. She was just a good actress, a really good actress.
“Still thanks.” JJ nodded, touching his lips. Pulling his hand away self-consciously before Katie noticed.
“You’re not too bad JJ. Your technique I mean, it was alright.” Katie smiled, trying to establish some kind of normality, bring the conversation back to the lessons that Katie was supposed to be giving to JJ.
“Oh, well I guess I have a natural ability then.” JJ grinned, feeling quite proud of himself, a compliment from Katie was a rare phenomena, she must mean it, she wouldn’t say something like that if she didn’t mean it.
“Yep, you’ve got soft lips.” Katie rushed, she really wanted to get home now, because she kind of felt like she was being strangled. Her throat was all tight, she couldn’t breathe.
“Lip balm, mum says girls like it if you look after your lips.” JJ explained, proudly showing off the small tin of Vaseline he carried in his pocket.
“Well, yeah, she’s right. I should go. I better go, a good lesson yeah, text me later.” Katie hurried desperately, heading as fast as she could for the front door.
“Thank you again Katie!” JJ called after Katie, watching as she hurried down the road. Realising that he still had no idea how he was going to cope on this date with Jodi, Katie’s lessons were kind of lacking in the finer detail.
**
“This is good coffee, it’s a nice place, for coffee.” Naomi muttered, holding her hands around the mug, smiling and trying to seem somehow normal. When really, this situation was far from normal, because the girl opposite her just wasn’t Emily.
“Oh yes, scintillating conversation.” Ruby grinned, teasing the blonde who sat opposite her, with the empty look on her face. Naomi had hardly said two words, it certainly killed the atmosphere when the person you were with couldn’t stop thinking about someone else.
“Er sorry. I’m not good at this.” Naomi blushed, pushing her hair away from her face, trying to at least attempt eye contact with Ruby. Ruby was nice, she’d talked about books, good books, proper literature. She was intelligent, and witty, possibly just as sarcastic as Naomi. The conversation would probably have been brilliant if Naomi had put a little effort in.
“Being friends? Thought making friends was like a basic life skill?” Ruby smiled, trying to put Naomi at ease. She liked teasing Naomi, liked the look of respect that twinkled in Naomi’s eyes when she shot back with something acidic and charming.
“I must have missed out on that. You are kind of looking at me like you like me.” Naomi admitted, grinning and biting her lip. Why was it that every girl she made friends with wanted to jump her?
“That make you uncomfortable? I’d take it as a compliment.” Ruby winked, gulping her coffee, licking a rogue drop from her lips, and smiling when she saw Naomi shift slightly in admiration of the action.
“I do... It’s just, it’s literally been a day since I split up with Emily.” Naomi explained, a pain in her chest at the mention of Emily’s name. What the fuck was she doing here, sitting with some other girl?
“Maybe I could help you get back with her?” Ruby suggested, shrugging her shoulders at the absurdity of it. She couldn’t help but smile though.
“Why would you want to do that? I thought you fancied me.” Naomi pouted, almost offended that Ruby didn’t want her. She was quite enjoying the ego-boost of someone liking her, wanting her.
“Oh babes seriously, as hot as you are, I've just met you, I'm not in love or anything. So we could be friends, and I could help you get that girlfriend of yours back. The green-eyed monster tends to give people a nudge in the right direction.” Ruby laughed, she didn’t know Emily, but from what she’d seen of her, it was obvious she was still head over heels in love with Naomi.
“You want to make Emily jealous?” Naomi asked astonished, remembering how she’d felt when she’d found out about Emily and JJ, remembering that sickening jealousy that had pushed her to finally confront what she felt about Emily. Maybe this plan wasn’t quite so absurd.
“If she thinks you’ve moved on, it might inspire her, might get her interested.” Ruby pondered, not overly sure why she was so keen to help. Perhaps part of her thought, maybe if she helped Naomi and Emily still didn’t want her, then that would leave the door wide open for her.
“It’s a little more complicated than that, I don’t know if I like underhanded tactics. Emily broke up with because of things that are going on with her family, she’s hurting enough as it is, she doesn’t need me being a bastard to her.” Naomi sighed, she’d hurt Emily enough over the past year, she didn’t want to do it anymore.
Ruby looked Naomi up and down, smiling at just how sweet she was, how caring she was even though Emily had dumped her. She was almost jealous of just how epic this love seemed, of just how much pain Naomi was in.
“Come on we’re going.” Ruby announced, her eyes trying to inspire excitement in Naomi. Grabbing hold of her hand, she pulled the blonde up, yanking her out of the cafe.
“Going where?” Naomi managed to ask, despite the shock of being rushed out of the cafe before she’d even had the chance to finish her coffee. She felt herself grip onto Ruby, enjoying the feel of someone else's hand in hers.
“I dunno, Narnia!” Ruby squealed, as they staggered outside, still holding on tightly Ruby marched Naomi off down the street. Almost tripping over themselves as they hurried on through, on a quality coffee high.
“I just came out the closet... You want to drag me back in?” Naomi quipped, laughing as she fell into Ruby. Their eyes meeting, her breath hitched slightly as she tried to force away the mutual attraction.
“Ha! Come on idiot!” Ruby grinned, determined that she was going to cheer Naomi up. Because as much as she wanted to kiss Naomi right now, it really wouldn’t be helpful, so instead she was just going to make her smile.
Blinking, Emily couldn’t believe it, she had to be seeing things, because Naomi couldn’t be holding hands with that girl. She couldn’t be seeing Naomi again, it had to be her mind playing tricks on her. But the closer she got, the more certain she got that it was the blonde, her blonde. Feeling a rage build up inside her, she decided she had to do something, had to confront Naomi. Marching in their direction, Emily took a deep breath, preparing herself for confrontation.
The silence continued as they entered the Fitch house, the only sound being made as they closed the front door. The minute she was inside, Emily sprung up the stairs, closely followed by Katie, desperate not to face the person she despised most right now, shuddering slightly as she heard Jenna’s voice cut through her like glass.
“Emily! Katie! Aren’t you going to tell me how your night was?” Jenna called, only catching the back of her girls running up the stairs.
“Mum leave them.” James insisted, gripping onto his mothers arm. Urging her to drop it, because he knew that Emily needed to cry, she needed to cry and Katie needed to hold her, and all he could do as a brother was to keep their mum away.
“James, will you go in the room or something, I want to talk to your sisters.” Jenna tutted, pulling herself away from the younger blonde Fitch, who was trying to act like a man, trying to protect his sister.
“No mum, please just leave Emily alone. You’ve hurt her enough.” James snapped, shrinking away as his mother glared down at him, she wasn’t used to her son voicing his opinions. James quickly took this as his cue to leave.
“What do you mean? James Robert Fitch come back here right now! I will not tolerate this behaviour! I'm sure your father will have a stern word with you when he arrives home! You’ll be doing a fair few reps on the naughty bar tonight!” Jenna raged, following James into the living room, where he’d slumped in front of the television.
“No he bloody won’t! He thinks you’re treating Emily like shit as well, we all do.” James snapped, jumping up and running up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door.
Jenna stood frozen, her heart racing. She tried to force down the lump in her throat, she wouldn’t cry over this decision, she couldn’t cry over a decision that felt so right to her.
Katie jumped at the sound of James’s door slamming, she was pretty sure she’d heart James shouting at their mother and felt kind of proud of the little shit. Epic perv he may be, but he knew where his loyalty lay. Katie shifted on her bed, turning to look at Emily, neither had said a word since they’d arrive home, but Katie felt it was time to cut the silence.
“Emily, come on Emily you can sort this out. I’m pretty sure that it didn’t mean anything, it’s been like a day, she’s probably just a friend.” Katie insisted, anything to try to shift Emily out of this zombie like state.
“It was the girl from last night, the one Naomi tried to give her number to. The one that said Naomi was cute...” Emily sighed, her eyes fluttering down to the passport photos that were stuffed down the side of her bed, away from the prying eyes of her mother. The first was of Naomi, stony and serious, because she’d needed to get her photos taken for her passport. By the second one Emily had popped her head in, for the third they were sat cuddled together and by the fourth their lips had met.
“Just fucking text her then, tell her she’s out of line, tell her you want her back and end this fucking stupidity!” Katie sighed, shaking her head because the answer was just too simple.
“You don’t get this at all do you Katie? You just don’t understand!” Emily insisted, burying her head into her pillow.
“No Ems, I don’t fucking understand. Neither does Naomi, and to be honest I don’t think even you understand why you’ve fucked this up. You are going to lose her Emily.” Katie growled, getting angry because she decided it was the only way to get through to Emily. For someone that was so intelligent, Emily could be fucking stupid sometimes. Feeling the buzz of her phone, Katie grabbed it and saw she had a text, scanning it she stood up and grabbed her bag. “I’ve got to go Ems, have a careful think yeah?”
All Emily could do was watch Katie practically sprint out the door, leaving her sat wallowing in self inflicted misery. Staring at passport photos of the perfect life she’d thrown away, the perfect life she’d so desperately wanted. Fuck this, Emily thought. She was going into town, going to buy something amazing to wear... Or, failing that, a magazine with lots of tits in.
**
“I have a date. A real date, in a restaurant. I’ve never been on a real date in a restaurant before.” JJ stuttered to Katie, showing his phone with the message from Jodi, to her.
Katie took the phone to read the text. She hummed in acknowledgement before passing JJ’s phone back to him. Katie sat down on JJ’s sofa, crossing her legs as she watched JJ pace the room awkwardly. Katie raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a stern look which told him to sit down.
“You gave her your number didn’t you? What did you expect, of course she was going to ask you out.” Katie sighed, sometimes JJ could be a little infuriating with his naivety. Perhaps he would still need a fair few lessons yet.
“That’s the thing, I didn’t. She must have got it from someone, she rushed off so quickly the other night I didn’t have time to ask. Furthermore my mother said I had to be careful about giving my number out to strangers.” JJ admitted, blushing because he was still surprised that anyone would make such an effort to talk to him, to ask him out, he still couldn’t believe that someone was interested.
“Right first, she’s not some creepy old guy asking for your number, I think you’re safe. Second, she really is keen, or desperate, I'll leave that for you to decide. Third, it’s a meal J, you know how to eat, you know how to talk, that’s all a date consists of.” Katie explained, turning JJ’s television on and flicking through until she found something of interest.
“I thought you were supposed to be helping me. We have a deal remember?” JJ grunted, annoyed at Katie’s lack of attention. Slumping down in the armchair, he tried to catch Katie’s eye, but she was far more interested in some plastic looking American on the TV.
Katie felt a little bad, but she could hardly explain to him that she had some odd jealousy. It was probably because she’d been single for a little while, that was it she rationalized. It wasn’t about JJ, she was certain.
“JJ have a bit of confidence in yourself, yeah? Without me you’ve managed to talk to her, get her to like you, she’s texted you, wants to date you!” Katie reminded JJ, all her really needed was self belief, she’d be an idiot not to fall for someone as sweet and amazing as JJ.
“There’s still so much I don’t know! I’m nervous ok?! Nervous! I’ve only ever kissed two girls in my entire life!” JJ yelled, blushing bright red, clutching his fists together in frustration, Katie looked surprised at the outburst.
“Who’s the other one?” Katie asked simply, interested in who else JJ had been kissing, obviously she knew about her sister, but she couldn’t quite figure out who else. Surely Effy had never...? Well, she’d had everyone else it wouldn’t be that big a surprise.
“What?” JJ asked, calming down from his previous rant, now just a bit confused what Katie was asking him.
“Who’s the other girl you’ve kissed?” Katie questioned, maybe it was just some random at a party, she wasn’t quite sure why, but it was bothering her not knowing.
“Oh... Er... A... Erm... Mehmehmeh.” JJ muttered, far too embarrassed to admit who the other girl was. The prostitute called Megan, who’d given him his first proper kiss for a grand total of £10.
“A what?” Katie asked, screwing her face up in confusion, as she tried to figure out precisely what a mehmehmeh was.
“A prosmehmeh.” JJ stuttered, almost telling Katie but trailing off, because really it was quite embarrassing. He wasn’t the kind of guy that did things like that, it wasn’t something he was proud of, it was Cook, it was always Cook who got him into bad situations.
“Fucking talk English JJ!” Katie snapped, truely getting frustrated now, whoever this girl was it must be a right minger, because JJ was a red as a tomato, and looked about as comfortable as she did in that fucking blue thong of Emily’s that cut her in half.
“A prostitute!” JJ called out exasperated by Katie’s pushing. He could barely meet her eyes, but he could make out the look of surprise and slight disgust that sat on Katie’s face.
“Eww! Fucking hell are you desperate or something?” Katie cried out, she sounded a little harsher than she meant to. She could see it wasn’t something JJ was particularly proud of, but still it was weird.
“It was Cook, he made me go. I didn’t want to. We only kissed, that was it.” JJ defended, desperate for Katie not to think he was some creep that could only get a kiss if he paid for it. It wasn’t like that, it was never that seedy.
“That’s still disgusting.” Katie muttered, she expected that kind of thing from Cook, she could imagine Freddie doing it as well. But JJ... She wanted JJ to be different.
“Well, I had to learn somehow.” JJ blushed, shifting at how awkward the situation was. Holding his head down, he didn’t notice when Katie got off the sofa, stood up and walked over to him, sitting on his lap, straddling him.
“Oh fuck it, come here.” Katie sighed, taking JJ’s face in her hands and kissing him, it was forceful. Caressing his lips with hers, it took a minute before he started to respond, gripping the back of Katie’s head, kissing her back. The ‘lesson’ lasted too long, both of them enjoying it far too much. It was JJ that eventually pulled away, his eyes meeting Katie’s as she jumped up, away from JJ.
“That was, different.” JJ managed to muster, a little shocked by the whole event. He could still feel Katie on his lips, could still taste her lipgloss.
“Good different or bad different?” Katie asked, intrigued by what JJ meant, she’d been told plenty of times she was an amazing kisser.
“Good different, very good, you’re a very good actress.” JJ stuttered out, nervous and embarrassed by Katie’s intense glare. He wasn’t just saying it though, the kiss had been very good.
“Am I?” Katie asked confused, not quite sure what JJ meant by ‘actress’.
“Well, when I kissed Emily, you could tell she didn’t really mean it. But you, i’d almost think you liked me. But thats stupid.” JJ explained, laughing to Katie, at how preposterous the whole idea was. Katie was just a very good actress, she should be taking drama.
“Yeah pretty bloody stupid.” Katie muttered, blushing, she could feel her cheeks blush red. She was just a good actress, a really good actress.
“Still thanks.” JJ nodded, touching his lips. Pulling his hand away self-consciously before Katie noticed.
“You’re not too bad JJ. Your technique I mean, it was alright.” Katie smiled, trying to establish some kind of normality, bring the conversation back to the lessons that Katie was supposed to be giving to JJ.
“Oh, well I guess I have a natural ability then.” JJ grinned, feeling quite proud of himself, a compliment from Katie was a rare phenomena, she must mean it, she wouldn’t say something like that if she didn’t mean it.
“Yep, you’ve got soft lips.” Katie rushed, she really wanted to get home now, because she kind of felt like she was being strangled. Her throat was all tight, she couldn’t breathe.
“Lip balm, mum says girls like it if you look after your lips.” JJ explained, proudly showing off the small tin of Vaseline he carried in his pocket.
“Well, yeah, she’s right. I should go. I better go, a good lesson yeah, text me later.” Katie hurried desperately, heading as fast as she could for the front door.
“Thank you again Katie!” JJ called after Katie, watching as she hurried down the road. Realising that he still had no idea how he was going to cope on this date with Jodi, Katie’s lessons were kind of lacking in the finer detail.
**
“This is good coffee, it’s a nice place, for coffee.” Naomi muttered, holding her hands around the mug, smiling and trying to seem somehow normal. When really, this situation was far from normal, because the girl opposite her just wasn’t Emily.
“Oh yes, scintillating conversation.” Ruby grinned, teasing the blonde who sat opposite her, with the empty look on her face. Naomi had hardly said two words, it certainly killed the atmosphere when the person you were with couldn’t stop thinking about someone else.
“Er sorry. I’m not good at this.” Naomi blushed, pushing her hair away from her face, trying to at least attempt eye contact with Ruby. Ruby was nice, she’d talked about books, good books, proper literature. She was intelligent, and witty, possibly just as sarcastic as Naomi. The conversation would probably have been brilliant if Naomi had put a little effort in.
“Being friends? Thought making friends was like a basic life skill?” Ruby smiled, trying to put Naomi at ease. She liked teasing Naomi, liked the look of respect that twinkled in Naomi’s eyes when she shot back with something acidic and charming.
“I must have missed out on that. You are kind of looking at me like you like me.” Naomi admitted, grinning and biting her lip. Why was it that every girl she made friends with wanted to jump her?
“That make you uncomfortable? I’d take it as a compliment.” Ruby winked, gulping her coffee, licking a rogue drop from her lips, and smiling when she saw Naomi shift slightly in admiration of the action.
“I do... It’s just, it’s literally been a day since I split up with Emily.” Naomi explained, a pain in her chest at the mention of Emily’s name. What the fuck was she doing here, sitting with some other girl?
“Maybe I could help you get back with her?” Ruby suggested, shrugging her shoulders at the absurdity of it. She couldn’t help but smile though.
“Why would you want to do that? I thought you fancied me.” Naomi pouted, almost offended that Ruby didn’t want her. She was quite enjoying the ego-boost of someone liking her, wanting her.
“Oh babes seriously, as hot as you are, I've just met you, I'm not in love or anything. So we could be friends, and I could help you get that girlfriend of yours back. The green-eyed monster tends to give people a nudge in the right direction.” Ruby laughed, she didn’t know Emily, but from what she’d seen of her, it was obvious she was still head over heels in love with Naomi.
“You want to make Emily jealous?” Naomi asked astonished, remembering how she’d felt when she’d found out about Emily and JJ, remembering that sickening jealousy that had pushed her to finally confront what she felt about Emily. Maybe this plan wasn’t quite so absurd.
“If she thinks you’ve moved on, it might inspire her, might get her interested.” Ruby pondered, not overly sure why she was so keen to help. Perhaps part of her thought, maybe if she helped Naomi and Emily still didn’t want her, then that would leave the door wide open for her.
“It’s a little more complicated than that, I don’t know if I like underhanded tactics. Emily broke up with because of things that are going on with her family, she’s hurting enough as it is, she doesn’t need me being a bastard to her.” Naomi sighed, she’d hurt Emily enough over the past year, she didn’t want to do it anymore.
Ruby looked Naomi up and down, smiling at just how sweet she was, how caring she was even though Emily had dumped her. She was almost jealous of just how epic this love seemed, of just how much pain Naomi was in.
“Come on we’re going.” Ruby announced, her eyes trying to inspire excitement in Naomi. Grabbing hold of her hand, she pulled the blonde up, yanking her out of the cafe.
“Going where?” Naomi managed to ask, despite the shock of being rushed out of the cafe before she’d even had the chance to finish her coffee. She felt herself grip onto Ruby, enjoying the feel of someone else's hand in hers.
“I dunno, Narnia!” Ruby squealed, as they staggered outside, still holding on tightly Ruby marched Naomi off down the street. Almost tripping over themselves as they hurried on through, on a quality coffee high.
“I just came out the closet... You want to drag me back in?” Naomi quipped, laughing as she fell into Ruby. Their eyes meeting, her breath hitched slightly as she tried to force away the mutual attraction.
“Ha! Come on idiot!” Ruby grinned, determined that she was going to cheer Naomi up. Because as much as she wanted to kiss Naomi right now, it really wouldn’t be helpful, so instead she was just going to make her smile.
Blinking, Emily couldn’t believe it, she had to be seeing things, because Naomi couldn’t be holding hands with that girl. She couldn’t be seeing Naomi again, it had to be her mind playing tricks on her. But the closer she got, the more certain she got that it was the blonde, her blonde. Feeling a rage build up inside her, she decided she had to do something, had to confront Naomi. Marching in their direction, Emily took a deep breath, preparing herself for confrontation.