Love Lessons (Part Twelve)
There was nothing like it, it felt so good Naomi thought she would explode. It was so simple, nothing out of the ordinary, the simplicity of waking up next to the person you loved most in the world. Naomi was glad she’d woken up early, her alarm clock said it was only ten past six, normally she’d be annoyed at her body for jolting her awake, but this morning she was more than grateful. It meant she could just watch Emily sleep, it had been the smallest amount of time that they’d been apart, but it had felt like forever.
It was the way that Emily snuffled in her sleep, the way she moved, the way she shifted around like she was having the most exciting dream. It was the way Emily’s hair fell over her eyes, the way her leg curled around on top of the duvet. It was everything about Emily that made Naomi love her. Over an hour passed, Naomi still watching Emily, silently chuckling at the drool that was collecting on her pillow.
“I love you beautiful girl.” Naomi whispered, stroking away the hair from Emily’s eyes. Placing the most gentle, light kiss to Emily’s forehead, scared she would wake her up.
Nothing could wake Emily up though, Naomi was pretty sure that a marching band could make its way past her window, and Emily’s sleep wouldn’t falter in the slightest. A knock at the door broke Naomi’s concentration, her mum popping her head around the door, grinning like crazy at her daughters happiness.
“Just wanted to know if you’d like a cup of tea love?” Gina smiled, clearly just wanting to check that everything was still alright with Naomi and Emily. Naomi sighed as Gina’s faithful follower Pauline, sauntered in behind her, jumped up onto the bed and curled up below Naomi’s feet.
“If you like. I'll have to try and wake Emily up though, which is easier said than done.” Naomi laughed, she couldn’t get annoyed with her mum today, not when she was so happy.
“Well, I'll bring up a couple of mugs in five minutes. Keep things decent darling, I don’t want to walk in on a floor show.” Gina teased, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Trying not laugh at Naomi’s look of horror, ducking to avoid the pillow that was flying in her direction. “You’ve really got to stop throwing things at me!”
“I’ll stop using you as target practice when you stop being a twat!” Naomi retorted, noticing Emily start to squirm next to her. Shooing her mother away, not wanting her special moment with Emily to be ruined by the prying eyes of Gina Campbell.
“Was that your mum?” Emily asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she pulled herself closer to Naomi, burying herself in Naomi’s waiting arms.
“Yeah, she’s bringing us a cup of tea. Think she just wanted to check we were still all loved up.” Naomi smiled, pulling Emily’s face towards hers, bringing their lips together. Naomi made an attempt to deepen the kiss, frowning as she felt Emily pull away.
“If you’re mum’s going to be back in a minute, then I don’t think we should get into anything.” Emily explained, placing a chaste kiss on Naomi’s lips. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stop if we get started.”
“Thought you wanted to take things slow?” Naomi asked, settling for stroking Emily’s hair instead, even that amount of contact was proving a little too much for the pair.
“Yeah I forgot... I have the hormones of a thirteen year old boy, who’s just stumbled upon an accidental glitch on the Sky television which gives him all the porn channels for free.” Emily laughed, glazing over slightly at the thought, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Naomi.
“Ems... Are you that thirteen year old boy?” Naomi asked, trying not to laugh as she watch Emily blush, she could just imagine Emily staring at the TV wide-eyed with amazement.
“I like to think of that week and a half as the golden age of my young life. Certainly taught me a thing or two.” Emily admitted, breaking out into a massive grin at the look of shock on Naomi’s face.
“Sometimes I wonder why I love you, you massive perv!” Naomi squealed, tickling Emily, knowing it would drive her girlfriend insane. Refusing to stop, despite Emily jolting and tensing as she tried to escape. The sudden movement scared the cat, who jumped up from Naomi’s bed and made a desperate sprint towards the door.
“Oy stop it! You wouldn’t have been squirming and screaming ‘oh fuck Emily!’ at the lake that night if I hadn’t.” Emily reminded her, finally pulling away from Naomi, climbing on top of her, grabbing hold of both wrists to make sure that Naomi couldn’t tickle her anymore. Instead leaning in to kiss her.
“Emily Fitch... Educated by porn. Classy.” Naomi teased, flipping Emily off her as she heard her mother creek on the stairs. Trying to regain her composure, before her bedroom door opened.
“Nothing wrong with pornography darling, it’s perfectly natural to fulfill the desires of the curious mind. The feminist in me used to say that it’s exploitation, but then I watched that documentary with that big breasted porn star, and she seemed pretty in control of her own destiny. She was certainly getting paid enough, so I'd say it’s okay.” Gina rambled, placing the cups of tea down on Naomi’s bedside table, sitting down on the bed squashing Naomi’s legs, as Emily tried to hide her embarrassment.
“Mum! Shut up!” Naomi warned, glaring at Gina, squeezing Emily’s hand supportively under the covers.
“Oh I’m not trying to embarrass poor Emily, i’m just letting her know that it’s perfectly okay. Remember when I caught you looking at that website with all the women Nai, and you told me that you’d been accidentally redirected, when in fact you were google searching for information on the mating habits of badgers for a biology project?” Gina began, oblivious to the horror on Naomi’s face. “Well, of course I knew you were lying, it was fairly obvious you’d been ‘enjoying’ the website. So you see Emily, everyone does it!”
With that, the girls could only watch in amazement, as Gina made her way out of the room. The two girls frozen in amazement, it was a good minute before Emily burst out laughing, glancing over at Naomi who was biting her lip, her cheeks a bright crimson.
“Badgers hey?” Emily giggled, grabbing her mug of tea from the side, blowing the steam before taking a sip. Still keeping her eyes locked on Naomi.
“I fucking hate my mum.” Naomi muttered, sliding under the covers to hide her embarrassment, as Emily continued to laugh. Things were starting to feel normal again,
**
I have organised a club night tonight. Free entry for you my friends, a very good band will be playing. I hope to see you all. T x
Katie smiled at the text on her phone from Thomas, she knew how much effort he put into putting together an amazing night. It was just a shame she didn’t feel very much like going out clubbing. Still maybe a night of alcohol and good music would help clear some of the haze that was fucking up her brain at the moment.
Yawning Katie pulled herself up in bed, looking over to Emily’s bed to find James curled up asleep. Remembering that they’d sat up most of the night, Katie giving James advice, Katie figured he must have nodded off at the same time as her, she didn’t have the heart to wake him. Instead quietly getting up, she padded out into the hallway, bumping into her mother who was staring into James’s empty room confused.
“Have you seen...” Jenna started, panicking at the sight of the empty bed, peering under James’s bed just to check he wasn’t hiding or something ridiculous.
“He’s fast asleep in Emily’s bed, we were talking last night, he must have just conked out.” Katie explained, sleepily leaning into her mother, as Jenna wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into a half hug.
“Had me worried there for a minute. Emily didn’t come home then.” Jenna trailed, taking a deep breath as she reminded herself that she had to be ok with this, or at least try to be. For Emily’s sake.
“You know where she is though right?” Katie asked, not wanting to drop Emily in it if their mother was clueless. She was a little surprised she’d heard nothing from Emily, clearly things had gone well though if Emily hadn’t come home.
“I told her to go, told her to go and be with that girl. I want her to be happy, I just don’t know if I'm doing the right thing.” Jenna admitted, sighing as she kissed the side of Katie’s head. She hoped Katie might be able to help her, give her some advice over what was best. Because right now as a mother she felt completely lost.
“You are. Naomi loves Emily, and Emily loves Naomi, they just work mum, they fit together. Naomi makes her happy, you must have noticed how much happier and confident Emily is.” Katie pointed out, trying to reassure her mother. She hoped that with their mum on side, that finally things in the family could start returning to normal, the tensions hadn’t been nice for anyone, least of all Emily.
“You don’t mind then, Emily being gay.” Jenna asked, this having been the first time she’d really discussed things with her eldest daughter. She knew there had been tensions, she also remembered the conversation after Emily had outed herself, where Katie so desperately tried to convince her that Emily had been lying about the whole thing.
“She’s still Emily. It was weird to get my head around at first, but you get used to it mum, I promise you, you’ll get used to it. Emily’s happier being herself, you can’t ask her to be something she isn’t.” Katie smiled, gripping on to her mothers hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“I’m scared though Katie, I'm scared she’ll be made an outsider forever because of it. I’ll never see her get married, she’ll never have kids. She’s losing so much.” Jenna muttered, her voice cracking with emotion as she voiced her fears to Katie.
“She’s losing nothing. She’s happy. She can get married one day, and she can have kids. Just because she’ll do things differently, doesn’t mean she’s losing anything. She’s happier than I am at the moment.” Katie explained, her stomach fluttering as she remembered sending away her potential happiness the night before.
“You don’t have anyone special right now darling? Not used to seeing you without a boyfriend.” Jenna smiled, it was true, she didn’t think there had ever been a period of time where someone hadn’t been wooing her daughter. Bringing her flowers, taking her out on dates.
“Things are a little confusing right now.” Katie admitted, her hands shaking as she remembered the kiss with JJ. It really had confused her, it felt different to any kiss she’d had before. She truely believed for once, the person kissing her had really meant it.
“That boy that was here last night, Emily’s friend. What was he doing here?” Jenna enquired, raising an eyebrow at the way Katie reacted. The way in which she blushed, the strange way she tensed up at the mention of him.
“Just talking.” Katie muttered, not really wanting to elaborate any further.
“Good, he’s not really your type of boy.” Jenna hurried, remembering the very strange conversation she’d attempted with him before he’d accompanied her daughter to the Love Ball. The odd way in which he stuttered and blushed, not really making a lot of sense as the other boy, Freddie, had attempted to shush him.
“Isn’t he?” Katie questioned, wondering what about JJ made him unworthy as a potential boyfriend. Was it possible her own mother didn’t think she was good enough?
“He’s erm. Well, you know he’s ‘special’” Jenna spluttered nervously, not quite knowing how to explain her particular prejudices against the boy. Realising she sounded just as bad as she had with Emily and Naomi.
“Fucking hell mum.” Katie snapped, realising her mum really hadn’t changed at all. No amount of effort would ever make her an accepting person. It pissed her off to hear someone be nasty to JJ, to think of him as different when if anything he was better, a better, more caring human being.
“I just mean that he has a number of issues, he’s not really your type of boy.” Jenna tried to explain, without sounding like the total bitch, she feared she was becoming.
“What’s my type? Arsehole? Stuck up cheating wanker? General bastard?” Katie listed, realising that every single one of her ex’s fitted into at least one of the categories, most of them fit neatly into all three.
“Katie! Don’t be like that. You know I don’t like you swearing.” Jenna tutted, tightening her grip on Katie’s hand as she realised that all these ‘nice’ boys that Katie had had in her life, really hadn’t treated her daughter well at all.
“I think I'd be happy with JJ mum. Really happy.” Katie shrugged, getting up and walking down the stairs. Leaving a shocked and puzzled Jenna alone to consider what her daughter had just said. When had she become so out of touch with her girls?
**
“Fucking hell my head.” Ruby groaned, rolling over in the single bed. Her naked body pressing up against the broad figure sleeping next to her. Recoiling at the touch, Ruby rubbed her own eyes before meeting the baby blues of the guy next to her.
“Alright babes? Nice sleep? You have to admit the Cookie Monster has one hell of a comfy bed!” Cook grinned, bouncing up and down slightly, as if to illustrate just how amazing his bed was.
“What the fuck am I doing here? You don’t seem like the kind of guy that lets girls stay to sleep after the fuck.” Ruby asked, remembering some jibe from Effy the night before about making sure she had taxi money.
“Maybe I'm making an exception for you Rubes. Plus, you fell asleep, could hardly kick you out.” Cook smiled, wrapping his arm around Ruby, not wanting her to know that he’d let her stay in his bed because he’d wanted her there, because he’d wanted to feel close to someone.
“Well, I should go now.” Ruby explained, reaching down the side of the bed in an attempt to locate her underwear, failing to find any, she carried on scanning the room until Cook grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him.
“Don’t. Stay yeah?” Cook suggested, realising that he was holding Ruby’s hand, but not really minding because it felt quite nice. Not that he’d let her know that, he was fucking James Cook, he didn’t do affection.
“Cook this was just sex yeah?” Ruby reminded him, confused by the way that Cook was looking at her. He was a guy, a pretty awful guy, but he knew what he was doing and she’d quite enjoyed the sex. She couldn’t deal with him getting heavy though.
“Of course, I mean, I just thought we could have another go.” Cook laughed, trying to disguise any hurt in his voice. He would at least get another shag out of this he decided.
“Right.” Ruby replied, mentally assessing the pros and cons of such a decision.
“I don’t even mind if you’re thinking of Naomi the whole time.” Cook added with a wicked grin, wondering if a certain gorgeous blonde was the reason for Ruby’s frostiness this morning.
“Fuck off, she’s a friend.” Ruby growled, refusing to believe that she had fallen in any way for a girl she knew from day one was unattainable. She was fairly sure Naomi was back with Emily by now, and she was happy for them.
“Right, well then there’s nothing stopping you from shagging me then.” Cook pointed out, running his hands along Ruby’s arms, grazing her breast with a cheeky smile on his face.
“Apart from the fact I'm now sober, and you’re repulsive.” Ruby replied, trying to remain frosty and calm, which was proving to be more and more difficult the more Cook touched her.
“Right so if I...” Cook started, not finishing his sentence as he slipped under the covers. Ruby gasping, as his mouth made contact with her skin, her hands working their way into his hair.
“Oh fucking hell!” Ruby screeched, closing her eyes, desperately imagining that it was someone else making her scream.
**
“Katie, Emily and Naomi! Welcome, welcome ladies, right to the front of the queue for my beautiful friends!” Thomas grinned, beckoning the twins and Naomi towards him. Naomi and Emily made their way to the front of the queue first, hands tightly interlaced, Katie following behind.
“Is anyone else here yet Thomas?” Katie asked, kissing her friends cheek as he greeted her. She kept looking around, searching the crowds for a mass of curly hair.
“No-one of any importance. That tosser Cook is inside, but I made him pay to get in.” Thomas grinned, enjoying what little power he could muster over the boy who had nearly destroyed his relationship.
“Well, we’ll try our best to avoid him.” Naomi muttered, still angry about Cook’s stupid drinking game. What it could have potentially done to her relationship with Emily.
Thomas nodded solemnly, encouraging them to go inside to enjoy the music. Once inside all three girls began to smile, the band was, as Thomas had promised, amazing. The music was loud, a pulsating beat that made all three want to dance. Making their way onto the dance floor, Emily did her best to include Katie, not wanting her sister to feel like a third wheel. Choosing to dance in a circle, the three were starting to enjoy themselves, when Emily locked eyes on another girl in the crowd, one she quite clearly recognised.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” Emily spat, turning to Naomi and looking for an answer before turning back to where she’d spotted Ruby dancing, clenching her fists as she started to worm her way through the crowd.
“Emily don’t, please she’s my friend.” Naomi begged, trying to pull Emily back, trying to avoid any kind of confrontation.
“Fuck off is she!” Emily snapped, finally approaching where Ruby was dancing, calling out over the music “What the fuck are you doing here?!”
“Ems back off she’s with me.” Cook jumped in and defended, wrapping an arm protectively round Ruby. Ruby flinched slightly, especially as she locked eyes with a shocked looking Naomi.
“She’s what?!” Naomi uttered, regretting her outburst the second Emily turned round to look at her, an expression of jealousy and anger spread across her face.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Emily growled, gripping onto Naomi’s wrist forcefully. Meeting her girlfriends eyes, pleading with her desperately.
“Naomi can we talk?” Ruby asked, smiling at her friend, she beckoned for her to leave Emily’s side and come outside, that way she could explain everything. Tell Naomi that Cook was just a drunken mistake.
“No! You can’t fucking talk to my girlfriend, and you can keep your hands off her as well!” Emily screeched, smacking away Ruby’s hand which was reaching for Naomi’s. Naomi hadn’t seen Emily like this before, it was a little worrying. It was even more worrying when Emily managed to get past her, reaching out to punch the girl in front of her...
Katie was watching the entire exchange, wondering if she should step in, she didn’t want Emily to think that she thought she couldn’t cope on her own, but at the same time she wouldn’t let some slut fuck with her sister. Just as she was about to leap in to support her sister, she felt a hand pull her back, rushing her through the crowds. It wasn’t until she stepped out on the balcony, that she realised it was JJ that had hold of her hand.
“I... I should have stayed with Ems, she might need me.” Katie rushed nervously, trying to let go of JJ’s hand, but his grip was tight and determined.
“I think we should talk.” JJ insisted, he’d been working through a million different things he wanted to say to Katie, there was no way he would let her just walk away. He needed her to listen, to give him a chance.
“Look J, I’m sorry about yesterday yeah? It was just a mistake.” Katie rushed, refusing to meet JJ’s eyes, she could feel him drop her hand from his the minute she uttered the word mistake, she wished she hadn’t used that word, it had been anything but.
“A mistake?” JJ stuttered, looking visibly hurt. His hands shaking, Katie reaching out to steady them with her own.
“You don’t need a fuck up like me.” Katie whispered, offering a weak smile to JJ. She was doing what was right for JJ she told herself, she was doing what was best.
“What gives you the right to decide what’s best for me Katie? I’m not the bloody child that everyone thinks I am, you don’t need to protect me!” JJ snapped suddenly, an aggression she never thought she’d see in JJ, a passion that no other guy had ever shown for her.
“I don’t think you’re a child! I just, fuck I'm just confused.” Katie admitted, her hands shaking this time, it was JJ’s turn to steady her, to step forward and support her tiny frame.
“Don’t be.” JJ muttered, leaning into to kiss Katie. Katie instantly responding, wrapping her arms around the back of JJ’s neck, kissing him desperately.