So I can do nothing but apologize for how long it has been since I've updated. I finally put this together over the past few months. I felt that I needed to finish the story. So I wrote the last two chapters. It bothered me that I hadn't. But I don't know how I feel about it. I'm not sure I put the whole thing together very well, and I know some of it is choppy, but I hope its not too bad.

I'm starting on another story. It will be a bit different I think. Hopefully an improvement. I plan on sticking with it a little longer than I did with this one.

Also, I'm thinking of doing a sequel, or just a separate story, involving some Keffy? I just got really into writing about them. I think I might have gotten a little sidetracked actually.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

And I am really trying to improve my writing, so please review!

I don't own skins.

Chapter 17

She woke to the delicious scent of Naomi wrapped around her. It was still dark and she had that strange feeling she always got when she woke up in an unfamiliar place. But any anxiety disappeared as she felt those arms wrapped tightly around her waist and released a contented sigh.

After laying there for a second, she started to notice a sort of dull ache in her back. She wanted to stretch out, but she didn't want to wake Naomi. Sleeping on the floor had not been part of the plan, but that was where she found herself. She heard a familiar snoring sound coming from a few feet away and saw Katie fast asleep on the floor next to the sofa. The fact that Katie was on the floor was enough to make Emily curious. She had never known the Katie Fitch to give up a comfortable place to sleep for the floor.

There was a blanket and pillow on the sofa, which showed all the signs of being slept in, but it was empty now. She looked around, seeing nothing but beer cans and someone's pants sitting outside the nearest bedroom door. She sat up slowly, adjusting Naomi so that she wouldn't wake up, and looked around. The back door was cracked and she saw cigarette smoke against the sky. She could make out Effy's silhouette through the window. Aside from the slight movement of her lips as she blew smoke into the air, she was completely still.

She watched the picturesque image for a moment, trying to read something out of it. She had found Effy very interesting from the beginning. Very intentional, always doing something for a reason. Never sharing much with most people, and always watching. Always seeming so certain of what was going on at all times. She did not seem very certain of much at this moment. After what she had seen the night before, Emily was more than interested in why that seemed to be the case.

As she saw Naomi come back inside with Effy, she couldn't help but skip a little as she moved quickly towards her. She was slightly tipsy and so happy to see her girlfriend that she couldn't help it. Her arms automatically reached for the blonde's waist as she danced, breathing Naomi in deeply, wrapping her arms around the tall slender figure. She knew Katie was nearby, not having left her side for the entire night, but she had entertained her sister enough. All she could think of now was Naomi.

As they began to dance, Emily felt, for just a moment, that wonderful feeling of actually letting everything go. She heard Katie laughing a little, which was a rarity in itself. Effy and Naomi had made up and Naomi was wrapped in Emily's arms, her back fitting perfectly into Emily's front. After a few minutes, it seemed that almost everyone at the party was dancing with them.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but as she caught a glimpse of her sister in her periphery, she became distracted. Katie was very still in a mass of dancing people. Her eyes were facing downward a little, but she didn't appear to be looking at anything particular. Head facing the other direction, at Katie's side, was Effy. Their hands were barely touching, but Katie's eyes were wide and kept flicking towards the space where their hands seemed to be frozen.

Just as quickly as they were there, they were apart. Effy's face seemed concerned for a moment, before she was once again her stoic self, in her own world, dancing as if she were from another planet. Katie looked to be stuck. She was swaying slightly with the music, but her eyes were focused completely on Effy. In between looks to the ceiling, showing nothing, Effy Stonem was staring back, for seconds at a time, just as intently, and was also looking a little...shy? She didn't know Effy very well, but she was sure that look didn't appear on her face very often.

She felt Naomi turn around in her arms and her mind was taken away from Katie and Effy and focused back on the gorgeous blonde in front of her. She knew Naomi saw what she saw from the initial look on her face, but she shook her head, gave a confused smile, and shrugged, as they both seemed to be overwhelmed by the realization that they were so close. Any words Naomi had planned to say, about what they had seen, never came out.

Emily thought that the music was slower, but it might have just been a heavier beat and the intoxicating presence of Naomi that made it seem that way. She gently nuzzled her nose against Naomi's as they swayed on the spot, slowly melting into one another. Naomi's hand was gliding up her back, painfully slowly, over her shoulder blades, until they were at the back of her neck. She felt her head being cradled gently, held steady as Naomi's eyes became intense, staring directly into her own, glancing at her lips, as she leaned in.

As their lips met, she knew that she would never have a kiss like this with anyone else for as long as she lived. She didn't know if her and Naomi would last forever. And she couldn't be certain that neither of them wouldn't screw it up. But she knew that this is what people searched for. Her taste was intoxicating. Naomi's lips were so unbelievably soft. It was as if they were made to fit Emily's perfectly. Her heart swelled in her chest as she was lost in the best kiss of her life.

"All my ladies all in one place!" Cook came out of nowhere, giving a slight shock to Emily's senses. She had been lost to the rest of the world for a moment. "SHOTS!" She felt Cook's arm around her as she was swept toward the kitchen. She would have been angry had she not been in such a love-filled haze. Even an interruption to the most magnificent kiss ever could not damper her mood at this point. She was still standing next to Naomi; still touching her. That seemed to keep her in a blissful state. Effy and Katie following closely behind and she remembered what she had seen earlier. She began to pay as much attention as she could to the two of them, which proved difficult as Naomi was continually stealing touches and kisses whenever she could.

Cook stood appraisingly in front of the liquor selection on the kitchen counter. "Pick your poison, ladies."

Katie glanced up questioningly at Effy, who simply shrugged. Katie scoffed. Emily couldn't help but smirk at her sister. Katie had gone through her 'drink-anything-with-any-alcohol-content' phase for a solid five years. When she went to school, she became very specific about her alcohol standards, making sure that everyone knew that those standards were high, especially in her work circles.

"Please! I'm not drinking that shit." She scoffed as she pointed to table, which was, admittedly, full of cheap liquor.

"My brother was in town last night and we finished off anything that wasn't shit." Effy shrugged. It didn't seem that she cared one way or another. But Emily could see the ghost of a smirk playing across her lips. "If I'd have known..." It was spoken so lowly, Emily barely heard her. Effy still didn't seem very interested in the subject, but her eyes were boring into Katie. Naomi and Cook were chatting quietly to each other about something by then and Emily was faced slightly away from Katie and Effy. She was almost positive that Katie didn't think anyone else noticed anything was off. Naomi and Cook certainly didn't. But Emily had heard Effy's voice. She was so confused as to what was going on, but she felt that she should probably not let them know she had heard it, as she watched the reaction.

Effy smirked towards Katie, tilting her head. Katie's cheeks flushed but she recovered and continued on, a little louder than necessary. "I would rather not take something that will make me vomit just to get fucked up. If I'm gonna get fucked, I want to get fucked properly, yeah?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, before they burst into laughter, including Effy, who was laughing louder than Emily had ever heard her laugh. She glanced at Naomi and saw a bewildered smile on her face as she watched. Cook raised his hands over his head and, instead of speaking, simply winked towards Naomi, and ducked away. He disappeared and reappeared just as quickly with a very expensive bottle of tequila. "Cookie has posh friends too, ladies."

They all took two shots and sat around the kitchen table for a while, as the party's crowd began to die down. They sat there, just talking and laughing. Panda and Thomas showing found them eventually, and were offered a seat. Soon after, Freddy made an appearance, and everyone was having a good time. Surprisingly enough, Katie and Effy seemed to be talking more than anyone, with each other. It wasn't out of the ordinary to see Katie talking to anyone. She was a fairly social person, weather she was acting like a bitch or just trying to be her version of friendly. But Effy seemed to be just as engaged, and seeing as she wasn't usually so verbal, it was interesting. Suddenly Cook tried to interrupt during what he seemed to think was a lull in their conversation. "So Katiekins, you are the only one here who hasn't seen us perform yet? Are you going to come see one of our shows?" Emily realized that Katie was in between Cook and Effy at the table. She wasn't particularly close to Effy, physically. In fact Katie's side was pressed against Cook's arm and Effy's back was partly resting on Naomi's. They were both much closer in proximity to other people. Emily thought Cook might even be taking that as a sign that Katie was into him. But Emily could see the simmering tension between Effy and Katie; their body language,; their occasional flustered grins and hand grazes. Cook was, completely obliviously, being far more overtly flirty with her sister, putting his hand on her arm as he spoke, and having far fewer results.

When Cook said 'our shows' he nodded towards Effy, and Katie was lost to him. She looked toward the brunette. "You are in a band?"

Naomi spoke up, "They are actually really good. Eff plays the keyboard and writes a lot of their original stuff and Cook sings..."

Katie, clearly, could not care less what Cook did. She stopped listening. Effy had all of her attention. Emily thought her sister might be slightly more than tipsy than she originally thought, otherwise she was sure she might be a little less obvious. Though she wasn't positive. She hadn't spent much time with her sister in a while. She hadn't really spent much proper time with her in the past year. It was mostly her own fault. Katie was busy and had her own personal things she had been going through, but Emily had been such a shut-in for the past year. She didn't know why she had been that way for so long, but she knew she felt guilty now that she seemed to be coming out of it. It was clear that Katie was different than she used to be; much different. But she was still so Katie-like, Emily didn't always think about it. Right now, despite the completely out-of-character actions, Katie looked the happiest she had seen her in a while. She was very at ease, more so than Emily had ever remembered her being. This was the Katie that pretty much only Emily had seen much of. Katie had always put on a mask for people, but Emily didn't always seem to count. Or maybe she just saw through it, being her twin. But right now, she didn't seem to be wearing one at all.

Eventually, Cook realized his efforts were futile with everyone at the table and disappeared on the dance floor with a bleached blonde girl who was completely into him.

As time passed, most of the people at the party were just sitting around talking. Emily found herself with Naomi on the dance floor again. Though, they were the only people still dancing, so really, it was, once again, just a living room. But Emily didn't care where she was. Naomi was as close as she could possibly get to Emily, and she was dancing slowly into the blonde's front. Every part of her was melting into Naomi. And Emily had no problem with that. Naomi's breasts were pressed against her back. Her long, toned arms were reaching around, resting her palms against the front of Emily's thighs. She couldn't decide if she wanted to focus more on Naomi's hands sliding slowly upwards, or Naomi's breath on her neck and ear. It all seemed like too much and not enough.

For just a moment, Emily opened her eyes and saw her sister across the room. Her body was on autopilot, still moving naturally with Naomi, focused on her completely, but her brain was having trouble believing what she was seeing and it had a glitch for a moment. In the kitchen, where they were all alone, she saw Effy and Katie. Effy was standing extremely close to her sister, whose back was against the counter. Effy slowly reached her hand up to move some of Katie's hair out of her eyes. The twins face was red but she shyly looked back into Effy's eyes just as determinedly as Effy was looking at hers. They were staring at each other for so long. Emily felt that she should look away. Like she was intruding on an extremely private moment. The decision was made for her as she felt Naomi's tongue on her ear. She released a deep, throaty noise, almost a growl, as her eyes slammed shut.

The alcohol, combined with Naomi's actions, filled Emily's brain with a euphoric fog once again and the rest of the night descended blissfully into a love filled haze of dancing, touching, and kissing, until they could keep there eyes open no more.

Waking up on the floor in an unfamiliar place had not happened to Emily since University. It was strange. She meant to leave the party at some point last night, take Naomi home, and finally be as close as she could be to Naomi, after waiting for so long. But they got so caught up in drinking and dancing, and just having fun with everyone that they ended up just passing out.

Emily looked towards Effy again and had a strange desire to go and talk to her. The conversations had with Effy, up to this point, had all been a bit off-putting. But this was one of Naomi's best friends. One of the most important people in the her life. She turned to look at the sleeping blonde next to her. She was so beautiful Emily ached. Her hair was in a mess and she had the ghost of a smile on her face, like she was having a pleasant dream. Her arm was still wrapped warmly around Emily's waist. Emily leaned over slowly to plant a gentle kiss on the blonde's forehead, before slowly slipping out from underneath the blanket, making sure Naomi was completely covered, before she headed towards the back door, grabbing Naomi's coat off of the back of a chair and wrapping it around herself.

As she opened the door, she expected Effy to turn or be startled. But she just sat there, as still as she had been, staring out into the back yard. She was wrappedin a blanket, under which, she had her knees pulled into her chest, with one arm wrapped around them, the other straight out in front of her, holding what Emily now realized, was not a cigarette, but a spliff. It explained why the smoke seemed to be lingering a little longer than normal, making Effy look more like some sort of mythical being.

She sat down in the chair next to Effy. They sat there for a few minutes in silence before Effy extended the spliff towards Emily, offering her a hit without even looking in her direction. Emily took it, inhaling deeply and slowly, and passed it back. They sat for a few moments before Effy spoke.

"How did you make Naomi like this?"

Emily was surprised at the question. She had heard from several sources that Naomi used to be much different. Not knowing her before, she wasn't clear on exactly how she was different, but apparently she was. Emily was different, as well and Emily knew that was Naomi's doing. Emily had thought about it before, she just didn't know why Effy was asking her about that right now. She decided to answer anyway. She followed Effy's lead, not looking at her, keeping her eyes ahead of her, where she could see the horizon, over the houses, getting slightly lighter very slowly.

"I don't think I changed her or anything." Emily thought about it for a second. "I think we both changed each others' lives and how we see those lives. But if it's the same for her as it is for me...I feel like the best version of myself when I'm with her. I feel like everything makes so much more sense with her. If it's like that for her...well, she's just happy. We're happy. If it's the same for her..." Emily had a sinking moment of doubt. What if Naomi wasn't as happy with Emily as Emily was with her? The thought terrified Emily. It was a fear she had never experienced before.

"It is." Those words were calming, coming from Effy. Emily knew that she was a little paranoid because she had smoked a little, but it was still strange to Emily to feel that way. She knew it was true. She trusted Naomi when she said that it was. Hearing it from Effy as well was comforting.

Finally she glanced over at Effy, who was looking back. Emily was very surprised to see actual confusion in Effy's eyes. She thought about what happened the night before. Thought about how it might be affecting Effy. Thought what that might have to do with this conversation.

"I think its impossible to believe that something like love is real until something forces you to. Then, you cant really believe in anything else." Emily turned her eyes back to the horizon. "But it's really fucking scary. Some people can just turn everything around in an instant. No one is immune."

She didn't know what else to say about it. She didn't know what was happening with her sister and Effy, or if she imagined the whole thing, so she didn't know if there was some sort of advice she was supposed to give. Nothing she could say would really help, so she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"I've never seen her smile like that before."

They both knew that Emily wasn't talking about Naomi any more, but neither said anything. Emily saw Effy's mouth curl into a small smile.

They sat in silence once more, both feeling the effects of the spliff, soaking in the sunrise.

"You Fitches are quite strange."

Emily glanced back at Effy, seeing her face much more relaxed than it had been when she first stepped outside. She didn't respond, but simply chuckled lightly.

"I'm gonna go lay down for a bit before everyone wakes up. You coming in?"

"I'm good here for now."

Emily left Effy to ponder, whatever she was pondering, alone on the porch. She made her way back inside. She quickly shed the coat and snuggled under the blanket against Naomi, the warmth of her skin instantly making Emily never want to leave it.

She quickly dozed off. Happy.