A/N: SURPRISE! Ah! Will you look at that folks? It's an update? :P Okay, so this is not another chapter, this is not an epilogue either. I kind of like to see it as Extras. Like if this story was a DVD this would be in the Bonus Features part. :P And well I didn't announce it, didn't even say I would be doing it because I wasn't sure I would! When I finished this story a while ago, I knew there was a possibility I would write this little extra piece, but I also knew there was a possibility I wouldn't. So I didn't want to make promises. But eh! Here it is now :)
Really you should thank Tapat for this one because i don't think it would have existed if it wasn't for one of the questions she asked me on Tumblr!
So you know this is a bit different than how the whole story was written, but I hope you still like it! For all the video games fans out there see this as the perfect ending ;)
By the way, I've missed you guys loads!
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Manifolds: Extras
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Effy stared at the smoke as it escaped her lips. She took in every little detail from the whiteness and thickness of it to the way it spread in front of her and vanished into the air. She brought the fag to her lips again and inhaled deeply, feeling the familiar scorch of tobacco burn her throat. She was used to it though and she let it burn for just the right amount of time before letting it out again. The brunette was barely moving other than that, only making the conscientious movements required to smoke her fag calmly.
"I look like a fucking idiot!"
The words rang out in the room bringing Effy out of her silent contemplation. She raised her eyes to set them on her best friend who was looking at herself in the mirror, a heavy frown crossing her features.
"Oh?" Effy uttered, her voice leveled and her eyebrow raised.
"Bloody hell, I actually look like a right tosser" the blonde girl whined again.
"And that's different than usual because?" She replied, a soft smirk crossing her lips now.
"Har har, Eff, Cheers" The other said her eyes still fixedly set on herself.
Effy felt herself chuckle. She took another long drag of her fag before putting it down in the ashtray and giving her friend some much needed attention. The brunette lifted her gaze to inspect the other woman and felt her eyes roll on their own. Was she even serious? The fact was that today was Naomi's wedding day and she actually looked absolutely radiant. Her hair had been coiffed in curls that seemed completely natural and her fringe had been styled in a quiff that gave her an air of grandeur, a certain class and elegance that made the blonde breathtakingly beautiful. Her dress was a simple one for Naomi had refused to wear anything puffy or too cliché. As it was, it was made of an immaculate white satin fabric with a plunging neckline that showed just the right amount of cleavage to be tasteful, but yet irresistible. It also hugged her hips perfectly before falling straight to Naomi's feet and left her whole back completely bare.
Effy knew for a fact that Emily hadn't seen her fiancée's dress yet and the brunette felt sure she would appreciate it with hungry lustful eyes. Hell, Effy herself couldn't deny that Naomi looked utterly stunning right now.
"You do know you don't look stupid though, do you?" Effy asked her friend.
"Yeah?" the blonde said, giving her friend a worried expression. "I feel fucking stupid though…"
"Well I promise that's just you"
The blonde gave her a thankful smile which Effy met with a simple shrug. As a bridesmaid, wasn't it her job to reassure the soon-to-be married woman? Besides, Naomi had been nice enough to fight Jenna Fitch about the appearance of the bridesmaid's dresses so Effy wasn't stuck with a bright pink assemblage of lace and crinoline. The brunette definitely owed her best friend for that, she thought.
For a bridesmaid, Effy was surprised to look actually decent. Her dress was silver grey and knee length and fit her really well. With her usual wavy hairdo that was tactically ruffled, there was no doubt that Effy would turn a few eyes at the reception.
The brunette was brought out of her musing by Naomi huffing loudly, still looking worriedly at her profile. Effy smirked again. She could feel her amusement bubbling inside her. It was rather funny to see her best mate looking so flustered and out of her depth. She didn't have time to say anything, not that she had wanted to say something in particular, before there was a quick knock on the door and Gina entered with Kieran in tow.
The older woman clutched her heart with her right hand and gasped as she took in her daughter's appearance.
"Oh Naomi! You look magnificent" she exclaimed.
"I don't feel like it" The younger blonde snorted.
"None sense love! You're quite a sight to behold!"
Naomi's cheeks colored slightly at her mother's words and her first genuine smile of the day crawled on her face. In the meantime, Kieran had plopped himself down on the small sofa next to Effy. His beard was tidier than usual and he was wearing a suit, but his shirt was un-tucked and his bow tie left dangling around his neck. You really couldn't expect much more than that. Effy gave him a smirk in acknowledgement and Kieran only rolled his eyes.
Gina walked closer to her daughter and started fussing over her hair and make-up much to the younger girl's annoyance. Naomi was keeping her lips pursed and Effy could tell she was restraining herself from snapping at her mother. The brunette's smirk grew wider and she tried to control the bubbles of laughter that were quickly building in her chest. When Gina started humming "Here Comes the Bride", though, Naomi lost it.
"Oh my god mum! No! Just no!" She voiced forcefully.
"What?" Asked Gina with a false innocent look.
Naomi frowned and noticed the champagne flute clutched between her mother's fingers.
"Are you bloody drunk already?" She accused.
"Of course not! Can't I just be happy? My grumpy scornful daughter is getting married! Who would have thought!? I'm just happy is all!" Gina defended.
Naomi tutted loudly and rolled her eyes.
"Why so much frowning on your wedding day honey?" The older woman asked. "Aren't you happy to be marrying Emily?"
"Of course I'm happy!" Naomi huffed indignantly.
"It's not too late to back out ya know" Said Kieran who had by then pulled out a wedding magazine that was lying around and was eyeing it suspiciously.
The three women turned to him, but he didn't add anything else and kept flipping through the pages.
"Anyway…" Naomi continued. "I am happy to be marrying Emily, I just don't like this whole wedding business"
"Reckon we could get you out the back door" Kieran said although, this time, his comment was ignored.
"Oh but lighten up Naomi love, it's just the one day! Do it for Emily" Gina reassured.
"I mean my car isn't parked too far we could make it unseen"
"I just feel so…"
"Twatish?" Effy provided.
"Yeah!"
"And then we could just drive off somewhere, probably best to leave Bristol though. Your lass is wee small Naoms, but she's well feisty"
"It's just so not me! This whole thing is not me!" Naomi pleaded, her face crumbling a bit.
"I can understand your apprehension about this darling, but, really, it is just the one day. And you know how much it means to Emily"
"We could go to Ireland. I've got loads of friends there that would hide you"
"Yeah, I know it means a lot to her. And it means a lot to me too. I never thought I'd say this, but I honestly can't wait to call her my wife"
"Is this the part where we all get emotional?" Effy added sarcastically.
"Or I could drive you south and put you on the next boat to France. Might be safer actually. Could start over, change your name and what not. Personally I quite like the name Cécile. It has a good ring to it" Kieran continued to muse.
"For Fuck's sake Kieran! I'm not running away!" Naomi snapped.
The man didn't look bothered by that sudden outburst and just shrugged while continuing to peruse the magazine. Naomi was properly fuming by then, her face a bit red and her fingers twitching.
"I'll get you a glass of champagne love, shall I?" Gina announced leaving the room deftly, probably in an attempt to diffuse the tension.
As she crossed the threshold, she started singing softly.
"Here comes the bride dressed all in light, Radiant and lovely she shines in his sight, Gently she glides graceful as a dove, Meeting her bride…bride her eyes full of love"
Naomi swore under her breath and closed her eyes while Effy finally let herself laugh out loud. You had to give it to Gina, she was absolutely hilarious when she wanted to be. They were all a bit silent after that until Kieran asked, without even looking away from his magazine:
"Are you quite sure though Naomi? I can go start the car right now if you want. It doesn't have to be Cécile if you don't like it"
"Jesus Kieran! Shut up!" The blonde exclaimed before throwing her arms in the air. "That's it, I'm going to walk around the house, this room is too crowded" She announced.
A few seconds after Naomi had departed, Gina walked back in with a second full flute of champagne and a bright smile on her lips. Her smile faded a little when she noticed that Naomi was no longer in the room.
"Where did Naomi go?" She asked.
"Who knows" Effy replied casually.
"If you see her before I do, tell her I'm looking for her! I want to tell her about this nice little crown we could make out of marguerites to put in her hair for the wedding!" Gina explained brightly before leaving the room again.
Effy chuckled because she was pretty sure Naomi would have a hand cut off before she agreed to wear a "crown" made of marguerites. The brunette chanced a look at Kieran and when she realized he wasn't about to move, she got up gracefully and left the room herself.
It was funny how full the house was on that day, Effy noted. After much discussion, it had been agreed to hold the wedding in Gina's garden and so her house was being used today as a preparation center. Jenna hadn't been happy about that desire at first and had worked really hard on changing Emily and Naomi's mind about this, but to no avail. The idea could sound peculiar at first, but it had to be said that Gina's garden was actually very large and truly lovely.
After Gina and Kieran had come back from travelling, they had decided to move in together. The older Campbell had then decided to sell the small flat she had occupied with Naomi and went in search of something else. It had taken them a few months before they had found a lovely two-story house with 3 bedrooms, a large open area on the ground floor and a garden that seemed to be just as large as the house itself. After moving in, Gina had spent a great deal of time in her backyard, planting flowers and installing cedar lattice on the side of the brick house. Emily had helped her a lot too and had even helped her install some fairy lights on some of the branches and on the trunk of the weeping willow that was in the corner of the yard and on the uppermost part of the old wooden fence that surrounded the whole place. At night, with the lights on, the yard would be engulfed in a soft yellow glow that made it quite magical.
The garden had stayed like that for a few years until Gina had gotten sick of waiting for Kieran and had then asked Cook to build her a wooden terrace that would be large enough for her to have dinner parties with the whole gang. Obviously, with Cook being quite smitten with the older Campbell just as much as he was with the younger one, he had readily agreed and had set himself to the task. After an entire summer of hard work and some help from Rob and James Fitch, Naomi and Gina herself, the patio had been built and stained.
Once that was completed Gina had made a point of inviting them all over more often than necessary and they had spent countless of evenings just drinking and chatting and laughing together in this little piece of homemade heaven. So, naturally, when it had come time to choose a location for their wedding, both Naomi and Emily had felt like there could not be a better place to host the wedding than Gina's garden. They had both argued that they had never been about big flashy things and that hosting their wedding in a place where they felt so at home really was the most important thing. Even Jenna hadn't found a good enough argument to counter that. Also, Effy suspected that, now that the older Fitch had regained a nice and pleasant relationship with her youngest daughter, she wasn't keen on ruining it over a wedding location.
To complete the décor, rows of chairs covered and linked together with a nice white fabric had been added to fill the vast space of the garden. Naomi hadn't been very fond of that set up originally because she thought it was ridiculously tacky, but when she had realized it was the simplest way to appease Jenna she had relented. Of course, when the older Fitch had suggested having a dove release, Naomi had stood her ground firmly and refused categorically. The wedding had taken quite a long time to plan, but in the end they had managed it without causing a third world war, which was a much more successful outcome than what Naomi had anticipated.
As some people walked busily around the place and as some invitees arrived and settled in the garden, Effy walked calmly around the house, sometimes paying attention to what was surrounding her, sometimes not. She laughed to herself when she heard Naomi yell somewhere in the distance.
"It's a gay wedding mom, not a pageant ritual!"
"I'm not asking you to burn incense or tie branches of yew together Naomi! Although that would be nice… It's just a crown! It would be lovely!"
"I said no!"
The brunette continued to walk a bit until she passed the door to the garden and walked on the terrace. She leaned on the wooden banister, swiftly removing her metal tin from her bra and taking a fag between her fingers. She lit it before replacing the tin where it had been and started smoking silently. A few seconds later, she was joined on the banister by Katie.
"Hey" The petite said.
"Hey" Effy replied turning her gaze to acknowledge her.
As Emily's bridesmaid, Katie was also wearing a silver grey dress although hers was strapless and had a black piece of fabric tying it around the petite's waist. Her hair was pulled back from her face by French braids and left floating in curls on the nape of her neck.
"How's Emily?" Effy asked after a moment.
"Giddy, excited and completely insufferable" Katie snorted. "How's Naomi?"
"A ball of stress and nerves. I think she's bricking it a bit"
Both girls chuckled.
"You think she's regretting the idea?" Katie asked.
"No. She's just being Naomi" She assured.
Katie nodded slowly.
"Where's Cook?" Effy inquired.
"Around" the petite shrugged. "Last time I saw him he was trying to get a glimpse of Ems' tits so I chucked him out of the house"
"Really? I thought he was satisfied with yours"
"He is. He said he wanted to get "visual confirmation that he was dating the twin with the nicer pair" his words" Katie explained with an eye roll.
"God he's such a wanker" Effy smirked.
"Yeah"
They both smiled though because they knew that, most of the time, Cook was really just trying to get a laugh out of people with his crude comments. And really, Katie loved his bad boy attitude and she knew he actually properly loved her.
"I'm gonna go back to check on Ems" The petite announced a few seconds later.
As she turned around to leave, she came face to face with Naomi. The petite gave her a once over before tilting her head to the side.
"What?!" Naomi snapped rudely.
"I'm surprised there's no awful floral on your dress" Katie spit back.
"Fuck off Katie" the blonde replied with a smirk.
"It doesn't even look like a "recycled" dress or some bollocks like that" the petite continued. "Congrats Campbell, you actually made an effort!"
Naomi rolled her eyes, but couldn't help smiling genuinely. She knew that Katie saying this basically meant that she looked fucking fantastic.
"I'm still by far the fittest here today, but whatever, you're not as horrendous as usual" Katie concluded before walking away. Just before she was back inside, though, she turned around.
"Emily will fucking turn into a puddle of goo when she sees you. Either that or she'll rape you on the spot." she affirmed with a knowing smirk.
Naomi returned Katie's grin with one of her own before winking.
"That was the plan"
When Katie had gone back inside chuckling, Naomi turned back to Effy and eyed the brunette's fag.
"Oh Jesus, I think I'd die for one of these"
"So have one"
"Can't… don't want to smell of cigarette on my wedding. The perfume I'm wearing is actually part of my master plan to bed Emily tonight"
"Naomi… Don't want to break it to you, but you've been with Emily for nearly 9 years. It's not like you've never bedded her before" Effy said.
"I know, but it'll be the first time I bed her as my wife" Naomi added with mirth.
"Aww and you want it to be special?" the brunette told her sarcastically.
"Shut up" Naomi uttered her cheeks turning red.
Effy rolled her eyes at her and they giggled together for a few seconds. As much as she loved her, it had to be said that Naomi was completely hopeless when it came to Emily. Any trace of badass she could have tried to convey always went right out the window when the petite was in the vicinity.
They leaned on the railing together for a few seconds in comfortable silence once they were done giggling. The brunette continued smoking and Naomi just seemed to bathe in her calmness, like being in her friend's presence was finally soothing her. And then they heard Gina approaching. She was still singing.
"Asking god's blessing as they begin, Life with new meaning, life shared as one, Entering God's union, bowed before His throne, Promise each other to have and to hold."
Naomi groaned loudly as if she had been physically hurt.
"God she's so embarrassing" she whined.
"She's very… Giddy" Effy chuckled.
"A bit too much" Naomi complained moodily before pushing herself off the railing a bit. "I'll see you later yeah?"
Effy nodded slowly and her friend swiftly departed, lifting her dress a bit as she ran away. The next second, Gina had come through the door, her flute of champagne as full as ever. She nodded to Effy and continued singing as she went along, sometimes stopping to straighten a few things.
The brunette smirked knowingly to herself before chucking her fag and leaving her spot. She had enough time before the wedding to wander a little.
Effy walked to the weeping willow and moved under its cascading branches. She trailed her fingers on the green leaves, letting herself absorb the beauty of it. She looked between the branches as more people gathered around the chairs and some began sitting. She knew the wedding would be starting soon. But she still had time to observe. She liked observing people, looking at the way they interacted. It was funny to her how people thought she had some kind of mind reading power. She didn't. But I guess she had always been able to pick up easily on how people were, how they moved, how they reacted to things. Enough to make it easy for her to notice the smallest of gesture, the faintest of reactions, making her able to sort through lies and truths.
She let her eyes travel on the forms of the people in the crowd. She spotted Kieran who was already sitting, seemingly ready for the wedding, a magazine still in his lap. He was putting up a good show of looking bored, but Effy knew it wasn't exactly that. He was turning the glossy pages of his magazine with sharp movements and that meant he probably was a bit nervous. For all his efforts of trying to sport a nonchalant attitude, the brunette knew he loved Naomi like a daughter and that he did care about how the day would turn out.
She spotted the Fitches then. Jenna was wearing a violet dress and didn't look nearly as grumpy as usual although she kept scanning the garden as if mentally making sure everything was set properly. Rob had a nice cream dressed shirt with a bright blue tie and was chatting amiably with Gina who was still drinking champagne as if it was water. James wasn't too far, wearing a black dressed shirt and a bright purple tie, his blonde hair flipping effortlessly in front of his eyes. As it was, Effy could tell he was trying to chat up a few girls who probably were co-workers of either Emily or Naomi. The brunette smirked as James received a disgusted look by one of the girls and was then left alone. Some things never changed.
She'd been a bit engrossed in the spectacle and didn't hear someone join her under the tree.
"The kid's got balls, but his game is terrible" a voice said behind her.
Effy felt herself smirk and turned around slowly. Her smirk grew even wider when she took in the sight of her friend.
"Well well, isn't that a sight for sore eyes? You look proper fit Cook"
"I've always been a sexy lad me" the boy replied with his trademark Cheshire cat grin.
And to be fair to the man, he was sexy indeed. Effy wasn't sure where he had gotten his suit, but it was made of a fine grey fabric that was no doubt of a really good quality. Under his coat, Cook was wearing a vest and a tie of a silver color that perfectly fit hers and Katie's dress. It seemed simple enough, but the suit fit Cook like a glove, making his shoulders just that perfectly wide and his waist that perfectly slim. Also, it had to be noted that the boy's arse looked positively wonderful in the tight trousers.
Effy gave him a slow once over, making sure to give him a smoky look she knew he'd appreciate.
"It's too bad we don't fuck anymore those days" she muttered in a sultry voice.
Cook guffawed loudly, throwing his head back. When he looked back at her, the brunette winked. They both knew she was teasing… mostly.
"I can't believe you joined the faithful club" Effy ended up musing out loud.
"I can always make an exception for you love" Cook said putting his arm over her shoulders.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head because, really, they both knew this was just talk. He'd never cheat on Katie for he really did love her.
"Wedding's about to start" Cook said leading her back towards the crowd.
They walked like this, with his arm around her shoulders, to the altar. Since Cook was Naomi's best man, he stayed with her on the left side and winked at Katie and JJ who were standing on the other. The minister made her entrance shortly after that, saluting them as the final invitees settled.
And then it began and it all seemed to happen so fast, but so slow at the same time. Some moments would be lost with time, some moments would not be remembered by most people, Effy was sure of it.
Like when Gina led Naomi to the altar and gave her a very discreet tap on the bum as encouragement.
Or when the blonde let an ushered breath out of her lips and shuddered just a little in anticipation when they began playing the song Emily had chosen for her wedding march.
Of course, everyone would remember the first time Naomi laid eyes on her future wife. When Emily walked up that isle and smiled at her, the blonde probably forgot there even were other people around them. Both their smiles had reached ridiculously high proportion and even as Emily stopped in front of her, kissed her father on the cheek and mouthed the word "hi" to her, Naomi didn't move, didn't say anything. Cook had even sniggered next to her and still, Naomi hadn't moved. She was transfixed, in complete awe of the one woman she had ever loved with all her heart.
Most of the guests would probably forget the minister's speech that came after that and even Effy herself would have to admit she had barely listened. But she would remember how both Emily and Naomi had shut glances at each other throughout the whole time. Their eyes would travel along each other so fast that Effy felt sure they were actually conversing. She even had to hold a laugh when she distinctly noticed Naomi arching her back a little, giving Emily a nicer view of her bum and the redhead subsequently blush a little, her eyes becoming much darker. Of course, Effy would have bet that no one else noticed.
Everyone would remember the heartfelt vows the two lovers had said to each other. They'd remember the words and the stories and the happiness. Effy would remember the way that Emily's voice had shaken a little and the way that Naomi's eyes had never even blinked. She'd also remember all the silent promises that had passed between their eyes straight to their hearts, all the love that had oozed around them that their words would never convey.
Everyone had cheered when they had finally been declared married and when they had kissed. Katie had had to wipe her eyes furiously and Cook had walked over and hugged her to his chest before letting her go momentarily to crush both Naomi and Emily in a tight hug.
And in this mist of people celebrating and cheering and congratulating, Effy would always remember that Naomi had leaned towards Emily and had whispered something in her ear and that had made the petite's eyes gloss over with such love and affection that even Effy with all her cynicism and doubts was a bit overwhelmed.
The sun had set some time after as they had settled in the garden to celebrate the wedding with a fitting party. The fairy lights had been turned on and a few guests had gasped. Naomi and Emily had taken the first dance, swaying gently, lovingly as it was expected from them. And then other people had joined them and the party had truly begun.
In a completely fantastic trick of Naomi's, Keith had been hired to DJ the night and had entertained everyone with ridiculously crude and rarely funny jokes. Obviously Cook had found it beyond amusing, but Jenna had been mortified, spending a very long part of the evening her lips pursed in disapprovals until Gina had cooed her into drinking enough champagne to enjoy herself and Effy was pretty sure this had been exactly Naomi's intention.
A while later, people had succeeded themselves to the microphone to bestow their best wishes to the couple. Emily and Naomi had both received everything with grins and smiles. Even when James announced that, the invitation Naomi had to the party in his pants was still on despite them being legally relatives now, they kept smiling and just laughed it off. Although Effy was sure she saw Emily swipe the back of her brother's head later in the evening.
Effy, for her part, had kept her speech very simple and very short. For one she hated making speeches and her best friend's wedding or not, she wasn't about to speak about feelings in details or anything. She knew though, when she glanced at Naomi's face and saw some unshed tears in her eyes, that her words had been appreciated nonetheless.
It didn't even take anyone much by surprise when rain decided it wanted to join the party after all and they all had to retreat inside. By then, there weren't that many people left anyway and they all fitted in the space Gina had made for them all in her living room. The older Campbell had even gotten some crumpets and crackers out for them and had ventured to make tea. Keith had retreated home a while ago, but they had still managed to find a few old vinyls to play on Gina's ancient turntable.
By the end of the evening, they were all exhausted, but they all felt so comfortable in each other's company that they didn't really want to leave. Lara and JJ were huddled together in a corner looking at Thomas and Panda who were showing off the products of their recent ballroom dance lessons. Jenna was discussing tea and recipes with a highly amused Gina while Kieran, Rob and James had turned on the telly and were watching some random footy match at low volume. Cook, who had long ago discarded his suit jacket, and Katie were dancing together, barely paying attention to anyone else. From time to time he would whisper something in her ear and make her giggle and from time to time she would caress his back with her hand and make him smile broadly.
As she watched them leaning on a nearby wall, Effy thought it was pretty amazing that they had found each other. It was funny to her how she actually hadn't really seen it coming, not like she usually did anyway. Both had spent so much time revolving around the other without actually knowing they would be quite a nice fit. But there they were now, together and bloody happily at that. The brunette smiled tenderly because it had to be admitted that she did love both those kids a lot. She'd always cared about Cook no matter how shitty she had behaved towards him and as for Katie… well I guess bashing someone's head with a rock did make you care about them afterwards.
Effy left her spot to go wandering around the house a bit. She noted, as she made her way to the kitchen, that she hadn't seen Emily or Naomi for a while now. She laughed to herself and shook her head slightly. Those two really were unbelievably into each other weren't they?
When she reached the kitchen, Effy stretched to open a window before leaning on the counter and taking out her fags. It's not that Gina exactly minded her smoking inside, because she didn't, but she figured it was more polite. Besides, Effy liked to feel the cool breeze on her cheeks and smell the musty scent of rain.
"Mind if I bump you one mate?" she heard a voice behind her.
She turned to see Cook walk towards her before leaning on the counter by her side. She handed him a fag and he quickly lit it. They stayed silent for a while, just looking at the falling rain. They had never really needed to talk when in each other's company anyway. When they were both done smoking, they discarded their cigarettes, but neither made a move to leave.
"Where d'you reckon Naoms and Emily went to shag?" Effy ended up asking a while later.
Cook chuckled.
"Actually" He started lifting his arm to point at the weeping willow. "They ain't even shagging… For once"
Effy followed his finger with her gaze and automatically spotted the shapes of what were no doubt Emily and Naomi. They were sitting on a blanket, Naomi no longer in her wedding dress, but in skinny jeans and an old red plaid shirt, her hair tied in a loose ponytail and a pair of black rimmed glasses on her nose. Emily, for her part, was still in her dress, her bum at Naomi's side and her legs draped over the blonde's. They were huddled close, their arms around each other's, and appeared to be giggling at whatever Naomi was saying. Emily's hand was tracing Naomi's forearm lazily as she gazed at her wife lovingly an ever so content smile on her lips.
"They are disgustingly in love aren't they?" Effy said without dislodging her eyes from the couple.
"Oh yeah" Cook sniggered. "Very much so"
The brunette waited a few seconds before continuing.
"You know… you look like you're heading right there yourself with Katie"
She turned to look at the boy next to her.
"Yeah well… Wouldn't be that bad a thing, would it? She's like… pretty fuckin' amazin' and that's like… nice innit?" He admitted sheepishly.
Effy's eyes softened at her friend's admission and she touched his shoulder briefly.
"I'm glad then" she said with sincerity.
Cook nodded slowly and smiled.
"So? Will it be you and Katie Fucking Fitch next?" Effy teased.
"Woah there" he laughed. "Ain't quite there yet, but well… maybe. Who knows right?"
"She'd want a bit thing you know?"
"Oh yeah, I do! Hasn't shut up about weddings since those two decided to tie the knot, has she?"
"I bet"
"Fucking Naomio man. Made such a proper speech and shit she raised that fuckin' bar real high" Cook complained.
It was Effy's turn to nod.
"Anyway, what about you love? Will you walk down that road one day?" He asked.
"I don't think so, no. But like you said, who knows?" she shrugged.
Cook didn't say anything for a while. Then, his eyebrow creased.
"Ef… do you… Do you like… still miss him… sometimes ya know?" he whispered.
He didn't say who and she didn't need him to.
"Yeah… sometimes" she replied just as quietly.
He nodded, his eyebrows still creased. Then, he grinned and he didn't look upset anymore.
"He would have fucking loved that wedding business, ya know? He was a proper sucker for romance he was Fredster"
"Yeah… I know"
"Would you have married him? I mean… if things had turned out different. Would you have?" he asked turning to look at her genuinely curious.
She pondered for a moment.
"I don't know. Maybe. I… There weren't a lot of things I wouldn't have done for him I think" she finally admitted feeling her heart clench a bit painfully.
Most of the time, she was alright with what had happened to Freddie, she really was. But at other times, it still hurt, still pained her so much from the inside that she felt like she was losing herself a bit again.
Cook nodded before drawing the brunette in his arms and squeezing her closely. She drew her arms around his waist and smiled into his chest. Every time she felt herself slipping a little, retreating in her head, her friends always managed to bring her directly back, rooting her decidedly back to earth. She'd never find the words to thank them properly, but she knew they didn't need words. They knew.
The moment of quiet was broken when Cook erupted in laughter above her and pointed back at the weeping willow. Effy laughed along when she noticed that Emily and Naomi had started snogging energetically now, they hands roaming freely.
"Bet you a tenner they'll be shagging in two minutes" Cook said.
"I'm not taking a bet I will lose" Effy replied.
"Right. What about a tenner they'll tell us they want kids before the end of the year then?" The boy continued, laughing.
"Again, I'm not taking a bet I will lose"
Cook chortled even louder.
"You know what Ef? Never mind those birds, let them have their moment, I want a fuckin' dance wiv ya so come enjoy some swaying with the CookieMan yeah?"
"Alright" she said before taking his hand and retreating to the living room where everyone else was still gathered.
Naomi and Emily could have their shag under the tree in private. She'd let them. But she'd be damned if she didn't tease the blonde to death the next day. Because that was what you did to the people you loved, you teased them.
Effy smiled as she started swaying first with Cook and then with Panda trying to match her crazy moves and finding herself genuinely laughing heartily. When Naomi and Emily joined them back a long while later, both their hair a mess, she laughed even more. Neither of the girls minded and they settled on the couch and, together, like a family, they started talking and telling stories. They even caught themselves making plans about the future. When Jenna quipped about grandkids and Emily admitted sheepishly that they had started thinking about it seriously, both Cook and Effy nearly died of laughter.
When the night rolled in and they all went to bed at some place or another, Effy realized just how happy she actually was.
All things considered, it was quite nice really, love. And so was having a family.
.
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So that's that sorted :) Hope you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for all the positive feed back on the last chapter guys! I'm still so grateful for the love you've shown this story (and shown me as well). So you know, thanks a million times :)
MM