Reposting note:

Hey, ya'll,

Thank you my second time around readers, you've been so so lovely. If you're new to the fandom, welcome, and I hope you've found some of the other amazing stories out there. Please forgive me for not being so actively involved as I'd like to have been, responding to PMs etc - where I live now has the worst internet ever, and I've had a thousand technical problems just trying to get the damn story to post! Believe me though, I've read everything you wrote and I'm so so touched, thank you. Skins and its fandom will always have a special place in my heart.

You're all so appreciated, just a couple of quick shoutouts -

DUDE, NiceOneBlondie...good god it's good to see you again (guys, frickin read 'Ink' if you guys haven't already...of course you have, it's sexcellente). Giant old-school hug for you and muchos love, I hope you are well and good and wonderful things are happening in your life!

Whedonite1113 - your review and your words about writing meant the world to me. Like, the actual world. I've been stuck in a big fuck off hole of a writer's block and I have reread your words a thousand times, to kick my arse back to me. Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. Please keep writing, forever, no matter when it gets tough. You'll never regret it.

[Here lie the rambles from the original posting, I wasn't going to post this note again, but just incase any of my old bud's stumble back this way...I will never forget what you all did for me!]

GENERAL THANK YOUs:

(Right after I pressed the 'submit' button on the last chapter of this fic I seriously wanted to throw up. It's fucking scary sometimes making that transition between private stories you tell yourself and public stories for everyone to see. But I woke up this morning to your reviews and they made me cry. In a happy way. Because it means a lot to feel like something kind of fragile and half-formed in your head is understood and shared by a bunch of awesome people. So thank you for all your words.)

Guys, throughout this story I know I've kept thanking you profusely and even been driven to try and express my feelings physically on occasion (shit, I'm sorry about that) with inappropriately prolonged hugs and throwing worms down your shirts and pashing you

up against the lockers, but I just hope you all know, seriously, that I appreciate all you've said and done to encourage me, to the biggest extent possible. Your reviewing dedication has been totally incredible for me, because as a writer, really all you want is for someone to turn around and say "Hey, I get that! I like your words," and you've all done that so amazingly.

The hardest part for me is always letting anyone else read my stories, cos at times that makes you feel unbelievably freaked out and vulnerable. I'd really love it if everyone could keep that in mind when you're writing comments for people, since I'm aware a few writers on FF have had some unnecessarily brutal spamming/general unpleasantness happen out there recently and that makes me so sad and angry because it's frickin HARD to put yourself out there. Constructive criticism is always helpful, but that aside, this is still the part where I put my hands firmly on my hips and say "If you don't have anything NICE to say…" etc. In saying that, thank you all for your generosity with your comment - cos seriously there were times even I wanted to roll my eyes at me :)

Despite the fact that I REALLY want to take on Circle142's challenge to move on from laundry to write a Naomily based story revolving around a piece of mouldy toast, this is definitely my last fanfic. I'm just not capable of one-shots apparently and this works out as a totally time consuming business in the end!

I've wanted to spend some proper time on doing some writing for ages now and I really want you to know that all your positivity towards this story has been without exaggeration, life changing for me. Cos you all gave me the big massive confidence boost that I needed, to decide 'fuck it…I want to write…stuff' (it came out a lot more eloquently and inspirationally in my head). So write stuff I will *waves fist around dramatically* More of my own stuff I mean, with my own set of characters and who the fuck knows where it will end up, but I know I'll love doing it and that's what counts in the end.

If anyone is interested at any point down the line in reading/reviewing/giving me your thoughts on whatever I come up with then I'd totally love to steal you away and hit you up for your input. In the meantime I'll still be around, checking up on your stories and occasionally still twittering random bollocks and just popping over to borrow a cup of sugar as a flimsy excuse to say hi.

Fanfic has been about lots of stuff for me…continuing on the fan love, a chance to get to talk to other people about writing (their writing, my writing, other people's writing) and a kind of random outlet and mechanism for coping with both a major bereavement and the disintegration of my relationship. So, even though that wasn't your intention in reading - thank you all for being such a lovely, supportive, fun part of letting me have all that.

SPECIFIC THANK YOUs:

I owe some big thanks in particular to the lovely CheesyPenName for your interest and career ideas and support from the beginning, to Circle142 for your support during my freak out mid-way and for your amazing immense reviews that defied the word count and also to the always brilliant H for your encouragement/support/reviews/behind the scenes pep talks and all round genuine spectacularity. Without you guys I would not have finished this story whatsoever and that is the truth so I reserve all my biggest locker snogs for you.

Also big huge thanks to Miss Peg, HyperFitched (I am practising every day at dawn in preparation to run away to join your circus….no - I actually am), foolishgames, idealdream, RiverRay, I_fay, FaithSky, Neverhappy10 and all the other long term readers/reviewers out there, you guys are so fucking fabulous….I really appreciate your words and your time. Thank you to HiMomHiDadHiBitches and 6seatertable for the book club and to vangoghgurl and thadarkslayer for twittertaining me. Also thanks to the bamfs and Rophy because I'm just a big LJ lurker but the first time I found your recaps I literally could not sleep because I kept waking myself up snorting with laughter at MANDDDEEEHHHHHH and Emily's face saying 'Jeans shorts'.

STORY NOTES:

Several people have expressed their general bemusement and dissatisfaction at my starting this story off and naming it after a laundromat. To those people, all I have to say is ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE? o_O Laundromats are without question, the sexiest places on the planet. It's just…all those clean clothes and clean sheets and the fresh laundry smell…whoooo, *fans self*…right, okay…so…I'm a Virgo. Other turn-ons include making lists with check boxes, people who floss twice a day and pretty much anyone straight out from the shower. Seriously, that bit when Emily sends a text message to Naomi that their clothes smell like the same washing powder? I mean, not to blow my own horn or anything but that was pretty much the hottest line ever written - not just in a fan fiction I mean, but in all of the world's literature, ever. Am I right? [uncomfortable silence] Great. Moving on...

Basically I wanted the most random accidental meeting ever, for two reasons - one romantic and one geeky. The romantic in me is obsessed with ideas about modern romance…because in these days (erm, insert croaky grandma voice where appropriate), with lots of random casual sex, internet dating, speed dating, getting off your face and snogging girls in clubs (again, guys, I speak from a place of knowledge due to all the interviews I did researching this stuff) how do we still find a way to tell a relatively real story about falling in love, that still grabs you by your heart? Because when it comes down to it, it's the stories we tell ourselves about our lives that make us fall in love in the first place. So above all I still just really ship the idea that despite what calculated ways we set up for ourselves to meet someone, sometimes we can still be taken by surprise. When you're not looking for it, you're not expecting it, you think you know what you're doing and all you're planning that day is nipping out to do laundry then BAM, there it is, out of absolutely nowhere, you're staggering home, ridiculously in love and there's not one thing you can do about it. So. Laundry. Now you know.

The geeky reason is more of a taking the whole Alternate Universe thing seriously. Some things are just meant to be, which is totally how I feel about the characters of Emily and Naomi in Skinsland. So if they didn't meet the way they were supposed to, what would have happened to their lives? I was never able to buy that line about Naomi just being way too scared to be gay or out. Seriously…hippie upbringing, her awesomely permissive parent, all allegedly political with riot grrrl taste in music…Emily had far more reasons to be closeted than she ever did. So in my story Naomi figured it out one way or another. Emily though, without Naomi Campbell, didn't have such a compelling reason to be so fucking brave. So that's why I reversed their roles here, but brought back all their old lines/friends/locations just cos…it was all meant to happen right? Their lives didn't go the way they were supposed to until…hello, completely random meeting and everything has no choice but to fall into place.

Lots of people have also said to me they thought it was really unrealistic that Naomi would have put up with being pushed around by someone like Alicia, but I think in this AU, you could be wrong. Partly because, like someone mentioned in a review somewhere, Alicia was the antithesis of Gina, so Naomi finally had someone strong- willed to play off/rebel against…plus with no college-Emily to compare to, maybe she didn't have much of a clue about this whole love business yet either. Which was my main reason for Alicia's character; HyperFitched got it one - she was Giant Not-Emily and that was her whole point. Oh and Tony-haters? Must you be such giant lesbians? I'm as aware as Panda was that he has a willy (though far less enamoured with the fact) but I loved that character so frickin hard…and you can love him, hate him, whatever you like but in the end he was fucking real. Oh, in a fictional TV way. Right. I forget that sometimes.

Thanks again for reading guys.

Love always

xxxx