Author's note: Thank you for the reviews and follows and favourites, you lovely people.

Disclaimer: No. My name is Bryan Elsley. I own Skins.

Burn Thin, Burn Solid, Burn Bright

Chapter Six: Restless at Night

"Got a light?" There was never a proper hello, not when it came to Effy. Most of the time there were barely even any footsteps.

"Er, yeah. Hang on a sec." Naomi fumbled through her coat pockets until she found her lighter as Effy took a seat beside her. Threw it over without a word.

It was morning, and they were sat in the garden at the back of the house. Well, Naomi wasn't entirely sure if it qualified as a garden as such; it only had enough space to house an old wooden bench, a couple of bicycles and a little patio. It was significantly smaller than Naomi's balcony, too, and most of it was taken up by overgrown weeds that tangled themselves around the bench Naomi and Effy were sat on. Dulled purples, faded greens, and an array of wildflowers. The large redbrick wall of the neighbouring warehouse surrounded them.

Naomi wasn't a garden person, but she liked the isolation it created.

Her and Effy had a sort of unspoken agreement to find each other out there occasionally. They were alone as always - it's fucking freezing out here, that's why, Naomi grumbled to herself - because autumn was ready to crawl into winter, and everyone else was inside the squat like normal people whilst it drizzled. It had become more of a smoker's corner than anything else.

"What's going on with you and Freddie, Eff?" Naomi'd never been good at approaching things with subtlety, so most of the time she gave up altogether. Facades were pointless when it came to Effy anyway.

The brunette took a drag from her cigarette and then exhaled slowly. "I'm sharing a room with him," she said, detached.

"Oh. So you're not..."

Effy turned her head to face Naomi. "No."

"It's just Freddie seems to think that... well," Naomi trailed off, not entirely sure where she was going. Effy was good at throwing her off balance. To be honest, she wasn't even too sure what Freddie thought anyway. The only reason she tried to bring it up was because she was tired of seeing him brooding. He had been giving her a run for her money, these past few days.

Effy smiled flatly. "Of course he thinks that," she said. "We're not together. We're just... fucking occasionally." She took another drag. Looked fixedly ahead.

"Didn't know there was a distinction," Naomi mumbled to herself.

Effy shrugged noncommittally in return.

They sat in silence for a while, passing the cigarette back and forth between each other until Effy took a final drag and then dropped the butt on the patio, stubbing it out with her foot.

"I don't want either of them," Effy said eventually.

Naomi didn't have to ask to know that Effy was talking about Freddie and Cook. She shook her head, frustrated. "Then why do you bother with any of this?"

Effy looked away. "Because pain is inevitable." There was a brief pause before she asked, "How's Emily?"

Naomi scowled. "What has Emily got to do with anything?"

A almost invisible smirk crept up onto Effy's lips. "Oh, I thought we were discussing roommates." She pulled out another cigarette from her pocket and then gestured for Naomi to pass the lighter.

Naomi threw it over. "She's fine, I think," she said as Effy cupped her hand around the cigarette as she lit it, covering it from the light rain.

"But?" the brunette prompted.

"But," Naomi paused for a moment, a little unsure of what to say, "It's just - I keep on hearing her cry. Every night for the past two days. She seems fine in the day and then..." She shrugged. "Well, I don't know."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"Er, Effy?" She'd talked to Emily in the past few days. Not much, obviously. Brief good mornings and even briefer conversations, but they'd still talked. And it was friendly enough - a joking quip here and there, a shared smile whilst everyone lavished the redhead with pasta related compliments. "Care to elaborate?" she said when Effy didn't reply.

The brunette tilted her head. "You should stay up and talk to her."

Naomi narrowed her eyes. "And how exactly would that help anything?" she asked skeptically.

Effy seemed amused. As if the answer was so obvious that Naomi should've already guessed it. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because she's recently been made homeless and she obviously needs reassurance? If you stay up and talk to her for a bit, you'll give her that."

Naomi scowled. "I'm not here to babysit her feelings." She pinched the cigarette from Effy's hold and took a long drag. "Do I look like a fucking people person to you?"

Effy rolled her eyes. "She doesn't need anyone to babysit her feelings. She needs a friend." She gestured for Naomi to pass back the cigarette.

Naomi's scowl deepened. "I don't want to be her friend."

Effy let out a long sigh. "There are five year olds with more sense than you, you stubborn twat. I'm not saying talk about your deepest darkest fucking secrets whilst braiding each other's hair. Just talk to her. Ask some questions. It's not hard. Or are you only capable of communicating through scowls?"

Naomi brushed a strand of damp hair out of her face before crossing her arms. "Can't you just... talk to her instead?"

"She's your roommate and you're the one with the problem," Effy said, drawing out each word.

The blonde slumped her shoulders. "Fine. I'll try."

"Butterflies."

JJ looked up at Emily from over the top of his newspaper with a quizzical expression. "Pardon?"

"Your crossword," Emily replied, pointing to the empty space. "The answer to eleven across 'What does a lepidopterist collect?' is butterflies."

JJ smiled brightly. "Oh, so it is!" He filled in the blanks and then looked back up to her. "Thanks Emily."

"You're welcome." She plopped herself down onto the seat next to him and began to eat her cereal.

"Morning Ems." Panda shuffled over from her chair to sit closer to the redhead. Slumped herself into an armchair, crossed her legs and began to look through the mismatch of papers in her hands.

"What you got there?" Emily asked, gesturing to the pieces of paper with her spoon.

Panda's face lit up. "Articles!"

"Oh?" Emily swallowed a mouthful of coco pops before she asked, "What are they about?"

"Loads of stuff!" Panda handed one over to Emily. "That one's about the new abortion law that was passed," she explained as Emily skimmed her eyes over it.

"You're interested in this sort of thing?"

The blonde nodded fervently. "Oh yeah. I'm super pro-choice, Ems! Unwanted pregnancies at a young age can cause a whammer load of complications. I mean, taking away a woman's right to abort takes away her freedom too, but I don't think people understand that... Not enough of them, anyway. The world is wonky, if you ask me."

"Yeah, it's pretty fucked," Emily agreed. "Where did you get these from?"

"From an internet cafe! Phil - he's the owner - is well nice. He lets me print stuff for free sometimes! I usually get things for me and Thommo, but I can get you something too. I know it sounds lame, but when you're here all the time..." she drifted off. Looked down and frowned for a moment before she composed herself and gave Emily an unnaturally large grin. "Just tell me what you're interested in."

Emily wasn't particularly fussed about it, but the fact that Panda would even bother to do something like that for her made her smile. "I like science," she offered. "I've always wanted to become a doctor. Photography too."

Panda smiled. "Okay! I'll see what I can find, Ems."

Soon Thomas arrived in from his morning run, and they all fell into light conversation.

Settling in was still proving to a weird experience for Emily; she found it easier to talk to some more than others. Spent most her time around JJ, Pandora and Thomas, who were all friendly and warm. Cook was friendly too, although it was usually accompanied by an onslaught of come-ons, which surprisingly made it feel less sincere. She could definitely see his charm though. Freddie seemed like a nice enough guy, but she hadn't really talked to him. Effy and Naomi were equally distant, although where Naomi was reserved, Effy was just plain vague. She had wanted to talk to the blonde properly again, but the times they were alone together were usually spent in silence.

The days had been full, and the nights had been empty. Lonely. She'd meant what she'd said to Naomi that night; she didn't know if she felt good or bad.

Emily was shook out of her thoughts when Panda said, "I've decided I want a pyjama party!"

Panda had been discussing her birthday a lot recently - especially with Effy, Cook and Thomas - which was coming up in the following month. Apparently Emily'd only missed Cook's birthday by a couple of weeks, which according to him was 'the best fucking party of the year.' Naomi had scoffed at his comment, which had made her chuckle, and JJ had mentioned something about the death of an innocent goldfish. Emily'd decided she was glad she'd missed it.

"I want everybody to talk in rhymes too! And I don't want too much alcohol because I want everyone to remember how fab my birthday party was for ages. And... and I want funky old music! Not any Lady Gaga or Rihanna or Beyonce. I like them, but they all sounds the same, don't they? Can you get me some funky music, Cookie?" Panda asked as Cook walked in from the corridor leading to his room.

He grinned. "I'll see what I can do."

Naomi didn't know what troubled her more: that she was the only fucking one that had to put up with listening to Emily break every night, or that she actually, just a little bit, sort of... cared. Part of her, however much she tried to deny it, just wanted Emily to be okay. No one deserved to go through what everyone at the squat had gone through, Naomi knew that.

It must have been at least 1 am, moonlight dripping in through the cracks in the ceiling, when she untangled her limbs from her sleeping bag and sat up straight. She looked over to Emily to see if she was awake, but was greeted with the back of her head.

It was absolutely freezing. Even now in October the air had a biting chill to it. The winter months were the only downside of sleeping up on the balcony. She brushed her hands blindly across the wooden floor beside her sleeping bag until they met with her green jumper. Slipped it on over her t-shirt.

"Emily?" she whispered. No reply. "You awake?" Again, nothing. She tried to get her attention with a gentle cough.

"Hmm?" Emily groaned. Okay, perhaps she shouldn't have waited until Emily'd been settled into bed for nearly half an hour.

"I was, er, well..." she faltered. Nervously fidgeted with her hands. "We're roommates, right? And... I hardly know anything about you." Great, not even one minute into the conversation and she'd already made a tit of herself.

"That's because you haven't asked," Emily pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, but," Naomi struggled for a moment to think of what she could say to keep the other girl awake, "I'm asking now." She inwardly scoffed at herself.

"Okay," Emily replied slowly.

Naomi heard the shuffle of Emily's sleeping bag. Looked up to find that Emily'd sat up and was looking directly at her. She gulped.

"And you've decided to ask at, what, two in the morning?" Emily continued, amused.

That was the other thing; it had taken her a couple of days, but Naomi'd slowly come to realise that Emily wasn't nearly as shy as she'd first seemed. It made sense that Emily'd been timid when she first moved in. And, from what Naomi'd pretended not to overhear, Emily could hold a pretty decent conversation too. That was exactly the reason she'd been avoiding one.

"Well, evidently, yeah." She shuffled over to Emily's side of the balcony, bringing a blanket with her. "So?" she prompted.

Emily yawned and then rubbed her eyes. "So?" She looked back at Naomi steadily.

"Oh, right," Naomi said under her breath. She actually needed to ask Emily something. "What's your favourite... food?" The question seemed ridiculous to her, but the redhead seemed to have other ideas.

She made an offended sound. "You can't make me choose!"

"I can, actually." Naomi smiled smugly at her, settling into the conversation more comfortably than before. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's exactly what I'm doing right now."

Naomi heard Emily mumble something about her being 'so fucking pedantic' before she looked up grudgingly. "Fine," she huffed. "Lasagna."

"Christmas or birthdays?"

Emily looked at her like she was stupid. "Obviously Christmas."

"Surname?"

"Fitch."

Emily Fitch. It suited her. "Favourite colour?"

"Green and blue."

"Favourite... film star?"

"Dita von Teese," Emily answered without missing a beat.

Naomi eyed her distastefully.

"What's wrong with her?" Emily asked, exasperated.

Naomi screwed up her face. "Nothing, she's just a bit..." she waved her hands in the air in explanation. "Well... what exactly do you like about her?"

Emily shrugged. "I like what she stands for," she said.

Naomi scoffed. "Like fuck you do! You like her tits, more like."

"Well, yeah, that too." There was a cheeky glint in Emily's eyes. "Right, if you're done insulting my favourite film star, I think you should tell me yours."

"I don't have one," Naomi paused for a moment, "but I fucking hate Orlando Bloom. Twat."

Emily chuckled, low and husky, and it hit Naomi somewhere deep in the stomach. "Jesus Christ! Is there anything you do like?"

"No." She said it sharply, but Emily must have found it funny, because she continued to laugh. "And besides, I'm supposed to be asking you. Not the other way around."

Emily rolled her eyes. Gestured for her to carry on. "Ask, then."

"Favourite band?"

"Blondie."

"I approve."

"I can't imagine what I'd do without your approval," Emily said dryly.

Naomi eyed her curiously. "You're very annoying," she said a few seconds later.

Emily shrugged. "I try."

She struggled to think of another question. "What are your favourite things to do?" Hardly the most creative question, but it'd do.

Emily chewed on her lip, deep in thought. "I like gardening," she responded after a moment. "I know that might make me sound like a weirdo, but I'm not one of those nutters who talks to flowers and strokes the grass and stuff. I just like planting things, and watering them, and watching them grow, and then watching them die. The garden was the only quiet place in my house. It was... nice. It was different." She met the blonde's eyes.

Naomi swallowed a lump in her throat. Looked away. "What else?"

There was a moment of silence where Naomi could feel Emily's gaze on her before she replied, "There's this lake I like. I don't know the name... I don't even go there that often, but it's my escape, you know? The only way to get there is by bike. And it's the best place to take pictures."

"You take pictures?" Naomi asked, unable to hide her interest.

Emily smiled to herself a little. "Yeah, I love photography. I brought my camera with me actually. I can show it to you on another day... if you'd like."

"Oh... um, maybe," she answered quietly.

Emily nodded, satifised. "I also like books." She looked up to the pile on the blonde's bedside table before she met her eyes. "You never did tell me your favourite that morning, you know."

Naomi looked away. "I know." She shuffled back until she was leaning against the wall, directly underneath the stained glass window.

Emily mirrored her movements, sitting an arms length away. "And... are you going to?"

She shrugged. "I don't really read anymore."

"Why not?" Emily asked with a frown.

"I just don't." Naomi looked over to her pile of books before she said, "I don't see the point."

"I do," Emily said. "I think there's something comforting about losing yourself in a book."

Naomi shook her head in disagreement. "It's denial."

"No, it's beautiful," Emily countered. She was silent for a while before she spoke again. "The first book I ever read - and I mean to myself, alone - was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I managed to find this really secluded spot in our garden, properly hidden, you know. And I distinctly remember it being the first time I ever felt myself. No one could tell me what to feel. Not Katie, not mum... not anyone." Emily fidgeted with her sleeves, a distant expression on her face. "Books are just guidelines for worlds you create in your head. Better ones... Less scary ones." She paused again, and Naomi could only look back, captivated by every word. "But anyway, back to the story. Katie eventually found me, of course - we were never separated from each other for too long. And yeah, she just stormed over, flickered her eyes between me and the book, grabbed it, bunched the pages in between her fingers and ripped them out." Emily gave her a sad smile and then fixed her eyes on the floor, looking down uncomfortably.

"What happened after that?" Naomi asked quietly.

Emily looked up. "I spent the rest of the day searching the garden for a rabbit hole."

Naomi stared back at her as the silence lingered between them for a few seconds. She looked down to Emily's hand. Had a strange urge to reach over and cover it with her own.

"Your sister doesn't seem very nice," she said after a moment.

Emily chuckled dryly, the mood instantly shifting. "We were only seven," she defended. "What about you, Naomi? What do you like?" When she didn't reply, Emily sighed. "Oh, come on. Tell me something about yourself."

"I like solitude," the blonde answered eventually. She knew she had to elaborate, or else Emily'd think she was taking the piss. "I mean the independence of it. The freedom. There's a quote by this woman called May Sarton, 'Loneliness is the poverty of self-"

"Solitude is the richness of self'," Emily finished.

"Yeah." Naomi smiled at the redhead looking back at her. "You've heard of her?"

"She likes gardening," Emily said by way of explanation. "I like her, I guess. But I found her a bit, you know, narcissistic at times. I suppose you two have more than one thing in common." Emily seemed to have perfected the balance between being sarcastic and not coming across as heartless. Naomi was still working on the latter.

"Bitch," Naomi retorted, giving Emily a light shove. Tried to ignore the feeling of Emily's soft skin beneath her fingertips.

The silence fell between them again, and Naomi had to do everything she could to not meet the eyes of the girl sitting beside her.

"So that's it then? The only thing you like is solitude?" Emily asked, breaking her out of her reverie.

Naomi shrugged apologetically. "What can I say, Emily? I'm just a seventy year old man trapped in an eighteen year old's body," she deadpanned. They both instantly dissolved into giggles.

The laughter died down, and sat in silence for a while until they both began to feel sleepy.

Emily was first to break the silence. "I don't understand," she said after a few minutes.

Naomi turned her head to look at the redhead. "Don't understand what?"

"How you can like solitude but not reading," she answered. "It doesn't make sense to me. Don't they go hand in hand or something?"

Naomi shrugged in return. It didn't make much sense to her either.

"Well," Emily said, stifling a yawn, "I have some books with me. Perhaps you could look through them tomorrow."

Naomi could feel her own eyelids drooping. "Perhaps," she said softly.

Emily exhaled a long breath. "Is it okay if I go to sleep now?"

"Yeah," the blonde said, "I think I might, too." She was just about to get up when she felt a hand briefly touch her shoulder.

"Naomi?" Emily said. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"What for?" she asked hesitantly.

"I don't know," Emily looked at her attentively, "just... thanks."

"Oh, um, you're welcome." Naomi stared back awkwardly for a moment before she made her way over to her side of the balcony. "Goodnight, Emily," she said as she settled herself into her sleeping bag.

"Night, Naomi."

Author's note: I apologise if there's any mistakes. I've read over this a few times but I'm in a rush to leave so there may be some errors. Reviews are welcome. Thank you for reading. :)