Christmas Fic #3

On the Third day of Christmas...Hangovers

Title: The Morning After

Author: Miss Peg

Rating: M

Prompt: Rigging up the lights

Disclaimer: Owner of Skins? Nope, not me.

Summary: The morning after things look different.

Note: This one isn't really Christmas themed, in fact it's a missing scene fic from Series 3, Episode 4 somewhere between Emily/Naomi kissing and after the bouncy castle scene. But it came from a prompt in the challenge I originally wrote the Christmas fics for, so it's included in this.

The bed covers were tangled around Naomi’s ankles when she woke. She tried to move, but her feet were stuck, causing her arms to flail about and hit a body sleeping beside her. The thumping in her brain took over, a million tiny demons dancing around inside to an exasperating beat. She groaned, rubbing her eyes in the hope it would help the thumping to subside. It didn’t. She sat up, regretted it immediately when the sea in her stomach began to move like a storm had hit. She felt sick. She felt even more so when she saw that Emily was lay beside her, still wearing those childlike pyjamas that Pandora had given them. A lump built in the back of her throat, causing the sandpaper lined pipe to burn.

“Christ,” she moaned, regretting talking when her throat only hurt more.

She couldn’t really remember much about what had happened in the later hours of the night. She found herself questioning how she’d arrived home, how Emily had been with her and how she was now lying asleep in her bed. The only thing she was thankful for, was the pyjamas they were still wearing. The earlier events flooded her brain as she climbed out of bed, slowly, cautiously to avoid throwing up on the carpet.

“How long have you known you were gay?”

“I don‘t know,” Emily’s raspy voice responded. “I guess I always thought I could be.”

It was a surprise they hadn’t caught a cold from the length of time they’d spent in the garden, sat on chairs, watching a couple of birds chase each other around.

Naomi finally made it to her bedroom door when Emily began to stir. Her stomach did a flip and she knew there was only a matter of seconds before she had to get to the bathroom. She ran, her feet surprisingly agile considering she could barely walk moments earlier. Her whole body ached as she let her insides out, let the drunken night before bite her on the arse. As she clung to the toilet bowl more thoughts filled her brain, only contributing to the tears streaming down her face.

“It‘s different, isn‘t it?”

“What is?” Emily questioned. “Being gay?”

“Kissing girls.”

“Yeah.”

It didn’t seem strange then to be talking about it, it felt normal. She wasn’t even sure why. She suspected maybe Emily made her feel comfortable talking about it. The red head had spent so many weeks denying what Naomi suspected was true, it didn’t really come as a surprise when she finally admitted it.

“It‘s nice,” she whispered, biting her lip as she stared at the afternoon sky, surprisingly bright and blue for the time of year.

“Are you sure you‘re not gay?”

“No,” Naomi defended, found Emily’s question coming out of the blue, causing her to tense up as she moved across the garden towards the bouncy castle, anything to get away from Emily’s side. “It‘s just, nice.”

Emily followed her, “When was the last time you‘d seen a seventeen your old with a bouncy castle?”

Everything in Naomi’s vision was moving up and down, spinning around at speeds she didn’t think she could handle. She’d had hangovers before, but never quite as bad. She wondered when she’d started drinking beyond the happily drunk she’d been when Emily kissed her earlier in the night. The movement reminded her of Emily jumping up and down on the inflatable castle, reminded her of the movement of Emily’s body as she leapt about.

“I bet I can bounce higher than you can!” Naomi had waged, climbing on and jumping along beside Emily.

Emily raised an eyebrow, “No, you can‘t.”

“Yes, I can.”

They bounced for a while, jumping as high as they could until Emily got tired and stopped bouncing. Naomi felt her lip tuck under her tooth as she slowed down and leant against one of the walls.

“See, told you!” she’d called out, grinning at Emily.

Emily pouted. “You‘re taller, that‘s not fair.”

“Yeah?” Naomi asked, “Wanna fight about it?”

Naomi’s body began to shake as she climbed to her feet, splashing her face with cold water in an attempt to make herself feel better. It didn’t help. What also didn’t help was the memory of the fight, the pretend tussle between them before Emily went down, her hand tugging Naomi with her before she rolled on top of her. Naomi locked the bathroom door, turning on the shower as she rubbed her eyes, tried to rub away the memory of Emily kissing her again, of her hands sliding around Emily’s back like it was the most natural thing she’d ever done.

“Guess you‘re still wasted?” Emily asked, when she pulled away.

All Naomi could do was nod. “Course.”

It didn’t mattered then, she’d just kissed her again, enjoyed the feel of their lips and tongues smashing together in a passionate embrace. Emily rolling onto her back, pulling Naomi on top of her.

The pounding in her head, as the water splashed down on her body, didn’t decrease. Instead it reminded her of the pounding of Emily’s heart against her own, their bodies pressed together. She hadn’t meant to get so close, hadn’t expected her body to react in that same way it had the last time she’d been with a boy, the last time she’d had sex.

“Why does this feel right?” she moaned into a kiss, closing her eyes with fear and dread.

“Because it is.”

“But I‘m not,” she shook her head.

“Gay, I know,” Emily assured her, rubbing a hand along the bottom of her top, her cold fingers hitting Naomi‘s stomach like a piece of ice. “Doesn‘t mean it‘s wrong.”

“Jesus. Just the alcohol?” Naomi asked again, needing complete confirmation.

“Sure.”

The noise of a group pulled them apart, caused them to jump away from each other so quickly that Naomi’s heart beat even faster. They climbed off the bouncy castle as a handful of blokes in football shirts jumped on. Naomi stood staring at Emily, watching her equally shocked reaction There wasn’t much she could do at the time. Their bubble had burst and they were no longer alone. Naomi felt herself sobering up slightly, which frustrated her.

The last thing she could remember about the night was going back inside, picking up the bottle of Pinot Grigio she’d abandoned, before spending the night drinking every last drop.

“Christ,” she groaned, letting the water wash over her, hoping the hot water would wash away everything she didn’t want to remember about the night before.

By the time she got back to her bedroom, a towel wrapped around her body and her hair dripping wet, she was thankful to find her bed empty and Emily gone.

The End