CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT | UNREQUITED LOVE
Naomi woke up to the feeling of somebody kissing her head. She groaned softly, turning around in the bed and cuddling further into Peter. She felt him chuckle but kept her eyes closed.
He kissed the top of her head again, pulling a few fallen strands of hair behind her ear. A smirk made its way towards his lips when he saw the large, clearly visible marks he had left on her last night. Last night, just thinking about it made him smile.
He was laying against her, bare skin against bare skin. She was holding the covers over her chest while her head was placed on his shoulder. "Why are you up already?" The brunette croaks out, slowly opening her eyes and looking up at him.
She didn't get an answer, instead he simply gave her a long kiss on the lips before he sighed in content. He caresses her cheek, only now realising how lucky he actually is, Naomi never opens up to anyone and she gave him her all.
"I love you," He tells her again, kissing her forehead.
Naomi was still a bit hesitant to say it, but she did love him, she was just scared that he'd leave if she said it. "I love you, too." She responds, not caring anymore considering that she said it to him last night as well.
She smiled brightly when she saw the joy in his eyes upon hearing her say those three words. She chuckled softly, her fingers going up to his neck, "I've left quite the mark on you," She says, tracing her fingers over the multiple hickeys. "At least now she knows you're mine."
"Wai-Wendy?" Peter exclaims, chuckling softly at her jealousy. "Why would you be jealous of her?"
"Miss. Whiny has a tiny, little crush on you." Naomi announces, still tracing the hickey. "But I made it quite clear that you're mine."
"Hm," The green eyed boy hummed, slowly leaning down to press a long, lingering kiss to her lips that were still slightly swollen from last night. "And you're mine."
He sighed as he pulled back, he scooted away from her. Naomi sighed, immediately feeling his loss and laid her head down on the pillow, the covers still tightly wrapped around her chest, one of her legs was laying on top of them.
She could hear Peter getting up from the bed but she was facing the pillow, still feeling a little bit tired. "You know, I've been thinking-" He started.
"-well that can be dangerous." Naomi laughs sarcastically, her voice muffled thanks to the large pillow.
Peter rolled his eyes at her and continued, "I think that we should take a day off, maybe go swimming with the boys." He finished, quickly putting on underwear and pants.
The brunette groaned sleepily, slowly sitting up in the bed and leaning against the headboard. She placed her hands on the covers, keeping it from falling down and exposing her chest. "Swimming?" She asks, looking at him.
"Yeah," He answers, turning around to grab a shirt when he suddenly heard a gasp behind him. He frowns and turns around again, "What?"
"Uh, Peter, come here for a second." She mumbles, signaling for him to come closer. The green eyed boy frowns and slowly walks back to the bed. "Turn around."
"Why?" He asks, still clueless but doing what she says anyway.
"Oh, god." Naomi mutters again, she scoots over to Peter, one hand still on the covers while the other slowly reached up to touch his back. "I'm afraid that you're not going to swim today, Romeo."
"What? Why not?" He questions, turning to look at her again. She was looking down at her lap sheepishly, biting her lip slightly. She looks up at him, a mischievous and pleased look in her eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Uh, your back." She answers, biting her lip again and laughing softly. "I'm afraid that there are some. . .scratches?"
"Scratches? What the bloody he-oh." He starts, but quickly stops himself when he realized what she meant. "You-last night-damn." He touched his lips with his fingers, waiting a few seconds before smirking, "Was it that good?"
"Oh, shut up." Naomi says, laughing softly as she pushed him backwards. Peter smirked and grabbed her wrist, pulling her with him. She still clutched onto the covers to keep herself covered while she stood up, wincing slightly when she did so. "Dang it."
"Guess I am that good, huh?" The green eyed boy says cockily, wrapping an arm around her bare waist, pulling her tighter against him with the only thing separating them was a thin cover that was covering her chest.
Naomi rolls her eyes, "Shut up, Romeo."
******
"Naomi!"
The brunette looked up abruptly, she and Peter had just gotten dressed and made their way down to the camp when she suddenly heard her name being called. She frowned and turned around, coming face to face with James-whom she completely forgot about.
"James!" She says, walking towards him and giving the adult a a quick hug. She looks at him, still frowning, "Wait, what are you still doing here?"
"I don't know," The black haired man says, shrugging. His eyes fell on her neck, most of the hickeys were covered up by her hair but one of them was still visible. "What's this?" He asks, pointing at the mark. "Is tha-no."
"What do yo-" Naomi starts and looks at his hand, eyes widening and quickly adjusting her hair. "Keep quiet, the boys can hear you."
"Y-You and h-him, no! What!" The older brother figure exclaims angrily, glaring at Peter who gave him a small smirk, obviously knowing what they were talking about. "Well, I was supposed to leave yesterday evening but you weren't there, neither was Pan so the boys let me stay another night." He glares at Peter again. "Now I see why you weren't there."
Naomi rolls her eyes, slightly pushing his shoulder back, "Oh, please, you're no saint either." She tells him with a teasing smirk, getting an eye roll in return.
James laughs, quickly looking down and fiddling with his fingers-something Naomi had taken over from him. "I, uh, am actually here to. . .say goodbye." He says, making the brunette look up.
"What?" She asks, her great mood slightly faltered. She knew that it was coming, James was a grown up after all-he couldn't stay. "I suppose that-" She sighed. "I suppose that I should've seen it coming. Neverland is no place for grown-ups."
"I'm sorry, little one." James says seriously, ruffling her hair slightly. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in for a long hug, saying in her ear, "I'm going to miss you, I've just found you and now I have to leave you again."
Naomi laughs sadly, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'm going to miss you, too, James." She says truthfully, pulling back from the hug. "But how are you going to leave?"
"Pan has the shadow waiting for me at the beach," He explains, nodding towards the beach. He smiles down at Naomi and kisses her forehead in a brotherly gesture. "Look, I have to go."
Naomi sighs, nodding slowly at him before letting him go. She saw him walking away from her and felt two arms wrap around her waist, trying to comfort her. She sighs sadly, waving back at James who stopped to look back.
"Goodbye," She called out, getting a small nod and smile in return before James was completely out of sight.
But alas, in this case, out of sight was definitely not out of mind.
******
Naomi smiled softly as she looked at all the Lost Boys that were playing and splashing around in the water, she was sitting on a large rock-not really feeling the need to swim. Surprisingly, Wendy had joined the other boys without complaining about the cold water.
The brunette sighs, looking back at Peter who was talking with a few other boys. He had listened to her and decided not to swim today, knowing that she would feel a little uncomfortable if all the boys found out about what they were doing last night.
Naomi frowned when her eye fell on Alex who looked a little bit down, she stood up from the rock and walked over to her best friend. She sat down next to him, "What's wrong?" She asked, noticing his strange behavior.
"Nothing," Alex sighed, throwing a small pebble on the water. "Just forget about it."
"No," Naomi says, getting closer to Alex and placing a hand on his bare shoulder, it was still wet because of the previous swimming the boy had done. "You're my best friend, I know when you're upset. So, tell me."
Alex sighs, looking down at the ground again, he knew that it was if no use to lie to her. She could see right through him, but a secret like his was not something you just say. The dark haired boy looked up again, frowning when he saw the two blondes standing very close to each other.
Naomi noticed the change in his eyes and followed the way he was looking at, frowning as she said, "Oh, god. Please don't tell me you've got a crush on Prissy."
"God, no." Alex scoffs in disbelief, not knowing how she could think that. He took a deep breath, before uttering the words, "Look, N, there is something I have to tell you." He paused and looked at her. "You have to promise not to tell anyone else, you're the first one I'm telling this to."
"I promise," Naomi says, rolling her eyes when she saw the look Alex was giving her. She adds her pinky, "Pinky promise?"
"Pinky promise," The dark haired boy accepts, knowing that breaking a pinky promise was strictly forbidden. He took a deep breath, "I-I'm gay."
"Oh," Naomi says, the words not seeming to register. She waits a few seconds, her eyes widening, "Oh! Y-You're-"
"Yeah," The boy mumbled, seeming a bit ashamed.
"Hey," Naomi said, nudging his shoulder softly. A small smile was on her lips, "Being gay isn't something to be embarrassed of, I'm not going to think of you any differently. You're still my Alex, my best friend, the boy who threw a coconut down a tree and managed to get me into the cages on my first day here."
"For the record, you were the one who threw that coconut," Alex mumbled under his breath, getting a small laugh of Naomi. His eyes were still looking at the ground as he started tugging at a few grass pieces. A small smile was tugging at the ends of his lips. "But, now that I've spilled my guts, I think it's time for you to do the same," He stopped looking at the ground and faced her. "So, tell me, how was it?"
"It? I-I don't know what you're talking about," Naomi said honestly, a small frown in confusion on her forehead.
Alex raised an eyebrow, giving her a smirk. "Really? Do I have to spell it out for you?" He teased, pointing at her neck. "You're not really good at hiding it."
"What-you-how did you?" She rambled, feelings slightly embarrassed.
"How did I know?" Alex exclaimed incredulously, he shook his head and laughed. "Even a blind man can see those hickeys and the scratches on the back of Pan's neck."
"Okay, first of all, it was not on the back of his neck, it was on his shoulder blades. Second of all-" Naomi cut herself off with a sigh, releasing that she just gave herself away. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Please, Pan hasn't given us a free day in ten years." Alex laughs, looking at Peter who was still talking with the other boys. "But what you did was good, he's always so grumpy-it was time he got laid."
Naomi scoffed and slapped Alex' shoulder, "I hate you," She said, getting another laugh in return. "Stop laughing!" She adds, not able to keep a laugh in herself.
"Okay, okay," Alex says, biting his lip to refrain himself from laughing. He looks at Naomi, saying, "Oh, and if you're really trying to hide it, try not to use that skip while walking."
"I can't help that!" She exclaimed loudly, slapping Alex again, making most of the Lost Boys look at them. They both ignored their looks and smiled softly, "I really hate you, Alex-wait what's your last name?"
"McVey," The dark haired boy added with a posh accent. "Alexander Edinburgh McVey."
"Well, Alexander Edi-wait your second name is Edinburgh?" Naomi asks, softly laughing.
"Yeah," Alex answered, scrunching his nose up in displease. "I don't really like it ei-stop laughing!" He said, nudging her shoulder. "Oh, yeah, then tell me your second name. Surely it's someth-"
"Victoria," Naomi interrupted him. "Naomi Victoria Jones."
Alex groans, "Well, that's unfair. You got the name of a Queen while I got stuck with Edinburgh."
"Too bad, McVey." She smirked teasingly, getting a playful glare in response. "I kind of like your last name, tough. It has this badass vibe to it-Alexander McVey. It sounds nice."
"Well, thank you." The dark haired boy said smugly, his smile suddenly disappearing when Wendy and Felix started walking towards them.
Naomi noticed and frowned, pursing her lips as she saw how they both grabbed a towel and sat down in front of the two best friends. "Hey, what were you guys talking about?" Felix asked them.
"Oh, about Alex' second name," Naomi says with a toothy grin, looking at Alex who gave her a glare. "It's Ed-"
"Edward," Alex cut her off, still glaring at her. "It's Edward."
"What's so bad about Edward?" Wendy asked, voice sounding higher than normal as she kept fluttering her eyelashes at Felix.
"Nothing," Naomi and Alex snapped at the same time, looking away from the blonde haired girl.
They both had a strong dislike towards the girl, each having a own reason for it. Naomi noticed how Alex was glaring at Wendy when she started getting closer to Felix and frowned.
The blonde boy didn't seem to be comfortable at all and Naomi could see that but somehow Alex didn't. She was just about to say something when Felix beat her to it, "Well, I'm going swimming again. It's not often that Pan gives us a day off." He said and quickly went back into the water-Wendy following behind like a lost puppy.
Naomi looked back at Alex and gasped softly, "No way." She said eventually, making Alex look at her. "Y-You like him, don't you?"
"What? No!"
"You do!" She says, not caring how loud she was talking because the boys were not able to hear it anyway thanks to the waterfall around them. "You like Felix."
Alex sighed, looking at the ground sadly, "So what if I do?" He mumbled. "It's unrequited love." The dark haired boy looked up again. "It always will be unrequited love."