Can't Feel My Face

Chapter 1: I know she'll be the death of me

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own any of these things, only the story I made up. Everything else belongs to Adam Horowitz & Edward Kitsis!

Also: Title from The Weeknd's Song Can't feel my face.

++ Emma's thoughts in italics and Text's in bold italics


The lesson was boring as always. Emma hated that class. It's not like she hated school completely, not at all. She wanted to learn a lot but if there were never any images in the books to look at but only texts instead she wasn't really interested. And this English class and its teacher were only about reading and listening to strange lectures. Totally not Emma's thing. Good thing she's a senior and it's her last year at this school. So back to day dreaming, nothing else to do.

Her life wasn't really eventful or anything in that matter. She wasn't one of those popular girls or one of those with a secret bpfyfriend who wasn't really a boyfriend cause he has another. All that chasing shit.
In fact hardly anyone notices her at all besides the few people she actually cares about.

It's similar back at home. Father and mother are always working and her sister… well, okay she's different. But she's kinda wicked, it really depends on her mood if you're cool or you're in war.

The bell rang and Emma wasn't exactly thrilled nor relieved. Yes, she hated this class but inside the classroom it was safe and it was quiet. No one tried to bother her, not even her teacher. They all knew she'd only talk when she wanted to say something anyways. It was her last class for today and she was making her way out of the school, past the big sign that read "Storybrooke High".
She only had to walk for like half an hour to get home. Obviously she could take the bus but she loved walking around, exploring what the small town had to offer and surprisingly she always found something new, undiscovered.

Her parents didn't question why she always came home late from school because they themselves were never home before 9.

Her sister was in her first year in college in Boston. Boston as rather close to their small home town, an hour and a half by train. Since her sister decided last minute which college she'd attend, she wasn't able to find a place to live in Boston so she had to settle with still living at home and taking the train over and back every day.

Means, Zelena would be home in about an hour. Secretly she was looking forward to it. Sometimes she loved spending time with her sister.
When they were alone, she could be quite fun. And it wasn't like she had a lot of friends. Her best friend Belle was volunteering in the local library 24/7 and Ruby was literally working every free minute in the diner her granny runs. It wasn't like Emma tried to be an outsider or anything like that but she simply despised humans. Except for a few obviously.

And somehow she wasn't really warming up to the male fraction. Again, there were a few, very few, exceptions but it was never the same like it was with the ladies. Nevertheless did Emma have one male friend she considered a close friend, David. He was, just like her sister, in his first year of college and in opposite to Zelena very concerned about his education. He wanted to get into police enforcement. And also in opposite to her sister he was able to move to Boston, so he wasn't around that often.

When she entered the flat no one was home, usual business. The clock was almost striking 6 which meant Zelena shouldn't be too long. Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Z: Hey sis! Going for fast food, I'll be another half an hour. Want some?

E: Zel! You're my savior… yes! Just came home and I'm starving.

Z: Omw x

Yes, she loves her sister.


Emma was one of those restless young adults who needed to always be occupied. So her mind started setting in only a second after reading the last text from her sister.

What to do? What to do? It's only half an hour… I supposed I could watch what's on TV, but it'll probably only be crap around this time. Maybe I could do my homework? Wait… who am I kidding? I'm good in school but I'm not a nerd.

Emma lets her eyes skim the room superficially. Then she sees them… her art supplies. She's been wanting to get back to art since about half a year. Now there are only 20 minutes left or so but she could start something… no idea just yet but something sounds good.

Emma started to sketch mindlessly on the piece of paper when way too soon the door opened (Art-wise seen too early, food-wise seen way too late obviously.)

"It's me, Em's, bringing the food!" her sister shouts across the small floor.

"Move, Zel!" shouted Emma back from the living room.

Zelena sprinted into the kitchen, 2 brown bags in her hand. She places them on the counter.
Zelena leans forward into her little sister, whispering in her ear, "I brought a friend." She grins wickedly.

"Dude no! Look at me… why didn't you tell me earlier?"

As Emma senses a presence in the living room, she looks up to find a gorgeous, young brunette enter the room. A blush already creeping up her face, Emma offers a weak, "hi."

The stranger smiles back, "hi."

"So Emma this is my friend from Boston, Regina. Regina this is my lil sis, Emma!"

"It's very nice to meet you, Emma. Zelena told me a lot about you," Regina blushes a little, too.

"Nice to meet ya, too Regina. Really has she now? Only positive things, right?" Emma laughs nervously.

"Well yeah, I told her you always look like a mess when you come home from school," Zelena winked and Emma gave her and instant sibling-stare.

"Well I think you look wonderful nevertheless," Regina blurred out.

Zelena stares at Regina. Emma, in an oblivious state, raises her voice, "To my defense, I didn't know anyone would accompany my lovely sis and I just started ske-" the words died in her throat. She never talks about her art nor her sketches to anyone. "Never mind. Anyway, I didn't know you'd come here, Regina. So… sorry for looking like a mess."

"You really don't look like mess and there's no need to apologize. You obviously couldn't know, I thought your sister told you. So sorry for coming without you knowing," Regina smiled shyly.

"Damn what's going on here," Zelena mutters under her breath.

"No, it's no problem. You're always welcome here as a friend of Zelena's. Even though I can't imagine how you two got together," Emma laughs.

"Shut up, sister. She takes the same Biology class as I do."

"Right, let's eat," Regina exclaims.

They eat in almost comfortable silence. Emma and Regina catching each other staring at each other from time to time. Zelena felt like she was interrupting important moment after important moment. But she liked it. It wasn't like Zelena was interested in Regina, sexually. She was a really sweet girl and also nice enough to help Zelena with biology, which is sheer terror since Zelena is a helpless case in biology.

"So Regina, you're in the same biology class with my sis but what is your major?"

"Ah yeah… how could you know. Uhm, I'm actually majoring in film and acting," Regina blushes instantly again.

"Oh wow," Emma's face lights up. She's stunned by what seems like Regina's sheer presence.

"Em's loves Movies and all about them, you must know," Zelena nods her head in approval.

Emma smiles weakly. "Really? That's cool. Do you already know what major you want to take next year?"

"Duh, if only I had an idea. There's so much that I'm interested in. I gave myself the next 3 months to figure that out," Emma huffs.

"Sounds like a good plan. I'm sure you'll find something," Regina smiles at Emma.

"But it really sucks that we have to take that biology class. I mean doesn't make any sense for any film major?" Zelena interferes.

"Well, I like biology so it's no big deal but I don't understand it either. Though it does make sense in your case, dear. You study pharmacy," Regina reasons.

"Shuuush, don't speak about it. No sense found," Zelena counters with a smirk playing on her lips.

"This one is so unbelievable," Emma comments and point toward Zelena with the fry that's in her hand.

Regina giggles and now it's Zelena's time for the sibling-stare towards Emma.

"Uhm so Zelena, dearest sister, how will your new friend get home to Boston this late?"

"Actually my brother lives in Storybrooke, too. And since I wanted to visit him this weekend and he couldn't get me, I needed to take the train anyway and I know Zelena is from here so I asked her if she wanted to combine it," Regina tells.

"Oh okay, cool… that's nice," Emma smiles seemingly relieved.

Zelena picks up her phone, reads a message and sighs in anger.

"What up sis?"

"Urg, those idiots from the club called in an emergency meeting, I gotta go like now… it seems to be important… can't lose this job," the bigger sister sighs again.

"Go it's no problem."

"Emma… Regina is still here… I promised her to drive her over to her brother's. Sensing the problem now, do ya?"

"Oh I can also walk, don't bother," Regina adds.

"Nah, zero problem. I can drive her," Emma says casually. "I mean if it's not a problem with you Regina."

"That would be lovely. But I really don't wanna be a burden on you, Emma."

"You're totally not. It's fine. Hurry now, sister."

"Sorry Regina for the inconvenience again. I hope Emma won't annoy you," Zel winks and quickly adds, "See you in biology. Was a wonderful evening," she hugs Regina and rushes past the two of them, right out the door.

"I really hope I won't annoy you," Emma whispers.

"Don't worry. I bet it'll be the other way around," Regina smiled shyly.

They shared a rather comfortable silence for a minute.

"So when were you planning to show up at your brothers?" Emma asks as she gets up to clean up the mess they made with all their food.

"Oh, I just said later," Regina laughs nervously which confuses Emma.

"Okay," Emma slowly answers, her back turned to Regina while she puts the leftover in the bin.

"Then you simply tell me when we should get going," Emma turns around, smiling.

"No, no. Let's get going now, shall we? I really don't want to overstay my welcome. It's been eventful enough for one day."

Emma was a bit confused by Regina's sudden urge to get out of their flat. It didn't feel good but who was she.

"Okay," Emma simply answered.

They got into Emma's car. To Emma's surprise Regina didn't comment on the model nor on the for some people odd color (It was yellow.) A lot of people commented on the "bold choice" Emma had made back then when she got to choice her car. But she was sure most of them were referring to the model, since it was a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. And since her parents had quite a lot of money they probably expected them to buy her a fancier car. But Emma was glad she had the opportunity to choose.

"All ready?" she smiled at the brunette stranger.

Regina nodded in agreement, "Yes, dear."

She just called her dear… what the hell was all of that about? First the cold shoulder then a nickname? Strange girl. Let's not think about this right now… or ever. It wasn't likely that she'd see the brunette that often again.

Regina directed Emma towards her brother's house, it was really a drive of 10 minutes. He lives in the outer part of the small town.

"So you live with someone in Boston?"

Regina was surprised by the sudden question but answered immediately anyways, "yes, got a roommate. But it's really nothing, we live on campus so there's literally no space."

"Oh okay, well at least you don't have to take the train every day, right? Where are you from anyway?"

Emma blushes asking this because the moment it escaped her lips she regretted it. It's not her place to ask, they barely know each other.

"Sorry, I'm kinda nosy. It's just I'm always fascinated by other people's stories," she adds quietly.

"It's perfectly fine, Emma. I know what you mean. You can ask me anything but there's one condition to it," Regina smiles.

"Oh damn, now I know why you're Zel's friend," Emma laughs but then nods, raising her eyebrow to show Regina that she wants to know about the condition.

The brunette ignored Emma's comment and simply explained, "If you can ask me anything, I can ask you anything, too."

"You so curious about my sister?"

Regina stares at Emma with total confusion displayed in her face.

"Actually about you."

Emma chuckled, "didn't think it'd be so easy to get that out of you."

"Yeah, now I know why you're sisters. Damn," Regina laughed.

"So, is that a yes then?" Regina flirted lightly.

Emma shrugged, "aaah, what do I have to lose right?" She's trying to sound indifferent.

Regina grins, it's obviously she's acting. Duh, she's opposed to an acting major. "Good."

"So, I'm actually from Castlecloud. It's the town next to Storybrooke, in case you-"

"Yeah, I know. Been living here my whole life. That's strange… we've been living so close and I never once met you before?"

"Well we've been living in castlecloud for only maybe 6 years now but you're right. Though I must say, I almost never went to storybrooke, so." Regina shifted in her seat, unbuckling the belt.

"Left here and we're there."

"Okay. So it was very nice to meet you, Regina," Emma started slowly but carefully. Deep down she felt like she wanted to see that face again but didn't know how to appropriately ask since she's friends with her sister.

"Thanks so much for driving me down here," Regina reaches into her purse, pulling out her phone.

"Sure no problem at all," Emma answers automatically, not even bothering to look at what Regina's doing. Probably getting keys.

"Got you phone with you?" the brunette asks while pulling out her own.

"No, why?"

"You're so unprepared girl," Regina huffs, acting a little bitchy. She reaches for Emma's right arm and pulls it toward her. Then she grabs something in her purse and pulls it out swiftly.

She pulls the cap of the black marker off with her teeth which Emma finds very distracting and rather hot if she'd be honest with herself.

Then she starts writing down various numbers on Emma's forearm and suddenly Emma gets the whole thing.

Oh my god, she's giving me her phone number?

"Text me?" Regina looked up from Emma's forearm straight into her green eyes. She was smirking. Then she let go of Emma's arm and got out of the car. Waving as Emma as she entered the home of her brothers.

Emma smiled at her.


Once back home, she immediately got her phone and saved Regina's number.

Emma breathed out heavily. First things first, let's stalk the profile picture.

Yes, that was most definitely the brunette that sat across her an hour ago.

Damn, such a cute selfie. I'm in trouble already… don't know the girl but she's way too attractive and cute at the same time. Deadly combination.

I need to text her though, I don't want to seem rude. Zel is going to kill me. Well… I didn't do anything yet, right? She just gave me her number. Not my fault I'm so charming. Maybe I should wait till Zel gets home so I can ask her if it's okay with her. How awkward is this? On a scale from one to ten probably very. But … I mean… we could be friends, too right? Sounds like a good start.

It was already 9:30 and Zelena still wasn't home. Even her parents were home but they already went to bed.

E: Sis where r u? x

Z: Just finished the damn meeting. I'll be another 15 mins. Chill.

Well, that was a relief. She didn't wanna wait to text Regina anymore. She was scared if she waited longer the brunette would ignore her cause she hadn't texted earlier.

She went to her room, she settled for Netflix and chips on her bed. Now the difficult part started: What show should she watch? She wasn't sure if she wanted something rather bloody or something funny and sickening sweet. Then a thought of Regina crept into her mind and the decision was made without hesitation. Friends it would be.

She was just enjoying the show when she heard a knock on her door. "Yeah?"

Zelena pulls the door open drastically and plops down onto Emma's bed with a huge sigh.

"I hate this club and this crew! They're all crazy. You know only because someone broke in last night, we had this emergency meeting telling us only that we should be more careful?" Zelena almost shouts Emma in the face, "More careful? Like what kinda help are you trying to provide? How can I be more careful! Such a waste of time."

Emma slowly moves her hand towards the laptop to pause her episode of friends. She daren't move any faster cause otherwise her sister would slap her for not listening properly.

She lets her sister rant for another 5 minutes and she actually understands what her problem is.

"I see, you're right, very useless meeting. Rude people. But at least you're making decent money," Emma answers carefully.

"Right! But I guess that's true, I really need that money."

There's a moment of silence but then something shifts in Zelena and she stares at her sister.

"What up, sis? What got ya starin'?"

"How was it with Regina?" An instant smirk appears on Zelena's face.

"Duh! I hate you, I hate you so much," Emma says in defeat.

"So you like her?"

"I don't even know her! Keep it low, wicked witch," Emma glares at her.

"Right, sissy. Obviously. And?"

"What and? I drove her home. We had a normal chat during the drive. She told me about her hometown which is surprisingly close and then she gave me this," Emma pulled up her sleeve, revealing the big numbers on her forearm.

Zelena starts laughing hysterically.

"Well she's most definitely interested. Text her already?"

"No."

"Why no? Are you insane?" Zelena quickly grabs Emma's pillow and hits her right in the face, sister-style.

"Are you mad? I was waiting for you to come home to ask you if it was okay if I texted her since she is your friend, you asshole," Emma slaps Zelena thigh.

"Oh baby," the bigger sister strokes Emma's blonde locks.

"It's just like you're asking the momma if you can pick up her daughter on a date."

There goes Emma's death-glare.

"So it's okay if I text her? Thanks."

"Hell yeah. I'm glad you liked her," Zelena pats her her sister's back.

Emma smiles. "Well hello, sis?" Zelena waves her handy wildly in front of Emma's face.

"What are you waiting for? Go, text her already!"

"Okay, okay. Will do but leave."

"Party-pooper. Tell me everything tomorrow. Good night," Zelena squeezes the blonde's shoulder.

"Thanks, sissy. Sleep tight," Emma grins at her.

When the door finally closed she quickly grabbed her phone and opened whatsapp.

E: Hi Regina, sorry it took me so long had some sister-business going on. Hope you had a nice rest of evening. I'm still wide awake. Emma x

She didn't really know what to write so she tried to sound casually.

Let's not think about this too much already. I just want to get to know her. She seems so… interesting.

R: Hey Emma! No problem, though I'm glad you found time to text. I'm so bored. My brother had an emergancy call half an hour ago and it'll probably take all night. What are you doing? :)

E: Oh sounds unpleasant. What does your brother do? Doctor? I'm just watching a series. Oh and also texting a pretty girl. ;) What about you?

Fuck! I hit send already. Damn, were was this confidence coming from? Probably fucked it up already. Please answer, please answer. It was just a complement, right? Arg.

One friends episode later there was still no sign of Regina. She was starting to feel down. But she really didn't wanna bother her sister about it. After all it was her business and she didn't want her sister to know that she's rather interested in Zelena's friend.

I should just sleep a night over everything. It's been a really eventful Friday even though I had nothing planned. Maybe that was more than I ever asked for. It's okay. It's enough.

Her conflicting thoughts slowly sent her to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would be intirely different. Maybe.


Hello dear readers. I know I have a lot of open stories and I'm a huge asshole for never continuing. I'm trying I have a lot of drafts but there are so many ideas and so little time. I just had this idea in mind and I had to write it down. Let's see how far I'll get this week. Next week I start a new part of my life and we'll see how much time I get off to write. Also all mistakes belong to me and my non-mothertongueish English, sorry.

Tell me what you think of this. Your reviews mean a lot to me. Thanks lovelies, Viv xx

PS: I am kinda obsessed with Zelena, please don't ask why. I don't know either. But it's definitely a SQ Story! ;)