The sun was already coming through the window when Emma's phone vibrated, letting her know that it was time for her to get up. She groaned as her hand fumbled around the bed trying to find the irritating thing that had burst in at a perfect moment in her dream. Buried deep under the covers, Emma found her phone and stared at the screen. The screen flashed '9:15' at her and Emma bolted upright in her bed. 'Shit.' She cursed and threw herself out of bed. 'Shit. Shit. Shit.' She repeated as she quickly reached for the closest pair of jeans she could find, fumbled to find her work shirt, and then quickly threw on her trusty black combat boots. She ran over to the sink at the other side of the room as quickly as she could and brushed her teeth in record time before throwing her long, blonde hair back into a sloppy ponytail.
Emma grabbed her backpack and her bike before she locked the door behind her and practically sprinted down the hall. It was now 9:28, if she could make it to the bus stop within the next five minutes, she could probably still make it to work on time. Luckily, the restaurant was only a few minutes from where the bus dropped her off. Ugh, I need to get better at saying "no" to Ruby.'Emma thought as she made it to the stop just as the bus was pulling up and placed her bike on the rack at the front before boarding.
She looked at her phone again once she sat down, 9:31. She let out a long breath and let her head fall back against the back of the seat. She might be able to actually pull this off. She really would hate to be late, especially because it was only her second week of work and she really needed this job. She was grateful that Ruby had talked her grandmother into letting Emma have a job for the summer. Without her work-study program during the year, there was no way Emma could have afforded to stay in her apartment without the Lucas family, once again, being so generous and helpful. Plus, it was cool to be able to hang out at the beach all summer, even though it was behind the counter of a diner.
It was ten minutes after ten when Emma skidded to a halt in front of the diner and locked her bike to the parking sign outside the restaurant. She threw open the door and ran behind the counter, dropping her backpack underneath it and grabbing her apron from when she had stashed it yesterday. 'You're late, girl.' Emma heard from the kitchen, and then turned to find Mrs. Lucas, or 'Granny,' as everyone called her. She had owned this diner since she took over for her mother before her. She was nice enough, but if there was one thing she didn't tolerate, it was tardiness.
'I'm sorry, Granny. I missed the bus.' Emma lied. She didn't want her to know that she had actually just hit the 'snooze' button a few too many times in her sleep.
Granny hurumphed to herself. 'And I'm sure that granddaughter of mine had nothing to do with it.' She said. 'You're a nice girl, Emma, and I love my granddaughter, but I'd hate for her laziness rub off on you too much.'
'No need to worry about that, Granny.' Emma assured her with a smile.
'I hope so.' Granny eyed Emma suspiciously, but then disappeared into the kitchen. Emma got to work brewing a fresh pot of coffee and wiping down the counter. The first shift had just left and they were usually pretty good about cleaning up for the second shift, but since Emma was already in a little bit of trouble she wanted to make sure everything was perfect if Granny were to leave her post in the kitchen.
About ten minutes into her shift, the door bell rang and Emma looked up to see a girl with short brown hair wearing an expensive looking, black maxi-dress and oversized sunglasses walk in. The dark haired girl took a seat at the counter, took her headphones out of her ears before winding them up and putting them into her purple, patent leather handbag. 'Hey! What can I get ya?' Emma asked and the girl looked up to meet Emma's green eyes. Emma's breath hitched when she did. Oh fuck! Hey there, gorgeous. Emma thought to herself.
The girl across the counter looked up at the black boards above the counter with the fare listed on them. 'Um, just a cup of coffee for now. I'm waiting for my mother and I don't know how much time I have.' She said as she rolled her eyes slightly and looked at her black and rose gold watch. Then, she looked up and smiled at Emma.
'You got it, gorgeous!' Emma said and slapped her hand lightly on the counter. The other girl cocked her eyebrow curiously at Emma. As she turned away from the counter, she shook her head at herself slightly. Smooth, Swan. Real smooth. This is why we don't have a girlfriend. Emma chided herself as she went about the business of getting the girl her coffee. When she turned back around, she reminded herself to be cool otherwise not only might she freak the girl out, but could probably lose out on a tip of any kind. 'One coffee. Would you like any cream or sugar?'
'Um,' The other girl began, 'do you have soy milk or almond milk, by any chance?' She asked and then nervously ran her fingers through her hair. Adorable, Emma thought.
'Yeah we've got something like that.' Emma said as she turned around to the refrigerator behind her. 'It's unsweetened, though. I hope that's not a problem cause it's all we've got.' Emma offered the other girl a smile.
The girl returned Emma's smile. 'That's perfectly fine, thank you.'
'Not a problem.' Emma said as she handed the carton of soy milk to her. 'Let me know if there's anything else you need.' Emma then spun on her heel and walked to the other end of the counter and desperately looked for something that she could pretend to be busy with. After finding a few sugar containers that looked like they needed filling, Emma went to the back to grab the large bags of sugar that she could use to refill them.
When she was headed back to man the counter, she heard the bell at the door ring again and picked up her pace. She knew that one of the other servers would help her out with the counter if she had to step away for a second, but she was kind of hoping to steal one more look at the gorgeous brunette before she left. 'Regina, there you are, darling.' A voice that Emma hadn't heard before said as she rounded the corner and saw an older brunette sitting next to the girl who had previously been alone at the counter. 'I thought you and I were going to have brunch and you disappeared.' The older woman was holding various shopping bags on both arms and she took a second to place them on the floor before checking her watch that was almost identical to the younger girl's beside her.
'I told you I was going next door to get a cup of coffee and wait for you, mother.' The young girl's posture had visibly straightened since her mother arrived.
'Well, yes, I suppose, but then you didn't answer your phone and I had to come over here to fetch you.' The woman seemed irrationally annoyed. 'Now come along. We have reservations for 11 on Sunset and you know how mad traffic can be at this time of day. Plus, the car is already waiting outside.' The older woman didn't even bother so much of a glance at Emma before she picked up her bags and began to walk towards the door.
Emma looked at the girl still seated there and she returned Emma's gaze with an almost apologetic look. 'How much do I owe you for the coffee?' She asked as she stood up and began to rummage through her handbag to find her wallet, Emma presumed.
Emma raised her hand to stop her. 'First one's on the house.' The smile that the girl gave her in return made Emma's hear skip a beat.
'Thank you very much,' She eyed Emma's name tag, 'Emma.' And then with a turn she was headed towards the door after her mother.
'Have a good day!' Emma called out after her. Regina, Emma finished in her head. Fuck, I'm such a loser. Emma thought to herself and scrubbed a hand over her face.
'We'll never pull in a profit if you keep giving coffee away to every skirt that comes into this place, girl.' Emma heard Granny say from the kitchen window.
'Yeah. Yeah.' Emma rolled her eyes and continued to fill the sugar containers while she waited for the lunch rush to begin and tried not to let herself day dream about the beautiful brunette from before. Regina. She reminded herself. Her name is Regina.