Author's note: Thanks for clicking on my story. This is the first thing I've published here, I really hope it's up to par. Just a disclaimer I don't own Once Upon A Time and its characters, nor do I make any profit from this. Otherwise thank you for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts so please leave a review if you'd like. Happy reading!
"Hi what can I get for you darlin'?" The bartender smiles at the blonde woman who has just sat down on the chair across the bar from him. She's sporting a red leather jacket with a white tank top underneath. Stray hairs surround her face from the formerly tight pony on her head.
"I'll take a pint of the darkness beer on tap." She answers in a huff placing her elbows on the bar.
The bartender reaches below the bar and grabs a glass. He tilts the glass and fills it.
"Rough day at the office?" He asks as he hands her the pint.
"Oh you don't know the beginning of it." She takes a large swig of the beer and wipes the residual foam off her upper lip with the back of her hand. With that same grace she takes her hair out of it's' ponytail. Her messy blonde locks fall to her shoulders and she runs her hands through them. A man a ways down at the bar whistles in her direction. He's wearing too much black leather and eyeliner for the blonde's liking. She returns his suggestive look with a disgusted scowl. "Are all men selfish pigs?" At this the bartender gives her a reassuring smile, but before he can answer a new customer beats him to it.
"Of course they are." The response comes from the foxy brunette who takes the seat next to her. She's wearing a black pea coat over a professional looking pant suit. Her blouse is tight and has one too many buttons undone, which does not go unnoticed by the blonde. A smile breaks onto the brunette's face when she catches the blondes gaze. She then turns her attention to the bartender and almost barks her order, "I'll take a strongbow thanks."
The bartender is momentarily taken aback by her abruptness. When he fails to respond to her demand she raises her eyebrows expectantly, this seems to bring his focus back. He nods and goes to get the cider for the brunette.
The business woman removes her jacket and wraps it around the back of the chair. She whips her hair around to notice the blonde smirking at her.
"So what did the men do to piss you off?"
"The selfish pigs, as you so eloquently put it, refuse to promote me to manager of the branch I've been basically running for eight years. Something about having a woman in charge is just too much for them." At this point the bartender brings the brunette her drink; she nods and takes it from him.
"They're right, you know. You're way too pretty to be in charge." The blonde leans towards her companion and smirks as she says this.
The brunette tries to hide her smile but fails miserably, "Nice try Miss..." she trails off realizing she doesn't know the name of the woman she's talking to.
"Swan. But you can call me Emma." She looks expectantly at the brunette who gives her a confused look. Emma shakes her head at the other woman's social confusion. "And your name is?"
"Oh. Mills, Regina Mills."
"Wait... I recognize that name... Mills, Mills, Mills, Mills, Mills, Mills," She taps her upper lip as she ponders this name. Each time she says it with a different voice, from serious to absurdly low pitch which elicits a laugh from her companion.
"Maybe you've heard of Mills Union Bank?"
"Oh yes that must be it. That's the big fancy bank on Main St. right?"
"That would be correct." Regina takes a swig of her cider; remembering the reason she came into this bar in the first place. "It's the family business."
"I see," Emma tilts back her pint. She turns back to the brunette, "Okay, then riddle me this. Why is a fancy pant almost branch manager doing at this run down bar and not at one of the fancy smancy bars on main street?"
"Unfortunately Miss Swan that fancy smancy bar is ridden with those selfish pig like men that are the reason I need a drink in the first place."
"So instead of joining them you've settled for a lower class blonde to take the edge off with."
"I would hardly call it settling dear," she adds a wink to her statement causing the blonde's cheeks to redden slightly. Regina gives Emma a once over, her eyes lingering on the other woman's chest, and making their way back to her eyes. The blonde holds her gaze only breaking it momentarily to admire Regina's plump red lips and the scar on them. Regina is so lost in the green of Emma's eyes that she doesn't even notice the bartender's return and Emma doesn't either. He lets out a loud coughs breaking the apparent staring contest the two women were having.
He stands there awkwardly awaiting a response to a question both women obviously didn't hear. He decides to repeat himself "Would you like another?" he asks Emma.
"Yeah," she nods and hands over her glass. She peers over to see Regina's cider is almost empty and adds, "And I'll get another for the pretty lady." This time it's Emma's turn to wink and make Regina roll her eyes through an almost hidden smile.
The bartender nods. He fills the pint and hands it back to her. As he heads off to get the cider he scoffs at the realization that he'll be getting a smaller tip than he had initially anticipated. Through his years of working in a bar he has learned that his charm doesn't seem to have the same success amongst the lesbian community. He'd thought he'd be scoring a big tab with the rich business woman. Instead the blonde will be paying her bill and probably tipping average. He returns and passes the drink off to the brunette. So much for his luck tonight, he thinks as he realizes that the blonde is the only one who'll be getting lucky off her.
"It appears as if you're trying to get me drunk," Regina leans in towards the blonde as she speaks, "Are you trying to take advantage of me Miss Swan?" She has coy grin playing on her face as she mock interrogates the woman beside her.
"That depends, is it working?" Emma doesn't back down from the challenge. Their gaze is intense. Regina can see the mischief in the blonde's green eyes. And Emma doesn't miss the hunger in the alluring brown eyes belonging to the gorgeous woman facing her.
"A few more wouldn't hurt," Regina's playing with her now and they're both enjoying it.
Without breaking eye contact Emma waves down the bartender and orders two shots of tequila. He pours the shots and then leaves to go schmoose the new customer who's appeared at the other end of the bar. Emma picks up her shot and hands the other to Regina. She raises her cup and says, "Cheers to a night without men." and with that the two women clink their shot glasses together and down their contents.
"So Miss Swan-" Regina begins, but is cut off by Emma.
"I did say you could call me Emma, didn't I?" She gives the brunette a playful nudge.
"Right ... So ... Emma, you know my reasons for being here. I believe it's now your turn to share."
"Maybe I just came for the good company." Emma raises her hand to brush a piece of silky brown hair behind Regina's ear. The brunette freezes at the contact. She's hyper aware of how her heart rate has speed up and she momentarily forgets how to breathe. This doesn't go unnoticed by Emma who smiles and continues, "I'm a bail bondsperson and today I caught a guy who was not only cheating the government of money, he was also cheating on his wife. So my initial intention coming here was to forget about the awful people that live among us," then she turns her head back to face the brunette. Their face only inches apart; she adds with a coy smile, "I suppose I just got lucky with the good company part."
"You haven't gotten lucky just yet Miss Swan"
"Maybe I'm feeling a little optimistic," Emma leans back ever so slightly, causing Regina to lean forward to maintain their closeness.
"Some woman would be taken aback by your assumption."
Emma smiles, leaning even closer to the brunette, "I get the vibe that you're not that kind of woman."
"What gives you that idea?" Regina leans back, a smirk on her lips, and raises an eyebrow.
"You should know I can always tell when a person is person is lying." Emma responds oozing with confidence.
"Really? Always?" questions Regina.
The blonde nods.
"Try me." Her challenge pikes Emma's interest. She jumps on the opportunity and asks, "How'd you like to come home with me tonight?"
With a straight face Regina answers, "I would rather not."
They both know it's a bold faced lie and Regina biting her lip doesn't do anything to help her case.
Emma leans in close to the brunette. She can feel the other woman's breath touch her lips and in a voice just over a whisper she says, "Liar"
At that moment the women are once again broken apart by the bartender. "Can I get anything else for the two of you?"
Emma consults the looks of pure lust in Regina eyes before responding, "Just the bill." The bartender been working long enough to know she was going to be paying for her companion's drinks as well. He pulls up the bill and they settle it.
Regina drains the last of her cider as Emma does her beer. Once the bartender has left Emma looks back at Regina, "So how about it?"
Regina cocks her head in mock confusion, "About what?"
Emma smiles and leans forward again, "How about in honor of tonight being a men are selfish pigs' kind of night, why don't you come back to my place?" Regina mocks contemplation and Emma adds, "I'm sure I could think of a couple ways to help you forget about men." Emma's eyebrows rise, ensuring that the beautiful woman in front of her knows exactly what her intentions are.
"I suppose I can't say no to that."