Written for OQ on Holidays Week, Day 2. I want to say a huge thank you to LanaIsMyFeather on twitter who beta-read this story for me!
Prompt: 75. Robin and Regina's families would spend every summer at their vacation homes so they have been friends since they were kids and casually dated as they were teens. Now, they are both graduated and returning to the same vacation homes, hoping the other shows up.
Please, let me know what you think!
(...)
Toes in the Water - OQ AU
When Regina set her foot on this beach for the first time, she was only five years old. She can still remember how her heart fluttered with excitement as she held her father's hand and made her way through the sand towards the sea.
She squealed in surprise when the cold waves touched her toes, her sweet voice echoing through the empty beach, and her dad only held her little hand tighter in his, laughing along with her as another wave came to them.
She can still remember how it all felt, the memory was imprinted into her head twenty years ago and she doubts it will ever fade away.
Now when she sets her foot on the sand, her heart clenches from sadness. Her father is gone now, and their summer house will be sold soon if her mother won't listen to her. Regina came here to collect some of the most precious things to her – photos and shells she used to collect with her father when she was just a little girl.
However, there's another reason why she is here.
There's a house not too far away, an old and shabby beach house that belonged to Mrs. Locksley, the old woman who lived here since the day she was born. Regina had never felt a piece of happiness whenever her father took her there, she only felt dread – these walls made her out of breath – until one summer she met a boy her age in that shack, the boy with eyes as blue as the sea.
All of a sudden she had become shy and hid behind her father's leg. She peeked only to catch a glimpse of the boy that stole her heart at the age of six. They'd been introduced, the boy's name was Robin and he was here from England to visit his grandmother. Regina found his words funny that day, giggling every time he spoke.
They became friends all those years ago because they were the only children on that beach. Summer months started disappearing before their very eyes as they spent their days playing games with toys and later with cards until one evening when Regina was thirteen years old, Robin had leaned over and kissed her.
She blushed so hard then, her hands and legs shaking so badly as her heart tried to jump out of her chest. She ran away from him that night, didn't let him apologize or say anything, she felt too confused and embarrassed by her reaction to then face him.
It took her three days to finally find the courage and go to Mrs. Locksley. As soon as she met Robin, he started apologizing but Regina cut him off, pressing her lips against his, letting him know that she didn't mind.
It was the best summer love they could've ever hoped for.
Things became more serious with each year, months spent apart making them bolder, their feelings stronger. At the age of sixteen, they were making plans of spending their lives together, of getting married two summers later. They counted stars and kissed, and promised undying love, lost in their devotion to one another, oblivious to the cruel world all around them.
Life ruined their plans, of course.
Summer after graduating high school crushed their dreams. Robin's father had passed away after a long fight with cancer and, as the only child in the family, he had to take care of the business in London. Even now Regina's heart clenches at the memory of how her life had crashed down around her as she stared at Robin in disbelief.
They were supposed to take a gap year together, to see the world or to stay at this beach house. To finally just be together for a while without the dread that two months later they would have to part, and Robin would return to his home at the other edge of the ocean.
Regina was so in love back then, she told him that she'd go with him to England. She didn't care about anything at that moment, she just wanted to be with him. She was so stupid in love, but the changes in Robin's life had already taught him some hard lessons, made him much more mature than he was the summer before. So he just shook his head and told her that it is not that easy.
They were sitting on the beach when Robin told her that their lives would never be the same again. Before his father's death, Robin had wanted to study arts, he had wanted to spend his whole life painting beaches and oceans and Regina, but he was forced to wear a suit and represent the huge company that had nothing to do with his dreams.
There was an obstacle between them, a huge one, and Regina has never cried as much as she did that day. She didn't want to give their relationship up, but she also realized that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't ready to travel to the other side of the world, leaving her family and everything she'd had here behind to live a life they both didn't want.
That very same night with tears clouding both of their visions, Robin applied for University in England to study finance and management while Regina chose to study in a nearby city. She didn't choose literature studies like she'd always dreamt – over one single night, she realized that life is not a fairytale and she needed to leave her childish dreams behind and grow up.
That summer was the hardest time of their lives. Robin had only a few weeks before he had to go back, and they knew it would be the last time they'd see one another, so they tried to spend as much as they could together. They held each other and cried, they laughed through the tears in their eyes and counted stars like a few years ago, they loved and let the world know that, dreading the day when they would have to part.
When that day came, Regina didn't cry. She felt numb and only kissed Robin on the lips hard, telling him to have a good flight. She watched him make his way to the airport and when she was about to turn around and go to her car, he surprised her by grabbing her hand and turning her around.
She squealed in surprise as he crashed his lips against hers in a heart-wrenching kiss that left Regina breathless and her heart shattered into pieces. He whispered that if their feelings were still there after six years, he'd come back and be with her here. He'd meet her on their beach.
And then he disappeared.
Regina spent hours standing at the airport with her mouth opened in shock.
She went to University that year and met new people, she smiled and laughed and tried to fall in love with life again, but it all felt useless when she knew that the love of her life was away. That first year, she spent lots of time at the beach house, curled under the blanket that still smelled like forest and sand and water, that still smelled like Robin and home. She cried and cried and cried because life was so unfair.
Time made her wounds heal. The second year was easier, but she struggled to find interest in her studies. She let herself get lost in other activities, she read books and cried less, found friends who annoyed her at first but then became the ones she wouldn't change for anything.
She learned how to live again. She became stronger, built walls around her glued heart and tried not to fall in love again. She succeeded, keeping herself busy with (boring) studies and books, and unwanted thoughts about Robin.
With each passing year, she matured more and more and her sappy summer love story made her laugh when she told it to her friends. But deep down, on sunny days when she missed the beach and fresh air, she remembered how it felt to hold Robin's hand in hers and walk down the beach. She remembered how it felt to love someone as much as she loved Robin, her heart literally beat only for him back then.
Life had taught her some lessons and she told herself she would not return to the beach house. She thought that their love wasn't meant to become something more. Love like that didn't exist in the real world.
So she started going out with her friends, flirting with men, kissing strangers and trying to find peace within herself. It never happened. She didn't feel the way she wanted to, and it frustrated her, made her curse Robin for stealing her life from her.
However, her life turned upside down again when her dad got into a car accident. Memories of that were still blurry. She ran out of the class in the middle of the lecture as she read a text from her mother about what had happened.
And then she cried.
And screamed.
A lot.
She held his warm hand in hers as she cried and asked him to please wake up from that awful coma.
She spent days and nights by her father's side, crying, wishing that someone were there with her. Her mind kept replying memories in her head, memories of her and daddy on the beach, cool water touching their toes as Regina giggled, her dark long hair blowing out in the wind as she learned the joy of life for the first time, oblivious to the heartbreaks that were waiting for her in the future.
When her father had finally woken, he was weak and barely breathing on his own. However, when her mother left them alone, he had squeezed her hand and told her that she should've never sacrificed her dreams. He told her that life is too short to be stuck here studying what she hates, living life that always made her sad when her heart was in England with someone who loved her the way she deserved.
He told her that finding true love is impossible in this mad world, and she'd already done that. She would be stupid to let it go.
He died the same night.
His last words always repeated in her head: when she was cleaning his closet, when she was sitting in front of his grave, when she was staring out of the window at her University during lectures that made her want to scream.
She had made the decision to let dreams of Robin go but after her father's death, after his words, she realized that Robin was the only man left that once upon a time loved her, all of her. All memories of games, and 'I love you's, and small gifts, kissing, and stories, reminded her that she had never felt like this with anyone.
So she came back.
After six years, Regina came back to the beach house to see Robin of Locksley, the former painter who had ocean blue eyes.
Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Regina wipes a single tear away from her cheek. She doesn't think Robin will come here, he's always been a handsome man and she's sure he'd have met someone during the six years they've spent apart. She was sure that his heart had healed and he had loved again.
Yet she finds herself here, wandering across the beach, the cool water of the sea where her father taught her how to swim and how to enjoy life to the fullest, washing at her feet. She walks and walks, tears collecting in her eyes as memories of first careful kisses, of passionate touches, of making love for the first time flood her head.
This place is special. She'd learned how to love life here. She'd learned to love another and be loved here.
She can't give it up.
It doesn't even matter that nothing is real anymore, it's only a memory. Mrs. Locksley is long gone, her father, her childhood hero is in Heaven, and the man her heart belongs to is on the other edge of the ocean.
It doesn't even matter that it is a place where her heart was broken into shards.
She would still like to come back here years from now and let the memories of a dream that was her life return.
Regina looks to the horizon where the sea and the sky merge into a blue infinity. She doesn't think Robin will come, she doesn't let herself think that but deep down, her teenaged heart still hopes that he'll find her and love her.
She wipes another tear away from her cheek, her eyes fluttering closed as she lets the waves wash over her toes, wash over her aching soul.
"Regina!"
Her heart stops beating in her chest, her eyes opening and growing wide as she turns around immediately towards the source of the sound. Her jaw drops open in surprise as she sees Robin running towards her, his dark blonde hair blown up by the wind, his smile eating up his whole face.
He crashes into her and almost throws her off of her feet but his strong arms wrap around her, arms that she's missed so much, and he crashes his lips against hers in a kiss. His lips are warm and soft, just like she remembers, and all of a sudden something clicks inside her.
Something that's been off all the times she'd tried to find that peace within herself.
Warmth floods Regina's veins, and tears of both happiness and heartache fill her dark eyes, and she presses them closed, letting herself drown in the feeling of Robin's lips against hers, his arms around her, his heart beating right along with hers.
When their lips finally part and both gasp for air to stop the burning in their lungs, Robin grins at Regina. Before she knows it, he's lifted her up from the sand and is spinning her around, just like he used to do when they would meet each summer after a school year apart.
Regina throws her head back and laughs, just like she'd done too many times years ago, tears streaming down her cheeks and into her hair. The joy of life flares up in her soul again for the first time in so long, and she only smiles wider, her laughs getting louder.
Once her feet hit the ground, she leans over and kisses Robin again, and they're both laughing and crying and squeezing one another as if afraid that their lover will disappear.
"You came," Regina whispers against his lips, her breath hitching in her throat, her big eyes full of tears.
Robin nods his head, his own eyes full of unshed tears, and he bites his lip, making Regina realize that it couldn't have gone the other way. They were meant to be together all along, as funny and unbelievable as it sounds.
"Marry me," Robin surprises her by saying, his hand squeezing hers and he inhales sharply, probably stunned by his own words.
"Okay," Regina replies without a doubt, and those tears that have been threatening to fall down, finally spill free.
She's suffered years without him, she's suffered the loss of her father, she's suffered years of dark days and tears and she's not going to waste a minute now, not when she finally has him again.
When Robin registers her words, he shouts to the stars, his voice full of happiness and wildness, and lifts her up in the air again, spinning her around and around, making her squeal in joy and happiness.
And as he places her down on the sand and cold waves touch their toes, Regina remembers how the water touched her for the first time twenty years ago. It had made her father laugh at her excitement, at her unexpected love for the sea. That day Regina Mills found the joy in life.
Years later, she's found that joy here, on the same beach, again.
She's never letting go of that feeling.