A/N: Hello everyone! This is not beta-ed, so any mistakes you find are mine. You can also find it on AO3 under the same name. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading!
Written for Swan Queen Week 10: Day 1 - Behind the Scene
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Emma paces back and forth, practically carving a hole on the pavement. It's been her action for the past thirty minutes, and no one on set can take it anymore.
"Damn it, I can't believe it, August," she complains to her 1st Assistant Director. "The email said eight. The schedule says eight!" She stops in front of him, crossing her arms as if to say, 'I'm not overreacting, am I?'
"Thank god you stopped moving—"
"Everyone knows it was supposed to be at eight!" she cuts him off. "And now we can't start rehearsals because she's not here yet!"
August sighs. "I know, Emma, but… maybe something happened?" he asks, shrugging. "Wait a few more minutes and then I'll call her."
"Okay, okay. Fine." She rolls her eyes, letting her arms drop to her sides. "But I bet she's one of those stuck-up people who think they're entitled to do whatever they want just because they're famous or some shit like that. Ugh!"
"Emma…"
"The actors are waiting and we don't have much time in our hands. I'm so done with… Why are you looking at me like that?" Frowning, she stops mid-rant and tries to figure out what he's trying to tell her with his non-verbal cue. Her eyes suddenly widen with dawning realization.
Emma was so immersed in her complains she completely forgot about her surroundings and the fact they are outside the rehearsal room. August's face says 'disaster' all over it.
It's not hard to connect the dots.
Directly behind her someone clears their throat, and Emma mouths 'Shit' to him, wincing. She slowly whirls to the person's direction and it's then she sees the writer for the first time.
Regina is a well-known writer around the globe for her bestselling novel 'Poisoned Apple' and a few other hits. (She's also the owner of a multi-millionaire company if the memory serves right.) The book aforementioned has sold over a ten thousand copies in the month of its release, and will now receive its adaptation as a film.
Regina Mills' facial expression gives away nothing when Emma finally takes some time to properly look at her. She can't think about anything else afterwards because the woman is absolutely breathtaking, and Emma's cheeks are turning red with mortification for her terrible manners before. She wants to hide somewhere and never come out again.
"Sorry I'm late. There was a call I had to make and it took longer than expected. I'm sure it won't happen again." Regina says, her voice husky and oh so pleasant to the ears.
However, Emma doesn't detect any prominent emotion which would allow her to identify whether she's totally made a fool of herself or not; whether she's succeeded in making an enemy of the book's writer before properly meeting her or whether she's one-hundred percent screwed with the producers now. Perhaps the three combined; seems to be fitting with her luck today.
"Emma Swan, I assume?"
Emma blinks. Then she realizes she hasn't spoken in the five minutes that have passed since her horrible faux-pas and shakes her head to clear her thoughts, running a hand through her hair. "I— I… Yes, yes. That's me." What the hell, Emma? You don't stutter!
"Regina Mills." She nods, hand outstretched for Emma to shake, which she does, still transfixed by this woman who's nothing like she had judged her to be.
"Hey." Emma smiles back, but it feels flat. I was such an asshole, my god. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I-I'll be waiting for you inside the room," August says, and Emma had completely forgotten about him. Oops. She hums in agreement and watches him go with her eyes; anything to avoid staring at Regina's and getting all… warm and fuzzy again.
"Is it, really?" Emma turns her gaze back to Regina's. So much for a reprieve. "Is it a pleasure?" The dark-haired woman reiterates, head slightly tilted to the side. "I think I'm too stuck-up as a famous person for it to have been a… pleasure, don't you agree, Emma?" She smirks, arms crossed now. The way she nearly purred her name should be illegal. Goddamn.
Wait… Did she just…? Emma's jaw virtually drops once she makes sense of the words. Fuck. I'm screwed. I'm done.
"I-I… I'm..." is her attempt to form a response, but it seems like her brain has stopped working.
There's a pause. They stare at each other's eyes for a few moments and then...
...then Regina surprises her with a hearty laugh and a dazzling smile to accompany it. What? "You should've seen your face, dear. It looked like you were about to pass out."
"What?" Emma repeats her thought out loud, trying to understand the situation.
Waving a hand through the air in dismissal, Regina says, "It's fine."
"So… no hard feelings?" Emma asks with uncertainty. "I'm so sorry about earlier. I'm really stressed about this movie, about doing justice to the story. And that's no excuse for how I talked about you without even knowing you first." Emma looks down to her feet, crossing her arms.
"You know, I was going to stay mad…" Regina gets closer, staring at Emma like she's a delicious prey. "However, I just... couldn't."
"Why?" Emma breathes out, lost in Regina's gaze, beautiful brown eyes sparkling with mirth.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Regina says, the corner of her lip uplifted, invading Emma's personal space.
Waaait. She's flirting with me?
"But know one thing..." Regina moves closer still. Her breath caresses Emma's ear, who can't help shivering. "...if you assume anything about me again, I'll make sure our time working together becomes a living hell. Do we understand each other?"
All of a sudden Emma is parched, and she can only nod vehemently in agreement.
Pulling back, Regina struts to the rehearsal's door, but turns before opening it, pretending to look at her nails nonchalantly. "I suppose they've waited long enough. I may be famous, but I'm not that insensitive..." She looks up, and her playful smile tells Emma she's joking.
"I'm never going to live that down, am I?"
"No. I'm just getting started." She winks and Emma melts; she's hot and adorable at the same time and it's doing things to her head.
She grins. And we are off to a great start. "Bring it on, Mills."
"With pleasure, Miss Swan."