The music pumped loudly around the bar as Emma bobbed her head in time with the rhythm of the band, her jack and coke swaying and rippling within the glass in her hand as she lifted it to cheer on the band that finished up their song.
She finished her drink off in a steady mouthful before turning towards the bar, a quick "Sorry," leaving her lips as she almost ran into someone.
Her eyes dragged slowly up the long tan legs, past the half unbuttoned shirt, breasts that were proudly attempting to burst free from the straining buttons before her eyes caught the most calming pools of dark chocolate that made Emma's mouth run dry.
"Sorry," the blonde said to swallow her nerves and watching as the other woman reached behind her to grab a napkin from the bar and dab at the liquid that splashed over the edge of her glass.
"So you said," the woman said with a bored tone, her eyes coming up to meet Emma's own oceanic orbs.
"Can I buy you another drink?" Emma asked, waving down a bartender.
"No, no, Dear. It will be alright, it'll just give me an excuse to leave my date quicker and come back here," the woman said, her voice coating Emma's body in a blanket of lust.
"Do you come here often?" Emma asked after ordering her own drink.
"No, thankfully. It's way too loud for my liking, and if it weren't for my mother forcing this date on me, I'd happily be home with a book and a glass of wine."
"You like to read?" Emma asked, a look the other woman couldn't quite place crossed the blondes features.
"Regina, there you are, I was beginning to think you got lost," a man said, coming over to rest a hand on Regina's shoulder, the brunette visibly tensing at the touch.
"Sorry to steal your date," Emma said, looking up at the man who looked and kinda smelt like he'd just spent years in a forest, her nose crinkling in disgust at the smell filled her senses.
The man barely looked at Emma as he shifted his hand to Regina's waist.
Regina looked like she was growing more and more uncomfortable with every inch the hand moved lower.
"I just hadn't seen Regina here since a few years ago," Emma continued, a light hand moving to rest upon Regina's wrist that was holding the glass. "I offered to buy her a drink, maybe some other time?" Emma said softly.
"R-Right, of course, Uh…"
"Emma," the blonde supplied.
"Right, Emma here was just offering to replace my drink that she spilt, I'll be back at the table in a moment," Regina said, looking towards her date who looked annoyed that he was being blown off.
"Your drink looks fine to me, c'mon, why don't we go and dance?"
"I'll be right there," Regina said with a little more bite to her tone than she intended.
The man huffed and nodded, making his way back over to the table he came from while Regina turned to Emma.
"Thank you, Emma," Regina said, making Emma's insides quiver at the way her name rolled off the brunettes tongue.
"Anytime, why don't we get out of here and leave him to find someone better?" Emma smirked, raising her eyes brows playfully a few times.
Regina couldn't help but laugh as she slid her hand down Emma's forearm before resting it against the blondes hand.
"Maybe if you were a few years older," Regina said, bringing her hand back to her side.
"Wh-what?" Emma asked, looking like a dear caught in headlights.
"It's quite obvious that you're not legal," Regina said, gesturing to the blonde. "How old are you?"
"Twenty two," Emma said, standing a little straighter as she pushed her glasses up her nose slightly.
Regina only rose an eyebrow, making Emma's shoulders drop again with a defeated sigh leaving the blondes lips.
"Okay, fine, sixteen, but that's legal here," Emma said, a little more annoyed than anything else.
"Still too young for me, why don't you call me when you're over eighteen?" Regina offered, reaching into her purse to pull out a crisp-white with black writing -and a small red apple as it's logo- business card, handing it to the blonde before kissing her cheek.
She than walked away, leaving a stunned Emma looking at the small piece of cardboard.
Five years later, Emma was cleaning out her closet and going through her pocket before she put things in piles to keep, throw, or donate when her hand touched something.
She frowned a little, expecting a tissue, or reciept, or maybe even a few dollars like she had with other pockets she'd gone through.
But instead, she pulled out a folded up semi-faded business card.
Opening it up, her eyes widened in realisation when she saw the name Regina printed on the card beneath a Red Apple logo for Mills and Gold publishing.
Her fingers shook as she dug through the pockets on the hoodie she was currently wearing and hissed as her cold fingers flicked against her phone.
She pulled it out quickly, her heart racing as she stared between the phone and the card in her hand.
Shaking her head, she sat the card on her bed and put her phone on top of it as she got up and walked out of her room.
She needed a drink to find the courage to make the call. One drink.
One drink turned into three beers, turned into sipping on a bottle of whiskey, which turned into drunk dialing the number at four in the morning and getting message bank.
"Uhhh…" Emma murmured dumbly. "It's Emma Swan calling for Regina Mills, you said to call you back a few years ago and I just found the card so… call me back?" Emma ended the call, too drunk to realise she didn't leave her number for her call to be returned.
It was two weeks later that Emma was clearing out her bedside table that she found the card again and her drunken memories flooded her mind, making her eyes widen in realisation, and shame that her drunk-self had actually done that.
Looking at the time, she saw it was three in the afternoon, knowing that the offices would probably still be open if they even existed anymore, so, she took a nervous breath before dialing the number.
"Mills and Gold Publishing, how may I direct your call?" A chirpy voice asked from the other end of the line.
"Uh, hi. My names Emma Swan, Regina Mills asked me to call her a few years ago and I only recently found the card, is she available?"
"She's in a meeting right now, but if you want to leave your number, I can leave her a note to call you back?"
Emma chewed her lip nervously before clearing her thoat.
"Y-Yeah, sure," Emma said before rattling off her number.
"Great, Miss Swan, I'll get her to call you back as soon as she can, she has a few meetings back to back this afternoon, so you might have to wait till tomorrow, is that okay?"
"Of course, she doesn't even have to if she doesn't want to, but she kind of asked me to call her so…"
"I understand, is there something I can say to get her to remember who you are?"
"Uh, I met her in a bar when I was sixteen," Emma said a little nervous.
A soft laugh floated down the line, making Emma feel worse about making this call.
"I'll hand the note to her as soon as I see her next, Emma. Have a good afternoon."
"Thanks, I guess," Emma said lamely before ending the call and falling back against her bed, her legs dangling over the side. She let out a defeated sigh before closing her eyes.
The girl over the phone was right about Regina being busy, so busy in fact that it took three more days for her to call back.
"Hello?" Emma asked, not usually one to answer a call from an unknown number, but something in her gut told her to do it.
"Hi, this is Ruby Lucas calling from the office of Regina Mills, please hold for Regina," the voice said before a click was heard and within a minute, the click happened again.
"Hello?" Emma asked after a moment of silence.
"Emma?" Regina asked softly.
Emma's breath caught in her throat at the brunettes voice. The exact same voice that still manages to fill her with lust and give her weak knees all these years later.
"Hi," Emma said softly.
"Hello, Dear," Regina said, and Emma could almost see the smile on the brunettes lips.