A/N: A nod to one of my favorite movies "The Sure Thing." Posting for the lovely Miranda's birthday, and many thanks to Mona and Lena for feedback.
She was nose deep in her book, studying when he slid into the seat across the table from her. The library was quiet and the lights dimmed as most students had hurried off to grab food in the dining hall before they closed for the night.
Emma glanced at her phone and noted that he was forty-five minutes later than their scheduled study session.
"Apologies lass, I was otherwise indisposed." She raised an eyebrow and noted his messy hair. It looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. For all she knew he had. He squinted at a crumpled piece of paper and raised his eyes to her.
"Emma Swan? Yeah?" He stuck out his hand, "Killian Jones." She glanced at it, put down her pen, and closed her book with a sigh.
"Let's see your paper." He dropped his hand and pulled a battered notebook out of his satchel. Flipping it open to a worn, smudgy page he spun it towards her.
"I'm hoping you can shed some light on what the professor is complaining about."
Emma pulled the notebook closer and glanced through the first paragraph. The professor had noted in the margin that it was very descriptive and showed a real passion for the subject matter, but that it needed to be cleaned up.
She circled misspellings and attempted to punctuate in the correct places. Killian leaned in and watched her mark up his writing.
"Is this a sausage stain?" she pointed to a discolored spot on his paper.
"Pepperoni," he grinned.
She shook her head, "Do you not have any grasp on the english language?" She continued to mark up the story. "This is like stream of consciousness with no structure or any attention to verb tense, and don't get me started on your creative spelling. It's a mess!"
"But that's why I'm here, for you to teach me…" he leaned in closer with a smile.
Emma flushed pink and leaned back and pulled out her own paper to shove across at him.
"Why don't you look over my paper so you can see what the professor means by 'cleaning up your copy.'"
His eyes flicked over her paper while his fingers toyed with his pen. He abruptly shoved back his chair and wandered off towards the vending machine. Emma crossed out another misspelled word and frowned after him. She bent her head back to the task.
Suddenly his arm was draped across the back of her chair and he slid into the seat next to hers. He shoved a bag of chips under her nose and raised his eyebrows in question. "Hungry?"
"No, thank you." Emma pushed his notebook at him and pointed at it in frustration. "It's like one big run on sentence, and you don't even state your topic."
"It's inferred…" he explained smoothly.
"Implied" Emma corrected.
"Whatever," he bounced up out of the chair. "Let's get out of here." He grabbed his notebook and shoved it into his bag.
Emma ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. "Aren't you even interested in correcting your paper?"
"I can think of a lot more enjoyable things to do on a Friday night Swan," he smirked at her. "Live a little - the paper can wait till tomorrow."
Emma gathered her books and packed them away. If Killian Jones wasn't going to take his tutoring session seriously, why should she waste her time trying to help him?
"No, I am not going to interrupt my study session because you're bored," she scolded him.
"See?" Killian nodded at her backpack. "The professor noted that your paper was dry, not enough of you in it. How are you going to be able to write if you don't live a little or have any sense of adventure?"
Emma glared at him and stomped off, vowing that this was the last time she agreed to help him.
"Come on Swan! Let's go see what's up on the roof." he pushed open the door to the stairs that led up.
Emma rolled her eyes and slipped out the door headed back to her dorm to study in peace.
As she trudged along the sidewalk, a paper airplane fluttered down in her path. She turned and glared up at the roof of the library.
"You have no sense of adventure Swan!" he called out while he leaned dangerously over the edge of the building.
"You're a crazy person!" she shouted back and spun gripping her books tighter and escaping Jones's taunts.
The wind picked up, tossing Emma's hair into her face as she made her way to the campus bulletin board. It was chilly, the tips of her ears burned and she dug her hands deeper into her coat pockets. The posters and cards rustled together and she had to pull her hand out to smooth down the postings to read them. She scanned through the scraps of paper advertising used books, pleas for a drummer, and desperate roommate searches. Finally her eyes picked out a promising post in the ride section. She ripped the fluttering email off the bottom of the sheet. She shoved it into her pocket, turned and rushed across campus to avoid being late to her final class.
Emma finished tapping out the last of the message before sending it. A shared carpool wasn't her first choice, but with last minute planning she didn't have much in the way of options. There was no way her old VW was going to survive a cross country trek. She tucked her phone into her coat pocket and flipped open her notebook.
The professor sighed and pushed away from his desk at the front of the room. He slowly paced back and forth. His grey hair and tweed blazer made him appear to have just stepped from the corridors of the university library. The light flashed on his glasses as he spun back towards the board and lifted his chalk to write instructions.
"Let's begin. I'd like you all to…"
The door to the room burst open and a late student rushed in, hand raised apologetically.
"Jones, nice of you to join us" the teacher glowered at him.
Killian tossed his backpack to the floor and slid into the desk next to Emma's at the front of the class.
"Sorry…" he mumbled as he rooted around in his backpack searching for something to write with. He pulled out a rumpled piece of notebook paper and smoothed it flat on his desk.
Emma glared at Jones for his rudeness and shook her head in disbelief. Was this guy ever prepared for class? He gave her a lopsided smile, and she turned away in a huff, eyes cast back down at her paper.
"As I was saying…" the professor continued, "I'm sure you're all dreaming of vacation already, so I'd just like you to do something over break that will inspire you." He paused, "Life is the ultimate experience, but you have to live it in order to write about it."
Emma scribbled away as the teacher laid out the assignment.
"You sure take a lot of notes," Killian whispered to her, raising his eyebrow at her page. She glared at him and dragged her notebook to the other side of her desk to shield her paper with her arm. She couldn't wait to be done with this class and start planning for vacation. It had been months since she'd seen Neal, and she couldn't wait to catch her ride to begin the trip back to him.
She dragged her suitcase toward the curb while simultaneously checking her email to confirm she was at the right place at the right time. Communication with her ride had been brief and rushed (her own fault for waiting till the last minute). Neal had failed to pay for a plane ticket, but she was hell bent to see him over break. Heck she didn't even know who she'd be sharing driving duties with. Just the brief text she'd received:
Glad to share the trip. Leaving at 7am tomorrow in front of Smith Hall. Blue Volvo.
Right on time, her ride across the country pulled up. It was a battered looking wagon that had seen better days, but Emma didn't care as long as she made it to the west coast by Christmas Eve.
Killian slammed the hatch down after he tossed in his duffle bag. He was beyond ready to kick off winter break. The chill wind ruffled his hair and he regretted not wearing his favorite hoodie, but it wouldn't matter because soon he'd be in sunny California. It was a trip he'd meant to take with his brother. A couple of weeks crashing at Robin and Will's place to start and then maybe a trek north into wine country. He had no set plan, just flying by the seat of his pants. Life was too short to miss out on. He glanced at his phone again. For once he was on time. He stuck the phone in his pocket and slid behind the wheel of his car.
The car sputtered to life and Killian gnawed on his lip, wondering if this jalopy would survive the trip across the country.
"Hurry up Granny!" Jefferson griped from the front seat.
"Don't rush me! You're the one that's to blame for me scrambling to find another copilot for the trip."
"Sorry, but matters of the heart only have me riding as far as Illinois." Jeff grinned.
Killian slammed the car into gear headed across campus to pick up his last rider. "You were the one that was also supposed to find me more people to split the cost. Now I'm stuck with god knows who after you ditch me in the middle of the country."
Killian saw the blonde waiting in front of Smith hall and sunk lower in his seat, cursing under his breath.
"What?" Jefferson questioned.
"She's in my English class and I'm pretty certain she hates me."
"Well we'll just have to charm her and win over her affections before we're out of Connecticut." Jefferson grinned.
They pulled up to the curb and Jefferson jumped out to grab the suitcase of their new passenger.
"Hi, Jefferson," he shook her hand. "Glad you could make the trek with us."
She eyed the dented back door, but managed to pry it open and slip into the backseat. As she settled in and buckled up, Killian could see her eyes widen as she noticed him. Jefferson bounced back into the front seat.
"You know Killian right?" he grinned.
"You!" she stammered.
"Swan…" he slowly turned his head to give her a slight grin.
Emma shook her head and muttered, "What the hell," before she slumped back in the seat. "Can we get going?"
They lurched away from the curb and began headed west. Great, Killian thought to himself, this vacation was already starting off on a sour note. He could practically feel the glare from Emma boring into the back of his skull. He tried to ignore the awkward silence from his passengers and gracefully steered his vehicle onto the highway.
Jefferson pulled a battered road atlas out from beneath the front seat and flipped open to squint at the map.
"Use my phone to navigate Magellan" Killian grumbled as he shifted slightly to grab his phone out of his jeans pocket and tossed it towards Jefferson.
Jefferson juggled the phone before it dropped down into his lap. He scooped it up and swiped the screen searching for the maps icon. Once he'd typed in the address he slumped back, grinning.
"Fifteen hours till I'm home." He looked back at Emma.
"You're not going the whole way?" she asked.
"Alas no Swan, it'll just be you and I from the Midwest to the coast." Killian broke the news to her. He wasn't sure what reaction Emma would have, so he kept his eyes on the road and hoped that he'd be able to at least keep her from killing him.
Jefferson leaped behind the wheel after Killian's five hour turn driving. They'd made a quick pit stop for fuel and snacks. They'd wandered the aisles of the Gas and Go, where Killian had grabbed some trail mix and a bag of Pirate Booty. Emma drifted towards some sketchy looking fresh fruit while Jefferson had eyed the six packs of beer. Killian had glared at him and shook his head no when he'd raised an eyebrow in askance.
"Bad form, you can wait a few more hours before you celebrate winter break." Killian scolded.
Emma looked surprised at him nixing the beer purchase. She obviously didn't think he'd keep to any sort of good form.
Now Jefferson controlled the car and Killian rested in the backseat. Emma grabbed the edge of the front seat, apparently anxious with Jefferson's wild driving style. He was the complete opposite of Killian, weaving in and out of traffic with a penchant for accelerating to speeds that made everyone in the car uncomfortable. They'd agreed to do five hour shifts to get to the Chicago area.
"So Emma," Jefferson asked, "what's out west for you? Family?"
"I'm going to surprise my boyfriend."
Killian snorted from the backseat. "He doesn't know you're coming?" He noted the blush creeping up her face. "You really think that's a good idea?"
"I don't see why it's any of your concern." She rolled her eyes at him. He smirked at her and settled back to return to his nap.
Emma ignored the stab of disquiet she felt when Killian pointed out what she'd already been second guessing herself on. What if Neal wasn't happy to see her? The doubt gnawed away as she thought how reluctant he'd been to offer solutions for her traveling out to see him. But he had to miss her right? Why wouldn't he be pleased to see her?
She closed her eyes, exhausted, if she could just manage to catch a bit of rest, she may survive Jefferson's turn behind the wheel in blissful ignorance of his reckless driving. The jolt of the car as it stopped roused her from her nap. There were a bevy of families walking dogs and allowing children to run around the highway rest area. They got out and stretched and shuffled their seats in the car for the next stretch of the journey.
Now Emma was in the driver's seat, while Killian slouched in the passenger seat next to her. A sense of calm at being in control allowed her to relax. She glanced over at Killian as he dozed. Once they dropped Jefferson off with his family, she'd be stuck for the remainder of the trip alone with Killian Jones. She snapped her eyes back to the road and tried not to be distracted by his long tapered fingers curled in his lap. By the end of her stage of driving, they'd be almost 15 hours on the road. It was a good thing that he rested now. He was much easier to take when he was sleeping and not bickering with her over what music to listen to.
Emma slowed the car as they turned onto a maple lined street. Jefferson had given her perfect directions as they'd approached the suburb of Chicago. It was well past dark now. Five hours was a long stretch to drive. She was grateful for the break they'd get dropping off Jefferson.
Jefferson cheerfully introduced his parents to his fellow students, explaining how they'd managed to make excellent time sharing the driving. Emma bit her tongue to keep from grumbling about him breaking the land speed record. Killian smirked at her; she swore he could read her mind.
After a late supper she wandered down the hallway toward the bathroom. She lingered, gazing at rows of family pictures that lined the wall. Emma had to admit it was nice to see the welcome and love Jefferson got when he'd burst through the front door. She glanced down the hall where Killian rounded the corner and stopped abruptly when he saw her. He took in her perusal of the family photos and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Holidays are always the worst don't you think?" he said drily. She caught Killian's eye and recognized a similar stab of envy in his own expression. Kindred spirit or not, she wasn't about to let him in. She chose to remain silent.
"Get that bathroom break in, we should hit the road soon. We don't want to be stuck in the middle of Iowa before we find a place to stop for the night." He turned and made his way back to say goodbye to Jefferson.
After a care package of chocolate chip cookies from Jefferson's mother, Killian and Emma had hit the road. A quick swing through the Dunkin's drive thru to grab coffees and they were on their way.
