SQ Week – Day 1 – Meet Cute AU

Seventeen year old Emma Swan threw her hair in a loose ponytail and grabbed her backpack as she unlocked her bedroom window. She was supposed to be grounded due to her "inappropriate behavior" with Chris at school; honestly, Chris just didn't know the meaning of "no" so she had to do something about it. But it had been a week since her foster father, Sam, had grounded her and she was getting restless. The first few days weren't that bad; her foster sister Alex had kept her company, but now she was off with her friends.

Emma quickly sent out a text to her friend Ruby telling her to pick her up around the corner. Her foster father did take her phone and locked it away in his desk in his study, but Emma learned long ago how to pick locks, so it was kind of useless. She didn't waste a second more before clambering out the window and onto to the side of the small two story home. Emma carefully edged her way to the tree closest to the house and swiftly jumped onto the limb. Smiling victoriously, she hopped down from the tree and made a dash for the end of the street. She did not need to get caught by Sam.

As soon as she reached the stop sign, Ruby pulled up in her red cutlass and glared at her. "Thanks for the vague text. I was busy with Graham."

"Yeah well you can get busy some other time. I needed to get out of that place before I went stir-crazy." Emma replied as she tossed her book bag on the car floor and sat in the passenger seat with a huff. "Thanks for picking me up though, Rubes."

Ruby playfully rolled her eyes as she drove off. "Yeah yeah. You owe me one."

Emma smirked as she turned on the radio and started to tap her foot to the song. "So where are we going?"

Ruby scoffed and shook her head. "Seriously? You ask me to pick you up and you don't even know where in the hell you're wanting to go?" Ruby asked incredulously as she glared at her best friend.

Emma sighed as she looked out the window. She didn't exact think about where to go. Emma's nose scrunched up in thought. " We could always go to Barnes and Noble."

Ruby laughed. "You need more books already? Didn't you get like three last time we came, like two weeks ago?"

Emma nodded in response. "Yeah, but I finished them. Well... I finished two of them. Alex took the other one before I could get started on it. Plus, I've been craving a coffee."

"You and your damned Starbucks obsession." Ruby said as she made a sharp left turn. "You're lucky I love you so much." Ruby turned her head in time to see Emma smirk and it made her shake her head.

Emma flipped precariously through the pages of a new book as Ruby went to order their coffees. Lost in the book, Emma began walking towards one of the tables so she could sit down to read a bit of it. She liked reading at least a few chapters of a book before making the final decision to purchase it.

Not paying an ounce of attention to anything other than the book she was reading, Emma bumped into someone. "Oh shit, sorry. My bad, I wasn't watching." Emma looked up from the book and noticed that whoever she ran into was carrying a bunch of books and they had fell to the floor. Emma smiled apologetically though the woman couldn't see her. "I am so sorry."

"It's okay. It happens a lot, unfortunately." The woman replied as she picked up the books one by one.

Emma knelt down and picked up the books that were at her feet. When she looked up, her breath caught in her throat. She had seen plenty of beautiful women in her life before, but never had she seen one like her. This woman had dark, perfectly styled hair, gorgeous chocolate brown eyes and beautiful skin. And the scar that was just above her lip was oddly endearing. Emma shook herself from her thoughts and handed the woman the books. "Um.. Here. Sorry again about that."

The woman gave her a small smile. "It's quite alright. Thank you for helping me with them."

"God, even her voice is sexy." Emma thought to herself. "So like... do you come here often?" "Wow, really Em? Lame as hell." Emma could practically her Ruby in her head.

The woman laughed lightly as she repositioned the books in her arms. "I do actually. I work here."

Emma's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously? I've never seen you here before. And I come here a lot. Like... a lot, a lot." Emma added with a laugh.

The woman laughed and titled her head to the side. "Yes, well I just started here a few days ago. And even in these few days, I've had plenty of people just bump into me like I'm not even here." She said with a sad laugh.

Emma frowned. "That's awful. Do they even bother to help you?"

"Um.. No. Apparently it's my fault that they bump into me. But, I've got to do what I've got to do."

Emma shook her head. "So what in the world made you want to work here?"

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Other than the fact that I'm trying to pay off my tuition for college, I just really love books."

Emma nodded her head in response as a question emerged. "You're in college?"

"I am. I'm majoring in Business Management." The woman answered, unsure as to why she was answering such questions from a complete stranger. Though if she was honest with herself, she felt rather at ease with this young woman.

"That's pretty interesting. So you're interested in that kind of thing then?" Emma asked curiously.

The woman laughed and shook her head. "Not necessarily, no. But umm.. it's a family business type thing."

"Ah. I see." Emma replied as she felt someone tap her shoulder. Emma turned to see Ruby standing there with their coffees in her hand, though she wasn't looking at Emma, she was eyeing the other woman.

"Got our drinks." Ruby informed her as she continued to stare at the brown-haired woman.

"Okay cool." Emma licked her dry lips then turned back to the woman. "It was great talking to you. Maybe we can talk again some other time?"

The woman nodded in response. "I'd like that. But... I don't think I caught your name."

Emma felt like smacking herself in her head. "Oh yeah, right that. It's Emma. Emma Swan." She said with an outstretched hand.

The other woman smiled warmly and shifted her books that she was still holding in her left arm and stretched her right hand out, firmly grasping onto Emma's. "I'm Regina. Regina Mills."

A/N: Okay, so that was my One-Shot thingy for SwanQueen Week. I hope that you all liked it!