So, this is another OQ one-shot! I've found that I really enjoy writing them. This is a teen au, so I hope that the characters aren't too ooc. Hope you enjoy!
Regina Mills is a lot of things.
She's a daughter, a step-sister to two annoying girls, a friend to one single person, class president, a decorated equestrian, president of the science club and the debate team.
And apparently, she's a failure.
She's failing AP Calculus with a 63.
She turned in every assignment, had taken every test and had done every project and she was still failing. She had asked Mr. Gold for an extra credit assignment, something, anything so she could raise her grade to at least passing. But no, the wrinkled bastard had said. She should have studied, he told her.
She did study.
She studied so hard.
Had studied until her eyes were red and she had dark circles around her eyes and she still failed.
Her mother was going to kill her when she found out.
Regina sniffs as she glances at her cellphone for the time. 4:32. Her mother would be expecting her home any moment now, and here she was, sitting under the bleachers of the football stadium, crying to herself.
God she's pathetic.
"Regina?"
Her head snaps up, and she squints as she looks at the person in front of her. Tall frame, broad shoulders, sandy blonde hair and a concerned frown on the person before her. She sniffs as wipes her face clean of tears. "Robin," she sniffs when she realizes it's the British transfer student that she's never really thought about other than the passing thought of he's cute. She had thought that she had been relatively safe down here, football practice was over and while she had heard stories of blowjobs being given she was pretty sure that was a rumor.
But of course, of course, she can't even be alone long enough to wallow in self-pity.
He plops down on the grass beside her. "What happened?" he asks gently.
"Don't you have something to do? Somewhere to be?" Regina asks instead. Why does Robin Locksley care that she's crying?
Robin shrugs his shoulders as he reaches into his backpack and pulls out an extra plain white shirt, holding it out for her. "Seems like you could use a someone to talk to. Even if it's only for a little while."
Regina furrows her brow as she looks at the shirt in his hands. "What's that for?" she wants to know.
Robin shrugs his shoulders again as he rubs the back of his neck. "I thought, you um, would want to wipe your tears," he tells her, and it dawns on Regina that she must look like shit, but she can't for the life of her make herself care. She takes his shirt and lets it fall into her lap and they sit there in silence, her staring at an ant crawling in the grass, and him, well she could feel his eyes on her.
It takes a while, but she finally just starts talking, telling Robin, who is practically a stranger (a cute stranger, but a stranger none the less) everything. Tells him about her grades, tells him about the stress she's under with her mother, tells him anything and everything he's willing to listen to and she ends up crying again, wiping her face with his clean shirt (it smells earthy, like fresh cut grass, like the ground when it rains, like forest) before she scoffs and mutters,
"I'm so stupid."
"Hey," Robin tells her, grabbing one of her hands and placing another on her face, his thumb running over the apple of her cheek. "Regina you're not stupid."
"I must be if I can't pass one single test in that fucking class," Regina spits, not really angry at him but at herself, she's angry that she's failing, angry that there's nothing she can do about it, angry that she's crying too someone that she doesn't even know.
Robin won't have her self-loathing, and his other hand is moving from hers to cup her face.
"Regina, if you're stupid then I'm a bloody moron," he tells her causing her to chuckle wetly.
"You barely know me," she mumbles, because they don't know each other, this is the first conversation that they've ever had.
"Your reputation proceeds you. And let me tell you something Regina, you're anything but stupid. You're stressed, and you're pressured, and you feel as if the entire world is on your shoulders, and you're cracking and that's okay. You're doing the best you can."
His words are feel like a soothing balm on her battered spirit, and she can't help the smile that forms on her lips, as small and weak as it may be.
Robin smiles back, and he takes his hands from her face and lets him fall to her lap and intertwines their fingers together as he says, "You know, the things I've heard about you don't really match up to the person here in front of me right now."
Regina can only imagine the things he's heard. Depending on who's he's talked to, she's either a major bitch or a major slut. Maybe both. Probably both.
"You're nothing like people say. Bold and audacious perhaps, but definitely none of the things I've heard about you before," Robin tells her with a soft smile, and wow, he has dimples. Really deep, really cute dimples.
And suddenly they're really close, his lips are right there, if she had leaned forward just a little bit she would be kissing him, she wonders if he's a good kisser, she bets he's a good kisser-
"Do you wanna go to Granny's? Get a bite to eat?" he asks, taking her out of her thoughts and when she processes his words she's shocked. Is he asking her on a date?
"You want to go to Granny's? Now?" she asks, and Robin responds with a one shouldered shrug and a dimpled smirk that makes her smile. Why the hell shouldn't she go? He's cute and he's clearly interested in her and he's made her feel better, and most importantly, she wants to go.
She opens her mouth to say that yes she would love to, but her phone starts ringing, making her smile a mumble, "One sec," as she looks down to see who's calling her.
Her slightly better mood immediately goes down the drain.
Robin seems to sense it because he's asking, "Who is it?"
She doesn't answer him, instead answers the phone. "Hello mother."
"Regina, where on earth are you? Did you forget that we're having dinner with the Blanchards tonight?" her mother snaps, and her good mood falls dramatically.
No she hadn't remembered that she was being 'gifted' with the presence of the Blanchards. "I stayed after school, I'm coming home now," Regina tells her, standing and gathering her things.
"Get home soon. I hope you have time to make yourself look presentable."
Her mother hangs up without another word.
Regina sighs, shoves her hand into her back pocket before she turns and sees Robin staring at her with a small smile on his face. She chews the inside of her lip. "I have to go," she tells him.
"Right, yeah," Robin mumbles as he shoves his hands into his jacket pockets.
Regina smile sheepishly at him. There's a silence, but it's not awkward, no, it's weighted. She knows she doesn't want to leave just yet, but it seems as f he doesn't want to leave either. But she has to, so she grabs her bag and hauls it onto her shoulder before she holds out his now mascara stained white shirt. "Sorry about this," she mutters as she holds out the shirt for him to take.
Robin shakes his head. "You keep it," he tells her.
She furrows her brow. "It's yours," she points out which makes the British transfer student chuckle.
"I have plenty of plain white t-shirts. Besides, there's not much I can do with one smudges with mascara and makeup," Robin chuckles.
Regina smiles softly as she tucks a lock of hair behind her ear sheepishly. "Well, thanks then," she says before mumbling, "okay, I really have to go."
Robin nods, and Regina moved past him to walk toward the parking lot where her car is. She's barely pit of earshot when she hears Robin calling after her and saying,
"Just so you know, you owe me a date!"
Date. He just said date.
She smiles, grins really, but doesn't turn back toward him. She says loud enough for him to hear,
"Yes, I suppose I do."
I'm marking this as complete because it came to me as a one-shot idea, but if inspiration strikes I might make this a full blown story!