I've written this story for my bestie oncertwice, based on a prompt she gave me, as a gift since it's her birthday tomorrow. This story will have at least six parts and will be updated weekly (fingers crossed).
Thanks to neverlandspirate for proof reading it and helping me brainstorm on the story and to navykillian for being such a nice and wonderful beta!
The familiar ringing sound echoed through Emma's bedroom urging her to wake up. A half asleep groan escaped her lips as her hand went to tap at her nightstand in search of the origin of the horrid sound. Her hand made contact with her phone as she lifted her head, and pressed snooze. She looked quickly at the time and her eyes widened when she saw that it was already seven o'clock. She must have slept through her other alarms.
Emma got up from her bed and walked to the other end of her small apartment to get to her bathroom and wash up. She had been living in this place for a year now, ever since her ex-fiancé broke off their engagement a week before their wedding. When Walsh had told her that he couldn't see a future with her despite his feelings for her, she felt her world crumbling down realizing that no man could love her, at least not in the way she thought she should be loved.
She convinced herself after she had gotten her heart broken that there was only a handful of people in this world who might be able to benefit from a fairy tale love where the couple would live happily ever after and have lots of kids. Her sister Mary Margaret, for instance, was one of the few who had the chance to experience that kind of love and happiness. She had met David in college, and it was love at first sight for the two of them, their relationship starting off like the perfect fairy tale. It was not always easy, but they loved each other so much that they had made their way through their issues as hard as they may be, together, which at times could be nauseating for Emma.
When Walsh dumped her, she had to get her things out of the condo that they were renting together, and she went apartment hunting. Emma made a fair amount of money, so she could afford to pay for something luxurious, but settled for a small apartment, in which she felt comfortable. There was a small hallway near the entrance, on the right side of the corridor there was a closet and on the left a door that led to the bathroom. At the end of the hallway there was an open space in which there was the kitchen/dining room and on the left a small living room. Her bedroom being at the other end of the apartment, a wall with a sliding door separated the living room from her bedroom.
Her eyes now wide open after splashing some cold water over her face, Emma went into the kitchen to start her coffee maker, since she prepared it the night before with the perfect dose of grinded coffee and water. While waiting for her morning fuel to get ready, she walked through her apartment and went to her bedroom and got dressed. She opted for a tight high waisted skirt, the hem of the skirt stopping at her knees, and decided to put on a long sleeved shirt, with thin black horizontal stripes and thick white stripes and pulled her hair up in a high ponytail. She slipped her feet into a pair of black pumps, and applied a bit of make-up before heading back to her kitchen.
She grabbed a granola bar from her pantry, poured her coffee in a to-go mug, her handbag now resting on her shoulder, and made her way to work. For the past four years, Emma has been the co-owner of a clothing shop. Her friend Tink and she were both fashion designers and decided to take advantage of the wedding market by specializing themselves in making wedding garments for bridesmaids, groomsmen, grooms and brides. They both had a portfolio containing their creations in which the client could look through and decide what they would want and make some changes, or in some cases they could talk with the designer of their choice and create their own gowns or tux.
Tink and Emma debated for a long time on what they wanted to name the store. Every name her friend came up with, Emma rolled her eyes and complained that it was too cheesy, not original or that she simply didn't like it. Tink insisted on naming the shop with a fairy tale themed name, since every fairy tale story gets their happy ending with a wedding. She finally met her friend half way and agreed on calling the store, The Enchanted Swan.
She took a cab to work and arrived fifteen minutes later, her coffee almost finished. Entering the store she was greeted by one their receptionists, Ella, from behind the counter. Emma smiled at her and walked around the counter to join her employee and instantly went to the computer, to check on her appointments for the day. Her day looked pretty slow, one fitting, and one appointment with a some new clients, a couple who wanted their wedding clothes custom made.
Emma had time to finish her coffee and headed towards the bathroom to brush her teeth before her fitting, not wanting to have a coffee breath while she tweaked Aurora's gown. When she was done she walked over to her work area where she and Tink worked on the clothing and where they did the fittings for their clients. She headed towards the headless mannequin and inspected the gown, as she tried to refresh her memory on what she needed to work on. A couple of minutes later, there was a knock on the door and a brunette peaked out of it.
"Hello Aurora, come in. I was waiting for you." Emma smiled as she greeted the bride to be and guided her into the room. She showed where the changing rooms were and waited for her to come back out. When she did, she took out the tools she needed and started adjusting the dress.
"So how is the wedding planning coming along?" She took a few steps back and tilted her head to the side as she tried to see if the gown fit her well.
"Good. Philip and I are going to visit one of the two venues we have narrowed down."
"That's nice. Do you have a preference?"
"We do. We already saw one of the venues and it was okay, a nice reception hall, but way too expensive for what they had to offer, which is practically nothing. The one we are visiting this weekend, is very nice, and the cost includes the wedding decorations. We saw some of their sets on their website and they are quite pretty. I really hope it will look as good as the pictures."
"I hope for you guys it will."
"Anyways, enough about me. How are things with you?"
"Busy as usual, the wedding season is coming along, so I'm pretty busy making wedding garments."
"That's good for your business." She cheered on, which made her smile at her client enthusiasm.
"It is, but this gives me less time to actually have a decent social life."
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Aurora inquired, the question making her flinch. It was the dreaded question that her female clients always asked her, looking for any occasion to fix her up with one of their fiancé's bachelor friends.
"I don't." She simply answered not wanting to go into details.
"Isn't it hard for you to work in the wedding industry and not have a someone special?" It was hard but Emma couldn't tell her that, she didn't like to have pity from anyone, so she did as she usually did, lied.
"It isn't, I mean I focus on making the garments, and it's something that I love to do. And well, marriage isn't for everyone, so maybe it's just something that isn't in the cards for me." Emma took several steps backward and looked at the dress and asked Aurora to turn around so she could see the full effect. The brunette did as told and swirled slowly.
"I'm sure you'll find someone special one day and you'll have your chance at marriage."
'Yeah when I'm dead.' Emma thought cynically. Still she smiled at her client's comment, knowing that she was just in the high of her own wedding preparation and she could only see the good side to all of this.
Emma helped her out of the gown, and put it back on her mannequin and walked over to the front desk with her. She told her that she'll call her when she's finished altering the details of dress and that it should take two or three months to get done.
Aurora leaned in for a hug, which took her by surprise every time a bride got way too intimate with her. They said goodbye and Emma looked at the clock behind the reception desk and saw that it was almost eleven o'clock, when her next appointment with her new clients was due to l start.
She decided to stay in front of the shop and wait for her new clients to arrive. She talked a bit with Ella and decided to skim through Tink's look book when her receptionist had to answer a call.
Emma always liked going through her colleague's portfolio since they both had such different styles in their creations and she found it inspiring to look at them. As she was looking through the pictures, a man came to stand next to her and started to look through her book.
She tried subtly to inspect the man who was looking through her work. She felt her breath stop when she saw the man's profile. Emma felt mesmerized by him, dark brown hair, thick eyebrows, the straight line of his nose, and his strong jawline covered with light scruff, which had some hints of ginger. He looked like one of those models that grazed the covers of the magazines and she couldn't help but to mentally imagine that man in a nice simple tux.
Emma felt her cheeks for red when the man turned his head around, probably aware that the woman next to him was gawking at him. Her breath definitely got caught in her throat when she saw the bright, deep blue of his eyes, which was such a big contrast with the rest of traits. She gulped down and straightened herself, trying to get her wits together not accustomed to a man have such a strong effect on her.
"Can I help you?" She managed to ask as she tried to give him one of her most professional smile.
"I was just looking through the book, thank you." He answered as she gripped herself on the counter when she heard the lilting accent coming out of lips.
"Do you always just go inside a clothing shop and start looking through the books?" Emma teased with a flirtatious smile which he returned. That was enough for her to burst into flames.
"Only when there's a pretty lass." She would have normally rolled her eyes at a comment like that but she couldn't stifle the snort that came out of her, which instantly made him smile.
"Wow, that was pretty lame."
The man laughed at her comment and she found endearing how this incredibly handsome man was now shy, his cheeks all flushed as he scratched his ear, eyes glued to the floor.
"Sorry, it's all I could come up with. I'm Killian by the way." The smile he gave her was enough to turn her stomach upside down. They continued exchanging this sort of flirtatious banter throughout the following minutes, Emma completely forgetting that she was supposed to have an appointment.
After a few minutes of them exchanging pleasantries and some flirting, she felt herself get more and more attracted to the man in front of her, in a way that she hasn't felt like since, well never. There was something about him that pulled her to him, a glint in his eyes that sent a spark throughout her body.
Emma was debating internally with herself, wondering if she should maybe ask him for his number, something that she never does. After a pause between them, she took a deep breath as to gain the courage necessary.
As she was about to open her mouth and ask him for his number, the door of the shop opened as a red haired woman came waltzing in. She instantly walked towards them with a huge grin on her delicate traits as she curled her hand around the neck of the attractive dark haired man. He looked at her with a surprised look as he let the woman next to him pull him down for a quick kiss.
Emma felt as if she had a bucket of ice water thrown on her as she straightened herself, the smile on her face disappearing as she froze on her spot. She faked a smile, not wanting to look like a fool (since she clearly felt like one in this moment).
"I'm sorry I'm late, there was something I needed to attend to at the salon before I could leave." The woman then turned to look at Emma with a big smile as she propelled her hand forward for a handshake.
"You must be Emma Swan." She told her as Emma tried to hide the surprise on her face, which she was pretty convinced failed.
"Uh, yes I am."
"I'm Ariel. I see you've already met my fiancé Killian." The redhead smiled at her which she tried to mirror as she tried to avoid looking at him.
"Yes, I have." Emma spat the words and was almost surprised when Ariel didn't notice the tone of her voice. She was so mad right now at herself for letting herself get carried away by those emotions to which she had already told herself long time ago not to trust, and once again proved her right. At him, for flirting back with her when he's engaged, typical man she kept thinking.
"I'm sorry I'm late, I know our appointment was at eleven but I got held back at work." This encounter with Killian was getting worse and worse. The couple before her was the new clients she was welcoming today, the couple that wanted to have their wedding garments custom made, which meant she would have to spend loads of time with them, her and him.
The only thought coursing through her mind at that moment was 'fuck my life'.