She sighed with frustration as her hands dropped to her sides. "I'm gonna fail this test, Killian. And then I'm never going to get into college. I'm going to become homeless and desolate and then I'll die a slow, painful death," she said, dramatically falling onto the bed next to where he was sitting.
He'd been attempting to help her study for her French final for over two hours now, and she didn't feel any better off than when they started.
"Hush, Swan. You'll be fine. Plus, you've already sent out applications for college anyway. It's a little late for that."
"Ughhhhh," she grunted. "Fine. Let's try the flash cards. I'm pretty good at those…I could use a confidence boost."
He muffled a laugh as he picked up the stack of cards. She sat up across from him on the bed and faced him, legs crossed.
"Okay," he started. "How do you say…?"
One by one they flipped through the cards, and she got through them pretty quickly, throwing around the best French accent she could muster, which made him smile.
She loved his smile. Sometimes when they were close enough, she could see the way his eyes glittered a little when he smiled. And if she got him to laugh hard enough, sometimes she could spot a little dimple at the top of his grin. Sitting across from him on the bed, she noticed something else about him, though. She'd always thought he was handsome, but he was more than that. He was easy on the eyes, to say the least. He was wearing his Kinks t-shirt underneath a light flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up. Wrapped around his wrist was a light brown lace from one of Emma's boots. She'd given it to him years ago, after his dad had left town…as a way to show him that she'd never leave him like that. He'd worn it every day since.
He'd grown some scruff, too. And his hair was doing that thing where it curled a little at the end as it hung over his eyes. And his eyes, well. She'd never known a deeper blue.
What the hell, Emma? She thought. This is Killian you're thinking about, here. Killian. Snap out of it.
She could feel the heat rising up in her cheeks, embarrassed with herself. She hoped he hadn't seen her staring. Emma looked down at her hands to get her mind back on track.
"Okay, last one," he said. He slowly picked up the card and paused a moment before reading it out loud.
"I love you."
Emma's head snapped back up, a look of surprise etched on her face. "What?"
He looked at her for a moment, and she could feel a knot tightening in her stomach. Then he held up the notecard.
"The card, Swan. How do you say 'I love you'?"
"Oh, right," she said shaking her head. Oh my god, that was a close one.
"Je t'aime," she answered.
He smiled.
The hallway at school was crammed with other students, rushing to get to their next destination. Emma pushed through the crowd towards her locker, which was next to Killian's. They were lucky, because seniors could choose their own lockers, and naturally, they wanted to be right next to each other.
"Hey," she called, walking up to him as he slid some books into his locker.
"Hey. How'd you do on your test?"
"I think I did okay actually," she answered. "Last night really helped."
He thought about the look on her face when he'd said "I love you."
"Good," he smiled. "I'm glad."
She opened up her locker and began pulling out the books she needed.
"So," she started, "I think Neal may come over after school today. He said he had something to ask me. I think it's about prom…"
"Yikes," he said.
"I know," she sighed. "I told him he could join us to watch a movie, like we usually do. That way if he asks, I'll know for sure if I want to go with him. I don't know him outside of school."
"I can't today, Swan. I've got work."
"Shit, no. Come on, Killian!"
"I'm sorry," he laughed. "I guess you and Neal will have to be all alone without me."
"Oh god, it's going to be so awkward…I need you there. What if he tries to ask me? I have no idea how to do this whole hey I like you lets hang out sometime-thing. You're the only person I ever hang out with."
"I don't know if I should feel flattered or not," he laughed. "I can't get out of this shift, though. I told August I'd cover for him."
Emma pressed her forehead against her locker. "I should just tell Neal not to come, it's going to be so awkward now."
"Emma, don't worry about it. I get off at 6, I can come over after that, if you want."
Her eyes lit up. "Really?!"
He laughed. "You're pathetic, you know that?"
She smiled back at him. "Shut up. And…thank you."
"No problem, Swan."
He went through his shift with only one thing on his mind: the fact that Neal was over at Emma's house, where he should be: sitting next to her on the couch, probably laughing with her in the kitchen, maybe even sitting in her room. The thought made him almost jealous.
As soon as his shift was over, he rode his bike over to her house as fast as he could.
"Killian, how nice to see you," Mary Margaret said as he came inside. "I was beginning to wonder if you were gonna come by today."
"Nice to see you as well, Ms. Nolan," he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. She was as much a mother figure to him as any, considering his own had died when he was a baby.
"I just got off work and thought I'd still stop by."
She gave him her signature sweet smile. "Well, I'm certainly glad you did. Emma and Neal are in the living room watching a movie. You can go on in."
He walked down the hall towards the living room, and as he turned the corner, he saw them sitting on the couch. Emma's head popped up first and a smile stretched across her face.
"Hey you," she said. "It's about time. Come sit with us!"
He walked over and sat in the armchair, next to the side of the couch where Emma was sitting. He nodded at Neal to acknowledge him.
"Neal."
"Hey man, what's up?"
"Not much. What have you guys been up to?"
Emma answered. "Not much. We went out for a walk while it was nice, but then it looked like it was about to rain, so we came back, and now we're just watching a movie. How was work?"
"Oh you know, the usual. Busy. It wasn't too bad, though. It went by fast."
Emma turned to Neal. "He works at the Magic Bean."
"The coffee place?" Neal asked.
Killian nodded at him. Neal gave an approving look and then turned his attention back to the movie.
Emma looked up at Killian, whose expression was hard to read. She could tell he was studying Neal closely, trying to figure him out. He finally realized that she was watching him, and then he sort of laughed. They didn't need words to communicate.
His eyebrows arched up as if to ask, "Well, did he ask?"
Emma shook her head and then shrugged her shoulders.
He relaxed then, sinking back into the couch. He looked up at the screen, and then got excited when he realized what they were watching.
"Woah, is this Inception?"
"Yeah, man," Neal said. "You like this movie, too?"
"I fuckin love this movie, mate. Good choice."
Maybe Neal wasn't so bad after all. He looked over at Emma, and she looked…happy. It was all he could really ask for.
As they were both leaving later that night, Killian was unlocking his bike from the fence, and Neal walked over to him.
"Hey, Killian?"
"Yeah, mate?"
"I just wanted to say thanks, for hanging out with us. Emma was really tense until you got there. You helped her to relax a little."
Killian smiled. "No big deal. I'm over there almost every day anyway, it's not surprising she feels comfortable around me."
"Yeah, I actually wanted to talk to you. I sort of…have a thing for Emma."
He tried to act surprised. "Is that so?"
"Yeah," Neal replied. "And I just gotta know, is there anything going on between you guys? Like, am I barking up the wrong tree here?"
Fuck. He should have seen that coming.
Killian scratched behind his ear. "Afraid not. Emma and I have been friends for a really long time, but it's nothing more than that."
What he'd wanted to say was: Not yet.
Neal smiled. "Thank god," he said. "Cause I want to ask her to prom."
"Go for it," Killian answered. "I think she's expecting you to."
"For real?"
"Uhh, yeah," Killian sighed. How dumb was this guy? He couldn't blame him, though. No one knew Emma as well as he did. "She invited you over, mate. She doesn't usually do that."
"You know her really well, don't you?" Neal asked. "How do you think I should ask her? I was thinking of getting her some flowers and leaving them at her locker. But I don't even know what kind is her favorite…"
"Look, Neal, I really don't-"
Neal held his hands up as if to stop him. "No, you're right. It's okay. I'll figure something out. But hey man, thanks for being so cool. To be honest, you really scared me at first. I definitely thought you and Emma already had a thing going, anyone can see how close you guys are."
Killian tossed his backpack over his shoulder and walked over to Neal.
"You're right. I do know her really well," he said. "And you don't have any reason to feel threatened by me. Unless you hurt Emma in any way, then you can feel free to fear for your life."
Neal laughed nervously. "Right, got it."
"Glad we had this chat," Killian smiled sarcastically, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll see you around, Neal."
"See ya, Killian."
Neal turned away from him and started walking down the street. Killian started to feel a little pang of guilt for not helping him out, only because he knew that his actions would make their way back to Emma in some way, and he would do anything it took to see her happy.
"Hydrangeas!" he yelled out.
Neal turned around, confused. "What?"
"Hydrangeas," he yelled again. "Those are her favorite flowers…the blue ones."
Neal nodded. "Thanks man."
Killian sighed and hopped on his bike, and didn't stop until he got home.
Emma was beaming the next day at lunch. He hadn't seen her since their walk to school that morning, because he got sucked into helping August finish a last minute project he'd forgotten to do.
"Someone's having a good day," he noted, setting his tray down and sitting next to her.
Emma smiled. "Neal asked me to prom this morning."
"Well, good for you, Swan. How'd he do it?"
She reached down into her backpack and pulled out a small stem of blue hydrangeas. "He'd left these taped to my locker with a note," she said with a grin. "I don't know how he knew these were my favorite…must have asked my mom or something."
"Must have," Killian replied.
"Anyway," she continued. "The note said to meet him outside near the fountain, and so I did. He was waiting out there for me, and then he asked me."
"How romantic," Killian chimed.
"Shut up," Emma laughed. "It was really sweet. I told him yes."
"Well, you kids have fun with that."
"Killian, seriously," she whined. "You should go. If you find a date, we can all go together and laugh about how stupid the whole thing is."
His voice raised a little in frustration, startling both of them.
"Swan, I'm not going. There's no point."
"What do you mean?"
He caught her eyes for a moment, and didn't know what to say. Turning back to his tray of food, he shook his head.
"Nothing."
"Bullshit," Emma said. "What's up with you?"
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "It's just been a long day today. I didn't sleep so well last night."
"Well snap out of it," she said. "I could really use my best friend right now."
"He's still here, love," he said, smiling at her.
She smiled back as she stole a french fry from his tray. "Good."
The days leading up to prom were almost insufferable. Every time Killian would walk over to their lockers, Neal would be standing there with Emma. He never saw her like this-open, flirty, excited. And for what? A stupid school dance? Their classmates all knew that Emma and Neal were talking now, and it was all anyone ever seemed to care to talk about. Frankly, he was sick of hearing about it. He actually looked forward to going to work after school those last few weeks, because then he didn't have to see Neal so much. The downside was that he didn't see Emma as much, either.
The day of prom had the whole school bustling. For once, on his last trip to the lockers, she was there alone.
"Hey, stranger," she said. "Everything okay?"
"Hey Swan. Yeah, I'm fine…just been picking up some extra shifts at work, that's all. Are you ready for tonight?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess. My mom helped me pick out a dress last week and everything."
"Let me guess…blue?" he asked with a smile.
"How'd you know?" she smiled.
"It's your color, Swan. Your favorite, I mean."
"Okay, yes. The dress is blue. It's a shame you won't get to see it, though. You'd laugh…I look like a puffy blue cloud in that thing…it's completely ridiculous."
"I doubt that very much. I'm sure you'll look great. I'm sorry I have to miss it, though."
Emma's eyes fell onto something behind him, and he turned to see Neal coming their way.
He closed his locker and started to walk away.
"Have fun tonight, Swan."
"Thanks…" she said as she watched him leave.
She sat in front of her vanity later that afternoon as her mother pinned up her hair. Emma had wanted her hair up, with loose braids and curls. When it was done, she looked positively mystical. Her dress was a classic ball gown, in a beautiful dusty shade of blue. She looked like Cinderella. Her mother placed a thin, sparkling tiara on top of her head when she was done. "There," she said. "Now you really look like a princess. Now let's get some pictures before Neal and Killian show up."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Killian's not going, Mom."
Her mom didn't hide her disappointment. "Oh, why not?"
"I don't know," Emma sighed. "He just didn't want to."
"Do you think," her mom started, "that it maybe has something to do with Neal?"
"Mom, I've told you a thousand times. Killian and I are just friends. Plus he likes Neal. I think…"
"I like Neal, too, but…he's no Killian, that's for sure. All I'm saying is," her mom answered, "your father and I were best friends before we started dating, too. It's not that unusual."
"No, Mom. Killian and I are different. I don't see him like that…"
Her mind trailed off to that time he helped her study, and how handsome he looked, and how much that realization had scared her.
She straightened herself out. "He's my best friend. That's it."
"Okay," Mary Margaret said, defeated. "Whatever you say."
Neal picked up Emma shortly after that, and they met up with some friends for dinner before heading over to the school for the dance. He was being extremely sweet and super awkward. It was great, but Emma couldn't help but wonder what Killian was up to while they were out.
The gymnasium had been transformed into a completely different space. There were thousands of twinkling lights strung over the ceiling, tons of tables set up with beautiful ornate centerpieces, and a huge dance floor, right in the middle. There was even a photo booth set up for picture taking.
The dancing had already started, the room buzzing with the music. It was exciting, and everyone seemed to be having fun.
Neal led Emma out to the dance floor. They had found their bunch of friends and just jumped right in, laughing and jumping along with the music. Emma decided to just stop thinking about what Killian was up to, and try to enjoy her night while it lasted. If he wanted to stay at home and brood, then he could. But she didn't have to do the same.
Eventually the DJ turned it down to a slower song, and Neal said, "I don't really know how to slow dance…wanna get something to drink instead?"
Emma looked disappointed. "Oh, come on, let's at least try."
Neal shook his head and Emma gave in. But as they started to leave the dance floor, a familiar voice spoke up behind Emma, with an accent she recognized in an instant. She felt like she couldn't breathe.
It was Killian. He was there, and walking towards her, stretching out his hand for her to take.
"Allow me."
