Twenty-two year old Emma Swan nervously adjusted her gold diamond necklace and starred hard at her reflection in the mirror, even squinting to check for mistakes in her makeup. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled as she threw open the bathroom door so fast that her roommates, Mary Margret and Ruby, looked up with a start.
"How do I look?" asked Emma. "Should I pull my hair back? Change my shirt? Put on a dress?"
Ruby smiled and pretended to squint. "Eh..."
"Emma, you look great," Mary Margret cut in.
"Maybe you should put on some makeup?" Ruby teased.
"She's wearing makeup and you know it." Emma smiled at her best friend, grateful for the support.
"Can I borrow some of your perfume, Mary Margret?"
"Uh, sure, it's on the top shelf right there in the bathroom."
"I don't see what the big deal is," said Ruby as she leaned back on the couch and casually flipped through a fashion magazine. "You already know Regina likes you. What does it matter what her friends think?"
"Hush, Ruby," scolded Mary Margret gently. "You remember how nervous I was the first time David introduced me to his friends." Ruby resisted the temptation to point out that Mary Margret was always nervous.
"Okay, everyone," said Emma. "Blue jacket or red jacket?"
"Red!" said Mary Margret and Ruby simultaneously, a little too enthusiastically, getting a nervous chuckle out of Emma.
"I'll see you guys later," said Emma, grabbing the keys to her yellow bug off the counter. "Don't wait up!"
"Good luck!" said Ruby.
"You'll be fine!" called Mary Margret. "Everyone's gonna love you!"
Twenty minutes later, Emma arrived at the bar Regina had asked her to meet her at, swallowed a nervous gulp, and walked inside.
What if her friends hate me? What if they think I'm a horrible person and tell her that if she doesn't go out with me they're never going to speak to her again and that I'm a bad influence and...fuck, Emma, get ahold of yourself. You never get this nervous. Ever.
"Oh, there you are!" Emma looked up, slightly startled to Regina standing right in front of her. She let her girlfriend of two and a half weeks pull her into a hug and allowed herself to relax for a moment. Regina had three people with her so far, a tan blonde with her hair loose and just touching her shoulder blades, and two brunette guys. One of the guys had a shy smile and was standing right next to the girl, and the other guy had curly hair and was taking a sip of his drink. "Everyone, this is Emma. Emma, this is my best friend Kathryn, her fiance Fred, and her cousin Graham."
"Hi," said Emma quietly. Everyone else said hi back and shook hands with her. So far, so good.
"So, Emma," said Graham after he ordered a round of drinks for everyone. "Regina tells me that you're working as a bail bondsman."
"Bail bondsperson," Emma corrected him. "But yes." Dammit, why did that have to be the first thing they learned about her?
"Well, I just got the call this morning that I've been accepted into the police academy," said Graham. "Guess this means that if you keep it up we'll be seeing a lot of each other."
Emma laughed nervously. Regina put a reassuring hand on her arm for a moment where no one else could see it. "Yeah. Congratulations."
"Thanks."
"...so then as I was walking out of the school, I see this kid sitting on the steps sobbing," said Fred. "As in sobbing like I thought his dog had gotten hit by a car or someone was in the hospital or something. And I asked the guy sitting next to him what had gone wrong, and he told me that his friend had put a ten dollar bill into the vending machine to get a coke and it had given him 360 nickles back."
Everyone laughed. Kathryn put a hand on Graham's arm to let him know he was laughing too loudly. Kathryn and Regina exchanged amused glances as he hollered for yet another beer.
"I think you've had enough, dear," said Regina playfully.
Graham's eyes rounded like a puppy dog's. "No, no, how can you say that? It's beer! Beer makes the world go 'round! Right?"
"Yeah!" yelled a random guy across the bar who probably didn't even know who he was.
"So, you're a teacher?" Emma asked Fred.
"Yep. I'm a gym teacher at Sunnydale."
"Oh, my best friend teaches there, too."
"What's her name?" asked Fred.
"Mary Margret Blanchard."
Fred raised his eyebrows. "The uptight one who's idea of a plunging neckline is a v-neck?"
"Yep, that's her."
"Hey everyone!" yelled Graham. Kathryn tried in vain to shush him. "I think it's so cool that Regina and Emma are both wearing mascara! Don't you? I mean, they're dating each other, and they're both wearing makeup! Isn't that amazing?"
Regina and Emma glanced at each other and laughed. "You'd better remember this next time I need someone to help me fix my car, Graham," said Regina.
"Oh yeah! And then, you can fix my car!"
Regina smirked and stood up from her chair. "I need to use the restroom."
Emma watched her girlfriend get up and walk across the crowded bar, her black high heels clicking with each step, and was tempted to follow Regina and ask how she felt this was going. But no, maybe that would come across as too clingy.
"So, Emma," Emma turned back to Kathryn with a deer-in-headlights look on her face. Fred was preoccupied tying to convince Graham not to buy any more drinks. "What kind of a person are you?"
"Um...excuse me?" Emma leaned in closer to make sure she'd heard right.
Kathryn raised her voice slightly. "Let me spell it out for you: if you're going to cheat on Regina, or break her heart, or mess with her in any way shape or form, then go away now while there's still a chance I won't have to kill you."
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Look, I know you don't know me, but you have nothing to worry about. I care about Regina."
"So did the first person she dated," said Kathryn. "First and last until now, actually." Emma didn't say anything. "It didn't end well. Just...don't say I didn't warn you."
Emma leaned back in her chair, not quite sure how to respond. Regina returned to their table a few seconds later.
"Did I miss anything?"
Graham stood up on his chair. "HEY! LOOK! A BALLOON!"
Kathryn and Fred both stood up and grabbed him. "I think we'd better take Graham home now. It was nice to meet you, Emma."
"Yeah, nice to meet you too." Secretly she was grateful that it was about to be just her and Regina, if only for a little while as it was almost eleven thirty and she knew Regina was working tomorrow.
"So, what do you think of them?" Regina asked as soon as her friends were out the door. Emma was a little surprised by the question, and a little more surprised by the fact that Regina seemed just a tiny bit nervous asking it. Maybe this evening had been as nerve-racking for her as for Emma.
"They...they seem nice. Not sure if they like me, though. Graham seemed to, but who knows?"
Regina smiled. "Graham's a good guy. He's always been there when I've needed him. But about once a year we'll be at a bar or something and he'll forget to stop himself from drinking too much, and by his third or fourth drink it's all over."
"So has anything ever..." Emma hesitated. "Happened between you two?"
"No, not really. He did ask me out once," Regina admitted. "But I wasn't ready."
Emma raised her eyebrows, Regina looked away, took on a pained expression for a fleeting moment, and then stood up. "Let's get going."
"Okay." Emma got up and followed Regina outside, knowing there was more to this but also knowing better than to push someone to talk about their most painful memories. She had enough of her own.
As they walked outside, the crisp night air stinging Emma's cheeks, Regina smiled and almost shyly grabbed her hand. "So...do you want to go to the concert on Friday night?"
"Sure," said Emma. "We can take your car?"
"Bet your ass we're taking my car. I'm not riding in that yellow thing that looks like it's about to fall apart."
"There is nothing mechanically wrong with my car!" said Emma defensively.
"Sure," said Regina unconvincingly. Before Emma could respond, they both realized that the vehicle in question was right next to them. Both of them uncharacteristically blushed for a moment. "Well...goodnight." Emma took that as her cue to initiate the kiss.
When Emma arrived back home, she found Mary Margret and Ruby sprawled out on the couch with tissues in their hands and the credits of some Nicholas Sparks movie playing on the TV.
"I thought I told you not to wait up," teased Emma.
Mary Margret pulled herself up and choked back a sob. "It's Ruby's fault! Emma, tell this girl that The Notebook is not weeknight material!"
"You know, I'm pretty sure that Nicholas Sparks isn't actually a person. It's some type of software you can go into and type in the names of the characters, where they live, and which one of them dies, and a novel prints out." Mary Margret pretended to make a face for a moment. Ruby shut off the TV, sat on the arm of the couch, and folded her arms across her chest.
"So...how was it?"
Emma smiled. "It went okay. Her best friend gave me the whole you-break-her-heart-I'll-break-your-neck spiel while she wasn't looking, but other than that they seemed to like me."
"Good for you," said Mary Margret as she unsuccessfully tried to hold back a yawn. "Next, you have to introduce her to us."
"I'm off to bed," said Ruby. "Goodnight, people who are lucky enough to have significant others."
A/N: I really suck at writing fluff, don't I? I apologize for not doing this ship any justice whatsoever.