A/N: Completely forgot about this during the madness of Project for Awesome yesterday, oops! I may post another chapter later today to make up for it :)
Emma walked up the stairs to Mary Margaret's loft. She felt a little apprehensive about the evening in front of her and all the explanations that would come. Ruby and Mary Margaret were her best friends and they gave good advice. Ruby was a fan of direct communication and, occasionally, confrontation, while Mary Margaret always tried to make sure everyone walked away happy. It was so different from Emma's own strategy of never dealing with anything ever that it was usually helpful. They were each formidable in their own way, though, and if they got riled up it was best to just stay out of their path. Emma didn't even want to see what would happen if they were on the same war path.
She knocked on the door and then walked in, being way past the formality of needing permission to enter. Besides Emma had lived here too, once upon a time. But then Mary Margaret had met David, and Emma met Killian, so it made sense to split up their belongings and for Emma to move out. Mary Margaret's loft was still the ideal location for a good night in, not even counting that she had the best wine glasses.
Mary Margaret and Ruby were floating around the kitchen, working on making what looked like tacos and margaritas for dinner. Ruby was in the middle of recounting her day at work, which from the sounds of it involved Pongo invading the kitchen. Emma hung her coat up on the hooks near the door and smiled at her friends as she joined them and started making the guac. She had planned to share all of her drama involving Killian but in that moment she decided to just bask in the company of her friends. Killian had consumed so much of her energy and thoughts lately; it was fine if she waited to share just a bit longer.
~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~k+e~
Emma was so tired. They had been fighting for days now and while the shouting matches had subsided, they were now thoroughly into the purposely-ignoring-one-another stage. Honestly, she kinda preferred the shouting matches if only because there was a definitive beginning and ending to them. Ignoring Killian took a lot of energy. She had to think constantly about her body gestures and facial expressions and how he might interpret them. Then she had to interpret his body gestures and facial expressions. It was a constant mind game and one she hadn't been prepared for, to be honest.
They had been drifting apart for a while now but she was truly shocked to see him with that woman, Milah. Milah had known Killian for a long time, longer even than Emma, but they weren't really friends. Killian had been closer with Milah once upon a time but there had been some sort of drama between Milah's family and Killian, and Emma had thought they were just casual acquaintances now. Apparently Emma had been wrong.
And so maybe, she did run to Neal, and yeah, that wasn't the most mature response to Killian's betrayal but she was only human. That didn't give him any right to be mad at her. He deserved her anger and she deserved an apology. But he didn't see it that way and so they were in this awkward position, still together but not speaking. Emma was at the point where it only felt like a matter of time before one of them cracked and called their relationship (or what was left of it) off. Emma was at the point where she was ready for it to be her to end things.
They were supposed to be going together to dinner at Granny's in celebration of David's birthday, and Killian should have come by to pick her up by now. She was already dreading this evening, where she would have to put on fake smiles and generally fake happiness, when she felt almost anything but. She was so incredibly pissed at Killian because he had cheated on her and she was so incredibly sad at Killian because he had cheated on her. She just didn't understand how he could do that to her.
And he wasn't even here yet. Emma's anxiety for the evening was only increasing for every additional minute that he wasn't here. She looked at the clock confirming that Killian was more than ten minutes late now and she felt her anger snap. She grabbed her coat from where it was waiting on a nearby chair and stomped outside. She slammed the door behind her and was halfway across the porch before she realized Killian was sitting on the steps.
He turned around at the clatter she had made by slamming around and she slid to a stop when his gaze reached her face. She blushed faintly at her antics but the anger in her stomach was still simmering.
"What the hell are you doing out here?" Emma tugged on her jacket and pulled her hair free of the collar.
Killian sighed and turned back around to continue staring out across the street. Emma knew he wasn't ignoring her question but her frustration with him hadn't abated yet. She jammed her hands in her pockets and Killian scooted over on the step to make room for her. Emma wasn't sure if he meant to give her room to walk past, but she chose to sit down beside him instead. It was obvious he had something on his mind.
Emma no longer cared about being on time to David's birthday dinner or even going at all, but her anxiety continued to rise. She had a feeling Killian wanted to talk about more than just the weather.
"Swan…"