There was a knock on the door but Emma chose to ignore it. She rolled her eyes and continued stuffing her clothes into the small bag she had brung.
"Emma," the young woman's calm voice called out. Emma ignored her again and finally finished packing her back. "Emma, dear, I am not leaving until I talk to you so you might as well let me in now."
The blonde growled out and for a second she thought she might punch the locker but she knew she could fuck up her hand before the first game tonight. She walked to the door to the locker room and slammed it open, not waiting g to see if her new coach would come in or not.
She got back to her locker and started picking everything up, knowing she would be back for it later.
"I am sorry for what I said, Emma." The blonde scoffed.
"Oh, so now I'm Emma? That's convenient," she mumbled without looking at her. There was a sigh followed by nothing, and then Regina spoke again.
"If I had known your situation then I wouldn't have said anything. I wasn't aware that you are adopted." Emma laughed at that, slamming the bag into the metal locker, making a hideous banging sound.
"Is that what Cass told you? That I was adopted?" She laughed and slung her backpack over he shoulder. "Look, lady. You have been here all of five minutes so don't start acting like you know me." She took a step towards the shorter woman until she was right and front of her. "You don't know me. You don't know the first thing about me. Whatever Cass told you is probably the very little that I have told her, even if that is true or not, so stay in your own lane. Capiche?"
Emma didn't wait on an answer she just gave the woman a fake smile and marched her way out of the door and out the her car that was too cold for comfort.
When she got home she had ignored Mary Margaret's questions about her day and marched her way up to her room. She slammed the door behind her, her blood still boiling from the interaction with her new coach.
"What a bitch," she mumbled. She threw her bag on the bed and pulled out her homework, hoping that she could get some of her homework done before the game.
She had through her scribbled notes and didn't stop until she knew she had finished the worst of it. She sighed and threw her homework back into her bag and made her way downstairs.
"Are you coming to the game tonight?" Mary was sitting in the couch with a magazine in hand. She looked up with a bright, but apologetic, smile on her face.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but Neal has a game tonight that we just can't miss." Emma rolled her eyes and sighed.
"You do realize that if he sticks with it, and that is a very big if, that he has at least another seven years of playing, right?" She wanted the only parents she'd ever known to he at her first softball game of the season. It was her last first game. It was important to her if not anyone else.
"I know sweetie, we just promised him we would be there," her foster mother said in the sweetest voice she owned. Everyone Mary Margaret's talked to instantly fell in love with her, David, and Neal, too, but not Emma. She could see past the innocent facade. And she could also tell when someone was lying straight to her face.
"Okay. Whatever. I'm heading out. Don't wait up for me, I'll be in late," she threw over her shoulder before she slammed the door behind her.
The drive to the fields was short, but it felt like it was taking forever to get there. She didn't want to see Coach Mills. Hell, she didn't even really want to see Coach Cass, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Finally she pulled into the gravel parking lot and put her trusty bug in her designated parking spot. Everyone was already there and on the bus.
When she had finally gotten herself situated on the bus she instantly put her headphones in, blocking out all the noise around her. They were ten minutes into the ride and she was deep in the good songs of her playlist when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She ignored it, but she couldn't ignored the second and third time the skinny finger prodded her.
"The hell do you want, Ashley?" She growled. She ripped out her earbuds and threw her phone into the seat. The younger girl looked like she might have thrown up from fear then and there. Emma held in a chuckle.
"Coach Mills asked to see you." The girl barely squeaked the words out and retreated back to her seat before Emma could ask what she needed her for. She growled and gripped the seat, knowing damn well that if she didn't go there would be a price to pay later. She pulled herself up and walked down the slender bus isle, trying her best to stay upright. She finally made it to the front of the bus and to the seat that Coach Mills was sitting in.
"You asked for me?" She made sure she said it in a tone that was nothing but annoyed and uninterested. The older woman looked at her and smiled softly before scooting over in her seat and putting the dingy leather beside her.
"I'd rather be standing for this." The older woman scoffed and finally took off her sunglasses that were hiding a portion of her face.
"Sit down. I need to talk to you." Emma growled deep in her throat and sat down on the seat as graceful as ever.
"So I'm sitting. What do you want to talk about?"
"I wanted to apologize, Emma. You were right, I don't know anything about you or where you come from. It wasn't alright for me to say what I said, and I can see how someone in whatever situation you are in would find it insulting." The way she rushed out the words told Emma something. It told her that she didn't want to say the words, that she wasn't used to saying she was sorry. The way her hands fidgeted and the way she would look at her told her the the older woman was swallowing her pride in apologising to her. Emma chuckled.
"You don't say sorry too often, do you?" Regina whipped her head around and glared at the young girl.
"Why say sorry when I have done nothing wrong until this cursed day?" Emma didn't realize that they were as close as they were until that very moment. Emma could feel Regina' hot breath on her skin and she could see the prominent outline of the scar on her lip. She wanted to touch it, to feel the imperfection on the woman's otherwise perfect body.
Her own thoughts made her reel back. Perfect? Why the hell did that thought just run through her mind? She was with Killian, she couldn't be thinking shit like that. She just couldn't.
"Then I accept your apology, Millsy. Don't let it happen again," she all but teased. Regina snorted out a laugh and shook her head.
"You are in no place to be making demands, Miss Swan." Emma didn't know what it was, but something burned inside her and threatened to come out. She always rose to the challenge, and Regina Mills was nothing but that. She leaned forward with a smirk on her face.
"We'll see about that, Millsy," she whispered before shoving herself up from the seat and making her way back to her own. She felt eyes on the back of her as she went and she had to suppress a smirk.
I took less than fifteen minutes to get where they were playing, and not for one minute did Regina leave her mind. She forgave her, it was a common mistake, but Emma was never one to forgive someone so quickly. She checked her phone and saw that she had texts and a missed call from Killian. She rolled her eyes and opened the messages.
Like usual, they were wishing her a good game and saying that he was upset that he couldn't be there. To get drunk with his buds, no doubt.
Killian had moved here two years ago from Ireland and things were different there, Emma knew that. She still got herself involved with him, though. She couldn't say she regretted it, but she wasn't happy.
She helped take all of the equipment off of the bus and when they finally got to the field she let out a breath of relief.
The game went just like everyone expected. Emma pictured them to a win, not allowing any runners on base. It was the first shutout of the season but the team and parents acted as if it was the first one in history.
Throughout the entire game Emma would look over at their new coach and find her smirking back at her. Everytime their eyes connected chills would run down Emma's spin and she would momentarily forget where the was.
When the umpire finally called the game and they had shaken hands with the other team, Emma made her way to the bus with, unknowingly, Regina following behind her.
"It's good to see that Cass wasn't just talking bull," Regina called, her breath making a white cloud in the air. Emma sighed, but smiled, and turned around.
"It's good to see that you're following me now," she retorted. She had completely stopped, and she didn't know why but she got the strong urge to walk with the woman.
"Don't flatter yourself. We're going to the same place, remember?" A blush creepy up Emma's neck. She blamed it on the cold.
"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Millsy." When Regina got to her side Emma started walking again, their steps in sync. The walk to the bus was a short on, but it felt like it was dragging on longer than needed.
"So what made you choose Story book?" The question was random and it caught Regina off guard.
"I, uh," she stumbled. "I was looking for something new. Some place to start over. What better place than to go to a town that is barely on a map," she finished, shoving her hands in her coat pockets.
"Sounds like you're trying to get away from someone," Emma teased, but beside her she heard the woman take in a deep breath. Regina's shoulders tensed and a dark, heavy look crossed across her face.
"Sound like you're meddling," Regina spit back, her dark facade holding. Emma winced.
"I didn't, I mean," she paused, choosing her next words carefully. "I'm sorry." She finally said. She wanted to ask who she was running from and why, but she knew she couldn't. It wasn't her place.
"You should be," she all but growled back. One would have thought Emma had gotten slapped in the face by the look she wore. Regina left her there, speeding up her walk until she was a good twenty feet ahead of her. Emma sighed and pulled her back further up her shoulder, cursing at herself every step to the bus.
The bus ride back to Storybrooke went quick, much to Emma's delight. Coach Cass had her earphones in, and no matter how many times Emma tried to tell her that it was illegal she just would not take them out. So that only left one person for Emma to talk to, but she did not dare venture up to the front of the bus to the woman she had offended.
Well now we're even, I guess, she thought to herself.
Emma helped take the equipment off the bus and put it in the locker room. Coach Cass took the bus back, which just left Emma and Regina alone for the umpteenth time that night.
Emma was throwing her things into the metal locker when there was a knock at the door. She sighed and went and opened it, swallowing her pride and standing in the entrance of the door.
"Why am I getting a strong sense of deja Vu?" She sighed out, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Can I come in, please? I left my keys on the bus and it has to be below freezing out here," the woman shivered out.
Emma decided to take pity on her and walked back into the locker room where the heater was on full blast. The blonde went back to her locker and finally got all her gear in it. She closed it with a bang and locked it. She turned to her shivering coach and chuckled.
"Wear more clothes next time. We are in Maine, you know?" Regina glared at her.
"Yes I am aware that we are in Maine, Emma. I'm not dense," she sneered. The blonde chuckled and pulled her letterman off her shoulders and tossed it at the still-shivering woman.
"Your impeccable vocabulary shows that, Millsy. Now wear that before you lose your toes," she laughed out. Regina only held the jacket in front of her and looked her up and down once, before she draped the thick jacket over her shoulders.
"I'm honored, Miss Swan," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. She sat herself down on the chair in the corner of the room and pulled her phone out of her pocket.
"Damn it," she growled. Emma chuckled and pulled her bag over her shoulder.
"Need a ride, Millsy?" She was being an ass, she could hear it in her own voice, but she didn't care one bit. Regina glared at her and worried he lip.
"You expect me to get into that deathtrap that you call a car?" She scoffed. "I don't think so, Miss Swan. I'll just call Ruby." She said it like she assumed Emma would know who Ruby was.
"Might I ask who that is?" Emma inquired. "And how do you plan on doing that with a dead phone?" Regian sighed and threw her head back, letting out a growl.
"Must you always been so infuriating?"
"Must you always be so angry?" Emma mocked, a smirk gracing her lips and her eyebrow arching up.
Regina looked at her finally and sighed, raising an eyebrow of her own. "Miss Swan, may I pretty please use your phone to call my roommate so I can get home and have a good night's rest for once?" Emma chuckled and sighed pulling her own dead phone out if her pocket.
"Looks like we're both out of luck, Ms Mills," she said, holding up the phone to show her that hers was dead as well. The brunette sighed and rolled her eyes, finally standing from her chair.
"Then it looks like I will be spending the night in the locker room," she said sarcastically.
"Or I could take you home?" Emma offered. With a shrug Emma held up her keys and jangled them.
"You won't kill me?" Regina raised a skeptical eyebrow and pulled the jacket further over her shoulders.
"I'm a good driver, I promise." Emma grinned and left the woman standing in the locker room. She made her way to the car, acting like the biting air didn't bother her barely covered arms. She had on a long sleeve and jeans and boots but the shirt was thin and the jeans were skin tight so she was protected from the wind like Regina would be.
Once Emma had the car started Regina made her way out to the yellow bug and sat herself down onto the brown leather seats.
"Where did you even acquire such a car as this?" Regina had a friend etched into her lips and Emma chuckled. She put the car in reverse, pulled out, and then made her way into town.
"I've had it since I was fifteen. I got it in Boston just before I went to live with the Nolan's," she admitted.
"So you've been with them for a while?" Regina knew she had absolutely no right to be asking questions about Emma's life when she jumped the teen for asking about her own life, but she wanted to know.
"I guess so." Emma shrugged. "They're the only couple that has kept me longer than a few months. They seemed actually happy to have me, so I stayed." Emma left out the part about how she repeatedly left only to be found again and brought back with open arms.
"They seem nice," Regina squeaked, keeping her arms trained on the road. Emma chuckled.
"As sweet as Snow White and Prince Charming," she chuckled out, making her way to the main four-way in town. "Which way am I going?"
"Left." Emma took the left and the more turns she made she started to realize she was starting to get into the richer part of town. When Regian said she lived with a roommate she automatically assumed an apartment, but Emma knew there was no apartments down this road.
"So, which mansion do you live in?" She laughed out, earning her a glare from the woman sitting to her right.
"It's 108," she sighed out with an eyeroll. Emma's jaw went slack.
"You're trying to tell me that you live in 108? The 108 on Mifflin Street?" Emma had stopped in the middle of the road, but they didn't have to worry about anyone coming up behind them. It was nearly midnight.
"Why? Is that a problem or something?" Emma chuckled.
"Not at all. Just no one had lived there in years. That's like the White House of Storybrooke," Emma laughed out, finally moving the car again. Regina sighed and rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
When Emma finally pulled into the infamous house's driveway she sucked in a breath.
"You're sure you're not apart of the mafia?" It was meant to be a complete joke but the serious look Regina gave herade Emma bite her tongue.
"Like I said, Miss Swan, there is a lot you don't know about me." Emma let out an audible gulp, and when she started to actually wonder if she had driven a member of the mafia home Regina burst out in a fit of laughs.
"Oh, you should have seen your face, Emma," she laughed out, throwing her head back. Her shoulders were shaking, causing the jacket to fall off her shoulders. Emma started laughing too, finally letting the breath that she had been holding go.
Almost on cue the porch light turned on and a skinny brunette clad in a robe stepped onto the porch. With a disapproving frown and nodded her head towards the door and the laughter in the car died down.
"I think your roommate wants you inside," Emma teased turning back to the wheel. Regina sighed and shook her head.
"She is nothing if not persistent," Regina mumbled. She put the jacket in the backseat behind her and turned back to Emma with a smile.
"Thank you for the ride, Miss Swan."
"No problem, Millsy. You want me to pick you up in the morning since you don't have a car at the moment?" Emma offered, but she shrunk when Regina shook her head.
"I'll have Ruby drop me off. Thank you, though," she said as she opened the door. The unwelcomed cold made Emma shiver but she didn't mind so much anymore.
"Bye, Emma," she said quickly before she slammed the door shut and all but ran up to the house. Emma and sure she got into the house before she put the car in reverse and made her way back home, her mind full of things that she shouldn't be thinking about.
