Next chapter is up! So I'm probably going for the every two day routine, 'cause I make lots of mistakes with the ideas zooming through my head while I type and I have to keep re-reading. The ironic part is the fact that I still am prone to making mistakes, but oh well. Thanks for reviewing, for the compliments, for reading, for understanding my exam problem and I'm glad to know y'all enjoy/like the story. I know I'm enjoying writing it :)
If there was one thing Regina had learned, it was how strong-headed and stubborn Emma was. The blonde had retrieved a couple skipping ropes, tied those together and ordered Regina to tie it to her side. All the while, the only thing Regina could think was shit, shit, shit.
"Emma, careful!"
"Shut up, Regina!" She grunted, slinging herself onto the rope and making her way there.
"Holy shit, she's going to fall." Regina murmured.
"I heard that!" Emma paused midway, slung from the rope like an infuriating sloth. Her upside-down face grinned at Regina.
"Emma, do you have a death wish?"
"I do this every other day… This is nothing, trust me."
"That's quite hard to do."
"Doing what I'm doing or trusting me?" The blonde raised her eyebrow. Damn, it's so cute when she does that. Shoving the thought away promptly, Regina replied with her own words:
"It's hard to understand why you're quite literally risking your life."
Rolling her eyes, Emma released her hands from her makeshift rope. Grinning at Regina's shock, Emma began swinging herself. Considering how her legs were the only lifeline she had—hooked onto the rope that wasn't the most advised for supporting a human being's weight—Regina snapped.
"Emma, stop that! You will fall and die!"
Scoffing, Emma replied: "You sound like my mother," As she raised her hands and gripped the rope with them (much to Regina's relief), she grunted, "actually, not really. Mom would probably say something like 'Emma you come back right now, you could fall!'"
"Yeah, well, my mom would say: 'If you don't die when you fall, I will kill you myself.'"
At that, Emma laughed as she continued to make progress towards Regina's window; she genuinely thought Regina was joking.
"Your mom must be strict then." Emma puffed. Slightly distracted by the alarming creaking noise in which the skipping ropes made, Regina urged her to hurry up.
"Y'know, if I got a nickel for every time you said that, I would be—"
"Faster." Regina hissed.
"I was about to say 'filthy rich', but whatever floats your boat the most I guess." Emma grinned, coming tantalisingly slowly towards some source of safety. Is she doing this on purpose?
"Emma, this isn't a joke."
When the blonde sighed, Regina knew she had finally won whatever this was. Fearfully, she watched Emma increase her pace and reach her side. At last. Without noticing, Regina's breathing had constricted so much so that she felt as if her chest were being squeezed by a python. Now as Emma reached the window, her breathing flowed as smoothly as spreading butter on bread. The question was: why? She supposed watching your next door neighbour falling to their doom would always have a traumatising impact on you, but surely not that much; not so that she felt she could scarcely breathe. She'd only really talked to Emma for like, twenty minutes. What has gotten into you Regina?
"Shit!" Emma's outburst dragged Regina from her haze of thought. Before she knew it, Regina was flat against the ground with Emma on top of her. If Regina was honest, she was slightly disappointed that the blonde hadn't fallen with her face towards Regina's… Shut up, Regina! So this was what having a crush was like. Regina wouldn't know—she'd never taken a fancy to anyone before. Wow, less than twenty minutes talking to this girl and you fancy her, she scolded herself. Snap out of it. She's probably only talking to you 'cause she feels freakin' sorry for you, Regina.
"Sorry!" Emma muttered, tumbling off her swiftly. "I lost balance…" Sheepishly, she gave a tentative smile.
"It's fine." Regina mumbled, trying to smile back. Was this really, for Emma, an act of sympathy?
"REGINA!" The two girls in the room leaped—criminals caught in mid-crime—before Emma skidded underneath Regina's bed and the brunette on top, deciding too late that she should grab her book and pretend to read it. Instead, she now had to make do with the cover of 'I was staring up at the ceiling the whole time like an innocent, obedient girl' while her sister burst through the door without invitation and prowled around the room like a predator. All she needs, Regina thought—warily eying Zelena's ominous stare, is a bloodhound's nose, and she will literally drag Emma out of her hiding place.
"Mom's taking me out; we're going to my soccer match. She said that dad would know if you set one foot out of your room so don't even think about it and…" Inwardly, Regina grimaced. Either her Zelena had noticed her sister laying on her bed with no entertainment of any form—undoubtedly a suspicious scene—or she peered close enough to notice one end of the skipping rope tied to Regina's window handle, which then led to Emma's window. Thankfully, it wasn't the latter.
"Were you seriously staring at the ceiling this whole time?" She scoffed. Typical Zelena. Though, if Emma hadn't shown up I probably would have become the ceiling's best friend by now.
"Yes." Curtly, she answered her sister.
"Don't need to be so rude." Zelena contemplated/scrutinized/scanned Regina's brain for a while before claiming: "If I didn't know any better, you're hiding a boy in here somewhere." Girl, actually. Attempting not to smirk (for that would only encourage Zelena's theory), and glad she wouldn't look guilty—as technically, her sister's statement wasn't true—Regina replied with a nonchalant shrug.
"If I didn't know any better, Zelena, your boy toy's bored with you."
Scoffing (again), Zelena told her sister "I get bored with the guy; he doesn't get bored with me. That's how it works and always will do." With that, Zelena turned an flounced out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Never mind, she would make a terrible blood hound... or predator for that matter. She took the bait faster than a fish could! Trying not to be too pleased with herself, Regina lifted herself off her bed.
"That's Zelena, right?" Emma asked, rolling out from under Regina's bed.
"Yeah, how d'you know?"
"I'm in a lot of her clubs."
"Poor you." Regina replied, smirking. "I'm constantly trying to find an escape route from her."
Chuckling, Emma clapped her hands together and rubbed them.
"So now what?" Regina was already half-exhausted at jittering over the blonde's safety on the rope.
"Now, we play— as in, we act a play. Did that work well?" When Regina raised an eyebrow in confusion, Emma shook her head and cleared her throat. "Let's do Shakespeare. You have any copies?"
"What is the point of this?" Was Regina's answer, nonetheless sliding her fingers over her bookshelf and taking out the first one she saw: Romeo and Juliet. Oh, the irony.
"Well you're a killer actor. I think we should start with your strengths before your weaknesses."
"What are you, my teacher?" Now Regina was the one who scoffed.
"Nope, just your friend."
"After twenty minutes." Shut up, Regina!
"Hmm, I think it was thirty." Glancing at Emma, Regina saw the faint smile on the blonde's lips. She's not kidding about the friend thing.
"Ten more minutes really makes a difference!" Regina sarcastically told her, despite the fact she was grinning.
"Now, I play dibs on Romeo." Emma snatched the book out of Regina's unsuspecting hands.
"No way in hell am I being Juliet."
"Then we'll go to heaven and do it." She snorted at Emma sarcasm."Mom would kill me if she heard me say something like that." Emma added. Eyeing the stubborn blonde, Regina wouldn't admit defeat. She had lost too many battles—her enemies consisting of her mother and sister—and she was determined to win this one.
"Make me." Regina pouted.
That ignited a spark in the blonde's eyes. She advanced on Regina, smirking all the way. Unsure of what was happening (had the temperature really increased by double, or was it just her?), Regina stayed put.
"I will." They danced across Regina skin and echoed in her ears. The two word that sent a shiver down her spine, despite the sweltering heat. The worst part was, how casual Emma could be as she walked forward to gather some forms of props. When Regina tilted her head, she noticed the blonde was ever so slightly, in the faintest fashion—with a tinge of smugness—smirking. And Regina wondered if Emma knew what effect she had just had on the brunette.