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"Oh my God, mom, can't I just say I've developed a deadly virus and I need to stay in bed? Please?"

Mary Margaret turns back with a disappointed frown. "Emma, we already went over this. I really need you to keep Regina company."

"Yeah, yeah," Emma mumbles, sighing quietly. It's useless, but she argues anyway in hopes that maybe if she does it enough, it'll happen. She opens her door just as her mom parks and then carefully gets out, not wanting to do something typical of her and rip her dress or trip ungracefully and land in a pile of frozen mud. She wrinkles her nose, tucking her phone into her bra so she can use both arms for balance.

Really, anyone who can walk on black ice with heels deserves an award.

"Sweetie, please help me with the cooki-"

"Yeah, yeah," Emma repeats darkly, somehow managing to pick up the cookies from her mom. It's going to be catered by The Wicked Spoon, but there's a dessert potluck. With Mary Margaret busy, Emma and her dad had been in charge of the cookies, so they're probably less than satisfactory. But, the way Emma sees it, it's okay because she would like to bet her car that ninety percent of the people in attendance are going to bring cookies anyway.

They walk swiftly to the Town Hall and Mary Margaret opens the door. There's a smell of delicious food and Emma groans, running over to see. There's a bunch of trays with really good food and she wants to eat already, but she knows her mom will throw a fit if she does. There's an hour left until seven, when the thing officially starts, so she'll be suffering for an hour.

With a sigh, she takes off her red jacket and sets it on her chair, the goes to help her mom set the cookies down on the dessert table. Basically, she and her dad had decided to cover up the fact that the cookies were not circular by dumping a ton of frosting on each, but thankfully her mom doesn't start whining about it. Emma steals one, sampling it and deciding that they're not bad, they just don't even remotely look like cookies.

She sits back down, sighing. She's wearing the red dress she'd said she'd wear and it's nice and warm since it's floor length, but it's somewhat itchy. And her hair is in a neat bun which her mom helped her with. Really, she could almost think she looks somewhat nice, if not overly done-up and completely unlike herself. Impatiently, she taps her foot (though foot-tapping is harder with heels) and waits for it to be seven already so she can at least watch boring, snobby old people brag about who has the most money.

Emma ends up playing Candy Crush and gets pissed off because she can't beat a damn level. Her mom has to take her phone away from her and tell her that it's just about seven, so she stands up, smooths her dress, and watches her mom open the doors.

Of course, it's a bunch of old people. She sees Mr. Spencer, the district attorney, and Mr. Herman, who she's not quite sure what he does, but he's been kind of pissed off since Sean chose to stay with Ashley. Emma smiles fondly at the memory; she'd helped Ashley through her pregnancy and now she and Sean are going to getting married. So yeah, Mr. Herman doesn't really like Emma either, but she doesn't care.

Thankfully, Mr. Gold and Neal are nowhere in sight. However, it's at that moment when Cora walks in through the doors and Regina follows close behind and Emma has to stop herself from just gaping.

Oh wow.

Regina's in a pale blue ballgown that compliments her olive skin very nicely and though she looks like a princess from a storybook, the fact that the dress shows all of Regina's shoulders and the only straps are some transparent ones that fall on her arms does nothing for Emma's sudden nerves. Her stomach twists and she finds her eyes lingering too much on the exposed. She can see the smoothness of Regina's skin and she wonders what it feels like to touch. She wants to touch. In that moment, she wants nothing more than to touch and stroke and-

"Fuck," Emma mumbles, feeling her cheeks burning. She turns around and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. And another.

She knows she shouldn't be having thoughts like that. God, she feels really guilty now, and ashamed, even, for having thoughts like that. But she's a sexually frustrated eighteen year old who's hasn't had any sex in the past two months and she's just having wild fantasies now. Regina's not even showing that much skin, literally only her shoulders and arms, and already Emma is going crazy. She groans, rubbing her temples, and looking up.

Mary Margaret is greeting Cora very stiffly. Her mom is smiling too cheerfully, so Emma knows it's all faked. But they're being very civil on the top. Cora then pushes Regina forward and Regina looks so shy, but she gives an awkward curtsy and a small, faked smile. Mary Margaret smiles back in a kinder manner than she had with Cora and quietly seems to be telling Regina something, and points towards Emma. Emma stiffens, but she knows her mom's telling Regina to come hang out with her. Regina looks hesitant, but nods. Cora seems to encourage her and pushes her again, this time towards Emma. Regina stumbles slightly, but then walks slowly towards Emma, eyes wide and visibly trembling.

All of Emma's steamy thoughts evaporate and she feels even worse for having had such thoughts. She sees how scared and uncomfortable in the dress Regina seems to be, and once again, she reminds Emma of a cute bunny, but this time, it's a scared cute bunny. After what seems like an eternity, Regina finally arrives at Emma's side.

"Hi," Emma says as warmly as possible and gives Regina one of her rare, genuine smiles not laced with sarcasm.

"Hello," Regina says quietly, giving back a slight smile. Her hair is down and pulled back from both sides. It suddenly occurs to Emma that she's never seen Regina with her hair down. She only ever wears it in a braid to school. It's very appealing when it's down, though, and when she moves, Emma can smell apples.

"So I guess we're stuck here for the night. Ready to get drunk?" Emma jokes, trying to get Regina to lighten up. But it doesn't work. At all. In fact, it kind of backfires and Regina stiffens, swallowing nervously.

"Oh, uh, I, uh-"

"I was just kidding," Emma says quickly, feeling the awkwardness in the air. She's going about this entirely the wrong way. But she can't explain why she feels so strangely about Regina. Usually, Emma can read people very well and even sees when they're lying, but now, she's at a complete loss. A few days ago, she'd barely even known Regina existed, and now, she finds the girl fascinating, if she has to admit it to herself, because there's an air of mystery surrounding her and she's so humble and yet so regal at the same time. Her presence is like that of a queen, and Emma has never seen anyone who can be so sweet and so powerful at the same time.

And, Regina's really pretty. Gorgeous, even.

"Oh," Regina whispers, blinking. "Right."

And they fall into an awkward silence again.

Emma holds her breath and looks away. This is already looking to be harder than she'd expected. In the distance, she sees David enter and immediately go to Mary Margaret and kiss her cheek. They exchange a few words and then they both look over at Emma. Emma sends an S.O.S. message with her eyes desperately, but both of her parents just seem suddenly very interested with a certain dish on the buffet line.

Emma wants to evaporate.

"I'm sorry."

The silence is broken by Regina. Emma slowly turns to look at her and she sees Regina anxiously looking up at her.

"I know you're doing this because your mother told you to and that's very kind of you. But I know I'm just difficult to talk to and I… well, I don't really know what I'm doing," Regina says softly, chuckling nervously and wringing her hands. "You're so well-known and I'm just a… a nerd. And you don't have to deny it," she rushes to say, since Emma's eyes widen. "I know it's true. But thank you for doing this."

"Oh, geez, um, no one's ever told me anything like that," Emma says, smiling from the flattery and feeling pleasantly pleased. "But I- okay, to be honest, my mom did tell me to hang out with you. But I want to. You seem like a really cool person. And you're amazing at ice skating, I never knew you could do all of that."

Regina flushes, and to Emma's delight, there's a hint of a real smile. Maybe it's not so difficult to talk to a self-proclaimed nerd, since there's a sort of effortless ease when it comes to being with Regina. True, it's incredibly awkward, but Regina's not like some of the "friends" Emma has who simply believe they're better than everyone.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me," Regina replies in her gentle tone, her eyes lighting up with a genuine happiness. "Though, I should be congratulating you with your talents on the soccer field."

"Oh, you know I was on the soccer team?" Emma asks, surprised, tilting her head slightly.

"Did I know? Who didn't? Everyone knows you, you're legendary at school."

"Oh," Emma says, once again flattered. A guy had once said something very similar to her, but it was obvious he just wanted to bed her. With Regina, the comment seems truthful and Emma wonders if there's really people who see her in such a light. She sees herself as an, although socially skilled, slacker who likes to sleep too much and procrastinates on literally everything, and spends entire days just watching Netflix in bed and eating bearclaws."Well, that's nice of you to say."

They lapse into another silence, though this one is comfortable. The table on the corner, where Emma had been sitting and where her red jacket was, seems unoccupied, so Emma wonders if maybe they should get food and sit down. All the adults seem to be settled down and the buffet line is much shorter.

"Do you want to go get food?" Emma asks, turning to look back at Regina. "I mean, I'm starving, and I don't know about you, but The Wicked Spoon seems really good."

Emma doesn't miss a slight smile that comes to Regina's lips as she hesitantly nods and Emma decides to lead the way, pushing through the cluttered aisles in annoyance, knocking down a couple of purses in the progress and not caring. Regina, on the other hand, apologizes to every table as they pass, scurrying to keep up with Emma. They get a plate each and Emma just starts loading everything onto her plate because the last time she ate was at breakfast, and all she ate was Froot Loops. Regina delicately serves some salad and Emma just stares at the plate.

"There's literally like a million choices of other food, are you sure you don't want something besides up that?" she asks doubtfully. She'd always been the kid who refused to eat veggies and kind of ended just surviving on junk food. She probably would have had a heart attack by now did she not work out so much.

But Regina just shrugs, looking uncomfortable. "Not really," she says softly.

"Uh, okay," Emma says, eyeing her own plate and feeling like a pig now. But that doesn't stop her from going over to the dessert section and loading up yet another plate with cakes and the predictable ton of cookies while Regina just watches.

"What did you guys bring?" Emma asks, trying to make it less awkward. Regina points at a tray with turnovers.

"Oh, they look good," Emma mumbles, though she's not a fan of turnovers and leaves them untouched. She then balances the two heaping trays and begins walking back, making it to the table without too much of an incident. Regina sits down and while Emma shoves the food into her mouth, she just stares at her salad. Emma makes a mental note to tell her mom to take her to wherever The Wicked Spoon is and buy her food from there later on.

"So do you really think I'm a good ice skater?" Regina asks suddenly, and though her voice still carries the gentle, quiet tone, it seems almost hopeful and more confident now. Emma swallows ungracefully, coughs a bit, then nods.

"Oh, yeah. I can't do it to save my life, but when I was younger and I… well, I was a foster child…" she pauses to look at Regina's reaction, but Regina just nods. Yeah, probably the entire town knows Emma's story. She fights the urge to roll her eyes, but continues. "One of my foster sisters took ice skating lessons. And she was really good. She still is. Her name's Elsa and she's actually coming up next week. I think you two would be really good friends. She's kind of shy, too. Actually, she used to have severe anxiety but her younger sister, my other foster sister, Anna, and I really helped her with it. Now that I think about it, she reminds me a lot of you."

"Oh, well, I do hope I'm able to meet her," Regina replies and she does look interested, so Emma makes another mental note to introduce Elsa to Regina.

"Yeah. Ingrid, my foster mom and their aunt, is actually a really good ice skater too. When she was in college, her nickname was the Snow Queen."

"That's really nice. Mine- at least within the ice skating community I know- is the Evil Queen," Regina says in a somewhat defeated tone. Emma is just confused. Regina? Evil? She can see the queen part, but the evil is just strange.

"Why?" she asks, interested.

"Because I suppose I have a bit of an obsessive personality at times," Regina says slowly, as if she's trying to figure it out herself. "But I don't think that makes me evil. It's also because I love apples, though. And I- well, occasionally I do take first place and anger many, hence the nickname, I suppose."

She says the last bit with a hint of pride and Emma nods appreciatively, even more entranced. She's going to tell Regina something when her mom gets a microphone and begins talking, thanking everyone for being here tonight and wishing them all a happy holidays. It escalates into a huge story about how great Storybrooke is and Emma just groans. She's only able to sit through about half an hour at it, before leaning in to Regina.

"Do you want to go outside?" she whispers. Regina looks just as bored as her and nods, smiling slightly. They both stand and exit as quietly as possible. Emma just groans, taking off her heels and walking barefoot to the stairs and flopping down. Regina awkwardly follows suit and sits on the stairs very stiffly.

"My mom's probably going to talk for ages," Emma complains. "She just loves to talk and talk and talk some more. And when she's done? Guess what she does? Remembers something she forgot to say and talks even more!"

Regina giggles and it's a delightful sound. She's smiling with her teeth now and though she's still a bit too stiff for Emma's liking, the door opens and with it comes a gust of wind, blowing Regina's dark hair back and revealing her shoulders once more. Emma's eyes drop automatically and she's extremely close right now. She can see the smooth, unmarked skin, which she just wants to touch so badly. But the guilt crashes over her and she immediately looks away, shocked by the sting in her eyes.

She's often had thoughts like those, though never before today about Regina, and she can't stop them and every time she sees a pretty girl they come and she just feels so bad for having thoughts like those, since it's absolutely none of her business to be having any ridiculous fantasies. She'll never act upon them, of course, but the very fact that she pictures it disgusts her and she feels sick with herself. But it momentarily subsides and the stinging stops as she sees who walks in.

Fuck. Neal.

"Hey, Emma," he says, lighting up as he sees her. He walks over to the stares, smiling down at her. "How's it going?"

"Fine," Emma says tiredly, not wanting to deal with it. How many times does she have to politely remind him that she's gay?

"I'm very glad. Who's your friend?" he asks, nicely on the surface though he seems a bit suspicious. Emma rolls her eyes.

"Regina, meet Neal, Neal, meet Regina."

"I know who you are. It's a pleasure to meet you," Regina replies politely, immediately standing up ad giving a slight curtsy. It's so 1800s-princess behavior. Emma realizes she has to stand up too or else it'll be really awkward, so she does so.

"You know who I am? Well, how come I don't know who you are?" Neal replies, his tone still friendly, though he's even more visibly suspicious now. Regina's brief confidence seems to fade as she deflates uncomfortably and bites her lip.

"Well, not a lot of people know me. But you're in track, right?"

"Yeah," Neal says, his left eyebrow raising. "Well, you seem pretty well-versed for someone who's not in the inner circle. No offence. Anyway… Emma, so how about I take you out next week? Next Friday?"

"Uh, I'm busy," Emma says slowly, trying to figure out if he'd just insulted Regina or not. Regina doesn't look hurt, just embarrassed, so Emma decides to let it go.

"Aww, you're always busy."

"Yeah. So maybe just give up?"

"Eh," is Neal's only reply. He shrugs and begins walking into the meeting room where the party is. Emma just sighs. Well, at least that'd taken her mind off of things. Maybe one day she just needs to wear a rainbow morphsuit and put GAY on the front in sparkles and wave a rainbow flag. She scoffs; it's ridiculous how much some people need to just accept that she doesn't like guys.

"Are you okay?" Regina asks gently, setting her hand on Emma's affectionately. Emma jumps, not because of the action, but because it sends a jolt down her system. Although Regina's hand is cool to the touch, it's very smooth, just as Emma had predicted. She feels her stomach knotting again as the thoughts return. She's furious with herself and the stinging returns to her eyes.

How dare she have thoughts like that? She feels as if she has zero self-control and she really needs to do something about it. She quickly pulls away from Regina, not meeting her eyes.

"Yeah. Of course. Let's go back in."

"Emma?"

But Emma ignores it because she can't bear to look at Regina and she feels bad every time she does so. She heads back inside and she can hear Regina's frantic footsteps to keep up, but Emma never replies.