Hello guys so yeah finally here is a new chapter... I'm sorry it took so long but I kind of got stuck in the SQ week tag on tumblr a lot when trying to write and well...
I'm going to say thank you all, because your the best readers ever and you give me so much love and support and I'm really grateful for it.
And thanks to my beta Michebellaxo for being the best beta ever :)
Enjoy!
Chapter 7: Testing dangerous waters.
SUNDAY 8:45 PM...
"Wait, Gina what are you going to do?" Kathryn asked at her back, but she was already making her way through the crowd, walking directly to the place where Lacey was rubbing her body against some redhead girl in some ridiculously short miniskirt, because that thing the girls were doing couldn't be called dancing. She passed the redhead without even caring to look at her face, then pulled Lacey by her arm and shouted in the younger brunette's face, "What do you think you are doing!?"
"Excuse me? I was just dancing."
"Do you think your girl deserve this? You coming to a party without her and dancing with who knows what kind of girl, in this totally inappropriate way and—."
"I called her to invite her," Lacey interrupted, "the only reason she is not here with me is because she was not feeling well—, something about you punching her face... and I was just dancing with a friend, so you better back off! Don't pretend that you care about her because nobody is going to buy your shit." After that, the younger brunette shook off Regina's grip and walked out of the room with the redhead girl. Regina darted in the opposite direction, towards the front door, tears gathering in her eyes and blurring her vision.
"What was all that about?" Graham asked, getting close to where Lacey and the redhead were.
"Sorry, do I know you?" Lacey asked turning around to see a tall guy with leather jacket and a three days beard.
"No, but she does," he responded pointing at the redhead, "What's up with the red hair Rubes?"
"How did you even notice me? I'm going undercover," she said, lifting her sunglasses.
"Yeah, but do you know how short the skirt you are wearing is? Like showing almost all of your legs, did you think no one would notice the wolf tattoo on your ankle? Come on, everyone knows you have that tattoo!"
"You have a point there, Graham."
"So... what was happening with Regina?"
"Nothing." Ruby answered.
"Well, she left quite upset for it to be nothing."
"We are helping Emma with something," she told him, rolling her eyes.
"So, she is finally looking for some revenge, huh?"
"No—, we are trying to pair them up, of course," Lacey interrupted, earning a glare from Ruby, "What? That's what we are doing, that's our little secret plan," she shrugged.
"Yeah and I'm sure it's gonna remain secret if you keep telling it to every stranger who approaches you!"
"I'm not a stranger!" Graham complained.
"See—?, he is not a stranger—, so yeah, I was telling you... we are trying to get Regina closer to Emma by making her jealous and making her believe I'm cheating on Emma, and—."
"So you're Emma's girlfriend—?"
"Fake girlfriend, we actually just met but we kind of kissed a lot already, so I cannot say we are strangers."
"Okaaay—," he whistled, "Ems and Gina, well its kind of logical, right? After all, there is only one step from hate to love. So how can I help you? Because I can be a lot of help, I'm a friend of both of them."
"Yeah and you are kind of in the friend zone of both of them." Ruby laughed.
"Shut up, Lucas!"
"Oh, don't worry friend, I'm sure you are gonna be a lot of help." Lacey said throwing an arm around his shoulders.
FIVE HOURS EARLIER...
Regina curled up on the couch, her laptop resting on her lap, while she foolishly glanced around the room fearing to be caught, even when there was nobody in the room with her. She adjusted her earphones and continued to watch the episode, this series was becoming alarmingly more and more exciting every minute she watched it. By the time the preview for the second episode appeared and the credits rolled up, she was more than sure that she couldn't stop just there, she needed to watch the next episode as bad as she needed air, but she was also aware that Emma would be arriving any moment from the grocery and she was not willing to let the blonde girl know, that she had started watching that show out mere frustration, the blonde made her feel earlier that morning.
However she didn't have to pick whether to stop or start a new episode, because there was someone knocking at the door.
Of course Swan is the kind of girl who always forgets her keys when going out.
The brunette opened a random video from her what to watch list on YouTube, just to play cool, then she put the laptop over the leather cushion of the couch beside her and unplugged her earphones.
She jumped from the couch and walked to the door, but when she was halfway to the door, the song of the video started sounding, it was certainly not a song she would listen to in public, it was just too depressing. She loved it, but she preferred to keep this side of her private, the one that enjoyed slow depressing songs and not only the electronic music and pop songs her friends listened to. But there was no way she could go back and change it, so she simply cut the space that separated her from the door and opened it.
What was waiting for her behind the door, were a pair of legs and an excessive pile of paper bag, she couldn't see the girl behind them.
"Need any help there?" Regina asked, trying to spot the place where Emma's head was supposed to be.
"Nope, I got it," the blonde responded peeping her head above one of the bags and entering the room, she put half of the bags on the floor and the other half over the fridge.
"Tell me that this isn't just junk food," Regina began, sitting down on the counter beside the fridge.
"Well, of course it is, what do you think I'll eat if not? Your 'healthy' macaroni and cheese everyday?" Emma laughed, adding air quotes to her words while she started to unpack the food.
"How can you put all that junk food in your body and still be fit?" the brunette asked, giving a disapproving glare at everything Emma put out of the bags.
"Well I do work out—, wait, is that 'Once upon a Dream' by Lana del Rey that I hear?" The blonde interrupted her own answer when she noticed the song that was playing on Regina's laptop, the brunette nodded, waiting for the blonde to give her some Kathryn-like speech of why she shouldn't listen to depressing horrible music and shit like that, what she didn't expect was what Emma said after. "Oh my god! I love that song, it's just so perfect! I've been waiting for the Maleficent movie since they released the song in January—, you know what? It just premiered, if you like the song, we should totally go watch the movie together."
Regina's first reaction was to deny everything, to tell the blonde she didn't even know the song, that it was simply something random she picked to hear, even though she had listened that song so many times it was the first option in her what to watch YouTube list. Though, the words that left her lips when she finally spoke had nothing to do with the song but with the blonde's last words.
"Are you asking me out? Like on a date?" Regina regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. She was about to try to fix things by saying something like 'of course not like on a date date... you have your girlfriend...' but then Emma spoke again before she could say anything.
"Yeah sure, why not? I mean—, if you want—," Emma went silent, waiting for the brunette to say something. She didn't though, for a long painful minute, Regina just remained sitting there with her head tilted to one side and her eyes narrowed, looking back at the blonde.
"Friday, seven sharp, don't be late... " Regina finally decided.
"You DO know we live in the same room, right?"
"Then punctuality won't be a problem, will it?" With that, the brunette jumped from the counter, took one of the apples that she had in a bowl there, and then walked back to the couch, taking a bite of the fruit.
Had she just agreed to go on a date with Emma-geek-Swan? Of course not, it wasn't a real date. After all, the blonde had her girlfriend and it was not like they were going to start making out in the middle of a Disney movie, right?
God! She could use other episode of Orphan Black right then, she simply needed a way to distract her brain from racing thoughts, not that she would do it, since Emma would notice.
"So... " Emma started after she finished unpacking the food, sitting down on the armrest of the couch that was right in front of the brunette, "How much of Orphan Black have you watched already?"
"Excuse me?" Regina asked surprised, her face certainly betraying her, "I haven't—."
"Oh! Come on, Mills," the blonde began ironically, "you are wearing the confused face of an Orphan Black neophyte right now—."
"Yeah right," Regina responded using the same amount of irony in her voice that the blonde had just used.
"Okay, you got me, I don't see it in your neophyte's face... but I'm ninety percent sure that you have watched one episode, at least."
"I'm not saying that I have, but... how can you be so sure?" Regina inquired with an arched eyebrow.
"You are not the kind of person who can live with the idea of not knowing something. You simply can't let it go, am I right?" Regina rolled her eyes at that.
"You're annoying—," was the brunette's response.
"Why? Because I'm right?"
"No, because you simply are annoying—!"
"Right... so will you put on another episode or should I?" Emma asked rolling her eyes.
"I will," Regina gave in, she really wanted to watch another episode of that series, "Come along, Swan," she invited, patting the spot beside her, on the couch. The brunette didn't change her position a bit, she was still leaning her back against the armrest opposite to the one Emma was sitting on, so the spot her roommate was expecting her to use was really reduced. She would have to be all over the brunette if she didn't want to fall down from the couch. Still Emma rose and approached the other girl.
"If I didn't know you better, I would think that you just quoted the eleventh doctor on purpose."
"Doctor Who?" Regina asked, her face a perfect puzzle.
"Exactly," Emma laughed, "you got it!" of course Regina had no idea what the blonde was talking about.
"No, I did not—, so you can stop laughing, I don't get what's so funny," Regina huffed and Emma cracked up at the brunette's complete 'I'm done with your geeky references' expression.
"The eleventh doctor. It's from a TV show called 'Doctor Who', that's what is so funny, you just made a geek joke, of course only the geek in the room understood, so basically that's why I'm laughing all alone in here... " Emma blurted out trying to explain.
"Yeah, why don't we stick to one series at a time?" Regina said, stopping the girl from giving any more explanations.
"Fair enough," Emma responded finally letting herself fall over the couch, laying on her back beside the brunette.
She was nearly falling off the edge of the couch, but her body entirely brushing against Regina's was totally worth the risk.
...
—Sup, Bitch? Kathryn's Facebook message popped up when she finally opened the navigator. The notification tone had been sounding over and over again over the last episode they were watching. They had just finished the fourth episode of the show and it had impossibly gotten better.
Her friend's message was followed by a million other messages with single dots on them, something her best friend used to do to get her attention when she was not willingly answering her messages instantaneously.
—What's so urgent Kat? Regina typed in response.
—Nothing... Kathryn's response came instantly. Of course it was nothing. Her best friend's favorite hobby was to simply annoy her with unimportant matters... —Well, actually I was wondering if you're up 4 the party at the boy's 2night?
—No way, Kat! Tomorrow is first day of classes, they can't be seriously giving a frat party tonight...
—Did dat eva stop 'em be4? God! Why couldn't her best friend chat like a decent person?
—I guess not... Regina responded and Emma shifted awkwardly at her side, the brunette decided to ignore the fact that the blonde was looking directly at her conversation, not that it wasn't her fault for opening it on her laptop instead of her phone, which she could hide more easily. The only thing she was hoping was for her friend to not write something stupid or rude, like 'Sup with your lesbian roommate?' or even something like 'why were you having breakfast with da nerd and her freaky relatives?'.
—So r u coming? the blonde asked.
—No, my mother would kill me if she finds out Kat...
—Oh come on! Think it dis way... U wouldn't be doing anything she wouldn't do if she's our age. Kathryn tried.
—I seriously doubt that my mother would do something like that even at our age, Kat.
—You r rite, but... ok, 4get dat... think about what ur sister would do... Emma's eyebrows nearly reached her hairline when reading that.
—I don't have any sister kat... Regina wrote in response.
—Yeah rite... but if u had one she would probably go to the party, plus I'm like ur sista and I'm totally going... Please Gina it won't be da same w/o u...
"She is quite insistent, isn't she?" Emma laughed, openly accepting that she had been reading the conversation. Sure, it was not the most polite thing to do, invading private conversations and shit, but being fair, it had been Regina who decided to start chatting, having her right by her side, besides they were watching a TV show on the very same laptop she was chatting now, like what was she supposed to do, look away? Like she was some kind of tech hater... Oh, no! She is opening Facebook, run! And pray for your sucker little contaminated brain... she mentally laughed, I mean, come on! It was practically an open invitation. I was allowed to read, right? The blonde thought.
"And I'm not very good at denying her wishes, so you can imagine how much I suffer..." the brunette told her turning a bit over the couch so she could face the blonde.
Their faces were now only inches apart and Emma had to fight, with all her forces, the insane desire she had to simply cut the distance and kiss her.
"Oh! Cry me a river, Mills," she said instead, mimicking she rubbed her eyes with both her hands, like a crying baby.
"Don't you dare to mock me, Swan," Regina responded jabbing Emma's shoulder repeatedly with her index finger.
"Or what? You're gonna take it out on me?" Emma retorted also jabbing the brunette with her finger, except she didn't jab the brunette's shoulder but one of her sides, which made Regina squirm under her touch, "You're ticklish!" she exclaimed her little smile turning Cheshire cat-like.
"No I'm not—," Regina started, "don't you even think about it, Swan..." she warned, when she noticed Emma's devilish smile, but it was too late. The blonde was already attacking her sides and belly with her fingers, "Stop it... Swan... Emma!" Regina tried to stop the blonde by her wrists but the girl was way stronger than her, not that she was expecting to have any strength left in her body while she was being tickled to death. The brunette was squirming, laughing and kicking, all at once, her laptop miraculously still over her lap, since she was holding it the best she could, "stop it!" she shouted throwing a fist into the air, that hit the blonde right in the face, which made the girl lose balance and fall off the couch,
"Ouch, dammit Mills!" was what came after from the girl on the floor.
"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry Emma... Are you okay?" Regina apologized sitting up quickly, "I really didn't mean to punch you, I swear, you should have stopped when I first asked you to... forgive me please... I didn't—."
"Hey, don't worry, it's okay..." Emma said sitting up on the floor in front of the brunette, trying to stop her from apologizing.
"No, it's not, I hit you!"
"Yeah, but I kind of deserved it—," the blonde stood up with Regina's help and sat beside her in the couch, still rubbing her nose with her left hand, because as much as she wanted to convince Regina that everything was okay, her nose was paining her dreadfully.
"No you didn't—, look, you're hurt and it's because of me."
Emma thought of all of the times she had been hurt by Regina Mills, not physically but emotionally, this was nothing in comparison but it felt nice to hear Regina being really sorry about it for once, she didn't want the girl to feel guilty though.
"Don't flatter yourself Mills..."
"What?"
"I happen to practice martial arts, a punch from your skinny delicate hand is like you have thrown a punch of cotton candy against my nose." she smiled to the brunette and Regina smiled back at her.
"Are you sure you are okay?"
"Yeah, go back to your conversation... your friend sounds quite desperate again."
Regina doubted for a second, but then she took her laptop and placed it on her lap again, she scrolled up the conversation with Kathryn, passing hundred of single dots her friend had sent to her. She returned to the last bit of conversation she had read.
—Yeah rite... but if u had one she would probably go to the party, plus I'm like ur sista and I'm totally going... Please Gina it won't be the same w/o u...
—rrefvyhgs gasapjlk... she apparently had sent this to the blonde while she was being attacked by the little tickle monster sitting at her side.
—What's dat supposed 2 mean... r u coming 2 da party?... the blonde had written in response and after not getting an answer she had sent the hundred single dots.
—Sorry that was not meant for you and yeah I'm going to the party kat.
—Okay babe I'll be waiting 4 u bye, luv ya... Kathryn wrote.
—Bye, love you too...
"That's pretty much how my bestie and I communicate..." Regina told Emma closing the laptop and then turning to look at her, "Oh my God! You are bleeding!" she exclaimed.
"What?"
"Your nose..." Emma run her fingertips below her nostril and there it was, hot sticky blood all over her fingers.
Regina ran to her vanity and pulled out a tissue box and one of her wet wipes pouches.
"I should stay, you know? Make sure you're okay." she said, cleaning up the blonde's nose with a tissue.
"No, I can take care of it, you go and get ready for your party," Emma responded, taking the tissue in her hand.
"I—"
"Go... or you are gonna be late."
Regina walked to the closet, her heart pounding fast in her chest, all she wanted was to stay and watch some silly tv shows, cuddling with the blonde on the couch. It was totally useless to keep denying it, she was falling hard for the girl and all she wanted was to go back out there and hug her and kiss her,, until she was able to make her forget all the awful shit she had made her go through since they met. Instead she stayed in the wardrobe and got dressed for a stupid frat party she had no desire to go. Emma hated her, she had to and there was neither kiss nor hug that could change that.
9:30 PM...
Emma heard the sound of keys on the door, she turned off the display of her mobile where she was reading and pretended to be sleeping.
Regina entered the room. She pulled off her pumps and threw them over her bed. She then approached the loft's stair and despite that she was wearing a short pencil dress, she climbed up.
"Are you asleep?" she whispered, Emma didn't move, so Regina approached her bed and sat down beside her, "Lacey is right, you know? I've been a fucking asshole with you, I've messed with you for so long, without even a decent reason, it's my fault that almost the entire cheerleading squad took it out on you—," she said with a trembling voice, the tears gathering in her eyes again, but she wiped it with one hand, refusing to cry again. "Look, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I promise that I will do everything in my hands to earn it from now on. I'm really sorry, Emma," Regina leaned down and kissed the blonde's forehead and then she stood up to go.
Emma's heart was pounding rapidly in her chest, she opened her eyes and stopped the brunette from going by her wrist, and then she pulled her closer and kissed her.
"I have nothing to forgive," she said, forcing herself to pull away from the kiss. This was it, the decisive moment, she was going to know whether she could be in Regina's life or she would be thrown away from it.