Emma woke up to a fresh, sweet smell wafting into her nostrils from the kitchen. The blonde rolled over in bed, groaning sleepily before swinging her legs over the edge. She got up from her bed and plodded downstairs, rubbing a hand over her face tiredly. She already knew that her father was in the house; David always stayed home on the saturday mornings, waiting for her until she woke up so he could make her pancakes for breakfast.
"Morning Mom, morning Dad," she said, taking a seat at the breakfast bar, still half asleep.
"Good morning sweetie," David and Mary welcome in unison, causing them to exchange knowing smiles.
"You woke up early today," the pixie-haired woman commented with a laugh. David placed a small stack of pancakes in front of his daughter, who grabbed the maple syrup and drizzled some on.
"Pancakes," Emma just mumbled while shovelling the sweet, sticky food into her mouth.
"What time are Belle and Ruby coming over?" Mary asked, taking a seat opposite her daughter, sipping her steaming coffee.
"I'm not sure, I think they're coming at 5PM," Emma shrugged, wiping maple syrup from around her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Excellent, so you have time to clean your room, then," the brunette commented, winking at her daughter.
"Mom! I'm not a child. Besides it's clean… enough," Emma protested, whining.
"Clean enough, huh?" Mary raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Yes, it's fine. Dad what do you think about my room?" The blonde turned to her father, who widened his eyes, not wanting to get caught up in his wife and daughter's bickering.
"Yes David, tell us what you think," Mary said, shooing her husband a warning look.
"Oh look it's late… I've got to go." David stood up from the table hastily, grabbing his coat and slipping on his shoes. He opened the door and stepped out before turning back to look at his wife. Upon seeing her glaring at him, he sighed. "Uh, Emma, honey clean your room, okay? Love you both. Bye," the man said, leaving the house and shutting the door.
"Fine, but that's not fair, Mom. Using dad against me," Emma said as she stuck out her tongue.
"Was it you who said something about not being a child?" Mary chuckled and rolled her eyes. "And besides, you used him first." Both women started laughing as they got up to clean the kitchen. Yes, David did make the best pancakes, but he also made the biggest mess.
—
It was a little after 11PM, when Ruby paused the movie her, Belle and Emma were watching. She turned to Belle and winked before twisting her head to look at the blonde on the other side of her. "So... Em, Belle and I were saying that you look a little different today, weren't we babe?"
"Yes, we were indeed. I would say you look happier," Belle added, and both girls just grinned at each other knowingly.
"Um, what is are you talking about?" Emma asked, scrunching her nose in confusion. She could sense that the two of them were up to something, but she couldn't tell what it was.
"Something happened yesterday," Ruby tried.
"What? Nothing happened," the blonde defended with a nervous laugh.
"Aha! I knew it!" Ruby cried, grinning triumphantly.
"Ruby! I don't know what you two are talking about. Can we please go back to watching the movie?"
"I bet it has something to do with Miss Mills," the tall, lanky brunette said suddenly.
Belle turned to her friend, frowning. "We agreed that we would tell her gently."
"Yeah, yeah, sorry, but look at her. She's guilty as charged," Ruby said with a smirk and pointed at their friend.
Emma was sat there with bright red cheeks, staring at her friends. So, it turned out that they knew. It wasn't a surprise; Ruby was very nosy, and Belle was very smart. It wouldn't have taken them long to figure it out.
"I mean… wait. How you do you two know?"
"You mean, how do we know that you like, and I mean like-like our English teacher?" Ruby asked, laughing.
"Emma, you're not exactly very subtle…" Belle said, chiming in.
"Belle, I beg your pardon. I'm very subtle!" The two girls just laughed at that comment.
"Oh my, you really think so? Okay, well you really aren't," the auburn-haired girl raised an eyebrow.
"You're always looking at her and you barely ever do what you're suppose to in our lessons. You always talk about her, and when you do, a huge smile appears on your face. Like, the biggest smile I've ever seen," Ruby listed, counting them on her fingers. Belle joined in.
"When she passes by, you immediately lose interest in whatever you're doing, or you stop listening to whatever someone's saying. When she speaks or asks you a question, you can barely speak! You babble, and blush really badly."
Emma just looked at her friends with her wide mouth open, listening to them point out the things she thought no one else had noticed.
"Oh and…" Ruby began again.
"Alright, stop, stop, stop. You've made your point; I'm not subtle," Emma said with a groan.
"Yes, far from it honey," Belle pouted and patted the blonde's arm in comfort.
"Well, what happened? Did you tell her? How did she react?" Ruby asked, her eyes bright and her expression enthusiastic.
"I don't know," Emma answered.
"Are you telling us you ran away? That's not good." Belle shook her head in disbelief at Emma's answer.
"Ruby no, I don't know, because I didn't tell her," Emma protested. She already knew, she thought but didn't add. By not telling her two friends what had really happened, she could avoid a half of the conversation they were having.
Ruby grabbed Emma's hands and spoke, "Don't worry. You can do this. Belle and I will help you!"
"Oh no no no no, guys you don't have to—" Emma began desperately.
"Yes! Of course we will help," Belle agreed with Ruby, completely ignoring Emma. Oh God, that will be interesting, the blonde thought.
—
It was early on Sunday morning, 6:30AM, to be precise. Regina woke up in her mother's apartment in Boston because Cora had insisted that her daughter sleep over on Saturday evening and them leave on Sunday. She agreed; her mother rarely had a free weekend, and it was nice to spend time with her.
Regina was in kitchen sipping coffee by the window, wrapped up in her thoughts.
"Hello dear," Cora chirped, walking into the room.
Regina jumped, her hand flying to her chest in shock. "Jesus, you scared me. Hello, mother."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to. You were thinking about that girlfriend of yours, weren't you?" The older woman asked knowingly, smiling while pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"She's…She's not my girlfriend. I thought I told you that last night," Regina grumbled, sighing loudly as she took a place at the table.
"Oh yes. You told me that rather a few times, although it wasn't exactly convincing. Every time you said the word 'girlfriend', you started smiling. In fact, you did it again," Cora smirked, letting out a soft laugh at her daughter.
"Mother, you do realise that she is my student, don't you?"
"So?" Cora stared at her daughter and shrugged a shoulder, wondering what the big deal was.
"So?! Even if I wanted to be with her, it's impossible," Regina said, her voice cracking. She drew her brows together as she frowned.
"Believe me my dear, nothing is impossible," Cora said softly, offering Regina reassuring smile.
