Notes: I know you were all waiting (im-)patiently for the next chapter, so I hurried ;-)


The Roommate Chapter 11

"I'm gay." Regina blurted out.

Holding her breath, she looked intensely at Emma, whose eyes were still settled on the TV. This was the moment of truth. The moment she had feared and also yearned for. There was no way of taking it back now. All she could do now, was waiting for Emma's response, but Regina was sure she would die of an heart attack before she would get Emma's answer. Time seemed to stood still and the short moment of silence seemed to kill Regina.

"Oh really." Emma said half joking, half mocking, eyes never leaving the television. "I know that since you mistook me with Kathryn and told me how awesome my arms and ass were. Duh."

Jaw almost falling on the ground, Regina fall into some sort of shock.

Emma knew.

Emma had known all the time.

The last weeks Regina had made a big fuss about whether she should tell Emma or not and all this time Emma had known. Did Emma also knew that she had been hitting on her?...or better, trying to hit on her. What else did Emma knew?

Regina hadn't moved at all. She sat there, turned to Emma, staring with mouth agape. Emma seemed to notice that something was off and turned around to look at Regina.

"What?" Emma asked, clearly confused.

Finally noticing that her mouth still hang open, Regina closed it, but she wasn't able to process the situation. Emma had known.

Suddenly Emma's face changed, like a light bulb had finally started to shine in the depths of her mind. Only to squinch her nose afterwards. "Oh shit. Was this your coming out? Shit, this was such a lame respond...I'm sorry...I mean...congratulations...that's..."

"No." Regina interrupted her. "I'm not...this is not my coming out. My parents know, Kathryn knows...people know...not all, but some...I just..."

Just what?

"...just...wanted to tell you...in person...and now you know...so...yeah...ehm..."

"Okay." Emma said slowly and stretched the word, her brows furrowed and looking slightly irritated. "You're gay. Cool." It was said in a tone which made clear that Emma didn't really knew how to respond to the news.

Which irritated Regina to no end. There had been plenty reactions Regina had thought would happen: Maybe a homophobe Emma being disgusted of her, maybe an Emma that excused herself and didn't want to spend time with her anymore, maybe an awkward Emma not knowing how to deal with it, maybe even a homosexual Emma turning towards her and kissing her (okay that one had been a dreamy fantasy, but a girl can hope) but one were Emma reacted casually with 'duh, I knew that' wasn't one of them. Wasn't telling someone that you're gay a big step anymore? Sure, Regina hadn't thought she would get a party or anything, but a 'you are gay? that is so great, I'm gay too' would have been nice.

Oh shit. Did that mean Emma wasn't gay?

If Emma were gay she would have said something along the line 'welcome to the club' or 'oh great, I'm gay too', right? Right?

Oh no. This meant she had a one-sided crush on a straight girl, never a chance of changing Emma's mind. This was horrible.

No. Keep calm. She could be bisexual. Everything was fine. Yes, maybe Emma didn't define herself with labels like straight and gay and stuff like that. Maybe she just...liked people...gender irrelevant.

That would be too good to be true.

There was only one way to find out: Asking Emma directly.

Regina took a deep breath before she spoke, not quite ready for an answer she might not want to hear. "Do you..."

She didn't get further. There was rustling at the front door as well as arguing people, although she couldn't hear what they were saying. Emma and Regina looked at each other questioning.

"I thought Kathryn was staying with Frederick tonight?" Emma said and got up.

"I thought so too." Regina replied, walking right behind Emma.

As they got closer to the door, Regina recognized the voices through the closed door, even thought they sounded muffled.

"I will just get my phone and then I'm out, you don't have to get inside if you don't want to." It was clearly Frederick's voice.

"No!" Kathryn protested vehemently. "You can't go in there!"

"Why not? Are you really that afraid of ghosts? Babe, you don't have to go in there with me, I will be in and out in 2 minutes."

"Why can't you just leave it there and we will get it tomorrow?!"

They reached the door now and Emma opened it, startling Kathryn and Frederick in the process. "Hey guys, why are you standing outside? Did you forget your keys?"

"I'm..." Kathryn began and looked between Emma and Regina.

"She is still shaken up because of the ghosts. She wouldn't let me in to get my phone. Thanks for opening the door." Frederick said while he entered the apartment. "Thanks for frightening my girlfriend." He hissed angry towards Regina as he walked by.

Regina only rolled her eyes. It wasn't like Kathryn was THAT afraid of ghosts. She had clearly other reasons not to enter the apartment tonight, but Frederick didn't knew that and Regina was glad about that. She could see the look of regret and frustration in her best friends eyes as she looked over, so she gave her a small smile. "We were just watching Ghostbusters." Regina said to ease Kathryn's mind a little.

A relieved smile appeared on Kathryn's face.

"Want to watch with us?" Emma teased.

Kathryn scoffed. "I think I will decline."

"Suit yourself." Emma said grinning and winked at Kathryn. "Tadadadadada, tadadada, Ghostbusters!" She sang while she strolled back to the living room.

Chuckling and shaking her head, Regina turned to Kathryn, who was still standing outside.

"I tried to tell this idiot that we can't come back here, but of course this thick head of his wouldn't understand why." Kathryn whispered, apparently still frustrated about her boyfriends behavior.

"Did you tell him your best friend and roomie might be banging in your bed." Regina whispered back and couldn't contain a giggle.

"Course not!" Kathryn exclaimed, but immediately joined the giggling. "At least we didn't surprise you naked in my bed, I think Frederick would have fallen into a shock."

They both giggled at that until Regina pulled Kathryn into the apartment, closing the door behind her, hiding them both in a corner, getting all serious. "I told her." She whispered even quieter to her best friend.

"That you have a crush on her?"

"No, that I'm gay."

"And?"

"She knew." Regina whispered, still irritated that all this time Emma had known.

"Of course she knew, you told her basically that she is a sex bomb. So why are you guys not in my bed banging each other senseless?"

"She didn't say anything."

"Argh, this can't be true. How dense are you?! People don't say 'hey let us bang each other senseless'. They just do it!" Kathryn responded frustrated.

Regina rolled her eyes. "No, you idiot. She hasn't really responded to my news that I'm gay. If she were gay too she would have said so, don't you think?"

"You think she is straight?"

Regina bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I was about to ask her when you guys arrived."

"I'm going to kill this stupid son of a...he is such a farm skunk. I told him we couldn't come here, but no, mister I-will-protect-you had to play all heroic and ruined everything I've been working on for weeks."

"YOU have worked for weeks?" Regina asked, not believing she had heard right.

"Yes! Do you know how exhausting it was to push you towards Emma?"

"So you're admitting you pushed me!"

"I never said that." Kathryn defended herself.

"Yes, you just did!"

"No, I didn't."

"You just said it was exhausting to push me towards Emma. I should have put a lot more ghosts into this apartment!"

"If my stupid bucket boyfriend hadn't ruined the moment you two would be having hot lesbian sex by now."

"Did you listen to me? I don't think she is gay."

"But you don't know for sure."

Regina hesitated and looked to the ground. "No."

"Even if she is straight, you can sway her with your charm."

Regina rolled annoyed her eyes. "Which charm? I act like an idiot around her."

"That can be charming." Kathryn tried to cheer her up.

Regina scoffed. "Yes sure."

"Okay, here's the plan. As soon as Frederick and I are out, you walk to her and ask her if she is gay. Talking about that donkey, how long does he need to get a phone?"

"Are you going to stop insulting your boyfriend anytime soon?" Regina asked.

"No. I'm pissed. He ruined the moment."

"It was MY moment, not yours."

"I worked very hard for this moment to happen. And it is not going to happen anytime soon if this idiot of mine doesn't find his phone."

Kathryn walked out of the corner, making a few steps towards the direction of her room, only to walk back and pull Regina with her. "I'm not going in there alone. Who knows what else you have hidden there."

"I already cleaned it, there are no more ghosts anymore."

"How could you do this to me? I will not be able to sleep in this room for the next few days." Kathryn whined as they reached the room. One look was enough to realize that Frederick wasn't there. "Where the hell is he?"

They looked at each other and Regina shrugged. "With Emma in the living room?"

They found the person in question as they entered the living room, sitting on the couch and eating popcorn with Emma.

"See, I told you nothing is going to separate them." Frederick said towards Emma, while he took a handful of popcorn and turned his attention back to the screen in front of him.

"What were you girls doing out there?" Emma asked, worry transporting through the question.

"Talking." Regina answered shortly, not wanting to share what they had talked about.

Emma scooted over at the couch, looking expecting at Regina, then at Kathryn. "Come on, the movie just started. Ghostbusters was over, we started another movie, one without ghosts."

Kathryn opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Regina pulled at her arm. "Excuse us for a second." She told the two figures on the couch before she pulled Kathryn out the door and into the kitchen.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kathryn whispered as they entered the kitchen.

"You can't go."

"WHAT?" Confusion was written all over Kathryn's face. "Oh no...you're getting cold feet...Regina..."

"It's just...it's different now...the atmosphere...the moment is gone...I need to rethink all this."

"Rethink? That is the stupidest thing you've ever said. You don't need to think! You need to tell her that you like her!"

"I will. I promise you I will, but not today."

Kathryn was actually tearing at her hair by now. "One day you will kill me with your insecurity. Why not now?"

"I don't know...how am I going to steer the conversation back to the topic?"

"Just like you did before."

"I blurted it out." Regina admitted.

"You're as sensitive as an elephant." Kathryn groaned and hid her face behind her hands.

"I don't think elephants are insensitive." Regina objected, but the death glare Kathryn shoot her silenced her at once.

"Tell me again, why don't you want us to leave? Even if we...Frederick ruined the moment, you two could still have some alone time."

"I'm exhausted okay. It was really difficult to tell her that I'm gay and the fact that she knew...well it caught me off guard. I'm not sure how to handle this and I don't know how to survive an evening alone with her. I don't know how to speak around her. We have to practice."

"Practice?" Kathryn replied. "If you're going to tell me you have to practice kissing with me too..."

"No! Just speaking okay."

"You can speak! Really Regina, you're going to kill me."

"Please stay. We will think of a way how I'm going to tell her that I like her and a way I will not fall into pieces when she tells me that she is straight." Regina said sadly with a pained expression.

"Even if she's straight, and it is a if, then she won't be straight for long, trust me. You're going to win her over with your charm."

Regina scoffed at that. "Yeah, are we going to work on my charm too?"

"We will." Kathryn reassured. "You are going to be a Prince Charming when you finished your training."

"Training, huh? Sounds stressful."

"It will be. You better pay me a lot of cocktails so I won't pass out of exhaustion. Being your friend is really tiring." Kathryn said with a smile.

"Since when do cocktails help against exhaustion?" Regina replied with a smile of her own.

"First lesson: Don't question the methods of your teacher." Kathryn said in a serious tone. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm the teacher."

"I figured that much."

Kathryn winked at Regina. "Clever girl. Now let's get back to the others." She turned to leave the kitchen, but Regina stopped her.

"Thanks Kathryn." Regina said and hugged her best friend. "I'm really glad I have you."

"The feeling is mutual." Kathryn replied and hugged Regina tighter for a moment. "Now come on."

As they walked back to the living room. Emma looked worried at both of them. "I was about to send a rescue team. Everything alright?"

"Sure." Kathryn answered for them. "What are we watching?" She asked while she snatched the bowl of popcorn away. Kathryn sat beside Emma, motioning to her other side for Regina to sit there. Regina could see a frown on Emma's face and a questioning look towards her, but Regina didn't knew what this might mean so she choose to ignore it. There were enough things on her mind right now: the missing onions, the 'duh, I knew that', the fact that Emma didn't reply with 'I'm gay too'. Regina already was confused, there was no place to add a frown and questioning look too all this mess in her head.

"We are watching Groundhog Day, it's another movie with Bill Murray."

An acknowledge sound was the only response Kathryn gave. Regina was glad that her best friend was taking over the responding part. Too many questions hovered in her mind and just like the first movie, Regina didn't quite catch what's on the screen. They were mostly quiet during the movie. One comment here and there about a character or a scene, but nothing special.

The fact that Emma looked over a few times during the movie didn't ease Regina's mind one bit. Just more questions popped up in her mind. Was Emma gay? Was she not? Would Emma break contact now? Would they spend more time together? Did Emma like her? Did Emma like her the way she liked her?

All these thoughts were tiring and when by the end of the movie Frederick suggested to leave, Regina jumped on the opportunity and agreed that it was late and she was tired.

That's how she ended in the hallway, waiting for Frederick to come out of the bathroom and Kathryn to gather her stuff in the living room. Emma joined her in the hallway, her hands in her pockets. "Everything alright?"

"Yes, sure, of course." Even in her own ears it sounded like a lie. Her mind was overflowing with what-if's and her heart was at a irregular pace because of all the possibilities she had thought of during the movie.

It was clear by the way Emma looked at her that she didn't believe the lie for a second. Regina avoided to look at those eyes who seemed to see far more than Regina wanted them to see.

Thankfully Kathryn joined them right that moment, taking over the conversation. "I'm ready to go. It was nice hanging out as group. Maybe we could do this again?"

There was a grin forming on Emma's face. "Sure, I will set up the ghosts in your room."

Regina actually grinned at the boldness of Emma's words, knowing that Kathryn didn't like to hear them.

"Don't you dare!" Kathryn warned, but the grin didn't vanish on Emma's face.

"Don't you dare what?" Frederick asked while he walked towards them, putting an arm around Kathryn's shoulder.

"I may be looking for a new roommate soon." Kathryn answered him grimly, while she shot a glare towards Emma, whose grin had vanished at the sudden prospect of being kicked out.

"Okay, time to go." Regina said, holding the door open for the pair. After they went through she turned towards Emma. "Don't worry, she wouldn't kick you out."

"Thanks." A small grateful smile tucking at Emma's lips.

Regina smiled back at her before she also walked through the door and closed it behind her. She followed the pair down the stairs and onto the street.

"Where is your car parked?" Kathryn asked once they stood outside.

"Over there." Regina said and motioned to her left.

"I will walk you there." Kathryn offered and freed herself from Fredericks embrace.

"But our car is over there." Frederick said and motioned to the right.

"I know. I will be there in a second." Kathryn said over her shoulder, while she had already hooked her arm around Regina's and had walked towards the direction of Regina's car. As they were out of hearing range Kathryn spoke again.

"So, about your training? How does brunch tomorrow morning sound?"

Regina turned her head surprised towards Kathryn. "You want to start tomorrow?"

"Yes, you need a confidence boost as soon as possible."

"How about Monday after work? I could use a little break to gather my thoughts."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Kathryn sighed. "But fine. Monday after work. You're paying for the cocktails."

"Why is it I always have to pay for your stuff?" Regina said with a grin. They had reached her car now and she unlocked it.

"Right now it's because you shortened my lifespan about a few weeks with this 'surprise' of yours."

Regina shook her head at the silliness of her friends argument. "See you Monday?" She asked while she hugged Kathryn goodbye.

"Yes, have a good night."


Notes: I was wondering if anyone would want to be my beta reader and correct my grammar mistakes, I seem to make a few of those. I really don't want to ruin this story with terrible grammar mistakes, but since I can't see them by myself I could use a little help^^ (*evily whispers* you would be able to read the chapters sooner ;-))
Update: Scratch that.
I thought I wouldn't get one person to help me^^ now I have too many XD #HasAwesomeReader