Regina felt tempted to re-style her hair one last time, but she firmly stopped herself and scowled. Her hair looked fine. Her makeup looked fine. Her clothes looked fine. she didn't need to change anything about her appearance.
So, why was the urge to go upstairs and change so overwhelming?
She shouldn't be so nervous, should she?
After all, this was just lunch. Nothing more. A casual meeting.
Regina shifted her weight from one leg to the other and adjusted her dress again. It was nothing special, really. Just a plain, red dress. Nothing extravagant. She scrunched up her hair again and looked at her wrist-watch. Time was ticking. She should get going, not waste time in front of the mirror.
Regina grabbed her purse, controlled that her phone was there and then marched out of the mansion.
Once outside, she stuck one hand into her purse and found her phone. As she checked for any potential messages, she rolled her eyes. She was definitely dawdling. Stalling. Wasting time. All because she was nervous. Which was obviously ridiculous. She was getting worked up over nothing. She was Regina Mills, for gods sake, and Regina Mills did not get nervous.
"Have a nice trip."
Regina exhaled very softly and closed her eyes for a moment before turning around. "You're just everywhere these days."
"Am I? Well, Storybrooke is a fairly small town," Zelena drawled.
"Your house is in the other end of town," Regina deadpanned.
Zelena scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. "Can't I wish my little sister good luck?"
"I think you already did yesterday."
"So what?" Zelena scoffed lightly.
Regina just shrugged and stuffed the phone back in her purse.
"When can we expect you back home?"
"Tonight."
"Okay. So, no staying over, then."
"Seriously?" Regina snapped. "I haven't even met her yet."
"Just checking," Zelena smirked.
"Goodbye, Zelena," Regina said firmly and climbed into the Mercedes. She slammed the car door behind her and did her best to ignore Zelena's grin in the rear-view mirror.
It didn't take her long to reach the open road. Regina switched on the radio in an attempt to drown her anxious thoughts. But she didn't quite succeed.
The music was loud, but her thoughts were louder. Unfortunately.
Suddenly, she could think of a million reasons why Laura wouldn't like her. Incredible. Regina saw herself as fairly confident, but now, at the prospect of actually meeting Laura, all the million little things she didn't like about herself piled up. She was often sarcastic. There was nothing wrong with sarcasm, but sometimes she overdid it and came across as harsh. She was definitely uptight. Snobbish. Rude.
Regina scoffed. Where did all this come from? Normally, she wasn't this insecure about herself. Or anything else for that matter. She needed to pull herself together, and she needed to do it now. Otherwise Laura would definitely be unimpressed.
Regina turned the volume on the radio up again and cringed. It was some sort of rock song. The sound was blaring through the speakers, and Regina quickly changed the station. Loud thoughts or not, she was not gonna listen to that. But she had a distinct feeling that Laura would. For some reason, Regina could imagine Laura listen to this sort of music. Funny. Music was about the only subject they hadn't discussed yet. They had talked about everything else, but not music.
Oh, well, I'm meeting her today. Plenty of opportunity to ask her.
Regina landed on a radio station with music comfortable enough to listen to. As the classical music filled the car, she once again began to muse about her upcoming meeting with Laura. What would her instinctive reaction be? Should Regina go for a hug or a handshake?
A hug definitely. Anything else would be weird, wouldn't there? She and Laura might never have met each other, but they were definitely not strangers to one another. After everything they had talked about online, it would be an odd thing to call Laura a stranger.
What are we then? Friends?
Regina decided to not find a label right now. That could wait. She was overanalyzing again. And everything depended on how today's meeting was gonna go. Could a face to face meeting match the intense chemistry they had via messages and talks over the phone? That was the question. Regina honestly didn't know what to expect from todays meeting. She shook her head a little when she remembered what Zelena had said yesterday: "ten bucks you're gonna be all over each other."
Regina scoffed. They were not gonna be all over each other. What did Zelena think? That they were teenagers? No, they were adults. And this was just lunch. It was a long time since Regina last had been outside Storybrooke, and even longer since she had last been in Boston. It was a long drive and it was a warm day. She made sure to stop along the way to stretch her legs, get some air and check her phone for messages. Laura had texted her once this morning, telling how much she looked forward to their meeting, but apart from that, her phone was quiet. Blissfully quiet. She had half expected a dozen curious messages from Snow.
Regina entered the Mercedes and found back to the main route again.
It was actually surprisingly refreshingly to be outside Storybrooke again. Camelot and the Underworld aside, Regina hadn't been outside their enchanted little town for quite a while, and it was nice to get a change of scenery for once. Maybe she should take more trips like these. Maybe she should start taking interest in the outside world. Storybrooke wasn't the whole world. That's what Henry had said when he had left on his motorbike, and maybe he was right after all. He usually was. Her smart boy. Her little prince, all grown up and out finding his own adventures.
Just like I am now. I wonder what he would have thought of this? Regina mused to herself. What would Henry say if he knew about Laura? Of course, he would be happy for her, Regina didn't doubt that, but there was a fair chance he would be amused too. Meeting someone online was not what could be expected of Regina.
Or meeting someone at all, for that matter.
Regina laughed a little and shook her head. This was all so surreal. Very soon, Laura wouldn't just be a picture or a voice over the phone. She would be a real person. They would finally meet face to face.
Boston hadn't changed much since the last time Regina was here. And she had no problem with finding her way in the big city either. Laura had given her fairly specific details on how to find the flower shop. That's where they were going to meet. That had puzzled Regina at first, why not meet at the restaurant instead? But Laura had insisted that they met in the flower shop. She claimed she loved surprises, and suddenly having Regina walk into her store would be the biggest surprise of them all.
It didn't take Regina very long to find the flower shop. "The Secret Garden", the sign out front said. She had definitely found the right place.
Regina peered out of the car window. Oh, yes, that was definitely Laura behind the counter. Regina smiled. Even from a distance, she looked every bit lovely.
There was a couple of customers in the store, last minute customers before the store closed down at lunch time. Regina stayed put in the car until the last customer had left the shop. There was no reason to barge in there while there were other people present.
Once the last customers had disappeared down the street, Regina applied just a touch of lipstick, checked her hair in the mirror and then grabbed her purse.
She probably looked confident, strutting over to the flower shop like this, but her intestines were actually cramping with anxiety. She felt a bit lightheaded. A bit faint. Had she even thought this through? Was she crazy for embarking on this sort of "adventure"? Was it actually a mistake, stepping out of her comfort zone like this? Didn't bad things happen when you stepped out of your comfort zone?
Shut up, Regina firmly told herself. Her head was definitely running wild again, and unless she wanted to sweat her makeup off completely, she would have to stop that. She was riling herself up.
Regina crossed the street and went into the flower shop.
To Be Continued….