"No, Ruby, don't!" Emma yelled as she tried to snatch her phone out of the brunette's hands.
"Yes, Emma! I am your best friend and I know who you'd swipe right on…plus, you are too much of a coward to do it on people that are actually living in the same town as you!" Ruby chided and turned her back towards the irritable blonde as she huffed.
"Just give it back, I promise I'll let you see their profiles… I just want to hold my phone." Emma pouted and took a sip of her beer. She was drunk and annoyed that once again Ruby knew her better than anyone else on the planet; she was a coward and that's why she only did long distance relationships.
"You and Belle were long distance though," Emma reminded her as she snatched her phone at the right opportunity. She felt triumph in her veins.
"Yeah, I know but look at us now, she lives here with me in Storybrooke. We ended the distance. All these so-called girlfriends of yours… have any of them made the sacrifice to BE with you? You spent all of last summer traveling to that one red head house 6 hours away, meanwhile, your son had to spend the summer with the evil queen," Ruby said as she closed her eyes to the spinning of the room. She was in fact drunk and missing her Belle Belle
Emma sighed and tried hard not to think about Henry.
"The only reason he spent so much time last summer with Regina is because it was her Summer, Rubs. And stop calling her the evil queen, its mean." Emma replied and swiped left on Kathrine.
"See! You never ever swipe right on someone that lives here…Come on, Em you know Kathrine is hot and she is single! Ugh!" Rub groaned as she stopped herself from taking the phone from her best friend, again.
"But she dated Regina… it would be weird!" Emma defended as her mind conjured up a mental image of walking in on Regina and Kathrine kissing one day. The ache in her chest only lasted a second.
"Okay, true." Ruby agreed as she did a shot of whiskey.
Ruby leaned over and sat her chin on Emma's shoulder and watched Emma swipe left on practically every hot girl on Tinder.
"Okay, the next profile that comes up, I dare you to swipe right, no matter who it is Emma Swan!" Ruby said firmly.
Emma sighed and thought for a moment. Being drunk gave her some courage as she shook her head in agreement and Ruby squealed in her ear.
Emma swiped next and the profile that popped up shook her to her core; goosebumps erupted over her hot skin and Emma froze.
"Oh my god!" Ruby practically screamed
Emma stared at the photo of Regina Mills. She was breathtaking.
"Ruby, I can't!" Emma panicked and sat her phone down on the wooden table. She took a shot of whiskey to calm her nerves.
"Swan, you agreed to the dare! Do it!" Ruby said with a high pitch laugh, 'oh this was good. SOOO good!' Ruby thought.
Emma took a deep breath and picked up her phone and swiped right.
A chime was heard from the phone and Emma's mouth hit the floor.
"It's a match! It's a fucking match! Oh my god, Emma!" Ruby screamed and stood up from her stool and did a small dance.
Emma was still in shock, and instantly sober! Her thoughts were jumbled: 'when did she sign up for Tinder? Why haven't I seen her profile before? She swiped right on me? Why? When? Holy shit, she is single? What happened to that one girl she was seeing? Oh my god, we MATCH!' internally Emma was screaming.
Emma stared at her phone. 'IT'S A MATCH! You and Regina have liked each other. Send a message or keep swiping.' was displayed big and bold.
"Are you going to message her?!" Ruby asked, suddenly back on her stool and looking over Emma's shoulder.
Emma jumped, completely forgetting where she was.
"Uhhh…" Emma muttered.
"Oh my god, I can't wait to tell Belle!" Ruby chuckled and patted Emma on the back. "This is going to be good! Out of everyone in our town, you finally swipe right on Regina fucking Mills, your co-parent lesbian MAYOR!" Ruby began to laugh hysterically.
"You made me, you DARED ME!" Emma yelled back and clicked her phone to lock.
Emma crossed her arms over her chest and sent daggers to Ruby who was bent over trying to catch her breath.
"Oh, I think I'm going to be sick." Ruby groaned as she stood up straight.
"I'm going home." Emma said, irritated.
"Let me know when you message her!" Ruby yelled back at a retrieving red leather jacket. She shook her head and dialed Belle's number.
"Baby! Guess what just happened!" Ruby sang cheerfully into her phone as she placed money on the bar and walked outside.
Emma woke up to her phone ringing and her head pounding.
"Hello?" She answered as she rolled over, away from the blinding sun shining through her curtains.
"Ma! Are you still coming to granny's for breakfast? Mom couldn't make it, some meeting at the office." Henry said.
Emma's eyes popped open as she remembered what occurred last night and then groaned at what happened once, she got home.
"Holy shit!" Emma panicked and forgot that she was on the phone with her son. "Shit…uh, sorry kid.. uh, crap…" Emma sat up in bed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Yeah, I'll be there. Let me shower really quick."
"okay! I'll order for you. See you soon!" Henry said happily as he hung up.
Emma's heart was beating fast and with shaky fingers she opened her Tinder app and went to messages.
"No. no, no." Emma chanted as her eyes read in disbelief:
Emma: fancy meeting you here
Regina: Yeah, small world, Miss Swan.
Emma: you swiped right on me, why?
Regina: Why did you swipe right on me?
Emma: Uh…Ruby dared me… I'm drunk
Regina: I see. How irresponsible of you.
Emma: irresponsible of me? Getting drunk? Haha, okay and how many glasses of your homemade cider have you had tonight, Madam Mayor?
Regina: that's none of your business, Emma. You know you have breakfast at Granny's with Henry later today, remember? Of course, you are going to spend the little of time you get with him being hungover. No wonder the court only gave you limited custody.
Emma: are you fucking serious right now, Regina!? YOU ARE THE COURT… ugh! And to think we could be something. Whatever.
Regina: Be something…. Yeah, you really are drunk, idiot.
Emma: Well, you did swipe right FIRST! So, who is the idiot now?
Regina: I wasn't thinking clearly, obviously.
Emma: right.
Regina: I never thought you'd actually swipe right…
Emma: I never thought you'd ever swipe right… I mean, I'm not your type.
Regina: How do you know what my type is, Emma?
Emma: Oh, come on Madam Mayor, I see you…more than I would like to, honestly, with so many different girls…
Regina: What are you trying to say, Miss Swan? That I am a slut? A whore? What?!
Emma: What!? No… Im just saying… they all were…not me.
Regina: yeah…. Maybe that's the point.
Emma: What do you mean?
Regina: Nothing.
Emma: No, tell me.
Regina: No, Emma. You're drunk, go to bed...
Emma: Don't tell me what to do.
Regina: alright, well goodnight, Miss Swan
Emma: Wait!
Regina: What?
Emma: I really like your profile picture, you're gorgeous, Regina.
Emma stared at her last message. Regina never replied. Her stomach felt queasy. She shook her head. She couldn't believe she messaged her.
A text came in and Emma saw that it was Ruby.
Ruby: You messaged her yet?
Emma: apparently Drunk Emma did… :/
Ruby: Oh, shit. What did you guys talk about.
Emma screen shot part of the message to Ruby and within minutes Ruby replied
Ruby: ahhhh! I honestly didn't know my dare would be her. You two fight like cats and dogs... There's no chance with her, Em.
Emma felt her eyes water up, the feeling of being unwanted and rejected instantly took over, she was a kid again where foster home after foster home didn't want her.
Of course, Regina would never want her.
Emma: yeah… I guess you are right.
Emma sighed deeply and got up to take a shower. She would make sure Henry had the best day with her possible!
"Good morning, Kid." Emma said with a yawn as she scooted in the booth across from Henry.
"Morning, Ma," Henry said with a mouth full of waffles.
"You know you aren't allowed to have this much sugar," Emma said as she noticed the hot chocolate with half eaten whip cream near her son's elbow.
Henry gave her a smirk.
"Well, no one was here to order for me..." Henry trailed off
Emma sighed, Regina was right, she was irresponsible.
"I'm sorry, kid." Emma took the mug away from his plate and took a big sip.
"What did you order for me?" Emma asked
As soon as the words left her mouth, Ruby was at their table.
"Here you go! Apple pancakes for you!" Ruby smiled brightly but Emma could tell she was just as hungover as she was.
"What is this?" Emma asked, her nose scrunched up in disgust.
"It's mine." Emma heard Regina's voice from behind her. Butterflies filled her stomach and she gulped.
Emma just scooted over towards the wall and Regina scooted in next to her, their thighs touching and for the first time in two years, her heart wouldn't stop pounding at the slight warmth of Regina's thigh pressed against her own.
"Henry said you weren't coming?" Emma stated as she watched her son chew his food. Purposefully avoiding eye contact with the brunette.
"The meeting ended early." Regina said as she took the plate of pancakes.
"What would you like to get?" Ruby asked as her eyes darted between Emma and Regina.
Emma sighed, they forgot to order for her… the feeling of being forgotten was strong and she mentally kicked herself for feeling this vulnerable. She blamed the negative thoughts on her hangover and then shot daggers at Ruby for getting her get drunk in the first place… Emma sat there mentally throwing a tantrum like a 5-year-old.
"I already ordered for her, dear." Regina spoke up
Emma turned to her, in shock
"chocolate chip pancakes with extra cinnamon on top." Regina said as she turned to face the blonde beside her.
"I didn't forget about you." Regina whispered.
Emma stared into brown eyes and her heart skipped a beat.
Coughing to cover her nerves, Emma replied, "Uh… thank you."
Regina nodded her head and turned back to Henry.
"What's this I hear about a sleep over with Brian?" Regina asked her son
Emma watched their interaction and she couldn't quite tell if she should even be here with them. She felt like an outsider. She felt like a failure. Who was Brian? Why hadn't she met him? She felt like their co-parenting skills weren't the greatest… all because of her.
Emma shook her head to snap out of her wallow of self-pity and negative thoughts.
"Emma?" Regina asked.
Emma turned to Regina realizing she hadn't heard anything they said.
"Hmm, what?" Emma asked and ducked her head down.
She felt Regina's eyes on her and peaked at her through her eyelashes and saw a mixture of emotions on her face.
"what?" Emma asked again, taking a sip of water.
"I want to know if you'd like to have dinner tonight?"
Emma coughed into her hand, surprised.
"You want to have dinner with me?" Emma asked as she looked over at a smiling Henry.
"Yes, say 7? Henry will be over at Brian's." Regina said
Emma nodded her head and thanked the heavens above that Ruby appeared at their table with her food.
Emma instantly began to eat, trying to calm her heart and nerves.
"Good. Bring some wine," Regina stated as she took a forkful of apple pancakes into her mouth.
The small moan that escaped Regina's red stained lips sent shivers down Emma's spine.
"okay," Emma whispered
Emma swallowed a bite of food and she finally felt the hangover disappear. She would not get drunk in front of Regina tonight.
She dared herself to stay sober.