For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
-Audrey Hepburn
Told from Emma's POV.
Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT. I detest writing that ;)
Life is a blank slate that gradually fills up with both exciting and devastating events. This story is a combination of both...
I had applied for a job at the local hardware store. With my references and work ethic, I was fairly confident the job would be mine. I stand around 5'7", blonde hair that's shoulder length, and I come in around a buck forty five. So I can handle pretty much anything physical they throw my way. I'm neither girly nor butch but rather a nice mix of the two.
After two interviews, a drug test and medical exam, I strolled into my new place of employment to start my week of training. The first week is filled with enough crappy videos and virtual scenarios to make you want to stick a fork in your eye. Since none of that is pertinent to the story, I'll fast forward to the good part.
At the end of the first week of training, the store manager took all of the new hires on a tour of the store and introduced us to employees and managers from all the different departments. We also got a behind the scenes look at what made the store run so smoothly. Everything from receiving the merchandise to unloading the trucks to helping the customers tie down a freezer in a Mazda Miata. It fascinated me and I was looking forward to actually getting to do something besides watch videos. Who the hell actually pays attention to those things anyway? Hello, 1957 called. They want their boring training videos back.
I was first hired as a cashier. Everyone was. Once you learned that basic function, then you would be transferred to whatever department needed you. The cream of the crop got to choose which department they wanted to be trained in. I ain't bragging or nothing but I was pretty sure I'd be in that category. I always seemed to excel in whatever I put my mind to.
Our last stop for the day was the cash registers. I could tell you that I listened to every single word the store manager said about customer service and accountability, blah, blah blah, but out of the corner of my right eye, I caught a glimpse of this dark haired sweetheart heading our way and everything around me turned to radio silence.
As I watched her move from this person to that person, I noticed how she never seemed to stop smiling. Which was a good thing because it was beautiful on her. I saw her throw her head back and laugh at something one of the other employees said and I found myself grinning because that sound was going to be replayed over and over in my head. She started walking over to the store manager and I was trying to get a glimpse of her name tag. She had alot of pins on her red apron that proved she had been a faithful employee for years but I wasn't quite close enough to make out her name.
Once she took her spot to stand in front of us, I saw it: Regina. Her name was Regina. Well, she looked like a Regina but sounded like an Angel. She was a few inches shorter than me so that put her at around 5'4". Her hair was a deep chestnut-brown that hung loosely around her shoulders with this really nice flippy thing around the edges. She had fair skin that had a little too much red lipstick on it but hey, as long as she kept talking and let those brown eyes sparkle who really cared? My world flamed out to mere ash when she was introduced. Regina Mills: Department Manager for Cashiers. Well, of course she was. Why would anything decide to go my way?
Shortly after she was introduced, her name was paged and she excused ourselves. I watched her walk away while speaking into her walkie-talkie. The bright side was I would actually get to interact with her but the down side was she was my boss. What kinda shit on a cracker had I been handed? As she raised the walkie-talkie up, I saw the universal Go Away sign on her left hand: A large diamond engagement ring. Well that just officially ruined my day.
The following Monday was my first day of OJT or On the job training. I got my locker number and combination lock from Carol, the Human Resources lady, and headed to the break room. My locker was on the top row and I really didn't know what I was supposed to keep in there except my apron which we weren't allowed to take home but I decided to try the lock out to make sure it worked. Of course the numbers were prefabricated and couldn't be changed so I was going to have to memorize a completely random set of numbers as well as fight with the worst type of lock ever created by mankind every time I wanted to get into my little cubbyhole. I fiddled with it for awhile before giving up. It was time for me to head up front to get my assignment for the day.
As I walked up the main aisle, I started taking inventory of where everything was and decided each day I would walk up front through a different aisle so when customers asked where anything was, I could point them in the right direction. I have a bit of a photographic memory so if I saw the shelves, I could visualize where exactly the customer could find a certain item.
When I reached the front, I headed towards the service desk to find Regina. My stomach was doing that flip-flop nervous thing we're all familiar with. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I was here to do a job and everything else was unimportant. Well, all of those thoughts went out the window when she stepped through the office door into the service desk area. What was I supposed to do? Oh yeah, introduce myself.
It suprised me how professional my tone was because inside my head, there was a mad woman running around saying things like "She is adorable! Look at that cute little nose! Could that smile get any wider? What is that smell? Listen to how she just said my name". I had to mentally put a stop to the party going on in my head because Regina was laying out my POW or Plan of the Week.
My first day of OJT was going to be spent with Millie out at the Lawn and Garden register. Regina asked me if I knew how to get out there and I nodded. She handed me two bottles of water while explaining the water cooler outside had burst and there was someone trying to fill up the new one with ice water but for now, Millie and I had to make do with two somewhat chilled bottles of water. I could say something cheesy happened like our fingers brushed as she handed me the water but it didn't.
Regina was very businesslike and told me to page her or dial the service desk if I needed anything. I just nodded and replied with a polite "Yes Ma'am" instead of telling her I had no idea how to do either of those two things. It would come to be a pattern for the two of us. I would always refuse to ask for instructions and rely solely on my deducing skills to help me figure out any problem and she would always challenge me with new problems just to watch me squirm under the pressure until the answer came.
I found my way to Lawn and Garden and immediately found Millie. She was talking up a storm with a customer telling him the best way to grow tomatoes. Even from a distance, I could see she was a little firecracker. She turned out to be a complete joy to be around. She was in her 50's, barely came up to my shoulder, and didn't need to use the intercom if she didn't want to because of the way her voice carried. Apparently she worked in Lawn and Garden all the time and her knowledge of each of the products just blew my mind. Who knew there were so many kinds of mulch and patio stones in this world?
We spent my first day in her little shack as she called it. It was basically a small shed with a cash register, phone, and stool in it. The day was a typical hot and humid sunny day but you wouldn't know it from the way the two fans Millie had in her little shack were cooling things down. I couldn't believe how much I learned that first four hours. Millie was one of those people that actually listened when I told her I do better being thrown into the water head first. She stepped aside and let me handle each customer while she verbally walked me through each transaction.
The knowledge was coming fast and hard with the relentless stream of customers needing a wide variety of items but I was in my element. The one thing I always seemed to get stuck on was customers asking about how to take care of different types of plants. Thankfully, Millie was not only trained in this but she had a huge green thumb and mostly talked from personal experience about which plants or flowers seemed to work in the local soil. She was my new favorite short hero.
She taught me how to use the intercom and took great joy in paging some of the loaders to the front gate. She always paged them by name and greeted them with a good-natured rib when they arrived. It seemed to help keep the guys motivated because it was easy to get overwhelmed when you're expected to spend the entire day in the hot sun loading hundreds of pounds of merchandise into people's vehicles.
Before the next customer stepped up, Millie told me I needed to page the boss and ask her what time I was supposed to head to lunch. So, I picked up the phone and dialed 245 to reach the service desk. I kinda felt all sorts of important since this was the first time I had done this. I expected to hear some random employee pick up but instead I heard "This is Regina".
Have you ever tried to swallow a cotton ball? That's what I felt was stuck in my throat. I swallowed as best I could and told her who I was and asked what time I could go to lunch. I heard her call out to another employee asking them to look on the schedule and see what time Emma was supposed to take lunch. Wait, who's Emma? Oh right. That's me. I had to close my eyes and take a quiet breath because there was no way anyone saying my name should evoke that feeling in the pit of my stomach let alone my new, apparently happily engaged, female boss.
She told me I was free to go immediately and reminded me to clock out and just return to Lawn and Garden when my hour was up. I thanked her and relayed all the info to Millie who waved and told me to go relax for a spell since I had been working so hard. I headed to the break room via the pool supply aisle. I figured it wouldn't hurt to see where all of those items were since it seemed to be a pretty popular topic among the customers who chose to checkout through Lawn and Garden. I had always liked to tinker with things and the more I saw the store through the employees eyes, the more comfortable I felt.
Once I got to the breakroom and clocked out, I had to deal with the combination lock from hell before pulling my lunch out. After stuffing my red apron into the locker and laying the lock inside the cubbyhole, I took a seat on the far left corner of the back table. Eating lunch by yourself in a breakroom full of people who already know each other can be a bit intimidating. I tried to occupy my time by reading the company newsletter but that only killed the first 20 minutes.
As people began clocking back in, the room thinned out considerably until there were only two other guys sitting at the table in front of me. I thought I heard someone clearing their throat as they turned the corner into the breakroom and as I looked up, I saw Regina walking to the time clock. I had to tighten my grip on my ham and cheese sandwich. I was taken by suprise at seeing her and for some reason the sandwich had stopped halfway to my mouth and the ham was starting to slip out.
Her back was to me but from my vantage point, I could see her fingers clicking over the digits on the time clock. 3108. I've always had a thing with numbers and memorization. Great, if that wasn't creep material I don't know what is. Stalker, party of one, your table's ready. She turned around and headed to her locker which was behind me and to my right. Thankfully, the sandwich was making its way towards my mouth again and I started chewing slowly trying to get my eyes to focus on the print in front of me proclaiming June to be the best sales month of the year.
Honestly, I wasn't focusing on anything but the sound of her combination lock spinning, the click it made when she released it, the creak her locker door made as she opened it, the thump her purse and lunch bag made as the set it on the table, the way her apron made that cotton on cotton sliding sound as she untied it and laid it in her locker after folding it. None of those things were important and yet I was hyper aware of them occurring. I glanced up just in time to see her counting out coins for the soda machine and as she caught my eye she smiled and said "Hi".
I nodded once while answering back with my own fascinating "Hello".
I heard her sneakers squeak a bit as she walked to the soda machine and glanced up to sneak a peek at how her tan shorts seemed to hug in all the right places. I should have been focusing on finishing my sandwich but somehow finding out she liked Diet Coke seemed like the more important topic of my lunch hour.
She took the seat at the far right corner of my table and proceeded to ask one of the guys how his baby was doing. I listened to her converse with him about feedings and jaundice and wondered if she had any kids. There was a lull in the conversation and I debated briefly about keeping my mouth shut but decided the least I could do is get to know my new boss. If for nothing else, it would make working around her a pleasant experience. So, I turned to her and told her she seemed to know alot about kids and asked if she had any of her own.
The next few minutes I found out she had one son, Henry, who was four years old, she had been engaged to her childhood sweetheart, Daniel, for 7 years, had worked for the company for those same 7 years and had made the bbq chicken she was eating for lunch the night before. All of that may not have seemed like a big deal to anyone else but she was sharing a part of herself with me and it made me extremely happy.
Knowing she was happily engaged set boundaries for me but I couldn't help the way my heart jumped a bit when I saw her. There's nothing wrong with a harmless crush even if it does stay permanently in my imagination. My deep, dark, overactive imagination. Before I knew it, my hour was up and it was time for me to clock back in. I told her I hoped she had a good lunch and she told me to page her if I needed anything or had a question for her. I threw my brown paper lunch bag away and retrieved my apron from my locker. After spinning the dial on the combination lock, I gave her a small smile and headed back up to Lawn and Garden. Little did I know, today would be the start of many lunches together.