A/N: Ready to gush over their first date? :)
One talk with Graham was all it took for Emma to come up with a plan. The plan was: Have Kathryn invite Regina to tag along to a night at the movie theater to see Li'l Abner play in black and white. Only thing was, she couldn't be informed that Emma would be joining them.
Regina was delighted to join. She waited with Kathryn just outside the small theater, which was lit up by a thousand bulbs and it's big white sign out front.
"Are you sure she's coming?" Emma asked, deciding to wear her best pair of khaki pants that she saved specifically for going out on dates. Which she never had none of. Her dark green shirt was tucked inside her pants, while she wore one of her father's old vintage hunting jackets, which was red and black checkered.
Emma was never the type of girl to wear pretty dresses and pretty shoes. And as long as her father was fine with that and was a stranger to strange looks and gossiped words around them- she didn't very much give a damn either.
Her blonde hair was picked up in a much neater ponytail, no fallen strands before her face. She wanted to look her best for this set up date.
"Relax, Em! It's all set up!" Graham's hand clapped the girl right on her shoulder, a satisfied smile playing on his lips as his eyes fell on the two girls across the street, waiting for them in front of the theater. "Look, see, I told you. Come on!"
Emma stood across the street for a nanosecond to take a deep breath, seeing Graham rush over to the girls before heading on over herself.
"Oh, my goodness! What a coincidence!" Kathryn exclaimed, her eyes wide as her smile as she motioned toward her boyfriend Graham and their friend Emma.
Regina frowned upon seeing Emma, not expecting for her to show up, although she couldn't say she was at all surprised either.
"Look who's here!" Kathryn whispered teasingly over at the brunette, who glared at her in murder. "Gina, you remember Emma, don't you?"
Her glare only causing Kathryn to nudge her slightly toward a smiling blonde.
"Yes, I remember Emma." Regina blinked, feeling the light nudge become a bit harsher, causing her to blink in surprise and being left with no other option but to smile while Graham and Kathryn made out right behind her. "Hi," she breathed out.
"Hi." Emma smiled, a blush settling in her cheeks, that same twinkle in her eye as she took in the brunette's beautiful all red evening dress. Her hair pulled back behind her ears with a red flower pin pinned to her beautiful hair. "You look great." She had to say.
"Thank you," a blush settled in Regina's cheeks.
"Really, really great." Her eyes couldn't move away from her, until Graham stepped right in between them, his arm draping around Emma's shoulder.
"You do look great," he turned to Emma upon looking at Regina. "You look great. And I know I look great, so can we please go see this movie? The show's about to start."
"After you." Emma motioned for the brunette to follow Graham and Kathryn inside the theater before following right behind her.
Li'l Abner played on the projector before them in that small enclosed theater room. Regina seemed to be enjoying the black and white film, chuckling at every comic action that took place while munching away on some popcorn. Emma looked increasingly frustrated, glancing over at Graham and Kathryn, who sat in between them making out the entire time. She leaned in to see if there was an empty seat on the other side of Regina. Luckily there was, which motivated her to stand up and take two steps toward the following seat.
She wasn't about to make out with Regina, although kissing her has been on her mind since she saw her in that fair. But just to be next to her was a privilege everyone should be giving in life.
Regina's chocolate eyes slowly looked over, while her hand brought a popcorn to her lips, chewing on it slowly to hide a smirk from upon seeing Emma looking her way. Despite the theater room being dark, she could see Emma's emerald eyes very clearly. The way she looked at her made her blush every time without fault.
Emma's tiny smile grew out into an even wider grin as Regina held out her bag of popcorn, offering to share some with the blonde.
Regina never reached for popcorn while Emma's hand was inside the paper bag, nor did Emma ever attempt to reach for popcorn the same time as the brunette. But to be sharing her popcorn with her, she knew- Regina saw this as a first date.
"I didn't get anything in that movie." Kathryn hoped right inside Graham's car before him.
"You have to pay attention." Said Graham, shutting the door to the driver's side.
Emma quickly leaned into Regina, so close she was able to pick up the brunette's rich scent of sweet apples. That rich scent they gave off as they were picked off an orchard.
"You wanna walk with me?" She whispered, wanting to spend some time alone with her.
Once again, Emma's boldness surprised Regina, but this time she didn't hesitate to nod and whisper back, "Yes."
"What are you guys doing?" Graham rose up from his seat, sitting up to glance over at Emma and Regina.
"Come on," Kathryn beckoned them.
"We're gonna walk," Emma said.
"Do you guys love each other?" Graham asked, causing Emma's cheeks to turn red and look away, while Regina leaned in to give a grinning Kathryn a quick hug.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Kathryn whispered, winking over at her friend as she joined Emma back on the sidewalk.
"Oh, I get it- you guys do love each other."
"Okay, goodbye," Emma waved, walking off with Regina while Graham and Kathryn drove away, finally giving both women the privacy both clearly yearned for.
With her hands tucked inside her pockets, Emma walked alongside Regina at the very same pace. She would glance down at the floor in a shy manner as she couldn't stop smiling, and Regina's smile was just too much for her to handle. It made her heart flutter like a bee.
The town was quiet that night. It almost gave off the impression that only they existed out in the world tonight. The sky was filled with only a few visible bright stars and the street lights gave the sidewalk road a peaceful feel. Only Emma's boots along with Regina's heels could be heard clicking against the cement ground below them.
"That was fun," Regina offered Emma a shy smile of her own, her hands placed before her as she walked.
"Mhm," Emma smiled back with equal shyness.
"I haven't seen a movie in ages."
"Really?"
"Yeah, not since I was a little kid." Emma's gawk made Regina feel like someone from another planet almost.
"What?" Emma breathed out a chuckle.
"No. I'm busy, you know. I don't have a lot of time."
"You're busy?" Emma's brow slightly lifted.
Regina nodded, "That's right. I have a very strict schedule. I get up in the morning. Breakfast, math tutor, Latin tutor, lunch. Tennis lesson, dance lesson- sometimes both. French tutor, piano lesson, and then I eat dinner and after dinner I spend time with my family. And then… I catch up on some reading."
Emma was impressed but not that Regina was that smart of a woman. But the fact that someone as beautiful as her was told how to run her life.
"Wow," she nodded. "Sounds like the road to success." She walked a little ahead of Regina, walking slowly backward to be able to face her better.
"Oh, you bet," The brunette smiled proudly. "We're applying to all these colleges. Radcliffe, Sarah Lawrence. Those are the ones that we want."
"Who's we?" Asked Emma.
"What?"
"You just said, 'the ones that we want.'"
"Oh, my mother and father. We decide everything together."
"Everything?" A tiny smirk formed on Emma's lips.
Regina glared playfully, "No, not everything. But the important things, yes."
"And then everything else you get to decide all by yourself?" Emma asked, her smirk growing into a chuckle as she felt a hard slap being delivered across her arm by Regina.
"Don't be rude!" She released a chuckle.
"I'm sorry." Emma shrugged in a form of apology. "I'm just trying to figure out what you do for fun."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… I don't know." Emma glanced over at Regina, their eyes locking. "I mean those are all things you have to do, right? So, what do you do because you want to?"
It dawned on Regina that no one's ever cared to ask her that question before.
"I just told you," she murmured, glancing down at the ground shyly before looking back into her emerald eyes.
Emma clicked her teeth, shaking her head. "I don't know," she murmured under her breath, looking ahead before walking backward again to face the brunette directly. "This surprises me."
"What?"
"I just always figured you were kinda…" She paused, searching for the best way to put it into words.
"Kind of what?" A single brow lifted.
"Just… Free."
"What?"
"Free." Emma came to a halt as did Regina.
"I am free." She assured her.
"You don't seem like it."
"Well, I am," Regina shrugged, lifting up her brow more.
Emma raised her brow in form of a mock, slightly leaning into the brunette while she did the same in a playful manner.
"Come here, I want to show you something." Emma rushed over to the middle of the empty street.
"Emma, what are you doing?" Regina gawked at the crazy action. Something she clearly was never going to get used to seeing out of Emma, but she loved all the more.
"Just come on."
She scoffed, "You're going to get run over."
"By all the cars?" Emma looked over her shoulder before lying flat on her back in the middle of the cold concrete road, right underneath a traffic light.
Emma was adventurous and spontaneous, Reigna could tell that right off. She wasn't used to this sort of spontaneous behavior from anyone, but she knew she wanted more of it. She crossed her way to the middle of the street, glancing down at the blonde as she laid calmly out on the road, as if no car would dare to drive by at this hour. Looking peacefully up at the changing traffic lights.
"My dad and I used to come out here," Emma explained in a soft tone of voice. "We'd just lay here, watch them go from green to red to yellow. You could try it if you wanted to."
"No," Regina smirked, shaking her head. Too shy to even want anyone seeing her laid out in the middle of the road.
"Why not?"
"Because- I don't know! Would you just get up?" Regina hissed with a smile stretched out across her ruby red lips.
"That's your problem, you know that? You don't do what you want." Emma challenged her.
After a pace back and forth toward her, and a raised brow later Regina said, "Okay." And gave it to lying next to Emma on the cold concrete floor. Thankful she was wearing a sweater on top of her evening dress.
Emma's head turned to glance over at the smiling brunette, who chuckled. This was certainly the most strange but beautiful date she's ever been on, and Regina was no stranger to being asked out on dates. But she was a stranger to saying yes to someone as crazy, yet as sweet as Emma.
The silence surrounded them a while before Regina looked around, slightly lifting her head before looking over at Emma.
"And what happens if a car comes?" She asked the blonde, who kept her eyes closed the entire time. Her hands resting casually on her flat stomach.
"We die." Emma said matter-of-factly.
"What?" Regina glared.
"Just relax," The corners of Emma's lips tilted. "Just trust. You need to learn how to trust."
"Okay," Regina whispered, closing her eyes and remaining quiet for a minute until she remembered something she loved doing for herself and not others. "Painting," she whispered.
"Hm?" Emma turned her head off to the side.
"You asked me what I do for me." She reminded her.
"What's that?" Asked the blonde.
"I love to paint."
"Yeah?"
Regina nodded, her eyes closing again as Emma looked back up to the flashing traffic lights. "Most of the time I have these thoughts bouncing around in my head," she murmured in a soft voice. "But with a brush in my hand the world becomes kind of quiet."
"Hm," the blonde's lips stretched out into a tiny smile, her eyes slowly closing.
It was a peaceful night that soon turned terrifying for a split second as a loud horn startled both girl's, causing them to quickly stand up from the concrete ground and run over to the sidewalk. Regina couldn't help but break out into a fit of laughter as Emma performed a full one-eighty spin, almost getting run over by the car.
"Get out of the street!" An enraged man shouted, driving by even faster.
Emma glared at the car, who grew smaller and smaller by the second, running a hand through her fallen strands of golden hair before she looked over at a cackling brunette.
"Are you okay?" She breathed out, chuckling as Regina's response was to laugh harder. "Why are you laughing?" She asked her, releasing a nervous laugh of her own after.
Regina leaned her back against a brick wall, breathing out a few more laughs before she was able to speak. "Oh! That was fun." She breathed out.
Emma's eyes sparkled at the sight of her smile, and the sound of her light chuckles still escaping her ruby red lips. She couldn't help but to think to herself, asking herself, how could anyone be this beautiful and not know it? She needed Regina to see that.
"You wanna dance with me?" She dared to ask again.
After releasing another light chuckle, and seeing that gentle sparkle in Emma's green eyes. She finally gave the answer she wanted to give her since day one.
"Sure."
The blonde walked over to the brunette, her arm and hand stretched out for her to take.
"Now?" A single brow raised.
"Mhm."
"Here?" Regina chuckled, taking the blonde's offered hand, feeling an electric current pass through her body at the skin to skin contact. She was thankful Emma was leading her into the street, otherwise she wouldn't remember how to walk.
"Mhm," Emma smiled, walking further into the street, under the same spot they had just lied down on, under the same flashing traffic light.
"We're not supposed to dance in the middle of the street."
"We're not supposed to dance in the street," Emma mocked her, causing the brunette to chuckle.
"We don't have any music," said Regina, allowing Emma to spin her out in a slow manner.
"Well, we'll make some." Emma murmured, grabbing a hold of the brunette's hand again, while placing her free one against her waist, feeling Regina's hands rest against her bicep and shoulder.
Regina's heart stopped upon the close proximity of their faces. The tip of their noses almost were close enough to touch one another. A wide smile spread across her ruby red lips upon listening to a low hum escape the blonde's chest, humming out 'I'll Be Seeing You' by Billie Holiday.
"You're a terrible singer," Regina smirked, allowing Emma to lead her in the most beautiful dance.
"I know," Emma murmured, her eyes locking onto chocolate brown ones that fluttered her heart and manifested the butterflies inside of her stomach again.
"But, I love this song." The brunette whispered, allowing herself to search more of the blonde's loving embrace, feeling her gentle breath tickling against her hair while she hummed the rest of the song throughout their dance.
Emma dipped her once, bringing back into her embrace, their noses slightly touching before dipping her back once again. And upon their shared smiles, and their shared locking eyes. They knew. They were madly in love.