A few months have passed, and Emma and Neal were officially together. It didn't take them very long to start calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, though Emma cringe at the words. She was never one for labels.
Neal asked Emma to be his girlfriend one crisp fall night, while they were on a walk. They had been dating for about 2 months and Emma couldn't be happier. She quickly agreed, pulling him in for a hug and a long, heated kiss. They pulled apart breathless, both with a twinkle in their eyes.
By the time they parted ways that night it was nearly midnight. She called her friends, and when none of them picked up, she took a leap of faith and braced herself. She went through her contacts and called her mother, who picked up after the second ring.
"Hello?" Her mother answered, in a high-pitched voice, to this day it will remind Emma of a Disney Princess.
"Why Hello." Emma said, hearing her mother gasp and was practically screaming on the other end of the phone.
"Emma! Oh goodness, it is so wonderful to hear from you! You know, your father and I were just talking about you. Thought maybe we could take a trip up there to see you!" Emma laughed slightly, how she missed her mother's over the top enthusiasm.
"I would love that mom, and since you are this excited to hear from me, I can only imagine what your reaction is going to be when I tell you some good news." Hearing her mother pause for a moment, probably gathering all her strength not to scream with curiosity.
"Should I wake your father?" She asked.
"No, it's okay. If he is already asleep then you can tell him in the morning or you can have him call me."
"Oh Goodie! So what is this good news?" Emma took a deep breath and couldn't hold back her smile.
"I... I met someone." Emma could hear her mother practically stop breathing.
"You…you mean you went on a date?!" Mary's Margaret's voice was getting higher and louder with every word that came out of her mouth.
"Well, actually mom. We have been dating for about two months now."
"What?!" Emma had to pull the phone away from her ear, to keep her from going deaf. "Why didn't you tell me you were dating someone. Oh My goodness, this is so exciting! Who is he, what's his name? Where did you guys meet?"
Emma was beginning to believe that mother stopped breathing altogether. Laughing, Emma laid down on her stomach and began to fill her mother in on her love life.
"Okay, well I had class with him a couple of years ago, and ever since I had been seeing him all around campus. I thought he was cute, but you know me, I tend to focus on my studies more than boys. Well the gang soon realized something was up and forced me to talk to him. We started dating and just moments ago, he asked me to be his girlfriend." Emma paused, and braced herself for her mother's screams on the other end.
"OH MY GOODNESS! EMMA! This is so exciting. I can not wait to tell your father. So tell me, what is he like?"
"Well, let me see. He is incredibly sweet, very helpful with things. He and I love the same tv shows and movie genres. He is very athletic, and even got me to go on a run with him. He has a bit of a mysterious side." Emma, letting her mind wander.
"What do you mean mysterious?" Her mother asked, slightly concerned.
"I'm not sure. I feel like there is something that he is not telling me. He might just have a bit of a secret and doesn't want to tell me. We haven't been together that long anyway, so I'm sure he will tell me sooner or later." Emma said, reassuring herself more than her mother.
"Oh I am sure he will. You guys are just starting out, soon you will know more about him than he knows about himself. You just have to give it time. Oh honey, this is so exciting. Your very first boyfriend. Oh! I wish I could have seen you go off on your first date with him. I would have taken your picture." Mary Margaret said, unable to contain her excitement, her voice was getting higher and higher with every word, Emma didn't think it could get any higher.
"Which is why you weren't there." Emma mumbled.
"What was that dear?" Her mother asked.
"Nothing." Emma said quickly. "And if I am correct, Neal is not my first boyfriend. I had a few men in my day. Way back in second and third grade."
Emma and her mother were on the phone for nearly two hours before Emma found herself falling asleep talking on the phone.
"Hey Mom, it's been great catching up with you, but I really have to go. I'm falling asleep just sitting here."
"Okay Sweetie. Well go to bed. I love you, and I can't wait to hear more about Neal."
"I promise. Love you mom." With that Emma hung up her phone and crawled under her blankets, feeling her body heat rise slowly, she soon drifted off into sleep.
That next morning Emma was woken up to loud yelling in her hallway. Looking over and grabbing her phone, the time read 6:00AM. Groaning, Emma pulled the blankets back over her head and tried to block out the yelling. With no luck, Emma decided to get up and figure out what was going on.
Emma made it out into the hallway and saw Regina and August yelling at each other. Making her way towards them, Emma couldn't understand what they were yelling about. They were talking over each other, both too proud to let the other one get a word in.
"Hey." Emma tried, but neither of them stopped. Emma tried again but a little louder.
"Hey!" This time both Regina and August heard her and turn towards her. "What the hell?! You guys are best friends, what is going on?" As soon as the words lets Emma's mouth, both of them started talking over each other, trying to explain themselves.
Having enough of this, Emma grabbed both of them by their ears and began dragging them over to her dorm. Once inside, Emma sat them down on the opposite side of the room.
"Okay, clearly, there is something going on here. So one at a time, you guys are going to tell me what happened." Emma paused to see if either one of them would speak.
Regina was sitting in Emma's desk chair, her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was staring at the wall opposite of August. August was leaning against Emma's dresser, his arms were on either side of him, supporting his weight on the dresser. He was looking down at the ground, unable to look at either Emma or Regina. Taking a deep breath, Emma started again.
"Its six in the morning, you guys hardly fight, besides the daily bickering, what is this about? August?" Emma noticed a slightly guilty look in August's eyes and decided to take advantage and call him out on it. Shaking his head slightly, August slowly looked up at Emma and sighed.
"Emma…" August started. Regina quickly looked at August, her eyes growing big.
"Emma, we have a friend who is in a long term relationship with her boyfriend." Emma could see Regina, physically relax a little and made a mental note about it. "We have been really happy for her, but we found out that the guy that she is with, has a shady past, and I suggested telling her, but Regina wants him to tell. They have been together for a while now, that I doubt he is ever going to tell her." Emma, not fully intrigued by the story, sat on her bed and lean in closer.
"What's so shady about his past?" Emma asked. Regina stood up and began to walk around the room.
"Remember my last boyfriend, Graham? Remember how I found out he was doing drugs?" Regina stated, turning around, making eye contact with Emma.
"Yes, is this what this guy is doing as well?"
"Well, kinda. We believe that he is doing some drugs, which ones we are not sure, but we that he used to be the one to sell it to Graham." Regina said.
Emma was not fully invested in the story. "Oh wow, how did you guys find this out? Who is it? Do I know them?"
"Well, right before they started dating, I felt like I knew him before. I knew that I had seen him before, but I just couldn't figure out where. One day, when I was leaving my math class, I heard Graham talking. You know how he and I are trying, and failing, at staying friends, so I was going to head over in his direction and say hi, when I say the guy. That's when it hit me, he was the one that I would see trying to sneak away from my apartment in the middle of the night, whenever Graham would buy drugs." Emma let the story sink in for a while.
"So you guys are arguing about whether to tell her or not?" Both of them nodding, unable to look Emma in the eye again.
"What do you think we should do? Put yourself in these girls shoes, would you want your friends to tell you, or would you rather hear it from your boyfriend, if he even says it." August asked. Emma thought for a moment, before taking a deep breath.
"If there was a guarantee that he was going to tell her, then let him tell her. Having it be something as big and dangerous as drugs, he might not tell her, for his own reasons. So my guess would be if she is open to listen to you guys, and you guys are close enough then I say, maybe you guys should sit her down and tell her. She might not believe you at first and might even get a bit mad, but when everything is all said and done, she will know the truth, and when she chooses to accept that, she will more than likely apologize to guys."
Both Regina and August looked at each other, almost like they were reading each other's minds.
"What? You guys please tell me! Do I know who any of these people are? Besides him being a drug dealer, how do you guys know these people? " Emma was practically begging.
"Emma…" August started.
"Don't!" Regina practically screamed.
"Why? She wants to know who they are, and she even stated it herself that in the end everything will be okay." August said.
"This is different and you know it. The end result may be the same but I don't want to be the one to hurt her." Regina said.
"Hurt me? Why would this hurt me?" Emma asked.
"See, now you've done it. We have no other choice but to tell her everything now." August said, getting slightly angry, raising his voice at Regina.
Regina was never one to back down from a fight and began to defend herself. August was having none of her excuses and began to talk over her again.
Emma sat on her bed, watching her two friends fight over a situation that she believed had nothing to do with her. Emma was confused as to why knowing who these people are would hurt her. What is Ruby? Did she have a secret boyfriend that she did know about? No, if it was her, then she cheated a lot, and Ruby is not a cheater. What if it's her parents? No, her father wasn't one to sell or do drugs. He wouldn't drive 3 hours just to sell drugs to a college student than drive home, there was no way.
Emma was trying to figure out whom she possibly could have been, when her friends were slowly getting louder and louder. Tired of their yelling, Emma got off her bed and went over to Regina and August, who were just inches from each other. She grabbed a hold of their ears again, and both of them practically screamed out in pain and began bending down. Releasing after a few seconds Emma looked at both of them.
"That is enough for you two! Tell, or don't tell me, I really don't care at this point. You guys are best friends, and you are letting someone else's relationship drama get in the way of that. Please just stop".
Emma was about to go on a long rant about friendships and drama when Regina stopped her.
"Emma…" Taking a well-deserved deep breath Emma looked at Regina. Regina looked as though she was about to cry, her face was red, and she was shaking slightly. Emma could see tears forming in her eyes.
"Emma, I don't know how to tell you this, but it's Neal."