It had been 2 weeks since Neal asked Emma to move in with him at the end of the semester. With only 4 weeks left of the Semester Emma was starting to feel anxious and knew she had to tell her friends that she was leaving. She would tell them at dinner that night.
Ruby, August, Regina and Emma met outside the dining hall like they did most nights.
"Where is your Prince Charming?" Regina asked, noticing that Neal would not be joining them that evening.
"He has some stuff to do, and could you not call him that. I used to call my dad that when I was little, it's a little weird." Emma cringed.
"Oh! Daddy!" Ruby said in a sultry voice.
"Okay! Alright! No more! Gross!" Emma rushed out, shaking out the chill that went up her spine, but smiling when she heard her friends laughing at how uncomfortable she was. "Let's go get some food."
When they all had their plate of food, and began digging in. Emma found her courage and took a deep breath.
"Hey guy? I really need to talk with you about something." Emma confessed.
"You're pregnant." Ruby said plainly, laughing slightly at her own joke.
"No! Of course not. Come on guys this is serious." Emma said, feeling slightly defeated.
"I'm sorry Emma, you have our undivided attention." August announced, nudging Ruby.
"Okay, so it's about Neal." Emma said, taking in a deep breath, noticing how everyone leaned in a little. "As you guys know, he is graduating in about a month. Well when he graduates, he is going to move down to Tallahassee." Emma said, hoping the blush on her face was as bad as she thought it was.
"Wait, so he is just leaving you?" Ruby asked. "Just like that?"
"Well not exactly. He asked me to move with him." Emma confessed.
"Wait, so are you just dropping out of school to follow your little boyfriend." Regina accused harshly.
"What? No. I mean, originally I was going to transfer to another school, but that wasn't going to work. So he is going to move down there first and then when I graduate I am going to move down there." Emma said sternly.
"Well, I hope you know what you are doing." Regina said quietly.
"I do."
"Then all I have to say is, Congratulations." Regina reached across the table and grabbed Emma's hand, holding it in hers.
Emma only looked back at Regina, shocked that Regina would even hold her hand in the first place, but that she was supporting her with moving in with Neal.
"Yes Emma, Congratulations. I sure hope you guys have everything figured out, but we will always be here for you." August said, rubbing Emma's arms slightly, as he was eyeing Regina, taken aback at what he was looking at.
"Yes, congratulations Emma. If you excuse me." Ruby said, standing up from her chair and heading to the bathroom.
Actually, I need to get going as well. I have to finish up a few things. Thank you so much for the support guys!" Emma gushed, standing up and leaving the dining hall.
When Emma left, Ruby came back from the bathroom, sitting back in her original spot, while August looked at Regina.
"What the Hell was that?" August asked.
"What?" Regina asked defensively.
"Ruby and I can see being supportive of this, but you Regina, you usually have a lecture or have at least something to say." August said, noticing Ruby was refusing to look at either one of them.
"She is not going to move." Regina said plainly.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh please! They are not a good match, and she wasn't excited to tell us she was moving, she was nervous, which means she is not excited to move. She doesn't want to move, she will figure it out." Regina said, before taking a sip of her cinder.
"Yeah, why would we allow her to actually move in with him." Ruby said quietly, but August caught it.
"What do you mean?" August asked.
"Just that, Emma can do a lot better." Regina said, kicking Ruby under the table causing her to jump slightly.
After leaving the dining hall, Emma texted Neal to meet her outside, because she needed to talk about something important. He agreed to meet up. When she reached his dorm he was already outside, standing in a winter jacket.
"Hey, do you mind if we go for a walk?" Emma asked when she reached him.
"Yeah, but only if it's a quick one, it's freezing out here!" Neal complained.
"Yeah, of course." Emma said, noticing it was a little cold out.
A couple of minutes into the walk, Emma took a deep breath in. "Neal, I want to talk with you about something."
"What's up?" He asked, shoving his hands deeper in his pockets.
"Neal, I know we agreed that we would move in together in about a month, but I just found out a lot of my credits won't transfer over, so I think it would be best if you move down there first and I will follow you a couple of months later." Emma rushed out, looking down at the ground, hoping that he would agree with her plan.
"Wait, what?" Neal asked. "You're not coming with me?"
"Not until the summer, but I will be right behind you. I can help you move down there over Christmas break and go down and see you during spring break. I will be seeing you every few weeks. It's only a couple of months and I will be down there before you know it." Emma said, trying to encourage the idea.
"Emma, we agreed we would move together!" Near practically yelled, causing Emma to stop walking in surprise. Neal had never raised his voice at her before, and she didn't like it.
"No, I know, but I really want to finish school on time, but if I transfer I won't be able to." Emma said, hoping he would understand.
"So you want me to move down first and be down there, alone." Neal said sternly.
"Only for a small little while!" Emma said, getting slightly frustrated.
"No." He said simply.
"What?" She asked, her eyes widened with the fear of where this conversation was going.
"You can either move with me in a month or not at all!" Neal yelled.
"What? Why is that the only option? Why can't we live apart for only a couple of months. This is important to me, this is my career, my life!" Emma yelled back.
"Can you imagine the strain this will have on our relationship!" Neal continued to yell. "Do you know how selfish you are being right now!"
"Selfish! Are you kidding me! Selfish would be not moving down there at all. I am uprooting my life for you!" Emma yelled back, standing her ground.
Looking up at the sky, he took a deep breath. "Okay, let's say I agree to you moving down there when you graduate, I don't think we should be together while we are apart."
"What?" Emma was beyond confused.
"If you want to move down there in the summer, I am sorry, but for those few months we are apart, we will be broken up. So that leaves us with breaking up now, or breaking up when I leave." Neal said sternly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Emma felt like she was seeing Neal for the first time. She realized this was not what she wanted. "Now." She said calmly.
"What?" Neal asked, releasing his arms, starting at her with a blank expression on his face.
"I said 'now'. We can break up now. Goodbye, Neal." Emma said, turning to walk away from him.
"Wait shouldn't we talk about this?" Neal asked, walking after her, realizing she wasn't bluffing.
"There's nothing left to say."