Finally finished my exams which means I am officially free from here onwards! Wooo. Hopefully that means I can get back into a more regular posting schedule for you guys.
Thanks so much for all of your support with this story.
"Okay, get up," Ruby snapped, throwing open Emma's drapes. "I get it. You're miserable. But I'm not letting you wallow in here all week."
Emma had called in sick for work for the first time in her life after throwing Neal out. Word had slowly made its way around Storybrooke that the Sherriff and Mr. Gold's son had broken up, so David had told Emma to take the rest of the week off. Well, he'd sent her a text message. Emma hadn't answered any calls that week. Most of the town were convinced that she was grieving over the loss of her relationship.
But Ruby knew better.
"Shower. Now," she barked, as Emma pulled herself out of bed to offer her friend the closest thing she could manage to a death-glare. Ruby wasn't in any way intimidated by Emma's look, so after a moment she huffed out a sigh, grabbed some fresh clothes, and shut herself away in the bathroom.
While she was gone, Ruby put her plan in to action.
Ruby managed to convince Emma to leave her apartment when she left the bathroom. They decided to take it slow, heading to Granny's for a bite to eat. It would also be the perfect place for Emma to see how bad the local gossip was.
She had been expecting the staring and the whispering. It came with living in such a small town. However, she hadn't been expecting the rumors that came along with it.
"Why does everyone think Neal cheated on me?" she asked Ruby, when Granny had set their hot chocolates in front of them with a muttered, "you're better off without him."
"Um… because he's a scum bag and you can do better?" Ruby asked sweetly.
"But technically I cheated on him. I kissed another man."
"Yeah and he's been seen kissing other women before, Ems." At the look on Emma's face, Ruby held up her hand to stop any further ramblings. "We've all tried telling you before that he's no good for you. You just needed the time to come to those conclusions yourself. And now that you've met someone who treats you well… you have."
"Yeah, and I drove him away too," she sighed. "I'm such an idiot."
"No, you're not, Emma," Ruby consoled reaching for her friend's hand. "He'll come around. He just needs some time."
"He could have anyone he wanted, Ruby. I doubt he's gonna be too hung up over me." Emma pushed her mug away, suddenly not in the mood for company. She just wanted to go back to bed and forget the entire nightmare.
Her life slowly began to return to normal after that first week. She started small, heading back to work and catching up with the paperwork she'd ignored before the convention. David and Mary-Margret invited her over for dinner once a week, and she gladly accepted, knowing her friends wouldn't push her for an explanation about anything.
Neal showed up at the station at the end of the second week, to ask if Emma had come to her senses yet. David might have laughed a little too loudly when Emma offered him a place in the cells for the night if he didn't get the hell out of her life.
The next day, most of his clothes had disappeared from their apartment by the time Emma had finished work, and she made a mental note to have the locks changed before he could make off with anything that was worth a pretty penny.
Ruby showed up every Sunday evening for a girl's night, but never pushed the issue when Emma refused to watch Fairytales with her. She knew her friend was still hurting over the loss of whatever had been going on between herself and Killian Jones. And Ruby knew better than anyone else that pushing Emma would result in one of two things. Her friend would either shut her out completely, or she'd run again. So instead, the two women would eat whatever takeout took their fancy and empty the fridge of white wine as they laughed and giggled about the stories Ruby heard waiting tables for her grandmother.
As the weekend of Vegas Con drew closer, Emma's mood began to darken again. Killian still hadn't unblocked her on Facebook and he'd even gone so far as to block her on Twitter too. She'd hoped that Ruby would be right, and he'd reach out to her before the event. But instead, he'd made it perfectly clear that he never wanted anything to do with her again.
So, when she came home on Thursday afternoon to find that Ruby was waiting for her, outside of her apartment, sat on top of a packed suitcase, Emma was more than a little confused.
"Where are you going?" she asked, unlocking the front door.
"We are going to Vegas," Ruby announced excitedly.
"Uh… no we're not," Emma assured her friend. "I told you, Killian doesn't want to see me and I didn't even bother booking tickets."
"You might not have… but I did."
Emma's head shot round to glare at her friend.
"Look, you can argue all you want Ems, but this is making you miserable. You need to see him, even if it's only to beg him to listen to you. At least try and get some closure this way. And, if all else fails – It's Vegas! We can drown your sorrows and gamble away our life savings while making questionable moral decisions."
Emma didn't look convinced. "What if he has me thrown out?"
"If he does, then he's not good enough for you, Emma. But I think you'll be surprised. He's probably hurt that you lied to him. He'll come around when he hears the truth."
Ruby noticed the moment that Emma's resolve crumbled and she dashed straight for her friend's bedroom. "We have to pack quickly. Our flight is leaving in a few hours."
Ruby was a woman on a mission the moment their flight landed in Vegas. She'd never been before and she was certainly intending to make the most of her weekend there, even if everything went badly for Emma.
Ruby would never speak it aloud, but she had a feeling this weekend was going to be a good one for her best friend.
The two women spent their first night in Vegas enjoying the sights that the strip had to offer, before heading to a show that Ruby had booked for them.
The next morning, Emma was a ball of nerves as she made her way to the convention hotel to register for the weekend. She knew Killian had hinted that she'd be okay to attend the event, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the moment she gave them her name, she'd be escorted from the building.
Thankfully, both she and Ruby were able to collect everything without any issues, and Emma's heart rate calmed a little.
Until Ruby handed her three photo op vouchers.
"No. No way," Emma protested. "There's no way I'm doing three with him. He hates me."
"He doesn't hate you," Ruby sighed. "You need time, Emma. You need longer than thirty seconds to ask him to listen to you. Just take them, okay. If you don't wanna use them it's your call. But if it were me, I'd man up and use that time to ask him for a second chance."
Emma said nothing but she did stuff the tickets into her purse, instead of trying to hand them back, so Ruby took that as a small victory.
"Right, do you wanna stay for today's stuff or do you wanna go and get drunk?" she asked, clapping her hands together.
Emma really wanted to stay. The fangirl inside of her loved every aspect of the conventions, and she wanted to be present for it. But there was also a huge part of herself that felt like an invader at that moment.
"Let's stay," Ruby offered, taking the decision out of Emma's hands. "We can get drunk after."
The next morning, Emma felt sick. And it wasn't from all of the rum she'd downed the night before. Ruby had splashed out on gold tickets for the two of them, so she knew that Killian would be the first person they would see.
"I don't think I can do this," she complained, as Ruby finished drying her hair. "This was a huge mistake."
"Nonsense," Ruby chided, pushing a garment bag at her friend. "Now get dressed or we're going to be late."
Emma let out a huff but Ruby's expression left no room for argument. So, Emma sucked it up and headed into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day ahead.
"Are you serious about this?" she complained, as she left the room. Ruby had picked out a navy blue dress, matching tights, and a pair of grey boots for her friend for the day.
"For the love of God, Emma, if you don't stop complaining I'm going to knock you unconscious and drag you there," Ruby threatened. "I'm trying to help you win his heart. You need to stand out. Now take your hair down."
Emma did as Ruby asked, and allowed her friend to mess around with it for a while, before Ruby finally declared that she looked perfect.
"Let's go," she ordered, pulling open the door to their room to let Emma leave first. Ruby wasn't taking any chances.
Emma was beginning to sweat when the two girls settled into their seats in the hall. Ruby had picked the two that were front row, dead center, and Emma wanted to strangle her for it. Her legs bounced restlessly, her eyes scanning the room for possible exits, as everyone else took their own seats.
"Sit still," Ruby hissed. "You're just making it worse."
"How?" Emma asked, a little hysterically. "How could things possibly get any worse right now?"
Ruby didn't reply, well aware that the space around them was beginning to fill and the last thing she wanted to do was give anyone else gossip material to run with. Instead she reached over for her friend's hand and gave it a tight, reassuring squeeze.
It didn't help much.
When the MC finally took to the stage, Emma felt physically sick. She'd never been more nervous in her entire life. She'd never dreaded hearing the words, "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Killian Jones," so much before. But the instant they left his mouth, Emma wanted nothing more than for a huge hole to open up underneath her, and swallow her.
Killian took to the stage under a riotous applause from the rest of the fans gathered in the room and Emma squeezed Ruby's hand a little tighter. He looked tired, she thought, as he slipped off his jacket before taking his seat.
When his eyes swept the room, Emma felt her heart lurch in her chest. They landed on her briefly, before quickly moving on and the lack of emotion on Killian's face had her choking back a sob.
It was like he'd completely looked though her.
"Oh, Ems," Ruby sighed, wrapping her arm around her friend and pulling Emma into her side. She went willingly but did her best to keep the tears from falling. The last thing she needed was the people around her complaining that she was an overly emotional fangirl.
Emma's convention look is based on Jen's from a promotional shoot for Gordon Ramsay's Everyday Kitchenware for Walmart from 2013.
Thanks for reading.