Sundays were a tradition for Emma, and by tradition she understands she would sleep until her body couldn't stand another minute laying down. However, last night she had forgotten to close the curtains and the morning sun light was fighting its way into her eyes. She groaned into the pillow and rolled in the mattress, trying to find some darkness to keep sleeping, but after long minutes she gave up. Emma was still sitting on bed when she heard the front door open.
When she went outside, she found Regina draining a cold bottle of water. She was wearing sports clothes and on her arm there was a band with her phone inside. Her eyes were closed as she drank and Emma could notice the earphones were still on her ears. She then left the bottle aside and her eyes met Emma's figure.
"Hey," Emma nodded although she was sure Regina couldn't hear her.
In response, Regina took off the earphones with a smile bright enough but not giving away anything. "Good morning. I brought butter," she said pointing at the fridge.
"Did you run to the market?" Emma joked as she joined her roommate in the kitchen.
"Actually, I did," Regina answered, completely missing the joke and making Emma laugh softly. "What?"
"Nothing," she shrugged. "So you jog in the mornings?"
Emma stopped in front of Regina to get a mug, but the other woman didn't move. Instead, she just swallowed the last drops of water left on the bottle and then looked at her.
"When I get some free time. Also, it's a beautiful day outside." Emma cleared her throat and pointed at the cupboard behind Regina. "Oh, sure," she murmured as she stepped aside enough to let Emma reach for a mug.
"I used to jog too, and work out," Emma shared, internally wondering why she was in such a good mood in the morning, especially when she was supposed to still be in bed.
"I can tell," Regina nodded. It made Emma's first blush of the day creep her cheeks. "You don't do that anymore?"
Emma shook her head, her face in the mug as she poured some coffee it seemed Regina had made earlier that morning. "I lost the habit, I guess. I'm always saying to myself I will start again though."
"It's never too late," Regina pointed out. "I work out five days of the week, if I don't have an urgent job. Perhaps you can come with me some times."
Emma's surprise was visible in her features when she whipped her head to look at Regina. "Five days?" Regina nodded like if it was nothing. "But, like, in a gym?"
"Three days out of the usual five I work out in the park," she said. Emma waited to tell her where she did it the other two days, but the revelation never came and Emma guessed Regina probably didn't want to bring her to the gym. It was enough with sharing an apartment with her. "So, you in?" Regina asked, pulling Emma out of her thoughts.
"Um, sure," she answered, mostly out of obligation for being asked.
Regina smiled and Emma almost dropped her mug. "Good. I'll take a shower. Do you have plans for today?" she asked on her way out of the kitchen.
"Yeah, this evening," Emma nodded. She was about to ask Regina about her plans, but she was already out of her sight, and only heard a 'okay' before the bathroom door closed.
"Okay, so no mentioning the make out session…again," Emma murmured to herself before grabbing the butter on the fridge.
If Mary Margaret was there, she would be surprised by the level of efficiency Emma was showing. Sundays were lazy days for her, but after seeing Regina so committed to the work out, she felt like a couch potato in a bad way. So, she started by pulling her things out of all the boxes and slowly making that room, her room. Her earphones were blasting her music, so she didn't hear the first knock. The second, though, she heard it and even jumped, startled.
Emma opened the door and Regina's frown disappeared. "Yeah?" Emma asked.
"Oh you were wearing earphones," Regina noticed out loud, so Emma nodded. "I just wanted to tell you I'm hungry and I'm going to make something. Would you want to join me for lunch?"
Emma shot a glance at the clock hanging on the wall and raised her eyebrows, "It's that hour already! I hadn't realised."
"Time flies when you have so much fun," Regina said, and Emma couldn't tell if she was joking or if she was serious.
"Uh…yeah…Now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry." Emma threw her earphones on to the bed and joined Regina outside, walking together to the kitchen.
"So, I don't really have any meat here, but perhaps I can make you some pasta so good you forget about it," she raised her eyebrows, throwing Emma a silent question, to which Emma nodded.
"Okay, I'll allow it," she joked, making Regina smile. When her roommate turned, she noticed the tips of her hair were still lightly wet.
"You can go shopping tomorrow if you want. There's a market a block from here and I've been told meat is good there," she continued as she pulled out an onion and mushrooms. "Do you like pasta carbonara?"
Emma took a seat in one of the stools. "I love it, actually."
Regina glanced over her shoulders and wiggled her eyebrows, "Okay, so I have to compete against high expectations."
"Well, I love it, but it's not like I've tried them in a fancy restaurant or anything," Emma clarified. Then, she added, "Do you need help with anything?"
Regina pointed at the pot, "Could you start to cook the pasta?" Then, she stopped and looked at her seriously, "You know how to do that, do you?"
Emma laughed and nodded, "I know that much, thank you for the confidence you put in me."
"I just had to check," Regina pointed out unapologetically. "I'll go making the sauce and it will be done in a blink."
They did their tasks in silence, and once Emma was sure the pasta was okay, -now with a little pressure on herself- she watched Regina cutting vegetables and making the sauce. The movements seemed quite natural and she looked like she had experience.
"You handle the knife like a pro. You could be a chef," Emma complimented with her eyes still on Regina's skilful hands.
"Or a killer," Regina laughed softly. Emma laughed along, but nervously, half of her knowing Regina was joking and the other half hoping she was. "I like to cook, actually, but I don't have the pleasure to do it so often. You know, work."
"Your job seems like a lot of work. You must like it to put up with it," Emma commented, remembering the late calls, the vegan thing and the frustration she had felt on Regina a couple nights ago.
Regina's mysterious smile gave little away, but enough to answer Emma before she even said anything. "It pays well."
Emma leaned on the counter, but a flashback of Regina sitting on top of it while she moaned in her shoulder made her awkwardly stand next to it, trying to find somewhere else to lean on. She watched Regina's profile, her features focused on the task she was at, and took a breath. It was now or never; she had to bring it up.
"So…" she started. "About the other night."
"Mmhm?" Regina murmured while she threw the ingredients into the pan, her eyes still on the food.
"You know, when…"
"Yes?"
Emma rolled her eyes, surprised when Regina didn't catch it right away. "When we…"
"Had sex?" Regina finished, finally looking up. Emma just nodded, taken aback by the sudden attention and bluntness. "What about it?"
"Well, yeah…it—" Emma started, but Regina interrupted her.
"Wait, did you think it was meant to be something more?" she asked, and then explained before Emma could answer. "I was quite frustrated and I usually relax that way. You are attractive and seemed like you wanted it. Because you did, right?"
Emma fought the urge to open her eyes wide, but she couldn't help the blush that warmed her cheeks. "I mean, uh, yeah, yes I did," she stuttered.
"Good. Consent is important," Regina recited with a nod while, with a flick of her wrist, she cooked the sauce.
"Okay, yes," Emma nodded. "So I wanted to make sure it wasn't awkward or anything."
Regina poured the cream onto the pan and shook her head, "Oh, no. It isn't awkward for me. Is it for you? It won't happen again."
"No!" Regina titled her head and Emma cleared her throat, "I mean no, it wasn't awkward. It was just like exercising, right? Like, nothing else."
"It could be a way of seeing it, yes," Regina nodded and Emma mirrored her.
The cooktop rang and their attention shifted towards the pasta, so the conversation was left unfinished -at least for Emma-. In fact, they finished cooking lunch and had it while they talked about much lighter things, like Emma's experience in the apartment or stories about the building's neighbourhood. It was such a comfortable and ongoing conversation, Emma almost forgot the embarrassing moment from before. However, after lunch Emma wanted to rest for a while before going out with Mulan. In the end, old traditions are hard to kill and the second she touched the bed, she felt asleep. After all, she had gotten up earlier than usual that morning.
It was because of that nap, she was in a rush later and barely had time to get dressed and head out of the apartment, running past Regina who was just chilling in the couch with her laptop and waving goodbye over her shoulder. Mulan hated unpunctuality and Emma still didn't know how they were still friends because she was the least punctual person she knew.
The clock marked 5:30 sharp when she crossed the cafe, knocking on the glass next to Mulan -who was already waiting for her, of course- to let her know she was there.
"Hey," Emma breathed out when she fell on the chair in front of her friend. "I'm on time."
Mulan laughed. "You know I'm not going to leave if you arrive a little late, right?"
"I know, but it's like a personal challenge to me at this point," Emma pointed out. "You already ordered?" she asked looking at her friend's cup of coffee.
"Yeah, I had a heavy headache and I needed coffee," she sighed.
"Okay, addict." Emma raised her hand and, the next second, a waitress appeared by their table to take the order. "I'll have a cup of coffee just like hers and…do you have cake?"
"Yes. We now have carrot cake, chocolate cake and lemon cake," the girl recited as she eyed the fridge from there.
"Carrot cake. Two spoons, please," Emma asked, ignoring Mulan's head shake. The waitress nodded and shuffled away once she had written everything down, leaving the pair alone. "So, what's up?" she continued now looking at her friend.
"What's up with me? What's up with you! You're the one starting a new life." Mulan put down her cup, still almost full. "Do you like the new apartment?"
"Like? Girl, it's beyond anything I would've ever found!" Emma exclaimed. "It's amazing. Have you ever been there?"
Mulan shook her head, "Nah. I only know Regina by name, from Merida's friend. Is she nice?"
Emma considered it in her mind before moving her head from side to side. "She is nice."
"But?" Mulan asked, feeling Emma's voice.
"But she's….peculiar."
Mulan frowned, "How so?"
The waitress came back to their table with Emma's coffee and the cake and, after wishing them bon appétit, she left them alone again, letting Emma continue the conversation.
"Have you ever met someone who is good at everything she does except for like behaving like a human being?" Emma rhetorically asked, but Mulan tilted her head confused anyways. "She had never heard of The Bachelor."
Mulan's eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing into her hairline. "Really?"
"Yeah, it's like she's been living under a rock. That and…."
"And?" Mulan encouraged her to continue.
Emma's mind quickly summed up the make out session plus when they had talked about it. "Well, we…kinda slept together."
"Like, cuddling?" Mulan asked, frowning.
"Like sex," Emma whispered, glancing around to check if anyone had heard her. However, half the cafe whipped their head towards them when Mulan exclaimed.
"Sex?!" Emma shushed her and stared at her, so Mulan continued with a lower voice, "You've been there less than a week. The devil works hard but Emma Swan works harder."
Emma raised her hands, "Wait. Have you ever even seen Regina?"
"No, but from what Merida has told me she's quite a woman."
Emma nodded. "She is, and I hadn't planned on doing anything, not that I didn't want to, but I just started to live in one hell of an apartment, and I didn't want to screw it up. But that's not what's peculiar."
"What is it then?"
Emma ate a spoonful of cake and raised a hand for Mulan to wait for her to swallow. "When we finished, she didn't say anything about it. For days. It was me who brought up the subject."
"And what did she say?" Mulan interrogated her.
"She was almost surprised I brought it up. Like it was a casual thing for her, like if she was talking about shopping a shirt," she explained.
Mulan blinked, waiting for her friend to continue, but when she didn't, she raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"
"What do you mean 'that's it'?"
"The fact she is a grown up person and doesn't make a big deal out of casual sex makes her peculiar?" Mulan wondered.
"Well, it's not something you see everyday, isn't it?" Emma pointed out.
"Touché."
"She asked me if I had wanted to do it even," Emma added.
Mulan nodded. "Consent is important for her. Nice. Maybe next time we could hang around your house and you introduce me officially to her," she joked.
"You wish," Emma laughed. "It's like I don't know what she is going to say next."
"You just met so it's normal you don't really know her," Mulan shrugged.
Emma shook her head, "No, it's not like that. It's like, she's so mysterious I think even if I got to know her, I would still don't know what she is going to do next." Mulan narrowed her eyes and watched her friend as she drank from her cup of coffee. "What?" Emma asked.
"Are you falling for her?"
"No!" Emma chocked, hardly swallowing the coffee she had been drinking. "I'm not. We barely know."
"But you want to get to know her," Mulan stated.
Emma rolled her eyes, "Of course. She's my roommate."
"But like…" Mulan shook her hands, "More."
"No," Emma said, but it wasn't enough to convince her friend, who raised an eyebrow. "I mean yeah, if it was another situation. Like I said, I don't want to screw everything up. I'm in a good place right now."
Mulan watched her friend for a moment, considering if she was telling the truth, then nodded. "Okay, okay. Then you can set me up for a date," she wiggled her eyebrows, laughing when Emma shot her a death glare. "You know what it would be good for you? Tinder."
"No."
"But you haven't tried it!" Mulan insisted, leaning forward. "It doesn't have to be for a serious relationship, you can just look for casual flings here and there. It helps."
Emma crossed her arms and leaned back on the chair. "You know that's not really my thing. I'm the worst at texting."
"You don't have to be good at it. You just have to have the looks, and you do."
"Thanks," Emma conceded. "But no thanks."
"C'mon," Mulan insisted, offering her hand. "Let's just open your account and try it. It's not like you have anything to lose."
Emma took a breath and watched her friend's hand, motioning her to give her the phone. She was serious; she didn't think it could work. However, Mulan was right and she had nothing to lose anyways. It's not like she had to paid or anything, she just could stop using it. With a sigh, she pulled out her phone and handed it to her friend.
"Okay, but don't expect me to use it."
Mulan snatched the phone and smiled widely.
"It's enough for me."
Emma entered the building and waved at Sidney, who nodded back at her. Her phone vibrated and she pulled it out when she pressed the button to call the elevator. The notification prayed there were interesting people for her nearby and she should check them out. She opened the app when the elevator arrived, so she almost hit a man who was coming out of it.
"Sorry," she apologized, raising her head.
An older man the size of her eyed her from head to toe, then stepped aside, leaning on his cane. "You should watch your step, young lady," he said before walking way.
Emma watched him go, as he limped away, and grimaced at his attitude. The door of the elevator started to close and Emma raised her hand to stop it, jumping inside and shaking her head. This time, when she tried to open the door, she did it slowly and it finally clicked, so she smiled triumphally but when she entered the apartment there was no one there to share her victory with. She glanced around and finally found Regina on the terrace, a lit cigarette in her mouth as she smoked it. Emma watched how she let out the air and followed the smoke with her eyes.
Regina glanced over her shoulder and saw Emma, so she moved her head, motioning to come with her, and Emma obeyed.
"I didn't know you smoked," she said, still standing on the door of the small terrace instead of taking the other seat.
Regina took a drag on the cigarette and let out the air slowly, taking her time. She was leaning back on her seat, her legs crossed as her hand rested on the table. While Emma didn't like the act of smoking at all, she found it extremely hot on Regina.
"I don't do it often, just sometimes. Old habits," she said, her voice slightly raspy.
"Ah…" Emma watched the late evening views along with Regina for a moment. The sun was almost out of sight and the sky went from dark blue to orange. "What are you doing out here?"
"Enjoying the evening. It's a beautiful sky we see. Or would see if it wasn't for all these lights," Regina added. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "I was with Mulan. The girl who put me in contact with you, remember?"
Regina nodded. "I recall her name, yes."
She didn't elaborate or asked further, so Emma stood leaning on the door in silence as Regina took another drag. After a while, Emma broke the silence. "And you?"
"What?" Regina asked, still not looking at Emma.
"Did you have fun?" she clarified.
"Ah. Yes," she nodded, her voice as distant as her gaze, focused on the horizon.
Emma nodded as well and started to feel awkward. She didn't really know if she should go or stay, but her feet seemed glued to the floor, so she cleared her throat. "There's a new episode of The Bachelor tonight. Wanna watch it?"
Regina put out the cigarette, leaving it on the small ashtray Emma just noticed, and stood up. "I'm afraid I will have to pass this time, but I'm in for next week," she promised with a smile.
Emma nodded and stepped aside for Regina to go in, and she watched her mysterious roommate disappear into her bedroom. Emma shivered and closed the door of the terrace, already feeling the soft chill of the night, and headed towards the kitchen. There, she noticed two cups of what smelled like whiskey; one, with lipstick on, still full and the other empty. She frowned at it; it seemed Regina had had visit and it hadn't left her feeling so good. Emma recalled the man on the elevator and felt like he carried a vibe enough to let Regina in that uneven mood, so she wondered if there was a link between them.
Shaking her head, Emma picked up a beer and opened it hitting the counter before heading towards her room. Regina wasn't going to tell her anything and it wasn't her business, so it was a waste of time to dwell on it.
The alarm rang in the nightstand and Emma launched her hand to hit snooze before she rolled in bed. She let another five minutes pass, trying to grasp a little more sleep before going to work, but it felt like a second to her. She lived closer to her work now, so she allowed herself to get dressed slowly, as she fully woke up. The last thing to do was to have breakfast, so she walked over to the kitchen, brushing her eyes as she yawned.
There was coffee already made, still warm, so she poured it on a mug and turned, noticing a paper on the desk. She picked it up and read her name on it, so she opened it.
I'm out of the country until Thursday for work. Our training lessons will have to wait. See you then! -R.
Emma blinked at the note. It took her a moment to remember Regina had said she traveled a lot for work; she had completely forgot. She glanced around the empty house and took a breath. She had that whole apartment for her for the next 3 days.