Chapter 3: Full of Surprises
Emma whistled and before her eyes, Regina saw the dock light up and soft music started to play. There was a table set up with a rose in the center and two candles beside it. Emma pulled out a chair for Regina and gestured for her to sit down. Once Emma was seated herself, Ruby came, (with headphones on?), and placed a salad in front of each of them, with their preferred dressings. Regina looked up to see Emma looking at her with a knowing grin.
"Impressed Madam Mayor?"
Regina raises an eyebrow. As much as she hates to admit it, she is. Emma Swan didn't seem like the planning type. If anything, she thought the blonde would just wing it like always. Surprise surprise.
"Highly Sheriff. You continue to surprise me. How did you know what kind of dressing I like?" Regina asked as she took a bite of the salad.
"A little wolfie told me." Emma winked. "So Regina, tell me something I don't know about you."
Regina's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Look Regina, this is a date. So I expect us to get to know each other in ways we already don't. I feel like we know a lot of serious stuff about each other, so tonight I want to tone it down a bit with the serious conversation and get to know Regina Mills. Reggie Mill-Mill. Lil' Milly. GinaMina." The blonde put on a goofy grin.
"Never. Ever. Ever, speak any of those horrid names again. And fair enough. But why do I have to go first?"
"Ah, simple. I already went. You didn't know I had a horse, now you know why and how. So, it's your turn." Emma wiggled her eyebrows playfully.
"Fine, Miss Swan. Something you don't know about me…" Regina ran through a list out things before she came up with something good. "Ah, okay you'll like this one. I keep four different types of Poptarts in my room under my bed. And I eat them within two weeks…all of them."
Emma's eyes widened as expected.
"Wait a minute. Hold up. Stop. You mean to tell me that Regina-Healthy Eater-Mills eats Poptarts?! Four different flavors? In two weeks? Like all four boxes?" Regina nodded. "Wow. I need some time to process this. Okay, so what flavors do you like?"
Regina chuckled but paused as their entrees came out. Chicken Parmesan and fettuccini alfredo. Impressed once again. She had definitely expected burgers from Granny's when she saw Ruby.
"Well, I tried all of the flavors when I first got here, but the only flavors I really love are Brown Sugar Cinnamon, Strawberry, Cookies n' Cream, and Chocolate Chip."
"Hmmm, okay okay. I respect that. Those are A plus flavors." There was silence for a while, both women lost in their meal and thoughts. Emma spoke up. "Okay let's do this. We're going to take turns saying random things about ourselves, whether they're embarrassing or funny or just random facts about the stuff we like. We won't ask questions. We just say it, and then it'll be the other person's turn. We can play while we eat, so we have time to think. Cool?" Emma said as she took a few bites of her food.
"Sounds reasonable."
They both begin eating again. It was quite a while before either of them said anything.
"I used to eat crayons when I was a kid. But I would only eat certain colors because they tasted the best." Emma confessed shyly.
Regina scrunched up her nose in disgust and smiled at finding Emma looking quite embarrassed by her confession.
"A few years after I got here, I sprang my wrist while attempting to learn how to breakdance."
Emma choked on the pasta she had in her mouth. Once she caught her breath she looked up at Regina.
"I wanna ask so many questions about that."
"Well you can't. Your rules."
"Okay okay. I'll go. But give me time to think." Emma tilted her head and thought for a moment.
Regina took this time to really look at the woman sitting in front of her. The way the lights hit her face and hair made it look like she was glowing. God, Regina get it together, and stop the sappy crap. You're as bad as Snow. But Regina knew she couldn't help herself. She hadn't felt this way since Daniel. Emma made her feel so comfortable and free to be herself. She could be her goofy, relaxed self with Emma, and she had no doubt Emma would still love her. Slow down Regina you all just confessed your love for each other TODAY. It's only the first date. Take it slow. Regina's thoughts were interrupted.
"Okay, here we go. When I find a book I might like, I read it in a day or two easily. My record is 19 books in a month."
Regina blinked. Well now she had questions. Emma completely surprised her with that confession. She is just full of surprises tonight. Well two can play at that game. "I'm a humungous Black Widow fan. To be specific, a Scarlett Johansson fan. I have the Black Widow costume in my closet." Regina sat back and smirked.
Emma looked up to see the challenge in the brunette's eyes. She's trying to surprise me more than I surprise her. She's trying to out-surprise me! Wait, is that a term? Out-surprise? Or is it over-surprise? …eh whatever. Challenge accepted. Emma leaned forward a tad bit and narrowed her eyes at the woman across from her. "I love brussel sprouts. They're like little balls of cabbage and I love cabbage. Also, they're cute."
Regina leaned forward matching Emma's determined face. "I have every "Bring It On" movie and I know all of the chorography to Every. Single. Movie."
"I watch the discovery channel every night."
"I was absolutely terrified of microwaves when I came here."
"I started reading the dictionary when I met you."
Regina leaned forward a little more and looked Emma deep in the eyes and smiled. "I have a hidden strip pole in my bedroom." Regina winked.
Emma was a bit taken aback, but she pressed forward trying to ignore the heat in her stomach and the images in her head. Duly noted. Okay Swan, go in for the kill.
"I've been playing pranks on Mary Margret almost every day and she has yet to figure out it's me."
Regina froze mouth agape.
"Y-You what?"
Emma smiled and pulled out her phone, trying to hide her excitement from winning. Finally I beat Regina at something. Me, Emma Swan, the true hero.
"Yep! Look. These are pictures of her reactions."
Regina snatched Emma's phone and begin scrolling through said pictures. Emma sat back and sipped her drink triumphantly.
"Emma…these are…when did you…how long have you been doing this? Pranks of what kind?!"
Emma shrugged. "For about a month now. I've done simple stuff like fill Oreos with toothpaste, covered paper towels in baby powder, made all of her clothes bigger and longer so she would think she was shrinking, subscribed to all the porn channels on her TV, filled a mayo jar with vanilla pudding and vice versa, changed all her songs on her jogging playlist to "Eye of the Tiger", just stuff like that." Emma chuckled remembering how Mary Margaret had reacted to her clothes getting bigger. She had gone to see Whale 3 times since then.
Regina stared at her girlfriend with the biggest smile on her face. "So is this what you were referring to last week when you told me you had been practicing your magic on "home projects"?"
Emma nodded as Ruby collected their plates and brought out two pieces of hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Regina still shocked at the information she just received, took a bite of the pie. Mmmm, so warm and sweet. Still not as superb as my recipe however. "So what did you do to your mother today?"
Emma grinned. "Well, that's the last surprise I have for you. I haven't done anything today. So I figured you'd be more than willing to help me."
Regina jumped up and with a wave of her hand the dock was back to normal and she and Emma's desserts were in to-go boxes. Ruby appeared with a questioning look and took off her headphones. "What exactly just happened? Dude did you mess it up and say something stupid?" Ruby asked looking towards her bestfriend.
"Miss Lucas, you can go take yourself for a walk or whatever it is you do in your spare time. Thank you for your service, but Miss Swan and I will be leaving now." Regina pulled Emma towards the horse and immediately got on, leaving a smirking Ruby.
Emma looked up at her girlfriend and smiled. "Ya know Regina, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were actually excited about this. I don't think I've ever seen you excited about something."
Regina rolled her eyes dramatically. "Yes, well tonight has been an explosion of surprises, Miss Swan. Now are you going to mount this thing so we can be on our way or will I have the pleasure of doing this myself?"
Emma rolled her eyes and suppressed a giggle. "First of all, don't "Miss Swan" me. I think we're way past that now." Emma got up behind Regina and placed her hands on Regina's legs. "Secondly, we're doing this TOGETHER. But apparently you already have an idea so shoot. What is it?"
Regina motioned for Maj to go and they took off in a trot towards the Charming's apartment.
"Well, I'm sure you're familiar with the old joke where someone opens the door and paint or some liquid falls on them?" Emma looked at the back of Regina's head skeptically. "Mhmm. What about it?"
Regina grinned. "Well, Henry has a rather large collection of marbles and I-"
"REGINA! I just want to prank her! Not kill her or send her to the freaking hospital! Gosh woman!"
Regina rolled her eyes and let out a scoff. "Well the rules weren't specific dear, but fine. Do you have any grand ideas?"
"Well I was thinking about filling all of the cleaning products with Gatorade. Like switching Windex with blue Gatorade and stuff, so when she cleans everything will be sticky." Emma chuckled at the idea of it.
"Honestly Emma that's child's play. But it'll do for now. In addition to that however, can we cover everything in the apartment in Saran Wrap? Actually no, let's super glue everything!"
Emma shook her head. This woman. It's like I just gave a kid a shopping spree to the candy store. "Woah woah woah Gina calm down. We can't use up all the ideas in one night. But I do like your ideas. I say tonight we super glue everything."
Regina slowed down as the Charming's place came into view. "Perfect."
They rode in silence for a few minutes before Regina spoke. "Emma…you still never told me how this horse reminds you of me."
The blonde put her chin on Regina's shoulder and wrapped her arms around the older woman's waist.
"I know. I'm going to tell you later. But I'm sure if you think about it, you'll figure it out before I tell you."