A/N: Okay. First and foremost. You. Guys. Are. AMAZING! I've got so many positive reviews from you and they just made my day! I never thought this would be that popular, but I was wrong. Thank you so so so so so much for the positive feedback! I really do enjoy reading what you have to say and I hope you keep giving me your opinions!
With that out of the way, here's another chapter for you amazing peoples! I do a bit of skipping in the upcoming ones because I'm trying to get the story to mainly revolve around Emma and Ms. Mills. If any of you have any ideas or whatnot for lunch conversations between the two, you're more than welcome to suggest things! Thank you once again! And I hope you enjoy! Happy reading! :)
Emma was quite sure Ruby shit her pants when she got a phone call from the blonde a month and a half into the school year. It was early on a Thursday morning when Emma decided to gain the guts to do it. They had been assigned a new writing assignment and today was their workday, as well as tomorrow. It was going to be a chancey thing, trying out Ruby's suggestion. She would try it today, and if she would be able to stay without Ms. Mills being weirded out by her company, she would even try it again on Friday.
Ruby had been surprised when she got the call just a few minutes ago by Emma. Since it had been so long, the waitress assumed that Emma had been right and the little crush hadn't lasted long. But they were both dead wrong and Emma still couldn't peel her eyes away from her creative writing teacher's ass.
Of course, Ruby had berated Emma with several questions, most consisting of why she hadn't called for the other assignments, but the blonde had told her that she still didn't trust her feelings then. But since it had been so long, she decided that it would be best to act now rather than never and waste any time that could be used trying out this silly plan.
Silly, of course it was. It was more than silly. It was utterly ridiculous. But here she was going through with it.
Emma barely heard the question Mary Margaret yelled after her as the blonde rushed out of the house. Why was she leaving so early? She managed to make an incoherent response about picking lunch up from Ruby and continued on her way to run to the diner.
She sprinted all the way to Granny's where Ruby was literally waiting for her outside with a brown paper bag extended from her hand. She flashed her a knowing smile before going back inside and allowing Emma to head to school, stuffing the bag into her backpack.
The first three periods seemed to go on agonizingly slow and gym was no walk in the park. She had to run and boy, did she run. She felt that if she ran fast enough, the period would end quicker. But she was wrong and Mr. Hurst had to stop her before she burned herself out completely. He sent her to walk, instead of run, around the track, which ultimately caused her to sweat excessively underneath the sun.
Emma was pissed by the time she got to the girls' locker room. She smelled and she didn't have enough time to shower. Oh, great. This was her first impression and she smelled like something had crawled under her arms and died.
She tried her best to mask the stench with a few dampened paper towels and tons of deodorant as well as a strange apple perfume that Mary Margaret had gotten her for her birthday.
By the time she had cleaned up, she was late getting out of class. She cursed to herself and asked the gym teacher for a pass before heading towards the English hallway, her head hanging low as she shamefully entered the classroom.
Ms. Mills was in her desk by then while everyone else was writing on pieces of notebook paper. They started. She walked over to the teacher's desk and smiled a sheepish one, a hand holding the pass out.
Regina looked up, glasses slipping slightly down the bridge of her nose as she gazed at the blonde in front of her. "Nice of you to join us, Emma." she took the pass and set it on her desk. "I've given you classtime to get started on the assignment I handed out on Tuesday."
Emma nodded and politely took her seat, smiling to herself. Being late gave her an advantage. Perhaps she would have more an excuse to stay after class for lunch. Maybe, just maybe…
Emma took her sweet time writing, thinking up complex words that would surely impress Ms. Mills. She wanted to get as little done as possible without looking like a slacker. It was hard, honestly. Her eyes were constantly on the brunette, watching as each time she looked around the classroom from her computer, Emma would go back to writing.
She had gotten a paragraph and a half when the bell rang. Her stomach did small flips as she remained seated, the other students leaving in haste for lunch. Just like the first day, Ms. Mills didn't comment. She pulled out the same small container, Emma noted as she watched, and a fork that stabbed at lettuce. A salad. She must like to eat healthy, Emma thought with a scrunch of her nose.
Before the fork rose to those deliciously plump lips, Ms. Mills stared at Emma with a quirked brow. "Making a habit of yourself, are we? I know that you have no need to stay in here, Emma. You do know that, don't you? You'll get time tomorrow to work on it in class."
"I… uh…" Emma stuttered, feeling as if her brain were about to malfunction, if it hadn't already. She hadn't thought of a backup plan in case it hadn't worked. It was a surefire success, Ruby had said. Fuck you, Ruby. Fuck you.
Ms. Mills kept that brow lifted as she stared at Emma. Slowly, she brought the fork the rest of the way to her mouth and ate what was off of it.
"Are you alright, Emma?"
"I-I don't… time… none. Nope." She tried, but the sentence didn't seem to form. Oh, God, now she wished she could just die.
Regina blinked slightly and tilted her head. "Well, I'm glad that your writing is much more coherent than your speaking, dear."
"S-sorry." Emma looked down to her bag, the lunch Ruby had made her was nearly falling out. Ms. Mills must have noticed her gaze, for her eyes went to the bag.
"Emma, tell me, why are you really in here? Because, clearly, you don't need to work on the paper. Every other student is capable of finishing it within class and I have seen you do it yourself, and turn it in well before others."
"I…" Emma visibly gulped. Fuck. What if she already got caught in the act? What the hell was she going to do? Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit.
"Well?" Ms. Mills stared at her, eyes narrowed, as Emma sat with her mouth hung open.
Then she just blurted it.
"I don't have anyone to sit with at lunch and my friend has it fourth period and there's just too many people and I don't have enough time to walk home and eat and come back and I hate school lunch." she exhaled a deep breath. It was all true, except for the bit about walking home. She didn't live far from the school and she had plenty of time to eat and do what she wanted there. But what else was she going to do? She had to make up some excuse as to why she was here. Perhaps if she made the pretty teacher sympathetic.
Ms. Mills looked at her, lips parted and eyes a bit larger than before. "E-Emma… I didn't know. If you had this problem, you could have stayed in here before."
"R-really?" Emma looked at her, pink slightly tinting her cheeks. God, she hoped Ms. Mills couldn't see that.
"Of course! I eat alone, anyways, as you see. I do quite enjoy the company from time to time." She offered a smile, soft and genuine. "To tell you the truth, I'm not much of a social person myself. That's why I don't go to the teacher's break room. I spend it in here."
"Oh?" Emma slightly frowned. She reached down and grabbed the paper bag out of her backpack before taking a daring move and scooted her chair the few feet next to Ms. Mills herself. The woman's scent was much stronger, a spicy perfume filled Emma's senses and, oh god, it was nice. It reminded her of apple cider. But then again, that just might be her own body spray that she virtually drowned herself in earlier.
Her eyes roamed over the desk before her. Seeing it close up like this was strange and she could see what that container had. Just a little bit of salad. Didn't seem like much. She sat back in her seat and opened up the bag to see what the hell Ruby had given her. She pulled out a tin-foiled wrapped item, and then another. With a blink, she peered inside the bag and giggled unexpectedly.
Of course Ruby would do that.
I made you a grilled cheese, girl, and I put in an extra in case your girlfriend's hungry.
"What's so funny?" Ms. Mills looked up from her salad, brows knit together.
"N-Nothing. Just a note my friend gave me. She packed me a lunch, but it seems she gave me an extra sandwich." Emma stated nonchalantly, hoping that it sounded innocent. She stopped and looked over to her teacher. "Hey, is that all you have?"
"What? This salad?" She nodded, then shrugged, nibbling on a leaf. "I try to eat light. If I eat a heavy lunch, I get sick, and getting sick in the middle of class is not a good thing."
"Hm, I suppose not." Emma agreed, then bit her lip, eyes on the greens in the small container. "You should eat more than that…" she mumbled, half hoping that the brunette hadn't heard her.
"I thought you were my student?" The rich laugh that came from Ms. Mills' lips made Emma's heart rate speed up.
"Y-yeah… But…" she chewed on her lower lip and nudged the extra grilled cheese in front for Regina. "Eating very little isn't good, either. You could faint for lack of energy. It's happened to me before at one of my foster homes."
"Oh?" Ms. Mills' voice seemed to have taken a concern tone. Her brown eyes met with green as Emma looked up and nodded. She hadn't exactly meant to let that slip. It just felt so easy to talk with the brunette teacher for some reason. It felt so… right. Although, the entire thing was weird and she was starting to get dizzy over what was happened. Nothing, right now. Nothing was happening. They were just talking. A student to a teacher.
But Emma continued anyways. "Yes. Some of these foster homes… some of these 'families' just take theses foster kids in for a paycheck, you know? They barely keep us fed, because most of the money goes towards drugs than towards groceries for the house. We had to ration a lot in one of the houses. I lived in that place for about six years before one of the kids almost died from starvation. He was taken to the hospital from our school and everything was explained and those damned bastards got taken in. It took me a year or two before I got back on track to eating like a proper kid should." she paused and blushed, realizing that she had said something that she probably shouldn't have in front of a teacher. "Sorry for the language, Ms. Mills."
But that seemed to have been the least of Emma's teacher's concern. She just stared at Emma like she was seeing her in a whole different light. Her eyes sparkled with what the blonde assumed were tears. She frowned herself.
"So those stories, Emma, the ones you write…"
"Yeah, they're true." Emma looked to her lap, wondering how the hell they got into such a deep conversation about her past.
"Emma, if you ever need someone to talk with…" Ms. Mills had said softly, a hand reaching forward to grab Emma's own.
The blonde looked up, her entire arm was now tingling from the contact and nearly made her squirm. Oh, God, she hoped that Regina couldn't hear her heart beating, because that thing was going like a ticking time bomb.
She gazed at the teacher, deeply staring into those muddy pools. They were full of some sort of understanding. It was different. She wondered if she had experienced the same thing, because that wasn't pity in her eyes. Everyone else was usually so plastic with their emotions, telling her that they were sorry for what happened to her and that it should have never happened. That's just something they say to kids. But right now, she felt like she had some sort of crazy connection with her teacher over this painful subject. It wasn't something she liked to bring up and she never really told anyone else her stories.
It was so fucking weird how she felt with Ms. Mills. It was far too strange and the feeling in her stomach made it ache. She didn't know whether to puke or faint.
And then she did it, and for god only knows why, she leaned forward ever so slightly. It only close some of the distance between them and she wasn't sure if Ms. Mills had noticed or not, she just stay there with her eyes locked on Emma's. Funny, they seem to be darker than they were just moments ago.
Then that happened. The bell that indicated half the period went by, which would also alternate lunches, rang, startling the both of them. Ms. Mills blinked her eyes as the back of her rolling chair jerked and hit the desk, while Emma was now on the floor, squirming to grab her grilled cheese from under the teacher's desk.
"Crap. I hate that bell." she muttered, taking her seat once again as she finally retrieved her lunch. Emma then unwrapped it from the tinfoil and grinned. It still felt warm.
"You should eat the other one while it's still warm." she suggested to her teacher, who just stared blankly at the blonde.
Emma, too, stopped her motions and gazed at the brunette curiously. Okay, perhaps pretending whatever little moment that was didn't happen probably wasn't the best right now. Her teacher look conflicted between hitting herself or going nuts. Emma wasn't quite sure, but she shoved the extra grilled cheese into her hands.
"Look, I know… Okay… I dunno what the hell just happened. The bell rang and scared the sh- I mean crap out of you. Don't look so shell shocked. It was just a bell." She danced around why the bell had exactly scared them, not sure if it would be best to bring up.
But, of course, Ms. Mills probably thought different, for she took the tinfoil clad grilled cheese and set it on her desk. Soon, dark eyes were staring intently at Emma, sharp and serious. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I guess." Emma shrugged, knowing very well that she probably would have kissed her teacher if not for the bell. But Ms. Mills did not need to know that. It was highly inappropriate. And she was still quite sure that the brunette didn't swing that way, either.
"I must just be…"
"You should eat that before it gets cold. Maybe it'll do you some good." Emma chanced, taking a generous bite out of her own sandwich. She watched as her teacher carefully opened the tinfoil and picked the grilled cheese out of its wrapping, then slowly brought it up to her mouth and took a bite.
"I hope you like grilled cheese. I never asked…" Emma bit her lip. "I-I mean. I don't want to force you to eat it. It was extra after all. I could have just eaten it myself or something-"
"It's delicious. Thank you for sharing it with me." Ms. Mills smiled carefully. "I must admit, though, that you're right. I should probably eat more than a salad."
"Why a salad?" The blonde's curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of her.
Regina's eyebrow quirked at her, chocolate orbs roaming over to the abandoned container. "I suppose it's just the quickest to throw together."
"You like sleep, too, huh?" Emma chuckled and took another bite. "I usually skip breakfast to sleep in late. But, today, I had to get up early and skip breakfast to pick this up from Ruby."
"Ruby?"
"Yeah. Ruby Lucas. She graduated last year. I think she took your class before, or so she told me." Emma shrugged and stuffed the rest of her grilled cheese into her mouth.
"Oh, yes, Ms. Lucas. I remember her. She was quite the disturbance."
The teen laughed. "Really? I mean, I guess that sounds like her. But, damn, she makes one hell of a grilled cheese, right?"
"Why would she make you lunch?"
"Oh. I thought you knew that she worked at her grandmother's cafe. She offered to make me lunch because… Uh… Yeah, she offered to make me lunches so I didn't have to walk all the way there." Emma shrugged nonchalantly, kicking herself mentally for that. She almost blew her goddamn cover. Hopefully Ms. Mills wouldn't feel inclined to ask more questions.
"Send her my regards. She makes a lovely grilled cheese." The brunette smiled and the blonde nearly sighed with relief.
"Maybe I can have her make an extra, like, everyday?" The words were out of Emma's mouth before she realized and as soon as she had realized it, her jaw was wired shut.
The words had caught Ms. Mills by surprise and she swore she saw something like appreciation in her eyes and this look as if it were all so foreign to her. And, oh God, that faint little smile on her lips.
"Would you really do that?"
"Yeah. Then you wouldn't have to worry about getting up those extra five minutes to throw rabbit food into a plastic container." she dared to further the conversation, nodding tightly. "And it's no bother for me to get up ten minutes early to pick this up."
"You don't really have to, you do know this? It's not really appropriate."
"Oh, come on, Ms. Mills. It's just lunch." Emma bit her lip and squished the aluminum foil into a ball before depositing it into the brown paper bag. "Look, I mean, I don't have to stay in here. It's fine, really. I could eat somewhere else. Outside isn't too bad or the hallway or something maybe."
Then she saw it. A flicker of disappointment in Ms. Mills' eyes. A look of loneliness, which appeared to not be so foreign to the brunette teacher. And right then and there, Emma wanted to kick herself. She already fucked up the first day and there might not be a second.
"As you wish. It would probably be for the best."
"Unless you want me to be in here." Emma whispered softly and waited for some sort of negative comment.
But she was taken by surprise by what Ms. Mills had said next. "It's nice to have the company."
"Oh?"
"Look, Emma. You feel free to do what you wish. If you decide that you do not want to eat in here, that's fine. I do not mind. If you do wish to, I will not be opposed." Her words were simple, but they made Emma turn to putty. Oh, God, this woman. She was dancing around her feelings. She wanted so bad for the company, but didn't want to seem desperate about it. She didn't want to admit that she wanted someone there to eat lunch with, even if it were to be in companionable silence.
"Then I'll stay tomorrow and I may or may not have an extra grilled cheese again." Emma simply stated, trying to sate a smile from spreading across her lips.
"If you feel so inclined to." Ms. Mills gave her a short nod, although the slight tilt of her lips gave her away. "You'll probably want to get packed up. The bell is about to ring."
Emma immediately turned her head to look at the clock above the door and, shit, she was right. There was less than one minute until the bell rang and her next class was clear across the school. Of course, it would be simple to get there, but the amount of students in the hallway always blocked her path and made the trip much longer than it really needed to be.
"Yeah. I ought to… Uh, see you tomorrow, Ms. Mills." The blonde gave her a small smile as she flung her backpack over her shoulder and replaced the chair that she had moved. She then quickly collected the garbage from their lunch and threw it into the bin on her way out.
"Have a good day, Emma."
"You too!"
And boy, she would have a good day after having lunch with her now dubbed favorite teacher. The rest of the day would be dedicated to that one hour that she had with her and thoughts about what they were going to do tomorrow. She knew she was smiling like an idiot to herself and she just couldn't help it. There was no stopping her elated mood, and little did she know, that Ms. Mills had wore the same smile on her lips as soon as Emma had wished her a good day.
Emma just made it to her government class as the bell rang. Belle looked up from her desk as the door clicked shut and Mr. Glass quirked a brow.
"Right in the nick of time, Emma." he clucked his tongue. "Have a seat. We're going to get started."
Emma nodded and quickly headed to her spot next to Belle, whom had immediately started to berate her with whispered questions. One of which was asking where she had been.
"I had lunch in my fourth period class." she said, a proud smirk on her lips.
"You actually took Ruby's advice?" Belle's eyebrows rose and she pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "Seriously? How did it go?"
Emma shrugged and exhaled. "Ruby gave me an extra grilled cheese and she put a note in the bag, telling me that she made it for my 'girlfriend.'" With that memory, the blonde rolled her eyes.
"Really?" Her brunette friend laughed. "What did you do?"
"I offered Ms. Mills the grilled cheese and she ate it. Did you know all she eats is this tiny little salad?" Emma shook her head.
Belle just looked astonished. "You got her to eat more than that salad?"
"Yeah? So?"
"Holy crap, Em."
"What's the big deal?"
"Everyone figures she's a health nut since all she does eat is that and some apple. We've never seen her with anything else. Maybe a cookie or two, but that's it." The bookworm shook her head and chuckled, shoving Emma playfully with her shoulder.
"She told me that she just doesn't have enough time in the morning to make anything else. I asked her." she smirked, proud of herself for getting that kind of information from the infamous teacher.
"Really? Christ. The one time someone did question her it had been one of the years she had a fourth period lunch and taught fifth. She was still picking at the salad and someone asked her about it. She just said she liked them and they were the healthiest thing." Belle explained, eyeing Emma with a knowing smirk.
And at that moment, Emma felt like she accomplished the impossible. "Well, I got her to eat grilled cheese and I'm gonna bring more extras tomorrow and I don't think she minds."
Belle blinked. "Really? Are you sure that you're conversing with the Ms. Mills or some impostor? Because she does not, like, ever, open up or whatever like that. She eats alone for a reason. Everyone's afraid of her, I think."
"Yeah, it's the right one." The blonde grinned smugly. "And about that. She said that she only eats alone because she's not really social or something. So, like, it's her choice. But she likes my company."
"She likes your company?"
"God, don't act so surprised..." she grumbled softly. "But, yes, she even said so herself. That's why she let me stay, I'm pretty sure. She's lonely." Emma frowned, then paused and looked at Belle. "Does she have a boyfriend or something?"
"I don't know." Belle shrugged, froze, then shot Emma a smirk. "Are you going to try to go down that path or something?"
"I might be able to eventually drag it out of her." Emma nodded. "I came up with a half-bullshit story that I don't have anywhere to eat lunch and no one to sit with, she felt like shit and let me stay."
"You're definitely not dining with the right Ms. Mills. I mean, that woman is a tough hardass." Belle was in a state of disbelief now, unable to comprehend what her friend was telling her. Emma was quite sure that she broke through some sort of exterior shell on her teacher that no one ever dared to crack.
"You're lucky, Em."
"Just don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want them making fun of me or anything. I mean… I probably look like a teacher's pet or something, just staying in there like that. I'm pretty sure some of my classmates think that." she pouted slightly.
"Can Ruby be an exception?" Belle pleaded, bouncing slightly in her seat.
"You tell her everything anyways." Emma glared at her friend, remembering the first day of school when the brunette had blurted out Emma's little crush on Ms. Mills.
"Good." Belle smirked and wrote something down into her notebook. "We have an assignment."
"What?"
"That's what that is. You were distracted by your regal bitch again."
"Shut up, Belle." Emma huffed and wrote down the assignment as well, given barely enough time before the bell rang, dismissing class. "Hey, what're we doing in art today?"
"I think we're doing something with letters or words or whatever. Being creative with them." Belle explained as the two friends walked out of the government room. "I think it's your name, but I'm sure you can choose a random word, too."
"Oh…" Emma grinned to herself, an idea popping into her head. "Thanks."
"Uh, you're welcome?"
"Yeah, yeah…" And then Emma nearly sprinted to her next period class, leaving a Belle to chase behind her.