Chapter 4: All I Need

Friday evenings were always treated differently than the other evenings of the week. Parties, and relaxing evenings at home took place, the night life was buzzing with laughter and music, children begging their parents for permission to stay up longer, a large number of treats were consumed, and people brought more thought into what the evening dinner would consist of.

Regina on the other hand, would not enjoy any of these things. To her, Friday evenings were just like any other day.

Since Regina's father had passed away when she was eight, her mother had closed off completely. She never laughed anymore and did not give Regina the love and affection she so desperately needed. They drifted apart more and more as the years passed. Regina wanted to hate her; she wanted to scream at her and tell her how much she hurt her.

But when she was close to telling her mother how she felt, the words never managed to escape her tongue.

So she kept quiet, and felt how her heart ached painfully every time she saw her mother.

Regina was so deep in thought that she did not notice the yellow door before it was too late.

Bam

Regina's forehead made contact with the cold locker and she let out a surprised gasp while her head started pounding.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!"

Regina looked up and saw concerned green eyes watching her.

"Are you okay?! Do you need anything? Should I get anyone?"

Regina straightened up and gave her a small smile.

"No thank you, it was my fault after all, I should have been watching where I was going." Regina felt how the pain shot through her head as she spoke, but she was not keen on showing how much it really hurt. She was not going to show weakness, that was something she did not do. Instinctively, she covered the bump with her hand.

Relief washed over Emma's face.

"Let me look at it, maybe it is not so bad."

Regina hesitated at first, but she lowered the hand that covered the bump.

Emma's eyes widened.

"Yeah, that does not look good. Come, we need take care of the swelling." Emma said before she grabbed Regina's hand and made her way towards the bathrooms. It happened so fast that Regina did not have any time to protest before Emma opened the door to one of the bathrooms and made Regina sit down on the lid of the toilet seat. Quickly, Emma grabbed some paper towels and held them under the tap while the cold water soaked them.

"Here" Emma said and placed them gently on Regina's forehead. Regina hissed at the contact, but soon relaxed as she felt how the ice cold water soothed the pain.

"Wait here, I will be right back!" Emma blurted out before she disappeared.

Regina sighed and closed her eyes.

What a good way to start the day!

Regina rested her elbows on her knees as she gripped the paper towels tighter.

Well, you got the blondes attention now. But you have made a fool of yourself and that is not acceptable!

"Ugh, I know!" Regina answered the little voice in her head.

Did you see the way she looked at you?! So worried and caring. When was the last time someone looked at you like that? I like her!

"Oh shut it!"

I must have hit my head harder than I thought.

Regina quickly suppressed the voices in her head when she heard steps outside the bathroom. She looked up and saw Emma enter, holding a can of mineral water in her hand.

"I thought this would help with the swelling more than some soggy papers. And then, you know, you could drink the water afterwards. It would not be cold, but still."

Emma handed Regina the can and the brunette caught the bright smile that the blonde was giving her. Emma leaned forward and grabbed the now dried up paper towels and threw them in the wastebasket. Carefully, Regina put the can on her forehead and she shivered at the touch, feeling how the pain eased a little again.

"Thank you." Regina said and was surprised by the blush that covered the blonde's pale cheeks.

"You are welcome, it is the least I can do."

There was an awkward silence before Emma spoke up.

"We should probably get to class. I would really not want to be late, I have sort of run out of excuses." Emma said and scratched the back of her head.

Regina could not stop the giggling that followed Emma's words.

"I kind of got that yesterday. I hope your cat is okay."

The blonde started blushing again and looked down on her boots.

"Well yeah, he is tough. He gets into a lot of trouble, but everything turns out alright in the end."

"That sounds good, he must be very lucky."

Another moment passed before the blonde moved towards the door. She turned around and locked eyes with the brunette.

"I will see you later then. Tell me if you feel dizzy or if your head starts to hurt even more, I have been hitting my head a lot more than considered normal, so I am an expert in the area of taking care of headaches."

Regina gave the blonde a genuine smile and held the can closer to the bump on her head.

"Thank you again, Emma."

"No problem, Regina."

And with that, Emma walked out and left the brunette with her thoughts.

See, she likes you!

Regina groaned and got up from the toilet seat.

"Get out of my head!" Regina mumbled and made her way towards the classroom for the first and last lesson of the day.

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