LOVE SICK

Chapter 2

'It was a one time thing,' Emma began, 'only the one time,' she repeated, making sure that there was no doubt on that score.

Regina slid a long finger over her red painted lower lip. 'What was a one time thing Emma?'

Emma fingered her necklace. 'You know...the night when me and Killian came home from college,' she said, hoping to jog her memory without having to actually say those words - those four, small words that she had never dared to tell another living soul - I kissed a girl. Apart from the line being extremely cheesy, it made her feel embarrassed. She was already feeling all sweaty just thinking about it.

Regina shrugged apologetically. 'What are you trying to tell me Emma?'

Emma took a few quick glances around the shopping mall. It was nearing lunchtime and it was getting super crowded. She would hate for anyone to overhear her, even if it were only a stranger, so she took a step closer to Regina. She smelt nice.

'Emma?' Regina questioned.

Emma knew that she didn't have to tell her - she could still back out. But by the intrigue in the other woman's tone Emma also knew that she would not be letting this go any time soon. Plus she wouldn't want her to hear it from Killian. She would have to come clean. She just needed a few seconds to get her head around it.

'What perfume are you wearing?'

'Sorry?' Regina asked bewildered about the sudden change of topic.

'Your perfume?' Emma repeated.

'Um...it's a lotion,' Regina said.

'What is it?'

'Chance by Chanel.'

Emma arched her eyebrow. 'Expensive. You have good taste.'

'Thank -'

'I kissed a girl,' Emma blurted out in one quick breath.

Regina looked down for a fleeting second, then she simply nodded in acknowledgement of Emma's most private revelation. Emma tried to see past her blank stare for some sort of sign that she did in fact remember, but again she saw nothing.

'Am I meant to have known about this?' Regina asked. 'Sorry I don't quite understand Emma.'

'You were there that night. On Blue Lagoon Street,' Emma said.

Regina drew her brows together and placed a hand to her hip. 'I was?'

Emma bit down on her bottom lip. 'You see I thought that you may have seen us Regina,' she told her honestly. 'We were behind this old shed in Teddy's backyard. He was throwing a summer break party and when we were heading back inside the house I saw you turn away, up the hill.'

Regina shook her head. 'I don't think so Emma. You must have confused me with someone else,' Regina said, smoothing out her perfectly straight hair. 'Everyone used to say that I looked like that ghastly stuck up Home Economic's teacher who used to live near-'

'You're sure? It was quiet dark so perhaps you didn't see us at all. Plus it was so long ago now,' Emma interrupted. She was really starting to feel foolish now. She should have kept her big fat mouth shut in the first place. 'You were wearing a black coat with a fur hood.'

Regina pressed her lips together tightly and shook her head from side to side. 'Believe it or not I don't even own a black coat. I detest the colour - for widows and spinsters, my mother used to always say.'

'And your little dog, Chester. You were walking it,' Emma pointed out.

'I always walk my dog on Dexter Way by the park. I never go down Blue Lagoon Street because Chester, God rest his poor little soul, was always at war with the pit bull terrier at number 13.'

Now that Emma thought about it she hadn't seen the woman's face very well. Her fur hood was very large, covering almost her entire face. But, Emma had been so sure that it had been her voice that she had heard. That was what had caught her attention in the first place.

She had been in the middle of a sneaky make-out session when she had heard a voice. Emma had stopped the other woman, sliding a hand over her full, wet lips, to listen. It sounded like she was on the phone.

'But...I could have sworn that it was you. Well,' Emma said with a shrug, 'I must have been mistaken.'

'All that kissing must have made you dizzy Emma,' Regina said with a chuckle.

There was a short pause then that must have only lasted a few small seconds but which felt much longer to Emma. Regina was half smiling at her, arms folded against her full bosom. Emma noticed how she was pulling and pulling absent-mindedly at the loose string on the arm of her red silk blouse.

Regina looked like she was in the midst of a day-dream.

Regina's smile widened. 'So,' she began, winding the thin, red thread tightly around her index finger, 'how did you like it?'

'Like what?' Emma asked baffled.

'Kissing Red,' Regina said. Regina's cheeks had turned rouge, and Emma didn't know if it was from the sunlight that seeped through the glass roof dome or if something had made her flustered all of a sudden.

Emma cocked her head to the side. 'I never mentioned her name,' she said, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

Regina blinked. 'You didn't?'

Emma shook her head slowly.

Regina sighed. 'Well...' she began with a casual shrug of the shoulders, 'I might as well come out with it. As I mentioned to you before, I never wanted to know why you broke up. I'm not one to get involved in my son's relationships, nor did I, but he came home so upset and so I listened - that's all I did Emma,' she assured her.

Regina stopped momentarily, but when Emma didn't say anything she continued. 'Killian told me that it had all been because of a girl that he broke it off.' She moistened her lips, then said, 'You fancied Red.'

Emma couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had broken up with him - not the other way around! Plus, what was even curiouser was how he had known her name. Red had been an exchange student from Serbia. Killian and Emma had gone to different colleges which happened to be miles apart; she had gone to University of California, Berkley, and he to NYU. They had no mutual friends who knew Red. Plus, no one knew her by that name. Her name was Ruby.

'Red' was Emma's 'pet name' for her, and she only called her that in EXTREMELY PRIVATE SITUATIONS.

But she wouldn't say anything before she knew more. Emma didn't want Regina to think that she was implying that her son had lied to her. She needed to talk to Killian first, she decided.

Emma folded her arms. 'Killian did now did he?' she said cooly.

Regina nodded. 'So when you said that you had kissed a girl, I simply assumed that it was Red.' She looked away momentarily, taking a long sip of her coffee.

Emma opened the flap of her brown leather cross body bag, pulled out a notebook and pen and handed them to Regina. 'Write your number on this. We should have coffee.'

Regina's eyes popped wide for the smallest second, but before she could say anything, Emma said, 'Me, you and Killian. What do you think?'

Regina pursed her lips together considering this for a moment, then nodded. 'Yes, why not.'

'Great,' Emma said putting the notebook and pen back in her bag, before retrieving another item.

Emma held out a small sewing kit in the palm of her hand.

Regina looked at her puzzled. 'You're full of surprises aren't you? What's that for then?'

Emma pointed at Regina's sleeve. 'You have a slight tear in your jumper,' she said.

Regina looked down and examined the pin-sized hole. She pulled at it with her thumb and forefinger. 'Good eye Emma,' she muttered. 'This was defiantly not here when I threw it on this morning. When did I - '

'Just a moment ago. You didn't notice?' Emma said with a small chuckle.

'No,' Regina said shaking her head. 'How very strange.'

'Indeed.'

Thank you for reviewing.