"Alright then, Swan. I hope you have a better afternoon." Killian set down some bills on the counter before smiling at her and exiting the diner. Emma barely had time to realize that she should have offered her own goodbye before Ruby was hissing in her ear.
"What the hell was that about, Emma?" Ruby's eyes were blazing and immediately Emma felt like she had just been caught shoplifting. The automatic shame and defense then were identical to Emma's instincts now.
"What was what about?" Very nice, Emma thought. You definitely don't sound like a person hiding something. Emma tried to leave her money for her own bill and mimic Killian's exit but Ruby knew her too well and clamped down on her wrist.
"Oh no, you are not weaseling out of this again. We talked about this! You can't pretend to be friends with Killian. This is doomed to start and you are going to get hurt. Again!"
"When did we supposedly talk about this? The other night when you and Mary Margaret ambushed me after work? I seem to remember that I told you I was considering his offer and you two going ballistic!"
"Alright, that's a bit of an exaggeration. We just felt very strongly that rekindling contact with Killian so soon after you broke up was a terrible path to go down. Especially a break up that you initiated, I'd like to add."
"I may have started the actual conversation about our need to separate but you know it was much more complicated than that."
"I know that Killian hurt you with his actions and you responded accordingly but you aren't doing yourself any favors by choosing to be in a platonic relationship with him rather than a romantic one."
"Ruby, you know I don't agree. Killian and I were friends for so long before we started dating. We were great as friends and we work best together as friends. Sure, I lost a romantic partner in the break up but I regained a friend. Is that a terrible thing?"
Ruby was giving Emma a flat look of disbelief by now. "You know that's not fair. Of course I want you to have friends but you can't be just friends with an ex. Especially when the person in question has only been your ex for ten days."
Emma decided this argument was going in circles, just like it had the other night, and she wanted to leave. "Ruby, I love you and I respect you. But I think you are wrong here and I need you to support me instead of berate me. Can we talk about this later? I should get back to work." She stood up and waited for Ruby's response.
Ruby rolled her eyes, but smiled. "I love you and respect you too but we are so talking about this later. Have a good afternoon and text me later."
Emma nodded and finally left the diner. The wind had picked up while she was in Granny's and it bit savagely into her exposed neck and hands. She pulled her scarf tighter and vowed to remember her gloves before she left the house in the morning. She would bet they were on the entry way table, annoyingly forgotten in a mad dash to make it out the door.
Emma was glad she had walked to the diner to help get out some of her frustrations with municipal codes but she wished there was a way she could poof back to the station to avoid this inconvenient walk back in the cold. Emma couldn't help but feel like there were a lot of inconveniences in her life right now: this uncooperative winter weather, piles of paperwork and research at her job, friends who questioned her judgement, a downgrade in her relationship status…
Emma refrained from grumbling under her breath but it took a lot of self-restraint. She had a stubborn nature and often took to head-butting her problems rather than applying reason or logic, but she genuinely felt that it wasn't a big deal that her and Killian were friends. Why couldn't Ruby see that? Better yet, why couldn't Ruby mind her own business just once?
The sheriff station was six blocks from Granny's diner but with her eyes glued to the pavement, Emma was pulling open the entrance doors before she was able to untangle her frustration. It must have showed on her face because when David saw her come in, he immediately dropped his paperwork to cross his arms and fix her with his best stern expression.
"I thought you were going to have some onion rings before you came back here."
Emma glared back at him as she hung up her coat. "I did. You can text Ruby and ask her if you don't believe me, Dad." She rolled her eyes as she dragged out the last word, ensuring he wouldn't miss her sarcasm. Emma clomped into her office and slammed the door behind her, fed up with her friends hovering over her well-being. She was fine and they needed to back off.
Emma's teeth were on edge for over an hour before her research on fishing limits reached a rhythm that finally distracted her. She was lost herself in the work, combining survey data of Storybrooke's industries with Maine's laws to create a record of applicable licenses. Emma heard a knock on her glass door and she jumped. She forgot she was in her office and was surprised to see Mary Margaret on the other side.
Emma's eyes narrowed as she looked for David out in the station. He was missing and Emma glanced at the clock to see it was past five. The afternoon had disappeared and now Mary Margaret was waiting to talk to Emma with what looked like a bottle of wine in her hand.
Emma groaned loudly as she got up to let Mary Margaret in to her office. "Just so I know, was it David or Ruby who sent you?" Emma sat back down in her chair as Mary Margaret made herself at home in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
"It was actually both of them. Ruby's said, 'Emma. Relationship. 911.' and David's said something along the lines of 'Mayday! Mayday!'. You have some dramatic friends."
"Well, at least I'm not married to one of them." Mary Margaret smiled at the joke but gave Emma her best teacher-listening face. Emma knew what she was doing but couldn't help herself from spilling the details anyway. "I had lunch with Killian today." Emma crossed her arms and glared back at Mary Margaret, determined to keep her shame at bay.
"Did you plan to have lunch with Killian today?" Mary Margaret's voice was annoyingly patient.
"No! I just ran into him in front of Granny's. He asked me what was wrong and I explained how I was in pit of paperwork. It felt…nice and well, I didn't want to eat alone."
"But Ruby was going to be there. You know she happily blows off her other customers to chat with you the whole time."
"Yeah, I know that. But she shouldn't have to! I'm not a charity lunch date; I don't want to force people to socialize with me."
"That's not what's happening here, Emma. Bring it back down to the plane of reality." Mary Margaret's tone was disapproving but still totally patient. It only exasperated Emma further.
Emma exploded. "Fine! I impulsively invited Killian to lunch! I didn't mean to and rationally I know I shouldn't have done that. But I miss him. A lot." Emma gulped in a breath of air and looked back at Mary Margaret. Emma trusted Mary Margaret second-most in the world so she went on, in a slightly calmer voice.
"I miss him constantly. I still live in our house, and every second in that house is a reminder of our relationship and the fact that Killian isn't there anymore. He's moved on. I don't even know where's he's living now. Is he sleeping on his ship? I shouldn't care and I try not to but it's hard. It's really effing hard. And I broke up with him! Why do I care at all?"
"Of course its hard, and you care because your relationship mattered to you. Just because you broke up with him doesn't mean you can't miss him. You've only been broken up for a week and half. It's insane to think that you can just skip the mourning period of a break up. Missing him and missing your stable relationship is normal, Emma. That's what we've been trying to tell you when we say that you can't be friends with your ex. You aren't emotionally ready for that yet."
Emma was desperately trying not to cry. The last thing she wanted right now was to add a display of physical weakness to her display of emotional weakness. She took another deep breath. "It felt like a challenge and you know I hate being told that I can't do something."
"I do know that and I can see that we were wrong to approach you like that. But to be fair, I have no control over Ruby." Emma smiled because who could control Ruby? "But, Emma, honey, you have to set up some boundaries with Killian. You can't just leap back into being buddies with him again."
"I know. I should have laid out some ground rules with Killian when I first talked to him. I could have avoided a lot of this emotionally mess."
"Yes, you could have. Remember Emma, boundaries make great friendships." Mary Margaret stood up to move around the desk and hold out her hand. "Now, we're going to get you out of here, meet Ruby at her condo (where you will be crashing tonight), and watch Legally Blonde over Storybrooke's finest take-out."
Emma took Mary Margaret's hand and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. Having best friends was so rad sometimes. Emma smiled. "You had me at Legally Blonde. Let's go."