After a while, lunches with Ms. Mills had become regular. Emma always stayed after class and the brunette never protested. Most of their lunches were filled with idle conversation, while some were just sat in companionable silence. At times, the two would get into deeper conversations, and Emma had suspected that the teacher was more comfortable with her by now.
During one of the lunch hours, it was another Monday and the blonde had decided to dub it as 'lasagna day', Emma had brought out another container of the meal. Ruby must have made it a Monday thing and that didn't really bother Emma any, since the look of joy on Ms. Mills' face was enough to make up for the meal she wasn't so fond of. And of course, the noises she made upon tasting the spicy dish.
The murmur of satisfaction that rumbled in the brunette's throat had the blonde so distracted that she hadn't heard the question the brunette had asked after finishing her swallow of food.
"I-I didn't catch that. What did you ask?" Emma's cheeks burned a deep shade of pink, and she was quite sure it was noticeable. If the teacher had noticed, she didn't say anything.
The words that left Emma's lips made Ms. Mills chuckle. "I asked if you had any plans after high school. Do you plan on leaving Storybrooke?"
"Oh, yeah." Emma blinked and sat straight in her seat, her plastic fork absentmindedly poking at the half-eaten lasagna square.
"Oh?" The brunette tilted her head.
Emma just looked at her with a blink, marveling in the way that Ms. Mills had given her undivided attention.
"Where do you plan on going?"
"Sorry, I wasn't… My mind isn't here today," Emma mumbled sheepishly, playing with the end of her ponytail. "I want to go to Boston. Graham and I decided to join the police force up there together. I mean, I might go to college if I can get accepted, too," she continued.
"Pardon me, but who's Graham?" Ms. Mills asked politely, pushing her thick, black-framed glasses up.
"Oh, Graham. He's one of my friends. I think we hit it off 'cause he wanted to join the police force, too," the blonde elaborated. She couldn't help but to study her teacher's face. Her features remained stoic but there was a certain spark in her eye. "He's actually supposed to be coming down here for Christmas to tell me all about it. Well, he's supposed to visit all of us, but I'm gonna make him tell me about what it's like up there and what his apartment's like. I'm gonna move in with him."
"I see." Ms. Mills smiled. "I do wish you luck. I'm glad that you're considering college, it opens up a world of opportunities for you."
"Thanks." She gave her a sheepish smile, her fingers working at the seam of her jeans.
"I'm quite sure that it would be nice if you were able to go to the same school as your boyfriend. He is your boyfriend, correct?" Her smile wavered.
Emma tilted her head, closely eyeing the new look on the older woman's face. She still couldn't guess what it was, the teacher was masked into a poker face, but what she had said just made the blonde laugh.
And laugh she did. It was a funny thing that she would automatically assume that Graham was her boyfriend. Emma did suppose that it must have sounded like that upon talking about him.
Oh, little did Ms. Mills know about her.
"No, no he isn't." Emma chuckled, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "He's like a brother to me, actually." And I'm totally gay, she added silently.
"Oh! I do apologize for assuming." The corner of the teacher's mouth slightly turned upwards, mortification blooming on her face in the form of a pink gale.
"It's alright." She shrugged nonchalantly but wore a slightly smug smile. "Anything else you wanna know?"
"Yes. Tell me, please, what made you decide that you want to join the police force? I'm intrigued to learn."
Emma bit her lip and hesitated before she finally answered, "I wanna take the criminals off the streets, the ones that can just get away with stuff. Like, really bad stuff. There are all kinds of sickos still running around because people don't have enough evidence pinned on them to throw their asses in jail and it's ridiculous. Even though I won't be a detective, at least right away, I'd like to help - work my way up - and throw their asses in jail. People like-… Never mind." She shrugged and leaned back against her chair once again, slightly slumping into it.
"I understand." Ms. Mills watched her solemnly, head tilted.
"Also, I think it'd be pretty cool to carry a gun around." The blonde flashed a cheeky smirk, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yes. I suppose that would be nice." Ms. Mills smiled. "So, you said that you would be going to Boston? Is your friend going to take you or your parents?"
"Oh, neither." Emma wiggled slightly in her seat. "Mary Margaret - my mother - said if I got good grades this year, she'd give me her old Volkswagen. I'll be taking that and then, I won't be stuck wherever I'm at all the time."
"That's nice of her." She grinned. "How are your grades so far, if you don't mind my asking?"
Emma shrugged. "I don't mind. And, uh… I guess I'm doing pretty good. But I think I'm falling a bit behind in Gov. Those tests get me."
"Oh? Well, if you do need help with your government class, I would be more than happy to help. That was one of my favorite subjects- aside from English and literature," Ms. Mills offered, finishing up her lunch with a few swift bites.
"Oh, no, you don't have to. I wouldn't want to burden you," Emma murmured into her own lasagna as she finished it.
"It's really no problem, dear."
"You should tell me why you decided to become a teacher," Emma suddenly said, once again sitting up to meet the teacher's gaze. "Since I told you my reason."
"Oh." She looked surprised by the demand, her eyes widening ever so slightly. "I've always enjoyed helping others, teaching them, giving knowledge. Though, teaching was not my first option. I lost myself in writing and the English language." She removed her glasses and cleared off a smudge before setting them aside. She smiled sadly now, even though Emma knew she tried to hide it. "I wanted to become a writer. And if that hadn't worked out so well, I figured that perhaps getting a job in journalism would suit me better. But…"
"What happened?" Emma frowned as her teacher had trailed off.
Ms. Mills sighed and frowned, her voice quiet and slightly gruff. "It… didn't work out. I tried, but everything that I sent in got denied. I was in college at the time, anyway and… my… mother had insisted that I needn't waste my time with the writing business, and I guess she was right. It didn't end well, and now, I don't really mind. I do quite enjoy my job. I enjoy… moments like this. Every aspect is unique and makes me love my job more.
"But recently, everything had gone downhill, as you can see." Ms. Mills played with the thin, leather watch on her wrist, lightly biting her lip as she had done so. "By the way, I had never asked, Emma, what did your art teacher say about your projects for me?" Her gaze glanced over to the artwork that Emma had made her weeks ago. It was still tacked proudly to the board.
Emma shrugged. "She didn't see that one. Didn't you wonder how I brought it to you the next day? Oh, wait… I suppose that you didn't know that we were assigned the project the day before."
"She didn't see it?"
"Nope! We had to draw our names, and anyways, I would have figured that it would be weird to hand that in. No offense or anything," Emma explained, a soft blush on her cheeks. "It was hard, because I had Belle sniffing down my neck while I tried to do it. So, I took it home to finish it."
"I see." Ms. Mills flashed her a sweet smile. "I really do appreciate that you did that for me."
"Of course!" Emma grinned as well.
"Although, if you didn't want her to know you were doing projects on me, why use me as your subject?" She now tilted her head with furrowed brows. "Wouldn't she know, then?"
"She's pretty new," the blonde answered. "She might not know who you are. You're in different departments. Do you know every teacher?"
"No, I suppose not." The English teacher looked thoughtful.
The teen nodded to her teacher. "She might think you're an actress or something. I mean, you're super pretty."
Ms. Mills looked at her with wide eyes. Then something flickered over her face, but it was gone so fast, Emma couldn't process her thoughts.
"I mean, you know, I'm sure you know that you're pretty." She shrugged, trying to play it off cool, but Emma totally knew that she wasn't kidding herself. She screwed up.
"Thank you." The brunette pressed her lips together, mocha eyes fixed on her wristwatch once again before she spoke, "You should start getting ready. The bell is about to ring."
"Thanks," Emma said quietly, feeling embarrassed as hell about what she had just said.
"I don't want you to be late to your favorite class." The brunette smirked playfully, and Emma's heart leapt.
"No, I mean, thanks for telling me that. What you said, earlier." She offered her a smile as she stood, gathering the trash items once again. "And, thanks for that, too."
"Of course, dear." She smiled lightly; gratitude etched on her features.
Emma bent to grab her backpack, slinging it over her right shoulder. "And, hey, I-… I enjoy these moments, too. Talking with you. It's nice. It's kinda freeing. Even if I spew vocal diarrhea all over the place," she said softly before turning toward the door.
"Have a good day, dear." She could practically hear Ms. Mills' smile through her words. She didn't even need to look behind her, but she did anyways. The brunette wore one of the largest grins that she had ever seen her put on. Her perfect white teeth were peeking through her full red lips, and it reached her eyes, too.
"You too, Ms. Mills. And thank you, again. I appreciate it."
"Any time, Emma."
Then she left with a large smile of her own.
"What's got you all smiley today?" Ruby asked her blonde friend as she replaced Emma's empty mug with a fresh refill of cinnamon cocoa.
"Nothing," she hummed, taking a sip of her cocoa.
"Nothing my ass, Emma. You never smile that much. And Belle said that you've been walking around with that big-ass grin on your face for the past three hours."
Emma huffed and glared at her other friend who shot her an apologetic look. No matter how hard she tried and how hard she begged for Belle to not tell Ruby a thing, she always did, even if it were indirectly like this. Perhaps she should have just gone home directly after seventh period, but Belle had insisted she come down to the diner with her to talk with Ruby while she was on her break.
That was about two hours ago.
She had messaged Mary Margaret that she would be out for a while with her friends and would probably miss dinner since they both had insisted that she must stay. She really didn't understand those two sometimes. They seemed to always have something up their sleeves.
And now, here she was, waiting. It was past five now. She'd surely be missing dinner. Hopefully Ruby planned on buying her a meal.
Plus, they kept pestering her about how full of smiles she was. She tried so hard to just rid herself of the grin that split her face, trying to think of sad things or the way her friends were frustrating the hell out of her. But, to no avail, her mind always wound up on Ms. Mills once again and that grin that she had given her before Emma's departure.
"Come on, Em!" Ruby playfully whined, flicking at her friend's golden curls. "You never tell us anything anymore!"
"Yeah," Belle finally piped up, nodding with the waitress. "You don't even tell me what you ate for lunch."
"That's because you already know." Emma quirked a brow at her friend.
"But, still, Em. You gotta share some juicy stuff with us. We're your best friends." The brunette waitress bumped her shoulder against Emma's own. "You've, like, clammed up on us every time we speak of her. Did something go wrong?"
"No." Emma was willing to divulge that much.
Both Belle and Ruby raised their brows, then glanced at each other before the latter spoke.
"Did you two, y'know, kiss?"
And that sent Emma's cheeks aflame. She hid herself in her cocoa, trying her best to ignore her friends' stares. Really, she didn't have anything to hide nor be embarrassed about. She never kissed her teacher. Yet she was acting like some fruity teenager who had been caught macking on their significant other.
"Oh my gods." Ruby's eyes widened, her jaw slack. "You did, didn't you? You sly bitch!" Then her elbow was jabbing into Emma's ribs uncomfortably.
"Way to go, Ems!" Belle whooped and high-fived the waitress over Emma's slumped form.
"No," the blonde mumbled.
"No?" Then they silenced, staring at Emma incredulously.
"Seriously? Like, seriously, seriously? You're telling me that you didn't lip lock with the hottie English teacher?" That was Ruby. Emma lifted her head and shook it quietly.
"No. And I don't understand why you'd think that I would. This is strictly a platonic thing." The blonde shrugged, even though her shoulders felt heavy.
"Aren't you using fancy language?" Ruby mocked, smirking down at her friend, but that had only earned her a glare. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just figured-"
"There's really no 'just figuring' with this. And look, I gotta go." Emma sighed, sliding out of her stool. "I've got to get this stupid government homework done and I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I need internet."
She could see Ruby look over to Belle, her head jerking as if she were gesturing to something.
"No, no!" Belle hopped up and blocked Emma's path, earning her a raised eyebrow.
"What?"
"You have to stay," she pleaded, grabbing Emma's arm. "Come on. Just a little while more, okay?"
"Why? I don't see the point in this and I'm hungry," Emma grumbled, but obliged. She might as well play along with whatever little game that they had planned and looked up at Ruby as if questioning her about what the hell was going on, but as soon as she did, the waitress fumbled in her spot.
"I gotta go waitress…" And she scuttled off to a table by at the front of the diner.
"I don't understand what you guys are doing." Emma's gaze drifted to Belle who had now remained oddly quiet. She sat on the stool next to the blonde, playing with the hem of her dress. She looked so awkward.
"Just wait," Belle replied.
"Wait? That's all I've been-"
"Emma!" Ruby's voice rang behind her. When the blonde turned to face the lanky waitress, she was met with a wolfish grin; one that held a secret. "Go to the table over there." She pointed past Emma to the table where she had just been at. The blonde quirked a brow and looked at the inhabitant. She couldn't see their face since a large newspaper had been hiding it.
"Who is that? Why the hell do I want to go to a stranger?"
"Not a stranger, Em!" Ruby gave the blonde a gentle push out of her seat. "Go on. Bring your bag and thank me later."
When Emma turned around, Ruby was headed across the diner to proceed working. Belle now left her stool and flashed Emma a knowing smile before heading toward the exit.
She furrowed her brows and headed over to the occupied table. Her hands started to perspire and shake. Why the hell was she nervous?
"Uh… excuse me. Is this seat taken?" she asked, her voice giving her away.
"No, it's-" The person dropped the newspaper from their face. "Emma!"
"Ms. Mills? What are you doing here?" Emma blinked. How the hell did they even get the brunette teacher here in the first place?
She caught sight of Ruby and gave her one of her best glares.
"I usually eat dinner here every Monday night," the teacher answered, removing her glasses to sit next to the newspaper. "What about you?"
"O-oh…" Emma bit her lip and scuffed a shoe on the ground. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I was hanging out with my friends. Remember how I told you Ruby was a waitress here?"
"Oh, yes. That I do." Ms. Mills gave her a warm smile. "Oh! Where are my manners? Why don't you take a seat?" She gestured towards the spot across from her, but Emma hesitated.
"I don't want to disturb your dinner."
"It's quite alright, dear. I insist." The teacher offered her a reassuring smile.
"If you're sure." Emma took the spot, sitting stiffly with her backpack on her thighs. "This feels weird."
"I'm sorry. I know I'm not the most amiable person to talk to."
"No. It's not that. It's-… I don't know." Emma shrugged, nibbling anxiously on her lower lip. "I should-… I should probably go. I've got homework due tomorrow."
"Of course, I wouldn't want to keep you from that." Emma could hear the way her tone had changed.
"I can stay a while longer, I… guess." Emma blushed slightly. "If you don't mind?"
"No, of course not!"
"Thank you."
"You can do your homework here, if you wish."
"Oh… Uh, if you don't mind."
"Not at all. I would love to help." The teacher grinned, gazing up to Ruby who had set a cool glass of soda in front of her. She murmured a thank you and took a sip just as the waitress gave Emma another cinnamon cocoa, winking as she did so.
"You're dead, Ruby," Emma managed to mutter into her friend's ear before she sauntered off. Oh, she would totally be dead for doing this to her. Why the hell did she want to watch Emma just suffer?
"What do you have?"
"Hot cocoa with cinnamon." Emma glanced up after pulling her notebook from the pack.
"For homework, I mean." Ms. Mills chuckled and reached down to pick her glasses back up. Slowly, she slipped them on, chestnut eyes on the papers in front of the blonde. "Perhaps I could assist you."
"I have government. But it's fine. I can use the internet."
"Isn't that called cheating, Emma?" The brunette quirked one of her perfectly plucked brows. "Come on. Let me see it."
Emma looked at the woman across from her for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh and handed over her homework. Ms. Mills gently plucked it from her hand and read over it with a thoughtful expression. Emma couldn't help but to stare at her as she had done so.
She continued to watch curiously, enjoying the way the heat from her cocoa permeated through the cup and warmed her hands as she held the mug close. Ms. Mills looked as if she were so intrigued by what that stupid little paper said, or so she thought, since her eyes seemed to absorb the entire thing. Her lower lip disappeared into her mouth, Emma noticed, biting her own. The brunette could pull off the most captivating of looks. The blonde was sure that Regina Mills was the only woman on earth that could look sexy while reading a teenager's government homework.
She was certain, Emma thought as she took a long, refreshing sip of cocoa. Her eyes wandered down from the teacher's face to… Sweet mother of gods. Ms. Mills' carmine silk button up blouse had its top few buttons undone, which exposed just enough of the older woman's cleavage to have Emma's mouth nearly watering. All things logical flew out the window.
She was dumbstruck and she couldn't peel her eyes away. Oh, Gods, help her now. Where was Ruby when you needed her?
"This seems simple," Ms. Mills' sweet voice broke the blonde from her temporary trance, which of course, caused her to nearly fall out of her seat and spill the cocoa all over her front.
"Oh, shit!" Emma cried, setting the mug down to look down at her soiled jacket. "Oh great! Just great."
"Oh, my. Emma, are you alright?" The English teacher was up immediately, grabbing napkins to help clean the messy liquid up. Ruby was over in no time, tsking at her friend with a dish towel.
"Really? You're just making my job much harder, Em."
"Oh, shut up, Ruby. It was your demon cocoa that spilled all over me."
"Sure." Ruby gave her a knowing smirk.
"I think we've got it all, Rubes." Emma raised her brows at her friend, handing her the soiled dish towel. "Now sashay away."
"Really, girl?" Ruby rolled her eyes and leaned closer to Emma, her lips right next to the blonde's ear as she whispered, "The next time you decide to stare at her tits, make sure you aren't holding anything."
The waitress sashayed away, leaving a flustered Emma behind. Of course, she'd been watching. That was just like her.
"Are you alright, Emma?" Ms. Mills asked, placing the napkins back onto the table. Her eyes inspected the blonde.
"Yes, thank you."
"Your clothes are all ruined." She frowned slightly.
"Eh, it's just my jacket." The blonde shrugged and shucked the article of clothing off, leaving her in a thin white tank top. "See? All good."
"If you say so." Ms. Mills licked her lips, turning to replace herself in her designated chair. "Now, as I was saying, Emma."
"Yes?" Emma had done the same, though she scooted to the edge of the chair with green eyes fixed on the brunette's flawless olive face.
"All of the answers to this are fairly easy. I assume you have paid attention, yes?" When there was hesitance in Emma's response, the teacher clucked her tongue. "Alright… Well, for this top section here; true or false. It's a fifty-fifty chance. Why don't you try to answer them to the best of your ability, and I'll check the answers upon your completion?"
"Alright," the blonde muttered, nodded, and grabbed her homework. Digging a pencil out of her bag, she looked over the questions. True or false. Simple enough.
After several pencil taps and ten true or false questions later, Emma had finished, pushing the paper across the table for Ms. Mills to check over her work.
"Sorry I suck," she mumbled.
"You don't… suck, Emma." She met her gaze. "You did much better than you give yourself credit for. You're a smart girl, Miss Swan. Do not put yourself down." She slid the worksheet across the table toward Emma once again. "You got all of them correct. I simply do not understand your worry."
"I haven't studied or anything." Emma's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Lucky guesses."
"Now, why don't you try to answer the multiple-choice questions? It'll give you more of a challenge, but you should know that one of the answers is correct. Eliminate ones that would not make sense towards the question itself and choose from there."
"That's what every teacher says." Emma tapped the butt of her pencil on the paper, eyes reading the first question over. And over. "You may say it's so simple, but it's far more difficult than you think."
"I know it is, Emma. I know that sometimes you just don't know the answer. I was a teenager once, too." Ms. Mills quirked a brow, an amused smile captivating her lips. "Or had you forgotten that every adult was once young?"
"No, I haven't," Emma whispered quietly. She looked down at the paper again, squinting at it before circling an answer.
Either it was the new boost of confidence, or the way Ms. Mills' company had eased her, but Emma finished in no time with a proud smile. She slid the paper across the diner's table to her teacher.
"On what level of confidence do you feel with your work?" the brunette asked, her brows raised over the thick-rimmed glasses.
"I'm feeling… pretty confident."
"Then let's see where this new-found confidence has led you." Ms. Mills smiled softly, then proceeded to look over the circled answers on Emma's paper.
"I totally bombed it, didn't I?" she groaned, slumping helplessly in her seat.
"You only missed two, Emma. And that, out of ten, is not too bad." The brunette teacher propped her glasses back onto her nose and handed Emma back her paper.
"Well, having guessed on most of it, that's good. Right?"
"Emma," Ms. Mills clucked. "You shouldn't have to guess. You should know."
"I can't know anything when I haven't learned it. I don't want to sound harsh or anything, and I know that's he's your coworker and all, but Mr. Glass kinda sucks at teaching."
"You think I don't know that?" And as fast as those words were out of the brunette's mouth, her jaw snapped shut.
Emma leaned forward in the diner's chair, her elbows pressing against the tabletop. "What do you mean?"
Ms. Mills looked as if she had deeply regretted ever opening her mouth and Emma was about to let it go, until the brunette looked around them before leaning forward, her voice a soft whisper.
"I am about to divulge information that no one, and I repeat no one, must know of. Do you promise to not tell anyone?" There was a certain playfulness in her eyes as she said her dramatic statement, but Emma knew for certain that she was being serious.
"You can trust me," she promised. "It's just between the two of us."
"Good." She reached across the table and took Emma's hand. Soon, the other followed, both grasping onto Emma's as their eyes met.
"Sydney- Mr. Glass, we went to college together and we had a few classes together. Remember when I had said that I wanted to become a writer, to enter journalism? Although, my… mother insisted my major be in teaching since I refused to become a lawyer and she wanted me to do something… productive." The teacher was slightly hesitant with her next words. "I wasn't exactly the most popular, but I did have a fair few of friends and that drew attention to me.
"We met in class, and he had developed this infatuation. At first, he didn't quite reveal his interest, he just befriended me, helped me. Then… Then he became obsessed and would do anything for me, to gain my total affection. And, after realizing that I would be going into teaching, he decided to change direction and take classes revolving around such. Soon enough, we graduated, and I had been on my way to Storybrooke. And he followed since I had made the mistake of telling him of my acceptance."
"And then became the government teacher?" Emma stared incredulously at her teacher.
"Yes." Ms. Mills nodded, sighing shortly after before leaning back once again, her hand withdrawing from Emma's. "I do trust that you will keep this information to yourself?"
"Of course," the blonde quickly obliged.
The brunette teacher gave Emma a grateful smile, the corners of her mouth tilting slightly upwards for only a few seconds before letting her facial expression drop. Emma saw the woman's eyes darken, a deep and slightly confused emotion eclipsed her brown eyes. The blonde furrowed her brows, unable to determine why there was such a sudden change within the teacher.
"Are you okay, Ms. Mills?" Emma inquired, her head tilting to the side. "Do you want me to go?"
"No, dear, you're fine. I mean, unless you want to leave." And just as fast as it had come, the emotion and darkness dissipated from Ms. Mills' eyes, leaving them to shine.
"Yeah. I wanna stay for a bit. If you don't mind, I might grab something to eat."
"You haven't eaten, yet?"
"No. But I'm sure Ruby would be kind enough to get me something." She smirked and twisted her body to call out to her friend. The waitress, leaning against the counter, soon rushed over to the blonde with a wide smile on her face.
"Hey, girl, what's up?"
"You owe me food," she stated blatantly.
Ruby sneered at the look on Emma's face, which spoke the words left unsaid. "Fine. One grilled cheese coming right up."
"Actually, I want a burger, thank you." Emma managed her sweetest voice before turning around to play with her mug.
"And lasagna, Regina? With pepper flakes?"
"Mm, I might actually take a burger, as well, since I had lasagna for lunch." The teacher offered Ruby a polite smile before the waitress sauntered off to fulfill their orders. Emma, on the other hand, was seething.
How dare Ruby do that? And right in front of the blonde, too. She really must be jonesing to get a dose of Emma's fist. Unless she was doing it on purpose to spite her friend, and that made Emma even more angry.
"Are you alright, Emma?" The sweet and familiar voice that fell from those lips had immediately sated Emma's anger.
She looked up with large, doe-eyes, her head bobbing in reply to the question. She couldn't let her anger show, not to that sweet woman in front of her. Ms. Mills would be the very last person that could ever be a hair up her ass. That concerned and ever so caring face contradicted any horrendous thoughts about Ruby's joke and replaced them with little unicorns and rainbows instead.
"Rainbows."
What.
Did she just say that?
"Pardon?" The teacher's eyes widened.
Emma always feared something like that would happen. That's why she absolutely hated thinking when she should be talking as well, because something like this was bound to happen.
"S-sorry. I was just… thinking about rainbows for some odd reason?" Emma mentally kicked herself because that made it better.
"I see…" The older woman looked skeptical.
Emma couldn't help the blush that crept up her neck and flooded her cheeks with pink. She hated her body, sometimes, and the way it reacted to certain things. Especially if one of those things was Regina Mills.
The two had ended up sitting in an awkward silence, neither one knowing what to say to the other. It wasn't until Ruby had interrupted them did they finally relax, no doubt relieved for the intrusion.
"Thank you, Miss Lucas." Ms. Mills flashed the waitress a grin when Ruby set the plate in front of her. Emma's own meal soon followed, as well as a few words from her friend.
"It's on me, Em," Ruby whispered before trotting off.
Emma smiled to herself. Okay. Maybe Ruby was off her shit list for now. She didn't even have to argue with her friend about getting the meal for free. After all, it was her friends' fault for her skipping dinner.
She glanced up to catch sight of Ms. Mills already chewing a bite of her meal. The blonde tried so hard to keep the grin from flashing across her face, but it failed, which had caused the brunette to quirk a brow.
"Ruby's Granny makes the best lasagna," Emma found herself saying. She didn't know why the hell she just said that. It was sure to be random to the teacher especially since they were eating burgers. But the other woman merely smiled.
"Indeed, she does. I must say, it's better than mine. I can never get mine to quite taste like hers." Ms. Mills responded, setting her burger down so she could take the napkin from her lap and dab delicately at the corners of her mouth.
"Why do you like pepper flakes in them?"
The brunette subconsciously licked her lips. "It gives it a little kick."
"I bet." Emma giggled, then proceeded to explain how she didn't necessarily enjoy lasagna, even though, yeah, Granny made the best. Ms. Mills was a bit shocked, if not offended (or at least Emma thought so), and said she was missing out on quite a lovely meal. Emma only laughed and shrugged, saying that she really wasn't and, anyways, spaghetti was quite like the dish.
The rest of the night consisted of idle conversation and the often subtle, sheepish looks that Emma had donned upon realizing what she was doing. The two were practically on a date, but Emma tried to push that annoying little voice aside and listen to the moral one telling her that it was just a nice, platonic dinner with her teacher because the other woman had been kind enough to invite her to sit with her tonight. Whatever the brunette had been thinking at the time was probably a far cry from where Emma's thoughts veered. That point aside, she must admit this was one of the best dinners she had had in a while, of course, excluding all the lovely meals at home.
By the end of the night, Emma felt that she had an even deeper connection with her teacher, mentally if not emotionally. It had gotten easier to talk to her as the hours passed and the diner emptied. She learned simple and basic things about Ms. Mills, and even though they weren't much, it was still a turning point for them since the older woman had opened about herself.
Like how she was an only child and she used to absolutely love horseback riding in her younger years before college. And, somehow, her mother knew the principle. A strange thing, that. Ms. Mills had slightly questioned that as she talked about it but decided to pass it off. She didn't want to discuss her mother. The most information that the blonde had gotten about her was the woman's name and that was Cora. Everything else was left unsaid, but the look in her teacher's eye told her there was so much more to tell.
When the two had parted ways, Ruby finally kicking them out and a worried text from Mary Margaret, they said their goodbyes with large, toothy grins. It was a nice night for the two. Of course, morally, it was wrong for a teacher and a student to have dinner together like this, or at least frowned upon by most people. That had worried Ms. Mills upon realizing it, but Emma assured her no one would know, nor should they really suspect a thing. It wasn't like they had a secret relationship or anything, but Emma didn't say that. The words died on her tongue before they were thrown from her mouth.
Being reassured, the English teacher nodded and said her goodnight before heading down the street toward an old black Mercedes. Emma watched her get into the vehicle and drive off before guiding her feet down the sidewalk towards the apartment, backpack slung on her shoulder and soiled hoodie underneath her arm as she wore the stupidest smile she could muster. This really was a good night, and nothing could ruin it. Not even if Mary Margaret or David would reprimand her for staying out so late without saying a word about it.