Chapter 3
"Okay, I just have to say that you two would make a really hot couple."
Emma slightly lowers her menu and lifts an eyebrow at Ruby. Her friend insisted on taking her out of ever since the papers started piling up, and even though Emma tried her best to convince Ruby to let her stay at home to finish grading her students' projects (she has a tendency to procrastinate. Oops.), unsurprisingly, the brunette didn't give in. Clearly, her friend thought not leaving the apartment for two weeks was detrimental to her social life. So now, they're sitting in a booth at Granny's Diner, one of their favorite places to go. Emma rolls her eyes and goes back to reading the menu.
"Come on, Ems," she hears her friend say, "why won't you tell me anything?"
"Because it's my social life and you need to learn how to not be so nosy."
"I'm not the only one who's interested, you know. Mary Margaret is also very interested on what your status is with the very attractive, and not to mention talented, Irishman that has walked into your life."
"Ruby, you and Mary Margaret are my best friends and you know I would tell you guys anything-"
"Then why aren't you?" Ruby questions in an irritated tone, loud enough for some people in the diner glance over at them.
Emma's cheeks flush as she takes a sip of her hot chocolate. "I'm just keeping things on the down low. At least for now."
"But why?"
"You know why."
Her friend growls. "What the hell is Walsh going to do? You're one of most popular, not to mention the best, teachers at your school. If he fires you, he'll have to deal with the wrath of those private school parents."
The blonde snorts in her cup as she brings her eyes back to the menu. "True, but I don't want to risk it. You know what he's done before."
Ruby sighs and nods. "Yea, I know. Which I still don't understand. Like, Walsh didn't have to fire Graham in front of the class. He could've done something less humiliating. But no. He's so fucking selfish, I just want to punch-"
Emma stops her friend with the raise of her hand. "Let's not talk about him. Or anything about the past, okay? Let's just order and you need to tell me about your boutique."
Ruby gives her a sympathetic smile and flags down one of the waitresses so they can order lunch, and the whole time Emma nervously contemplates what her ex might do if he found out about Killian. I mean, we aren't really official, she thinks. He's only taken her on one date. Well, two if you count the coffee stop when he walked her home from work. But still. They haven't really gotten far. She has to admit, Killian has been incredibly patient with her. They do text, almost every night, but he doesn't push her. Besides the occasional innuendoes, he has just been waiting. Even though he can be dorky and irritating at times, Emma does feel something towards him, but after Walsh, she has had her walls up high to prevent her heart from being broken again. But there's Killian. The man who is brave enough to start breaking down her walls, slowly but surely, and patient enough to wait for her to be ready. And in her heart, that counts for something.
.
Emma is finishing up her letter of recommendation for one of her students when she feels a presence in front of her. She ignores it, partly because she really needs to finish the letter, but mainly because she doesn't want to be grilled about her love life. Again.
"A little bird told me you have a little something happening on the side now."
She groans and looks up at her friend. "Regina, not now. I need to get this letter of rec for Henry done." Regina silently stands in front of Emma's desk, hovering over her like a hawk, making her feel uncomfortable. She looks up again and narrows her eyes at the fellow teacher. "What?"
"So... Killian. That's his name, right?"
"Okay, first, who told you? And second, you know I can't tell you here."
"Emma, relax. He left two hours ago. The only people at school now are Archie, August, and us. We can talk." Emma met Regina when she started teaching at the very prestigious middle school. They were both new, so they became friends soon after. Regina was the first person to comfort Emma when Walsh dumped her (since he dumped her during her lunch break) and even slapped him the next day. He fired her, of course, but with the help of several angry students and parents, the science teacher got her job back. Regina pulls up a chair in front of the desk. "Speak. I want to know."
"Who told you?"
"That's not important. What's important is you and Killian. So talk."
"It's really not important."
"Yes it is. For two reasons. Because your life is finally interesting again and because you need to be ready for anything in case Walsh finds out. We don't want another incident like Graham-"
Emma grumbles. "I don't want to think about what happened in the past."
"I don't care if you don't want to. You need to," Regina snaps. "If Walsh finds out about you and Killian, he might fire you. He might go after Killian."
"I know. It's just I don't know what to do." The blonde runs her fingers through her hair and smacks her head down on her desk. "I just want to have a normal life outside of work. But clearly I can't."
"Yea, I know. Walsh is a selfish asshole, but we can't change that. All you can really do for now is keep your relationship, whatever it is, quiet and hope for the best. I'm happy for you, I really am, I just don't want you to get fired just because Walsh is jealous of Killian."
"Yea."
Regina gets up and starts heading for the door. "I'll let you get back to work. See you tomorrow."
"See ya." Emma goes back to proofreading the letter, but then snaps her head back up. "Wait! Who told you?"
Regina just grins. "A friend," she says in an uncharacteristically cheerful tone and disappears from the doorway.
.
Emma places her mug of hot chocolate on the coffee table and plops down onto her couch with a stack of papers in her lap. She rubs her eyes and groans. As much as she loves teaching English, she hates grading papers. But it needs to be done, and there's no better time than the present to start. Uncapping a red pen, she begins to read the first report, only to be interrupted by the buzzing of her phone. She looks over at it.
Do you like pizza?
Emma rolls her eyes and texts back. Of course. Who doesn't?
Very true.
She puts her phone back down on the coffee table and goes back to grading the paper. She's starting to grade the second paper when the doorbell rings. Emma looks up confusedly and checks the time: 8:15. She can't figure out who's dropping by now, but she expects it's Ruby since her friend did text her multiple times about how the needed to talk ASAP. It's probably something about Victor, her new boyfriend. It has been a month since they have met and they have been spending a lot of time together. He's the first guy Ruby has been with for that long since high school boyfriend, Peter.
Emma shuffles over to the door and opens it, her jaw dropping at her unexpected visitor. "What are you doing here?"
"Bringing you pizza." Killian smirks at her, lifting the Goat Hill Pizza box and showing off a delicious-looking pepperoni pizza. "I thought that was obvious," he says as he walks into her apartment.
Emma stands in front of her door, still trying to process what's going on. "By all means, come in." She realizes what she really needs to get done and walks over to where he has settled. "Killian, it was really nice of you to bring pizza, but I really need to get my work done tonight-"
"Grading papers, I see."
"Yea, and I've put them off long enough. I don't really need any distractions."
"I won't be a distraction," he looks at her feigning offense, "in fact, I can help you grade them."
"You? No."
"Why not?"
"You said you haven't read the book in ages. How are you going to remember the story?"
"I'm sure once I read one of those papers it'll remind me of everything."
Emma shakes her head and narrows her eyes at him, trying to ignore that small smile that's toying at her lips. "I'm not going to be able to get rid of you tonight, am I?"
"Aye," Killian replies with a smug grin, patting the spot next to him, "now sit down and eat some of this. I can't eat it all myself."
"It does look good." She sits down beside, takes a slice of pizza, grabs her stack of papers, and hands one to Killian. "Here."
He takes it and starts reading and there's a comfortable silence between them until her interrupts it no less than three minutes later.
"Love, remind me who Atticus Finch is."
"Oh my god," Emma says in her best Chandler Banks voice and gets up to find a copy of the book.
He laughs. "That was awful."
"Shut up." She runs her finger along the line of books on a shelf near the TV, searching for To Kill A Mocking Bird. She can feel his eyes watching her ever move and she tries her best to keep her cheeks from turning pink. Emma pulls the book of the shelf, walks back over to the couch, and shoves it in Killian's chest. "Read it. Then you can help grade."
"All of it?"
"Yes!"
"Fine," she hears him grumble and he opens the book and starts to read. They both work and read in silence, besides the occasional sound of munching on pizza. The silence is comfortable, and she's surprisingly getting a lot done in his presence.
Emma grabs her mug of hot chocolate from the coffee table and as she takes a sip, a finger comes forward and swipes some whipped cream from the top. She looks over to Killian, who has his finger in his mouth and is wiggling his eyebrows at her. When she takes another sip, he does it again and she glares at him.
"Do you want some?"
"I'm alright, lass. I just like whipped cream," Killian says and winks at her, and she rolls her eyes. He leans in a little and waits there until their eyes meet. "You got some on your nose."
Emma blushes and quickly wipes it off, averting her gaze back to the paper she's reading, not wanting to see the look on his face. They both go back to doing what they were doing, the comfortable silence settling back in.
But it doesn't last long.
"So," he says, setting the book down in his lap, "maid of honor, hm? How do you know Mary Margaret?"
She just looks at him over essay, raises and eyebrow, and goes back to work. She can feel him staring at her, waiting for her to say something, but she keeps quiet and continues to read and grade the paper.
"You know, most men would find your silence off-putting, but I love a challenge."
She keeps grading, trying to tune him, and finally, after a few minutes, he sighs, picks up the book, and continues reading. She feels kind of guilty for ignoring him, but she really doesn't want to talk about her past with him. Or with anyone, for that matter. She mainly keeps those memories in the back of her head, but sometimes they resurface, and then the nightmares start again. So Emma opening up about her past is not a fun thing.
Another hour passes, and Emma has gone through four essays in the past two hours. (Which is pretty productive compared to her normal rate of one per every two to three hours. Depending on how distracted or tired she is.) A yawn escaped her lips and she rubs her eyes before face planting into the stack to papers in her lap and letting out a groan. She desperately wants to sleep, but she has so much more to do. That's what I get for procrastinating, she thinks as she lifts her head and reached for her hot chocolate. Emma looks at Killian from under her lashes, seeing that he looks almost as exhausted as she is, his eyes closed, his head resting on the back of the couch, and his chest slowly rising and falling. She wants to tell him that he can go home, but she feels too tired to speak, her eyes falling closed as soon as she takes them off the papers. Maybe a short nap wouldn't hurt. She puts the essays on the coffee table and snuggles into the side of the couch, making sure she doesn't accidentally kick the dark haired man in the process. As Emma's eyes flutter closed, she thinks she hears Killian whisper good night, but before she can make any sense of it, sleeps overcomes her.
.
The next morning, Emma lets out a content sigh into her pillow and she slowly opens her eyes and adjusts to the light streaming in her living room. She smiles, then stiffens, realizing that she's not in her bed. She sits up, trying to figure out how she ended up on her couch instead of her bed. Emma slides back under the blanket while she thinks, trying to remember what happened after her nap. Then it hits her: she never woke up afterwards. She sits up again, looking around her quiet living room. Emma spots a small piece of paper on the coffee table, and she reaches over to grab it, trying not to let any warmth from the blanket escape. As she reads it, a small grin forms on her face.
Get a good night's rest, love.
- K
P.S. I borrowed your book.
She comes to the conclusion that she fell asleep and Killian covered her with the blanket before her left. She feels her heart beat a bit faster and Emma can't help but smile because what he did was incredibly sweet. Yet, deep down, there's a small part of her that wishes he had stayed the night.
Hi everyone! So a few people have messaged me asking if there will be any angst in this story. And, to be honest, I don't know. Angsty fics are definitely not my strong suit, so I don't write angst often. My forte is writing a lot of fluffy, happy stuff mainly because those are the type of fics I usually read. Also, if anyone was wondering, Goat Hill Pizza is another actual restaurant with fan-fucking-tastic pizza. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter and hopefully I post again soon! Your follows, favorites, and reviews always make me smile!
P.S. there was a ton of Ed Sheeran music involved while writing this chapter.