AN: Thank you guys for the comments and support already. I know I didn't give you much in terms of snow queen yet, but now we're starting to get to the good stuff. Thanks so much for your patience! Keep that love coming :)
geometry never taught you about these corners and curves
Friday night dinner had been as eventful as it always was, which wasn't very. David leered, and Kathryn gossiped, and all attention was on Regina, which made her feel worse than a third wheel. It made her feel like she was on trial. For what, Regina could never pin point with those two.
Regardless, she made it through unscathed, and once in the solitude of her car, she felt a weight lift off of her shoulders, her breathing becoming deep and steady. The ride home was quiet, opting out of radio, and just listening to the hum of her car engine, random shakes and bumps from the tires on the road. Her brain started to decompress, to empty of all things involving work and dinners. Her mind went on autopilot, taking the same turns, stopping at the same lights, barely paying any attention to her task of driving. As her thoughts melted away, something started to surface. A feeling pushing through the empty space—something not exactly like anxiety, or panic…more like regret—
Suddenly a particularly hard shake of her Mercedes shook Regina out of her thoughts, just in time to feel her car slowing and sputtering. She pushed down on the gas pedal a few times before she realized that the engine had stopped, so instead her foot went on the break, pulling over as much as she could while she stopped. Her heart was pounding and confusion started to clear while she gripped hard at the steering wheel.
As silence of her dead car settled, while the mayor took steadying breaths and shifted the car in park. She knew there was gas in the tank, and she just had a checkup a few weeks ago. Taking a few more deep breaths, she turned the key, and nothing.
No clicking, no false start. Just absolute silence. A couple more tries, to no avail, caused a frustrated sigh as she got out of the car, keys in hand. Once Regina was outside in the night air, she suddenly wasn't even sure where she was at. She knew she was on the right way home, but there was never any mind paid to the space between Kathryn's and her home. Looking up, she saw her car had stopped on a corner directly under one of the few streetlights on this block, and the mayor must have driven past this corner a hundred times over, but now that her car was stopped, it seemed like the first time. She had no recollection of it, the streets were more worn and rough, the buildings around her run down and it struck her that this was not exactly the safest part of Storybrooke. Even for a small town, there were undesirable elements.
Regina debated if she should open the hood of her car, to see if there was any noticeable damage, or if she should get back in the driver's seat and lock the doors. She could call the tow truck, and there would be nothing more to it, but there was the stubborn streak in the mayor, the part that didn't particularly like feeling at the mercy of someone else. Every other moment of the day was another story, but this was her Mercedes. Regina knew a bit about cars, enough to manage.
As the mental war played out in her head, her keys in hand, and looking a bit ridiculous staring at a dead car, there was a sound of clicking from the distance that caught on her ears. The grip on her keys tightened, instinctually sliding the jagged edges through her fingers as brown eyes scanned the area where the sound was coming from. From the street light, she saw the outline of a woman walking towards her, and the clicking registered as the sound of her heels on the sidewalk.
When the woman was fully in view of the light, she seemed almost not interested at all in the mayor, who was standing tense by the side of her car, only mildly glancing over to the Mercedes. Though Regina took her time to look over this stranger with a paranoid and meticulous care. She looked younger than the mayor, probably no more than five or ten years, with short dark hair, black as a raven, and intentionally made messy and high with various gels, Regina was sure. She was dressed in a loose fitted tank top. Though as loose as her shirt was, it was made up for by her jean mini skirt that looked so tight, it was a wonder the girl could walk in it. When her eyes saw that the girl was wearing fishnets as well, it was all she could do not to sneer.
The whole look was tacky to the mayor, as if this girl just walked out of a 90's grunge magazine, and honestly it wasn't even appropriate with the cool that had settled tonight. Regina wondered if she was even cold, because she certainly wasn't acting like it, with the fluidity of her movements that Regina was watching too closely. The sway of her hips caught on her sight longer than it should have.
This stranger moved around the car hood, stopping in front of Regina, but not lingering too close. Just close enough for her perfume to hit the older woman's nose. Something familiar, like a sweet poison. She remembered that scent—
"Car trouble?" The stranger's voice sounded thick, taking it's time to register in Regina's brain, with a low octave and a lazy sort of drawl that was almost unnoticeable. The mayor knew she had been staring too long, now at red lipstick that matched her heels, though it wasn't clear whether or not the other woman seemed bothered by it. Though this dumbstruck silence she was stuck in needed to stop, so Regina mentally shook herself out of her stupor.
"I don't know what happened. It was fine one minute, and then it just stopped." Weakly gesturing to the car, as frustration edged her voice. "The engine won't turn over, or anything."
"Well, that is an unbelievable predicament." Smokey green eyes widened, bringing attention to the thick eye liner and long lashes, the make up a bit messy and far too much, still all it did was make the color of her eyes shine brighter. Suddenly, the woman outstretched her hand, for Regina to take in greeting. "I'm M."
Regina didn't return the gesture, keeping her hands firmly at her sides, as she looked over the woman's face suspiciously.
"M…as in?"
The extended hand was dropped slowly, though not a single bit of upset showed on M's face.
"Call me M. Everyone does." She gave an indifferent shrug.
"That's not much of a name." Because Regina was certainly not going to refer to a person in such a way. She wanted a full name, something concrete, something for reference. This entire situation was putting Regina more on edge.
"I make up for it with my sparkling personality." With a sarcastic tone, and a dramatic half curtsey, Regina seriously doubted her words. "So, your car?" Her thumb jutted out and pointed to the vehicle, causing the mayor to notice the chipped red nail polish, on nails that had obviously been getting abusive attention, with how short they were from the bitten ends.
Once the attention was back on her problem at hand though, Regina stood up a little straighter, her grip on her keys still tight.
"I'm calling a tow truck."
Something almost like a chuckle came from the short haired woman.
"Let me try to start it." M's hand outstretched again, this time palm up and waiting, which made red flags shoot up in the older woman's mind.
"No, thank you." She tensely declined, taking a step back.
"Darn." A dramatic finger snap and the sarcastic tone back in spades, though the playfulness—almost childlike glee regarding her own self, made the mocking a lot more endearing than it should have been. "And I was so close to stealing the Mayor's car. There's no way the sheriff would've found me." All white teeth shined at Regina while M smiled at her, with a lopsided grin. She acted as if this was just the most entertaining thing that had happened all night, as if spending her time talking to the mayor was an enjoyable and carefree experience. Regina wasn't used to that kind of reaction to her.
It softened her reaction in kind, to this odd woman, relenting and realizing that she really wouldn't get far without David finding her. Slightly rolling her eyes, she held out her keys, which M took with a triumphant look and a bounce in her step.
"Fine, but I'm telling you—" Regina's words trailed off, as M turned and opened the driver's side door, and she didn't sit in the car, because that would've been easy. No, she decided to lean into the space of the driver's side, reaching across the wheel to put the keys in the ignition. Bending at the waist, and it was almost a lurid type of display, showing off nothing but ridiculously long legs, the contours of which were hugged tight by her fishnets, and that skirt.
So Regina's words trailed off, because something about the sight took a bit of her breath away. And there was a tear in the back of her fishnets, something small, on her upper thigh, and the older woman could see it now that her skirt moved higher, what with the way she was bent over. The skin exposed by the tear was the palest white, looking untouched by the sun or anything else—
"It seems to be running fine now." M interrupted her thoughts with a smirk in her voice, causing Regina to physically shake herself from the cloud of her mind, eyes moving to look at the other woman looking back at her. The smirk in her voice was evidenced by the smirk on her face. It took a moment for the mayor to register the sound of her car's humming engine, running as if nothing ever happened.
"That's…" Heat flushed to Regina's face, feeling caught and embarrassed, because she had tried starting it several times with no avail. Creases started appearing in her eyebrows. "That's weird."
M stood up once more, arching her back and sliding away from the car, turning to face the mayor, and every movement was caught by brown eyes.
"So weird." The younger woman lifted her arms to lean them on the roof of the Mercedes, the driver's side door still wide open, with her blocking any way for Regina to get back inside her car. A silence started to stretch out between the two of them, not exactly awkward, but not exactly appropriate either. The smirk drifting away from M's face, and she opened her mouth to say something, finally, but words stumbled from Regina before she could stop them. Utterly awkward as she felt more heat rise to her face.
"Have we met?" Because there was something vaguely familiar about this mysterious and odd woman, but her eyes—that shining green—there was nothing vague about those. Those were like a punch to the gut, something just on the edge of her mind, and she was desperately grasping towards it, but her fingertips kept sliding off of the memory.
"You do look familiar…" She pushed off the car, but didn't make any advancement towards the mayor, a single finger tapping at her chin in mock consideration. "It must be the re-election posters all over town." The playfulness back in the tone, with M's hands stretching out to mock a marquee in the air between them, her voice light and a bit dramatic. "'A vote for Mills, is a vote for stability and strength'." Regina arched her eyebrow at the display, while the other woman repeated word for word her campaign slogan. "Very warm and fuzzy." M said sarcastically. "I bet you'd be fun in a war."
The mayor crossed her arms and tried not to smile.
"Come to the next city hall meeting to relay your concerns, if you feel that I'm too…unapproachable." It was a fitting word, Regina thought, because that was the main criticism given about her, mostly given by Kathryn, always trying to get her to open up—to let people in. It wasn't as if she couldn't, she just always thought hard work and honesty was more important. It made a town more efficient. She may not have been a good politician, but she was a good mayor.
"Everyone's approachable to me, Madame Mayor." That smile flashed white at her, and a small smile settled on Regina's face, unexpectedly enjoying this conversation with M, this sort of teasing back and forth that didn't feel like any kind of competition, or play for power. It was nice, just to have a conversation with someone else, someone who maybe found her interesting enough to engage in. Obviously the younger woman's status was below the mayor's, not really knowing anything about her, but still, there was a simplicity in just this. Almost like flirting.
That thought made Regina blush again, glancing down at her feet for a brief moment, hoping she didn't notice.
"Well, thank you M. I appreciate the help."
"I haven't done anything yet, but if you want to go somewhere…" The younger woman did take a step towards Regina at that, her hand sliding long the top of the open door, eyes playing coy, but there was something suddenly dark about her smirk. "You know, to talk."
Regina's face flashed with confusion.
"About my campaign?"
The other woman laughed at that, light and short, and just a tad patronizing. Then another step closer to Regina, making her body tense a bit.
"About what a pretty girl like you is doing on a corner like mine." And that dark smirk only grew, like a joke that only she understood, and Regina was the punchline.
"Oh." Regina said, confused, and looked up to the streetlight, then back at the woman.
Then, she got the joke.
The sudden sexuality mixed with confidence that practically dripped off of the younger woman, as if she would like nothing better than to eat the mayor alive. Perhaps it wasn't so sudden, but Regina wasn't as perceptive to these sort of things, as she probably should be. Though it was clear now that M was a predator—cold and calculated, eyeing up her meal. That sudden sexuality mixed with confidence that forced its way between the two of them, it sent a flash of heat to Regina's cheeks, shaking her head and not making eye contact with the person who was burning holes in her with that dark green.
"Oh, no thank you." She cringed, at the awkward way she was stumbling over her words. "I don't…need to talk."
"Everyone needs someone to talk to." It was whispered, and Regina wondered how she even heard the words so clearly, like screaming in her brain. Their eyes did meet at that, because the mayor was getting herself into trouble. She was standing on a street corner, talking to a prostitute. There was something sobering about that realization, forming it into an actual concrete thought. This wasn't someone taking an interest in her, she was a hooker.
And with the re-election coming up soon, she couldn't risk being seen with someone like M.
"This is a misunderstanding." Regina spoke with more confidence than she had all night, but the other woman seemed unaffected, apparently not realizing how much effort that took to show her an authoritative side. "I really just want to go home."
M considered the words and the woman, head tilting and taking a moment too long to respond, probably just to watch her squirm a little more before a smirk shifted on her lips.
"I was just being a concerned citizen, Madam Mayor." There's no accusation or insult in the tone, but that damned simple playfulness. "It's important to me, that I give back to our town hall employees."
"I'm sure." Regina said coldly, shifting the tone of their interaction, the smart wit on this short haired call girl was suddenly making her feel trapped. Feel like a fool for thinking she didn't have ulterior motives. They always did, always hiding in the grass like snakes. And that made Regina a little angry too.
Though all M did was smile wide, and a spark flashed in her green eyes.
"Drive safe."
Then she turned from the car, and walked away the same way she came, the clicking of her heels and sway of her hips that caught on the mayor's sight longer than it should have.