Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT
A/N: Yay! Chapter 3 is here! And with 30 minutes to spare from what I promised my Tumblr followers. ;)
Trigger warning for slight mention of abuse.
These next few weeks may be a little touch and go for me as I will be out of town for Thanksgiving and then celebrating my 21st birthday the following weekend. Though I will do my best to update weekly! No promises though. I guess I'm going to aim for Sunday's to be my update day.
As always, enjoy and review!
Today was the day Emma would head up to Oregon and start her big adventure. Today is the day she would get away. Her foster father made her stay a few days longer than intended to spend more time with Neal and was making her drive herself up there after last weeks incident as "punishment".
As if the beating she took when her apology didn't go the way he wanted it to wasn't enough. It had been two weeks since her foster father made her apologize to Neal and he had come over every day since and each day tried to convince her that OSU wasn't best for her. She was careful when arguing with him but made sure to keep her ground.
She and Ruby were finishing packing up her old yellow beetle when he pulled up. Locking eyes with her Ruby gave her an encouraging smile. Emma hadn't told Ruby about what happened last week nor had she told Ruby that she didn't think she loved him anymore. Ruby simply thought Emma was sad to say goodbye. He got out of his truck and came around to lean on the hood of it waiting for Emma to come over to him. Noticing this Emma took a deep breath and walked over to where he was standing.
"Hi" She started shyly.
"Hey." He replied.
Then there was a long silence before he finally spoke again.
"So, this is really happening?" He asked knowing the answer.
Emma only nodded. To which Neal responded by pulling her into a hug. After what seemed like forever Emma finally pushed back.
"Neal, I have to get going. I'm sorry." Emma mumbled before turning to leave but before she could Neal grabbed her arm, hard, pulling her back towards him, taking his other hand under her chin and forcing her head up. He pressed his lips to hers shoving his tongue in her mouth that had already been open in surprise. When he finally broke away her gripped her arm even tighter pulling her closer leaning down to whisper in her ear.
"So help me if I find out you're cheating on me up there I will make you regret it." Letting go of her with a small shove he turned to wave to Ruby before getting back in his pick-up and speeding off.
Emma just stood there stunned for a moment as realization hit her. That's what his problem had been this whole time? Emma wondered to herself. Neal wasn't sad because he'd miss her he was worried that she was going away and going to cheat on him? And she thought she was insecure. Shaking the thought from her head she went back over to her beetle to help Ruby finish shifting everything to get the trunk to close.
"Well, Em. I guess this is goodbye.."
Emma only nodded sadly. Ruby was her best friend and she hated to leave her.
"But only for now! I'll be up at the end of the month when I move in with my grandmother! It's not too far from where you'll be!" Ruby quickly added.
Emma smiled and gave Ruby a big hug.
"I love you, Rubes! I'll call you when I get there!"
With that Emma gave her best friend a kiss on the cheek and got in her bug. She plugged in her phone and got her GPS set up. In 6 hours she'd be to her new home. While she was sad to leave her best friend she was beyond excited to see what Oregon had in store for her.
It was just after 5 when Emma pulled up to the campus. It was beautiful just like all the pictures Emma had seen. Emma pulled out the campus map from the folder of freshman info she received in the mail a few weeks prior and quickly located her building. She parked the bug and went inside to see where her room was located. As a foster kid Emma didn't have a whole lot of belongings and she was very relieved for that at the moment as her room was on the top floor.
Locating which room was hers she dug the key out of her back pocket letting herself into the room. The room was nice. Fairly big for a dorm room. On either side of the room there were small walkin closets and right behind the door was a small kitchenette area. There were two raised up beds and two desks as well. Each bed had a small dresser underneath it.
By the looks of things her roommate had already been here for quite a while. Her bed was all made and she had some posters hung. She had a lovely color scheme of purple and sea foam green going on. Emma silently hoped her own black and red wouldn't clash with it.
It only took Emma a total of three trips to get all of her belongings into her dorm room. By her third return her roommate had made an appearance. She was slightly taller than Emma with gorgeous red hair.
"Oh hi!" She yelped excitedly. "you must be Emma!"
"Uh, yes..yes I am.."
The taller girl just stood there smiling and blinking at Emma for a moment before speaking up again.
"Oh, forgive me! I'm so rude! I'm Ariel! I read your name off the top of your map over there." She pointed to where Emma had put her map and school paperwork down. "We have 2 courses together! English and Mythology! I hear the teacher is such a witch. I mean not literally of course! But a very mean woman. She's new here and I've only heard unfriendly things. I'm talking a lot. I apologize. Would you like help unpacking?" Emma just smiled and nodded at the overly friendly girl.
They spent the next 30 minutes unpacking and getting to know each other better. Well, Emma got to know Ariel better. The girl seemed to love talking. Ariel was from the coast. Only two hours from the college. She grew up in a small beach town on the water and loved to swim. She was one of many children.
Once everything was unpacked and Emma's bed was made she hopped up on it to relax. Just as she laid back her stomach made a loud rumbling noise causing her and Ariel to both giggle. Sitting up from her own bed Ariel tossed a glance over to Emma.
"I hear there's a pretty awesome diner about 30 minutes south of here, wanna go grab a bite to eat?" Ariel asked.
At this point Emma sat up as well. She thought about it for a moment but couldn't exactly think of when she last ate. And clearly her body was starving. Shrugging her shoulders she stood up from her bed and grabbed her keys.
"Sure. But I'm driving!"
It didn't take terribly long to get there. It was basically just one road. It being the Sunday before classes the diner was pretty empty. Ariel and Emma walked up and sat down at some bar stools at the counter. Emma was looking down at the menu in front of her when she heard a slightly familiar voice call her name.
"Emma Swan."
She froze for a moment. She had never lived in Oregon before. Who could know her? Slowly lifting her head she was met with a warm friendly smile. She had only met this woman once but she recognized that smile.
"Granny!" Emma exclaimed.
She looked around the diner and then back to Granny. "This is your diner!? Why didn't Ruby tell me!" Granny just laughed. Shaking her head giving another smile she began "Yes, dear. This is my diner. Ruby wanted it to be a surprise that she would be so close when she moves up here at the end of the month." Emma had a smile beaming from ear to ear. Her best friend was only going to be 30 minutes away!
"Oh! I'm being so rude! Ariel, this is my best friends grandmother. Granny, this is my roommate Ariel!"
"Nice to meet you, sweetheart."
"Likewise! Great place you've got here!"
Just then the bell on the door rang and what little chatter was taking place died down all eyes landing in the same place. Emma turned towards the sound of heels clicking in their direction. The person who entered was a beautiful brunette with a nice lean body. She was wearing black dress pants and a white button up. Emma was in awe at the beauty of this woman. She wore a very serious expression but God was she breath taking-wait..breathtaking? Emma shook her head. What was she doing? This was a woman..she had a boyfriend..Granny's voice drew her out of her thoughts.
"Well, well, I wasn't sure the rumors were true. Regina Mills. It really is you." With a huge smile on her face. Suddenly the strange woman's face softened and she cracked a small smile.
"Granny," Regina began, "it's so great to see you again." She came around the counter and gave Granny a hug. Emma watched closely as the woman's hips swayed while she walked. She felt someone rapidly tapping her knee and brought her focus to that. It was Ariel. "Em! That's our mythology teacher! That's The Regina Mills!" Ariel squealed. "She doesn't seem so terrible. She seems quite friendly with your friends grandmother.." Ariel nodded towards where Granny and Regina were talking. She had a beautiful small smile on her face listening to Granny. Emma just shrugged and looked back down into her menu trying to distract herself from staring at Regina. She was succeeding untill the woman started talking again.
"Well, Granny, it was so lovely to see you but I need to go do some last minute preparations for classes but I'll come back by often. Especially if you keep my drink on hand." Regina said with a wink before hugging Granny and heading back out the door.
Ariel and Emma ordered their food and then chatted briefly with Granny while they waited for it. Ariel was right, the food was good here. It didn't take them long before they were finished and back on the road to the school. Emma was fairly quiet the whole road home. She kept thinking about that woman. Her teacher. Regina. 'Such a lovely name'. Emma thought to herself. They got back to their school a little quicker knowing the way this time and headed straight upstairs to their dorm. Emma was collecting her shower stuff to go get ready for bed when Ariel spoke up.
"Hey, Em? Is everything okay?"
Emma just turned to face Ariel giving her a look of confusion.
"Well, I mean you were just really quiet the whole way home. I just thought maybe something happened."
"I'm fine, girl. No worries. Just a little tired. It's been a long day." Flashing her a quick smile she headed off to the community bathrooms.
45 minutes later Emma was done and threw herself into her bed ready to crash. She was nervous and excited all at the same time to start tomorrow. She tossed and turned for a while trying to sleep but she couldn't stop thinking about the diner tonight. She was so excited that Ruby would be so close. And it was awesome that her grandmothers diner was only 30 minutes away. Then there was Regina. She was straight-up checking this woman out. She had never done that before. She had a boyfriend! And she's straight! Letting out a frustrated groan Emma rolled over and willed herself to sleep.
Emma didn't have any trouble finding her classes. She was relieved to get to English to meet back up with Ariel though. It was nice knowing someone else in a room full of strangers. After English they had Mythology. Emma had been dreading and looking forward to this class all in one. Her and Ariel chose seats over near the windows of the room in the second row.
Each desk had a 3 page syllabus laid out on it. Ariel and Emma both groaned at the same time. They were sick of syllabus' at this point. They all basically said the same thing. Show up. Be on time. Turn in work. Pay attention.
They had gotten to the class a bit early so no one else was in there yet so they both started glancing over the syllabus. After about 5 minutes Emma could here heels clicking down the hall. She looked up to the doorway just in time to be met with gorgeous brown eyes locking onto her own emerald ones. Swallowing hard she forced herself to look down and break eye-contact.
Noticing the younger womans blush Regina chuckled softly. "Well" she began "you ladies are here early. Class isn't for another 15 minutes." The blush on Emma's face grew even more and it seemed she had forgotten how to speak. Thankfully Ariel hadn't. "Oh! Well, we were already over here from our English class so we just came right in. I hope that's alright." Ariel said.
Though the red head was talking Regina's eyes never left the beautiful blonde that was avoiding eye contact. Smiling softly she nodded her head. "Quite alright. As you must know I am Regina Mills. You can call me Professor Mills or Ms. Mills. Either is fine." Her eyes finally moving from the blond in front of her to the red head waiting for her to speak up again.
"Very nice to meet you, ma'am! I'm Ariel. Ariel Triton." Regina nodded her head and shook the girl out stretched hand. She looked back at the blonde sitting beside the Ariel girl waiting for her to speak up. Ariel cleared her throat and gently kicked her leg.
"Ah, I-I'm Emma..Emma Swan.." Emma said finally making eye contact again.
Stifling her laugh, trying not to embarrass the poor girl, Regina shook her hand and smiled warmly. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Swan." By this time some more students had started trickling in. "Well, if you'll excuse me ladies." Regina said motioning towards the other students before walking away. Emma stared at her the whole walk across the classroom.
"HELLO! Earth to Emma! What was that!?" Her roommate squealed.
"Huh? Wh-what are you talking about?" Emma stuttered out.
"Uh, Idunno. You forgot how to talk or something! And would hardly look at her! Until she walked away that is!" Ariel laughed raising an eyebrow.
Emma only blushed and her eyes went wide.
"I..she..she just makes me nervous, I guess. She's kind of scary." Emma lied. Not entirely sure of the reasons behind her own actions. Ariel simply shrugged her shoulders and turned her head to the front of the classroom where their teacher was beginning her welcome to class speech.
Professor Mills was about halfway through the syllabus but Emma couldn't tell you what she had been talking about. She hadn't been paying attention to the words coming out of those beautiful lips of hers. Ugh. Emma groaned internally and mentally scolded herself. What is wrong with you!? Get it together, Swan! She is a WOMAN and so are you. A taken woman. With a boyfriend. a BOY friend. That you've had sex with! And that's when it all hit her. She did have a boyfriend. One she wasn't sure she loved anymore. And yes she had sex with him. Though it was never enjoyable. Quite frankly she hated having sex with him.
Suddenly things started clicking in her head. One thing leading to another. Her mind had been racing now with all kinds of thoughts, maybe the reason she didn't love Neal was because she didn't like men..and that's why she hadn't enjoyed sex with him and that would why she was- "Holy shit!" Emma hadn't meant to yell that out loud but she had and she regretted it immediately as Ariels wide eyes fell on her own giving her a 'what the hell' kind of look. The next thing she noticed was Professor Mills eyes on her. "Ms. Swan, do you find something interesting about my discipline policy?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow and small smirk on her face.
"Uh-I-uh..no..no ma'am..I apologize.."
"See me after class, Ms. Swan." Her stomach did a backflip. She was going to be alone with the woman she had been ogling all class long. When she broke eye contact she noticed Ariel's eyes still on her with a very confused face.
"I'll explain when we get back to the dorm." She mouthed to her. Ariel just nodded and turned her attention back to their teacher.
Sinking down in her chair and letting her head fall against the back of her seat she let her mind wander to thought that caused her outburst. She might not be into men and possibly had a huge girl crush on her new college professor. What a way to start college. She thought to herself. What was she going to tell Neal? How was she going to tell him? Surely her foster father would kill her. Maybe she was just imagining things. Maybe she was wrong. She couldn't be attracted to her teacher. She was of the same sex as her. Emma had never been attracted to women. Had she?
Emma was so wrapped in her thoughts she hadn't realized the class was over and she was now the only one in there. She was brought out of her train of thought by an intoxicating scent of cinnamon and apples. Professor Mills was now sitting in front of her with a very concerned look on her face.
"Ms. Swan? Is everything okay? Between your outburst and the fact that class ended 5 minutes ago.." She trailed off waiting for Emma to offer an explanation.
"I just have a lot on my mind right now is all.." Emma said quietly staring down at her desk not wanting to look Regina in the eyes.
Regina reached out and put her hand on Emma's leg. "I have office hours right now..if you need someone to talk to.." Regina knew the effect she had on this girl. She knew it last night when she had seen her in the diner. She saw the girl checking her out. Though she wasn't sure the girl was aware of the effect she was causing. She knew it was wrong for staff to get involved with their students but Regina was never one for playing by the rules. Especially through-out her years of vampirism. Might as well live it up. She always thought to herself knowing she'd almost always be able to clean up or fix whatever mess she landed in between her own supernatural perks and those of the many folks she'd met over her many years.
Besides if she were being honest this girl had quite the effect on her that she couldn't really explain. Which was very rare. Regina Mills didn't have feelings towards anyone. Not since Elsa. Yet, for some reason something about this girl in front of her made her want to know more. Emma mumbled something very quietly pulling Regina from her thoughts.
Had it not been for her keen sense of hearing she would have missed it but she heard Emma loud and clear. "That would really nice.." Regina smiled widely. Pleased that it had been so easy. But then Emma continued even quieter than before. "But I can't.." And with that the younger girl had gotten up rather quickly and all but ran from the classroom leaving Regina sitting alone. If she wanted to get to know this girl she was going to have to try a little bit harder.