The School Play

Chapter 18

The doors of Granny's Diner closed with a soft jingle and Regina felt the cold air immediately. She wasn't wearing anything but the dress, because she'd forgotten to bring along a jacket. Emma had been right, though, people had been complimenting her outfit, though that wasn't why she'd worn the dress. It was mostly because Emma's expression when she'd seen her in this dress was iconic.

"Why are you upset with me?" Emma asked, as soon as they'd started walking home. There were still quite some people at the party, but Emma had said she was tired, so Regina had agreed to go home.

Regina looked confused at Emma. "I'm not upset with you. Tonight was great. Thank you for bringing me along."

Emma stopped walking and observed Regina for a moment. It made Regina very nervous, because usually the roles were reversed. Usually, she was the one making people uncomfortable by staring intimidatingly at them and she didn't know why Emma was doing it.

"Your eyebrow has been slightly furrowed, the entire night, every time you look at me. What did I do?"

That damn superpower of hers.

"Nothing," Regina said and turned away. She started walking again and Emma caught up with her. Regina had almost forgotten about Emma's conversation with Ruby, but now she just felt awful about having eavesdropped.

"Hm.." Emma said and Regina looked briefly at her, noticing a hint of a smirk, as Emma stared right back at her. "Ruby and I talked.."

Regina tried to keep a straight face as she kept on walking. "So, I was right. You heard us."

Regina stiffened for a moment and shook her head. She hated, she absolutely hated, that Emma was using all Regina's tricks to get the truth out of her. It was always fun to watch people as they lied to her, only to be able to expose them, but now that it happened to her, she wasn't so smug anymore. Emma was being very annoying.

She wanted to have a good comeback, to show that she wasn't in the slightest intimidated by Emma, just like the girl had done at Ivy's party, when they were in the bathroom. Yet, she couldn't find the words to do so.

Emma was just looking at her, knowing very well she'd heard the entire conversation between her and Ruby, but Regina had nothing to say.

She just kept quiet. Both of them. Until Regina couldn't handle the silence anymore and cleared her throat. "I didn't feel very comfortable, being alone at the party. So, I followed you and Ruby, because I wondered where you two were going and then I heard you talking about me. I know I should have left and it was really wrong of me not to. I'm sorry I eavesdropped, but at least I know where we're at, right now." She tried to cover up the painful situation with a smile, but Emma wasn't looking at her, making it impossible for Regina to know what she was thinking.

"And where are we, then?"

"You don't want to be friends with me. And I completely understand that, after the way I treated you," Regina said. Emma groaned softly and sighed, genuinely surprising Regina. The blonde sounded very annoyed, though Regina had tried to be understanding. "I'm sorry," Regina quickly said. "For everything."

Emma shrugged it off. "Can't we just.. start over?"

"How do you mean?"

"I don't know. We'll forget about this lame fight we had, and we just get along."

Regina stayed silent for a moment, as she thought of an answer. She would like it - Emma was very nice when she tried to be - but Emma had disliked her from the beginning, so she wasn't sure it would work. She didn't know if she could suddenly be overly sweet to Emma.