The School Play

Chapter 47

Mary Margaret and David had really gone out of their way to deliver an outstanding Christmas Eve dinner. Emma hadn't eaten this deliciously in a while, except for Regina a few hours earlier, and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

"How did you two get together?" Mary Margaret asked and sipped her wine. Emma was certain her mother and David had noticed something when they were limping towards the bathroom earlier, but they'd ignored it. Thankfully.

"Hadn't I already told that over the phone?"

"Yes, but I want to hear it again. More detailed. So, Emma didn't want to talk to you after you two hadn't spoken in eleven years?" Mary Margaret had turned to Regina, who smiled widely, and the brunette nodded.

"Can you believe that? If it hadn't been for her friends challenging her, she'd have ignored me," Regina joked and stroked Emma's cheek.

"That's absurd. Absolutely unbelievable," David joined in and rolled his eyes playfully. Emma turned red and swallowed.

"She didn't talk to me either," she muttered softly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"That's because I didn't know you were in that bar," Regina responded. "Anyway, she did talk to me eventually, fortunately. We ended up talking the entire night," she continued, leaving out the part where they hadn't done much talking and more fucking.

"Then she stayed with me for three weeks," Emma said with a smile immediately erupting on her face as she remembered those first weeks. Though everything had felt very natural back then, she felt much closer to Regina now.

"After that, we met up as often as possible," Regina filled her in. "Both our schedules were pretty full and busy, but that got much better when Emma started working with me."

Emma flashed Regina a stern glare, which luckily she immediately received. "See, Emma, wouldn't it sound great if I could say that? You really should reconsider the offer I made you." The words slipped easily off her tongue and she turned to Mary Margaret and David. "See, I asked Emma to play a small part in the upcoming season, but she keeps refusing. There's no changing this one's mind." She laughed playfully and bumped Emma's shoulder.

Emma wasn't smiling. Though Regina had sounded quite convincing, she knew her mother hadn't bought it and she had to explain why she'd never told her mother and David that she'd gotten a role in the series.

Mary Margaret ignored Regina's words and looked at Emma. "You two are working together? Why didn't you tell me?"

Emma bit her lower lip and eyed Regina, who stayed awfully silent. Emma couldn't blame her girlfriend, it had only been natural for her to share it with her mother.

"It's just a small gig, nothing interesting," Emma said. "They were in need of an actress, I auditioned for fun and ended up getting the part. Nothing interesting."

"Did you finally use your vacation days? Or are you flying back and forth?" Mary Margaret asked with a slight smile, indicating that she wasn't angry in the slightest at Emma for withholding this information.

"Vacation days," Emma muttered and took a bite of the delicious meal on her plate. She wished they didn't have to talk about this during Christmas Eve dinner, but she knew this conversation had become inevitable.

Regina looked guiltily at her and mouthed "I'm sorry", but Emma merely smiled and put her hand on Regina's lap. It was her own fault and though the atmosphere had grown more tense, no one was angry.

"Why didn't you tell me? It's big news. My kid's going to be a superstar!"

Emma shrugged. She knew why she hadn't told her mother. At first, she hadn't told her because she'd been way too stressed about the audition and she'd felt like she wasn't going to get the part anyway, and once she'd actually begun, she realized just how much she loved it.