Turn for the Worst

Chapter 2

After work, Emma walks to the nearby diner, Granny's, to pick up Henry's favourite meal for dinner. She also had to clean up her apartment given her weekend with Killian left a few things in poor condition.

"Well if it isn't Miss All Night Long," a voice announces across the diner. Immediately Emma regrets going in while Ruby's working. "Or should I say, Miss All Weekend Long!"

"Could you be any louder?" Emma moans, coming to the counter of the classic 50's style diner, where Ruby, in her very revealing clothing and her dark hair streaked with red, is cleaning some glassware.

Ruby Lucas was another one of Emma's friends. Provocative, free spirited and dirty in every possible way. Ruby had had too many one-night stands to count and she always loved to talk about sex, despite the fact she worked in a public restaurant. She was always trying to hook Emma up with a date or try to get her laid, mostly to annoy the blonde. When Killian came into the picture, Ruby wanted every dirty detail. Despite her lewd attitude, Ruby did really care for her friends and was loyal to the core. She was the leader of their little circle of friends, the "pack leader" as she liked to put it and she always made sure they had a good time no matter what. She worked at her grandmother's restaurant to put herself into art college, but at this point, was only making her hair a work of art. Ruby did butt heads with her grandmother, whom everyone called Granny due to the diner's name, about moving out of state for college. This constantly pushed her to the breaking point. The waitress wanted to be free, but Granny always said she had enough freedom as it was. Emma knew never to intrude in the family affairs but was always the person Ruby vented her frustrations to when the time came.

"I'm sorry, but the fact that you scored with this guy is something to be celebrated," Ruby smirks.

Emma rolls her eyes. "I did not 'score' with him. It's not a contest Ruby; we're taking things slow and actually building a mutual relationship. You know that sex is not some game to be won."

"I know but you guys must be getting serious if you did it all weekend," Ruby grins wiggling her eyebrows. "So was it big? Did he have abs? Was his hair greasy in your hands?"

"Can we please stop talking about my sex life in a public diner?" Emma begs, her face flushing the deepest red imaginable. Other people were eating and occasionally staring at the two women. Fortunately, most of them were local and knew to ignore Ruby's statements.

"Alright fine, but next time we hang out, I want all the nasty details."

"Not going to happen. I don't kiss and tell," Emma says firmly.

"Oh come on," Ruby whines. "I won't tell anyone I promise."

"Sure you won't," Emma mutters. "And the minute I turn my back, you'll tell Elsa and the others before posting it on your blog."

"Can I help it that I'm happy my best friend finally got laid?" Ruby says quietly. "It's been a while since the asshole dumped you and you were starting to become very boring."

"I resent that," Emma grimaces. "Can I please get Henry's usual bacon cheeseburger with fries and an order of onion rings to go?"

Ruby writes everything down on a notepad.

"Oh please, Emma, before sailor boy walked into your life, you were a stick in the mud. You were a typical mother in her 30s and you're only 28. You'd always worked late and had nothing interesting to say except about Henry and no offense to him, but his life isn't all that interesting. Now you're laughing, going out with the girls and actually smiling more."

"I am not," Emma says. An image of Killian enters her mind and the corners of her mouth pull up.

"You're smiling right now!" Ruby points out before putting the order on a wheel that rotated into the kitchen. Emma's face falls to convince her dyed haired friend that she wasn't lying.