Swinging Storybrooke

Chapter Twelve

"What can I get you, dad?" Emma happily asks, moving around the kitchen as if it were her home and not the neighbor's at all.

"Well," her mother's disapproving sigh hits her like a ton of bricks, "you sure know your way around this home, don't you?" And the accusing tone in her mother's voice provokes a snarl upon her face.

"Well, I do hang out here every day, like I state, every day," she sardonically retorts, slamming a cabinet shut a little too aggressively, but luckily the music is thumping obnoxiously loud and the chatter of the crowd drowns out the banging.

"And why is that, hmmm?" Her mother bitterly quips, leaning over the kitchen island like she's completely oblivious as to what her mind is coming up with.

"Mary Margret," David warns in his most stern voice. "You said you wouldn't start with her."

"I'm not starting anything," she innocently proclaims, straightening her posture.

"So, dad, would you like a scotch on the rocks for the special occasion?" She chirps, ignoring her mother's sour attitude altogether.

"Sure, princess, I think that would be perfect for today."

"And I would like an answer," Mary Margret demands, prompting two deeps groans from her husband and daughter.

Emma snatches Graham's good scotch from above the refrigerator along with a glass with ice and begins pouring. "Because mom, I'm really good friends with Regina and Graham," she exhales heavily, expressing how annoyed she truly is, but even still, she's polite to her mother. "What would you like, wine?" She suggests as she slides the glass over to her father.

"I'm just fine with water right now, it's only three o'clock in the afternoon."

"It's the Fourth of July, it's a barbecue, lighten up," she scoffs and pours her mother a hefty glass of wine against her wishes.

Mary Margret smiles apologetically and accepts the drink. "Thank you, honey."

Emma simply nods in return and pours herself a rather hefty glass as well. She consumes a large portion to settle her anxiety about her situation with Regina and Graham and her nosy mother just as someone advances on her pretty quickly.

"Emma, right?"

She blinks and blinks again as she tries to place the woman with long, jet-black hair and glowing green eyes. "Uhhh..." Her eyes flick to her parents before darting back to the stranger. 

"You're the little thing stealing my best friend away, right?" The woman laughs, clasping her fingers around Emma's bicep and squeezing, persuading her eyes to drift down toward the connection.

"Ummm..."

"You are quite adorable, aren't you?"

Emma's eyes snap back up to find this woman flashing a wolfish grin, her attention solely focused on her and not paying any attention to her parents.

She swallows, to soothe her dry mouth and attempts to speak. "Yeah, I'm Emma," she weakly responds.

"Oh, I know, we've established that already. We are onto how adorable you are."

Emma swallows again. "Um, how about we move onto your name?"

"Ruby Lucas," she cheerfully introduces herself, as perky as a child on Christmas morning.

"Ohhhh," Emma slowly says as pieces start to fall into place. "That makes sense. Hi, Ruby. These are my parents-"

"Oh, I know them. Hi, David, Mary Margret."