Chapter Text
"What do you mean? You can't just refuse to critique my painting!" Regina looked at the blonde sitting across from her. Emma just shook her head. "Swan! You are seriously the one who is the loudest fucking person when it comes to these god damn peer reviews! Is mine so bad that you don't want to say anything?" Regina began flailing her arms. She was so frustrated.
Emma quickly put her things away, and she left the room, leaving Regina speechless. Regina had had a crush on the infuriating blonde since freshman year, and this actually hurt her feelings. Regina was not one to normally be hurt by other people because she could take a lot, but she felt this pain all over.
She was quiet for the rest of the class. She didn't do anything, but look out the window. When the professor finished his lecture, Regina got up and bolted out. She stomped into her apartment and slammed the door. Her roommate, Ruby, jumped and fell off of the couch.
"You good?" Ruby asked.
"No!" snapped Regina. She threw her purse into the recliner next to the couch and laid down on the floor. "You're stupid best friend refused- she refused!- to critique my painting!"
Ruby raised her eyebrows. "So?"
Regina whipped her head around to look at Ruby. "So?" She paused dramatically. "So?" Another pause. "She is the only person in that damn room that doesn't filter herself. She tells everyone what she thinks and doesn't give a damn if she hurts any feelings. Oh, but when she gets to my paintings, she doesn't say anything! They couldn't have been that bad."
"Why does it matter so much? It's not like you have a thing for her." Ruby said nonchalantly. After realizing that Regina's cheeks were reddening and that she was refusing to meet Ruby's eye, that Regina did indeed have a thing for Emma. Ruby's eyebrows shot up. "Oh! Oh! I never realized!"
"That was kinda the point." Regina said quietly. "Look, whatever, she obviously hates me, and to cope, I'm gonna go take a nap." Regina sighed heavily, and left for her room.
Ruby waited for ten minutes after Regina shut her door before pulling out her phone. She called Emma.
"Hi."
"Emma! What the hell?"
"What?" Emma sighed.
"You refused to critique Regina's painting?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Why?" Ruby was whisper-yelling to make sure that Regina didn't know what she was talking about, and to make sure that Emma knew the severity of the situation.
"Because! Her paintings were amazing, but I couldn't tell her that! It's a critiquing, not an 'I love your paintings, please marry me!' She'd have figured out that I'm practically in love with her and she would have laughed in my face. Look, it is what it is and it's over now, so let it go."
"No. You need to come over here right now! She's got a thing for you, too!"
"I am not coming over. I've got to go. Bye, Rubes." Emma pulled her phone away from her ear.
"Bye, Em." Emma heard just as she hit the red button. Emma sighed. There is no way that Regina Mills has a thing for her.
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Two weeks went by and every day, Emma made sure to sit as far away from Emma as possible. Regina kept getting sadder and sadder. Every night, she would go home and go straight to her room to avoid Ruby. The avoidance would, in turn, make Ruby call Emma and rant at her again.
After one particular week, Emma noticed that Regina was headed her way, so she packed up quickly and rushed out of the classroom. Regina would have been more upset had she not noticed that Emma had dropped her sketchbook. Regina picked int up, stuffed it in her bag, and left.
When Regina got home, she was much happier than she had been the last few weeks. If Emma wanted her sketchbook back, she had to talk to Regina. Instead of rushing to her room and staying in there, Regina dropped her bags in her room and went to the kitchen. Ruby looked at her with wild eyes.
"Hey!" Ruby said.
"Hello." Regina replied with a smirk.
"Whatcha doing?"
"Cooking dinner. What do you want?"
"Could you make your lasagna? Please! It's so good!" Ruby got excited and almost started jumping up and down.
"One lasagna, coming up!"
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After dinner, Regina went into her bedroom and pulled out the sketchbook. She plopped onto her stomach across her bed and opened it up. She looked at the first few pages which were full of drawings of various celebrities. She saw Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, and Princess Diana. She flipped through a couple more pages and saw some various characters. There were some she recognized like River Song from Doctor Who and Teddy Altman from Grey's Anatomy, but there were some that she didn't recognize. She kept flipping, but abruptly stopped on a page. There staring back at her from Emma Swan's sketchbook was her. Regina marveled at the drawing of her. She flipped through more and more pages and they were all full of her.
She jumped up and ran across the hall into Ruby's room.
"Hey!" Ruby shouted.
"Sorry, but this is important!" Regina said really quickly. "Where does Emma live?"
"Wait, what?" Ruby raised her eyebrows.
"Where does Emma live?" Regina repeated.
"Why?"
"Because I'm done waiting for her."
"Oh. Well, in that case..." Ruby rolled her eyes.
Regina held up the sketchbook. Ruby's eyebrows shot up.
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Fifteen minutes later, Regina was walking up the sidewalk to Emma's house. She was breathing heavily because, now that she was here, she was nervous as hell. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Emma swung the door open and froze in shock. Regina's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. There Emma was in her doorway with nothing on but a tank top and underwear.
"Hi." Emma said.
"Hey. This," Regina held out the sketchbook, "is for you. Also, I came to tell you that you are taking me on a date on Wednesday. Ruby already told me you had no other plans, so now you do." Regina turned around and began walking back to her car. Halfway down the walkway she turned around and said, "Oh, and nice underwear, Swan. How did you know apples were my favorite?" Regina winked and headed for her car.
Emma watched Regina drive off, the blush never leaving her cheeks. When her mind came to her, and she realized that she now had a date with Regina Mills! she almost panicked. Instead, she allowed a smile to spread on her face. The smile stayed there every waking moment to come for Emma because she realized that there is always Regina to look forward to.