The School Play

Chapter 26

Friends. Friends. Friends. Friends. Emma kept repeating the thought inside her head. Regina and she were friends. Heck, they weren't even that well befriended, they only tolerated each other since like a month.

The feelings erupting in her stomach as Regina smiled at her, were merely friendly feelings. Emma was convinced. Or rather, she was convincing herself.

She couldn't allow herself to catch more-than-friends feelings. She needed to keep a cool head. She needed to stay casual, because she didn't want a relationship anyway. And especially not with Regina.

The girl who'd made her friend miserable for so long. The girl that had openly shamed a gay guy - she still had to ask Regina a couple of questions about that, and the girl that was popular, just like Lily.

That was actually the only similarity between Regina and Lily, but Emma still didn't want to catch feelings for the brunette.

It's probably the food, she figured, I'm hungry, and she's giving me food, so my mind is all confused.

Regina had prepared a wonderful picnic, though. She'd spread out a blanket and placed all the food on top of it. Self-made apple turnovers, a salad, sandwiches, drinks, and much, much more.

"Wow, this is.. amazing. I feel so guilty for not having done anything," Emma said, as she looked at the stalled out food. Regina chuckled, and Emma saw a slight blush on her cheeks.

"I love cooking and food. This afternoon was lots of fun for me," she said.

"I don't think I can thank you enough for doing this. All of this," Emma said, and gestured at the picnic blanket, with all the food.

They were sitting on a huge rock, with perfect view of the ocean. The sun was already turning orange, and it was getting darker and darker with the minute. She enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing on shore, and some seagulls screeching.

"It's actually.. quite romantic," Emma said, slightly nervous, but she didn't know why.

Regina laughed lightly, and nodded. "I've sat here a couple of times alone. Mostly when I needed to think, so it's never come across to me as romantic, but you're right. I hope you don't mind."

"No. It's like a date." The words left Emma's mouth, before she realized, and she swallowed thickly, fearing Regina's response.

"Do you.. want this to be a date?" Regina asked, carefully, but with a sweet smile.

Emma swallowed again, her mouth feeling unnaturally dry. "Do you want this to be a date?" Emma repeated. She didn't know how else to answer.

"Are you copying my words so you can avoid confrontation?" Emma nodded curtly, causing Regina to laugh softly. "That's cute. I've never actually been on a date before, so you'd have to tell me what it's like. What did you do on your first date?"

She grabbed a tiny paprika and took a bite, while keeping a playful smirk on her lips. Emma found Regina looking rather confident in this situation, whereas she herself was a nervous wreck on the inside. She knew that was unnecessary, but apparently Regina had an effect on her that she'd never experienced before.

"Lily and I didn't really go on dates. I mean, we already knew each other before we got together, and she wasn't much of a communicator, so we didn't really talk. With the guy that I dated for like two months, we mainly asked each other questions, I think. I don't really remember him well."

"What kind of questions?"

Emma shrugged. "All kinds of questions. Basic things like where we grew up, but also more intimate question like with whom we had our first kiss, or whether we'd ever done it before. Despite that, it actually was quite a shallow relationship. It was barely a relationship. We found out rather quickly that we didn't really fit well together, so we broke it off."