The List

Chapter 6

"Are you any excited for the movie?"

Regina and I were making our way through the forest. I always estimated the time it took to walk to the wishing well wrong. It wasn't necessarily my favorite spot in Storybrooke, but I had always liked it.

I had a weakness for stories and Storybrooke was filled with them. I'd always wondered whether the name of the town had anything to do with that.

Regina stopped walking to take a breath, for a moment. She looked around. We were surrounded by trees and bushes. There was just a single small path showing that humans had been here before.

"Do you want an honest answer?" Regina looked at me with a serious expression and red cheeks. We'd been walking quite fast and suddenly I wondered why. It'd only gotten us out of breath.

"Yes."

"No," she said. "I'm not very much looking forward to it." She looked at me, until she started walking again. I followed her, with a confused expression. I hadn't expected Regina not to like her job.

"Why not?"

"I need a break," she said. I thought she meant from the walk, but she kept on going, so I figured it applied to her job. "It's an exhausting business. I've been working since I was a kid and I know I'm only twenty four, but I've got enough money to stop working for the rest of my life."

"Then why aren't you taking a break?"

Regina turned her head around to me, probably trying to see if I was serious. I was. I didn't understand why she'd continue doing something if she felt too worn out to do so. She was right, she'd been in her first commercials since she was six. There was no way that was good for someone.

"I'm not supposed to. I'm supposed to handle this well. If I stop now, I'll never be able to keep up with the level of fans and adoration I've achieved now."

"That's not so bad. People will love you forever. If you were to take a break, everyone would understand."

Regina didn't agree with me. "My fans are the reason I'm in this business. I can't disappoint them. I need to take advantage of the time I'm still pretty and not an old woman that will only be cast in roles for mothers or aunts. Now, I can still play the main characters."

"But you don't like it, now," I said. I grabbed Regina's hand and put her to a halt. "Regina, you're pretty. You're more than pretty, you're fucking gorgeous, and not just now. You will be stunning for the rest of your life. Your beauty is not just nice hips and a cleavage, it's the way your eyes sparkle when you hear something funny, it's the way your lips smile and the sound of your laugh. I know it sounds cliche, but you're beautiful in every way, Regina. People love you for so many more things than you seem to know."

For a second, I thought I'd gone too far in my declaration of admiration, but Regina's lips curled up into a smile. She squeezed my hand briefly, before she let it go.

"Thank you, Emma. You really know how to give pep talks."

"I'm sorry if I was a bit intense," I said and continued walking. Regina picked up the pace as well, while shaking her head.

"You weren't. I feel like I should apologize for telling you how I feel about my job at the moment." I didn't reply, because she didn't need to apologize. She didn't understand how special I felt, now that she opened up to me. "This forest is beautiful."

"I know, right!" I enthusiastically replied and I saw the wishing well appear into view. "Here it is."

"A wishing well." Regina didn't sound delighted nor disappointed. It was a mere statement. I led her to the plaque on the wishing well.