The List

Chapter 27

Emma's leg was brushing against mine. I didn't know whether it was on purpose or accidental, but even this small touch thrilled me.

This was the first time we had breakfast together. I looked my worst in the mornings and it was quite confrontational to see that Emma looked her cutest in the morning. Her hair was all messy, her face was blank of any makeup and she wore a pajama shirt with a hole in it, but she looked happy. Whenever Emma looked happy, she looked good. She also looked good when she was unhappy, but when she was all smiling and giggly there was just something about her that I adored.

"What time do you have to be on set, today?" Emma questioned, before she stuffed her mouth with selfmade pancakes.

"Three," I said and groaned inwardly. I didn't want to go to set. I wanted to stay here with Emma, watching her as she made pancakes and moved around in her old pajamas. "You don't work until five, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Emma said. "But I wished I could call in sick and spend the entire day here with you."

"Don't tempt me," I joked and cut my pancake.

"When is the movie done shooting?" Emma inquired kindly. I didn't want to answer this question, because saying it made it feel far too real. Even though Kathryn and Elsa had gotten me convinced that I could easily stay longer in Storybrooke, it still felt like I'd be ruining something by saying it.

"Next week," I softly said. Emma slumped.

"Really?" She sounded as though she didn't want to believe me and I couldn't blame her for that. "Oh."

"Yeah," I mumbled and swallowed. "Probably should've given you a heads up."

"I assume you're going to go home when you're done here," Emma said. I could tell she was trying to sound casual, but her voice cracked just the slightest.

"Well," I said. "I've told you I want to take a break, right? I figured, why won't I do that here? I'm starting to love Storybrooke and I don't have any obligations back home."

Emma smiled and poured some syrup on her last pancake. "I'd really like that," she said. "How long do you plan on taking a break?"

I hadn't really figured it all out. I couldn't stop for a very long time, because my agents would drop me if I didn't deliver any work, but I desperately craved a time in my life where I wasn't preparing myself for the next role.

My agent had already sent me a new script she'd wanted me to read. I'd yet to tell her I didn't plan on taking on anything right now, but I was afraid she wouldn't understand. At least my mom had, that was most important.

"A couple months, I suppose. It's been years since I last had a vacation. I was fifteen and my mom and I had saved up enough to take a trip across the country. So we flew from New York to California. Spent a week at the beach there, it was amazing. For the first time in years, I didn't have to worry about anything."

"Since you were fifteen, you've never had a vacation?" Emma asked. Her voice was layered in disbelief.

"No, I don't think so. I started on I'll Die In Peace when I was fifteen and ever since I constantly got job offers and auditions sorted out. I worked for three years on that show and meanwhile I shot two other projects. After shooting my final scene of I'll Die In Peace, I immediately flew out to shoot The End. I've had a couple of free days, but I was always preparing for my next audition, or awaiting a response from a casting director, going to premieres, talkshows, or traveling to places like I did when I got here in Storybrooke. I wasn't really working when I first got here, but I wasn't really free either."

"Oh, my God," Emma softly said. She grabbed my hand and I intertwined my fingers with hers. "How are you still alive?"

"I've gotten used to it, I guess. Until right before this project, I just broke down."