You and Tequila

Chapter Two

"Honestly, Miss Lucas, where did you find this one?" Cora sighs in annoyance, but Emma softly sweeps her thumb beneath Regina's eye and ignores the anger pulsating in her gut.

"She's my kid sister," Ruby casually mentions, sleeking down the shiny inky strands swarming around Regina.

"We are the same age," Emma grumbles under her breath, this new bit of information inspires Regina's long lashes to flutter back to life. Regina doesn't have to say a word, because Emma already sees the questions floating around in those big brown eyes. "We don't have the same parents, we were just raised together by my mom and her Granny."

Regina doesn't bother with words, her eyes slowly slip closed again and allows Emma to work in peace once more. She rather have Regina's eyes closed anyways, so she doesn't feel the judgement and scrutiny pulsating from them. It helps her relax so she can produce the best display to her ability.

"Well," Cora exasperates, "then it will be your career as well Miss Lucas if she does not live up to my standards."

"You betcha," Ruby instantly replies with far too much perk and enthusiasm, not at all affected by Cora's threat.

Emma's nerves about this older woman, who is already threatening to sabotage her within thirty seconds of meeting her, are prickling in fear. She knows that these aren't some empty threats, she can tell Cora means every word, but if Ruby could survive this long, she could too, right? She has a good head on her shoulders and has always been more goal oriented than Ruby Lucas.

She inhales sharply as her thoughts scramble around in her mind and completely is unaware that she just breathed on Regina. That is until cold, hard, accusing eyes are glaring back at her. Emma swallows and quickly steps back to avoid confrontation.

"Alright," she mumbles, reaching for the scarlet lipstick that will match the red splash in Regina's silk blouse, but the cranky woman is quick to snatch it away.

"I will do my own lipstick," she vacantly declares, catching Emma off guard once again.

This woman is a pistol and Emma knows she's going to have to find her composure over this woman, so she can fight fire with fire. Once her mind will finally accept that Regina is just another woman and grows accustomed to the woman's presence, then hopefully, Emma will find her backbone again.

"Yup," is the only word that falls stupidly from Emma's mouth.

Ruby peeks over her shoulder to flash Emma an amused smirk while she continues fluffing Regina's hair. They share a knowing look, one that simply states that Ruby is mocking Emma for her inadequate vocabulary whenever she's around Regina and Emma just knows it dammit. So, she quickly averts her eyes and shoves her hands into the pockets of her dress pants that Ruby forced her into this afternoon.

There's a sudden timid knock against the door, which somehow forces everyone in the room to rush around as if a fire alarm was just pulled.

"Five minutes, Miss Mills," a strange man's voice calls out through the door, encouraging Regina to stand from her throne.

Butterflies erupt in Emma's stomach like she's the one that's supposed to deliver some elaborate interview, while she observes carefully as Regina struts confidently across the room toward the bathroom and disappears without a word. Hardly one minute whisks by before the celebrity is reappearing, fully dressed in what Emma had seen laid across Ruby the night prior. Regina might as well be a damn magician for how quickly she changed.

Just one corner of Regina's mouth quirks up as she peers up at Jefferson and he plops her stylish black hat upon her head. It's a subtle sign of affection that she feels for the man, but it's enough to prove to Emma that there is just a person hidden away behind all that glam.