Back to the past...
Regina ran her hands through her dark brown hair, trying to get her curls just right as she stood in front of the mirror. She smoothed her t-shirt that was far too big and looked herself in the eyes, while taking a deep breath.
Then, she left the school's bathroom and walked back to the cafetaria. Her friends were already sitting there, but she needed to take care of something else first. Her eyes roamed the entire cafetaria, but she didn't find the person she was looking for.
She looked outside the window that had a view of the park and she recognized Emma's blonde curls from afar. Before heading to her own friends, Regina hastily ran down the stairs, through the big doors and left the school to speak to Emma.
When she got closer to Emma and her friends, who were laughing loudly and smoking cigarettes, she swallowed thickly. Regina desperately felt the need to talk to Emma, but she didn't have the confidence.
She wasn't popular, she didn't smoke during breaks and it was an unwritten rule that people like Regina didn't disturb people like Emma. Regina was about to break that rule, because she had to ease her mind.
"Uh, hi." She cleared her throat and felt her nerves increase as Emma and her friends turned around. She recognized Midas and blushed when she remembered what Emma and she had done in his parents' bed. "Emma, can I talk to you privately for a second?"
Her voice was hoarse and she hated that. Emma smiled amused and quirked an eyebrow. "Regina, was it?"
At least Emma had remembered her name.
"Yeah, uh, I'd like to talk to you."
"What about?"
Regina felt very uncomfortable, having all of Emma's friends stare at her and the smoke didn't help one bit. She'd always been afraid of smoking. Her mother had warned her as soon as she could about the dangers of doing drugs, smoking and alcohol.
"Last Friday. But I don't feel comfortable discussing that.. here."
Emma smirked and held up a pack of cigarettes. "You smoke?"
"No, thank you. Could we just.."
"No," Emma replied with the same smirk. Her friends grinned and Regina started to feel the embarrassment of approaching Emma during lunch break.
"I just wanted to check in and see if you were okay."
Her friends now actually started laughing out loud and Emma took another drag of her cigarette. Regina shifted uncomfortably on her feet.
She wanted Emma to ask her if she was okay, as well. It'd been a big deal for her. She'd never even kissed a person, let alone more than that, so she couldn't take it as lightly as Emma seemed to do. It had been a special moment and she wanted to talk about the meaning it held to Emma.
"I am, honey, why wouldn't I be?" Emma didn't even try to exhale the smoke so it wouldn't bother Regina. The brunette felt a wave of smoke sting her eyes.
"Well," Regina had started to whisper, "I liked last Friday. I just hoped you did too."
Regina had never had the balls to just walk up to Emma like this. She'd always admired the girl from afar. The way she was so confident with everything she did, she seemed to have it all figured out. Today, she'd figured that having slept with Emma gave her the right to speak to the girl, but she started to realize she'd been wrong about that.
"I finished."
"Finished what?"
One girl let out a loud laugh, Regina remembered her name to be Jacinda, and she felt her own cheeks turn bright red. But, she was already ashamed enough standing in front of the group, there wasn't much she could do to make it worse.
"Oh, honey." Emma squeezed her cheek like she was a baby and Regina didn't like it. "I have no idea why you're talking to me."
Regina swallowed. Emma patted her cheek, but almost too harsh and she turned around. She felt worse than before the conversation, but she still wanted to finish it.
She liked Emma. She'd liked Emma even more since they'd spent Friday evening together and she couldn't look normally at the girl anymore. Her crush had increased significantly and she wanted to feel Emma's body against her own again.
However, Emma was not yet ready to speak to her and Regina had to be okay with that.
She'd figured it'd take a couple of days for her and Emma to speak again, but after school, when Regina was washing her hands, she caught the blonde looking at her.
Emma was leaning against one of the doors of the stalls and she still held a playful smile upon her lips. Regina looked at her through the mirror, but when Emma's gaze became too much, she averted her eyes back to the faucet.
"I don't know what you thought was going to happen now, honey," Emma said and walked closer to Regina, "but we're not friends. There is no reason you should talk to me, interact with me or seek any type of contact with me in general."
Her smile had faded and Regina felt slightly intimidated. It somehow made her crave Emma's touch even more and that made her feel ashamed.
"Maybe I should've given you a heads-up, but just because we fucked, doesn't mean there's any type of connection here. It didn't mean anything."
Emma walked towards the exit of the bathroom, but before she left, she looked once more at Regina. "I assumed you'd figured that yourself as well, but I forgot your type of people takes things like this far too serious."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Just.. don't seek me out."
"But I still want to hold a conversation with you. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get your attention if you're not willing to listen."
Emma sighed and crossed her arms. Regina didn't know what she liked so much about Emma. They'd never had an actual conversation, she didn't truly know her, but there was something incredibly alluring about her. Regina dug the authority she held.
"Plan a party. Maybe I'll stop by."
That was all she said, before she left Regina alone in the bathroom.
Regina had never even considered throwing a party the way Emma had just implied she should throw a party. The idea scared her more than anything, but she had to admit it also intrigued her. She'd never done anything wild in her life - apart from drinking and sleeping with Emma after just the one conversation - but she figured it'd be a lot of fun.
She'd liked Midas' party a lot. It'd been one of the best nights of her life, so she wondered if there was a reason she wouldn't repeat it.
The longer she thought about it, the more sense it made. In two weeks, her parents were out of town for the weekend, which was ideal. She could throw a party and clean everything up afterwards before her parents came home.
After a long day of figuring out all the details, Regina carefully posed the subject to her parents, during dinner.
"I think I'm responsible enough to make the right decisions," she said, after she'd explained the entire idea.
"We believe you are responsible enough. We just don't know about your classmates." Regina looked disappointed at her father, even though she couldn't blame him.
Henry Mills was a highly respected police officer in Storybrooke. He valued his job and he valued safety. Regina had the utmost respect for him and she hated letting him down, but she was going to try and fight for this party.
"I really want to do this. I feel like I've been missing out on a lot, because I missed so many parties in the past. I think the least I deserve is to throw one myself."
Her parents still seemed hesitant, but Regina could tell they were really contemplating her question. They weren't dismissing it, like she'd feared they would.
"Okay," her mother said. Regina could see the confusion on her dad's face and she had to contain her excitement. Once her mother had approved of something, it was going to happen. "Let's see this as an opportunity for you to show how responsible you are. We both trust you enough to make the right decisions, but if things get out of hand, don't expect us to offer you any sympathy."
Regina nodded excitedly. She knew she couldn't screw this up and she wouldn't. She was going to make sure everything would go effortlessly and without any problems.
She had her friends to help her with that.
After dinner, she immediately informed Kathryn, Daniel and Ivy. From the start, they were just as excited about this idea as Regina was.
At school, during lunch breaks, Regina made shopping lists with them and the four of them planned out everything.
"How come you wanted to throw a party, all of the sudden?" Kathryn asked her, while they were fitting new dresses. Regina was staring at herself in the mirror and slowly smoothed the tight dress she was wearing.
"I don't know, I liked Midas' party a lot and I figured I'd give it a shot as well."
Kathryn pulled a top over her head and moved to see all the different angles in the mirror. "It doesn't have anything to do with Emma?"
Regina abruptly turned her head to Kathryn and swallowed. "No," she said. Emma had forbidden her from speaking to anyone about their encounter and she wanted to honor her wishes. It would be their little secret. She liked that. "Why would you think that?"
"I saw her pouring you drinks at the party and then you disappeared for quite some time. What the hell happened between the two of you?"
Kathryn was smiling, but Regina didn't find it very funny. She was worried what Emma would do if she found out she'd told Kathryn, but she also couldn't keep it from her best friend.
"We.. kind of had sex?" Regina whispered as softly as she could muster.
"What!?"
Kathryn was utterly shocked.
"How come you didn't tell me?! Regina, that was almost two weeks ago! How could you keep that from me?"
"Emma didn't want me to tell anyone anything."
Kathryn huffed and grabbed both Regina's hands. "Regina, I love you, but that was a stupid thing of Emma to say," she said. "How was it? How did it happen? Tell me everything!"
Regina sat down on the small seat in the fitting room. Her hands were sweaty, having revealed such a thing to Kathryn. She was glad she'd finally told someone.
"She started talking to me, I don't really know why, but she did. We actually hit it off great, I think. She spilled a drink on our clothes and we went upstairs to change into something dry."
"Oh, my God." Kathryn beamed. Regina never had such stories to tell about herself and she could see Kathryn was enjoying it. "That's such a cliche, but I love it."
Regina let out a nervous giggle and tucked a strand of hair behind her face. "She kissed my neck when she took off my dress and she moved me onto the bed." She bit her lower lip. "And then we did it."
"But like, how far did you go?"
Regina shrugged and with the the fabric of her dress. "It's hard to tell when it's two women, isn't it? I suppose we went as far as we could in that moment."
She'd never thought of herself as the type of person who went to a party and hooked up with someone. She'd always imagined her first time to be incredibly romantic and with a partner, but she wouldn't want to change it.
For the first time ever, Emma Swan had noticed her. And not only that, she'd liked her enough to take her to the bedroom. It flattered her.
"How do you feel about it?" Kathryn asked, with a sincere tone.
"Good," Regina responded quickly. "I know you don't like Emma, but.."
"I never said I didn't like her," Kathryn replied. "I just didn't understand why you did, given the fact that we both don't know her."
"True. I still don't feel like I do, but.. I don't know, she's.. interesting. You'd think I'd have been over my crush by now, but I'm not. And sleeping together didn't make that easier."
"Do you think it could turn into something more serious?"
Regina shrugged. "I wish, but she doesn't seem to like me very much. I need to get her attention somehow," she got out of her seat and looked at herself in the mirror, "and I figured a party would be the best way to get that."