Someone Will Remember Us - Swanqueen

Chapter 3

One class a week was not enough.

The inside of Emma's skull had become like a teenager's bedroom walls, plastered with pictures of her crush, and there was very little that could distract her enough to stop her from thinking about Regina every five minutes. She kept dreaming about her, which was weird when she'd never really dreamed of anything before, and when she woke up there was always a persistent throbbing between her legs. Mary Margaret would be snoring softly on the other side of the room and on more than one occasion, after Emma had lifted her head to check her roommate was actually asleep, she had rolled onto her back and snuck a hand beneath the covers.

During daylight, Emma skulked around campus and jumped any time she saw someone who remotely resembled her classics professor. Women with dark hair suddenly had the capacity to render her completely speechless, and whenever she realised that it wasn't Regina walking toward her, disappointment came crushing down on top of her like an anvil against her chest. All she wanted to do was see her, and it suddenly became the sole ambition of her day to do so.

Emma rarely strayed from the arts department, spending her breaks between classes in the cafeteria or the coffee shop or the department library, knowing that eventually her hard work would pay off and she would be rewarded with a glimpse of the woman who had managed to burrow her way deep inside her brain. One Monday, Emma was sitting in the corner of the campus Starbucks when she succeeded: Regina strolled in, wearing a short black jacket that made her waist look tiny and her ass look even more amazing than usual, and Emma felt her entire head go bright red. She slid down in her chair, lifting the textbook she'd been reading until then up toward her face, and watched silently as Regina ordered. As she waited for her coffee to be made, Regina briefly glanced around the room, but didn't spot the blonde head in the corner. She took the coffee and left.

A breath of relief whooshed out of Emma's mouth, and she resigned herself to the fact that she'd be in that Starbucks every Monday morning for the rest of time.

She knew she was being a stalker. She also knew that if anyone else worked out what she was doing, they would probably call the cops, and they'd be right to do so. But underneath all that common sense was the fact that her heart started pounding hard enough to send her to her knees whenever she was in the same breathing space as Regina, and it wasn't something she could ignore. She started living for tiny glimpses of that wicked smile, the proud tilt of her chin, the glossy hair that never seemed to get messed up no matter how windy Boston was.

Emma didn't mind so much that she had to get up an hour earlier than normal on Tuesdays so that she could 'accidentally' bump into Regina in the corridor – she only minded when she did it and Regina wasn't there. The rest of those days passed in a tight-chested blur where Emma couldn't stop glaring out of the window.

She also didn't mind that she couldn't sleep on Wednesday nights anymore because the thought of a whole hour in Regina's classroom the next day was too much for her to handle. She lay in bed with her mouth dry and her eyes usually wide open, and she imagined how the following afternoon might go. Oh, Miss Swan. I saw you in the library yesterday – you were working far too hard. Maybe you should come out for dinner with me tonight to give yourself a break.

Usually, Emma ended up rolling her eyes at how pathetic she was, but she didn't mind that either: she was excited for something, and that was a nice feeling, even if the anticipation was threatening to send her into a psych ward.

It only became a problem during the fourth week of the semester, when she was lying awake so late into Wednesday night that she slept right through her alarm the following morning. When she finally woke up it was already 1:30pm, she'd missed two classes, and her seminar with Regina was due to start in 30 minutes.