Somewhere Down The Road

Chapter Six

Storybrooke- 14 years old

Unfortunately, with Regina's competitions, the Mills haven't been able to come up all summer and stay. Her parents had made a schedule last summer, where they come up to Michigan for a long Memorial Day weekend. Then they travel home and all around for competitions for Regina. On the Fourth of July they return to Storybrooke for two weeks. Then it's back to more competing until Labor Day weekend.

She really hates leaving so much now but she loves riding and competing, so she has to deal with the back and forth and less time with Emma. However, thanks to the shorter trips, Regina has brought up her best friend, Kathryn on long weekends. Everyone seems to really like her, especially Neal who she makes out with every time she's there and they act like boyfriend and girlfriend. Most importantly, Emma and Kathryn get along great.

Right now, it's toward the end of summer and she's trying to get as much time out on the lake as possible. Kathryn is on the boat with Neal, Henry, and David, she's utterly exhausted already but Emma and Regina could go a couple more rounds.

Regina peeks over at Emma, who is balancing on her knees on the tube, not hanging on at all despite how freaking fast David is dragging them behind the boat. Emma finally meets her eyes, a curious sandy-blonde eyebrow arching and Regina already knows what she's asking, so she nods her approval.

Emma flops back down on her stomach, drags her leg off the back of the tube and stretches her arm toward Regina and her tube. Regina reaches, her fingertips brushing until David helps them along and turns the boat just a tad. Emma snatches Regina's hand and tugs Regina and her tube across the water until their tubes bounce into each other.

"You ready?" Emma hollers over the engine humming and the tubes skipping off the water.

"All set," she confirms, motivating Emma to hold Regina's tube into place.

Regina scrambles to her knees, crawling across her tube and then sliding onto Emma's. Her friend lifts up just the slightest so Regina can wiggle beneath her body. Then Emma leaps through the air and lands onto Regina's tube. Kathryn is screaming and cheering even if her voice sounds so faint on the lake.

"Heck yeah!" Emma triumphantly whoops, maneuvering onto her knees again, so she can lean back on the tube and lift it up just to bounce herself higher off the waves.

"He's gonna get you!" Regina screams across the tubes both gliding perfect in the wake behind the boat.

And sure enough, David makes a sharp turn just to mess with Emma, forcing her tube to skid across the wake and down the wave. Regina's shaking her head in amusement, watching as Emma hangs on for dear life, her tube and body flopping all around.

Every time Emma starts doing tricks on her tube, David thinks it's funny to whip her around the lake. He creates a giant donut, Emma completely outside of the wake, struggling to stay on from the force of gravity. Then he changes tactics, circling figure eights and Regina can just hear the dads laughing on the boat. David yanks the boat for one more sharp turn and then Emma flies off the tube, skipping across the water before she goes under.

The boat slows down instantly, so Regina eases up on her grip, knowing she can relax now and won't fall off. David circles the boat back around to the tiny blonde bobbing in the water. Emma grabs onto her tube, easily lifting herself up, her biceps flexing which produces butterflies in Regina's stomach. She instantly looks away because she should not be looking at her best friend like that. But she knows how hard it is to pull yourself out of the water and onto the tube but Emma does it so gracefully and without any effort.