Run Down

The Rabbit Hole

She told herself she wouldn't do this. Told herself getting so drunk she needed assistance to get off the bar stool with any sort of grace (or at least without falling straight on her backside) was a bad idea. And yet here she was, slumped against the bar with a line of salt on the back of one hand and a wedge of lime in the other, shot glass filled and ready to be necked back.

"Go!" Mary Margaret shouted over the blaring music, some song which was both too modern and too monotonous for Regina to actually know. She licked the salt and sucked out the lime before chucking the burning liquid down her throat. This was at least the fifth (sixth?) shot and the feeling of fire left behind the tequila had become almost numbing. Her eyes scrunched shut, she slammed the glass back down onto the bar and Emma did the same, laughing at nothing other than herself as she waved for the barman to refill.

Belle rubbed the back of her hand on her skirt, wiping away the last traces of salt before punching the air above her head, "alright, next round!" Ruby was teetering back across the dance floor, hair a little dishevelled and a thin sheen of sweat beading along her forehead. She placed her palms on the bar and ordered some kind of cocktail Regina had never head of.

"What's this I hear about a man Regina?" She asked with a smirk, eyebrow arched as she sipped at her sunset coloured drink.

Regina scoffed, or at least tried to look as indignant as she could given her current state of mind. "Is nothing secret anymore?"

Ruby laughed, shifting her weight between her ridiculously high heeled shoes, "Emma told me." Regina glared across at the blonde, who was conveniently engaged in a conversation with the bar tender. "What's his name?"

"Robin." No point denying it. And she didn't want to. Even in her quite drunken state, she thought that what was between her and Robin was something. It wasn't just fooling around, she could tell. From the way he looked at her and how he listened to her, always making sure she was okay. She must have started smiling at some point in her train of thought because Ruby laughed again.

"You've got it bad," she said shaking her head and Regina laughed too, lifting her vodka and coke to her lips to sip the cool liquid and calm her nerves. Although she liked Robin - more than she probably should at this point - the thought of how simple this all seemed made her uneasy. It was never this easy. Something was bound to go wrong.

"Hey, let's dance," Emma's words made the thought slip from her mind as she grabbed her arm and pulled her off the stool. Her feet were killing, the strain of having already been dancing in stilettos was taking its toll, but she followed willingly, the music getting louder and louder the closer they got to the speakers.

The rest of the night was a blur. The songs blended into one long, endless dance track with a thumping bass that joined forces with the copious numbers of drinks Regina had consumed, and gave her a headache big enough to feel like her whole head was inside a vice, muffled and tight, the pressure building and building until she thought she'd pop.

---

It seemed that the sleep she managed to get since coming home in the wee hours of the morning to way past midday was not enough to clear her head. The sunlight which was so comforting the previous morning sent stabbing pains into the back of her skull, her eyes scrunching shut against the harsh light. Regina groaned, throwing herself over and coming face to face with a mop of blonde hair. Emma. She audibly sighed, shaking Emma's shoulder until she lifted her head from the mattress, eye make up smudged and smeared to her temple.

"Oh god," she mumbled, face falling into the pillow.

"Why do we never learn?" Regina mused, looking down at her feet which were thankfully no longer in the deadly heels she wore last night. Emma grunted in response from her place on the bed and Regina reached for her bag which was thrown unceremoniously on the floor. She took out her phone and the screen lit up, yet another thing that was unnecessarily bright.

"Shit."

Emma rolled over, eyes squinting up against the sunlight streaming in through the window. "What?"

Regina's stomach had just dropped several feet, a surge of nausea rising from inside as she read over the notifications across her screen.

"Did I ring Robin last night?" She asked, terrified of, but knowing full well, the answer. Emma furrowed her brow for a second, the cogs of her memory visibly turning before her eyes went wide, mouth dropping open as she sat herself up on the bed.

"Oh god," she repeated and Regina could only echo her, slapping a hand to her forehead and flopping back down onto the mattress.