Crazy, Beautiful, You

The View

"So, Ms Swan, tell me a little more about you. I know you work at the school. What grade do you teach?"

Emma leaned back into the couch, curled her legs up behind her, and grabbed her wine. "I am one of the sixth grade teachers there."

"Sixth grade huh? You must have amazing patience! I was horrible at that age!"

Emma laughed and took a sip of her wine. "Oh, they aren't that bad. A lot of times they are just misunderstood. They are just a bundle of mixed emotions, hormones, and acne." Emma and Regina both laughed. "Sometimes that can be a lot to handle but for the most part they are good kids who are eager to learn."

"Well, I give you credit. I could never do it! My mother was a high school English teacher and how she handled those kids I will never know."

"Oh, wow that is awesome! Where did she teach?"

"It was a private school back in Connecticut where I grew up."

"What brought you to Seattle? Work?"

"My ex," Regina smiled putting her hand on her head.

"Ohhh..."

"Yeah, I was young, fresh out of high school. I was promised the whole world. I dropped everything and followed her across the country." Emma felt her face flush when she heard the word 'her'. "She was older, we met at my summer job, fell in love and I just knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with her."

"So, what happened?" Emma took a gulp of wine this time. "I mean if you don't mind me asking."

"We found ourselves a small apartment, after a week of living in her Volvo, and then we worked an endless slew of odd jobs to pay the rent. We waited tables; we walked dogs, cleaned houses. You name it and we did it. Our time off was spent drinking, crashing strangers parties, and making love for hours on end. This went on for about two years. Then on the night of my twentieth birthday I realized that I needed something more. I wanted a career, a home, a life. Mal told me that I should be happy with what we had and that life was supposed to be carefree and crazy. We had a long fight and then she left. She just...left."

"Oh, Regina, I am so sorry."

"It's okay. I mean, sure, I wallowed in self pity for a few weeks and then one night at the restaurant, where I was a waitress, one of the cooks walked out and the boss threw me in the kitchen and told me to shut up, follow orders, and cook. So I did. It wasn't anything complicated... just dicing, chopping, whisking, but it brought something out in me that I had never felt before...not even from her. It was a passion for life. Something just awoke in me that night. The next morning I enrolled in culinary school. My boss in the restaurant kept me on as a line cook for the duration of school and the rest is history."

"Regina, that is amazing! How you turned your life around like that. If it was me I would have ran home crying to my parents. You should be really proud of yourself." Regina smiled.

"Well, thank you Emma but pride doesn't fill the loneliness. Since Mal I haven't had another good relationship and it's been quite a long time now."

"How is that possible? I mean, have you seen you?" Regina blushed and this in turn made Emma blush. "I mean seriously Regina I hope I am not over stepping my bounds here but you are gorgeous. Not to mention unbelievably talented and I know I just met you like... today," they both laughed, "but you seem so intelligent and just wonderful. So, I do not see how it is possible that you are alone."