Forever Yours

Chapter Eight

Regina Mills

"Neal left me."

Those were the only three words the blonde muttered into the phone. There was an eerie silence on the other end of the line. I was waiting for her to continue to explain what the hell happened since I left her house earlier this evening, but I was greeted with more silence.

"I'll be right over," I demanded before I hung up the phone.

I glanced back down at the bright screen to see it was three in the morning. I was still in my yoga pants and Emma's fleece from the night before. I must have fallen asleep on the couch when I came home after our fight last night.

All the unwanted memories from last night came flooding back. The first real fight Emma and I have had since our friendship has begun. I was completely thrown off by her childish tantrum because I was honestly trying to be a good friend. I could have said some terrible things about Neal but instead I kept my mouth shut for her sake. None of that matters right now though. The anger is slowly dissipating knowing that he left her.

I ran to the bathroom to relieve myself and splash some water on my face to wake up before I grabbed my keys and ran out the door without another thought.

On my drive to Emma's, I stopped at a twenty-four-hour convenient store. I remembered Emma explaining to always bring ice cream when a friend is dumped. So, I went inside and bought a pint of rocky road and a bottle of white wine, hoping the gesture might lighten up her mood.

After Emma buzzed me to come up to her apartment, my mind began to wander. What the hell did that idiot do? How could he leave her? I knew she was far too good for the dirty man. I wondered if Emma finally called him out on his illegal activities. I wondered if she's going to blame me for this fight that occurred between the two of them?

I didn't even have to knock, Emma left the door open for me to walk right in. I closed the door behind me and locked it before making my way to Emma's room.

The blonde wasn't in her bed or on the floor. I then proceeded to check her bathroom and that's when I found a ball of long limbs curled into the fetal position with unruly blonde locks all around. Bastard! My chest tightened at the sight before me and I swear I felt my heart breaking for her. I couldn't even imagine the pain she was in right now; five years is a long time to be devoted to someone.

I cautiously knelt down beside her and ran my fingers through her tangled curls.

"Emma?"

She slowly turned her face causing my stomach to drop out from under me. Her traditionally paled skin was now red and blotchy from crying. Her once sparkling green eyes were bloodshot and swollen. Her cheeks were stained with track marks from her tears. Tears that he caused.

My blood boiled, but I knew now was not the time to explode on some rant that would inevitably end up with me just bashing her loser ex-boyfriend. So, I did my best to mask my emotions and pulled the bottle of wine out from under my arm and held it up, along with the pint of her favorite ice cream. A shy smile was forming upon my lips while I shrugged timidly. She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve while she scrambled to sit upright. Emma started to laugh, and I thought this was it, she had lost her mind, she was having a mental break down.

"You remembered?"

"Rocky road?"

"No, I meant you remembered how I told you ice cream is for breakups?"

"Oh," my cheeks flushed at the acknowledgment, "yes of course. Ice cream and bitch about the douchebag," I stated so matter of fact, Emma ended up laughing even harder.