Chapter Text
Emma walked into the apartment that she currently shared with her best friend and girlfriend. She let out a deep breath, exhausted from the long day of classes although she was relieved that her last class was cancelled. She dropped her bag next to the table by the door. She assumed that Ruby and Lacey weren't home as she took a moment to scan the empty open concept living room – kitchen. Emma slowly made her way to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of beer and chugged half the bottle.
She let out a long breath and placed the bottle on top of the counter. She halted her movements when she thought she heard the faint sound of someone giggling. She paused and looked around the room again, straining her ears trying to listen for the sounds again.
Silence
It was probably nothing Emma thought to herself.
She grabbed her beer and took another swig as she made her way into the living room. She plopped herself on the couch, beer still in hand and reached for her phone in her pocket with her other hand. She began to type out a message on her phone when she heard a soft moan. Now she knew for sure that she wasn't hearing things.
"Babe?" she called out getting up and putting down her beer on the side table next to the couch. "Ruby?" she called out again as she began walking toward the hallway.
The bathroom door was open, obviously no one in there. She looked to left towards Ruby's bedroom. The bedroom door was open with no occupants inside. Emma looked at her watch 4:30pm, Ruby finished class 15mins ago, she should be home soon she thought.
Emma heard another moan. She definitely heard that and headed to the source of the sound. Confused, she turned to the right and began walking to her room. She stood right in front of her own door, ear pressed to it with her hand on the doorknob. She heard yet another moan and a soft buzzing coming from within. Her heart began to beat heavily in her chest. She listened for another moment before she opened the door and took a step inside. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw hit the floor taking in the sight in front of her. Her breath caught in her throat she stood still, looking at the two bodies in front of her.
As soon as the door had opened Lacey shot her head towards the door, quickly pushing the blond head up and away from her body. She rushed to cover herself up with the sheets. Lacey looked again at Emma who was still standing at the doorway, eyes glazed over. Lacey's heart began to beat hard and fast in her chest, not taking her eyes off of Emma, afraid of how she was going to react. The other blonde that was earlier in between Lacey's legs fell off the bed and tried to remain hidden as she rushed to put her clothes back on.
A sharp pain shot through Emma's chest, unsure if it was because her lungs were begging for air due to her holding in her breath that she was unaware she was holding or if it was because her heart has stopped beating at the sight of her girlfriend in bed with another woman. Lacey and the blonde in Emma's bed. THEIR BED. In THEIR ROOM. In THEIR APARTMENT. Emma finally took in a deep shaky breath. She had heard the other woman drop down the floor and was now scattering to get clothed. Emma began taking quick, deep breaths as anger started to build inside of her. She counted to three hoping to calm down before she did something she would regret.
Lacey never took her eyes off of Emma as she watched her take in quick, deep breaths. Emma was the most patient, calm and laid back person that she had ever known. It takes a lot for Emma to become angry and completely lose it. In the three years that Emma and Lacey had been together, she has only seen Emma become truly angry once. She watched as the fury grew inside of Emma's eyes. Afraid of what was going to happen next she finally spoke up.
"Emma, honey… I can explain" Lacey began hesitantly finally breaking the silence.
"1" Breathe "2" Breathe "3". Emma heard Lacey's voice but not comprehending what she was saying. However just the sound of Lacey's voice pushed Emma off the edge.
Her face stoic and hard she finally made a move and walked over to the other side of the bed. Emma grabbed the blonde's arm and roughly picked up her and started dragging her across the room.
"The hell are you doing?!" the blonde asked yanking her arm out of Emma's grip and taking a step back.
Emma quickly turned to the blonde looking her up and down. The other blonde, more of a dirty blonde, had piercing blue eyes. Obviously in shape and took good care of herself. Lacey definitely had a thing for fit blondes and eyes. She stared her down, the other blonde stared right back not backing down.
"Get. Out." Emma managed to say through gritted teeth. The blonde kept her eyes locked on Emma’s for another moment, a cocky smirk appearing on her face and looked over to Lacey, who was trying to get clothed under the sheets. The blonde began making her way out, making sure to bump her shoulder into Emma on her way through.
The blonde made contact with Emma's shoulder. Oh hell no. Emma reached out to turn the blonde around. Emma made sure that they were face to face before she cocked her fist back. Before she could thrust her fist forward Lacey jumped out of the bed quickly, placing herself in between the two blondes, putting her weight into Emma hoping to prevent a fight in the middle of the small apartment room.
Much to Lacey's surprise Emma took a few steps back. Lacey turned slightly to the other blonde. "Alex. Please just leave" Lacey quietly pleaded. The blonde, Alex, nodded and walked out of the room. Alex made her way through the living room and got to the door just as Ruby was walking in. Alex gave Ruby a weak smile which Ruby returned, confusion written all over her face before Alex walked out.
When Alex disappeared Lacey took a deep breath before turning around to face her girlfriend. Emma was staring at the floor. Lacey slowly made her way closer and stopped a foot away from her.
"Babe?" she called out. Emma didn't look up. "Emma?" she tried again. And again, Emma didn't move. "Emma, look at me" Lacey begged. Finally, Emma brought her head up to look at her.
"I'm sorry", Lacey said trying to look into Emma's eyes. Emma nodded in response, her eyes blank and empty.
Lacey continued to look at her. Several uncomfortable moments passed. "Emma, please, say something" she pleaded as she tried to put her hand on Emma's arm. Emma pulled away at the contact, snapping back to reality. Emma took a step back and shook her head. She looked at Lacey and calmly said, "Get your shit and get the fuck out. Take the fucking bed with you". Emma walked passed her, out of the room and out of the apartment.
Ruby was in the kitchen making herself a sandwich when Emma came out of her room and made a beeline out of the apartment. Ruby didn't even have time to open her mouth before the apartment door slammed. “The fuck?” she asked the empty room, shaking her head making her way to her room.
As Ruby made her way to her room, she snuck a peak into Emma and Lacey's room. Lacey was on the edge of the bed with her head down, forearms resting on her knees, and shoulders shaking. Ruby opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it. Nope… Nope… Not getting involved with this shit she continued her way into her room and closed the door. She put her sandwich down on the bed after taking a bite and turning her small T.V on. "Fuck! Fine!" she whispered to herself, her conscience getting to her. She pulled out her cell from her pocket. She dialed Emma's number and listened to the phone ring as she waited for her best friend to pick up. It rang twice before it went to voice mail. This bitch.
Hey, you alright? What's goin on? Ruby texted since her call went unanswered. Waiting for a response, she put her phone down and stared at the T.V. Ruby couldn't stop thinking about what could have possibly happened.
Then it hit her. The strange blonde that was walking out when she came home. Emma storming out only minutes later. Lacey crying on the edge of the bed. Uh oh. Ruby started to put the pieces together. She could only imagine what Emma was feeling. Then Ruby started to get upset, that dumb bitch had the nerve to cheat? In their shared room?! Wait. Stop. Breathe. She really felt like getting up and confronting Lacey about what had happened and who the blonde was and why Emma left in a fury.
Emma slammed the door to their apartment storming off down the hall, down the stairs and out into the street. She doesn't know where she's heading, she just needs to walk it off and clear her head. After a few minutes of walking she finally began to calm down. She slows her pace a bit and looks up, only to see the dumb blonde bitch in front of the local diner.
Anger washing over Emma once again she makes her way towards Alex. She stops when she realizes that Alex is with another woman. The brunette was smaller than Lacey, shoulder length chocolate hair and dressed a hell of a lot classier. She was dressed in a skin tight black dress that stopped just above the knees and short black pumps. Emma stops and watches as Alex goes in to kiss the other brunette with her arm around the other girl's waist. Are you fucking serious?!
The brunette leans into the kiss before turning to leave Alex and walks into the diner.
Emma continues her way towards the other blonde, all rational thought pushed out the window and letting the rage consume her.
Alex turns to see Emma approaching fast.
Emma shoves Alex hard in the chest, letting her anger out on the other woman. Alex falters back a step before she takes a swing at Emma.
Emma ducks and throws a punch, her fist connecting to Alex’s chin causing her to fall to the ground. By now they had attracted a crowd, some coming out of the diner to watch while others pressed up against the window.
Emma waits for Alex to get up before making another move. Alex throws a punch that lands on Emma's gut as she makes her way up causing Emma to bend over.
Two brunettes come running down the stairs from the diner and push their way through the crowd. Emma manages to land an upper cut before someone grabs her from behind pulling her back. The brunette in the black dress kneels down to Alex who fell again from the punch, "you ok, babe?" worry and panic clearly in her voice.
"Babe?!" Emma exclaims in disbelief, seeing the other blonde in bed with her now ex-girlfriend flash through her mind. She rushes forward again but the arms around her kept her in place.
"Emma, the hell is going on?" the person keeping her in place asked. Emma quickly recognized her other best friends voice, Jane. Emma doesn't respond instead she raises her arms in the air as a sign of surrender. Jane loosens her grip a little, "Chill" she warns and waits for Emma to nod before she completely lets go.
Alex is nodding her head to the brunette that is still bent down rubbing her back.
"Keep a close eye on your 'babe'" Emma warns the brunette putting emphasis on the last word. The brunette throws a death glare at Emma before focusing back on Alex. Emma ignores the look as she turns around to leave.
"Watch your back Swan" Alex warns as Emma walks away.
Anger washing over Emma again, she stops and turns back to face Alex.
"Oh! You wanna act like hot shit now that you got your bitch next to you" Emma spat taking a step toward the other blonde. Jane quickly grabs Emma's wrist and tries to pull her back again but she doesn't move from her spot.
"Leave it, its not worth it" Jane tried to reason with her, hand still wrapped around her wrist. Emma is glaring hard at Alex, silently daring her to make another move.
"Baby, relax. Let's just go" the other brunette pleads Alex, shooting Emma another death glare.
Alex and Emma continue to glare, silently challenging each other.
Emma's lips pull into a devious smirk. "Did you tell her about Lacey?" she asked nodding over to the brunette but didn’t bother to wait for answer. She turned her back as soon as Alex’s dropped slightly in shock.
"What about Lacey?" Emma hears the brunette ask as she walks away from the scene.
They were just fucking not 20 minuets before she met up with you Emma thought to her self. She felt bad for the brunette who seemed completely oblivious that her so-called girlfriend was cheating on her. But it wasn't Emma's place to meddle in other people's relationships, strangers, no less.
Emma walked at a brisk pace down the street. Jane struggled to keep up with the furious blonde, she put a hand on Emma's arm to slow her down.
"Emma" she called out. "The hell was that about?" Jane continued when Emma stopped but didn't respond.
"Nothing" Emma huffed out and began walking again.
"Oh? Nothing huh?" Jane questioned putting her hands on her hips. "So nothing means Ruby texting me that you stormed out of the apartment and asking me to come over when you decided not to answer any phone calls or texts. Then on my way out of the diner to head over to your place, I see you going up and up with some other blonde?"
"Yeah, pretty much" Emma answered monotone.
"Seriously?" Jane pushed.
Emma stopped and turned to completely face her friend, "Yes, seriously…" Jane shot her a skeptical look, "I don't want to talk about it right now" Emma finished looking like a kicked puppy.
Jane gave her an understanding look, although Ruby had already filled Jane in on what she thought and probably did happen.
The pair continued to walk in silence for another ten minuets before they realized that they had made their way to the local bar. Without hesitation Emma walked into the bar Jane trailing closely behind. They made their over to the bartender and order two Patron shots. They took their shots in silence.
"You alright?" Jane asks again attempting to break the silence. Emma lets out a long breath and looks at her friend and shakes her head.
"Are you gonna tell me what happened?"
"What is there to tell?" Emma replies quietly with her head down.
"Well, you could start off by telling me why the hell you were beating that poor blonde?"
"Cause the bitch deserved it" Emma spat out and turns to the bartender ordering two more shots.
Ruby suddenly appears next to Emma, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She motions to the bartender to order herself a shot.
"So what's this I hear about you beating up a blonde bitch?" Ruby asks putting her shot glass down.
"The poor thing was getting her ass beat by Emma in front of what I assume is her girlfriend. I saw most of it on my way out of the diner when I was on my way over to your place. I had to pull Emma off before someone decided to call the cops" Jane responded for Emma when she made no attempt to answer, softly bumping shoulders with her which caused a small smile to appear on Emma's face.
"That was nothing, you didn't even really give me a chance" Emma adds a little bitter.
"Bitch, you busted her lip" Jane argued.
"Good… maybe she'll be able to keep those lips away from other peoples girlfriends for awhile" Jane and Ruby share a look but didn’t comment and Ruby proceeded to order another round for the trio.
"So, you really kicked her ass huh? I wish I was there to see it" Ruby says a little disappointed that she didn't get to see the action. Emma smiles bashfully.
"I'm sure someone taped the whole thing, it'll probably be online by the end of the night" Jane adds. Sure enough, Ruby managed to pull up the video on YouTube.
The group drinks for a more few hours before they decide to make it back to their apartment. They were pretty intoxicated and decided to walk it back to their place, it was only a twenty-minuet walk and it would help them sober up. During the walk Emma was hoping that by the time they got back to the apartment Lacey would be long gone.
Ruby and Jane walk into the apartment first heading straight to the kitchen to grab a beer and to make a snack. Emma walks in last and notices that the T.V is still on. She walks over to the couch to find Lacey knocked out facing the T.V with tearstains down her cheek. A mixture of pain and anger hits Emma hard before she scoffs at the sight and walks to her room. She's at least grateful to see that Lacey had packed all of her stuff. Emma makes her way back to the couch and kicks it hard, "Wake up" anger lacing her words. Lacey stirs awake, slowly opening her eyes and looks at Emma. Emma is looking down at her emotionless, Lacey stares back, apology dancing in her eyes, tears threatening to spill over. Lacey slowly sits up from the couch and makes her way onto her feet. She faces Emma, "Can we talk?" she asks looking over to the pair in the kitchen, "alone?"
Emma shakes her head in the negative "Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of them."
Jane grabs her beer and snacks and pulls Ruby through the kitchen and into Ruby's room. "But I wanna watch" Ruby whines as she's getting pulled away.
Emma crosses her arms around her chest and looks at Lacey expectantly.
"You're drunk" Lacey begins wearily.
"How observant of you" Emma deadpanned.
"Were you drunk when you got into a fight with Alex?"
Emma laughs, of course you would ask about the fight, "No. I was not drunk when I beat her ass in front of her Girlfriend"
"Emma, I'm sorry, it was a mistake, a stu-"
Emma puts a hand up "Keep your sorry, I don't need or want your excuses" cutting Lacey off mid sentence.
"Listen Emma, I couldn't leave without talking to you first" she pleads, "I do love you Emma, I just don't know what I was thinking," she continued then pausing to think about her next words.
"You don't cheat on the person you love" Emma replies grimly, "so obviously you don't love me but it's what ever"
"I'm sorry" Lacey tries again, reaching out to put a hand on Emma's arm. Emma snatches her arm away as if the contact burned her and took a step back.
"Ok. We talked. Now leave" Emma says locking angry teary eyes with Lacey.
Lacey doesn't move, tears now rolling down her cheeks and sniffles. Unable to handle being around Lacey any longer, Emma turns her back on her and makes her way to her room. She grabs all of Lacey's packed bags, walks back out and heads straight to the apartment door; she swings it and throws her stuff into the hallway. Desperately trying to keep her emotions in control Emma manages to steadily hold open the door, "Get. Out".
With her head down Lacey slowly walks toward the door. She stops in front of Emma, attempting to look into her eyes again but Emma diverts her eyes elsewhere. Lacey brings her hand up to cup Emma's cheek. Emma steps back, avoiding contact and finally meeting Lacey's eyes, "Don't fucking touch me!" Lacey quickly pulls her hand back and steps out.
Emma slams the door behind her. She walks her way to the couch, plopping her body down hard before the tears came rushing out. Ruby and Jane come rushing to Emma's side, holding and comforting her. Emma cries her heart out in the arms of her best friends until sleep takes over her several hours later.