I'm in a Coffee Daze

Chapter Three

Regina’s Point of View

I slide my Ray Bans on the second I walk outside and I feel like I have walked into a wall. The humidity must be near 100% today. I have loved Charleston since I was a child. Granted, I do not think I will ever be accustomed to the heat or the humidity. I start walking back to my office with a little more sashay of my hips, praying that Emma is watching me as I cross the street. I had decided to go to Starbucks during a class time in the hopes of having a chance to see and possibly speak to Emma.

When I got there she was the only person there and she looked like she was in deep thought. Her brow was a little wrinkled and she was biting her pen. I cleared my throat to get her attention and I clearly startled her if the small jump was any way to judge. She looked around confused then she saw me. She looked shocked and nervous, she started smoothing her apron and biting her lip. I was not going to toy with her, but her nervousness encouraged it. When she got closer I noticed that she had the fairest skin and she had the greenest eyes.

It was a strange interaction and I may have actually given her my name if Killian Jones had not interrupted. It’s bad enough that he is a pain in the ass in my class and then he had to interrupt my time with Emma. Then he tried to kiss her with me standing right there, but Emma moved at a super hero speed out of his grasp. I watched as she spoke to him through clenched teeth and her face was contorted in so much anger. Those crystal clear green eyes were hard and if looks could kill then I think Killian Jones would be dead. She finally realized that I was there and her face showed panic, but went back to ambivalent in a matter of seconds. I noticed, but I did not want to push after all I do not know anything about her besides a possible mutual dislike of one Killian Jones. Therefore, I decided to ask if Killian did his homework even though I knew he did not because he is my worst student. I also wanted to gage Emma’s reaction to see if she was close to him and clearly she is not. I watched as she rolled her eyes and she did it with such force that I was concerned her beautiful eyes would roll out her head. It also pissed me off that Killian kept checking out Emma’s butt, so I insulted his leather pants. Seriously, what kind of idiot wears leather in August?

All of sudden my Emma, wait no Regina not yours, is doubled over in laughter gasping out “She’s right.” Killian storms away with a “bye Dr. Mills.” Emma is trying to get her laughter to stop, she manages to say “thank you.” I am unsure as to why she is saying thank you, but I will do anything to hear her laugh again. It is the sweetest melody that I have ever heard. It is my new favorite sound and I wish that I had recorded it, so that I could listen to it on repeat. Damn Regina, stalker much? I decide this is the moment to make my leave and I grab my drink to walk away. “Hey Dr. Mills is there a chance that I may learn your first name?” I smile at her and shake my head no. She looks so crestfallen, but I do not want her to know who I am quite yet. It is better for both of us this way. I decide to make her forget that she wants to my name by flirting with her. I take a step over to her and say in a huskiest most desired filled voice that I can master “not today Em-ma.” I lean over and straighten her name tag and I notice her taking in my scent and I notice she smells like coffee, vanilla, and coconut? When I lean back she says “Ah that makes sense.” I chuckle grab my drink and head towards the door. I give her one more of my flirty winks, thank her for the drink, and walk out into the sunshine. I am not going to lie, Emma calling me Dr. Mills was a slight turn-on and I have tingles running through my entire body.

I am still day dreaming about Emma that I barely notice that I am almost to my office. My phone starts ringing and I look to see who is calling. I do not want to deal with her now, but better to go ahead and get it over with because if I avoid it then the next call will not be a happy one. I answer with a “Hello Mother, how are you on this fine day?” I struggle to keep my frustration out of my voice because she has been hounding me since I moved down here to tell me how I am throwing all of my potential away by working in some backwoods Liberal Arts College.

I think I have consistently let my mother down my whole life and at this point I have pretty much accepted that I am not the daughter she hoped for. ‘Regina, darling, I am well. Is everything okay, you sound flustered?” I roll my eyes, but respond with “yes mother, you just caught me as I was heading back to my office. How is everything in D.C.?” My mother is the senior senator from New York and the chair of the Armed Forces Committee. She has worked very hard to be the top woman in the senate and I do not even want to know what parts of her soul she sold to get there. She wanted me to follow in her footsteps and continue the political dynasty because my grandfather and great grandfather were senators as well. My uncle is currently the governor of Massachusetts.

I, however, want to keep my soul intact and I am far more interested in the behind the scenes activity. I guess it comes from working on my mom’s campaigns since I was a preteen. I am all of a sudden brought out of my thoughts by my mother’s voice ‘Regina are you listening? I honestly do not know what I am going to do with you.’ “I am so sorry mother, I got lost in thought for a moment. What were you saying?” ‘Honestly Regina I raised you to be more polite than this.’ I almost choke on my sip of chai, which is the best chai I have ever had by the way.

My mother left me in the care of nannies unless she needed a prop for the campaign trail and until I was old enough to actually help her win reelection. No need to bring that up now because it is an argument that I will not win. “Sorry mother, you called?” ‘Regina, I just heard a position opened up at Harvard and I want you to apply. Your uncle would love having more family in the state.’ I roll my eyes because my uncle has seven kids and ten grandchildren and they all live in Massachusetts. I am sure my uncle is not concerned with the amount of family he has surrounding him. Do not get me wrong, I loved going to school at Harvard, but I want my name to be synonymous for my work in political science not by the members of my family who seem to show up often in political science text books.

“Mother the semester just started and I need to be here for at least a year before I leave.” ‘Regina the job at Harvard is basically a given. You just need to go through the formality of interviewing. It was bad enough when you gave up the job at Columbia and decided to move to the south. Now you want to give up another grand opportunity to live in a place that shares none of your values. You do not have any family down there, Regina.’ I take a deep breath and think over my mother’s words. I need a response that makes it seem like I am considering her offer, so that I can get her to leave me alone. “Mother, I know Harvard and Columbia are grand opportunities, but I am not ready for them. I do not think I have earned them yet. Let me so this job for a year and get some strong research out and then I will start applying for more prestigious positions. I want to get a job for me over who my mother is.” ‘Regina, I understand, but you have no one there and there are plenty of suitable people I can set you up with in Massachusetts.’ “I appreciate that mother. I cannot put into words how much I do, but I think I need this. Don’t worry, I know you will work diligently to change my mind. I have to go now because my next class is starting in an hour and I need to prepare. Bye mother.” ‘Goodbye Regina and I guess I can be grateful that you are taking time to think about it. You are so stubborn like your father.’

I am so happy to be off of that phone call. I love my mother and we have a strained relationship because she wants me to go into politics and I do not want to be a politician. All interactions are political in nature, but I do not want to be every interaction to be about winning. My mother was very accepting when I came out and when I say accepting, she had to do a focus group to find out if her numbers would drop. Afterwards, she said thank god we live in New York because that is the one of the only places that having a lesbian for a daughter would make you more popular. She is always the sentimentalist.

I walk into to my office and review my notes for my lecture. I sit back in my chair and take a sip of my coffee. My mind wonders back to Emma and I wonder what she is doing now and if she is thinking about me. I want to know everything about her from why she looked exhausted today to what her favorite color is. I doubt she knows who Senator Cora Mills because why would someone from South Carolina know about a New York Senator. Maybe it would be okay to give in and give her my name, but at the same time it is so much more fun to play with her. I glance at my clock and see I need to start walking to my classroom to start my class. I walk towards my classroom building and as I am walking down St. Phillips St. I see Emma and Killian in deep conversation across the street and she does not seem happy. He moves in to kiss her and all I can think is no, I thought she was into me. Then I hear a loud cry of agony and I see Killian grabbing at his crouch and groaning in pain as he falls to his knees. Right at that moment, Emma looks up and sees me. Her face turns bright red, but I do a silent clap. She looks relieved, so I wink at her and continue to class.

By the time I get to class, I have the biggest grin on my face because even if there was something between Emma and Killian there is nothing there now. Which means there is room for me to make my move.

I get everything set up as my students come trickling in to the classroom. Right at 2 o’clock, I begin my lecture. My students know what to expect and lateness cannot be tolerated. Ten minutes after two, my classroom door is swung open and a very disgruntled Killian walks into the room. I cannot decide whether or not to rip him a new one or be a little gentler since his male ego is clearly damaged. So in my most authoritative Evil Queen voice I say “Mr. Jones, how kind of you to join us today. I do not know if you realize this, but class started ten minutes ago and you are interrupting my lecture. Give me one reason why I should not throw you out of my classroom right now?” He clears his throat and looks a little sheepish. “I apologize for being late Dr. Mills. I had an accident on the way to class and it took me a few minutes to recover so that I could continue to class.”

All of a sudden I hear a male student in the back shout “Yeah if having your ex-girlfriend kicked you in the balls is considered an accident then Killian had the biggest damn accident I have ever seen.” The class erupts into laughter and Killian sinks further into his chair. Ex girlfriend? I feel a warm feeling trickle down my chest into my stomach and turn into butterflies. I kind of want to join in on the laughter, but I am the professional here. “Language, Mr. Locksley. As for you, Mr. Jones, I will forgive this one tardy, but if you interrupt my class again you will not be happy with the consequences. One of many of those consequences will be no leather pants in my classroom. In fact that is the new class rule, no leather pants allowed in my classes.” The class sniggers to themselves and I smirk. I walk back to the lectern and say, “now that we have our focus again, let us return to discussing Article I of the constitution.”

My students went back to taking notes and I was teaching, well I was thinking about Emma and teaching. Same difference.