Disclaimer: I own nothing.
On the first day of work at her new job as a detective on the police force, she was late.
In retrospect, she should have been surprised that her alarm clock had somehow stopped working in the middle of the night; she should have been devastated that her favorite shirt would somehow be wrinkled, and she should have been distraught when she couldn't find her shiny new badge anywhere in her rather disorganized apartment.
But Ema Skye wasn't surprised at all. In fact, she had predicted that all of these things might happen. And there was a simple reason why she had been able to do so.
Karma seemed to absolutely loathe Ema.
If something could go wrong, it would; it was a simple fact of Ema's life. Her toast always landed butter side down. She was always stuck behind the slow little old ladies in the grocery lines. Her phone always died the second she needed to make a very important call. Simply put, things always went badly for Ema Skye.
And just when she thought things couldn't get worse, she was late for her first day of work at her new job.
When Ema had finished hopping around the apartment with one shoe on while munching hurriedly on a piece of toast, she snatched up her bag and her cell phone. Unfortunately, this resulted in the toast falling out of her mouth, but Ema didn't even bother to turn around and see if her breakfast was worth salvaging.
She knew that, as always, it was butter side down on the floor.
The brunette practically sprinted down the stairs, not bothering to wait for the always crowded elevator. She pulled on her lab coat as she ran and placed her trademark glasses on her head. When she ran out the main door of the apartment complex, she was out of breath—but she had to keep running.
Desperate to catch the last train, she dashed to the station (despite the fact that she was wearing heels) and practically shoved her money in the ticket holder's face. With the small ticket in her hand, she raced onto the train just as the doors began to close.
Collapsing into a seat, she sighed loudly and closed her eyes, catching her breath as the train began to move.
"Hello, there."
She blinked and turned to the direction that the words had come from. Ema quickly discovered that the man beside her had been the one to address her. He had a distinctly foreign air about him, as his voice had a slight German accent. His blonde hair hung about his face, highlighting his warm blue eyes. His shocking purple jacket made him stand out from the rest of the commuters on the train.
"…Hello," Ema said slowly, wary of the weirdo. She turned away, hoping that he would give up and leave her alone.
And for a few moments there was silence, but the silence was broken when the blonde man suddenly scooted over and ended up pressing his thigh up against hers. Ema turned, prepared to slap him silly, but quickly noticed that he was merely making room for another man to sit next to him. She bit her lip and pressed herself against the armrest as much as she possibly could.
"Is there any reason you're trying to seduce the armrest?"
Ema quickly turned and glared menacingly at the blonde. "I—I'm doing no such thing."
The man smiled teasingly. "Then is there any reason you're pressing yourself against it like a hopeless old maid desperate to—"
Her hand quickly flew to his mouth, muffling the rest of his sentence. Ema's green eyes flashed angrily as she held his mouth tightly. "Don't you dare finish that sentence."
The man arched a brow and looked down at her hand. A few seconds passed, and then Ema released a rather unladylike yelp and pulled her hand away as quickly as she could.
"What the hell!" She hissed angrily, clutching her hand as if she had been bitten. "You licked me!"
A teasing smirk played around his lips. "Are you trying to tell me that you didn't enjoy it?" The smirk changed into a grin, and Ema's temper rocketed. She twitched and turned away, 'hmmphing' slightly. For the rest of the train ride, she was determined to ignore the strange blonde man.
Alas; it was not meant to be, for karma had other plans.
The train suddenly lurched, and poor Ema Skye found herself squished against the very armrest she had been "trying to seduce" earlier. But what was worse was that the stranger she had been trying to ignore was now practically on top of her. She winced slightly as his stupid chain belt dug into her side, and then promptly turned to address the jerk.
She stopped short when she saw that he was grinning like a maniac. A handsome maniac, but a maniac nonetheless.
"I think that destiny is trying to tell us something, Miss Skye."
"How the hell do you know my name?!"
"It's printed on your bag, sweetheart."
Ema scowled at the good-looking stranger and shoved him away from her. He laughed slightly. "Feeling claustrophobic, sweetheart?"
Apparently, the nickname had stuck the first time.
She growled and stood up quickly, her lab coat fluttering behind her slightly. Marching away from the man, she heard his attractive laughter from behind her, but ignored it as best she could. Ema walked all the way to the front of the train and plopped down next to some lady and her screaming baby, still twitching angrily. She found that, if she plugged her ears, it was a definite upgrade from sitting next to that crazy blonde personal space invader.
The rest of the train ride was uneventful. She eventually helped the distraught mother find the baby's pacifier and shut the little demon child up. After that, she closed her eyes and rested for the rest of her rather short commute. When the train arrived at her destination (two blocks from the station), she saw no sign of the man in the purple jacket.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Ema began walking towards her destination, her heels clacking on the concrete.
The station was just as she had remembered it when she had interviewed for her job: crowded, hectic, and tense. While the police chief busied himself e-mailing his online girlfriend, Ema found her desk and sat down. It was a good feeling, having her own desk; it made her feel… accomplished (even if she hadn't wanted to be a detective in the first place).
After about an hour of filing cases, a familiar voice reached her ears.
"…need the case file on my desk as soon as possible."
"Yes, sir, Prosecutor Gavin!"
Ema arched a brow and turned in the direction of the voices.
Simple green eyes met teasing blue eyes.
"Hey, sweetheart. To think that destiny keeps bringing us together like this!"
A blood-curdling scream of agony rang through the police headquarters.
The toast had ended up butter side down, as she had expected.
Yes, karma seemed to absolutely loathe Ema Skye.