"It's the most exciting thing I've ever seen," Ruby giggled loud enough that Belle felt compelled to shush her friend even though they were both looking at the same magazine on the circulation desk of the library. "I don't see why you're so excited," she continued. "It's not like either of us is going to win."

"And why not?" Ruby said. "It's gotta be somebody, why not one of us? Specifically, why not me?"

"Like he'd date you," Belle said. "You remember when he was dating that girl from those surfer movies. I'm clearly more his type."

Ruby made an affronted noise and took her magazine back and Belle smugly went back to scanning in books from the return. She was pretty excited in spite of herself even though she didn't want to admit it to Ruby. They were both absolutely in love with the actor Sage Gaston. They had been since they'd seen him in Her Handsome Hero, and they'd been following his career (and frequent tabloid appearances) avidly and now Hollywood Weekly was running a contest to actually fly out to California for a real live date.

"Do you think you get a kiss on this date?" Ruby asked, and when Belle glanced over she saw her friend with her nose practically pressed to the page with the fine print on it. "I mean, it says that it includes dinner, airfare from anyplace in the continental United States, and a hotel for the weekend. But it doesn't say who's going to be staying in the hotel. So is there a possibility we could actually get lucky?"

Belle was spared needing to answer by Mr. Gold coming up and setting a couple books on the counter.

"Good morning, Mr. Gold," Belle said, taking his card and scanning it to pull up his account. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, thank you," he replied. "Dare I ask what's gotten Miss Lucas so excited?"

"Only the greatest thing ever in the history of celebrity gossip," Ruby replied, holding the magazine up so he could see the cover.

"'Win a date with Sage Gaston?'" Mr. Gold read out loud. "The actor?"

"Belle and I love him," Ruby said. "It's the coolest thing in the world! Belle and I are both going to enter."

"Oh really?" he asked, looking back to Belle who was hoping she wasn't blushing too badly while she scanned his books. "Well, good luck to the both of you then."

"Thanks," Belle said as she handed him his books back. "These are due on the twenty-seventh."

"Thank you, Miss French" he said as he took the books, and she may have been imagining it but she thought she saw his eyes light up for a split second when his hand brushed hers as he took the books from her hands and left the library.

"You know he's got a thing for you, right?" Ruby said, flipping her page.

"Shut up."

"What? It's true."

"Don't you have to go back to work?"

"Probably," Ruby said, closing her magazine. "Fine. I'll see you later so we can get our contest entries ready."

Belle nodded and waved to her friend as she left for the diner where she worked. Mr. Gold's crush on her was definitely not something she really wanted to think about too much. He'd never said anything about it to her, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about him, either, and that seemed like the sort of thing she should figure out before she made any decisions about her and the enigmatic pawnbroker.

She'd almost forgotten about her entry into the magazine contest when her rejection letter came. It was a busy day at the library, though, and she didn't have time to look at exactly what free stickers or subscription offer or whatever it was the tabloid had offered her was. There was a class of third graders that came in for storytime, then the senior center bus after that, and by the time Ruby dropped by for lunch Belle still hadn't looked through her envelope.

"Hey Belle," Ruby said cheerfully, holding up a paper bag. "I brought you a grilled cheese for lunch."

"Thank you so much," Belle said, snatching the food from her friend. "I haven't had five minutes to myself all day. I didn't even have time to look through the rejection letter from Sage Gaston yet."

"Rejection letter?" Ruby said, coming to sit at the circulation desk and picking up the stack of unopened mail.

"Yeah," Belle said. "The big red envelope."

"Uh, Belle? My rejection letter didn't come in an envelope like this."

"What?"

"It was a post card. There's something in this."

Belle snatched the envelope out of Ruby's hands faster than she'd thought possible and tore into it with no regard for neatness. By the time she'd wrestled the papers out of the shredded envelope her heart was pounding in her chest and she was having a hard time focusing on the words on the paper, but she managed to pick out her name, congratulations, and the phrase boarding pass before she was screaming so loud that everyone was looking at her.

Ruby snatched the paper out of her hands and then she was screaming, too, and they were both jumping excitedly out of their chairs.

"You won!" Ruby shrieked, pulling her into a hug. "Oh my God you won!"

Belle grabbed the letter back, letting Ruby hold her up while she read the details. She was going to Los Angeles. She was going to dinner with Sage Gaston. She was going to be driven to the restaurant in his car. It hadn't even occurred to her that she was going to win. There must have been thousands of entries and hers had won.

"Is everything alright?" Mr. Gold asked as he set his books down on the counter. She'd forgotten he was even in the building.

"Belle won the contest," Ruby said before Belle could even attempt to answer him. "She's going to fly out to LA to meet Sage Gaston! Isn't that the most exciting thing you've ever heard?"

"Yes," he said. "It's very exciting. Congratulations, Miss French."

"Thank you," Belle said, trying to calm herself down long enough to go back to work. She still had to finish her shift at the library and there were a few weeks before she'd be able to go to LA and she was going to have to get her legs waxed and definitely get her hair done and buy a new dress and there was just so much to do and her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

"Let me get your books," she said hurriedly, dropping his card a couple times before she was able to scan it and get the books checked out to his account. It felt weird to be talking to him with a piece of paper in her hand saying she was going to be dating an actor. No, she wasn't going to be dating Sage Gaston – she was going out on a date with him and it was a publicity stunt and she should calm the hell down.

"Thank you," he muttered when she handed him the books back before slinking away. A part of her wanted to run after him and apologize, but she couldn't decide what she had to apologize for.

"This is the most exciting thing to ever happen to anyone in this town," Ruby said. She was still flipping through the letter happily. "You're going to be in the paper! Oh, man, Belle promise me that you'll invite me to your Hollywood wedding so I can pull a Pippa Middleton and win over the media with my ass and then I can write a book about entertaining and date celebrities."

Gold locked the door on the pawn shop as soon as he got through it and flipped the sign to closed. So the girl of his dreams was going on a date with some ridiculously coiffed movie star. It was bad enough she was lusting after him, did she have to win the damn contest, too? There was no way he could stack up to that. Not like he'd ever even tried, but still. What was the point in competing when he knew it'd only lose?

It was already ridiculous for a man his age to have a crush, but going to the library as often as he did just to rent books he never actually read so that he could have an excuse to talk to the librarian was beyond insane. He should have asked her out months ago. What was the worst that was going to happen? What had he honestly been afraid of? That she'd turn out to be a horror movie spider monster? A serial killer?

So now the girl of his dreams was going on the date with the man of hers and Gold was jealous as hell. He was probably overreacting – it was a publicity stunt, wasn't it? She'd probably see him for half an hour, take a picture, and fly back home the next day. And then he could go back to stalking her like a creepy old man who needed to learn boundaries.

Belle hadn't ever been so nervous in her entire life. She and Ruby had been through every boutique in Storybrooke and done some online shopping before she finally found a dress that she wouldn't be embarrassed to wear on a date with a movie star. She'd met with Sage's publicist at the airport and was given an itinerary for the weekend. She was going to be picked up for her date at seven, they'd go to dinner where the magazine would take some 'candid' photos, then back to her hotel. In the morning, a car would come pick her up for a proper photoshoot and an interview about the magical evening she'd had with her favorite movie star.

She was ready early, because you don't keep a movie star waiting, but that left her with the unfortunate issue of what the hell to do to keep herself busy until then. Her stomach was doing flips and she was too anxious to sit. At last, she settled for texting Ruby though that was only sort of distracting.

Think you're gonna get a kiss? Ruby asked.

Probably not. It's a publicity stunt for the magazine, I doubt we'll even talk that much.

Oh please, he's going to take one look at you and be totally into you. What would you do if he went for the kiss, anyway?

I don't know. Belle sent back. She'd been thinking about it for days. The second the reality of the situation hit her, she'd been thinking about it. It was probably desperate as hell, but she really wanted to do it except when she didn't.

I'm just saying, you should do what makes you happy. How many times are you going to have this chance?

Which was a really good point. It wasn't every day girls from a tiny town in Maine got a chance to go on a real live date with a famous movie star? Her dating options were usually a car mechanic or, on a good day, maybe a guy who worked at the bank. Even Mr. Gold hadn't ever gotten around to asking her out, and for Storybrooke he was a pretty good catch with both a job and a house. But she also wasn't sure she was comfortable having sex with someone she'd just met that evening.

There was a knock at the door and she almost threw her phone as she jumped to her feet to run and answer it. What did you even say to a movie star who was going to take you out to dinner?

"Hi," she blurted out as soon as she had the door open and before she even registered that Sage Gaston was really standing there.

"You must be Belle," he said, offering her his hand and a disarming smile. "I'm Sage."

"Uh-huh," she replied dully, hardly believing she was actually meeting somebody she had seen in movies! Real movies in a theater!

He glanced down and she realized he was still waiting for her to shake his hand and she grabbed it quickly as he was dropping his hand.

"I hope you're excited," he said once he released her hand. "It's going to be a really great night."

"Yeah," she sighed and he just chuckled good naturedly.

"Great! My car is downstairs whenever you're ready to go."

"I'm ready now," she replied, grabbing her purse and joining him in the hall. "I can't wait."