-Ben-
Ben shifted in the bed, having felt something poke his shoulder. He gave a small growl of frustration and snuggled into the bed more.
"Oh Ben," a feminine voice sounded, and Ben looked up over his shoulder to see Belle standing next to the bed. Something told him she wasn't too happy, it could have been the glare or the fact that she had her hands on her hips. "You wanna tell me why your arm was around me when I woke up? Or should I just go straight to beating the living hell out of you?" she asked.
Ben hesitated, trying to think of an excuse that might work. "I didn't want you to fall off the bed?" he tried. Belle growled and yanked the pillow from under his head and started hitting him on the head with it.
"What makes you think I'm going to roll off the bed? I'm not a child you know! How ignorant can you be?" she exclaimed as she beat him over the head with the pillow.
"I'm sorry! Honest!" he said as he threw his arms over his head to keep the pillow from hitting it.
Belle growled and tossed the pillow aside, "I'm going to get some provisions for the trip to Mourningwood, if you still want to tag along then meet me at the bridge in a couple of hours." Ben watched her slam the door as she left and he even looked out the window to watch her storm down the stairs.
-Belle-
Belle quickly walked up the hill and towards the academy. When she had woken up that morning she was expecting the hangover, but not Ben's arm around her waist. It had caught her off guard, and she didn't like that. She felt her face warm up as she remembered waking up that morning. She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed.
She remembered how the first thing she had seen when she had woken up was his rough face. She had almost screamed because of how close his face had been to hers, mere inches between them. No matter how much she tried to deny it to herself, his face had been cute, almost handsome when he was sleeping. Especially with his messy blond hair slightly draped over his face the way it had been.
Belle shook her head in, trying to rid herself of the thoughts. "Damn man," she mumbled. She slowed down to a casual walk and sighed in defeat. "No matter how much I try NOT to think about it, the thought of him just forces its way back into my mind. This can't be happening," she thought as she crossed her arms over her chest.
The shouts of a nearby stall vendor brought her out of her thoughts, and she looked over with a sigh. "Pies here! Blueberry, Apple Butter, and Strawberry! All freshly baked!"
"Hm, Apple Butter Pie. I haven't had that in a long time," she said quietly to herself and walked over to the pie stall.
" 'Ello Miss! Would you like to buy some pie today?" the pie baker asked with a smile.
"Well, I would, but it's only myself and I was wondering if you sold by the slice?" Belle asked.
"Certainly, I get a lot of traveler's askin' about that these days with Albion being a lot safer now-a-days," The pie vender said happily, "What kind would you like miss?"
"Oh, Apple Butter Pie please. I haven't had that since I was a little girl," Belle answered. The woman cut her a slice of the pie and Belle in return hand her the small bit of money she owed. "Thank you!" she said as she took the pie away, and to the bridge to enjoy.
-Ben-
Ben sighed as he left the tavern and looked around the market to see if he could see Belle. After not being able to spot her in the crowd he sighed and made his way around town. First he visited the blacksmith to make minor repairs to his sword and rifle. Next he decided to get some breakfast and went back to the tavern to enjoy a meal.
After he had some lunch he stepped out and saw Belle walk out of the gate. Afraid, but not surprised, that she was leaving him behind he walked to the gate to watch her leave, but instead found her sitting on the short stone wall along the side of the bridge. She was eating a piece of pie, and seemed to be enjoying the quiet atmosphere on the bridge.
She seemed so calm, like nothing in the world could upset her. He watched as she took a few bites of the pie. He'd only admit to himself that he was developing a bit of a crush on the usually very temperamental woman. Her usually sharp and hazel eyes seemed to be softer now that she was alone and seemed relaxed. Although, even he would admit that the wind was making these thoughts a bit cheesy by gently playing with her hair the way they write about it in romance novels.
Then, those sentimental thoughts of his were ruined as a large gust of wind blew past her, causing the plate with the pie on it to fly out of her hands and over the side of the bridge. She quickly hopped off the ledge and watched the plate and the pie fall down into the valley below. "No! My Pie!" she shouted as she watched it disappear into the trees below.
Ben tried containing his laughter, but it was too funny of a moment. His laughter forced its way out of him, and he had to wrap his arms around himself as the laughter became loudly and hearty.
-Belle-
Belle spun around to face the person laughing, her face red with embarrassment. She became even more flustered as she recognized Ben's figure was the one bent over with laughter. "Ben? What are you doing here? I mean, how did-?" she asked, her cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red.
"I saw you walk out of the gate, thought you were leavin'," Ben managed between the laughter, "Dear Avo, that was hilarious!"
Belle sighed and looked down at the ground, "yeah, I guess it was." Even though it did seem a bit funny, she was still disappointed that she didn't get to finish it. She scuffed the ground with her boot while Ben's laughter subsided.
"Aw, come on, it's just a slice of pie," Ben said as he walked over to her, grinning.
"It was apple butter pie. My mom used to make that all the time when I was a little girl. It reminded me of her," Belle said gloomily. Her eyes looked up at Ben as he straightened up a bit and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, then, let's go get some more. Let's get a whole pie though! For the trip! We can have it with dinner when we make camp tonight! Hell, let's just have pie for dinner!" he exclaimed excitedly.
A bit surprised by his sudden outburst, she stared at him blankly, "Wait, what?"
"You heard me," he said and grabbed her hand and began leading her back into town. She blushed at his touch and was glad he didn't see. She tried her best to shake it off. She couldn't believe how weird the day had been for her. She couldn't wait for tomorrow. Belle took back her hand as they approached the pie vender's stall.
"One whole apple butter pie please!" Ben said excitedly.
Belle gave a sheepish grin to the vendor and shrugged, trying to keep from feeling too out of place. The pie vendor smiled at her and put the pie in a box to keep the elements from getting to it. "Enjoy!" she said, smiling as she handed the pie over to Ben.
"Thank you! We will!" Ben said and accepted the pie from the vendor. Belle watched as he turned to face her. He stared at her for a moment, which simply confused Belle. "Well?" he asked.
"Well what?" Belle questioned, still slightly confused.
"Aren't we going to get some stuff for the trip to Mourningwood?" Ben asked.
"Oh, yeah. Then we'll head out," Belle remembered, and turned to go back down to the market area down the hill. They went down and did their best to get everything quickly, however that didn't stop them from arguing between what foods to take with them.
Finally after Belle won the argument, they decided it was time to head out of town. Ben frowned as he somehow also managed to get stuck with carrying their provisions, while Belle seemed to only have to carry her own belongings. "How come I have to carry all the supplies?" he asked with a growl.
"Because," Belle replied.
"Because?" he questioned.
"Because⦠I said so," Belle said with a smirk and she watched as Ben's eyebrow twitched from frustration.
"That doesn't make any sense, just because you don't want to carry this stuff, means I have to?" he complained.
"Oh shut up, we are finally going to Mourningwood aren't we?" Belle said as she looked up to the bright blue sky.
Author's Note: Well here ya'll are. Another chapter. This one took me longer than I had hoped it would, but I was having trouble coming up with ideas for it. Hopefully the next one won't take as long, seeing as I know how I want that one to go. Well, see you all in the next chapter!
