For three weeks, Belle and Albert, joined by Emma, had been meeting at the Gold residence, tutoring the both of them and leaving before Mr Gold came home. The arrangement was working out well with both of their grades improving because of it. Belle found it sweet to watch the two lovebirds, who were oblivious to the other's feelings. She could see it. It was obvious with the way Albert looked at Emma and attentively touched her arm or hand, careful not to hurt her. Although Albert was missing the signs, you could not mistake the signs from Emma, as she stared longingly into his eyes when he spoke to her.
Amused by her thoughts, Belle smiled as she put her car into park and turned off the engine. Collecting her bag from the passenger seat, she climbed out of the car and shut the door while she looked up at the Gold residence. She had not spoken to him since he had dismissed her services. Even going about town, Belle had not seen him anywhere. It was as if he had left town, but she knew he had not due to seeing his Cadillac parked by the shop every day. Either he was avoiding her or bumping into one another had been coincidence.
Hearing the kids calling her, Belle waved to Albert and Emma as they came down the sidewalk and turned to go up the path to the house. Casually following behind them, she could hear them discussing the school dance excitedly. Belle had avoided going to the school dances. At the time, she had thought her time was better off spent on studying, ploughing through books to get nearer to where she wanted to be. Out of her father's home. The thought made her laugh at herself. Four years spent away from home, away from the trouble of her father, and now she was living back under his roof, back exactly where she had started.
Albert and Emma had stopped midway to the front door on the porch and looked at her climbing the steps, laughing to herself. Noticing they were looking at her, she waved their concern away and stifled her laughter. They shared a bemused look between them before Albert unlocked the door and held the door open for them. Belle shook her head at herself, amused with the way her life was working out, and stepped into the house.
"Anyone want a drink?" Albert asked, always the gentleman.
"I'm fine, thanks, Bae." Belle told him, grateful for the offer, and shrugged her denim jacket off to hang on the coat pegs by the front door.
Emma smiled at him, saying. "Coke, please!"
"One coke for m' lady." Albert said with an exaggerated bow. Belle rolled her eyes at the scene as Emma giggled following Albert into the kitchen. She carried her bag into the kitchen and put it down onto the breakfast table, ready for when they sat down to start.
"So, Em," Albert said pulling open the fridge to grab a cold can from inside. "Anyone asked you to the dance yet?"
"Nope. Not yet." Emma responded and took the can he held out to her. Belle stayed quiet, noticing the look on Emma's face as the young woman waited for him to pop the question. The room fell into silence with the two of them gazing at each other. Slowly Belle raised a quizzing eyebrow at them, her own impatience growing at the unsaid question.
"Hey!" Albert said suddenly, breaking the silence. "Did you hear Maddy was asked by Hansel?"
"Really…?" Emma sounded dejected as she turned away from Albert and wandered slowly over to the breakfast table.
Albert shut the fridge door after taking another coke for himself. "Yeah! He told me during football practise."
"Who're you asking, Bae?" Belle asked pulling a chair out from the table and sat down looking at Emma, who sat at the table.
"Me? I… I don't know. I might not even go." He informed them, shrugging the strap of his bag off his shoulder to drop it to the floor.
"Why not?" Emma asked, frowning at Albert as he sat down in the chair beside her.
He pulled a face at her as though the answer was obvious. "I got better things to be doing. Like completing the camos for my shotguns on cod."
Belle's eyes bulged at what Albert said. "What? Camos?"
"Yeah," Albert said his gaze moving from Emma to Belle. "On my game, Call of Duty."
"You would rather spend the evening on your game, than take a girl you like to the dance?" Belle questioned him.
"Well… Yeah. She wouldn't say yes to me. None of the girls would, because who my father is." Albert informed them, gesturing to himself.
Belle shook her head at him. "You should just ask her, you idiot." The clock caught her eye over Emma's shoulder. "Anyway, we better get on with some work. What work do we have today, kids?"
Just as the pair put their bags onto the table, about to pull their work out, the front door banged open and slammed shut, making the glass in the doors shake. The three of them froze at the breakfast table. His footsteps stomped through from the entrance hall into the kitchen and stopped behind Belle. She did not need to turn round she knew who it was. Albert and Emma were both gazing at him, their bodies posed ready for fight or flight.
Mr Gold moved more into the room and into Belle's field of vision. One of his eyebrows was up, creasing the lines on his forehead, as he pulled the tie from around his neck and removed it. He rolled the tie up strolling over to the kitchen counter and placed it down onto it. Ignoring him, Belle motioned to the kids to carry on getting their work out of their bags whilst Mr Gold went over to the fridge and opened it to grab a bottle of water. He turned back towards them, letting the fridge door shut itself, and undid the top buttons of his shirt.
"And what do we owe the pleasure for Miss French's presence?" Mr Gold asked the room, but they all knew the question was to Albert.
"We're… We're…" Albert stuttered.
At seeing the unease of Albert, Belle answered for him. "I'm here for Emma. Her mother has asked me to tutor her and they've got a project they're working on together."
"Really, dearie?" The way Mr Gold said it, made Belle's toes curl up inside her shoes.
Albert turned in his chair to face his father, his arm slung over the back of his chair, and said. "Yes, really."
Mr Gold held his hands up in mock surrender, holding the open water bottle in one of his hands, and started to move out of the room, heading towards the entrance hall. "If you say so."
Hearing his footsteps up the stairs, Emma and Albert let a loud sigh out and began pulling their books out of their bags. Belle closed her eyes and shook her head for a second before choosing to forget about the beast upstairs. She contemplated gluing his mouth shut, so she could appreciate him in silence without interruption. It was ashamed. Even when he had stood in her father's shop, dismissing her, she had found him so handsome in his three-piece suit and overcoat. He was always well dressed and groomed to perfection. Not a hair on his head out of place. Oh, but how she would like to mess with his hair…
"Belle." Emma called and touched Belle's hand.
Belle jumped in her chair. "What?"
They giggled at her before Albert said. "I was telling you about the work and all you did was groan at me."
"I'm sorry," Belle said, feeling the heat in her cheeks. "Tell me again."
After explaining what had to be done, Belle supervised them through what they had to do and told them what other subjects might be interesting to add to their essay. The two worked well together, she noted watching them discuss the subject matter together, one researching on a laptop and another scanning their textbook for crucial details. At certain points, Belle would interject another point, encouraging or discouraging when they were going to broad with their search.
Emma's phone started ringing and interrupted their study. Reaching into her bag, Emma apologised to them and answered her phone. She agreed with whoever was on the other end of the phone and ended the call to pack her things away into her bag.
"Sorry, I didn't realise the time." Emma told them, fastening the flap on her bag. "I should have been home half an hour ago."
"Really? What time is it?" Albert asked turning in his chair to see the clock.
Belle looked at the clock as well. "Wow! It's half past six."
"See you tomorrow?" Emma asked Albert, shoving her chair back under the breakfast table. He nodded his reply to her and watched her leave into the entrance hall. The front door opened and closed. Belle considered Albert as he packed his books into his bag and closed down his laptop. The innocence of not realising what stared him in the face every day.
Catching Belle watching him, Albert blurted out. "What?"
"You're an idiot." Belle told him matter-of-factly.
"I'm an idiot?" He repeated and shook his head smiling.
Pushing her chair out from underneath her, Belle stood up saying. "You know damn well, she wants you to ask her to the dance."
"What? Emma? I can't ask Emma." Albert said getting up from his chair and carried his bag off into the entrance hall.
"Why can't you?" Belle asked moving so she could see him in the entrance hall, putting his bag on the stairs.
"Because… Cause…" He turned to face her and shrugged his shoulders at her. "I can't dance."
Belle could not help herself and burst out laughing at his confession. Pulling a face at her amusement, Albert strutted pass her into the kitchen but stopped when Belle caught his arm, his momentum turned them to face each other.
"Not being able to dance is not a good reason not to ask her." Belle told him, sobering from her laughter.
Albert frowned at her. "Hello! It's a dance. Emma's going to expect dancing."
"We can easily sort that out. Everyone can dance." She informed him taking hold of his hands in hers to place one at her side and clasped the other. "You just need to be brave and not care what people think."
"Everyone will think I'm stupid!" Albert said with his worry evident in his voice.
"No, they won't. Because they'll all be thinking the same thing as you, that they can't dance either." Belle said to him, leading him into a sway from side to side.
"This is stupid!" Albert shouted dropping his hands to his sides and took a step back from Belle.
"Hang on, we need some music." Belle went over to her bag and retrieved her phone. She could hear him grumbling over her shoulder as she went through her phone to find a suitable song. Selecting Gavin James's song Nervous, Belle placed the phone down on the breakfast table and walked over to Albert where he still stood.
"Okay?" She questioned him, taking hold of his hands again to place one at her side and clasp the other. Reluctantly he followed her, still mumbling under his breath that he could not dance. They moved side to side, nice and simple dance. When Albert would look down at his feet, Belle would move her hand from his shoulder to push his head back up. She smiled at him seeing the concentration on his face, the tip of his tongue running along the outside of his upper lip.
She nodded her head at him. "That's it. Just keep your head up." Belle told him. "Now, let's try turning."
His eyes widened before his head dropped down so he could watch his feet. As she lifted his head, Albert missed stepped and stepped onto her toes. At her shriek of pain, Albert immediately jumped away from her and clutched his hands to his chest. A laughter came from the stairs in the entrance hall. She bit her lip at the pain looking up to see Mr Gold entering the kitchen. He had removed his suit jacket and waistcoat, leaving on his dress pants and shirt.
"What are you two doing?" He asked with an amused tone.
Albert scratched nervously at the back of his head. "She… Belle was… showing me how to dance."
"He won't ask Emma to the dance, because he thinks he can't dance." Belle informed Mr Gold, who was throwing his empty bottle into the recycling bin under the sink.
"Pfft." Mr Gold frowned turning round to look at them. "Albert, you can dance. You used to dance with your… mother."
"Dad, that was when I five!" Albert threw back at his father. Shaking his head, Mr Gold came over to them and stopped near Belle. His aftershave wafted towards her, the spicy citrus smell that she had smelt on his business card. She took an involuntary deep breath, satisfying her inner demon to smell him.
"We'll have to show you then." He told his son and before Belle could say anything, Mr Gold had taken her into his arms and laid her hand on his shoulder. "You want to keep a nice space between you." He instructed his son and gestured between himself and Belle, ignorant to Belle's bewilderment. "This is the dance space. You don't go into hers and she doesn't come into yours."
Belle scowled at Mr Gold as he began to lead Belle to move forward and backwards, his attention solely on Albert beside them. "As long as you keep your arms held in the frame, you can't go wrong, son."
"Dad, I can't dance." Albert muttered disheartened.
"Nonsense." He said to his son and startlingly twirled Belle, holding her closer when she crashed into his chest. He carried on moving her regardless and held her hand against his chest, instructing his son in what to do and not to do. Her fingers clenched at his dress shirt on his shoulder to steady her nerve, whilst his aftershave and closeness intoxicated her. This was going to be hazardous to her health.
"Look, if I can dance, you can dance. Isn't that right, Miss French?" Mr Gold asked, finally turning his attention to her. Their movement slowed until they stopped. She risked a glance up at him but could not look away, when she met his dark brown eyes. His face was so close, his lips slightly parted. Under her hand, she could feel his shoulders stiffen and his chest puffed out against hers.
"You two are mad." Albert told them and walked off to go upstairs. As his son had spoken, Mr Gold had jumped away from Belle, his gaze darted between his hands and Belle. He shook his head and staggered off towards the fridge, leaving Belle alone. Her hand tingled where he had been holding it against his chest. She studied her hand, still holding it up where it had rested against his chest.
The fridge door closing made her jump into action. Crossing to the breakfast table, she grabbed her bag and phone. Belle clutched her things against herself and hurried into the entrance hall to snatch her jacket from the coat peg. As she opened the front door, she heard a call of 'Miss French' but chose to ignore it and left closing the door behind her. She paused at the top of the steps and took a deep breath. It felt as if it was the first breath she had taken in the last twenty minutes. Letting it out loudly, she clambered down the stairs and hurried to her car, escaping as the front door opened.