The promise of coming to see her later never amounted to anything. After having her shower the day before, she had picked up her phone hoping to see another message from him, but her mood had soured seeing he had tried to call her. After returning his call several times, she had only had the pleasure of talking to his voicemail and had promised herself, if she said 'hello' one more time to his voicemail, when she heard his voice say 'hello', she would scream. Her hand had spent the day glued to her phone, waiting for him to return her call or message her. Ruby had tried to poke fun at Belle, but had quickly buttoned her mouth, when she had received a death glare from Belle.
Sitting in a booth near the back of Grannies, Belle sat refilling the condiments, glancing to her phone lying on the table. She glared at her phone, willing it to beep, ring or vibrate. Any sign that he thought of her, that he wanted to talk to her or cried to be with her. The temptation to message or call him that morning burned in her fingertips. Knowing she had left him over ten messages and five missed calls, Belle held herself back from contacting him further, wanting not to look too desperate. Her brain's decision was not helping the ache in her heart.
She screwed the lid onto another saltshaker, her eyes focused on her phone. Saddened that most of the day had already passed and there was still no contact from him, Belle began to grumble to herself and snatched another saltshaker from the endless queue in front of her on the table. After unscrewing the lid, she slammed the shaker down on the table, causing a few of the patrons and Grannie to cast their gazes over to her. Embarrassed by her outburst, Belle held her hand over her eyes and mumbled at herself under her breath.
Dropping her hand from her face, Belle began to pour the salt into the shaker as her mind surmised he must have changed his mind. He had time to think and had decided she was not meant for him. Maybe Rumald had realised, there was too great an age gap between them. Maybe he had got what he wanted… Distracted by her thoughts, Belle had not noticed she had overfilled the saltshaker and was pouring the salt over the table. It was not until the salt seeped off the edge of the table into Belle's lap, did she realise what she was doing.
"Oh god!" Belle cried putting the box of salt to one side, her eyes on the salt in her lap.
Ruby appeared at her side. "Oh, Belle, what're you doing?"
"Making a mess!" She told Ruby, her voice conveying her annoyance. Gathering the edges of her apron, Belle used her apron as a canopy to carry the salt in her lap, as she slid out of the seat of the booth. Belle growled at Ruby before she stamped off towards the kitchen and shoulder barged her way into the kitchen to dump the pile of salt into the bin.
As she came out of the kitchen wiping her hands down the front of her apron, Belle met Ruby on the other side of the door. "Belle, why don't you go and get changed? Your shift is nearly over anyway."
"Let me clean up my mess and then I'll go and get changed." Belle said, while she moved around Ruby to go into the diner.
"No, no, it's fine." Ruby urged touching Belle's arm. "I know you're a little distracted. Don't worry about it. Go and get changed before Emma and Al turn up."
Admitting defeat, Belle's shoulders fell conveying to Ruby she had won. The sight of it encouraged a smile from Ruby, watching her friend trudge her way up the stairs. As she climbed the stairs, Belle reached behind her and pulled at the bow of her apron to remove it. She clutched the apron into her hand, while she unlocked her bedroom door and entered. Quickly she changed into jeans and a t-shirt and hung her uniform onto the front of the wardrobe.
Belle left her room and went back down the stairs in time to see Emma and Albert enter Grannies. They were smiling at one another, their hands loosely holding the others, while they stood near the doorway. A small sprang of jealousy dug into Belle's chest at the sight before her. She knew what they were feeling. She had felt it on Saturday night while she had been out with Rumald.
Holding her head up high, Belle forced a smile upon her face as she crossed the diner to her young friends. Albert was the first to spot her, his smile widened with his eyes softening to her. Just seeing the way he looked at her, was enough for Belle to forget about her small heartache for his father.
Emma shifted the strap on her shoulder for her bag. "Library?"
"Sure." Belle replied with a smile, gesturing with her hands towards the door behind them. They both turned and went back out through the door with Belle following behind them. A call for Belle made her stop in the doorway, holding the door open as she turned to see Ruby run towards her with Belle's phone held out for her to grab. Rolling her eyes at her forgetfulness, Belle took her phone from Ruby and mouthed a thank you, while she backed out of the doorway onto the porch outside.
"I still can't believe it." Emma said to Albert.
Intrigued by what Emma said, Belle clambered down the steps behind them to join them, shoving her phone into her pocket as she said. "Can't believe what?"
"My mother causing trouble again." Albert grumbled with his grip on his bag tightening. They moseyed out of the outside area of Grannies to the sidewalk and steadily strolled up the sidewalk before crossing the street at the intersection.
"Trouble?" Belle frowned at Albert beside her. Looking passed Albert and Emma, Belle could see Rumald's car parked beside his shop, taunting her that he was only a breath away.
Albert sighed loudly before he spoke. "She turned up yesterday morning and was shouting and screaming at my dad."
"She wasn't just shouting and screaming." Emma added and Belle noticed how Emma's eyes were wide as she remembered. "She was throwing things around the house and threw your dad's phone at his head."
"What?" Belle almost yelled at them, her eyes darting between them and Rumald's shop behind them.
"I've never seen her like that before." Albert began to tell them, starting across the next crossing towards the library. "She was pretty upset about something."
Belle hurried to catch up with Albert, coming close to his side as he stepped onto the other sidewalk of the library. "Is he okay?"
"Who? My dad?" Albert asked reaching for the library door to open it and held it open for them.
"Yes!" She asked him, her voice pleading with him.
Albert narrowed his eyes at her, his brow furrowed. "Apart from a broken phone and cut above his eye, he's fine. Annoyed he has to wait for his new phone, but fine."
Belle's eyebrows rose at the new information. All the dread she had felt earlier melted, when she heard his phone was broken. A giggle escaped before she pressed her fingers over her mouth, a giddy feeling swept over her. While she was in a world of her own, Albert shook his head at her and directed Belle through the library door with an arm around her shoulders, joining Emma inside the library.
They led Belle over to empty study table and dumped their bags onto the table to pull out chairs for themselves. Hearing the scrapes of their chairs, Belle woke from her daydream to slide into one of the chairs at the table and dug her phone out of her pocket as it awkwardly pressed into her leg. Albert and Emma were taking their notebooks and books out of their bags, while Belle subconsciously rubbed her thumb over her phone.
"I really don't see why we've got to read Shakespeare." Emma moaned as she opened her copy of Romeo and Juliet.
Albert shrugged his shoulders at her. "At least we got to watch the film in class. I understand what everyone is talking about now."
They both waited expectantly for Belle to add something to their conversation. She was biting down on her thumbnail, her eyes peering through the blinds to see Rumald's shop. A part of her wanted to run out of the library and into his shop to see if he was all right for herself. The other part of her wanted her to remain calm and be normal, especially as they had not discussed when to tell Albert and he apparently was still none the wiser.
"You know, I think they should let us do a paper on Fifty Shades of Grey." Albert projected his voice in an attempt to get Belle's attention. "The wordplay and description just make it so vivid."
Belle stared at Albert across the table before she exclaimed. "What!"
"Modern day masterpiece." Emma chided in with a smirk.
"What the hell are you two on about?" Belle scrunched her brow down over her eyes. "The writing in it is not that brilliant. I will say it is well described and a lot better than the film, but it is nothing to compare to Shakespeare or other authors in his league."
"Oh, so you've read it and watched the film." Albert leaned forward, showing Belle his inherited cheeky grin from his father.
Her brow shot up her forehead. "What?"
"I think you've got her attention now." Emma laughed as she highlighted some lines in her book.
Albert picked up his copy of Romeo and Juliet and held it towards Belle. "We got to write an essay on the time scale that Romeo and Juliet fall in love." He scanned a piece of paper with his finger before saying. "Is it plausible that a love story of this magnitude could take place so quickly?"
"Interesting question." Belle muddled over the question, letting her phone drop from her hands onto the table, and took the book from him.
"I don't see why not." Emma said turning a page in her book. "My mum and dad said it was love at first sight."
"Love is just a weapon people use to get what they want and to hurt people, like my mother did to my father. Broke his heart." Albert sadly said to them, scribbling on the front of his notebook.
Belle felt uneasy talking about Albert's parents. "Love is delicate, Albert, and there are many forms of love. Sometimes it doesn't work out, like for your parents. But like for Emma's parents, they believe they had love at first sight."
"That's just a chemical reaction. Our natural instinct is to reproduce." He told her matter-of-factly.
"Yes, you're right. There is a natural instinct." Belle dropped the book onto the table as she carried on. "But love is more than just an attraction. It's a… It's a…"
"A want!" Emma interjected smiling at Albert, who rolled his eyes at her.
"No, love is not a want. It's a need. A physical and mental need to be with that person. An uncontrollable hunger for them." She explained to them.
"Dad's right." Albert reached across and snatched his book from in front of Belle. "You read too many books."
Belle chuckled. "Really? Is that what your dad thinks?"
"Yeah, says that's why you daydream too much." He told her as he flicked through his book looking for his marker.
"And this daydreamer knows the answer to your essay question." She smiled smugly at him. Belle loved seeing Albert like this, showing how much he was like his father, from looks to attitude.
"What's the answer then?" Emma asked hopeful for some insight.
"Nope." Belle shook her head at them. "I read too many books and daydream."
Albert smiled. "Come on, you know I don't think that. Tell us, please."
"Okay, as you said please." Belle leaned forward onto the table with her elbows. "You can't think of this question in terms of real life on time scale, but it does have significance to real life."
"Why did you have to tease her, now she's confusing us?" Emma elbowed Albert beside her.
"No, I'm not. Just listen to me." Belle smiled at Emma and continued. "If you just read the play, you could imagine that it took place over a couple of weeks. But if you go through the motions, their love affair happens in four days." Emma took notes as Belle spoke, while Albert sat relaxed with his arms resting over his notebook. "With all the drama and the family situation, it heightens their feelings for one another. A forbidden love, which is under pressure by both families."
Albert squinted his eyes as he thought aloud. "So… In some ways, it's like telling someone they can't have something, so that person cries out more for it. Like an addict after a fix."
"How did you get from love story to drugs?" Emma asked him, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I watched Trainspotting last night." Albert shared with them and crossed his arms in front of him on the table.
"A bit extreme, Bae, but I can see why you thought that." Belle said to him.
Emma frowned at Albert. "Your dad let you watch Trainspotting?"
"Not exactly." Albert mumbled. "He went to bed early."
"Anyway!" Belle exaggerated when she spoke to bring their focus to her and save Albert from saying something, she would have to tell his father. "Forget the time scale of the story for now and think about how the pressure would effect a situation."
Emma pouted her lips in thought and then said. "Either way you look at it, with the time or not, there's a significance to every moment between Romeo and Juliet."
"Yes, Emma, just keep thinking along those lines." Belle nodded her head and smiled at Emma.
"I really don't get this. It's just a stupid story." Albert grumbled at them.
Belle touched his arm. "It's not a stupid story and you're too clever to not get this." She shifted in her seat to face him. "Okay, say your father said you couldn't see Emma again and her parents the same about you. Would you be happy about that?"
"No." Albert sat up straighter hearing the scenario.
"That's what you need to think about when you're looking at this essay question." Belle told him, squeezing his arm. "Romeo and Juliet are told by everyone that they can't be together. So, if you imagine them feeling the same about that as you, then you have the answer to the question."
"Every moment is precious." Albert said, sounding as though he was reciting it.
"What?" Emma questioned with her highlighted posed ready to highlight a line in her book.
"Something my dad used to say to me." He told her opening his notebook and began writing on a blank page.
Sitting back into her chair, Belle slowly turned her head to allow herself to gaze at his shop through the blinds of the window. When she saw the shop opening, Belle sat up and watched Rumald exit his shop, closing the door behind him. He paused at the shop door with his back to her. She watched him intently as he sauntered from the shop door to his car. As he opened the driver's door to his car, Rumald looked over at the library and then down the street in the direction of Grannies before he climbed into his car.
"Your dad's closing the shop early, where's he going?" Belle asked, straining to watch the black Cadillac drive away.
"End of the month… So… It's probably council meeting." Albert said distantly as he scribbled in his notebook, glancing between a section in the book and his notebook. The kids did not miss the heavy breath she released through her nose. Belle waved their attention away and picked up her phone to light up the locked screen, smiling at the picture of Rumald and his son from their trip to New York. The feeling in her chest squeezed, the longing to talk to him was slowly overpowering her.