Just One Guy in Town
By Sarajane
That day began like any other day for the strongest, most handsome man in town. Gaston woke up, walked down to the tavern with his lackey LeFou, and, after sitting down on a barstool, immediately ordered his first drink of the day.
The bartender quickly served up a huge German bierstein, which Gaston immediately began guzzling. LeFou raised an eyebrow, although he was incredibly used to this behavior. Gaston leaned back onto the bar and looked across at a group of young damsels, who were all swooning over him.
Pushing himself off the barstool, he strode over to them and extended his hand to one at the front of the group – a short young girl with long, curly black hair. In the back of his mind, he was still plotting over how he was going to marry Belle, but in the meantime this girl made a decent substitute.
"Care to dance?" he inquired, flashing a smile that was full of sly charm.
"Oh, I'd love to!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down slightly. "Oh, Gaston!" He clamped his hands to her waist and pulled her into a semi-drunken waltz as she giggled. "I'm Renee, by the way."
"I know," Gaston replied, even though he didn't and really didn't plan to keep it in mind, either. Grinning wider, Gaston pulled her into a spin as his feet flew up. Getting closer to the bar, he hopped up again. This time both feet landed on the raised part of the bar which was under the barstools. One of his feet slid off the bar, shoving the girl forward with a jolt and landing in a twist on the ground.
Gaston found himself on the floor, yowling. Renee looked shocked out of her wits.
"Gaston!" she cried, lifting herself up from the floor where she had landed as well, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Gaston replied, brushing them off. He lifted himself up on his good foot, and attempted to place the other to the ground. With a burst of pain, his foot reacted rather strongly to this idea. Gaston's eyes watered slightly, and he hopped over to the bar. With one hand, he balanced himself via the bar.
"You going to need some help, Gaston?" inquired LeFou.
"No, I will not," Gaston replied icily. LeFou got the message and walked to another part of the bar, though he continued watching from afar to make sure Gaston was still in his sights if he needed him.
"Hey, Gaston," said one of his cronies, "That looks like a bad sprain. You should go get that bandaged or something."
"Me? Sprain an ankle?" Gaston shot back. "Never! I don't sprain ankles! Only pansies who never go outdoors sprain ankles!"
"Well, that definitely looks like a sprain to me," continued the crony. Gaston stepped forward with his good foot to shut him up, but as soon as he let go of the bar he slipped and careened onto the ground. The three Silly Girls, Dominique, Chanal, and Anne, rushed over and attempted to lift him off the ground. It proved to be quite an arduous task, even when LeFou ran over as well as offered his services.
"Gaston," said Dominique, "You should really go home and bandage that ankle. I mean, after all, it would be awful if any part of your magnificent body ended up damaged."
He couldn't argue with that logic. So, he allowed the cronies (and, upon their insistence, the Girls) to carry him to his home across town. He left LeFou in the bar to make sure no one said anything about his injury behind his back. On the way there, he saw Belle and Maurice walking out to the bakery. Gaston felt a stab of annoyance. There was no way he could court Belle in this state! How was he supposed to woo her with his amazing body when he was stumbling around?
Oh well, he thought to himself, I'll just sleep this ankle off. It'll be better tomorrow. THEN, I'll go and worry about getting Belle to acknowledge her true feelings and marry me. Tomorrow.