Sorry it's been a while! Here's some more!
Chapter Two:
"Belladore Brindle? That's who's got you walking on air? Belladore Brindle?" Deagol asked with a bit of disgust, his feet propped up on the table. He carefully peeled an apple with his pocket knife, managing to scowl at Sméagol while doing so.
"Shh, Deagol, not so loud!" Sméagol looked around, as if anybody could be around, listening.
The last thing he wanted was for Belladore to know that he had feelings for her. It would… well, he didn't know what would happen, but it would be embarrassing, at the very least.
"Why are you telling me, if you don't want anybody to know?" Deagol asked.
"Because, I need your help." Sméagol said.
"Okay, I must admit that I'm intrigued. What did you have in mind?" Deagol smiled mischievously.
"Well, do you remember when you wanted to court Lena and Hammy Cledd was courting her, too?"
"Yeah. You helped me push him into the mud in front of her. There's no better way to kill a romance like public humiliation." Deagol smiled at the memory.
"Right. And Mirlon has been sweet on Belly for years. And, like it or not, she's liked him, as well."
"So what'll we serve old frog face, hmm? Shall we dye his hair green, or shove him into pigsty?"
"As satisfying as both of those things would be, Deagol, I don't want to. That's not how to win Belladore."
"So what are you proposing?"
"We just have to prove to her that I'm the better hobbit." Sméagol rolled his eyes at how dense Deagol could be sometimes.
"How are you gonna do that, Smeag?" Deagol said, stifling laughter.
"Well, the Harvest Festival is in two days. I'm going to take Belladore-"
"You asked her?"
"Well, no. She doesn't know that I'll be escorting her. Not yet, anyway. Mirlon asked her yesterday."
Deagol scoffed, finishing off his apple. He threw his core into the compost basket, and wiped his hands on his pants.
"Mirlon! What a nance!"
"Be nice, Deagol." Sméagol said.
Deagol rolled his eyes.
"Since when do you stick up for Mirlon Fishface?"Sméagol smiled, mischief glinting in his eyes.
"Since I became the better man…er, hobbit. Let's go, Deag. It's time to go show Belladore just how wonderful I am."
~Break~
Sméagol crouched behind the bushes, watching Belladore. She was reading a book, leaning comfortably against the rough side of an oak tree. It was her favorite tree, in fact, where she often went to doze or get lost in a good story.
Her hair was pulled into a messy bun, and a few of her dark tendrils fell haphazardly around her face. There were a few freckles sprinkled atop her nose and cheekbones; the rest of her skin was lily-white, and contrasting with her dark hair and bright blue eyes.
She was so deeply absorbed in her reading, that she didn't notice that Sméagol was watching her.
She didn't even notice when he very sneakily sat next to her.
"You know the curious thing about poppies?" he asked her, and she jumped, startled.
"What?" she asked.
"Poppies. Did you know that they can put you to sleep?"
Belladore rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Sméagol. Everyone knows that."
He handed her a bright red poppy, which he'd been hiding in his sleeve.
"What? You want me to take a nap?" Belladore said, crinkling her nose at him.
"No. I just thought it was pretty. What are you reading?"
"Don't you have someone else to pester?" Belladore asked him, half-joking, half-serious.
"Nope. Just you, Belly." Sméagol replied, never one to get discouraged quickly.
"Lucky me." she said sardonically.
"Bookworm." Sméagol teased, and took the book out of her hands, careful to not lose her place. He read the cover aloud:
" 'The Legend of Isildur and the One Ring.' Boring."
He yawned theatrically, and handed it back to her.
"It's a very good book. Marm Adda let me borrow it."
"Ugh, Marm Adda! Last week, she thrashed Deagol and me with a peach switch!"
Sméagol winced at the memory. Adda was the toughest schoolmarm to ever come to Riverton (At least, in Sméagol's opinion.)
"Well," Belladore said, through poorly contained giggles, "I can't say much besides that you both deserved it."
"It was just firecrackers, Belly, and nobody got hurt, anyway!" Sméagol protested.
"Whatever you say, Sméagol." she rolled her eyes again, and went back to reading her book.
He reached up, and gently placed the poppy into her hair.
"There. Now you won't lose it." he smiled, and before she could even reply, he'd ducked back into the bushes, disappearing as suddenly as he'd come.
Okay, so writing this makes me sympathize with Sméagol/Gollum more than usual. Please review and tell me what you think! I'll update more quickly this time! (And yes, this is actually going somewhere.)