A Hell of a Day
Gaston Hunter was that guy in high school. He was the coolest, the hottest and one of the smartest kids in their grade. He was perfect.
He could have any girl he wanted, but somehow, he chose her.
Belle is still mesmerized that it happened; it always felt like a fairytale. He just approached her one average morning.
(Belle had barely slept the night before, her hair was greasy, she was wearing average clothes, nothing too flashy because she'd been studying all night and all morning for her math test. To talk to her high school crush was literally the last thing she thought would happen that day.)
He asked her out just like that. It caught her completely by surprise.
"You're beautiful sweetie, inside and out. It's no surprise he saw that." Her mother had said when Belle came home that day with a smile on her face. Her father warmed up to the idea of his princess dating pretty quickly.
It helped that Gaston knew exactly what to say to impress her father when they met, promising to have Belle home by curfew, buying her flowers from her father, talking recipes with her mother.
He was perfect. And she loved him for it.
They went to college together, but both decided that living together was a little too soon and they were too young.
But they made it a point to see each other as much as possible, between classes and the weekends when they didn't have a big test to study for. They'd even camped out together in the library with Ruby and Victor.
Everything was going perfectly.
The real problem came when Gaston had to stay for summer classes. Apparently it was mandatory for his program, so their plans of relaxing for the summer, spending time together were blown sky high.
He'd spend the summer at University in Boston and she'd have to go home to Storybrooke, Maine.
That summer, Belle learned two things.
1. Nothing exciting happened in Storybrooke.
2. Long distance relationships sucked.
They were literal hell.
They was filled with delayed messages, badly lit Skype calls and a series of pints of Ben and Jerry ice cream binges when Belle was reading Her Handsome Hero to calm herself down from her loneliness.
She didn't even have Ruby to help comfort her since she'd gotten an internship in Boston too.
But all that was over now. He was back from visiting his family, and she was back in her new apartment, even Ruby was back, everything could go back to how it was last semester.
Despite the time, Belle smiled when she pulled up in front of his building that morning, able to shave off a few minutes by taking a short cut. She spotted Gaston almost immediately and he climbed inside the passenger seat with a big grin on his face. "Hey babe." He greeted.
"Hi." She replied, feeling warmth climbing to her cheeks as he leaned over and kissed her quickly. It was just a brush, but it made Belle feel warm. "I missed you." She said softly.
"Same." He replied.
The moment was perfect.
Until she heard someone enter the backseat. It made her jump back and turn towards the intruder.
The intruder had her arms crossed in irritation, brown hair curled into beautiful waves and just rolled her eyes at Belle. "Gross." She sneered, referring to their kiss. "Can we get going?" She asked Gaston, barely even glancing at Belle.
Gaston pulled away, gesturing to the brunette behind them. "Oh, Belle, this is my neighbor Sophia." He introduced. "We're going to the same class, so I offered to give her a lift." The girl gave her a bored look.
He offered her a lift meant he offered Belle to give her a lift without asking her first.
But it was fine. Sophia being there wouldn't change the times.
She could get to her class at 10:30, and then guidance at noon and get her class.
"Gaston, I thought you said we were going to stop and get coffee first?" Sophia complained in a drawn out voice. It just irritated Belle, making her clench her fists slightly on the wheel.
"I thought you were late to class?" Belle asked sharply, eyeing Sophia through the mirror. Sophia glared right back. Gaston just shrugged and grinned widely.
"It's fine, there's a Starbucks on the way." He insisted, hand on her knee. She smiled. That was true, Belle realized.
Plus she can get her venti Chai Tea Latte, she loved those thingsā¦
"Sure." She said softly, nodding. "It's Monday morning, first day of class, how many people could possibly be there?" She wondered aloud.
Answer: Far too many.
Conclusion: Belle was never going to Starbucks again. She didn't even get her latte because she didn't want to waste any more time.
Especially with Sophia's insistence that her drink be a tall low fat latte with 2 percent foam and a caramel drizzle, but it was fine, they could get going now and Belle would make it to class with just enough time and-
"Is this low fat?" Sophia asked. "I said skim milk."
Belle distinctly heard her say low fat.
"We're running late are you sure-" Belle tried.
"Gaston, you know what I'm like without my skim milk latte with 2% foam and my caramel drizzle." She complained. Gaston nodded in agreement.
"She can't concentrate." Gaston confirmed. "Come on Belle, what's a few more minutes?"
Analysis: Belle hated Sophia. She hated her with a burning passion.
When they finally got to the science building where Gaston had his class it was cutting it close. She only got a quick kiss from Gaston as he said goodbye, and that they would see each other later. Belle sat there for a minute, watching him catch up with Sophia, she saw them laughing about something, she wasn't sure what.
Belle was too distracted by the girls cut up jeans and way too low tank top and the way she said Gaston's name.
It irked her that she didn't know what they were laughing about and that her hair looked way better than Belle's and that she could pull off that type of outfit that would make Belle blush if she even considered it. She sat there only until the car behind her honked at her, spurring her into getting to her campus.
Belle got to her 10:30 class at 11.
Her professor was not pleased. She gave Belle a glare that sent her scurrying to an open desk, her face was beet red when she got to her desk.
She was embarrassed and worst of all lost all class long. She didn't know what book they were reading, or what they were talking about. Belle never felt so miserable in a literature class before.
She got to guidance by 12. She got in to see someone by 1:30.
She was told pointblank that if she'd arrived there earlier, she could have gotten an override slip, because now the classroom had filled up to room capacity; so unless someone dropped it, which wasn't likely, she wouldn't get to Medieval Literature.
She was now number one on the wait list.
No Killian in this chapter, but we got to meet Gaston instead. He's such the perfect guy am I right?
I'm glad everyone loved Killian cooking for Belle. The poor girl is super stressed right now.
Killian will return next chapter.
Don't forget to review!
~Luna
