For the rest of that week, Nicholas came to the library precisely at 3:15, and stayed until 5:15. He would spend some time looking for a book to read, and then try and make conversation with Belle. He would generally ask her about the current book he was reading.
Nicholas realized he had a problem. He was falling for Belle. The librarian. The librarian that was 15 years older than him. He thought to himself, age is just a number, right?
Every time he went to the library, he would try and advance things with Belle. One day he sat inches away from her, elbows touching. Another day he helped her reach a book on the top shelf. But he could only hope she thought the same about him as he did her.
Belle, on the other hand, had noticed Nicholas' actions, although she was not sure what her thoughts were. She had no idea if he was hitting on her or not. He was always staring at her, but sometimes he would talk about all the girls at school. Oh, then there's that. He was only a senior in high school. And it's not like she had feelings for him. At least she didn't think so.
One morning, Belle decided to go to the library earlier than usual. She arrived without really getting ready for the day, just so she could be surrounded by the thing she loves most. Books.
She had realized that she forgot to put her makeup on, and rushed to the bathroom. She had never really cared about her appearances, but for some reason they seemed to matter a lot to her. As she was freshening up, she heard the jingle of the bells at the front of the library. Probably just an old lady looking for something to do. Belle put on her best smile, and walked out to greet the customer.
"Hi, welcome to the Storybrooke—Nicholas? What are you doing here so early?" Nicholas was standing awkwardly in the doorway, his hands in his pockets. He smiled shyly.
"I don't have school today. I decided I wanted to come to the library to work on a project. You don't mind, do you?" He walked in a bit more.
Belle tucked her hair behind her ears. "I, uh, no, I don't mind. The library is open to anyone. Stay as long as you like, Nicholas." She nodded to a desk, where he set his backpack down.
Throughout that morning, it was mainly quiet. Nicholas would do his homework, and Belle continued to read. A typical day for her.
"Ugh."
"Hmm."
"Ahh!" Belle looked up. Nicholas had his head in his hands, his pencil set down. He pushed his dark hair back.
"You ok Nicholas?" Belle stood up and walked over to Nicholas.
He shook his head. "I am just extremely bad at writing essays. I can never get the wording right." Nicholas sighed and let out a grunt.
Belle placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe I can help. What is it on?"
Nicholas motioned to the book next to him, To Kill a Mockingbird. "That. How am I supposed to know if Boo Radley was a monster or not?" He hunched over in his chair and closed his eyes.
Belle pulled up a chair next to him. "I love this book, especially Mr. Boo. Let me help you."
For the next hour, Belle explained to Nicholas how Boo Radley was in fact, not a monster. He was just misunderstood. People viewed him as a monster because he was incapable of showing love. He hid behind a mask of no emotion. People only thought he was a monster, a beast, because of the horrible stories they had heard. By the top of the hour, Nicholas had a full 1000 word essay finished.
"Wow. Thanks…Belle." Nicholas gazed up at Belle. She was not looking at him, but rather down. He wanted to get her attention. He had tried so hard for the last week. He glanced at her hand, resting on the table, closer to him than her. Does she want me to hold her hand? Nicholas wondered. Without thinking, he reached his hand towards hers, and put his on top of Belle's. Belle glanced up at him, her eyes widening, and then relaxed. Nicholas then intertwined his fingers with hers. Belle blushed a bright pink, and then half-smiled.
Nicholas just stared into her big blue eyes, getting lost. He did not hear the ringing of the front door chimes and did not see the figure walk in.
Belle did. She quickly removed her hand from Nicholas' and abruptly stood up. "Hi, welcome to the Storybrooke library. I'm Belle, the owner." She smiled at the tall, intimidating man.
He hobbled forward on his cane, which seemed like it was just a symbol of support, like he could ditch it at any time, and stood only a few feet apart from Belle.
"Thank you. I'm Mr. Gold. Rumplestiltskin Gold, actually."