Before story note: Once again thank you to everyone that has taken the time to review this tale, and thanks for all of the support. However I do have a few things I'd like you to read before we continue.
1: So I heard through the grapevine of google, that Mr. Gold's first name is really Eli. Say WHAT!? I didn't want to make up a name for him and I just adore it. It's the most official name I've heard so until someone goes hell no, that's not his real name, I'm going to go with it. Ah hell, I'm going with it regardless.
2:I also changed around a few plot elements of the last chapter, nothing major though. Seeing as how I'm clearly awful with the law and child support, I realized that the arrangement between Mr. Gold and his Ex is preposterous, so I fixed that. Now it's every summer, instead of the first weekend of the month. Bad me.
3:Another thing I have realized, I never actually gave a location where our heroes are residing. That's just silly, and for the sake of time and convenience, let's pretend that I already mentioned that they live in rural New York. I know I should probably go back into one of the chapters and make this known, but call me a lazy bastard, I just don't feel like it. That requires me rewriting things, and all that jazz, so for now, this will just have to do. Don't worry, I will fix the issue, and I will alert you when I do, but honestly it won't be a major plot element reveal, so I'm not too concerned with it at this point.
4:Anyway, enough rambling and onto the Rumbelle!
Saturday morning, Belle awoke with a vigorous sense of purpose. She knew what she had to do, and that she had to do it fast. However, a trip to the huge mall a couple of towns over with her two best friends could only improve her resolve.
"And then we went and saw that new Johnny Depp movie." Mary-Margaret said, recapping her date with David. They were sitting in the middle of the food court, taking a break from window shopping.
"Damn, he is so hot." Ruby chimed in, talking up from her milkshake."I would let him do so many things."
"Geez Ruby, do you ever think about anything else?" Belle joked with her friend. "I swear your mind is just one giant sex pool."
"What can I say? I've got an active imagination." Ruby laughed and both Belle and Mary-Margaret rolled their eyes.
"Maybe you should let Mr. Hopper know about your dirty mind." Mary-Margaret said. "I'm sure he'd love to know about it."
Ruby turned a bright red, and turned her attention back to her milkshake. It was no secret between them that Ruby had a crush on their psychology teacher. 'He's just so cute.' was Ruby's flawless reasoning. Quickly changing the subject, Ruby turned to Belle. "So, what is the deal with you and Gaston? You didn't seem very happy when you stormed out of the cafeteria yesterday."
Belle glared down at her own smoothie. "Well, basically he called me a slut because of the way David and I were talking. I was being too promiscuous, like Gaston knows the meaning of that word. Anyway, he apologized, and even though I still had every intention of dumping him, I ended up giving him yet another chance. God, am I stupid or what?"
"Aw Belle, you aren't stupid." Mary-Margaret comforted her friend. "You only had a momentarily lapse of judgment. Happens to everyone. The best you can do now is fix your mistake, and honestly, it's about time. I never thought he was right for you."
"He's become such a dick lately." Ruby added. "It is definitely time to dump his ass. Hard."
"Yeah, I know everyone is right. It's like I was telling Mr. Gold..." Mary-Margaret's head snapped up at Belle in disbelief, and Ruby started to choke on her milkshake. "Oh God Ruby, are you ok?"
"I'm... fine..." She sputtered between fits of coughs. When she finally calmed herself, she almost shouted, "What do you mean 'Like I was telling Mr. Gold?!' Since when do you talk to him about your problems before your two besties!?"
"Well it wasn't on purpose." Belle blushed slightly. "He kept me company while I waited for dad to come fix my car yesterday." She retold how her car started smoking, at that he showed up.
"So he was like, your knight in shining armor?" Ruby grinned at her friend. "Isn't that so sweet!"
"Did anything else happen?" Mary-Margaret inquired.
"Oh I shouldn't tell you guys this. At. All." Both Ruby and Mary-Margaret were on the edge of their seats, drinks long forgotten. "We ate dinner together." Over the squees of her friends she added, "Stop that! It was McDonald's for heavens sake! And it's not like he payed for me. It wasn't a date or anything. Why are you two getting so worked up over this?"
"Ah so romantic." Ruby swooned. "Plus, you have to stay with him after school from now on."
"Yeah." Mary-Margaret joined in. "You'll be in love before you know it!"
Belle buried her head in her hands and rolled her eyes. "You guys are terrible. I'm 17. He's... what like early 40's?"
"Oh you know that gray hair is sexy. It's so distinguished." Ruby said. "I do have to say, older men are good in bed. They know what they are doing..."
"Ruby! It's not like that!" Belle groaned at her friends.
"Well Belle, you'll be 18 in a month. Then everything is legal." Mary-Margaret added.
"He's still my teacher Mary-Margaret."
"AH HA! So you ARE thinking about it!" Ruby teased. "Belle and Gold sitting it a tree. F-U-C-K-I-N-G."
Desperate, Belle looked around the mall for a distraction. Praying that one of the stores had a buy one, get three free sale, she spotted something even better.
"Hey, isn't that Principal Graham? Who is that girl he is with?" Belle asked.
It worked. Both of her friend's heads whipped around, instantly forgetting about her. For now anyway. "Hey that's my criminal science teacher." Ruby said. "Miss Swan. Hm, I wonder if they are on a date."
"We are pretty far from home. It would make sense, especially if they didn't want other people to know." Mary-Margaret said, a slight dreamy tone to her voice. She was always a sucker for love.
"Oh, you know what I heard?" Ruby snapped her attention back to her friends. "I heard that Graham and Mills are lovers."
"Where did you hear that?" Belle inquired.
"Outside Graham's office door, that's where." Ruby laughed. "After school a couple days back, I was going to try and get out of detention. I marched up to his door, and promptly heard the she-devil and our hot principal moaning."
"Oh my." Mary-Margaret covered her mouth. "So this would be quite the scandal if it got out. I can't imagine what our lovely," she spat the word out. "Science teacher would do if she ever found out that he was here with Miss. Swan."
Belle quickly thought back to her conversation with Mr. Gold. 'with a little... persuasion, he saw things my way.' Averting her eyes down, she thought, 'I wonder if Mr. Gold knew. I'll try and get it out of him on Monday.' Aloud, she said, "Hey, we should probably get moving. It would be awkward if they knew someone from school saw them here.
"Your right Belle." Ruby agreed, picking up her empty milkshake cup. "Let's go to Victoria's Secret. We need to get you some sexy underwear for Mr. Gold." As Ruby cackled, Belle turned to Mary-Margaret, who simply shrugged her shoulders. She gave Belle a look that said, 'Did you really expect anything else?'
Despite her protests, Belle walked into her room, carrying a giant bag of Victoria's Secret lingerie. While she had no real intention of wearing them for Mr. Gold, as Ruby (and probably Mary-Margaret) thought, she did need a little pampering after the awful day she had yesterday. She pulled out the matching set of pink and black plaid lace bra and panties. If she were going to go through with this break up, she needed all the support she could get. She had already called Gaston and told him that she needed to talk to him and that to meet her at the Starbucks downtown. She thought that doing this on neutral ground was best. Taking a quick shower, she put on her new undergarments, threw on some jeans and a blouse, and went to the kitchen to inform her father she was heading out.
"Oh, ok honey. Where are you off too?" Maurice asked.
"I'm going to the Starbucks downtown.. I'm going to go break up with Gaston." She smiled, and her father stared at her dumbstruck.
"It's about damn well time!" He proclaimed. "I never liked that little shit... Oh excuse me."
That caught Belle off guard. "How come?"
Maurice turned a very deep shade of red. "I don't think he realized it, but the night that he was coming over to introduce himself, I stood behind him in line at Walgreens on the way home. I had forgotten to pick up milk. Anyway, he was in front of me, holding a pack of condoms. He told the friend he was with that he had such an easy score for his date tonight, and that it wouldn't take long to 'seal the deal.' I thought to myself that the poor girl had no idea what she was getting herself into. Low and behold an hour later this prick turns up at our doorstep, not even realizing that I was behind him in line. I almost threw his ass out, but I realized that I do trust you, and that you wouldn't do anything reckless. I had to let you figure out this asshole on your own. I can't always be around to protect you. I'm just happy I raised such a smart girl... Right?" The unasked question hung in the air.
Without missing a beat, she responded, "Right." She walked over to her father and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back later ok?"
"Alright. Be careful honey, and don't take no for an answer!" Her father called out in encouragement as she walked out the door.
"What do you mean you are breaking up with me?" Gaston said, his face growing red with rage.
"I mean I've had enough of this relationship and enough of you." Belle said coldy, with her arms crossed.
"I thought we worked everything out! You were going to give me another chance!" Gaston's voice became louder, and a few people turned their heads to see the commotion. Maybe a public place was not the best place to do this.
"It was a mistake, and I am sorry for that. Truth is, I had every intention of breaking up with you yesterday, but I had a moment of weakness. Now I'm fixing it. I can't be with you anymore Gaston. You are suffocating me." Belle laid all of her cards on the table.
"So you just need space?" He looked hopeful. "I can give you space. All the space you need, and when you feel better we can get back..."
"No Gaston." She interrupted. "We are not getting back together. I'm breaking up with you. That's it. I'm sorry it came to this, but in time you'll see it's for the best." She tried to reassure him, but he wasn't having any of it.
"Fine. I get it. You are a cold heartless bitch. Fuck you Belle." Gaston stood up so fast his chair toppled over on the floor, and he stormed out. Belle only sat there, and despite the overly dramatic episode, she felt that a thousand ton weight had been lifted off of her. She let it all sink in and she finally felt free.
For most people, Sunday was not a productive day. It was a day to relax, and get mentally ready for the upcoming workweek. It was a day to sit back, maybe with a cold beer, and just take everything in.
Not for Mr. Gold. Well at least not this Sunday. This Sunday he had the pleasure of pacing his house with his cane in one hand, and a glass full of scotch in the other. After he had awoken on Saturday, he tried all day to keep his mind off of Belle. He ran errands, did paperwork, he even took a walk in hopes of clearing his head. And as a last ditch effort, he fell asleep on the couch in a whiskey induced slumber. However, it was all for naught,when he had yet another dream about his student, and he awoke with one of the most painfully hard erections he'd had in his life. He hardly had time to undo his pants and slip himself out before all of the friction had him coming violently. He recalled that she was on top of him on this very couch, breasts bouncing up and down as she... "STOP!" he yelled into the empty house, feeling his member stir again. So Mr. Gold had been up since 4:37 that morning, too afraid to go back to sleep.
He didn't know what else to do. He didn't particularly want to talk to anyone, but he was quickly running out of options. Grabbing his phone, he scrolled down his contact list, albeit not very far, to Archie. Hitting the call button, he only had to wait a moment before he heard the closest person he had to a friend pick up.
"Mr. Gold? Hello." He could hear the confusion in his voice. When he gave him his number, he never actually expected him to use it.
"Hello Mr. Hopper. Are you busy today?" Mr. Gold didn't quite know how to go about this.
"Not really. Just watching a few movies. Was there something you needed?"
"Aye. Do you think you could stop by my home at some point today?" He was clearly uncomfortable now. He had never invited anyone to his home before.
"Um. Sure. Yeah, no problem. Can I have the address?"
Mr. Gold rambled out the address, and hung up after they agreed he'd be over in an hour.
An hour that flew by much to quickly for Mr. Gold's taste.
Now they were sitting in his living room, both holding a cup of tea, neither one sure as to how to start the conversation.
"So, nice weather we are having." Archie said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Aye, unusual for this region..." Mr. Gold rambled.
"Is there something in particular you wanted to discuss with me?"
Letting out a sigh, Mr. Gold finally resigned himself. He brought the man over here, so he might as well get it out. "I don't mean to stir up any trouble, but you know how you are, infatuated, with your student, Miss. Ruby?" He saw Archie stiffen up like a board, and he turned to look at Mr. Gold with wide eyes.
"Eli," It was rare for anyone to use Mr. Gold's first name. "You are in dangerous territory."
While Mr. Hopper was not a very threatening man, Mr. Gold didn't want to destroy the only friendship he had. "I said I wasn't trying to stir up trouble. But I will take that as a yes. Anyway, I'm in sort of, um, the same situation. With Miss. French. Belle."
Archie relaxed tremendously, and a smirk grew on his face. "Well duh. I can see it plain as day." He saw a look of horror cross Mr. Gold's face. "It's ok. No one else knows. I'm the only one that pays attention to the grumpy old man with the cane." Archie joked.
"I don't know what to do." That was a rare thing in and of itself. Mr. Gold always had a plan for every contingency.
"There isn't much you can do, I'm afraid. Doing anything would be a death sentence. All you can do is wait until graduation. And then chances are you'll never see them again. That was a blow straight to Mr. Gold's heart. This was not missed by the psychology teacher, who then added, "Don't tell me you are falling for her." When he heard no response he shook his head. "My God, you've gotten it bad. Who would have thunk that big bad Mr. Gold's ice cold heart could be stolen by a seventeen year old high school girl."
"She's more than that." He said. "I've never met anyone like her. I know that what I'm feeling is wrong, and that I could never deserve her, but I can't stop how I'm feeling. How am I supposed to cope when she's all alone in a room with me for an hour? I have problems teaching for the last thirty minutes of class when she finally stumbles in late."
"I'm sorry, I really am." Archie said. "This is a sticky situation. Do you think she is attracted to you as well?"
"Sometimes I get the feeling she is, but then why would she be?" Mr. Gold felt like he himself was a high school student all over again, playing the game 'does she like me or not?'
"Maybe she is in the same predicament as you. She likes you, but has no idea what to do about it. I mean honestly, there is no winning situation here. In the best circumstances if she does feel the same way and you begin a relationship, no matter how secret it is, someone will find out. And then you lose your job and you'll probably go to jail. On the other side of that, if you tell her and she doesn't like you, you'll still lose your job and go to jail, but you'll feel like a complete idiot."
Mr. Gold laughed bitterly. "Is there an option where I don't lose my job and go to jail?"
"I think you already know the answer. You just don't tell her and wait it out." Archie resigned. "I know it's hard, but you have to figure out what you are willing to give up. Do you love her?"
Mr. Gold thought long and hard about his answer before he responded. "Aye I do. But I'm no fool. I know that this isn't going to work out in the long run, and it will only leave her broken on some level, regardless of how she feels, and I couldn't do that to her."
Archie nodded his head. "It looks like you've made a decision then."
Sighing deeply, Mr. Gold said, "Yes, it would seem that I have."
TEH_AUTHORS NOTE
Does this spell destruction for our heroes? What will Gaston do in wake of his breakup? What will happen to the clown at the bottom of the well? (There is no clown, so stop looking for it.) Tune in next time for an all new chapter of; Saved by the Belle!
Dun dun duuuuuuuuh!