Chapter Five
Gold sighed and banged his head against the table where he was sitting in his kitchen. He had never felt more stupid in his entire life, well maybe that wasn't entirely true, but it felt like it.
Today was Sunday, and only now was he beginning to regret going out to drink with Jefferson. Mainly because he had slept most of Saturday, his head blazing and throbbing in agony from his hang over.
Despite having been drunk, Gold still remembered the look of surprise in Belle's eyes when he had not only shared his pie with her but had also given her his cell number and then had left without even getting hers.
He shouldn't have even gone to Grannies after drinking, he should have listened to common sense and had Archie take him home before things got out of control. Well, at least Archie had had the better sense to get the two men home before things had really gotten out of control.
His head snapped up, eyes flickering over to where his now beeping phone lay on the table beside his right hand. To his surprise, it wasn't Jefferson or his son, Neal, who were the only people who ever texted or called him. His heart lurched, it had to be Belle.
Warily, he picked up his phone and answered, "Hello?"
"Hello? Is this Mr. Gold?" Belle's angelic voice washed over him, his heart danced in his chest, fluttering with happiness at just hearing her voice.
Gold swallowed hard, before he answered, "It is, who is this?" he mentally slapped himself for saying that, after all he knew who it was. Wait would it sound stalkerish for him to have memorized how her voice sounded? He hoped not.
"It's Belle French," she told him, her voice betrayed her nervousness, "You gave me your number on Friday. I-um, wanted to see you had anything planned today. Jefferson Hatter gave me some of the plans he was wanting done to the basement and rest of the building. I thought we could all have lunch together today at Grannies to see if the changes are ok with you".
"Yes that's fine, what time?" he asked, feeling instantly better than he had all weekend, save for Friday.
"How about in an hour? Would you be able to make that?" Belle asked.
"Yes," Gold said without a hint of hesitation, after all what else did he have to do on a Sunday?
"Great, I'll see you then," Belle said cheerfully. With a clink, she hung up, leaving Gold with the stupidest huge smile on his face, that he couldn't seem to shake no matter how hard he tried as he got ready to head over to Grannies.
By the time he got to Grannies, his heart was pounding and butterflies had taken flight in his stomach. He paused outside the door to get himself under control, after all, he wasn't a teenager with a crush anymore. He was a grown man in his mid-forties, he had no reason to act like this.
He stepped inside, and glanced around for the others, easily spotting them at a nearby booth. The moment Jefferson spotted him, he waved him over, a huge grin plastered on his face.
Gold frowned as he walked over, noticing that Belle wasn't with him, instead Ruby, the town's insufferable gossip and Belle's best friend was. Actually come to think of it, both were grinning like the cheshire cat. It was more worrying on Ruby's face than it was on Jefferson's. What exactly were these two up to?
"Where's Belle?" Gold asked, sliding into the booth on Jefferson's side. Ruby's smile broadened,
"She went to the bathroom," she said, "But she'll be right—ah, here she is". Gold looked behind him to see Belle in a beautiful cream colored blouse, and green skirt. Her hair pulled back in a bun; it was the first time he had seen her in something other than her work clothes.
"Hello Mr. Gold," Belle said, smiling sweetly at him. She slid into the booth opposite of him, on Ruby's side.
"Belle," Gold said, hoping his voice was as cold as it usually sounded. Apparently from the look on Jefferson's face, it wasn't cold enough.
"How are you feeling?" Belle asked, her blue eyes boring holes right through his armor. "You two were quite drunk on Friday, and I know from Jefferson that his saterday was spent sleeping."
"I feel fine," Gold said, he had to get over this stupid little crush, but more words were already flooding out of his mouth, "I spent my saterday the same way Jeff here did".
"Sorry to hear about that," she said, still smiling at him. Gold suddenly felt unusually warm in his suit, and tugged a little on his tie, trying not to squirm under her gaze.
"Yes, well, shall we get down to business?" Gold suggested, hoping desperately that he was not blushing, like he thought he was.
"Sure thing," Jefferson pulled out a couple of blue prints from his jacket and placed them on the table, "I'll leave you two it," he said, and nudged Gold out of the booth to leave. Ruby smiled, mischief gleaming in her eyes, and followed suit; leaving Gold alone with Belle in the diner.
"They seem to be hitting it off," Belle commented, but soon she turned her attention to the papers before sliding them across the table to Gold. He tried to pay attention to them, which was fairly difficult when Belle was leaning over the table, her hand accidently brushing against his.
Luckily the rain outside, which had just started, distracted him enough for him to get down to business about the necessaries that the Nighclub would need.
After about half an hour, Gold signed the papers that gave Belle the permission to start working on the upstairs of the building and handed them to her. "Is that all?" he asked.
Belle nodded, "Yep, thanks for meeting me here Mr. Gold". Her smile lit the room again and Gold found the edges of his mouth starting to tilt upward in a small smile. He bit his tongue to keep from smiling as much as Belle was.
"It was my pleasure," he said, instantly regretting his choice of words when Belle raised her eyebrows at him, looking a little pleased.
She nodded and seemed to be wanting to say something more, but then they were both heading for the door.
Gold was glad he had chosen to drive; it was pouring dogs and cats out there. He frowned, hoping the power wouldn't go out later if it continued to rain like this.
"I should've drove," Belle groaned beside him, staring out into the rain. She sighed and pulled out her phone, "Guess it's time to call a cab," she muttered.
"I can drive you home if you like," Gold blurted out a little too eagerly. The moment Belle's head snapped up and turned to look at him in surprise, his face felt hotter than it had in a long time. If he hadn't been blushing earlier, he certainly was now.
"I mean, it would be quicker than calling a cab, and I have my car here . . . Besides I'm sure it's not too far out of my way . . . Even if it is . . . I was going to go for a drive later anyway," Gold stuttered, wishing he could just shut up before he made his situation even worse by spilling the truth, after all he already sounded like a fool in front of Belle.
But to his surprise, Belle smiled, her whole face lighting up. Clearly he had just made her day, but then again whose day wouldn't he have made if it was pouring buckets and he'd just offered them a ride?
"That would be nice, thank you Mr. Gold," she placed her hand over his, the one resting on his cane, and met his eyes. Gold swallowed hard again, feeling the intensely strong urge to kiss her right then and there.
Instead he looked away shyly, clearing his throat, "We best head out then, before it gets any worse".
He held the door for her, and then together they raced towards his cadilac, or well, Belle raced, he limped.
Belle piled into the passenger seat, and he hopped into the driver's seat, and started out of the parking lot. Belle glanced around the inside of his car, seemingly interested by all of the nick nacks he kept in there.
"Where to?" he asked once they were out on the road, daring a small glance at her. Belle was still smiling, sitting completely relaxed in his passenger seat.
When he spoke, she looked over at him and answered, "The library apartment," she said.
Gold frowned, "The library apartment?" he repeated.
Belle nodded, sure of her ground, "Yes. I run the library when I'm not helping my dad out. Well, I don't run it yet, but I'm trying to clean up the place. I have it ready for opening night next week. You should come".
"I will," Gold said, feeling slightly more comfortable now that he was in a more familiar environment, aka his Cadillac.
Within moments he had his car pulled up in front of the library and was helping Belle out of the car, a gentleman like always.
Belle smiled as he opened her door for her, "You're quite the gentleman, not even my own dad would open the door for me," she said with a laugh.
"Yes, well," Gold tried not to sound stupid this time around, "I was brought up that way you know". Belle hopped out of the car and ducked under the library sign hanging just above the doors to the building, gesturing for him to join her there.
Gold found that his feet were moving towards her before he could think better of it, and found himself standing in front of her, the rain pouring down around them. But he couldn't think of that, couldn't think of anything other than how nice it would feel to press his lips to hers. Or to wrap his arms around her, or—
Shoot, he really had to get a hold of himself, one wrong move and not only would he lose the fragile friendship of this seemingly magical creature in front of him, but his fearsome reputation as well.
"Thanks for driving me home," Belle said, taking a step towards him, once again resting her hand over his. "It was really sweet of you". He couldn't think, he couldn't think, he couldn't—
Belle moved her hand up and readjusted his tie, upon seeing the shock that was sure to be on his face, she said, "You're tie was coming undone, Mr. Gold". That made sense, he tried to think, but her hand was still resting against his chest, and he couldn't do anything, he was frozen in place with fear.
She leaned forward slightly, licking her lips nervously. "I uh—"
Gold pulled back, away from her, finally able to move, "I h-have to go," he stammered, feeling slightly dazed. Why! Why hadn't he just stayed put!
With that he swiftly ducked back into his car and left Belle to enter her apartment alone.
Sorry it's taken so long to update, I had a really bad case of writer's block and didn't know where to go with the story.