It was late when Arthur's phone rang. Bae was already asleep, but the call ID said it was Belle so he picked up.
"Hello?" he said, thankful that Belle couldn't see the little grin that had blossomed on his face at the sight of her name.
"Hi, Arthur?" the voice on the other end wasn't Belle but sounded familiar. "This is Ruby Lucas. Belle's friend. We met at Thanksgiving."
"Oh, yes, of course," he replied. "Ms. Lucas. What can I do for you?"
He heard a sigh on the other end, and a lot of noises coming from the background.
"Belle needs a ride home," Ruby replied. "We went out drinking and I can't really drive her home right now but she's pretty drunk."
Now that he really listened, he could hear the slight slur in Ruby's voice as well. They were at a bar, if the pounding of music in the background was anything to go by. Belle had gone to a bar and gotten drunk. He wasn't sure why he found this mental image so funny, but somehow he'd never really thought about it before.
"Where are you?" he asked, searching for keys and wallet while Ruby answered.
"The Rabbit Hole," she admitted and he almost laughed. Sweet little innocent Belle at a dive bar.
"I'll be there shortly," he said. "Make sure she gets her phone back."
"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "We'll be inside."
He debated for a minute whether or not to wake Bae, but ultimately decided against it. His son was asleep and would be fine for the thirty minutes it would take to get Belle and take her home. Arthur triple checked the alarm, climbed in his car, and drove to the bar.
By the time he arrived outside the bar, his curiosity had reached a peak. How drunk did Belle have to be for her tipsy friend to think she was too drunk to be out?
The bouncer outside nodded at Arthur as he entered. The Rabbit Hole was a hole, but he'd been in similar establishments before. They were all the same, right down to the duct taped vinyl on a handful of stools and the jukebox playing the greatest hits of the 70s and 80s. He spotted Belle and her friend with a group at the bar and made his way over before Belle spotted him.
"Arthur!" she called out, sliding unsteadily off her stool and into Ruby.
"Slow down there, Drunky," Ruby said, getting to her feet and holding Belle upright as she tried to dash over to Arthur.
He couldn't help but smile as Belle pulled away from Ruby and practically collapsed into him.
"What are you doing here?" she giggled.
"I'm taking you home," he replied, glancing to Ruby. "Do you need a ride, too?"
"Nah," Ruby said. "I'm fine. I'm not really in a state to take her home right now, but I'll be fine by closing time. Plus my car is here."
"Do we need to close out her tab?"
"They cut her off about fifteen minutes before I called you," Ruby explained before turning to Belle. "Hey, I'm gonna go back to the guys. It's been a great day though!"
"Ruby, I had so much fun!" Belle gushed, turning to hug her friend. "Thank you so much for taking me shopping I had such a fun day."
"We should do it again!" Ruby exclaimed. "Come on, let's go get your stuff out of my car."
Belle nodded, plastering herself back against Arthur as they walked out the door. Between his cane and her tottering on a pair of ridiculous heels the likes of which he'd never seen her in before, it was slow going to his car. Ruby jogged ahead, retrieving some bags from the trunk of her car and putting them in the back seat of Arthur's car. She gave Belle another hug and then retreated back to the bar and their friends.
"Thank you so much for getting me," Belle slurred. "I missed you so much."
She had burrowed under his coat again, snuggling into his chest and swaying drunkenly.
"It's no matter," he said, petting her hair a little for a lack of anything else to do. "Let's get you home."
Belle nodded slowly, stumbling back for a second as he opened the car door for her and helped her into the passenger's seat before making his way around to the other side of the car to let himself into the driver's side.
"So what did you buy today?" he asked by way of conversation as he turned out into the street.
"I bought a dress," she slurred, putting her foot up on the dashboard. "And these shoes. For our date. And a vibrator, because Ruby says I need to have more orgasms."
He thought he was going to choke from that revelation. His initial reaction was that she was (in her own, drunken way) teasing him except that she looked dead serious. He suddenly had the overwhelming need to look in the bags Ruby had put in the car.
"Oh?" he finally managed to croak out.
"Yeah," Belle continued. "I think she's wrong though but don't tell her because I don't think she believes me but it's okay. My dress is really pretty."
This was like trying to carry on a conversation with a toddler, he realized. She was making very little sense and mostly just left him wanting to drag her back to the previous subject.
"I'm sure it is," he replied. "But you're pretty in anything."
She turned to stare at him for an uncomfortably long time, and when he could finally take his eyes off the road to glance at her, she was looking at him as though he'd suddenly turned into a much more handsome man all of a sudden.
"That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," she said, sounding so dead serious he almost laughed at her. She was absolutely hammered.
Belle didn't notice his amusement at her state, thankfully. Instead she leaned to put her head on his shoulder and stroked his arm softly.
He'd initially meant to take her to her house and drop Bae off the next day, but he wasn't sure he really trusted her to be home alone in when she was so indisposed. He'd seen her tipsy before, but this was a whole new level of drunk. He sincerely doubted she'd been that drunk in over a decade, if ever. Luckily, she was wearing jeans and a simple top so he wouldn't feel too bad about her sleeping in them as he turned towards his house. He didn't want to leave Bae alone long enough to get his mother tucked into bed, anyway.
She was quiet the rest of the way to his house, dozing lightly against his arm as he tried to steer. The house was quiet as he pulled into the driveway and parked. Belle stirred, and he gently shook her awake.
"We're here, sweetheart," he said softly. "Time to get you into bed."
She nodded sleepily, waiting patiently as he got out and walked around to help her to her feet. She stumbled against him and gave him another one of those super serious looks.
"Arthur, there is something I have to tell you."
She was so painfully close and clinging to him so sweetly. He was going to die.
"Yes, dear?" he asked.
"No matter what Regina says I'm not a lesbian."
"Oh," he blurted out. What the hell was he supposed to say to that. "Okay. I'll...keep that in mind."
"I just thought you should know," she explained, sagging against him as he tried to guide her upstairs.
"Arthur?" she said as he led her into the bedroom she'd slept in when she had been staying there. "I think I'm drunk."
"A little bit," he agreed, sitting her on the bed. "But it's okay."
"I don't think I can get my shoes off," she said. "They were hard to get on."
He didn't need a bigger hint than that, dragging a chair from the little desk over to the side of the bed so he could pull her feet into his lap and work the ankle straps open.
"We forgot my vibrator in the car," she muttered, laying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling. "I hope it's okay overnight."
It was a wonder his damn fingers were working if she was going to keep talking like that.
"I wish I hadn't let Ruby talk me into it," she continued. "But she says I need to have more orgasms or I'm going to go crazy with lust on our date."
There was absolutely no liquid left in his mouth and his fingers wouldn't stop shaking. She was too drunk to notice the trouble he was having with her shoes, thank goodness.
"I don't think she's right though," Belle was still talking, to herself or to him he couldn't be sure. "Because I was fine for the last ten years so I don't think the vibrator will really help with anything anyway. Because if I missed sex I'd have missed it before now, right?"
He wasn't really sure what the hell she was talking about, but if she stopped talking he was pretty sure that his head was going to explode, so he managed to force out a very confused sounding 'oh?'
"I didn't really miss sex though," Belle was still mumbling, raising herself up on her elbows. "I didn't even like sex! Is that weird? I've had sex I just never used to really care too much."
The blood was rushing through his ears, and he had no idea how to reply. Belle didn't like sex? Not that it made too much difference in whether or not he liked her, but it was still a little disappointing.
"But now I kinda miss it," she blurted out. "It's weird though, right? To just suddenly be interested in sex? Maybe that's what Ruby's talking about."
She was pouting now and he couldn't quite decide if he was aroused or not, but at least he'd finally gotten one of her shoes off.
"I just don't think a vibrator will help," she continued, letting herself fall back on the bed. "I mean if I'm thinking about having sex with you then I should just have sex with you, right? Because that's what I want to have happen now."
Well, now he was aroused. How long had she been thinking about this? And more importantly, was she thinking about it because she was actually interested? He didn't want to force her into anything, but she seemed to be interested at least.
"Arthur," she muttered, sitting up again and leaning forward as he freed her other foot. "Do you wanna have sex with me?"
He was going to die. He was literally going to die. He was half sure that he was actively having a heart attack, and half sure that he'd be thrilled to have one if it meant escaping this conversation. They had hit a dangerous topic. As interesting as she'd been, he didn't have the benefit of a blood alcohol level that high over the legal limit. He'd remember all of this in the morning. He was staring at her openly, and he knew his jaw was hanging open but he couldn't figure out how to actually close it long enough to form words.
"You don't," she said sadly, flopping back onto the bed. "It's okay, you don't have to."
"No, no," he corrected, coming to sit next to her. "That's not it at all. You just took me by surprise and also...you're a little drunk."
"I am drunk," she agreed, sitting up to snuggle into his shoulder. "But I think I want to."
The fact that he hadn't had sex in almost as long as she hadn't was roaring through his brain, and some less honorable parts of him were screaming at him to kiss her and see where things went, but the rest of him knew it was wrong. He wanted to comfort her, but he wasn't sure how to reassure her that he wanted her without crossing a line.
"I like you," she said softly. "I like your accent. And your butt."
"I like yours as well," he replied, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. "And I like you very much, I promise."
"Yeah?"
"I do," he said, kissing the top of her head. "If you were sober and asking I'd take you right here."
He wasn't actually sure he'd be able to go through with that if she did, but there was no reason to tell her his own insecurities, was there? Not when she was being so open right now.
"Promise?" she asked, looking up at him with a pretty little smile on her face. "Cuz I think I really want to. I don't care what Ruby says, if I'm going to have sex I wanna do it with you and not a machine."
"I promise," he said, thinking about whatever rules of baseball he could remember to try to pull the blood back into his brain. "But you need to go to bed."
"I do," she said, yawning and sliding down his arm a little. "I'm so tired."
"Sleep well," he said, kissing her forehead and helping her under the covers. "I'll see you in the morning."
She gave a little groan of acknowledgment and tried to burrow into the pillow. He smiled at her as he flipped the light off, but as soon as he was in the hallway reality slapped him in the face.
He really hoped she was drunk enough not to remember any of this in the morning, because he still had to face her for a date on Saturday and if she couldn't look at him from sheer embarrassment that was really going to put a damper on things.
His bed had never felt so lonely before.