"Alice doesn't like guests,

Alice is alone in the evenings,

"Alice sits on a couch

"With a box of chocolates and her dreams.

Oh Alice, how can we meet

How can we talk about everything?

Ah Alice, I can't wait

Oh, I can't wait to be in your house with you.

... Ah Alice is just like a child

But best of all

Ah-ah-Alice-ah-ah!"

band The Secret "Alice"

Night was falling, and Gaston suggested that Belle go to sleep. He wanted to keep watch over their camp.

"What about you?" The girl asked. "You have to ride a horse all day tomorrow."

"When I'm hunting, I can stay up two nights," the man shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"I don't want to sleep yet, so I'll sit by the fire and you sleep half the night. Then you keep watch."

Gaston, hesitating, agreed, the place was not very dangerous, not far from town, and, after giving instructions on how to watch, lay down to sleep.

He slept lightly and briefly, and awoke to a strange sensation of someone touching his face. The man sharply intercepted the hand and finally awoke when he heard Belle shriek.

"Jesus, Belle! What are you doing?" he quickly unclenched his fingers, noticing with chagrin the purple bruises on her snow-white skin. "Don't ever touch me when I'm sleeping in the woods! God, are you in a lot of pain? I could've twisted your arm."

"It's all right," she mumbled, rubbing her wrist. "I just... I got your hair out of your face, that's all."

" You were supposed to be looking forward and over there, at the road. But not at me! It's like you didn't see me..."

Belle shrugged and fixed his bangs. Gaston sighed and said:

"Go to sleep, I'll watch myself."

The girl lay down, but the man even with his back felt her attentive gaze on himself.

The next day they rode almost at full speed for most of the time. It was wonderful-the sun rising over the hills, the wind in their faces, and the feeling of freedom, strength, speed. And it was so great that Belle didn't get tired from the gallop, but stayed well in the saddle. They shared with each other something simple but beautiful or interesting they saw along the way - the colors of the sky at dawn, the different look of the houses from their home town. There was a reason he had talked Belle into traveling after all. The world outside their small town seemed big and interesting. And there was the sea ahead...

The next night they stopped at a tavern in a small town near Toulon. Gaston took the horse and gave him feed, and then went up with Belle to their room.

The girl went round it and sat down on the bed.

"Yes..." she said. "Just one room," Belle mused meaningfully. "And one bed. Nowhere to run."

God kill him, she didn't even blush. Belle looked up at him with her hazel eyes and smiled slightly.

"Yes," Gaston answered uncertainly.

Belle rubbed the hem of her dress and then looked up again:

"And what are we going to do? Will you finally make me a woman?"

"Make you a woman?" Gaston stared at Belle, thinking he had misheard.

She held his gaze and repeated:

"Yes. But if you don't understand, I'm asking you, are we going to make love tonight?"

"What?"

"Why are you asking me again, you heard me," the girl frowned. "When we..."

"I understand," the man said hastily.

"...make love?" Belle finished the phrase with murderous calmness and looked into his eyes. Gaston looked away. "You blushed so sweetly," the girl added.

"Not today," finally answered the man.

"Good," Belle said after a moment's silence. "At least a little clarity had been brought."

Gaston sat down on the bed at a safe distance from his wife. It was funny and amusing, of course, and he would have laughed himself if someone had told him about such cases before. But the fact remained that for some reason he felt around Belle like a boy who was around a girl for the first time.

"Do you think a person can change his mind? Does person have the right?" Belle asked quietly.

"I'm not going to change my mind," replied Gaston quickly, but his wife shook her head.

"No, not you. Me. I can change my mind. I'm a living person, too. I..." she clasped her hands together as if trying to say something important or remembering something. "I'm odd. I'm a bookworm."

"Belle, you're-" He tried to argue, but she gestured for him to stop.

"You know, I never went to a dance. I didn't understand why everyone liked it so much. I thought it was boring. When we were younger, I didn't understand why girls act so stupid when guys chase them. Why they suddenly pretend they can't run faster and let themselves get caught. But now I understand why," she raised her eyes and looked Gaston in the face.

"And why?"He asked, because he felt Belle wanted him to ask that.

"Because they want to be hugged by the guy. The one whose gaze makes her heart pound harder. Yes, they may have to endure hugs from others while running, without anyone noticing, but there will come a moment when that one will hug her," she licked her lips, as if tasting those words. "Why did you stop hugging me? I guess when you stopped, that's when I changed my mind. I realized I missed it."

"Why did I stop? I hugged you yesterday."

"Yesterday. You used to hug me several times in a few minutes."

"Well, that was me- I wasn't acting right. You're different, Belle. You deserve better, more than that things. This whole mob thing, it's not for you. You're not an odinary girl, and-"

"No, no, no..." Belle said. "That's not good at all. I guess I'm too holy for you to make love with me. Like a mother or the Blessed Virgin."

Gaston licked his lips too, as if his mouth were dry:

"No, Belle, it's not like that at all. You're not a saint. But you're the first girl I've ever been attracted to in more than just a physical way."

"But you do?" she looked at the man from under her lashes so hard that he felt his cheeks blush again.

"Of course I do," Gaston gave in.

"That's good," Belle exhaled." But I'm not special, Gaston, I don't want to be special. Not anymore. I... Maybe I'm weird, maybe I read too much, maybe I was unsociable. But I've changed, too. I- I want human warmth, too. When you kissed me, back then, it was wonderful. How am I any worse or better than any other girl? I'm the same, look at me! I don't need more than others, I need the same. Damn! Maybe I want to experience the heavenly pleasure too!"

"Heavenly pleasure?"

"Jesus, you're asking me again!" Belle clenched her fists. "If you're shocked, I'm embarrassed too. But I'll tell you anyway, you're my husband. Maybe you're the one who's tired of everything, you've had a lot of girls, now you need something sublime. What I need is the simple heavenly pleasure."

"What?"

"Heavenly pleasure," Belle said again. "The pleasure that a man and a woman feel in bed."

"Аh..." - was all Gaston could say.

"It's like hunger," Belle continued. "A hunger that only another person can satisfy. I'm still a girl, of course, so I'll feel the terrible pain at first, but then there will be that heavenly pleasure. And I want to find out what it's like."

"Jesus, Belle! What's the terrible pain? Heavenly pleasure? Where did you get those words?"

"From books."

"I see what you've been reading with such enthusiasm."

"That's not all I read! On the other hand, how was I supposed to know what happens between a man and a woman after marriage? My mom's dead, I don't have any friends. I couldn't ask my father, really."

"A girl shouldn't be interested in such things. Her husband will tell her later."

"So tell me," Belle caught Gaston on words.

"Belle," Gaston took the girl's hand, and that simple touch sent a kind of warmth straight to his heart. Belle was not a saint, but his feelings for her were different, deeper, and maybe, strange as it sounded, saintly. She seemed the dearest and the best, even though she was, as she said, an ordinary girl." Belle, don't be jealous of anyone. You haven't lost anything important. You know. I'm handsome and I knew it. That's what everyone says. Only now I realize it's probably not always happiness. I didn't have to do anything to get a girl to like me. I didn't have to promise anything, do anything for her, get her... I just had to look at her. Sometimes the meetings were so short that I didn't even remember their names. I guess I was guilty of something in front of them. And you know, Belle..." The man looked the girl in the eyes. "You know, now I regret being with them. I wish I was only with you, waiting only for you. Without feelings, it's not what every person deserves. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about."

Belle's eyelashes fluttered and she lowered her eyes. She took her little hand out of his hands and stood up:

- Okay, let's go to bed. Tomorrow is another day on the road.

The girl removed the ribbon from her hair and then suddenly took off her dress her. Gaston looked at her slender back and delightful legs in silence. Belle turned around, catching his gaze:

"I'm hot. And you can sleep in your clothes if you want."

Belle, Belle, beautiful weirdo Belle. She had grown up too, her adorable head had come off the books and her body wanted caresses too. She was curious. But did she want him exactly? If he wasn't so handsome, would Belle try to seduce him, so amusingly and innocently? Sometimes outward beauty is really a curse.

Gaston blew out the candle and threw off his boots. He lay almost on the edge of the bed.

"Am I too saint to be kissed goodnight?" The girl asked.

The man moved a little and leaned up on his elbow to her face. Her eyes seemed huge in the darkness. Gaston wanted to kiss Belle on the cheek, but at the last moment she turned and he kissed her on the lips.

"Now good night," the girl smiled.