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“So Gold was in the library again today.”
Belle had to bite back a sigh. Gaston was like a dog with a bone about her friendship with the town pawnbroker. She couldn’t understand it, he had no problems with her being friends with anyone else, but he had an irrational jealous about Mister Gold. She frowned slightly.
“How did you know that?”
Gaston gave her a sad look.
“I dropped by at lunchtime, but you didn’t notice me, you were too busy chatting with Gold.”
This was often the problem for Gaston, he couldn’t understand that Belle enjoyed being able to discuss books with Gold, not just tell him about them which was all she could do with Gaston since he preferred to ‘wait for the movie’, with Gold she actually had discussions about books they had both read.
“I was helping him find a book, why didn’t you come and say hello?”
She couldn’t help thinking that he’d deliberately avoided her just so he had a reason to start this argument again.
“Because watching the two of you I realised something, but the library didn’t seem like the best place to talk about it.”
This wasn’t his usual approach, Gaston tended to be like a bull in a china shop when there was something on his mind which had led to one or two awkward conversations in public places.
“I want you to look at me like you look at him, but I can see now that it’s never going to happen.”
Belle didn’t restrain her exasperation.
“And how exactly do I look at Gold that’s so different from the way I look at you?”
If she was honest with herself she’d never looked at Gold with such frustration, not even when they’d argued over Harry Potter.
Gaston gave a soft disbelieving laugh.
“You look at him the same way he looks at you. Goodbye Belle. I hope it works out for you two.”
He left his key to her flat on the counter top and walked out. Belle stood in slack jawed shock for a long time. She’d just been dumped. Gaston had just definitively broken off their year long relationship and she had no idea how she felt about that. And what the hell had he meant about the way Gold looked at her?