Once Upon a You | A Beauty and the Beast Retelling ✔️

7 | Only One Call Away (Ross)

I haven't seen Beatrice Laurent for fifteen days.

The longest two weeks of my life.

I miss the girl between the two girls. Her eye color perfectly reflected that duality. The left one is as brown as autumn, the right as gray as an atlantic wind of winter. Stuck between two seasons. Between two forms.

"Happy New Year to you!" Lucy passes by in a red dress. She winks at me, patting her Santa hat.

I stand at the entrance, watching her thread around Uncle Matt's bakery and cafe. She balances two plates of chocolate fudge brownies and Reese's peanut butter milkshake.

I pick a free table for two right next to the window.

Burdened with the calorie-laden order, Lucy slaloms through her fellow combatants to reach me faster, but her moves are sluggish and she almost drops everything that she is carrying.

"Argh! Luckily Beth is in the kitchen and did not see me stumble! Lemme grab a quick break, Ross." She slumps on the free chair. "Sooo..." When Lu gets a good look at me she leads her hands to her mouth.

"That bad, huh?" I manage a feeble smile.

"You are a mess. Your shirt is all wrinkly, and your hair looks as if it hasn't seen a comb in ages." She frowns, her voice taking on a motherly tone. "You should not be looking like this on the second day of New Year, Mister!"

"Thanks for doing this, Lu."

"That's what friends are for. What happened to you?"

"Nothing too big. Just a long day at the library."

"A long day at the library? Christ, Ross, who studies at this time? Live a little! We just got back from Winter Break!" She croaks, wiping the sweat off of her forehead.

"Ugh." My shoulders sag as if I've been tensing them all day, maybe even, for the full two past weeks. I'm so tired. Maybe Lu has a point.

"Tutoring sessions with Miss Beatrice Laurent have you exhausted, eh?" She sticks out her tongue.

"Hardly. I only ever went to her place once."

"Oh? How is she, btw? She was a no-show at school for the past two weeks.  It's all very hush-hush. You guys been chatting lately?"

I shake my head.

"Why not?" Her kind, soulful eyes are ready to listen as she pats my hand with hers. "Did something happen?"

"She told me not to come back again." I exhale and a huge burden drops from my shoulders, just like that.

If anyone can give me advice and help me get to the bottom of this it is Lu. There is a reason why I had not told Z-Man we are meeting.

Either that or I might never see Beatrice Laurent again.

Plus, as the saying goes, two heads are smarter than one.

It's rush hour at the bakery. A flamingo flock of red-skirted uniforms flutters around the locale, their most charming smiles ricocheting left and right around the oblivious, enchanted customers.

Lucy raises a finger to show me to wait, then bites into a spare fudge brownie from her tray.

"Oh my God. Wow." She closed her eyes as she chewed. "Mmm, I'm totally ready to listen. It's just that I'm also having a browniegasm."

I smile at my best friend. Lucy has always been direct and open. I envied that about her. She doesn't care what people think, she just speaks everything that's on her mind. I feel like it's a mystical quality I will never be able to master.