Bittersweet | Simon Riley

EIGHT

"That goddamn smile." Ghost grumbled under his breath as he watched Belle from across the room. She was busy talking to another group of soldiers who she had made friends with, and Ghost had happened to stumble into the gym when she'd been working out with them. She was dressed in her fatigue pants and a tank top. He studied her from the distance, seeing how her arms were surprisingly toned. Belle smiled as one of the soldiers she was talking to made a joke, turning her head a little as she laughed.

"You could talk to her instead of just staring at her like a creep." Soap said as he reached for his water bottle and Ghost tore his eyes away from Belle who was across the room. Gaz and a few other members of the unit seemed to find that pretty amusing but the cold look that crossed Ghost's face made them go silent. They quickly returned to their own drills and workouts, but Gaz and Soap weren't scared off as easily as the other member were.

"Don't call me a creep." Ghost said, stopping what he had been doing and leaning against the punching bag that he'd been using for the last half hour. Soap and Gaz exchange a look as they take their own break as well, yet Ghost's eyes darted back towards Belle who'd returned to her own workout. As soldiers, they were expected to be in top condition at all times due to the constant missions and situations which they were trained for.

"Staring at her is a creep kind of thing to do." Gaz added onto what Soap was saying, pointing out the obvious with a small grin. Ghost glanced over to him again as he stretched his arms before tilting his head back to Belle who had moved further away from the trio. Ghost watched as she leaned against the wall, her frame standing out the most compared to the soldiers around her since she clearly wasn't as built as them. He turned his head away and stared at Gaz and Soap, wanting the two of them to stop talking about it already.

"I'll go talk to her." Soap said with a grin growing on his face as he looked over to Belle. Ghost gave Soap a short glare, knowing that Soap was a fan of the newest member of the unit. He had seen the two of them talking outside of their little sessions and even seen them sitting with each other during mealtimes, smiling and laughing. It was clear that their personalities clicked and for some reason that annoyed Ghost even more than before.

"Stop." Ghost told Soap with a small scowl which made Soap turn his head back to Ghost, his grin quickly dropping. After a second, Soap put his hands up in mock innocence before returning to his workout, not wanting to push the issue anymore and Ghost turns his attention back to Belle. It just so happened that she had been looking towards him when he turned his own head and from across the room, their eyes locked. Soap smirked a little and Ghost realized that the bastard had set him up. "Fuck." He muttered under his breath, giving another quick glare to both Gaz and Soap before he started moving across the room to stand near Belle. "Isabelle." He greeted her with a small grunt and her head tilted up a little to meet his gaze.

"Simon." Belle greeted him back, her eyes meeting his again and she tilted her head to the side a little. A few strands of her hair had come loose from the way she had her hair tied up and framed her face as she looked up at him. Ghost's jaw tensed a little as they looked at each other, still not enjoying her calling him his fill name but not having the energy to fight her on it again. "Are you stalking me?" She asked as she looked up at him, only half joking because she wasn't stupid. She was aware of the way which his eyes would lock on her from across the room and how he would scan each face until he got to her. She was aware of his icy blue eyes which followed her as she happily chatted to others.

"Small base." Ghost told her, crossing his arms over his chest and he watched as Belle's eyes flickered to his arms which were easily twice the size of hers. Belle shifted in her stance and her eyes moved back to his face, still clearly suspicious of him.

"Not really." Belle said with a small furrow of her eyebrows. In her opinion, the base was rather large compared to some of the other bases she'd seen so the likeliness of them being in the same room so often didn't seem likely. Yet to Belle it felt like whenever she was in a room, Ghost just managed to find his way into her sights. The only place she felt like he never happened to be was her barrack which was where she could breathe.

"You're avoiding talking to me." Ghost accused her of what was technically the truth. It wasn't exactly like she was looking forwards to him after their last discussion which hadn't exactly ended with both of them walking away peacefully. Every time she saw him, she made a point to finish what she was doing so she could try to escape his presence. And even when that happened, he always managed to pop up again at a later time.

"No," Belle says with a small frown crossing her face as she looked at him, not liking how he was trying to claim that she was actively avoiding him. It was fair for her to not want to talk to Ghost when he was following her around as if she was his target on a mission. "You're following me." She told him and Ghost rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at her.

"It's not intentional." Ghost responded flatly, his eyes cold as he looked down at her and she scoffed a little. Belle didn't bother to respond to that as she moved to push past him, but he quickly grabbed her wrist as she attempted to go rejoin the group she'd been working out with before he'd come over. "Isabelle." He said her name quietly, his hand easily wrapping around her wrist which made her scowl up at him again.

"Your friends want you back." Belle said after a moment of silence, the two of them staring at each other for another second. Ghost's eyebrows furrowed at her comment, and she met his eyes again as she attempted to pull her wrist away from his grasp.

"My," Ghost repeated, and Belle nodded her head towards Gaz and Soap who were watching the interaction between the two of them from the distance with amused looks on their faces. Ghost gave them a cold look which only seemed to amuse to duo of his best friends even more. "Oh, them." He said dryly, his eyes on his friends as Isabelle pulled her wrist away and moved back to her group without looking back at him.