Bittersweet | Simon Riley

NINE

Belle checked her watch as she spun in her chair, frustration slowly building in her chest as the minutes ticked past. Her office was empty, the door cracked open to show it was unlocked and she slumped a little in her chair. Ghost was late and not even by just a little bit. And he was late by nearly twenty minutes which was extremely frustrating. Belle spun in her chair, a small frown crossing her face as she tried to make up the decision to just keep waiting for him to show up or go track him down herself. She decided on the latter.

Finally, after a few more minutes had ticked by Belle grabbed her coat and decided that she was going to go find him. She was tired of this game that he was playing, over how he would follow her around before then completely avoiding her as if she was the plague. It was a game of hot and cold with him and she was done with him being the one to decide when they spoke.

She made her way down the halls quickly, popping her head into the different rooms to try and figure out where the man was. It wasn't like Ghost was someone who could easily be hidden within a room, the tall man dressed in black who kept his face hidden was always easy to find in a crowd so Belle figured it would be pretty easy to track him down in the base. As she searched for Ghost, a few people called out to her and while she gave them smiles and small waves, she returned to her search for Ghost. She had finally found Ghost ten minutes later in the training room, watching him throw around weights as if they were pillows. That wasn't going to stop her though.

"Lieutenant." Belle says, not bothering to stop as she starts to cross the padded matts and move across the room towards him. Ghost, of course, immediately spots the angry girl who is moving towards him but doesn't slow down in his drills. He didn't exactly want to talk to her at the moment, but she'd taken it upon herself to hunt him down.

"Belle." Ghost greeted her back as she came to a stop near him, keeping a few feet between them but it was clear she was trying to get his attention on her instead of the workout he was moving through. She crossed her arms and gave him a small glare, she was annoyed. Annoyed by Ghost playing whatever game he was playing, annoyed by the fact that he'd clearly been working out for hours since his skin was shiny with sweat and annoyed that he wasn't even looking at her. She was just annoyed by the whole situation.

"We were supposed to meet about an hour ago." Belle reminded Ghost after waiting to see if he would say something. He simply gave her a grunt in response and wiped his palms on his pants before returning to the set of push ups he'd been doing before she'd made her way into the gym. Ghost was aware of the prying eyes on the two of them, he didn't care, people just wanted something to talk about.

"Oh really?" Ghost says, not bothering to look at her and Belle watches him do more push ups in angry silence at how he was so easily blowing her off.

"Don't act stupid." She finally huffs and glowers at him as he works through the pushups, not bothering to look up at her and acting as if push ups were the easiest thing in the world. He simply scoffed a little at her, not bothering to respond which only served to frustrate her more as she stood there with her arms crossed. "How come you can follow me around but when I actually need to talk to you for both of our jobs, its like pulling teeth?" Belle asked, just wanting to get her job done but she knew before long Price would come knocking at her door, asking when Ghost would be ready to be back in the field. And she wasn't going to play into Ghost's silly game and just sign off on the papers because he wanted her to.

"I'm not having this conversation with you Belle." Ghost says with a deep breath, sitting back on his knees after a moment and he meets her eyes. She glares at him and for a second, she sees the hint of cold amusement in his eyes at the fact that she was getting so frustrated over this whole ordeal. That only serves to annoy her more and she scowls slightly at him as if waiting for him to continue. He scoffs, reaching for his water bottle and stares at her for another moment, his icy blue eyes boring into her. "You don't understand, and I can't explain it to you." Ghost gives in and breaks the second of silence between them before getting to his feet, back to the usual height he stood at which made him tower over Belle who only scowled more at him still not even trying to talk to her.

"You're so frustrating." Belle tells Ghost and he starts to walk towards the water fountain, not having to look back to see the small brunette was following after him as he crossed the room. He wasn't going to argue with her, he was aware of the fact that he was finally getting on her nerves, and he was going to let her have her fit. A few people turned their heads as Ghost walked past and they watch as she stormed after him, Ghost giving them a look to tell them to mind their own. "I wish I had the power to ignore you like you ignore me." She tells him with that scowl on her face, her head tilted up a little as Ghost comes to a stop at the water fountain, allowing his bottle to fill up again.

"I'm not ignoring you." Ghost responds dryly, his eyes watching as the bottle slowly fills up before glancing to Belle who glares at him. It's almost funny for him, finally seeing the girl who was always so friendly and a complete social butterfly looking so frustrated with her jaw tense and normally warm eyes locked on him. He wouldn't say that out loud though, knowing it would have bad consequences, so he kept his thoughts otherwise internal.

"Oh really?" Belle scowled because he was doing exactly that.

"I'm not." Ghost said just as blandly and she scoffed, staring at him as he brought the water bottle to his mouth and drank from it. She glared at him as he put the cap back on and turned on his feel, her still following after him in her annoyed state.

"Then what is this?" Belle asked, making a hand gesture to the two of them as they walked, and Ghost glanced at her in the mirrors that spread out across the wall. It was strange to see her getting so frustrated, he acted this way with everyone except his closest friends, yet she seemed so infuriated by him brushing her off. It was strange and new and interesting, and he liked seeing her reactions in the mirror, his eyes never leaving her. He placed his bottle down and finally turned to face her, leaning down so they were face to face which made her take a small step back at the intrusion of her personal space.

"This," Ghost said, following her that one step and his eyes not tearing away from hers as she looked up at him. "Is me trying to finish my workout and you," He motioned to her as she glared at him, clearly frustrated that he's still not taking her seriously and was clearly not going to work with her. "Following me around like a clingy recruit." He said the words slowly, not looking away from her eyes and he watched as she scowled at him, clearly not appreciating his words. They stayed like that for a long minute, barely a few inches apart from each other, her clearly frustrated and him having more fun with this then he'd like to admit.

"Ok Simon, whatever you say." She finally said through gritted teeth and Ghost watched with a vague smile on his face as she turned on her heel, storming out of the room without looking back.