She Has Your Eyes

Part Three

"I still cannot believe you ordered that sandwich, actually, I can't believe it exists. And did you see, they have a version with french fries?"

"The Chip Butty."

"It's just bread with french fries and slime."

Brady glances over at the petite blonde, "Are you always this opinionated?"

"Yes."

"Do you always state them so loudly and... well constantly?"

Belle bites off half her french fry before quickly sucking in a deep breath, "Hot... hot..." Brady simply watches and laughs lightly as Belle dances on her toes, trying to cool off the lava hot potato in her mouth and he can tell that she is considering spitting it out but doesn't. Maybe out of pride? Maybe embarrassment? "Whoa... okay. Those are just out of the fryer, noted." Pointing the other half of the fry towards Brady, "Calling them a chip is weird, but, they are very good french fries." Starting to walk back towards the house, "Did that lady adore me or is she currently telling everyone about the stupid American tourist?"

Brady's eyebrow arches, so Belle mimics with her own, causing him to stutter slightly, "Do you want the truth?"

She frowns, "I was that bad? I thought I played it off to be adorable."

"No, just American. But Ms. P loves everyone. We can try again tomorrow."

Belle smiles but continues to look straight ahead at their path, "Tomorrow huh? I'm not being deported too quickly then."

"Well, it has nothing to do with you really." He tries to keep his tone vaguely serious, "You and your mother are a package deal and unless something real bad has happened while we've been gone, I am thinking my dad will invite you for tea tomorrow."

"Oo... how posh. For tea. I hope I packed a tea dress." Belle mimics holding a tea cup with her pinky out, but quickly notices that the person next to her seems to be lost in thought. "You okay there?"

"Yeah, just thinking. Ms. P asked if you were my relation from America."

"Okay, seems like a reasonable guess." Belle bites down on another french fry and then shoves the rest in her mouth before asking, "Why is that bothering you?"

"Just, why did she assume relation?"

"I don't know if you are weirdly offended that she didn't think we were dating and instead assumed that this very attractive American would only be hanging with the likes of you if related - hey -" She swats at his arm, "lighten up! We look too much alike." She stops walking and studies the towering person next to her. She knows very little about him. Her mom told her about baby and toddler Brady and there was some stuff in the articles that she read, but not much more than a few generic bits of information. Nothing she found online before or in the last few weeks indicates that John ever remarried, so Brady is a young man with little family. "You apparently didn't know before and you haven't put it all in place yet, have you?"

"Put what in place?"

Belle releases a high pitch squeal with causes "what the fuck" to slide through Brady's lips before his eyes go wide at her excited exclamation, "This is our Parent Trap moment!"

He repeats, "What the fuck?"

Her blue eyes are so bright and Brady knows all the pieces to this puzzle are right in front of him, but for some reason, his brain is refusing to connect them. "Brady, we're siblings. And we are watching Parent Trap." He is silent and abruptly turns and begins to walk down the street. His cadence is abnormal and causes him to catch his toe on the uneven cement and stumble slightly. Belle jogs to catch up, "Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything, but I really did think that you had figured it out. But that is probably because I had already figured it out, so makes it simpler for me to see. Hey... stop for a moment." He keeps moving, "Brady, please stop."