Beauty and Beast Inc

Chapter 5

  I worked the next few weeks with the exact same schedule. I brought Elias his breakfast, I cleaned the house or other random things with Mrs. Potts. It started getting colder outside so I started wearing pants and thick sweaters. The first time Elias saw me in jeans his mouth actually fell open. 

   "You're wearing pants?" 

   I laughed and set his breakfast down. "Yes, it's getting chilly outside and I forgot my thick stockings." 

   "Would you like me to take you to go get some?" Elias blurted and I almost dropped his cup again.

   "Really?" 

   He nodded and closed his laptop. "I think it's high time for you to get out of the house. And besides, when's the last time you saw your father?" 

   I shrugged but the truth was every Sunday Codsworth would drive me down to the hospital to visit him for an hour early in the morning when Elias was still sleeping; we'd be back in time for breakfast. "I would love to see him again if you wouldn't mind." 

   He nodded and stood up, abandoning his food. "Come on, we'll go now. Codsworth!" Elias strode out of the dining room and I took a deep breath to calm my nerves as I gathered up the food, thinking back to my plate in the kitchen. I hadn't been out with Elias, since, well, going home from the hospital. The most interaction I had with him was when I brought him his evening tea and I sat in my chair, reading or working on my stories for class. It was always pleasant, neither of us talked and the sound of his typing was strangely calming. And i didn't;t really mind not going out. I hardly ever left our home in France because there was always cleaning and fixing to do there and I had my books and farm animals to care for. The only times I really left were for grocery shopping and either Codsworth or Mrs. Potts did that. 

  I brought the tray into the kitchen and set it down, when Codsworth burst in behind me. 

   "He's ready for you my dear. I wouldn't keep him waiting or he might change his mind." 

   Mrs. Potts gave me a worried, confused look but I waved my hand as I grabbed my coat from the rack next to the door. "Have Codsworth- wait you aren't driving?"

  He shook his head. "Elias insisted."

  Blinking twice, I walked out of the room quickly and found Elias waiting by the door, wrapped fashionably in a black peacoat and matching scarf that made him look like he should have been on an ad in Times Square. I looked down at my worn brown coat I'd had since I was eighteen and grabbed a scarf from the closet. 

   "Ready?" He looked up and put his phone in his pocket. 

   "Yes." I followed him out the door towards a waiting black Ferrari. "Oh my god..." I whispered as he opened my door. 

   "Don't worry, I got lessons from a race car driver on the Indy Nascar track. I can drive." He closed my door and I let out a breath as I buckled myself in. I didn't say that because I was concerned about his driving... But driving lessons from a race car driver? That seemed excessive. 

  He climbed in within seconds and blasted the heat, and turned the car on with a roar. I shivered as the car seat vibrated beneath me and I began to defrost as we sped down his driveway and on the road towards the city. Elias made a quick phone call that I couldn't make heads or tail of because all he kept saying we're "yeses" and "no's." I watched in awe as we drove over the Brooklyn bridge and the skyscrapers rose up before m, ever again the giant to my ant. Eventually we pulled into the hospital and I climbed out, burying my face into my scarf like a turtle to lessen the cold breeze.