Belle Of The Gays

Off to the Cruise In

"Are you sure you don't want directions? It's pretty far..." Belle asked, but her Dad just scoffed and threw the lunch he had packed in the backseat.

"When do I ever get lost? I've been there plenty of times, stop worrying."

"I know, but still..."

"I'll be fine. You're coming up soon after me, right?" Belle nodded. Her Dad had wanted to bring both his antique cars to a cruise-in four hours away, but Belle had wanted to get some housework done around the apartment before she left.

"Alright, drive safe."

"You too." He kissed the top of her head and got into the car, starting up the loud engine and driving away. 

Cruise-ins were his favorite things to go to since her Mom had died -before then it had been her favorite activity of dance night at an old-timey retro bar that had a jukebox- so it wasn't uncommon for him to spend his weekend and Friday nights out in the summer. Belle was just never dragged along, but if it made him happy, she'd suck it up.

Once his car was out of sight, she went back inside the apartment and started cleaning up the mess he had made from making his lunch, preparing their own dinners in the process for her to take up later. After she grabbed the laundry from the laundry room, folded and put it away, she went outside to the front of the complex to water the flowers. It wasn't necessarily her job or her flowers, she just took care of them when she could because no one else did.

"Belle! I didn't expect to see you here!" Gaston exclaimed, coming up from behind her and putting his hand on her waist. She squirmed away from his touch, questioning whether or not she should douse him in water too.

"Neither did I."

"I was just heading to the diner to get some lunch. You want to join me?" Belle stepped further back from him when he tried closing the gap she had already put between them.

"No thanks, I've got lunch inside."

"You can save that for later. Come on, don't make me be lonely." A pout crossed his lips, but it wasn't half as attractive as he saw in his mind.

"You can be alone and not be lonely. I have to leave soon anyways."

"Why do you make this so hard? How do you expect me to marry you if never want to do anything with me?"

"I don't." Gaston huffed, running a hand through his slicked back, dark hair.

"Alright, alright. Hopefully you'll change your mind when we have five kids running around and my hunting trophies on our walls." Belle started choking on her own saliva, immediately holding up a hand to signal she was fine and there was no need to come any closer.

"Like that'll happen." She muttered underneath her breath so he couldn't hear.

"You'll see, Belle. Soon enough you'll see." Gaston then continued on his walk to the diner, talking to himself to boost his confidence as he did.

Belle scoffed, dosing the last flowers in water and storming back into her apartment, slamming the door shut behind her. She tossed the empty watering can to the side where it normally sat upright, and kicked off her shoes.

"Are you kidding me?! He still has in it his thick skull that he's going to marry me?! All because I was dared in fifth grade to ask him out?! As if!" She threw herself onto the couch, burying her head into a pillow and screaming in frustration.

Once she had run out of frustration enough to scream, and oxygen, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. She was so sick of this town and everything about it. Especially the people in it.

If only there was somewhere else to go. Somewhere like the places she always read about. But those were just fairy tales and nothing more.