Rating: M (may go up) (or down) (idk ;-;)
Summary: Belle has struck up a strange friendship with a man she only knows over text. Having finally escaped a bad living situation, she gets involved in the local city council, where she meets Mr. Gold, who seems hellbent on hating her guts. It’s a good thing she has her mysterious text friend for comfort.
Belle’s weekend of unpacking followed by her thirteen-hour workday all caught up to her on Tuesday, and she dragged herself to the library at eight wearing an outfit she wasn’t quite sure matched. As much as she loved Emma, she was glad to find herself alone when she unlocked the doors, free to go about her opening routine in silence.
Belle: Good morning!
Robert: Is it?
Belle: No, but there’s no other polite greeting to indicate “my morning is terrible, but I hope yours is good.”
Robert: Well, my morning was terrible until about a minute ago. Good morning.
Belle could have floated from task to task. She knew Emma suspected that the lines of her strange text friendship with Robert were blurred, but if she knew how much, Belle would never hear the end of it.