A/N: Written for Day 22 of August 2018's Romance Awareness. Prompt: Once you meet your soulmate you're literally stuck to each other for the rest of the day.
All other prompts and challenges are listed at the bottom so as not to give anything away.
Word Count: 1399
Impossible Girl
Petunia wanted to stamp her feet. She wanted to protest, loudly but the large ginger man who was holding her hand seemed utterly unflappable.
"This is ridiculous!" she cried indignantly, holding onto her anger. If she was angry, then she wouldn't cry. If she was angry, she had something to blame other than herself.
"Well, it is what it is. We can't do much about it now, just have to go along with it," the man said, his eyes creased in a warm smile. His accent was lilting, vowels rolling like the hills which surrounded them. It was 'common', Petunia thought to herself, and it suited him. He was wearing simple clothes, a thick shirt over trousers and boots which were caked with mud. His face was freckled, beard impressive. He was a man who was used to the outdoors.
She went to wrench her hand away once again and his arm jerked, his body following. It brought him precariously close to her and Petunia felt herself blush.
"My name's Gideon, Miss," he said politely, taking a small step back. "It would seem that we are soulmates."
"Ridiculous," Petunia repeated weakly. "I'm not one of your kind."
"And what kind would that be?" he had a way of speaking that turned the corners of his mouth up, as though he was hiding laughter or knew a joke she could never imagine.
"The freaks who just... have this magic happen to them. My sister is one of you, she met her soulmate because they dreamt about each other, every night. I had told her it was impossible," Petunia said scornfully. Lily had told her of the boy with dark skin and a cheeky smile from before they'd even been old enough to go to school. Petunia had thought him imaginary but then her sister had been swept off her feet by Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome in the flesh and Petunia had been left behind without even a wave goodbye.
"How fortunate for your sister. It seems you and I are going to have to get to know each other a different way. Since we're stuck, do you have anything pressing you need to do? Perhaps you should get some water on your cream dress."
She felt embers of fury ignite deep within her.
"Fortunate, yes, Lily was always fortunate. She is practically perfect in every way," Petunia spat. "Meanwhile my dress is ruined! It is not cream, it is champagne and there is now mud splattered everywhere. It's absolutely ruined, the colour will never be the same again! If you hadn't -"
"Helpd you up from where you'd fallen," he supplied but she talked over him, not wanting to accept that he had done the gentlemanly thing when he'd offered his hand.
"If you hadn't intereferred I would have been halfway home. Now I'm stuck to you for what seems the rest of my life." She made sure to inject as much venom into her voice as possible. Lily had taken to calling her the Impossible Girl before she'd left home. She had mocked Petunia's insistence that none of it was real, that love was merely a fantasy.
"I'm sorry indeed that you think it's such a hardship, considering you don't even know my name. It's Gideon, by the way. Gideon Prewett. We own the farm just down the lane on the right."
"I was walking into town. I don't pay attention to any of these hovels."
None of her barbed remarks seemed to fluster him. Instead, he took a minute and Petunia exasperatedly gave her own name, then remained in firm silence.
"Well, Miss Petunia, it would seem that you don't have anywhere to be whilst I was on my way to check on some chickens that are due to hatch any day. Since we're stuck, I suggested we either walk arm in arm or if you're worried about mud getting on your dress, I can carry you in my arms."
She didn't deign to respond but started walking in front of her, Gideon falling into step at her side with that same hint of a smile. The country lane was lined by hedgerows thick with brambles that were heavy with blackberries. Gideon picked some as they walked and offered them to her, which she took with a muttered thank you. The fruit was sweeter than she'd ever tasted before and as they continued to pick whilst they walked, the silence became more comfortable. Then Gideon was holding open a gate for her with one hand, his other still wrapped around Petunias. She had expected cow pats, dirty animals and even dirtier farm hands.
Instead, Gideon led her down a neat path lined with wildflowers and then towards a series of chicken coops.
"We sell cakes and bread at the market, my Mother and Sister make them. My brother Fabien prefers to work in the orchard whilst I oversee the animal husbandry. We only have a few goats, chickens, geese and a small flock of sheep. What is that you do, Miss Petunia?"
"I live and work in town," she said slowly, intrigued despite herself. "I work as a receptionist for the Grunning's Company."
Gideon nodded to himself. The company owned most of the town and the factory dominated the skyline when you were standing on the high street. He kept up a polite conversation and seemed truly interested in what Petunia had to say. She found herself taken aback by the intelligence of his questions, the insight he showed with his responses. She asked him questions about the farm, expecting him to come across as a bumbling idiot and each time, felt her drawn in by his warm words. His hand around hers felt natural, even though they had been attached to each other, unable to get away for over an hour now.
By the time they got to the chicken coop with the nesting hens, Gideon had managed to made Petunia laugh louder than she could remember ever doing so.
"Would you like to see something fantastic?" he said, a hint of boyish glee on his face. She nodded, most of her resentment and proper nature forgotten now she was enveloped by this young man who seemed to be a gentle giant and in love with the world around them. He led her into the coop and they crouched down by a clutch of eggs which were under a lamp.
"The hen isn't very good at keeping them all warm, so we take a few and keep them incubated, then swap them with the ones she's looking after," he explained briefly before motioning for her to get closer to the eggs. "They're very close to hatching and you can tell because you can hear them."
Her eyes wide, Petunia put her ear close to the eggs then jerked back, nearly unbalancing Gideon who beamed at her.
"The eggs are... the eggs are chirping!" she exclaimed.
"It's it beautiful. They're already talking to each other, calling to their Mum before they're even out of the eggs. I could listen for hours."
He was odd, the man who fate had decreed was her soulmate. Laughter came easily around him, as easily as he seemed to motivate himself and everyone around him to look up and experience life. As Petunia watched him handle the eggs carefully, showing her how to place them back under the broody hen, she found herself curiously moved and emotional. For years, Petunia had equally loathed and envied her sister for her soulmate bond. Petunia had assumed that she would never be the same and had endured the slaps on the bum, the bawdy looks from her boss at the Grunning's office, the men catcalling towards her as they stumbled out of the pub on a Friday evening.
She had thought she knew what path life was leading her down.
And then she'd gone for a walk in a champagne coloured dress, fallen in mud and been rescued by a large, ginger man who spoke with a thick accent of a world she hadn't let herself see or imagine.
They sat, surrounded by the smell of animals and hay and Petunia softly squeezed the hand which held her own so safely. Gideon squeezed back, turning to smile at her and Petunia smiled back, as the chicks cheeping heralded their entrance into a world filled with impossibilities.
A/N:
Character Appreciation: 4. Trait - Motivational
Disney Challenge: Q2. "Practically perfect in every way."
Lyric Alley: 4. I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars.
Sophie's Shelf: 28. Gideon/Petunia
Em's Emporium: 22. Write about a person who doesn't discriminate, in all aspects.
Colour Prompts: Champagne
Flowers: Dahlia - (title) Impossible Girl)
Element Prompts: (word) embers
Shay's Musical Challenge: 41. The Phantom of the Opera - Write about someone being jealous.
Astronomy Prompts: Saturn At Opposition - (au) Farmer