The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: 03
Pen Name: junejulyautumn
Pairing/Character(s):
Rating: T
Word Count: 497
"Think of a line. What do you picture? A line! Exactly! It either starts and finishes or it's continuous, but however long or short it is, it's a line, and that's not only it's name, it's the description.
"And it's one-dimensional. Right? As soon as you add anything to it, like another line, or even a dot, you've moved into two dimensions.
"So. I can't even understand the idea of a line, to tell you the truth. As soon as I start thinking about it I'm screwed, because really, a line is more of a concept than a thing. It's an abstract, like for instance, the equator. An imaginary line, dissecting the earth. Meridians - the same. Imaginary, but they're so important that if you're born a single inch to one side or the other it determines which hemisphere you're from! How bizarre!"
This is Edward speaking. His mind really works like that, overthinking ordinary things that everyone understands and making them complicated.
"You know what else is bizarre? The inside of your head, " I tell him. Now I'm going to have lines on the brain.
"And outline - " he carries on. "What does that even mean? It's a demarcation around something. But it doesn't so much show what's out as what's in - because let's face it, everything that isn't out is in. Right?"
"Outright," I nod. "Have you got any money?"
Being Edward, he knows that have you got any money? is not the question. What I'm actually asking is will you go and buy me some icecream? And being Edward, he grins, clambers to his feet and lopes off in that shambolic gait of his, as I watch. I've got such a crush on him but he hasn't noticed and I've no idea how to tell him.
He comes back from the icecream truck with sundaes - hazelnut for me and double choc for him, though he'll eat half of mine anyway. While he was gone I was thinking.
"What about lines on a road?" I say. "On this side, you're going this way. On that side, you're going that way. Being on one side or the other of that line is the difference between coming and going."
"Arriving or leaving," he nods.
"Life or death," I add.
And then because I'm frustrated, or reckless, or maybe just because I want more of his attention, I go and lie down in the middle of the road. On the line.
He comes running after me, shouting.
"Jesus, Bella! What are you doing? Get up! "
"Which side are you on, Edward?" I ask, lying there. "Tell me."
"Your side, stupid girl!" he yells, grabbing my hand. We stumble to the verge, which is grassed, and fall over. He's grumbling, "You nearly gave me a heart attack," but the heart attack's mine, because he's holding my hand and not letting go.
And surely he remembers, since he's not stupid, that we were on the cycle path.