A/N: Here is another FGB drabble, this one for Diana Wolfskill. She ... didn't really give me a prompt, but just said she wondered if I drank Coke or Pepsi. Answer at the bottom.


A Matter of Taste

This being a vampire thing was a snap. Jesus, why did everyone make like it would be so hard? Sure, the three days of burning and writhing and dying kind of sucked, but hey, now I was smokin', I got all the sex I wanted with full-throttle Edward peen, and Jacob was finally off my back about making "decisions" and "choosing life" or whatever the fuck he always would go on about. No, I wasn't happy about his imprinting on the fruit of my loins, because, you know, that's kind of creepy. But, whatever. I couldn't believe they'd made me wait this long.

So it was a bit of a shock when we were watching the typical soda wars ads during the Super Bowl and I suddenly felt like sobbing my eyes out. Except, of course, I couldn't cry anymore. "What's wrong?" Edward asked, no doubt feeling my sudden wave of emo bounce off Jasper and into his brain.

"I … I don't remember what soda I liked best!" I wailed.

"Darling, is this … vital information?" He looked puzzled, and I could tell he was treading carefully.

"I didn't think to write it down!" I'd written pages and pages in my journals so I would remember my human life, but I'd neglected to document this part. I closed my eyes and tried to think back to my mortal existence, but it was like waking from a dream and feeling hazy impressions, nothing fully in focus. How could I have forgotten to write down a simple Coke or Pepsi?

"You don't even drink soda anymore," Edward tried to point out, but I ran to his old room and shut the door. Logic had no place in the mind of Bella Cullen, nee Swan!

Emmett was the one who thought of it—doing what they did in market research: taste test. He rushed off to the grocery store and came back, grinning, with several plastic grocery sacks.

"Isn't it going to make me barf?"

"Well, yes, but at least you'll know, right?" he said, unloading a few more two-liter bottles on the kitchen table.

Edward came by to oversee the taste test table. Glancing at the bottles and labels, he said, "Emmett, where is the Crystal Pepsi?"

"What the fuck is Crystal Pepsi?" I asked.

"What is … oh, Isabella, I forget how young you are sometimes." He turned to Emmett. "I can't believe you didn't get Crystal Pepsi."

"Live in the now, bro! I think you can buy that only in Mexico and eBay these days. And that shit's nasty. She may be immortal, but no way I'm letting her drink some twenty-year-old soda."

"Can we get on with this?" I interrupted, not wanting them to get into a fight.

Edward blindfolded me and led me to a seat. I could hear caps being unscrewed, soda fizzing, liquid poured into plastic cups. I could hear each bubble of carbonation, and I could practically see the foam on the top of the glasses.

"Ready?" Edward asked.

"Sure."

Wow, you know how vampire senses are super-heightened? Cola is some vile shit—all those chemicals, and then the unnecessary fizz? What's that all about? I spit out every single thing I tried. From the shouts of surprise, I guessed I spat a lot of backwash on the boys.

I put my head in my hands. "They're all disgusting. I can't choose. I mean, Coke sounds so familiar, but then Pepsi, Pepsi is like, well, do I like Pepsi? Am I feeling betrayed by Coke because they tried to change their formula? Maybe Coke and I took a break? Maybe Pepsi was, like, a breath of fresh air and pure sunshine?"

"OHMYGODSHUTTHEFUCKUP!"

I removed my blindfold. When had Jacob gotten here? I should have smelled him, but I supposed I was too inundated with nasty cola chemical shit.

"Coke," Jacob said, slamming down the bottle in front of my face. "Pepsi," he continued, slamming down the other bottle. "Yes, we have our Royal Crown and Tab and whatever, but we always knew they weren't in the running. Because, come on, really? RC is like that dorky kid whose parents own, like, a sporting goods store. Tab? Probably doesn't even like chicks. So you got your Coke and you got your Pepsi. Coke's the classic—see, it even says it on the bottle. Pepsi, well, it's the underdog, and people always think they like Coke more just because they've been, like, brainwashed by the media, but blind studies show that people actually prefer the taste of Pepsi. But only if they think they're drinking Coke. So are you going for flash, or are you going for taste? Even if the one that tastes better might not have the same cachet? So which are you, Team Coke or Team Pepsi?"

"Wait, what was the part in the middle?" I asked.

"AUGH!" yelled Jacob, throwing up his hands.

"Was it something I said?"

"Never mind him, love." Edward cupped my cheek in one of his perfect hands. "Do you want to keep going?"

"Nah," I said, getting up. "What's on TV?"


So yeah, I drink Coke most of the time because it tastes less sweet, but every now and again I want the extra kick of Pepsi. This was informative, no? No. I see. Carry on.