long time no see.
11th of July, ABC
It's the seventh week of Monday mandated misery, and to put it lightly, the scenery is grim.
The thundering monsoon of last week decided to continue at the exact same raging intensity for the next three days. It left the suburb of Armvale in complete disarray, blown over gum trees that led to mutilated powerlines that led to insufficient electricity that led to complete chaos.
The power is back on now, thank god. There was only so long I could go without a functioning shower speaker and the hot water to go with it.
This catastrophe has also left the ABC in a similar state.
The once drought-ridden orange lawns have turned into a dark and soggy brown. The ground is covered in various puddles, more accurately described as miniature swamps. The whole area is more like a marsh than a lush green paddock and the whole overall picture reeks of despair.
But above all of the bleak wasteland is a harsh blue sky, the contrast making the bowling club look even more grim than it already is.
Abe has managed to shove our games into the far left side of one of the lawns. The partial covering of trees above it seemed to have saved this tiny corner from rain damage.
So now I sit upon a soggy bench next to Alice and blatantly ogle Edward's lawn bowling skills.
He's standing out on the pitch with Eric, who seems to be lecturing Edward on what I can assume is Call of Duty lobby flirting techniques.
I'm pulled out of my musings by Alice, "Bella, they're waiting for you to go." She tells me, rolling her eyes and looking back to her phone.
Sure enough, Edward and Eric are looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to have my turn bowling.
"Just skip me today guys," I tell them, not in the mood to break four of my ribs from collapsing on the damp lawn. I would much rather sit on this bench with my earbuds and wither away.
"Come on Bella. It's not that slippery." Edward replies, tilting his head as a crooked smile forms on his face.
My eyes widen in dread as I process his statement. The fact that he reassured me about the safety of the turf can only lead to one explanation; that he knows I'm as clumsy as a three legged horse on stilts.
I shake my head at him, not wanting him to see any of my said clumsiness that I'm sure he's already witnessed tooway much of. Getting up off my ass and onto the lawn would be a death trap, not only in bodily harm, but in embarrassment.
Edward's smile turns into a frown, and it takes all of my willpower not to throw all of my logic out the window and join him.
I hear Alice make a frustrated noise beside me and without any warning, she gives my back a forceful shove. It catapults me off the bench and sends me stumbling off the concrete pathway and onto the lawn. In what feels like slow motion, my foot misses the level ground and slips into the twenty centimetre deep gutter. With the grace of my mother after a few too many wines on Christmas day, I stumble towards the ground. I manage to fall with great violence onto my hands and knees, before toppling onto my back because of all the weight I put on my feeble arms.
It's in this exact moment that I begin to see a white light… is that god playing his harp above me?
"Shit," Who is swearing in heaven? "Bella, are you alright?"
I realise that I haven't died and reluctantly open my eyes to see Edward kneeling over me with a suppressed smile plastered on his face.
"I'm fine," I say as I sit up, "This is the mortal world correct?"
Edward puts his hand over his mouth to stifle a chuckle and quickly nods in reassurance. "Yes, as far as i'm aware."
I breathe a sigh of relief before realising how deluded I must have looked and sounded just seconds ago. I throw my face into my hands and start to convulse with convoluted embarrassment infused laughter. Edward has abandoned his poor attempt at not humiliating me and is now guffawing freely.
He gives me his hand - making my arm break out into goosebumps - and helps me stand up, still vibrating with a silent laughter.
I look at him sardonically, "Ha Ha I died due to an extremely traumatic injury and I miraculously resurrected myself. So funny."
Edward simply smiles and shakes his head at my deeply unimpressed expression. He pats my shoulder in pity, "I'm so sorry for your hardship Bambi."
With an irate look of my face because of my newly appointed nickname, I look up at his stupid crinkled pretty boy eyes and find it hard to stay mad at him.
After copious attempts at trying to keep my balance on the torture device that is damp lawn, I begin to think that maybe my dreams of playing lawn bowls professionally are a little unrealistic.
To make matters worse, Edward's effortless talent continues to taunt me. It doesn't make sense to me that he can be scoring so many points when he's had no prior experience than this past term. It's almost frustrating how easily and somehow sexily he rolls that stupid bowl right next to the jack.
"What secrets are you hiding Edward Masen." He tears his eyes away from his careful concentration on his bowl and looks at my face in confusion.
"What?"
"How the fuck are you so good at this stupid game?" I ask in exasperation, "You can't tell me that you haven't got anymore experience than me."
"I can assure you that I've been playing lawn bowls the exact same amount that you have Bella."
His simple answer frustrates me more and I get violent. I start to punch his arm in hopes that my brute force will make him regurgitate the truth. He looks down at me in humour, shaking his head once again.
"How much have you been practising outside of mondays huh? What undercover lawn bowls mafia association do you work for?"
He sighs, "It's not about practise weak one, it's all in the technique."
Suddenly his hands come to my shoulders and he begins to walk me to the pitch.
"You see, you need to achieve correct curvature when bowling," He takes my hand and places a bowl in it, "The small circle should face outward, like this." He positions it correctly in my hand, all the while my stomach flip flops like a dead salmon.
"Now the stance," He moves his hands to my waist, straightening me to face the front and causing goosebumps to spread all over my torso. "Now, just step onto your left foot… and bowl away." He steps away from me looking smug for the most part, but not smug enough to stop the rosy pink spreading across his cheeks.
Satisfied that I am not the only one slightly mystified and flustered at our close exchange, I roll my bowl.
It expectedly rolls in almost the complete opposite direction to the jack. Emphasis on the almost part, as its final position is most definitely closer than all of my attempts today. I look to Edward for approval and see him slowly nod his head while watching my bowl.
"Not bad for a newborn deer, Bella." I roll my eyes at his witty little metaphor, cursing Renee in my head for gifting me such atrocious athletic skills.
I and Edward swap positions, and he picks up one of his own bowls and prepares to cast his throw. Like every other time he's thrown today, his body moves with complete and utter ease.
I watch his bowl glide across the waterlogged lawn and furrow my eyebrows in confusion as it makes a diagonal pathway away from the jack. It continues in the wrong direction, just like mine did moments ago.
It nears my previously thrown bowl, slowing to an almost stop before sofly knocking mine. It's in this moment that I'm reminded of week two of Monday mandated misery, when Edward so conveniently knocked my bowl out of the way and won that can of soft drink.
This time though, the opposite is occurring. The knock from his bowl nudges mine closer to the jack, making me the winner.
I turn to Edward, my face showing thorough satisfaction but also bewilderment.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you." I inquire him incredulously.
Edward just shrugs and turns his head to cast his crooked grin at me.
notes: sorry for the super late upload... life has been really hectic. back to slightly less sporadic updates!
I would like to add that I am truly disgusted at the result of the roe vs wade case. america has seriously just been set back 50 years in basic human morals. at this point, pro-life is not a correct label, as people are clearly more interested in controlling female bodies then 'saving lives'.