word count: 378
They're sitting in the park, much too old to be there. After all, parks are for children, or adults with children. Petunia and Vernon are teenagers, and they do not belong. Does anyone else see how out of place they are? How do they not care?
Petunia shifts, more than a little uncomfortable. How can Vernon act like this isn't wrong? Perhaps he's not as safe as she had thought. Surely he isn't the type to just go about doing strange things! In all the years she's known him, he's never seemed like that sort of boy, but here he is, unfazed.
"Did you notice the weight Fiona Milstead put on?" Vernon asks.
Petunia arches a brow. They discuss many things and people, but that sort of gossip has always been reserved for her friends. "Vernon, dear," she says softly, "why are we here?"
"Ah. Yes. Well… Petunia, my girl, I've been thinking."
Is this it? Are they breaking up now? Petunia's heart races more than she'd like to admit. It isn't that she is madly in love with Vernon. She does love him, of course. It's that he's so safe, so normal, so everything that Lily isn't. He reminds her that things don't have to be freakish and weird, that she can have a normal life and pretend that her sister's rubbish doesn't exist. The idea of loving him, of losing that, scares her.
There are normal people, of course, but none quite as normal as Vernon, who never deviates from routine, who always does what is sensible, who would never do something as wild and bizarre as dye his hair, ride a motorbike, or whatever sort of strange things people do.
"We've been dating for some time now," he says.
"Three years," she confirms.
"Yes. Exactly. I think it's time we go a bit further." He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a ring. It's small and practical, nothing gaudy or unsightly, just the sort of thing Petunia loves. "Will you marry me?"
She isn't losing him or the feelings he brings. If anything, she gets to have that safety for the rest of her life. A smile on her face, she leans in, pecking a small, quick kiss to his cheek. "Of course I will."
