The Elephant
How does one handle a situation like this? Holly wondered as
she stepped through the open door. I've never heard of anything
quite like it.
Artemis led her to the
dining room, chattering lightly. His hand helped lift her onto the
chair that's seat was almost level with her head.
There were no suggestive touches with them, no casual brushes that
ended with blushing and heightened desires. Holly was too old, she
had experienced it before. She knew how to deal with it now. Artemis
was too in control, never letting his emotions and wants get a single
step ahead of his logic.
They were too
comfortable with each other for that anyways. In fact, they were
simply too comfortable with each other for comfort.
This wasn't the average budding relationship, maybe because its
growth was halted in its tracks by reality so early on. So their
awkwardness was a different sort.
It was in
their words. Everything they said was guarded; neither dared to pay a
compliment for fear that it may be taken the wrong way.
Tea was poured and Holly drank it with bitter resignation. The taste
of pollutants was strong, even with the Fowls' advanced cleaning
system.
"So how's the project?"
Holly inquired.
"It's going great;
actually, I've almost got it figured out."
"You're a couple thousand years late, mud man."
Their banter was harsher now. Both tried franticly to push the other
away.
We're both masochists, Holly
thought, always coming back for more.
Of course, they knew that there was fondness behind it all.
Artemis was narcissistic enough to believe that Holly loved him.
Holly was optimistic enough to hope for the best case scenario and
let a little of her love shine through.
So
in this case, Holly thought, the elephant isn't content to sit
in the room, it must dance forcefully, crushing the other inhabitants
every time its clumsy feet hit the floor.
The elephant that was THE kiss never would go away.
Holly was distinctly aware of that. Talking about it would
only cause them to try and reason it out and find a solution.
They would be like the six blind men of Indostan, feeling the animal,
as clueless as can be, never understanding what the other was
"seeing". And this beast would be thrashing about wildly.
It was dangerous to even approach it. They were too different, their
perspectives were kilometres apart.
So the
elephant might as well go unmentioned. This way they could at least
pretend normalcy, going about their day to day life, pretending that
the jibes didn't hurt and acting as if their cautious conversations
were as fun as they used to be. Holly was certain that she would
mention it someday, but she didn't see the need to do so any time
soon.
"I'm trying it out tomorrow."
Holly looked up in surprise. "Will it work?"
"I'm fairly certain," he said curtly, almost offended that
she could doubt his genius, "I'll be the first human to create a
time machine."
That wasn't what he was
excited about. He was the first human to do a lot of things. As far
as he was concerned, he wasn't achieving any sort of scientific feat.
The fairies have traveled through time for years. Holly searched his
face for the real reason for this machine, and she didn't like what
she saw.
His eyes were shadowed and grim. His
mouth was set. He looked engaged in his thoughts, as if they were
moving much too quickly for her to follow. He was there, in the room
with her, but he was also elsewhere, in the future, or maybe, in this
case, the past. She had seen that look minutes before he informed her
that they would have to cut off Jon Spiro's thumb. There was guilt
there, but triumph too.
He had a plan.
Holly felt dread build in the pit of her
stomach. It looked like the elephant was going to be the least of her
worries.
AN: This was a short little fic I wrote in response to a question that an e-friend of mine, Meova, wrote on Fangathering. So it didn't take me long (about as long as a forum post usually takes). Therefore everything is welcome, flames, crit, pointless reviews. I can't say that I'm too proud of it, but it doesn't hurt to post it up. So review please. I'll give you cookies. I haven't been getting ANY reviews for some of my fics lately, and that's depressing me. D:
But it's not
about the reviews, right? :D Still, it's my birthday is tomorrow,
so reviews would be appreciated. ;)