Their Paradox #Wattys2017

12. "She tells him to make a wish."

be·wil·der

verb

1. Cause (someone) to become perplexed or confused. 

"Her odd habits would always bewilder him, but he loved it."

Synonym: Baffle

_________________________________________________________________

There is this sudden brief pause before her curiosity gets the best of her. Her voice sounds exhausted as she asks him, "What type of stories do you tell?" Being an observer, Clementine usually pondered and examined what she assumed a person's life to be from a distance. Asking Jace about something that came off as something personal seemed a bit unusual for her.

 It discomforted her in the slightest way. 

"The story that needs to be told." He answers. 

"Story? One story, no plural?" She sounds timid but mostly confused. 

"One story." He confirms.

"Well, what story?" She questions him. 

How can a storyteller go off as a storyteller if they only told one story? Don't they ever tell one person more than one story, did they just repeat the story to the same person until that person just leaves?

"It's not a story you might be interested in." He chuckles. Yet from the ways his eyes darted from her to the napkins, to the cup, to his wandering fingers, she knew he wanted her to press him on. 

So she did.

 She takes in the sight of him. 'Observing' like she always seems to do, taking in every intricate detail. His lips are tugged into a small smile and his fingers toy with this white napkin on the table. 

"Well, we are already here, mine as well tell me." She points out slightly annoyed. He had practically charmed her into skipping school and persuaded her to walk a few blocks away to an ice cream parlor she's never heard of. 

"Okay, well are you sure you actually want to hear it?" Jace seems nervous to ask her this. Why was he so nervous, was this not just a simple story? Clementine eats more of her ice cream before looking up at Jace with a nonchalant expression on her features. Now it's her turn to wait for the empty silence to end. 

"Well once upon a time in a place far from here..." He grows hesitant and he smiles. Not to Clementine, but to himself as if he were remembering a cute childhood memory. From his smile Clementine was thankful he never let go of that memory, because if he had, she would have never been able to see that distant smile that made her melt like candlewax to a burning flame. 

Jace begins and Clem feels absorbed into what he was brewing. 

"There were two friends who were in love. They just didn't know it yet."

Jace seems hesitant with his choice of words, Clementine listens carefully to every detail. She pictures them in her head. 

"How can two people be in love without knowing they are in love?" She inquired of Jace with a scowl. At first he grins sheepishly then he answers, "Well love is an emotion. An emotion is an instinct, therefore as an instinct they loved each other." He explains to her happily. 

They loved at an instant. The instant they had met. 

He continues with his story. "You see this is how it sort of started, these two childhood friends were on a rooftop. They were watching the city spring alive underneath their swaying feet."

"Why were they on a rooftop?" Clementine interupts. 

With a roll of his eyes, Jace replies. "They were escaping."