Pulse

Ivy popped her hood up over her face, closed her eyes, and fell asleep, snuggling against the slightly warm, musky leather. A while later she woke up. She took a deep breath, and her eyes popped open, surprised, when she realized it smelled like fresh flowers, not watermelon jolly ranchers. She rolled over, and nearly fell off of a couch.

“Morning, sleepyhead!” A cheery, old woman sounding voice called at her from what she assumed was the kitchen. The smell of pancakes was getting progressively stronger. “Daniel said you fell asleep in the car, and you looked so peaceful we just let you sleep. But if you don’t get in here soon, Daniel will eat all of the pancakes!”

Ivy stretched, and nearly sent a heavy lamp crashing violently onto the hardwood floor, but she managed to save it just in time, knocking herself off of the couch in the process.

“Not very graceful, this one, is she?” Ivy could just hear the lady say to someone. Ivy assumed that someone was Daniel. Slowly, Ivy stood up. And crashed back down onto the floor.

Daniel came running when he heard the commotion in the other room. Ivy had fallen to the hardwood laminate. “Ivy! Ivy? Can you hear me?” he was worried.

But Ivy was already feeling better. She laughed. “Boy, that was a doozy!” she cried as her head spun. She got up, against the loud protests coming from Daniel. “I’m fine.” She reassured him, patting him softly on the arm. “Those pancakes smell delicious, where are they?” she tried to change the subject.

Daniel could see through that. “Over there. But you can’t have any until you tell me what happened.” He steered her back to the couch and pushed her onto it. The fluffy, rose-patterned cushions were still dented from where she slept on them.

“Honestly, Daniel, I’m fine.” She tried to get up, only to be pushed back down again by Daniel. “But if I don’t get some food soon, I’ll turn into the Incredible Hulk. And you won’t like me when I’m hungry.” She tried to joke.

Daniel frowned, and the lines of worry creasing his forehead sent pity flying into Ivy’s heart. So she told him the truth. “Ok, Daniel. I have this… disorder that is actually very common, and easy to treat, too. There’s nothing seriously wrong with me, so don’t go crazy, but I just haven’t taken my medication yet this morning. I’ll be fine.”

As if to prove her point, Ivy stood up. “See? No fainting. I’m fine.” She pushed him aside and strode over to the kitchen. “But I really am hungry. Where are the pancakes?”

“Over here, dear.” The woman said. Ivy assumed she was Daniel’s mother. She looked about the right age; she had the same beautiful dark hair, waving gently down to right below her shoulders, and even the same eye color.

Ivy pulled a small pouch that she kept on a string around her neck out from under her shirt and removed a single small, round, green pill. She held it up to Daniel as evidence, quickly swallowed it, and shoved the pouch back into her shirt.

“Alright, ma’am. May I please have some pancakes? They smell delicious!” She turned to the woman, who smiled and passed her a heaping plate wordlessly.

After about ten minutes of gorging herself, Ivy pushed back from the table with a satisfied sigh. “Thank you very much for the breakfast ma’am. I really enjoyed it.”

Daniel’s mother laughed. “I hope so, dear!”

“Come on!” Daniel whined, standing from his chair so quickly it fell over backwards. “I said we’re going to be late!” He reached over, grabbed her arm, and tugged.

Naturally, due entirely to the laws of physics, and the fact that he was much bigger than Ivy, he won. Reluctantly, Ivy stood up, took a swig of orange juice, and thanked Daniel’s mother one last time as she was being yanked out the door.

Once in the car, he turned to her. “You eat slow.” He complained, a small smile on the corners of his mouth.

Ivy stuck her tongue out at him. He was acting like a five-year-old, why couldn’t she? “I don’t care!”

Daniel laughed. “You’re acting like a five year old.” He pointed out.

“Well so are you!” Ivy said, realizing just a bit too late exactly how childish she had sounded when she said that.

He laughed again. “No, I’m acting like a six year old. Get your story straight!”

Ivy shook her head, looked at the dashboard clock, which read 8:00, and then asked him, for the second time that day, “Where are we going?”

And again, he turned to her, a playful smile on the edges of his mouth, and said, “That’s for me to know, and you to find out!”

“You’re really infuriating, you know.” She said, almost scolding him.

“Yeah, I know.” He replied, looking downcast and then suddenly perking up. “But that’s why you love me!”

He was so much like a five-year-old, it wasn’t even funny anymore. He pounded on the steering wheel rhythmically when they got into a traffic jam “Come on!” he whined. Ok, so maybe it was funny.

But she couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Not one thing. His relationship with his mother was flawless; he was perfectly polite, if a little impatient. But his impatience was endearing, not annoying, and it didn’t seem to bother anyone. He liked to surprise her, and, as evidenced by the incident on the south side of the school, he was protective.

Daniel caught Ivy staring at him critically as he drove. “Whaaaaaat?” he complained, elongating the “a” sound in a nasally tone.

“You’re too perfect.” She told him the truth. “Most people have a flaw, and I can’t seem to find yours.” Telling him was easier than she had expected it to be.

“I snore.” He answered easily, shrugging.

“Oh, snoring! Well, that’s a deal breaker right there!” she put her hands on her hips in a large gesture, knocking over a water bottle in the process. At least it had been closed.

About half an hour later they arrived at a distant public park. It was beautiful. The oak trees made the path shady, and the low-hanging branches had been touched so much the bark had been rubbed smooth and shiny. The swing set squeaked with toddlers enjoying their lives to the fullest. The ducks in the pond quacked madly as still more toddlers threw piece after piece of bread at them.

“Wow.” Was the only word that passed Ivy’s lips.