Invisible String [t. s]

...What Are We?

"What are we?" She dropped the question that made her breathing feel heavy after a short pause. Theseus remained silent and laid back down to look at the ceiling. She frowned with worry. Élie laid down on her back and looked at the roof too. "Lately the world is ending, so...I won't ask for too much."

"What will you ask for?"

"You." A beat where she looked at him. "All I ask is for you to stay with me." He looked at her. "And for you to tell me what this is...please."

His eyes went to the roof again. "I don't know." And it was the truth. He knew about this as much as she did.

"Well, what do you think this might be?"

"Élie, I don't know." He thought for a second. "Friends?" She looked at him and felt a lump in her throat. "We could be anything you want us to be...I...I don't know what it is, if I'm honest." She incorporated with a frown.

"I cannot believe that, after all these years, things haven't changed between us." She said after a while, causing him to sigh.

"What does that mean?"

"The ball in December. Back then, you said that we didn't love each other, instead, you said that we cared for each other and I told you that caring is loving. You were scared of it and you still are. And the problem seems to be me."

"No, no, Élie. That's not-" He was beginning to feel scared of the place this conversation could lead them to.

"Then how do you explain that you were willing to marry Leta but you cannot even say what this thing between us is? How do you explain that I can say 'I love you' but you can't?" Theseus blinked a few times. Did she love him? Is that what she was saying? She scoffed.

"That's unfair and not true."

"I'm sorry, but really, it isn't?" She looked at him.

"It really isn't." Amélie sighed.

"Then, tell me what are we?" He looked at her and Theseus felt the weight of the world falling upon him. The silence made its presence noticeable and the oxygen felt heavy, very hard to breathe.

  Amélie nodded, looked at the blue bedsheets and scoffed. Next, she stood up and found the light blue shirt Theseus was wearing yesterday on the floor. She put it on and made her way out of the bedroom.

"Amélie." Said Theseus as he sighed, she didn't answer. "Élie." He got up, grabbed his trousers and went after her. He found her in the kitchen having a glass of cold water. "It's not like that, I swear."

"Then what is this? What are we? Because, I don't think we're wasting time, right?"

"No, of course not."

"I'm sorry to ask like this, out of the blue, but I need to know. What does this mean? If four months mean nothing, if none of it counts for something, and if spending every night in your bed has no meaning then...what are we? Just a sorry excuse for love?"

"It does! It does count for something. We're not an 'excuse for love', Élie. Come on, let's not fight over this, please. Let's go back to bed." She left the glass down and looked at their naked feet on the wooden floors.