The Green Dress by littlesecret84

Summary: Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen cross paths one evening. This will be a night that he never forgets.

AmelieGee says:

I found the dress at a vintage store in New York, back when I thought I had a chance. Long, emerald green silk. Spaghetti straps, a high-front slit, longer in the back with a flowing train. It leaves my back completely exposed. It's tight, very tight over my stomach and around my hips.

...It's going to look breathtaking in the wind when I'm out on the cliffs later tonight.

Imagery is something that a lot of authors find hard to master. There’s that delicate balance between baring all to the reader, going overboard with details and long-winded explanations.

LittleSecret84, however, gives us enough detail to make us weave the picture in our head. Bella chose her dress back when she felt as though she had a choice in the world - the type of dress that is saved in the back of a closet, for that right moment, that occasion that deserves a breathtaking entrance.

Bella is ready for her moment. She is going to give it her all.

The scenes are evenly paced between Bella, and her yet-unseen admirer. His voice is casual, but the type of casual that sends chills down your spine - Dracula bidding you welcome into his castle, the spider’s gentle wisp as it carefully descends towards its prey.

He’s chosen her because of her name, because of who she is - Bella, beautiful in her green dress with her pretty name.

I like girls with pretty names. Last week in Chicago it was a Rosalie. All golden hair and big blue eyes with perfect skin. I was going to fuck her right before, but her voice was unpleasant and she kept talking and talking and I thought quick and easy would be best, but wouldn't it be wonderful to see bright red running down her white shirt? Now I don't usually enjoy using sharp objects-things get messy and I really liked the grey shirt I was wearing that night, but once the idea of the red and the white started playing in my head I couldn't help myself. Pretty Rosalie with the pretty name. A shame. I should have just fucked her right before.

Just like Bella, we aren’t told directly who he is. But we are shown, gently, casually, all with that slow sensation of rising hairs and goosebumps on chilled flesh, what he wants from Bella. He is drawn to her because of the idea of beauty, and she is drawn to the green dress, to the idea of whether the skirt of the dress is going to look like wings when [she] falls, opening in the front and flying back.

The story unfolds like a haunting swan song, like a beautiful tableau that strikes some chord deep in you. Beauty is the core of the story - simple, but chilling. He chooses her because of her name, because of her lips, and tiny slender hands, and a long white neck.

When I read this the first time, I was in a hurry. I skimmed through the words, to the end, registering the main point - but that’s a mistake. This is the type of story you have to unwrap, savor word by word, taste it on your tongue:

This one is special. You should taste her. Take your time and make it sweeter than the ones before. The end won't be any different, either way.

mjinaspen says:

Boy meets girl. Boy kisses girl. They live happily ever after. Fairytales are nice. But this isn’t a fairytale. It is, however, quite lovely and somewhat lyrical in its prose. And there is an HEA of sorts, depending upon your definition of HEA.

From the very first moment in this fic you hear the music. Bella is a metronome, steady and focused. Edward is the soaring, circling, then diving melody. They complement each other beautifully. They are a symphony of death and despair.

"I'd like to introduce myself, I'm Edward Cullen."
She sighs and shakes her head.
"Don't waste your time. I'm only around for another two hours."
"That's more than plenty of time for what I had in mind."
"And what's that?" she asks.
"A dance, maybe two."
And then I fuck you twice up against a tree.
Once because I want to, the second to make up for my mistake with Rosalie.

"Do I look like I would get up and dance here?"
"You don't look like you should be here at all."
"Oh, I know. Just two more hours."

Like most Bellas and Edwards in Twific, these two are destined. For what, you don’t know, but it becomes immediately clear that they will fulfill each other’s needs and desires.

Edward quickly assesses the value of each person, place, and thing, while Bella just bides her time, uncaring about anything of value, including her jewelry and the cash she carries in her purse. They serve a purpose for each other without immediately recognizing it.

One of my favorite lines:

She turns her back to me and plays with her bracelet, a large, ugly object that looks too expensive.
But then Bella looks expensive.


There is a reason Bella seems careless and Edward doesn’t, but I don’t want to ruin it for you by giving too much detail – the details are part of what you’ll love about this fic – suffice to say that he is obsessed with her and she allows it, welcomes it. He tells her what she wants to hear and gives her what she needs.

“You are too pretty, your body is too precious to be broken on the rocks.”
She tilts her head to the side and considers this.
"What do you suggest?"
"Kiss me."

For a brief moment you think LitteSecret84 will turn the car around and give these two the traditional ending – wedding dress, babies, white picket fence… but thankfully she doesn’t. That’s not to say Edward and Bella aren’t forever affected by this experience, they do touch each other and neither is able to take it back. Not that either of them would want to.

I place my hands on either side of the neck, caressing, adoring, as I greedily consume the first kisses I have received in years … I continue to kiss her, and I can tell that she too hasn't felt anything against her lips for quite some time.

They spend just two desperate hours together, way too short a time, and LitteSecret84 doesn’t muck it up with mundane details that mean nothing to us as readers (or to Bella and Edward.) Nothing is lost in the telling of this story. It’s visual, sensual, and beautiful.

If I’m making The Green Dress sound romantic, I’m glad, because it is. It’s dark and terrifying, too, but then it wouldn’t be here, would it? Go read it once or twice. I promise you won’t be sorry.

dihenydd says:

It is hard to know what to say about this perfect little story without quoting every word back. It is very short – only 3K words but it says everything that needs to be said.

In the beginning Edward and Bella know nothing about each other. In the end (two hours later) they know everything that matters. What struck me about this story when I first read it were the imagery and the feeling of rightness. I was going to say fatalism but that somehow conveys a sense of settling for something less than you want, and they don’t do that. In that sense they are in fact soul mates, they were made for each other, for that moment. They complete each other.

I have always been enticed by writing that can make me see something from a new perspective. I like my preconceptions to be thwarted and I love ambiguity. Purely factually this should be a horror story; but it isn’t. It isn’t a love story – though it might have been. It is however about art. About seeking that perfect moment, the one that defines you.

Bella has been planning for it. She visualizes it.

“I slip on gold vintage t-strap pumps and take a final look at the dress.
It's going to look breathtaking in the wind when I'm out on the cliffs later tonight.”

Edward has been planning for it. He fantasizes about it.

“Her skirt billows perfectly with each step she takes. Her ass is tight and round, and I want to watch the green silk slide off it, exposing more white flesh in the moonlight."

The imagery is stunning and the thread running through it is the green dress symbolizing something potent and very different for each of them.

“I wonder if the skirt of the dress is going to look like wings when I fall, opening in the front and flying back.”
“Isabella is a vision… the dress spread out around her, pale skin in the moonlight”

The Green Dress on FF.net