I had a Dancing Withthw Stars marathon this weekend and it kind of made me think of a prompt this time. I can just imagine Graham and Emma RH universe goofing around in the apartment, dancing all kinds of dances. Graham trying to lift Emma's mood. Just them. Alone.
Title: John, Paul, and Dee-lite
Summary: RH verse. Sometimes there has to be a moment to let go.
Note: This may have taken me 500 years, but I hope you enjoy! Pre married. Just something quick and dirty, because it’s been how long?
She felt a low hitch in her breath, adjusting the collar of her shirt as she read over the paperwork. She’d read the same line over several times, with her music playing absently in the background. She’d listened through silly 80s pop and angry 90s alternative, barely discerning one for another as she was engrossed in her work.
But this damn song. The sudden hit of the 60s ballad cut right through her thoughts, curling into the core of her.
“Hey, I don’t recognize this one.”
She sniffed and quickly brushed at her eye as she glanced up.
Graham strolled into the kitchen, but his focus was distracted. He straightened up to open the cabinets, head bobbing to the music. “Pasta for dinner?”
She blinked and swiped at her nose. “Seriously?” She shrugged in response to his question, and skipped to the next song, Led Zepplin replacing John’s voice. “It was the Beatles. You haven’t heard ‘In My Life’?”
His head was stuck in the upper cabinets, digging through boxed foods. “Nope. The Juke Box of the curse did not grant me the full Beatles library, I suppose.”
She pushed aside the feeling of melancholy the song had enticed and pulled a face. “But … it’s a classic.”
Graham gave a grimace and shrugged. “These memories gave me more of a Top 40 song bank.”
Emma groaned. “Oh, you poor thing.”
He gave her a look. “Like I don’t hear you singing ‘Call Me Maybe’ in the shower all the time.”
Emma flushed and stood with a snort. He grinned. “Hey, never said I was against pop. But you need some variety, babe.”
He raised his brows. “Is that so?”
She liked the challenge in his voice, his accented voice tickling over the words. She leaned forward. “Yes. And while the Beatles might not be the theme the kid and I have taken over the years, they are still required reading.”
He came forward and she leaned in to receive the expected kiss. Instead, he grabbed her phone.
“Hey!”
“I’m proving you right, be patient,” he insisted, and scrolled through it.
The song began replaying, its slow build filling the apartment. Her chest tightened slightly and she frowned. “We can get you the playlist later, you know.”
He shook his head. “No time like the present.”
She rolled her eyes. “I thought you were hungry.”
He flipped through her phone, lyrics popping on the screen for him to follow and he gestured vaguely to the stovetop. “I’ll start the water in a bit.”
She stood from the table and clanked through cabinets to get the pot out, distracting herself from the uneasy feeling the usually pleasant song had caused. “Yeah, well, I can start that.”
He hummed a response and scrolled as the song continued. “I get it; a little too close to home, huh?”
“What?” she asked distractedly.
He reached out and grabbed her hand, thumb catching under the laces on her wrist. “’Some have gone, and some remain’? Not exactly a deeper meaning, here.”
She rolled her eyes, and yanked free. “Sue me for having a moment.”
“No one’s judging, Em,” he replied just as quick.
She looked back. He had sat in the stool, but his whole body was facing her, expectant.
She bit down on her lip, and pressed back against the counter. “Do you miss anything, Graham?” she asked.
He gave a strained smile, but nodded. “Of course. I had family there,” he said simply. He raked a hand through his hair, his features pulling a bit. “It’s been longer that we have been able to connect, of course, and I know it’s not the same—”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” she protested, waving away his apologetic tone. “I just meant … it’s hard, sometimes. Missing, I mean. And it’s not like I’m glad you miss something, but—”
He didn’t cut her off to finish her statement, but his chair scrapped against the tile as he rose, crossing to her. She shut her lips, and studied the way he approached, the slow pace until he was in front of her.
There is no one compares to you.
“Dance with me?” she asked.
He smiled crookedly, and tugged her by the arm, bringing her full into his arms. He swayed them back and forth, surprising light on his feet, but not anything particularly advanced in his steps.
It was soothing, the movement, his confidence in it. She just had to follow, to sink into him.
“What’s it called?” he asked.
“’In My Life,’” she replied simply.
“It’s pretty,” he determined. “If a little on-the-nose.”
She shook her head at the laughter in his tone. Her phone’s shuffle made for a huge tonal shift, a plunky baseline filling the air instead and she grinned at his raised brows.
“Got to keep it interesting,” he teased and twirled her out as Lady Miss Kier began singing.
She giggled and let him sway her in the beginning strains of the music. “So it’s throwback songs from the 90s that get you moving?” she teased.
He spun her around. “Oh, unquestionably,” he said, eyes twinkling.
She felt light as he dipped her back, and she screeched with laughter, hitting him half-heartedly until he let her up again.
When she was upright again, he caught her mouth and all thoughts of continuing their impromptu dance party fled for favor of his taste. She tugged her hands through his curls and he smiled against her lips. “Let me know,” he said, and moved to trace his teeth behind her ear. “Distraction or talk?”
She shivered and pulled him back, looking up with half-lidded eyes. “Oh, definitely distraction.”
