It’s beautiful and Bianca’s heard Julie play it live before, but never quite like this, with both of them on the cusp of the new lives they were working toward for their entire friendship.
And she can’t help the tears that start to form at the corners of her eyes and fall one after another, and she’s crying, not like she did at the bar, just a few droplets hastily wiped away, but full-on rivulets of tears streaming down her face. It’s a release, not entirely unlike what’s happened with Xavier when they’ve been together, but somehow just as necessary.
Julie’s fingers race across the piano keys during a break in the lyrics, but the crowd is cheering louder now that they aren’t singing along.
“That’s her fiancé, y’all,” Julie calls out into the mic. “Healsohas a PhD, but really, his greatest accomplishment is falling in love with the coolest girl in the world.”
Then he’s in front of her, his hands cupping her cheeks and wiping away the tears with his thumbs. Her face lifts and their eyes meet and he’s smiling softly at her, saying something, but she still can’t hear him or read his lips, so she just shrugs, finally managing to stop the flow of tears.
He shakes his head and steps back, but not away completely, holding out his hand, and his intention is clear enough without words. So she takes it, lets him fold his strong fingers over hers, a soft tug all that’s necessary to have her sliding from the stool and stepping into his arms.
He lifts their joined hands to his shoulder and his other finds the curve of her waist, leading her into a slow dance to the rhythm of the song.
She wants to marvel that he knows how to dance after insisting that he didn’t the other night, but there’s no way he’ll hear her over the song and the crowd and the beating of her own heart. So, instead, she just steps in closer and lays her headagainst his chest, closing her eyes as they sway together inside the most perfect moment she could ever imagine.
It would be so easy to love him. So easy to just give in and let herself fall, to feel every excruciating, wonderful, torturous thread of it wrap around her heart, wrap it up tight for him and no one else.
His fingertips trail up and down her back, sending a flurry of goosebumps over her skin. They’ll never dance like this in the middle of some overpriced catering hall with their friends and family watching and tearing up while they whisper words no one else can hear to each other. But they can have this.
It’s all over in a whirlwind. When the song ends, they pull away and Julie races across the stage to give them a hug, and they hustle away from the spotlight while she continues her set. Bianca heads into one of the dressing rooms and wipes off most of her destroyed eyeliner with a makeup wipe one of the makeup artists backstage had handy.
Xavier’s waiting for her when she gets out. “You good?” he asks and for the first time since going backstage she can hear his voice.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
They head back down into the crowd and Julie’s set is already over. Everyone in the VIP section is nursing another drink.
Xavier leans down and nearly presses his mouth to her ear to ask, “Dirty Shirley?”
She grins up at him and nods.
“Professor?” a voice asks from behind her and she cringes. She knows that voice from this past semester and she wracks her brain trying to remember what grade she gave this girl. She thinks it was an A, but . . .
Turning around, she grins at the slightly younger woman – Zoe, if she’s remembering correctly – with a group of other girls about her age.
“I knew it!” Zoe says, waving her friends over. “Guys, this is Professor Dimitriou, or I guess Dr Dimitriou now! Her Intro to Research class literally saved my life this year.”
“Hi ladies,” Bianca says, taking in the bright eager faces. God, they look so young. She’s more than a decade older than them, but it feels like at least three right now.
“That was your fiancé? He issohot.”
“Dude, that’s Professor Byrne, I had him for archaeology! Hot doesn’t even cover it.”
“You guys were so adorable up there! Can I see the ring?”
The gaggle of them let out excited shrieks when she holds out her left hand.
“It’s gorgeous. He did good.”
“Yeah, he did,” Bianca agrees, knowing the revelation that the ring belonged to his mom might send them into actual apoplexy.
Xavier comes back, drinks in hand, and smiles at the girls. It’s not a real one, just wide and bright, but enough to absolutely ruin these girls for any undergrad boys who hit on them in the foreseeable future.
“Ladies,” he says, “mind if I steal my fiancée back?”
Zoe giggles and her friends do the same. “Of course, have fun!”
“Here you go.” Xavier hands over her drink, which she downs in one long draft from the straw. “Whoa.”