Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (JoeMazzello!JohnDeacon fanfic)

sixteen

He knocks it back as soon as it's placed in front of him, handing over the money before he turns around, looking at the stage as one of the band members steps forward to the microphone, "And now folks, we're going to slow things down a little bit with the St. Bernard's Waltz."

John perks up - a waltz. He could dance to a waltz. Those were simple enough and so he gets another whisky for confidence and scans the room for Roxanne, spotting her standing by the open fire exit getting some air.

"Roxanne!" he calls as he gets closer and she turns his way, ignoring the same woman she was with earlier as she talks.

"John."

He holds out his hand, "Do you want to dance?"

A smile; a bright, breathtaking smile makes its way onto her face as she nods, slipping her hand into his and he notices how much smaller it is than his. 

"I'd love to."

He leads her onto the floor, eyebrows furrowing in adorable confusion as the rest of the couples form a circle and she lets out a soft laugh, "This is a waltz, right?"

"It is," she nods and he opens his mouth to question her on why she's got a knowing look in her eye but the music stops him.

She nods her head to the left, his right and murmurs, "Three slides."

"Wha-" he doesn't get a chance to finish because they're moving, three slides to the right as she said before stopping and he's confused when they stomp their feet twice.

"Now back," she grins, leading him back to the spot where they'd started, "Two steps forward," He does as she says, "And back again."

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the men to his left raising their arms to twirl their partners underneath and so he does the same and Roxanne's grin grows.

His hand returns respectably to her waist though she does step a little bit closer.

"Now waltz," she whispers and they do.

He gets the hand of it after that and takes the lead a little more, bravely pulling her a little bit closer every time that he twirls her under his arm until, by the end of the dance, they're practically nose to nose.

'God, she's beautiful,' he thinks as the band winds down and he doesn't like it when she steps back to cheer for the band.

"Ladies and gentlemen, that was, unfortunately, our last dance of the evening," the accordion player announces and the dancers boo, making him laugh, "The barman has asked me to tell you that if anyone is wanting one last drink, to get your orders in now."

There's a clamour for the bar and Roxanne presses closer to John to let people by and it reminds him of when she did it at Roger's party except this time, there's no wine spilling involved.
"Come on," he murmurs, taking her hand in his once more, "Let's get the guys."

She nods, returning to the table that she'd been stood beside to grab her glass which was filled with gin and lemonade.

She sips it through her straw as they make their way back to the table, stumbling when Roger practically runs into her, almost bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Hey," he breathes, "Can you give me a key to the B&B?"

"I've only got one."

He groans, looking over his shoulder at Jenny, who's waiting for him with her bag and cardigan.

"If you're wanting to go out with her, you're going to have to come back with us and get my key once we're in."

It may have only been midnight but Roxanne knew that her mum and dad would already be in bed.