Do you really wanna live forever?
*****
"I can't do this anymore!" I shout as loud as I can so my voice could be heard through the music beating inside the pub. I know that he can hear my words but he refuses to take them into consideration and he just doesn't let me go. "I'm serious, Tom. I am done with this! Let me go!" I try to sound as firm as I can because I need him to take me seriously.
"Come on! Don't be a quitter" he says as his grip grows tighter around my waist. His hips are pressed against my ass and his breath makes my hair tickle my cheeks.
"A quitter? I am not a quitter, Thomas. I simply know my limits and I have reached it a long time ago. I am fucking dehydrated" I say as I squirm inside his arms. I fail to free myself from his grasp but I manage to get face to face to this relentless, ruthless Lord of the dance that my boyfriend has turned into.
When we arrived at the pub the party was already started and everyone was way ahead with their drinking so Tom and I quickly began our race to catch up to them.
As soon as we walked in, we were separated when Robert and Chris took Tom and I was literally dragged by Scarlett, who practically forced me to share every detail of our first date. I have to say that I found myself feeling quite flattered by the fact that she seemed to be fully informed about my relationship's status; Tom talked to her about me a lot and that makes me strangely happy.
"Calvin at Windows? Whoa! He really went big with that one, didn't he?" she beamed overly excited when I told her where he took me. Again, her skills as an actress, though they are undeniable on screen, are terribly lacking in real life, because something in her demeanor made me realize that she was the one who suggested the place. Even though Tom said he'd always wanted to go there, I am pretty sure it was her idea. "You look lovely, by the way" she added.
When I stepped inside the bar and noticed that everyone was wearing way more casual outfits than me, I remember feeling as self-conscious about my dress as I felt back in the restaurant. If I was feeling underdress back there, now I was definitely feeling extremely overdressed.
"Maybe I should go home and change into something more adequate" I whispered to Tom after I scanned every single woman in the room and discovered that neither of them was wearing a dress.
"Not a chance. If anyone is taking that dress off of your back, is going to be me" Tom claimed softly in my ear. That alone was putting my third rule into some serious consideration. "And there will not be another change of clothes" Rule number three: Crumbling to the ground like the Berlin wall.
For a couple of hours, Tom and I remained separated from each other. I chatted with Scarlett and Elizabeth for most of the night and every time I would look at the bar, I would find Tom staring at me with an absent look on his face and an indelible dreamy smile. I would laugh every time Robert or Chris tried to recover his attention to whatever it was they were talking about.
Eventually, he managed to get himself free from his friends and he came to the table to claim me as her dance partner.
The first song we danced to, was clearly one of his favorites because he proudly displayed his entire movement repertoire while I just kept recycling the same move over and over again, maybe with some slight variations in my arms.
I like to dance and I am pretty good, but this man was putting me to shame. Me and the rest of the other mortals who had the courage to dance anywhere near him.
"I have seen that movement before, baby. I got to say is pretty hot!" I screamed through the loud music as he kept wiggling his hips to the rhythm of some 80's song that only Tom could possibly recognize.
"It's called the snake hips!" he shouted so proud of himself that I just died of cuteness overload. If that's even a real thing.
And in that moment he grabbed me by the waist and he dragged me into his frenetic and unflagging pace which I didn't have any problem to keep up whatsoever. For the first forty-five minutes, or so.
And that was an hour ago.
An entire freaking hour has passed and this man, scratch that, this machine, won't stop moving; he is swirling, twisting, swaying and spinning me around like if I was made out of wool. Like a goddamned ragdoll or something.
At this point, I am no longer his dance partner. I am his hostage. And I am pretty sure that my feet are covered in blood by now because they hurt like a bitch.
As I try to focus on something other than my possibly injured-for-life feet, I can't help but think about not only Harry but all of my ex-boyfriends and casual dates I ever had and how I used to beg them to take me dancing. They all hated that sort of divertissement and even when they'd finally agree to take me to a club, they would only amuse me for a couple of songs before they'd eventually leave me dancing on my own as they would fetch themselves a beer or a shot of whatever worked for them and simply sat on the table until I would finally give in to my annoyance and decide to go home. I remember how I would argue with them because they couldn't even indulge me with a decent night out and right now, I am literally begging for my life. Or that the jukebox would simply get busted.
Be careful what you wish for.
"One last song... Please? The one I picked is coming next and I really want you to dance it with me" he says just when the current song is beginning to fade away and the next track is playing its first chords.
The biggest smile crosses my face as the pain in my body wanes. Not only because the track is significantly slower than the last ones, but also because I recognize it.
I love this song and if ever had the fantasy of slow dancing with someone; it would have probably been my first choice. Both the song and the man.
"Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while. Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies..." One of his arms curls around my waist, pulling me closer to his body. "Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?" The fingers of his free hand run lazily from my shoulder and down to my hand as he intertwines them with mine and he finally adopts the leading position. "Let us die young or let us live forever. We don't have the power, but we never say never..." We are swaying softly to the kind rhythm of this beautiful song and I rest my cheek against his chest. I close my eyes and even though my smile is not as wide as it was seconds ago, it is still there. The beating of his heart is beginning to slow down to a normal pace and I just stay there, synching the music to his beats. "Sitting in a sand-pit, life is a short trip. The music's for the sad men" For a second, behind my closed eyelids, Rose's face appears. She is smiling at me but she is shaking her head in disapproval. Is like she is telling me not to think about her and just focus on him.
"Can you imagine when this race is run? Turn our golden faces into sun. Praising our leaders, we're getting in tune. The music's played by the mad men" I feel the tender itch of a tear as it breaks through my lashes and rolls down on my cheek. The smile is still on because that tear is not made out of sadness. "Forever young, I want to be forever young... Do you really want to live forever, forever, forever?" I heed to the image of Rose and I replace it with another one. A much more perfect one.
Tom and I, dancing to this song exactly like we are dancing right now only that our skin look rather aged. We are older and as beautiful as ever; his head is gracefully stained with some silver hairs and the wrinkles by his eyes are deeper. His smile is wide and full of love towards me and the life we built together. I look tired but happy as if I just spent the entire day chasing around our grandchildren and playing with them in the backyard of our country-side cottage where Tom and I decided to retreat to once we send off our kids out to live their lives wherever they chose to.
"Some are like water, some are like the heat. Some are a melody and some are the beat..." We are the water and the heat. We are the melody and also the beat. "Sooner or later they all will be gone... Why don't they stay young?" The song picks up its pace and I get pulled away from my perfect vision when he pushes me away from his chest to spin me around.
He does it slowly and he follows my waist with his hand as I make my way back to him. He notices the trail of the tear in my face but he doesn't say a word. He just leans to kiss it dry. "It's hard to get old without a cause. I don't want to perish like a fading horse..." Our bodies are pressed together again and we keep on slow dancing even though the song is a bit faster now. "Youth is like diamonds in the sun and diamonds are forever"
Is it just me or everyone else in the room has disappeared? I can't hear any other voice other than the one singing this song and I refuse to open my eyes.
The perfect vision is back and I want to stay there for a little longer. Outside of my idyllic description of our possible future, I am only aware of my hand resting on the back of his neck as my thumb slips under the collar of his t-shirt. The warmth of his skin is delicious.
"So many adventures couldn't happen today. So many songs that we forgot to play. So many dreams swinging out of the blue..." It won't be so difficult to keep Rose's promise, after all.
How can I not follow my heart when my mind, body and soul are running in the exact same direction?
"...We let them come true"
A/N: Okay... I swear this is not going to become a habit but I felt like I needed to explain the shortness of this chapter.
I have been under a dry spell recently and I couldn't seem to get anything written but I heard this song and I felt suddenly inspired by it and I hope I can finally recover.
The chapter is short but I think it is gorgeous and it finally depicts everything she's feeling about him and that she really can't fight it anymore. If she ever did.
I was meant to make it longer but I felt bad for not submitting anything last week so I decided to upload it anyway and continue on the next one.
I hope you like it and let me know what you think!
P.S: In the story, they dance to the Youth Group version of the song but when I was looking for the right video to post, I remembered the cover One Direction made a few years back and I decided to go with that one, because I truly think they made a beautiful job!
Love you all!
Lucy Hide.