
There is no one here but you and him.
He offers a hand to help pull you up and you are Rose Lalonde, flighty broad. You are also Rose Lalonde, thirteen years old, and you are too tired to pretend you’re not. You take it and he pulls you up.
He doesn’t let go and there are a few awkward seconds in which he rearranges your hand in his so yours is cupped underneath, like one half of a tortoise’s shell over another. He pulls you close with his other hand.
You have taken enough dance lessons to recognize what this is. “You don’t know how to dance,” you rasp, your throat dry as a beach after all that’s happened. It’s not true – he does know how to dance, but it’s John who knows how to waltz (and Jade who knows how to do the robot). You can see the four-way webcam conversations in the back of her mind, far away now, in a different life.
Maybe he looks a glint unamused behind his glasses. “Yeah,” he says.
So he doesn’t dance. You just sway slowly slowly slowly back and forth, the pull and push of waves against the shore. Slowly slowly slowly, your head sinks, a white-gold sun to set on his shoulder. His breath brushes against your bangs, warm and light like the air from a forge.
There is no one here but you and him.
AaaaaAAAAAAAH, omg, omg.
Guys look how beautiful this piece of writing is, aaaaah!


