Rekindled

I'm Gonna Be Somebody

"So how come you never told me that you spoke Swedish?" I asked as Jimmy and I walked out of the church and out into the brisk New York City night. It wasn't too cold to where we would have to take shelter from the cold, but it was more of Winter teetering on the edge of Spring. Just cold enough to wear Jimmy's jacket, but warm enough that he was barely shivering in his sweatshirt he managed to take back from me during some point during the night. Jimmy grinned and squeezed my hand as he gave me a side eye from his side of the sidewalk. "How come you never told me you could play the piano? Would have saved me some embarrassment of trying to teach you how to read music a few weeks ago." I nodded and couldnt help but giggle. "You didnt ask me." I said with a little sass, causing Jimmy to turn towards me and raise his eyebrow. "Well, I suppose I could use the same reasoning." He quipped and I clicked my tongue, nodding to let him know I was very much aware that I have finally met my match. "I see how it is, Fallon." I began to pull away from his hand to feign being upset at him but he called my bluff and pulled me across the sidewalk into his side as he untangled our fingers and put his arm on the small of my back, leaning down to whisper in my hair. "I just got you back, you're not getting away from me that easy, McConall. But.." He took his lips away but not before leaving a few kisses on the ridge of my ear. "If you must know, my grandmother.." I looked up at him and he glanced at me from the side. "On my mother's side..." he smiled, giving a cute little ruffle of his eyebrows, probably curious as to why I was so attentive and interested but to tell the truth, I would listen to him recite the phone book if it meant hearing his voice. "is Norwegian and their dialect isnt too far off from Swedish, so she taught me the basics. All I told the waiter in there was that you couldnt speak Swedish. I can do that and order some food and wine, other than that I would be useless."

I felt something wet hit my face as I watched him while he spoke of his grandmother. He was in the middle of a story about her teaching him how to make Norwegian meatballs, which he admitted, although affectionately, that were really just Swedish meatballs but since she's Norwegian that is what she called them. He had let go of my hand for the first time the entire walk back to his house, his arms bringing his story to life as he moved about, animated as he spoke. I smiled and cuddled myself into his jacket more as the snow began to come down hard and I couldnt help but become enamored with Jimmy in the moment. Because in this moment, while the snow began to threaten to cover everything around us, sticking to the sidewalk and my eyelashes, Jimmy hadnt even noticed the white veil that fell between us. He was imitating someone, either his grandmother or his mother, and he was smiling, the love for this person clearly written on his face. It made me hope that one day I would be fortunate enough to share the kitchen with the same woman who could make this man perform for me on a snowy street corner, rolling imaginary meatballs with his hands and speaking with a thick, falsetto Brooklyn accent.

"Jim?" I managed to speak in between his monologues, making Jimmy drop his hands and look down at me. "Yeah, honey?" I sighed at the butterflies that made their presence known in both my heart and my stomach at the thought of sharing pet names with him. He was my boyfriend now, I suppose I should get used to that, but something told me I never would. I was okay with that, strangely enough. I pointed around us, pulling Jimmy out of his oblivious state. "Huh? Has it been snowing this whole time?" I shook my head. "No, it started somewhere between the Swedish lesson and the first meatball. Did you really think it had been snowing all night?" Jimmy shrugged as he held out his hand and watched a snowflake cascade into his hand. "It could have been, I wouldnt have known any different." Jimmy held his hand out and for a second I saw the perfect snowflake before it melted against the warmth that was purely Jim. I felt his eyes wander up to mine as he spoke. "There was something far more beautiful stealing my attention tonight." He cleared his throat as I sighed while he stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. "There is something far more beautiful stealing my attention tonight and hopefully, many more nights like this to come." I tucked myself under his chin and took a deep breath in, smelling the wonderful mulled wine lingering somewhere on his person while managing to blend wonderfully with a scent that could only be described as purely Jimmy. It was a clean, subtle scent. Refreshing to the palate and easily recognizable, like it was his own signature and I wished to have it permanently written on me. "Well, if I have anything to say in the matter, there will be." Jimmy pulled back from our embrace and had this brilliant smile on his face.