All This Time [ON HIATUS]

Chapter 12 - Shall We Dance? Part 2

Chapter 12 - Shall We Dance? (Part 2)

Unedited

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As Julie waited for Elmo, to untangle himself from Veronica's arms that was around his neck, and stood up from the stool where he was seated and walked towards her before she turned away and went to the dance floor near the patio doors that leads to the garden stopping on her tracks, she looked to the ground to calm the erratic beating of her heart.

After she and Aiden left to the dance floor earlier, couldn't get Elmo's reaction to the news of her engagement out of her head. He looked like a man who had his heart broken, and lost his hopes and dream in that moment. And when she looked in his eyes she saw anguish, anger, hopelessness, confusion and determination. She so badly wanted to talk to him, to explain things so whem the moment they locked eyes, she pleaded to him to let her explain, when he nodded his head she felt relieved that he got her message.

Whilst she was dancing with Aiden, she couldn't focus on the conversation she was having with Aiden, her eyes wandered around the hall where the ball is, hoping to see the man who was making her feel all kinds of emotions.

When she finally saw him, he was talking to a woman, who she recognized as Veronica, at the bar she was surprised to feel an extreme jealousy, more so when she saw Veronica closed the distance between her and Elmo. She saw when Veronica slowly stepped between his legs and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was watching them so intently that when Veronica planted her lips on his, she felt the tears well up in her eyes, and the her chest tightened, she felt she couldn't breathe.

"Excuse me, I need to go to the ladies room." She choked out finally tearing her eyes away from them.

"Okay ka lang babe?" Aiden asked with concern when she saw Julie breathing hard.

"I'm okay, I just need a moment."

Walking away from Aiden, and out of the ballroom she headed straight for the ladies room. On the way there, she tried to smile the best she can at the employees who greeted her. Once inside the ladies room, she checked each stall to make sure that she was alone.

Turning around to face the mirror, she looked at her self and noticed how her mascara became smudged from when tears started to well up in her eyes. She took out paper towels fron the dispenser, soaking it with water, wiping at the smudged mascara. When she was done, she opened her clutch bag and started to re-apply her make up to make her look presentable again. Once she finished, she looked at herself again, took deep breaths to collect herself and started to give herself a pep talk.

Kaya mo yan Julie. Just take deep breaths.

He's your best friend, hindi ka dapat mag selos. You already have a fiance who you love.

Ang tanong mahal mo ba talaga? Another part of her brain asked.

Of course! Papayag ba naman ako magpakasal kung hindi?

Before or after you realized that you're still in love with your bestfriend?

That was a long time ago, I've moved on. Kung ano man ang nararamdaman ko para sakaniya, it's purely platonic.

Is that why you wanted him to kiss you on your supposedly friendly date, and you wanting to kiss him so badly?

She froze at that thought, because to be honest, she so badly did. She had enjoyed every minute she spent with him that she almost forgot about Aiden, her fiance.

Almost.

Until her phone started ringing at the exact moment when she and Elmo were leaning into each other for a kiss. Seeing Aiden's name at that moment, brought her back down to reality from the high she felt from spending time with Elmo.

That was why she felt like she needed to explain things to Elmo, to let him know that she never intended to lead him along, that in all honestly, having a boyfriend and being recently engaged slipped her mind.

At the moment, she was feeling confused and uncertain. She knew after seeing Elmo again, and spending time with him that she still has the same feelings she had 4 years ago that she thought she had moved on from. His sudden reappearance in her life is making her doubt her decision at accepting Aiden's proposal. Now she was unsure of her relationship with, she has for a while, after his slip-up which he promised would never happen again, but eventually forgave him because at the time, she was sure she's in love with him. Although she loves him still, she wasn't sure if she ever really fell in love with him, not until Elmo showed up.

Elmo

The thought of him brought her back from her thoughts, remembering that he was out there sucking faces with SJC's very own snake, Veronica, she looked at her reflection one last time before going back out to the ball room with her chin up, her head held high and determination in her eyes. Once inside, she scanned the dance floor checking to see if Aiden was still waiting for her. When she found her talking to his colleagues on the far side of the ball room near the stage, she looked towards the bar to check if Elmo was still there with the snake.

Yep. Still there and.... sucking each other's face.

She schooled her face to hide her emotions before marching towards their location. When she was three steps away, she took a deep breath trying to control her emotions. She tapped him on the shoulders. She got a groan from him in response before he broke away from the kiss and looking behind him. After telling him the excuse she thought just moments ago, she turned around and walked away.

Now here she was, still have her head looking down lost in her thoughts when she heard the clearing of a throat behind her. She took a deep breath, schooled her features and plastered a smile on her face before turning around to face him.

His eyes were glazed over, five buttons from his shirt open, lipstick staining his mouth and a messy hair.

In his disheveled state, she still found him irresistable, and adorable.

Thanks to Veronica, her thought spat out.

She hated it knowing that Veronica was responsible for him looking like that.

Because deep down she knew. She wanted to be the only who can make him look like that.

Still looking at him, she took a few steps closer, instantly closing the distance between them. She reached out, in her tip toes, to fix his hair by combing it with her hands. Next, she buttoned his shirt all the way to the top, and fixing the collar of his shirt. Lastly, using her hands, she wiped the lipstick stain from his lips. All the while she was doing that, she could feel his eyes on her, watching her every move. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

They locked gazes for a few moments, without any word being exchanged. When Elmo heard a very familiar song playing, he held out his hand for her.

"May I have this dance?" He asked with a cheeky smile.

"Yes you may." She answered back with a smile of her own.

She knew that they still have to talk, knowing that he might have questions for her and that she needed to explain things.

But for now, she wanted to stay where they are, even for just for a little while, wrapped in each other's arm.

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A/N: I never intended to post an update this early after posting the previous chapter a few days ago, but due to the 3 friends I have (who I mentioned on the previous chapter) who were too eager for an update and kept hounding me for it on twitter, I conceded. I know I'm too good of a friend. Lol

Anyway, this here is the fruit of their non-stop hounding of me for an update.

Keep spreading the JE Love!

Don't hate, just LOVE! :)

Peace y'all!

PS. Time check 3:48 am 😒