We Come Alive 5

Take Me Home

Sunday afternoon, instead of spending it at home with Mateo, Kiara, and Manny along with Esmerelda, Clover went along with Dante for his dad's family barbecue. Clover had already met his dad's side of the family, but she always couldn't help but feel out of place around the strong Hispanic culture that she knew nothing about.

Clover helped some of the women cooking bring out the dishes of food to put on the serving table for everyone. When she finished, Clover went over to Dante who was talking to some of his cousins. She sat down in the empty chair next to him so she didn't interfere in the conversation.

Dante glanced at Clover as he kept speaking in Spanish. He moved his walker that was sat in front of him so she could scoot closer to him. When he motioned to Clover in the mist of his speech, she just smiled softly.

Clover turned her attention back to the party where there were vibrant colored decorations and many people were dancing to the loud music. She smiled softly seeing Joseph, Dante's dad, dancing with his girlfriend. They were dancing fast pace and Joseph was spinning her around making her purple skirt fly in the air.

The song soon ended and changed to a slow one. Joseph's smile grew wider as they started dancing together to that one. They did a simple slow dance with the love between them obvious.

Clover glanced next to her to see Dante staring at her. She looked back at the people around them for a moment, but her eyes couldn't help but dart next to her only to see Dante still staring.

"What?" She asked, scooting closer to him so she could hear him over the loud Spanish music playing around them.

Dante wrapped his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. When her face was buried in his neck, he said in her ear,

"This song is talking about a man falling in love with the most beautiful girl he's ever seen." Dante informed her. "How she probably didn't have the best body, or was the smartest, or even the kindest, she was there for him. She never left his side, even when she knew it would be easier to leave. My dad use to play it all the time when I grew up, I finally realized that girls like that exist. Girls like you."

Clover smiled softly as she looked up at him. She kissed his cheek softly before kissing his lips. "You're the biggest sweetheart I've ever met in my life."

Dante kissed her lips again, grabbing onto the table with his free hand. "Dance with me."

Clover looked at him shocked. She watched him push himself up and try to steady himself onto his feet. She got up only for him to take her hands and balance on her. Clover held him up with the best of her abilities and walked with him to the dance floor.

Everyone fell silent as all eyes landed on the young couple. Once they were in the middle of the dance floor, Dante put his hands on Clover's hips.

"Am I hurting you?" He whispered. "I don't mean to lean on you like this. I can't help it—"

"It's fine." Clover assured him, adjusting his hands on her hips so he had a comfortable grip. "You okay?"

Dante nodded, smiling as both of them had tears welling in their eyes. "Dance with me. Like we use to."

Clover wrapped her arms around Dante's neck as they swayed back and forth. They kept their eyes on one another, staring deeply into each other.

Neither one of them noticed that they were the only ones dancing anymore. They didn't notice that all eyes were on them. All they noticed was their other half in front of them.

Dante took a rough step forward with his right foot, in which Clover mirrored by stepping back with her left. He step forward with his left foot, she stepped back with her right. They did that over and over again until they were slow dancing.

It was choppy and awkward, but everyone was in tears watching it.

Dante looked down at his feet to make sure he was walking right, but Clover put her hands on his cheeks to make him look at her.

"Don't shake in your shoes." She whispered. "You're doing just fine."

Dante brought his head down and laid it on Clover's shoulder. She held onto him, rubbing his back as she felt his warm tears rolling off his cheeks and onto her skin.

Clover kept swaying to the music with him in her arms as Dante's heart was pounding. He pulled his head up to look her in the eyes.

"You know, you're the woman I'm gonna marry one day." Dante smiled. "You're the one I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with."

She laughed softly, looking up at him. "Is that a promise? Cause, I really want to walk down the isle to you. I think I'd look good in white."

"You'd look amazing in white." He smiled, kissing her cheek.

Dante went to step forward, but he felt his entire right leg give out. Before he could panic, he felt Clover step back and hold him up. With ease, she put Dante's arms around her neck so he could force his weight down on her to bring himself back up. Dante looked down at Clover and watched her bring him back up to his feet.

Clover met his gaze and smiled softly. "Don't look at me like that." She could help but laugh, a tear running down her cheek. "I'll always catch you."

Dante forgot about standing up straight and kissed her. He lost all control of his emotions and felt his heart explode. The undying, unconditional love for her pouring out of him. A burst of energy hit their bodies making chills run down their spines and goosebumps arose on their skins to the point that their heads began to spin. His lungs burned for air, but he ignored it feeling that air was no longer important as long as he felt the love he had for her burning through his veins.

When they pulled away from the kiss, they hadn't notice the song had ended a while ago. They were brought back into reality by the claps from around them.

Dante adjusted his stance so he was standing up straight. He kept his hands on Clover's body so he didn't fall over, but she didn't mind. Clover put her arm around his waist and helped him slowly back over to his seat. When he sat down, Dante brought Clover into his lap.

"Thank you for catching me."

"I catch you, you catch me. That's how we work."