Angel Face

Does It Really Matter?

XLV

It didn't come to me as a surprise when Duncan managed to charm his way out of Elle's verbal trap. But, that didn't mean he escaped it unscathed.

Elle had put the condition that to dance with me, Duncan would first have to dance with her. Now, as innocent as that may sound. It was proven otherwise when Duncan came back with an obvious and a very prominent limp. Elle couldn't have looked more pleased. But, on the brighter side, I got the opportunity to catch up with Helena about every new development on both of our ends.

Apparently, the adoption process was taking longer than usual since; one, being at the prime of their age and fully capable of reproducing, they were lower on the priority list. And two, they hadn't found the child, yet. Another shocking news, that Helena hit me with was, that Claire and Ezra had eloped and no one knows where they currently are. But, according to Helena, Claire's mom, Jade, is privy to the information but is keeping it under the wraps to give the couple some alone time together.

From my end, I filled Helena in on Clarissa's situation. As we had planned, Clarissa had visited the OB-GYN and had called me up to tell me that she was indeed pregnant and the baby was perfectly fine. She also told me that she had a run in with Ryan at the hospital and that they had decided to have a friendly slash apology dinner sometime next week, to catch up, and to apologise for shutting the poor guy out when he just wanted to be there for her. Next, Helena pestered me to spill every 'juicy' detail of Duncan and I's progress. But, I believe I was doing a pretty good job of shutting her down with a series of short nos and nopes.

"Are you okay?" Worry laced my voice as I saw Duncan wince at every step that he took. He gave me a tight smile before dropping on the seat next to me. "Oh, don't worry about him, darling. He can take a few little pokes from my Loubs." My eyes drifted to Elle before settling back on Duncan.

He shook his head before standing back up and holding his hand out to me. I gave his hand a scrutinizing look before looking back at him. "May I have this dance, m'lady?" I huffed a laugh before taking his hand. He already had a British accent. Yet, he smiled and tried to sound posh, making his own accent sound fake. "That... was horrible." Judging by the low snicker from Helena and the amused look on Elle's face, they agreed with me.

Duncan just rolled his eyes with an amused smile of his own, and pulled me to my feet before wrapping his arm around me. "But, are you sure about this? You were limping." I frowned as I searched for any sign of hesitance or discomfort on his face. "Don't worry about it." He gave me a crooked smile. "Elle's right. I don't even feel a thing." He tried to reassure. "I hope, you mean it in a good way." I mumbled with pursed lips. His lips stretched into a smile as he whispered a soft "Let's go."

He lead me on to the dance floor and slipped his left hand around my waist, pulling me closer. I gasped and placed my free hand on his chest, when I felt myself teeter on my heels. I looked up, accidentally brushing our noses in the process, making me realise just how close we were. He smirked down at me, making me roll my eyes before looking to the side as I felt my ears heat up. My hand slowly slipped from his chest to around his neck as we started swaying to the soft instrumental of some familiar song.

I closed my eyes and relaxed as I felt him peck the top of my head before tucking my head under his chin. "You're a good dancer." He mused in a whisper. I hummed in return, not wanting to break the serenity of the moment. "I believe, you've had practice from all the fund-raisers, yes?" But, clearly Duncan preferred to talk. I let out a sigh as I raised my head to look at him and removed my hand from his, only to snake it around his neck. As a result his hand dropped, to join his other hand at my hip.