Preparations

Dances

"That was very brave if you, Linda." Danny told her as they drove to her apartment.
"Yeah..."
"You stood up to 'em. Those bastards..." Danny looked at Linda, automatically apologizing, "oh, I'm sorry, Linda."
"No, it's okay. They are bastards."
"What're you going to do now?"
Linda shrugged, "put them outta my mind and... and focus on my wedding."
"That's an excellent thing to focus on."
"Danny?"
"Yeah?"
Linda smiled, "do you know how to dance?"
"Dance what? The tango, the swing, the foxtrot..."
"Yes."
Danny laughed, "Are you kidding? I can't dance."
"You did pretty well at the school dances."
"That's cause I wanted to impress you."
Linda smiled, "you impressed me, alright.... but would you be willing to take dance classes?"
"No."
"Please?" Linda pouted as Danny parked the car. "Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar and berries and candies and chocolate and flowers on top?"
Danny laughed, "no."
*****
"I can't believe you talked me into this." Danny sighed as he drove to their destination.
"Oh, come on, Danny! It'll be fun!" Linda smiled widely as her fiancé shook his head.
"The things I do for love."
The nurse smirked, "you're gonna have fun! Dancing is fun!"
*****
"See, Danny? Wasn't that fun?" Linda smiled as she linked arms with Danny while they walked to a nearby restaurant to eat lunch.
"Okay, so it was a little fun."
"A little? No, you were having more than a little fun! You were smiling the whole time—"
"Maybe I was smilin' cause I was with you." He kissed Linda's cheek, making her blush a little.
"Were you?"
"Yeah. I always smile when you're near me."
She squeezed Danny's arm, "isn't that a lyric to a song?"
"Probably."
******
Linda and Danny's wedding was in one month, and they were crazy busy. Linda ran from downtown to uptown to midtown and back again. She barely had time to go to the weekly dance lessons.
"I can't believe our wedding's next month." Linda hugged Danny as they waited in the waiting area for the class to begin.
"Me, neither. It seems like only yesterday I met you."
"I know. What happened to the time when a month seemed like a year?"
"We grew up. I think that realization hits a tiny bit in high school."
"Yeah."
They talked more about their wedding until the dance instructor, Karen, invited them in.
*****
In that class, they learned a move to swing dancing. The leader took the follower's hands, she squatted down, he flung his led over her arms, and pulled her through while she jumped and slid.
"Whaddaya call that?" Danny wondered.
"An invitation to pain?" Linda smirked, causing the rest of the class to giggle.
"There is no real name for it," Karen shrugged. "Let's try it!"
By the end of the class, everyone was nearly in tears of laughter, as the kept making flirty remarks to their partners, and falling over each other.
Danny pulled Linda threw his legs a little too aggressively, sending her straight into the wall. "D@mmit." He walked up to her. "You okay, babe?"
"I hope you're that enthusiastic on our honeymoon!" She laughed as Danny helped her up.
"You'll just have to wait and see," he bit her neck before they, and everyone else, cascaded into fits of laughter.
After they had stopped laughing, Karen asked, "you're okay, though, right? No broken bones?"
"Nope, it didn't hurt that bad," Linda shrugged.
******
"You threw her across the room?" Erin laughed at Linda's story that Sunday dinner.
"More or less."
The family laughed at the situation, and joked about it for years to come.