[ he takes liberties. big ones, at that. the sort that catches her on the inhale and suddenly -- painfully -- she forgets to keep breathing. it's such a quiet gesture. it's the kind of escalation that's hardly an escalation at all. except that they're surrounded by people who know them and many of them altogether too clever for their own good. peggy doesn't know it yet, but it will be liberties and gestures and moments like these that lead to her ward for the evening, jane, puzzling out this relationship in hindsight.
her grip fists in the back of his suit jacket. a clumsy, telling motion. and when she finally releases the breath she'd been holding hard in her lungs, it hints at a bittersweet defeat. she could argue with him over his ever-expanding definition of dancing, but that would only remind her of other conversations and other flirtations.
no, she would much rather gather up all that spoiled potential into one tightly coiled spring and spend it all on him -- away from this venue. no matter how much she might ordinarily enjoy the barter and the play and the act of twisting that spring tighter and tighter and tighter.
peggy shuts her eyes. for one brief moment she pulls him close, flush against her body, and makes a rather selfish calculation. perhaps not the best way to start a new year, but the decision is already made when she whispers against his cheek: ]
-- Wait a few minutes before you follow.
[ peggy tells him. and maybe another song has already started, but she frees him from her careful lead with a gentle nudge and a retreating step. she doesn't tell him where she's going, but he's also too clever for his own good. she has every faith that he will figure it out even before she ducks back into the crowd -- escaping the ballroom ten minutes shy of midnight. ]
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her grip fists in the back of his suit jacket. a clumsy, telling motion. and when she finally releases the breath she'd been holding hard in her lungs, it hints at a bittersweet defeat. she could argue with him over his ever-expanding definition of dancing, but that would only remind her of other conversations and other flirtations.
no, she would much rather gather up all that spoiled potential into one tightly coiled spring and spend it all on him -- away from this venue. no matter how much she might ordinarily enjoy the barter and the play and the act of twisting that spring tighter and tighter and tighter.
peggy shuts her eyes. for one brief moment she pulls him close, flush against her body, and makes a rather selfish calculation. perhaps not the best way to start a new year, but the decision is already made when she whispers against his cheek: ]
-- Wait a few minutes before you follow.
[ peggy tells him. and maybe another song has already started, but she frees him from her careful lead with a gentle nudge and a retreating step. she doesn't tell him where she's going, but he's also too clever for his own good. she has every faith that he will figure it out even before she ducks back into the crowd -- escaping the ballroom ten minutes shy of midnight. ]