I Can't Lose You (1)

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 23rd June 2009

Characters: Traelyn, B'ram
Description: While dancing with B'ram, Traelyn thinks she sees someone she knows, and things don't end very well for the couple.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 15 of Turn 5

B'ram

"You think you'll be ready to dance by the next song?" Traelyn asked, glancing over at B'ram and his half-eaten plate of food. "Or do you want to finish that?"

"I've got to eat! I'm a growing boy!" he protested with mock indignation. "Besides," he leaned in to whisper low in her ear, "I will need my strength for later, won't I?"

She bit her lip, but the grin still curved her lips. "Most likely."

"But you want to dance, don't you," B'ram said with a knowing smile.

"You know I do." The look she gave him was imploring, and she widened her eyes for effect. "Don't you?"

He rolled his eyes as if she were asking him something that was a total inconvenience. "Fine, fine. I'll dance with you." The brownrider leaned in, his lips almost touching hers. "But I think I deserve a kiss for being so accommodating."

One hand slid around to the back of his neck, and Traelyn obliged him--and very willingly too. The kiss didn't last too long, but just long enough for him to get a slightly glazed look in his eyes when they parted. Grinning knowingly, she lightly ran her thumb across his lips. "How's that?"

He reached up and curled his fingers around hers. "That's definitely worth a dance. Come on."

Traelyn followed him out on the dance floor, already swaying a little bit to the beat of the music. Playfully she bumped her hip against his and laughed when he bumped her back. "Should we just barge through?" she asked, eying the twirling couples all mashed together on the floor.

"You're the Weyrwoman. I have a feeling they'll move for you," he whispered in her ear as she tried to push against him again, catching her around the waist.

Grinning, she nudged him out into the throng of people before quickly picking up the pace to match everyone else. Luckily they made it in without bumping into anyone and shells but she felt good! The music was beautiful, she felt light on her feet, and B'ram's hands were deliciously warm and tight on her body.

B'ram was just enjoying the way she was smiling - relaxed and flirtatious. He liked her this way. It was natural. This was the way a couple was supposed to smile at each other, and he enjoyed it tremendously. He liked the way when he twirled her under his arm her head quickly whipped around to meet his eyes again, like she couldn't take her eyes off of him, just like his eyes were fixed on her. His hands slid down her sides as he pulled her against him once more. The brownrider could see the disappointment in her eyes as the song ended.

The silence was brief, and the Harpers wasted no time in starting up another song. But this one was slower, softer, sweeter. Traelyn's fingers tightened on his tunic and she leaned in close. "Keep going?" she asked softly, hips already swaying gently.

"Hmmm," he hummed thoughtfully, his hands curling around her waist as her arms circled his neck. "It would be a shame to go back now, wouldn't it."

"It'd be tragic," she grinned, letting her head rest against his shoulder.

They swayed back and forth for the first few measures, surrounded by couples absorbed with each other in like kind. One couple was so engrossed in the moment that they failed to see that they were slowly moving right along the same path as B'ram and Trae and the moment was broken as they accidentally bumped into them. The two gentlemen quietly muttered their apologies to each other before resuming their dance in a different direction.

And it was then when Traelyn spotted a head of curly dark hair before her eyes closed. Shards, he had almost looked like.... They immediately snapped open, and she raised her head slightly, scanning the moving throng, searching for those dark curls. It _couldn't_ have been him. What was she thinking? Traelyn bit her lip. Well, she _wasn't_ thinking. He lived on the other side of the world and intended to stay there, so why would he come here now? Silently chiding herself for being so stupid, she forced herself to concentrate on the dance, on B'ram's body moving slowly against her own, but....shells....she couldn't help but keep glancing in the general direction of where she'd glimpsed those familiar dark curls.

B'ram noticed her sudden restlessness and assumed it had something to do with the couple they had collided with. "Are you all right?"

"What?" Shaking herself from her thoughts, she glanced up at him, a faint trace of a frown lingering on her face. "Sorry, B'ram...."

The corners of his mouth turned down slightly as his brow furrowed. "What is it?" Her mood had certainly changed in a hurry.

He could read her far too well. "What's what?"

The brownrider didn't even pretend to keep dancing as he stopped, leaning back to look at her full in the face. That reply, her evading the question as if he were imagining things... Shards, did she think he was stupid? "I'm not in the mood for games, Trae."

She ground her teeth, irritated. Shards! Why couldn't he just leave it be? Why did he always have to push her? "Well, that's good to hear because neither am I, B'ram. It's nothing, all right?"

"If it were nothing, you would tell me," he growled softly, knowing that it was not only _something_, but something she wanted to keep secret from him, which only made him more annoyed. There were no secrets between them any more, he had thought.

For Faranth's sake! Anything to get him off her back.... "I thought I saw someone I knew. That's all." It couldn't have been him.

If that was it then why wouldn't she tell him from the start? Unless it was someone she didn't want him to know about... "Who?" he asked suspiciously.

"It doesn't matter, B'ram! It wasn't him."

**Him?** Keeping her eyes out for former lovers, was she? He folded his arms angrily across his chest. "Well, maybe you should make sharding sure that it wasn't _him_. Maybe _he_ is here looking for a sharding dance partner! You wouldn't want to keep your line of admirers waiting on _my_ account."

"Would you stop being so ridiculous?" she snarled. "I'm _glad_ it wasn't him!" It was a lie, and she knew it. "I didn't want him to ruin our night, but you're already taking sharding care of _that_."

"Oh, well, I'm so sorry for ruining your evening then. Perhaps it's time we just call it a night." He was too angry to wait for a reply. How dare she blame _him_! Things had been going great until she had started pining for former lovers.

"Fine!" she snapped.

"Fine!" The brownrider didn't even care that he was causing a scene as he brushed past couples trying to enjoy an intimate moment as he made his way through the crowd and out the door.

Last updated on the July 4th 2009

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I Can't Lose You (1)