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Suletta woke up in a panic. It had been another one of those nightmares again - Suletta had been walking in the woods with Miorine on a pleasant hike, when suddenly, Miorine disappeared.
Every once in a while Suletta would get some variation of the same terrifying nightmare where Miorine disappeared or was injured somehow. The panic rarely lasted long though, as she was able to locate Miorine almost immediately in the bed beside her, putting those fears to rest instantly; only this time, Miorine wasn’t in the bed beside her…
“Miorine?” Suletta called out. When there was no response, Suletta got up at once and began her search through the house. She visited the most common locations she could think of where Miorine would go and sure enough -
Suletta felt the rush of fear dissipate as she spotted Miorine sitting in one of the two dark red armchairs located in front of the fireplace, reading a book. Thank goodness you’re okay, Miorine. Her reading glasses were resting on the bridge of her nose as she studied the page she was reading intently. Still, if Miorine was out here in the middle of the night, there had to be something on her mind that was making sleep impossible for her, Suletta realized, sadness mixing in with the relief she felt.
Hot chocolate, that always seems to help when Miorine’s upset, Suletta thought suddenly. She was about to sneak away to make some when Miorine heard her footsteps shuffling.
“Suletta, is that you? What are you doing up so late?”
“I’ll be right back!” Suletta said, racing away, undoubtedly leaving Miorine in confusion. It didn’t take long for her to finish the hot chocolate and make her way back to where Miorine was sitting.
“Where did you go all of a sudden? That was the strangest thing - I swear Suletta, you are always keeping me on my toes,” Miorine said fondly. Miorine moved the reading glasses from her eyes as she surveyed the large coffee mugs in Suletta’s hands. “Is that…?”
“Hot chocolate,” Suletta said with a nod.
“Oh my goodness, you didn’t have to…” Miorine shook her head. “Suletta, you always know just how to cheer me up.”
“It’s too hot to drink now, but it should cool down soon,” Suletta warned, not wanting Miorine to burn herself from the scalding hot water.
“Good idea,” Miorine said as they shared a small kiss. She placed the mug on the end table beside her, careful not to miss the coaster when she set it down. “Now you didn’t answer my question. Why aren’t you sleeping right now?”
“I had a bad dream and noticed you weren’t in bed,” Suletta said. “I wanted to check on you. Is everything alright?”
“It’s fine, just some stress at work,” Miorine explained.
Suletta grabbed a book from the shelf lining the wall and made her way over to the chair beside Miorine.
“What do you think you’re - “
“I’m staying up with you,” Suletta said.
“Just because I’m having trouble sleeping, doesn’t mean you should miss out on it too. Not to mention you have a busy day at work tomorrow,” Miorine softened her voice even more, “please go back to bed, I’ll be there soon - “
“No way, I’m not leaving you out here alone,” Suletta said firmly. “I want to be here in case you need someone to talk to. Sometimes, that helps! Besides, I’ve really been wanting to read this book.” That was technically a lie, but Suletta didn’t want Miorine to worry she wouldn’t have anything to occupy her time with if Miorine wasn’t really in the mood for talking and just needed someone beside her.
“ You want to read The Intricacies of Business Management?” Miorine asked, unable to hold back a chuckle.
Oh no , Suletta hadn’t actually looked at the book she’d grabbed. “You never know, maybe one day I’ll want to become a manager. It’s never too early to start looking into that kind of thing…” but the hard look on Miorine’s face showed she wasn’t buying it. “Okay fine, I wasn’t being completely truthful. But it’s going to be hard to fall back asleep knowing something’s bothering you…so really, my staying out here is as much a help to me as it is to you, umm, hopefully is to you.”
“It is a help to me,” Miorine said. “A huge help. But, if you end up getting too tired or it’s too late…”
Suletta didn’t respond, not wanting to make that kind of promise, but Miorine had surprisingly decided not to argue any longer about it. Suletta figured deep down she was thankful to have someone around her.
Miorine sighed, her soft expression disappearing for a moment, “we lost a potential investor today. A big one.”
“But that happens all the time to every company,” Suletta said. “You can’t get mad at yourself for that.”
Miorine paused. “It does, but this time was different. We lost the investor because of something I said. The head executive was saying some really awful things, and…I lost my temper.”
“Well, whatever you said, he deserved it. You’ll be better off not being represented by someone like that, anyway,” Suletta said. “It’s better to stand up for what’s right than to let someone treat you that way.”
“I know…it’s just, it was a lot of money,” Miorine said. “You are right though, it would’ve been worse if I’d kept silent and taken his investment. I just wish we’d had more luck.”
“There’s always next time,” Suletta said. “I have faith in you and the company. Look how far you’ve come.”
Miorine smiled, clearly grateful for the words, but Suletta was sure it wasn’t enough. Miorine looked apologetic as she said, “thank you for trying to cheer me up. It means the world to me and you have helped so much already, but I don’t think this is something I can quiet my mind about so easily.”
“Well, then we’ll just have to find other things to think about,” Suletta said, opening to the first page. “Go ahead, I’m all set over here.”
She had started to read the first few words when she spotted Miorine shaking her head from the side of her view.
“You’re not really going to read that, are you? It was enough to put me to sleep, and I usually love reading about that kind of thing,” Miorine said suddenly, amusement clear in her voice. “You don’t have to do that just for me. Please, pick something else, something you’ll actually like.”
“Alright then, we have plenty of books to look at,” Suletta said. She was about to walk over to the shelf, when a thought came to her. “Actually, I have a better idea. I remember reading in an article one time that when you have trouble sleeping, it can be helpful to hold onto a happy memory. Maybe we could try making one, then you’ll have something else to think about while you try to sleep.”
“A happy memory, huh?” Miorine asked, a warm expression crossing her face. “I like that idea. Let’s give it a try.”
“Okay,” Suletta said eagerly, pulling her phone out. She quickly found the music app and selected the playlist of songs she was sure Miorine would recognize.
As soon as the song began to play, Miorine gasped, “oh Suletta…”
It had been a song they’d danced to together at their wedding. Suletta remembered that this particular song had made her cry tears of happiness, and even now Miorine appeared choked up.
Suletta held out her hand, and Miorine smiled, setting her book and reading glasses down onto the endtable, “will you dance with me?”
“I would love to,” Miorine said, taking her hand.
As they made their way to the center of the room, Suletta felt Miorine’s hands fall to her waist, her hold gentle yet firm as they took their first steps with the beat, as if she wanted Suletta to know that she was just as much trying to lead the dance as Suletta was. They didn’t have to place a lot of effort into dancing, as it was a slow song that was easy to maintain a rhythm with, it was perfect for taking small steps around the room and focusing their energy on each other rather than an erratic tempo.
Suletta couldn’t help but steal glances with Miorine every chance she could, every moment with her was a blessing.
“We make great dance partners,” Suletta said.
“Yeah, at least we aren’t stepping on eachothers toes the whole time,” Miorine laughed quietly.
Suletta had never admitted that she’d taken several dance classes before the wedding to make sure she could avoid stepping on Miorine’s toes. Suletta may have had more stamina, but when it came to being able to pull off elegant moves with her body, Miorine was at the advantage.
“I’m not the natural you think I am,” Suletta admitted after a moment.
“What do you mean?” Miorine asked, intrigue clear in her voice.
“Well, let’s just say, I knew how clumsy I was and took matters into my own hands before the wedding ceremony.”
“Are you saying you took professional dance lessons?”
“Yes. I was a little embarrassed at the time, which is silly now that I think about it,” Suletta said.
“Very silly,” Miorine said. “I love that you took dance lessons. How many did you take?”
“Umm…” Suletta smiled, that part she was still embarrassed about.
“Come on, tell me,” Miorine said. “It can’t be that embarrassing.”
“I think I took 50 lessons, maybe…” Suletta said, she suddenly had a hard time meeting Miorine’s eyes. “Something like that.”
Miorine gasped, “Suletta - “
“Most of them were online classes, little videos of people teaching how to do different types of dances.” Suletta said defensively. She frowned, “that’s a little much, isn’t it?”
“Not at all. I just wish you hadn’t felt the need to go through all that effort just for me,” Miorine said, poking her in the stomach, “you know I would’ve loved dancing with you just as much even if you’d stepped on my feet a hundred times. It wasn’t like you were at your strongest then either.”
“I know, but I wanted it to be extra special,” Suletta said.
“Well, it was,” Miorine said. “If that’s the case, what other dance can you show me?”
Suletta thought for a moment, she had learned a large number of dances, but one had proven to be her favorite.
“Well, there’s the salsa, that’s a fun one,” Suletta said.
“Alright, put one on,” Miorine said.
“Put what on?” Suletta asked.
“A song that we can salsa to,” Miorine said.
“Really?” Suletta asked. “It’s a little…wild.”
“Wild sounds fun,” Miorine said. “Besides, you did all that practicing, I want to see what you learned.”
“Umm…okay, yeah!” Suletta said, suddenly nervous. She would probably look like a crazy lunatic when she tried it now, but Miorine was waiting to see it and this did seem to be cheering her up…
Suletta searched her phone for salsa songs and threw one on.
“I see what you mean, it’s much faster,” Miorine said.
“Yeah, maybe we should change it - “
“No no, I want to keep going,” Miorine said. “Get back over here and show me your moves.”
“Okay, well, first you have to swing your hips like this,” Suletta said, demonstrating the movement, when suddenly, Miorine broke out into a laugh.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to - ” Miorine started, appearing upset with herself, it was a moment before she was ready to speak again. “Don’t take my laughing as a sign that I am making fun of you, it’s just that you looked so adorable doing that, I couldn’t help it. Anyway, let’s continue. You said I should swing my hips like this?”
Suletta felt her cheeks warm up suddenly as Miorine demonstrated a near-perfect imitation of the move, “ummhmm, exactly like that. Now follow my lead. We step like this, then this - “
She guided Miorine, it was going well at first until, Miorine grimaced as Suletta had stepped on one of her toes. “I’m a little out of practice,” Suletta said suddenly.
“I’m fine, keep going, this is great,” Miorine said, and it wasn’t long before she was following the movements on her own. Suletta had even been able to show off her ability to the ‘dip’, which lead to another kiss, and then they returned to the dance.
“Wow, you’re a natural Miorine!”
“Not quite, but this is fun,” she said. It was the sort of thing that Suletta was certain Miorine would probably never be caught doing in public - ever , so she wouldn’t take any of it granted, not that she could’ve brought herself to take it for advantage anyway.
The pair continued trying out a few new dances, but when it was clear Miorine’s body had tired, Suletta switched back to one with a slower beat. After a while, Miorine’s movements had decreased considerably and she had fallen completely into Suletta’s arms, resting her head just below Suletta’s neck. She was no longer attempting to take the lead, as she let Suletta completely take over, swaying her gently back and forth. Suletta herself felt more relaxed, she always did when she was holding Miorine in her arms.
“This is exactly what I needed,” Miorine said softly, squeezing Suletta tighter, who leaned into the sudden hug, “thank you.”
“I feel like I’m there all over again,” Suletta mused - their wedding had been one of the happiest days of Suletta’s life.
“Me…too…,” Miorine said, her voice was much quieter now.
“Miorine?” Suletta glanced down
“Mmmm…? Miorine said sleepily. Seconds later, she had fallen asleep in Suletta’s arms.