Legal Stuff: "Where Are You Going" is by the Dave Matthews Band off of their album "Busted Stuff"
Can I Have This Dance?
Jane stared at the BFAC announcement board. Her favorite holiday was approaching and the poster for the annual Halloween Costume Ball was staring at her in the face. As she walked to her next class, Jane began to wonder if she could convince her still somewhat anti-social girlfriend to attend. Jane decided to take a shot and after class and a quick check of her slush fund, Jane bought two tickets. On the ride home, she stared at the freshly purchased pieces of paper and smiled. When she walked into the apartment, she could hear Daria on the phone with her mother.
"You want to come here for Thanksgiving? Well, I don't see a problem with that, but I would need to talk it over with Jane first. Mom, can we talk later, I'm trying to cook dinner and unlike you, I don't like cooking with a phone hovering over the stove. Bye," Daria slammed the phone down and began to rub her temples.
Jane walked up to her, stared at the panless stove, and wrapped Daria in a hug. "So, air soup again tonight?"
"I couldn't call for pizza and talk to her at the same time, we only have one phone. How was your day?"
"Better now that I'm here. What did your mom want? I heard discussions of potential holiday plans."
"Mom and Dad want to come here for Thanksgiving. I told them I had to talk it over with you first. I know you had planned a just us holiday season, but I wouldn't mind seeing them."
"Well, I could be bribed into letting them come here and it won't even cost you any cash," Jane smirked.
"I am not nude modeling for you again," Daria sighed.
"That's not what I had in mind, although I am now greatly disappointed. I bought us tickets to the Halloween Costume Ball at BFAC. So I'll trade you one costume party for one family holiday," Jane said as she held up the tickets.
"I'll call my parents and tell them you won't let them come," Daria broke the embrace and went to grab the phone.
"Come on, Daria. It's one night and I'll even let you pick out our costumes," Jane pushed.
"You really want to go?"
"Yes, preferably with my girlfriend - so what do you say?" Jane flashed a pair of crystal blue puppy dog eyes at the bespectacled woman.
"I'll call mom and dad and tell them to book their flight and hotel. The things I do for love," Daria grumbled under her breath as Jane kissed her cheek.
When Jane arrived into their now shared bedroom, Daria was already falling asleep. Daria felt an arm wrap around her and a pair of lips against her neck. Daria slid over and nuzzled up against Jane.
"Did you finish your project?" Daria asked sleepily.
"Yeah, did you get your Psych paper done?"
"I just have to do some minor editing, shouldn't take me more than an hour. I'll take care of that after breakfast. Then the rest of the weekend is yours, whatever you want to do. I love you," Daria mumbled.
"I love you, too." Jane gave Daria one more kiss before sleep took over them.
The next day, Jane woke up to the sound of Daria's printer whirring. "I thought you were waiting until after breakfast?"
"If I waited until then, I would be working on this tomorrow. It's already noon."
"Well, if you hadn't awoken me at three in the morning, I would have been up earlier," Jane smirked.
"I didn't hear any complaints from you, or are you trying to tell me those moans were really whines."
"Okay, you win. So what's on the agenda?" Jane laughed as she asked.
"It's up to you. I told you that once the paper was finished, the weekend was yours," Daria smirked.
"Well, then I say we grab a bite to eat and then look around at some of the costumes shops. That way we can have our costumes picked out before everyone else starts shopping for theirs," Jane smiled as she stood up and put her arms around her girlfriend and began kissing her jaw line.
"Don't you mean I can have our costumes picked out early. I plan on utilizing that bargaining chip to my advantage," Daria laughed as Jane licked her nose.
"Just promise me that I won't look like one of the members of the Fashion Club when you are done," Jane huffed.
"Even I'm not that evil," Daria gave a small laugh.
About two hours later, they arrived at Costume Curio. The clerk looked up when she heard the bell on the door and waved. Seeing their neighbor, Daria and Jane returned the waved and smiled. The woman got up from behind the counter and approached the couple.
"Hi Joey, we didn't know you worked here," Daria said.
"My aunt owns the place. As you know, apartments don't pay for themselves. Trying to beat the costume shopping rush?"
"Yeah, I convinced Dar to attend the BFAC Costume Ball with me. As part of the agreement, she gets to pick out the costumes," Jane answered.
"I see that bribery is still alive and well here. Are you looking for couple costumes or individuals?"
"I haven't bought a Halloween costume in years so I am not sure," Daria said.
"Well, feel free to browse around, and if you want to try something on, let me know and I'll give you the key to the fitting rooms,"
As they strolled around the showroom, all Jane could do was sigh whenever they passed a costume she liked, especially the Batman and Robin costumes. As they looked at the myriad of costumes and accessories, something caught Daria's eyes. It was a black and white striped suit next to a red tight dress. Daria looked over at Jane, then back at the suit.
"Well, what do you think?"
"I am thinking of bad flashbacks to Nathan," Jane said as she placed the fedora on her head and grabbed the Tommy Gun.
"You look good in that hat. Besides, he was a zoot suit guy, this is pure gangster." Daria said as she grabbed the suit and dress and headed back for the front of the store. "Joey, can you let us into the fitting rooms?" Daria held up the two costumes.
"Sure thing," Joey led them to the other side of the room and unlocked the door to the two stalls. "If you like the costumes, let me know and we can make alterations on them if necessary."
As Jane was trying on the suit, memories of when she dated Nathan still flashed through her mind. She stepped out of the stall and stared into the mirror. The suit was a little too loose but she liked how it looked on her. Then Daria walked out of her stall wearing the skin tight red dress. All of Jane's thoughts about Nathan flew out the window and she froze in place. Daria looked unbelievable in the dress. Daria could see Jane's knees going weak.
"So - care to be John Dillinger to my Anna Sage?" Daria whispered into Jane's ear.
Still in a daze, Jane just nodded her head back and forth. Daria gave a small laugh and walked towards the door. She signaled to Joey who walked over to the dressing room. Staring at the couple, Joey nodded in approval.
"Those look real good on you. Daria, yours needs just a little taken off the bottom, but I am going to need to work on the suit," Joey said.
Coming out of her red dress induced stupor, Jane allowed Joey to measure her. Then Joey waited outside of the dressing room for the two of them to change then took the costumes from them. Daria and Jane followed her to the register and filled out the alteration slips. Once payment was given, Joey promised her neighbors that she would call when their costumes were ready. The two went home and spent the rest of their weekend in bed.
Joey called a few days later and Daria picked them up after her class. There was almost a month until the dance and Jane was counting down the days. A weird fluctuation of weather over the next two weeks wreaked havoc on Daria. With a week and a half to go before the dance, Daria started to complain about headaches and earaches. Then the sneezing and coughing started. Her voice began to get hoarse from all of the coughing. She started taking over the counter stuff for colds, but nothing seemed to be working. Monday after school, she began to feel dizzy. Jane asked her if she wanted to go get checked out, but she refused. That night, Jane woke up around two in the morning and saw Daria curled up into a ball holding her ear. Jane didn't ask this time. The next morning, Jane changed and helped Daria get dressed and got her to the car. They drove over to the Raft Medical Center. Once inside, Jane filled out the paperwork and Daria was brought back a few minutes later. Jane followed, but sat outside of the exam room and worried. Thirty minutes later, a young doctor signaled for Jane to go inside.
Daria had a sinus infection and two severe inner ear infections. The ear infections were what was causing the dizziness and were the source of most of the pain. The doctor phoned in several prescriptions to the pharmacy across the street and scanned Daria's student ID card that showed her class schedule. She would not be allowed to return to school until the following week. Because of the vertigo issue, she could not be left alone either. Being the medical center for both Raft and BFAC students, he scanned Jane's ID card and sent an email to her teachers as well. Daria quietly thanked him as she and Jane exited the room. Jane got Daria into the car and headed to the pharmacy. Daria stayed in the car while Jane went inside. The pharmacist explained to her about the drugs and soon Jane exited and they headed home. Once they were back home, Daria headed straight for the bedroom. After getting breakfast in bed and a full round of meds, Daria closed her eyes and fell asleep. Jane sighed when she realized that the chances of Daria feeling good enough to attend the costume ball were slim to none. Heading for her studio/study area, Jane turned on her computer and posted that her tickets for the sold out ball were up for sale. Within twenty minutes, the tickets were sold for a nice profit. Jane turned off her computer and went to join Daria. Jane had been up since two and the exhaustion was setting in.
Over the next couple of days, Jane took care of Daria while trying to keep up with her assignments online. Daria spent most of the time asleep which allowed Jane to finish a couple of her projects. By Friday, the antibiotics had kicked in and Daria had started to feel better. Her ears were not hurting her near as much and her headache had greatly subsided. Saturday morning, Daria woke up and got online to see what she had missed in class. She hoped that she would feel good enough by Sunday to work on all of it. Then she looked at the calendar and her eyes widened. Walking into Jane's room, Daria watched her girlfriend as she worked on a mosaic. Daria waited for Jane to come to a stopping point before making her presence known. Jane turned around and was soon wrapped up in hug. The two shared a brief kiss before Daria leaned her head against Jane's shoulder blade.
"I'm sorry you missed the Costume Ball, I know you were really looking forward to going," Daria whispered.
"I was, but all I care about now is that you are starting to feel better. Besides - there is always next year," Jane flashed a small smile.
"How long will it be before you finish in here?"
"I should be done in a couple of hours. Want to order delivery and watch a movie tonight?"
"That sounds like a good idea. I am going to try to stay awake long enough to work on some of my homework," Daria said as she left the room.
Jane finished the mosaic a little before five. Walking into the bedroom, she found Daria asleep, with a stack of books beside her. Jane moved the books back onto the desk and left to watch television in the living room. She decided to wait until she knew Daria was awake before ordering the pizza. About an hour and a half later, Jane heard Daria call her name. Walking into the bedroom, Jane stopped dead in her tracks. Daria was standing in front of her wearing the nicely altered tight red dress. Taking Jane's hand, Daria led her to the left side of the room. For her part, Jane was still speechless and just followed.
"I figured that you shouldn't have to wait a year before seeing me in this again. So, Miss Lane - can I have this dance?"
Jane blushed and simply nodded. Daria turned around and pressed play on the cd player. The sounds of "Where Are You Going" by the Dave Matthews Band filled the air. Daria raised her head and kissed Jane's cheek. Daria went to speak, but Jane placed her finger against Daria's lips. The two continued to slow dance around in silence until the song was over. Once the music ended, the two shared a long passionate kiss.
"Thank you for taking care of me this week. I love you," Daria whispered.
"Thank you for the dance. I love you, too." Jane smiled as she pressed replay.
End