This is a birthday present for the absolutely wonderful Jen (whoson1st/gallifreyslostson) Hope you enjoy :D
also...there will be an epilogue and it will be smutty so when I get that written the rating will go up but this chapter is safe for all ages :)
"What exactly am I doing here again?" John whispered as they slid into one of the pews on the bride's side of the church.
"'M not showing up to a wedding alone and you're my best mate so it's practically my duty to make you come to fussy events so I have someone to complain to," Lucie replied. "Besides someone has to drag you away from work occasionally and that someone's me."
John Smith and Lucie Miller had been best friends since age sixteen when some teacher had forced them to work on a semester-long partner project together. They'd been getting each other in and out of trouble since halfway through that fateful semester. Ten years on and they were still at it.
"If you're just going to complain then why did you insist on coming?" He glanced down at the paper in his hands that had the wedding party's names and the order of events before shooting his gaze back to his friend expectantly.
"Because Donna's a friend and gettin' married is important to her. Plus it's an excuse to get dressed up."
John sighed. "How do you know her again?"
"You'd know if you actually listened occasionally."
"I listen!"
"Yeah, for five minutes and then you start thinking about whatever project you're workin' on and tune me out."
"Should be used to giving me all the important bits of information in the first five minutes then, shouldn't you?" He shot back with a smile.
"Whatever," Lucie said, rolling her eyes. She couldn't quite bite back her fond smile though. "We work together, Donna and me. We're in the same department and have lunch together a lot. Bit loud and brash, she is, but nice."
John arched an eyebrow at her, giving Lucie an eloquent look that clearly stated what he thought about her calling anyone else loud and brash. Something along the lines of "you would know," or "takes one to know one."
"Anyways, she invited me and some of the other girls from work along to her hen night. Told us if we didn't bring a date she was gonna set us up with someone at the wedding and I wasn't having that happen," Lucie continued, ignoring John's look. She had ten years of practice of ignoring ones just like it.
"Heaven forbid," he shot back dryly. "So I'm your beard for the evening as well an ear to bend."
"Pretty much. Though if I find a bloke with potential I'm ditching you and you'll have to fend off the bridesmaids on your own."
"You wouldn't dare," John said, fighting back a little twinge of panic. It wasn't like he couldn't manage on his own at a wedding, he was rather charming no matter what Lucie said to the contrary sometimes, but he wasn't feeling all that inclined to.
"Would do. We'll see if there's any contenders when we get to the reception." She patted him on the arm. "Don't worry, I met all the bridesmaids the other night. There's a couple nice ones."
"That's so encouraging," he drawled as the music to announce the entrance of the bridal party began.
He turned his attention to the program in his hands, skimming over the unfamiliar names and trying to deduce from the list of events how long the ceremony would last. He only looked up when the music changed and Lucie elbowed him in the side, hissing at him to stand.
John caught a brief glimpse of the wedding party already at the front of the church before everyone turned to watch the bride enter. Lucie's friend looked radiantly happy as she passed them, her smile outshining even her red hair, stark against the bridal white.
When everyone was told to be seated once more John got his first look at the bridesmaids he was planning on avoiding later. There were four of them. The maid of honor was a dark skinned woman who kept shooting little smiles at one of the groomsmen who was gesturing for her to pay attention to the ceremony. The other three were all blonde. They ranged from the willowy blonde who looked like she'd been spending too much time in a tanning bed and had a sour expression on her face to the petite blonde on the end who was beaming at the soon-to-be-married couple.
The one in middle caught his attention though. Her honey blonde hair was swept back in an updo like the other bridesmaids and she had a fond smile on her lips as she watched the ceremony proceed. Every so often she'd sweep her eyes out over the crowd like she was checking for trouble. John assumed it was an ingrained habit, couldn't imagine why there would actually be any cause for worry at a typical wedding such as this.
Lucie elbowed him again before whispering, "You know you're supposed to be watching the wedding and not ogling the bridesmaids, right? And since when do you ogle bridesmaids anyways? You were half terrified of the prospect of dealing with them on your own about ten minutes ago."
"I wasn't terrified and I wasn't ogling," disdain dripped off his words as he whispered back to Lucie.
She ignored him like she normally did. "Which one do ya have your eye on? Oh god, it better not be Nerys. The rest of them were nice but Nerys is a cow."
"She the one who looks like she sucked on a lemon?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Not Nerys then. The one to the left of her," John glanced down at the program, suddenly remembering it listed the names of the wedding party. "Rose Tyler, if this program is to be trusted."
"Oh yeah, she wasn't at the hen night for long. Had work or somethin'. But I liked her. Nice, laughs a lot, doesn't put up with anyone's shit. You could definitely do worse."
"Ringing endorsement as always," he said dryly. "And before you ask or start giving advice, no, I'm not going to try and pull her."
"Probably couldn't even if you tried," Lucie muttered.
John was opening his mouth to argue when a woman in front of them turned in her seat to glare at them for talking during the ceremony. He gave her an apologetic smile and Lucie a sharp nudge in the ribs.
As soon as she turned back around John and Lucie looked at each other, both valiantly trying not to laugh. With twin smirks they turned their attention back to the front of the church just in time to hear the clergyman announce the happy couple man and wife.
Lucie cheered when Donna kissed her new husband for a little longer than was generally called for, given the moment. Then the clergyman introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. McAvoy and the exit processional begun.
"Now it's time for the fun part," Lucie said cheerfully. "Free drinks and lots of dancin' and everyone making idiots of themselves."
"Thrilling."
"Cheer up! Betcha I can get Donna to introduce you to that bridesmaid."
"I'm not planning on meeting the bridesmaid although I'm sure she's lovely. Plus, couldn't you introduce me since you've met her?"
"Could do," Lucie admitted. "Be more fun if Donna did though. And you're not leaving the reception until you've talked to Rose, not after you spent the entire ceremony staring at her."
"Did not."
"Did too!"
"Did not! And I don't intend on talking to her so you can stop plotting," John said, trying to put a stop to their usual bickering before they both got completely sucked into it.
"Right. You say that like you think it's going to work," Lucie replied with a smirk.
John just raised his eyes to the sky in a show of exasperation and let her lead him to the hall next door where the reception was being held.
Lucie made good on her promise to complain to him throughout the whole first part of the reception as the wedding party and the happy couple was introduced and food was served, making snide comments about the things people were wearing and the few people who were already abusing the available alcohol.
For his part, John listened gamely, making a few observations of his own while studiously making sure to never turn his gaze towards the table with the wedding party. Or, more accurately, he made sure not to steal glances at Rose while Lucie was paying attention.
Finally the dancing was kicked off for everyone and Lucie told him she was going to go congratulate Donna who was making the rounds to talk to people. John could only hope that she had forgotten her plan to get Donna to introduce Rose to him. He took a large sip of the champagne in front of him and scanned the room, pretending he wasn't looking for the bridesmaid in question.
Lucie had succeeded in finding Donna and as soon as they'd exchanged niceties and Lucie had congratulated the new bride Donna jerked her head towards where John was sitting alone at the table, fiddling with his champagne glass. "Quite the looker you brought with you. Where'd you find him on short notice? Because I know you said you were single."
"Oh no no no. He's not my boyfriend. That's John, my best mate. Dragged him along mostly because I could and you said not to show up alone." Lucie's eyes twinkled mischievously as she decided to do exactly what John had told her not to. "Actually, he spent the whole wedding with his eyes glued to one of your bridesmaids."
"I think I'll wait to decide if I'm offended until you tell me which bridesmaid!" Donna replied with a snort.
"Rose."
"Can't be offended then. If it had been Nerys I might have needed to have words with your friend. But I've been wanting to set Rose up with someone for ages but haven't found the right bloke." She scanned the room, looking for the bridesmaid.
She was on the dancefloor being spun around by one of the groomsmen. Donna and Lucie both looked back at John and saw that he was watching Rose intently. Donna and Lucie's smiles when they turned back to each other would have sent John running for the hills if they'd seen them.
"He claimed he wasn't going to talk to her, you know," Lucie commented.
Donna made a derisive sound. "He's going to have to! I'll make sure of it. Rose deserves someone who's as interested in her as your friend is, even if it's only for tonight. She works too bloody much."
"Glad to hear you're optimistic about the longevity of wedding reception hookups," Lucie said dryly. "But he also works too much so I've got to agree with you. They deserve a nice night and if we get them together then they'll be out of our hair. You can enjoy your new husband and will be able to gloat about the set up later and I'll be free to pull someone without my platonic date gettin' in the way."
Donna just grinned at her and told her she would be over to perform the necessary introductions in a few minutes.
Lucie wandered back to the table where John was sitting, making sure to stay out of his line of sight as she approached. Grinning, she leaned down and spoke right in his ear. "Might want to get your eyes checked, mate."
John jumped and directed a glare at his friend as she collapsed into her chair, laughing. "Hello," he drawled. "Care to tell me why you think I need to get my eyes checked?"
"Well, something's got to be wrong since you can't keep them off Rose. People might start thinking you want to talk to her or something even though you keep sayin' you're not interested." Lucie paused, smirk firmly plastered on her face. "And don't think I didn't catch you sneaking glances at her while we were eating. You're not as sneaky as you think you are."
John put his face in his hands with a groan and didn't deign to answer her.
"Does that mean you're willing to admit now that you at least want to talk to her? Because really, you haven't a choice because Donna's bringing her over right now."
John immediately looked up and saw that the bride was indeed heading their way, Rose in tow. "Lucie, what did you do?"
"What you told me not to. Told you it'd be more fun if Donna introduced the two of you."
"I don't even know Donna!"
"Shut up and be charming. Don't embarrass me."
"Not sure I can do all three of those things at once," John said through his teeth as he smiled at the approaching women.
"Try," she hissed before putting on her own smile.
Donna reached the table and John observed that she had a tight grip on her bridesmaid's arm as if she had needed convincing to come over here. This was not going to go well at all, he thought.
Aloud, he offered his congratulations to the bride and complimented the ceremony and reception, putting his charm to good use as Lucie had instructed.
Donna thanked him and then pulled Rose forward a bit before relinquishing her grasp on her arm. "Rose, you remember Lucie from my hen night. This is her friend John."
"Hello Lucie," Rose said, "Nice to see you again. And it's nice to meet you, John." She shot John an apologetic smile, apparently very familiar with Donna's transparent matchmaking.
"I'm off to go claim my husband for a dance. You three have fun, it's a wedding not a funeral," Donna announced before hurrying away to find Lee.
The three left at the table looked around awkwardly, at a loss as to what to say.
Lucie broke the silence. "Hate to leave you two here on your own but I just spotted a bloke that looks a bit like Ewan McGregor and that's a chance I've been waiting on all night. See ya!"
"Lucie!" John called in vain as his friend winked at him and took off, leaving him at the mercy of a bridesmaid like she had threatened to do from the beginning.
He glanced up at Rose who was pressing her lips together and trying to hold back a laugh. "Might as well sit down, I don't think our friends are going to let us leave if we don't at least look like we had a conversation," he said.
Rose lost the battle against her laughter and was grinning as she took the seat that Lucie had vacated. "They're insistent, I'll give them that. Less than subtle though."
"Meddling matchmakers rarely are," John replied dryly.
"Ain't that the truth," she laughed.
"I'm afraid this time it's mostly my fault, despite our friends' tendencies," he admitted.
Rose cocked her head to the side, eyes still twinkling with mirth. "How so?"
"Lucie got it into her head that I couldn't leave the reception without talking to you at some point and she recruited Donna…" he trailed off.
"And together they're about as unstoppable as a hurricane," Rose finished for him. "I'll tell you what though, Donna by herself is a hurricane. Especially when it comes to trying to play matchmaker."
John chuckled. "So's Lucie."
They lapsed into silence for a moment before Rose picked the conversation back up. "So, how do you know Donna? Or are you here for Lee?"
"I don't know either of them actually. Lucie dragged me along so she would have someone to complain to and so that Donna wouldn't set her up with anyone."
"Gotta hand it to her, it worked," Rose replied. "Lucie works with Donna, yeah? I met her briefly at the hen night."
"Yes, they work together. And Lucie mentioned that she'd met you, said you weren't there long because of work."
"Yeah, I tend to work odd hours. It's a miracle I managed to make it to any of the party with it being wedding season and all." She leaned closer to him like she was going to impart a secret. "Jittery brides are the most demanding clients but often the ones who need me most."
John propped his elbow up on the table and leaned against his hand, turning to face Rose better. "And what is it that you do that you have to deal with jittery brides?"
"I'm a P.I." Rose said, taking a sip of her champagne. "There's a good number of brides and grooms who are worried that their fiancés are cheating so they hire me to prove or disprove their suspicions."
"Well that explains why you kept checking over the church," John answered, a bit chuffed that he was right about it being a habit.
"It's instinct at this point to keep an eye on the area," Rose said with a smile, shaking her head slightly. "But hold on, I don't think I did it often enough to be that noticeable, especially with a wedding going on a few meters from me."
She watched with interest as John's face tinged pink and he slid his eyes somewhere over her shoulder. "Might have been looking at you instead of the wedding," he said. He met her eyes again and gave her a crooked smile. "Told you this whole matchmaking thing was my fault. Lucie noticed me watching you and wasn't going to let it go."
Rose let her tongue sneak into the corner of her smile and watched his eyes dip to her mouth for a moment before shooting back up. "Gotta say I'm flattered."
"Anytime," John drawled, trying to will his face to cool down. "So how do you know Donna?"
Rose's smile widened at the obvious topic change. "Met her through my work actually."
John's brow furrowed in puzzlement and he glanced towards Donna and Lee who were totally wrapped up in each other on the dance floor before looking back at Rose. "Not one of your jittery brides, I presume?"
"She was actually but not this time around. She was engaged once before and her fiancé's other girlfriend actually hired me because she thought he was cheating. Donna had no idea until I told her."
"That's…" he shook his head, unable to come up with the right word.
"Yeah, it was awful. She was devastated but I kept in touch with her and we became friends. So something good came out of that fiasco and Lee's a much better choice that wanker she was engaged to before."
"They look happy," he commented, looking at the couple again.
"They really are." Rose sighed. "Sometimes I see too much of the cheating and suspicion and all in my line of work. It's really good to see people as in love as they are."
John didn't know what to say to that. He took a sip of champagne, finishing off the glass. He noted that Rose's was empty as well.
"Would you like another glass of champagne?" He asked.
"Yeah, thanks." She smiled up at him as he grabbed both of their glasses. "'M gonna sit here and enjoy not standing on these heels. Swear they're torture devices."
"I'm always glad that I've never had the need or occasion to wear them," he shot back. "Champagne cures all ills though."
"Best go get me some more then!"
Rose watched as he walked away, taking in and enjoying exactly how well his suit fit him. She'd been hoping Donna wouldn't exercise her matchmaking tendencies at her wedding but it definitely could have been worse. John was gorgeous with his dark curls and striking blue eyes and quick smile. Plus she was pretty sure she could listen to him talk for ages as his voice was like a velvet caress.
Rose rolled her eyes at herself. She sounded like a teenager with a crush but it was a wedding and love was in the air and she didn't feel quite as ridiculous as she normally would. John was charming and fit and interested in her and it had been awhile since she had a night to just enjoy herself.
Maybe if she played her cards right she'd get to enjoy John as well, she thought as she started scanning the room for him.
When she found him, she narrowed her eyes. He had two full glasses of champagne in his hands but had been cornered by one of the other bridesmaids, Nerys. She could see that he was uncomfortable with the way the woman was moving into his space and obviously hitting on him. His eyes were darting around, trying to figure out a way to escape even as he kept a polite smile on his face.
Rose shook her head as she stood up, wincing as her feet protested the heels again. Nerys was a menace and Rose wasn't sure why she was a bridesmaid. She and Donna didn't even like each other very much, both taking a perverse pleasure in the verbal barbs they traded. Rose had been avoiding her as much as possible but it looked like John needed a rescue and she was perfectly willing to assist.
John was desperately looking for a semi-graceful way out of this situation. Nerys had ambushed him right as he was about to head back to Rose and he was feeling rather like the prey in one of those wildlife documentaries he watched when he couldn't sleep. He'd already declined two separate invitations to dance and was unsuccessfully trying to keep some space between them.
He about jumped out of his skin when he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder.
"There you are, John. I was wondering where you'd gotten to with my champagne." She plucked one of the flutes out of his hand and gave him a quick wink. She turned her gaze to Nerys, pretending to have just noticed her. "Oh, hi Nerys. I see you've met John."
Rose took a sip of her champagne as the other bridesmaid took a step back from John, smile disappearing from her face as her eyes flickered from Rose's icy glare to her possessive hand on John's shoulder.
"Yes, we met," she all but snarled. She turned her attention back to John. "If you change your mind and want a better class of company, feel free to come find me."
With that she turned and walked away leaving John and Rose staring after her.
"Cow," Rose muttered under her breath.
"Thanks for the rescue," John said earnestly, turning to face her. Rose let her hand fall from his shoulder.
"Least I could do. No one deserves to be set upon by Nerys. Sorry for practically laying claim to you though. Was the only way I could think of to get rid of her."
"I most certainly didn't mind," he said, voice dropping a bit, causing Rose to shiver.
He continued in his normal register, eyes bright with mischief. "She is the reason I tend to avoid bridesmaids whenever possible," he commented.
"Oi! I'm a bridesmaid too!"
"I know," he said, flashing a smile. He ran his gaze over her, taking in the flattering purple dress. "And I will say that the dress looks much better on you than it does on her."
"Flattery will get you everywhere," Rose teased, reaching out to push at his shoulder even as she felt her cheeks heat up.
"Will it get me a dance?"
Rose pretended to think it over. "I suppose. I want to finish this champagne first though."
John offered her his arm which she took with a laugh and they walked back to their table.
"So I never asked, what do you do?" Rose questioned when they sat down.
"I work in the research and development department at Torchwood," he started.
"Basically they gave him a lab and pay him to tinker with things," Lucie said, plopping down in the chair on the other side of Rose, smirking when they both jumped at the interruption. "I could've told them it was a bad idea but they don't seem to mind the occasional explosion as long as they can sell whatever he makes."
"Hello again Lucie," John drawled.
"Hi yourself," she shot back.
"Weren't you chatting up some Ewan McGregor lookalike?" The implied question of why she was interrupting his and Rose's conversation hung between them.
"I was, yeah," she answered breezily. "It was going well too, but he had to step outside to take a phone call so I came to see how the pair of you was getting on while I waited."
Rose looked between the two friends, took in Lucie's smug look and John's glare and barely resisted giggling at the pair of them. "So do explosions happen often?" She asked turning back towards John and giving him the tongue-in-teeth smile that had distracted him earlier.
"They're not uncommon," he hedged. "But they are usually small and manageable and I haven't lost my eyebrows to one yet." He waggled said eyebrows at her, prompting a laugh.
"Would be a shame if you lost them," she teased.
"Blimey, you'd be a sight without eyebrows. Even worse than that time when you got that awful haircut and I convinced you to wear that rubbish wig to hide it," Lucie commented, hiding her smirk behind her champagne flute as she saw Rose's eyes light up with curiosity.
John ran a hand down his face. "I still can't believe you let me wear that thing for a month."
"I can't believe you didn't realize how awful it was."
Lucie leaned towards Rose conspiratorially, "He was nineteen. I took so many pictures. He hasn't even seen all of them. Saving 'em for when I really need the blackmail."
"Remind me why I'm friends with you, again?" John asked as the two women shared a laugh at his expense.
"Because you wouldn't know what to do without me," Lucie said confidently.
She glanced towards the door and saw the bloke she'd been talking to walk back in. "That's my cue," she said, nodding in his direction. "Don't get into too much trouble without me."
She winked at John as she stood up and sauntered off. He just rolled his eyes.
"Sorry about that," he said.
"No need to apologize. I like her. Plus how else would I have found out that you wore what sounds like a horrendous wig for a month when you were nineteen?"
"I can't believe she told you about that. She's never going to let me live it down," he groaned. "She's the one who picked out the bloody wig. I should have known better than to trust her judgement when she'd already spent two days laughing at my haircut."
"It couldn't have been that bad," Rose said with a laugh.
"It was. Both the haircut and the wig," he answered solemnly. "I try to forget about that time in my life."
"If it makes you feel better, I went through a goth phase for about two months when I was sixteen. Mickey," she pointed to the groomsman who was dancing with the maid of honor, "has never let me live it down. Although I got my hands on most of his photos and confiscated them years ago so he can't prove anything."
John chuckled, trying to picture a young Rose going through a rebellious phase and attempting to be sullen to match the image. He couldn't imagine that she'd been able to hide her smile, sunshine personified as it was, and the juxtaposition of it with the goth image had to have been quite the sight.
"Lucky you. I haven't been able to find where Lucie hid all these photos so I remain at her mercy."
Rose laughed and they lapsed into silence, sipping on their drinks.
"So about that dance," John said as the opening strains of what sounded like a waltz reached his ears.
Rose knocked back the rest of her champagne and smiled at him cheekily. "Lead on," she said, getting to her feet.
"Oh, I intend to, Miss Tyler," he said, slipping his hand into hers and led them both to the dance floor. "Do you know how to waltz?"
A faint blush stole across her cheeks as she looked up at him. "No, not really. Never learned any of the formal dances unless you're countin' the ones with the instructions in the song."
"Just follow my lead," he said, sweeping her into the flow of the dance.
They were silent for a minute, Rose concentrating on the dance and not stepping on John's feet while he concentrated on how good it felt to have her in his arms, realizing for the first time why exactly the waltz had been considered scandalous at one time.
"You're a very good dancer," Rose finally said, looking up at him flirtatiously.
"It helps to have a wonderful partner," he replied, spinning her out and then pulling her back in closer than she had been before.
She was giggling as she tucked her face into the join between his neck and shoulder. When she spoke again he could feel her lips moving against his skin, just above the starched collar of his dress shirt. "You like being in control, don't you?"
He shivered and moved so that his lips brushed against her ear as he answered. "Yes."
She pulled back and there was no mistaking the heat and intent in her eyes as she broke their dance hold and draped her arms around his neck. His hands moved down to lightly rest at her hips. They weren't waltzing anymore, were barely doing anything that could be called dancing as the song changed without either of them noticing.
"You ever give up any of that control?" Rose asked as she ghosted the fingertips of one hand against the nape of his neck.
"Maybe to the right partner." His voice was lower than it had been all evening, roughly caressing the words that rolled off his tongue.
Rose felt like she was drowning and burning all at once as she met his eyes and decided that her only course of action was to make him feel the same way. She used the hand she had on his neck to pull him down and was a fraction of a second away from finding out if his lips felt as good as she imagined they did when an unwelcome voice from right next to her caused her and John both to pull back from the impending kiss.
"Excuse me Rose, but I think John owes me a dance," Nerys said, a sneer on her face. Before either of them could react, the unwanted bridesmaid slid into the space that had opened between the couple. She wrapped her arms around John's neck, clinging to him like a limpet and forcing him to take a couple steps backwards as she tried to lead him into a dance.
"Oi!" Rose exclaimed, finally recovering from the shock of Nerys's sheer audacity. There was no way in hell she was going to let the woman just take John like that without a fight.
The syllable was barely out of her mouth when she saw John stop and pluck the woman's arms off of him. Where his eyes had been full of fire mere moments ago they were now icy, pinning Nerys in place.
His voice was equally cold as he addressed the interloper. "I believe I made myself very clear earlier that I did not wish to dance with you. I see it was a mistake to be polite since you do not possess any manners yourself. Let me be explicit this time, there is only one bridesmaid here I'm interested in and it's not you. I do not want to dance with you or talk to you and I would appreciate it greatly if you would not interrupt me again."
His smile was sharp and devoid of warmth as he bowed mockingly to the shocked and angry Nerys and walked back towards Rose, leaving the other woman stranded on the dance floor.
John slipped his hand into hers, his smile turning warm once more as he looked at her. "I think I could use another drink, how about you?"
"Sounds good to me," she said with her own smile as she followed him off the dance floor, their fingers entwined. "Don't think Nerys will be bothering us again."
"I think not," he agreed. "I'd apologize for being rude to her but I'm not sorry."
"She deserved it," Rose said vehemently. "I was about to rip into her myself but you took care of it first."
"Can only let you rescue me once a night," he teased, squeezing her hand. "You might start questioning my skills otherwise."
"Oh, I'm sure you're very impressive," Rose answered, letting her voice drop a bit.
"Even if I need occasional rescuing?" John stopped walking and turned to face her, not dropping her hand.
"Even if you need occasional rescuing," Rose assured him. The way he was looking at her, eyes all afire again, was making it hard to think, hard to talk. "Maybe especially if you need rescuing."
He smirked and pulled her the tiniest bit closer to him. "Liked doing the rescuing, did you?"
"Maybe," she answered, breathless.
"Do you like being in charge as well, Miss Tyler?"
"Yeah, I do." She angled her face up waiting for him to close the rest of the distance between them and finish what they had started before Nerys had interrupted.
He chuckled, the noise deep and warm and causing the sparks shooting through Rose's core to finally gain purchase and start a fire. "What are we going to do about us both wanting to lead?"
"Suppose we'll figure it out," Rose said impatiently. "But if you don't kiss me right now, we're going to have a problem."
He grinned and she could tell he was biting back another comment about who was taking charge in the fraction of a second she had before his lips descended on her waiting ones.
The kiss was only chaste for a few moments before Rose opened her mouth beneath his, swiping her tongue along his bottom lip and inviting his tongue to come play. He didn't waste a second in accepting the invitation and chased her tongue back into her mouth before starting an exploration, mapping out all the spots that made her respond most favorably.
She tasted like champagne and sunshine, he decided, and it was thoroughly addicting and incredibly intoxicating.
The both forgot they were standing in a crowded room at a wedding reception as they lost themselves in each other. It wasn't until they pulled back, resting their foreheads against each other and gasping for air that they remembered that other people existed and were probably watching the two of them snog by the champagne table.
Rose leaned in and gave John a quick peck before reluctantly pulling away and snagging two champagne flutes. She handed one to him and laced the fingers of their free hands together.
He smiled gently and tugged her towards a nearby empty table at the edge of the room. They sat there and sipped their champagne slowly, getting to know each other between laughs and stolen kisses. They made it to the dance floor a few more times as the night progressed and more than once John's hands dropped from Rose's hips to rest on her bum and Rose gradually worried a red mark into the skin above his collar with her mouth.
Lucie sent him a completely non-subtle thumbs up, complete with a smug smirk, from across the dance floor when she caught sight of him dancing with Rose.
Rose barely managed to avoid catching the bouquet that Donna aimed at her, ducking at the last second.
(It ended up hitting Nerys right in the face and Rose made eye contact with John immediately as they both cracked up.)
(Neither of them cared that the bridesmaid in question was glaring daggers at them both.)
Lucie and the bloke she'd been with all night joined John and Rose while they ate cake. Rose giggled at the two friends who squabbled the entire time, trading thinly veiled barbs about weddings and wigs. She outright laughed when Lucie wiped icing on John's face before grabbing her bloke and making a run back to the dance floor.
John sputtered and scowled until Rose leaned forward and licked a bit of the frosting off. To his disappointment, she wiped the rest off with a napkin but the lovely thought of her licking the rest of it off remained on his mind for a while after the incident.
In fact, it led to John pulling her back to a corner by the champagne table once more to snog her senseless. When someone neither of them knew called at them to get a room, he pulled back and raised his eyebrows at her, asking her a question without speaking a word.
She nodded, smile spreading across her face.
Hand in hand they slipped out of the reception before the newlyweds.
When they made it to Rose's car, John sent Lucie a text telling her that he found his own way home before turning off his phone and settling his hand on Rose's thigh as she put the car in gear.
She sent him a message back full of thumbs up emojis that he didn't see until the next morning and when Donna asked where Rose was when people were lining up to see them off, Lucie had the privilege of smiling at her and telling her that Rose and John had snuck off together half an hour earlier.