Downton Abbey doesn't belong to me.
Summer Dances
Mary entered the room and looked around, Mr. Carson and the staff had outdone themselves this time, and the ballroom looked splendid she couldn't wait to dance.
Philip Marshall asked Mary to dance and of to the dance floor she went, she soon changed partners and soon she had danced with at least a third of the men in the room. She expected Matthew to ask her to dance at any moment but he remained seated with his mother. What was he waiting for? Surely he knew that everybody expected him to stand up with her. Luckily he hadn't asked anyone else to dance but still he knew what he had to do and she knew that he knew how to dance, just a few weeks ago at the family party he had danced with all his cousins, so what was the problem now?
Matthew sat down with his mother, ignoring her not-so-subtle hints for him to dance. "You know you're expected to ask your cousins especially Mary to dance."
"I know."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"Do we always have to do what is expected of us, Mother?"
"In this instance yes."
"I don't feel like dancing, besides the girl doesn't even want to speak to me, why should I disturb myself."
Matthew sat and watched Mary flit from partner to partner. She really did dance very well and he really wanted to dance with her but he decided to pay her back for playing games with him. Why would he stand up with now just because it was the expected thing? No, he would let her dance with whomever she wanted for as long as she wanted to.
After all there was no understanding between them, he asked her to marry him and she had yet to give him an answer.
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"Let's get some air," Andrew Bennett, suggested to Mary after they finished dancing.
Mary agreed and they walked through the balcony doors and went to the gardens. Andrew Bennett was an old friend of the Crawleys and he was engaged to be married, his fiancé Marion hadn't been able to attend the party, she was visiting her grandmother.
"How are the wedding preparations coming along?" Mary asked him.
"Very well, I can't wait to be married."
"I'm sure you'll be very happy." Mary told him.
"I know I will."
"So tell me about that fellow I saw giving me the black eye." Andrew told her.
"What are you talking about?" Mary pretended to laugh.
"Don't play with me," Andrew told her, "I've known you too long and too well. Who is the man who was ready to strangle me when I walked out with you?"
"That's our cousin Matthew."
"Oh yes."
"What do you mean, oh yes?"
"The one you are going to marry."
"Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Your behavior this evening for one, I told you I know you well, you've danced every dance even with men that you said you'd never be caught dead dancing with."
"So?"
"He was sitting, turning greener with each new partner you took. And he was pretending not to watch you."
"We're not getting married." Mary told him.
"Why not? You care about him don't you?"
"It's complicated." Mary told him. Andrew didn't press her for explanations.
"I hope you'll sort it out soon."
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Matthew nearly jumped out of his seat when he saw Mary walk out of the room with her last partner. Where had they gone? He wondered. He wanted to stand up and follow them but he didn't want to obvious especially since he knew that his mother was watching him closely. He pretended to listen to her talk and to watch the other couples on the floor and to ignore the clock.
Fifteen minutes later, Mary and her companion still hadn't returned to the room. Surely they had run out of things to talk about. Who was that guy anyway? How was he able to command her attention for this long?
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Sybil was dancing when she saw Mary leave the room with Andrew Bennett, she almost laughed when she saw Matthew's reaction to it and how closely he was watching the door, waiting for her return. Mary and Matthew were so ridiculous, pretending to be indifferent to each other. Sybil decided to take pity on Matthew, she really liked him and she knew that Mary did as well. It was time for the silly games to stop.
"Cousin Matthew." Matthew turned and saw Sybil standing by his chair. He stood up and offered it to her.
"I was wondering if you would like to dance with me?" she asked him.
Matthew started to refuse but changed his mind, talking to Sybil would help him not think about Mary's absence too much.
"He's just a dear friend," Sybil told him after a while.
"What?" Matthew pretended not to know what she was talking about.
"Andrew Bennett. He's just a friend."
"You mean the man Mary has been talking to outside for the last twenty minutes?"
"Yes."
"I don't care."
"Yes, you do." She contradicted him.
"What does it matter?" Matthew asked Sybil, "She obviously would rather talk to him than to me."
"How can she talk to you when you're avoiding her like the plague?"
Matthew laughed in spite of himself.
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Mary and Andrew were standing on the balcony looking at the well lit gardens when Sybil and Matthew joined them. Sybil introduced the two men and took Andrew back to the ball room.
"Sybil tells me that Andrew is an old family friend," Matthew said.
"He is."
"So how have you been Mary?"
"Very well, as you can see."
He nodded.
"I wanted to annoy you." Mary told him.
"You succeeded."
"What are we doing Matthew? Annoying each other, avoiding each other?"
"I don't know."
They stood looking at each silently and then Matthew began to smile slowly, after a while they were smiling widely at each other. Matthew pulled her in for an embrace; they held each other tightly.
"Truce?"
"I told you you'd be the first to give in."
Matthew burst out laughing.
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