It was stupid to be nervous, she thinks, smoothing the silk skirt of her dress. Turning to the side, she takes in her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Not bad.
She had spent longer than usual getting ready, the swirling feeling in her stomach not letting up for one second the entire time she had curled her hair and applied her makeup. She had tried to just tell herself that it was the fact she would be spending the whole day with essentially strangers to her, and that she didn't know what to expect. But being around people she didn't know didn't faze Donna, so that wasn't really it. It was just a day, spent with Harvey – her friend, Harvey. Nothing to be nervous about. Pushing some earrings in to her ears, she steps back slightly to take her whole ensemble in. There was a blip of a second more to rake her eyes over her reflection before she hears the honk of a car horn outside and she smiles, turning around to locate her purse.
He's leaning back against his car when she emerges out of the entrance to her building. She smiles at him brightly in the early August sunshine, both hands wrapped around some elaborately wrapped gift that Harvey just knows had cost him a fortune.
"Will I do?" she asks, pausing a few feet from him and poses a little, crossing one ankle in front of the other.
Taking her in, he feels his breath catch in his chest a little. He wasn't sure what he had expected when he thought of Donna in wedding-guest attire but the reality has greatly outdone anything his brain could have come up with. With the sun hitting her the way it is, her hair looks as though it's glowing, lighting her up like a beacon.
She smooths the skirt of her dress as well as she can without dropping the gift and her clutch bag that's balanced precariously on top, her eyes not leaving him. He smiles and leans down to open the door for her, his brain scrambling to think of anything to say that didn't remotely align with what was currently flashing through it, which was the striking notion that she was beautiful and that he actually wouldn't mind having her as a date for every event he had to go to for the rest of his life.
"I know usually for a summer wedding, you'd wear a lighter colour but I just saw this during the week and I had to-," her voice fades as she slips into the back seat of the car, and it only occurs to Harvey as he slides in the other side to even look at what colour she was wearing.
"We match," she notes, placing the gift on the seat between them and looks down at the navy tie he's wearing - one he would never admit that was the third one he had tried on with his suit because she hadn't messaged him to tell him which one to wear.
He hums, smiling at her.
They fall into a comfortable silence as they drive and Harvey can see her fidgeting with the hem of her dress as she focuses her gaze out of the window. About to ask her if something is wrong, he senses that she's about to speak, so he decides to wait it out.
"I'm a little nervous," she whispers, turning her head towards him.
His eyes widen as he tried to make sure he heard her correctly, "You are?"
"Well, it's a big day, Harvey! There's going to be so many cameras! What if my dress doesn't photograph well," she rambles, her eyes glancing back down at her outfit, "Maybe a lighter colour would have worked better-"
"Donna," he reaches over to briefly place his hand on her arm, "Breathe. You're going to be the most beautiful woman there," he says quickly, dropping his hand.
She opens her mouth to respond and then closes it again, feeling her cheeks burn slightly and hoped he couldn't see it beneath her makeup. She mumbles a thanks and exhales deeply, returning her eyes to look back out at the roadside that was whizzing past.
"Plus," he carries on, "You're there with me so all eyes will probably be on me anyway, so I wouldn't worry."
She scoffs and tells him to shut up and that he's an idiot, but her brain is already working in overdrive. It's just like a performance, she thinks. She should just think of it like a performance. Something niggles at her slightly, and she wonders if it's the chance to schmooze with all the actors that she had looked up to since she was a child that was causing all those butterflies in her stomach, or the fact that she was starting to realize how difficult spending all day with Harvey might actually be.
It all seems to pass in a flash. The red carpet, camera flashes, Donna laughing as she spelled her name for the photographer from the New York Times events page. The service passed so quickly that Donna feels like she had blinked and missed it, when in reality she had spent the entire thing training her eyes on the hat of the woman in the row in front, willing herself not to glance at Harvey as the minister spoke of soulmates and how in the end, finding someone to love who loves you back was all that matters. She could have sworn he also felt him stiffen, his fingers curling into a fist at his side, but that could have been her imagination. There were speeches, and tiny little h'ors doureves and so much champagne it was starting to make their heads spin before the party portion of the day even started.
Donna spends the first hour of the reception introducing herself to actors that she had only ever seen in the glow of stage lights before, her nerves dissipating as she makes them laugh, telling anecdotes about her own performances while Harvey stands a foot behind her, one ear on stories he's heard her tell before but could never be boring, and his other ear on the current conversation he's having with one of his clients that also were invited and spouting on about something that could really wait until their meeting next week. She shines, he thinks, even telling some story about her missing her cue and stumbling on to the stage over a prop that had been left in the wings, she absolutely shone. And her audience seemed equally enthralled, a few even offering her their numbers for her to use if she needed tickets to their stage shows in the upcoming season.
He's coming back from the bar, a whiskey for him and another flute of champagne for her, when he catches sight of her attention being held by one of the men that he had noticed had been vying for her attention all evening.
"I'm sorry", he hears from a few steps away, the fake smile in her voice only noticeable to him, "But I'm here with someone so-"
He takes that as his cue, and steps behind her, curving the hand holding her drink around her to land in her line of vision. She inhales, without looking around and takes it from him.
"John, do you know Harvey Specter?"
"No, we haven't met," the man says, reaching out to shake Harvey's free hand.
"I actually should-" he steps away from them, and gives Donna a nod as he turned to walk away. She giggles slightly, taking a sip of her drink. Finally, she turns to face him and suddenly aware of their proximity she puts a step between them, smiling.
"Took you long enough, I thought I was going to have a marriage proposal by the time you came back."
He scoffs and holds up his glass, offering a toast. "To a good day."
She hums, "A good day. And okay company."
Their glasses clink together, her eyes lock on to his, which grounds her through the slight fizziness in her head from the champagne.
"You know what would make this a great day?" she asks, swallowing the rest of her glass in one gulp, placing it on the table beside her, "…if you danced with me." She holds out her hand.
"Donna-", he starts but the look on her face makes him stop. He swallows the rest of his drink and placing his empty glass beside hers, he takes her hand and leads her to the dancefloor.
Swaying to the music, their hands clasped and their cheeks brushing softly, it feels like a dream. She can feel his hand on her waist, the weight of it seeming almost distracting, and she loses all sense of whatever song they were dancing to because all she can focus on is keeping her breathing under control and the gentle brush of his thumb against the silk of her dress. His breath is hot on her cheek and it sends a shiver down her spine, hairs standing up on the back of her neck.
He must sense it, because he squeezes her hand and presses their fronts together, all while still swaying to the music. She pulls her head back so they're eye-to- eye and she swallows at the look in his eyes. He's looking at her like he can see through her, right to everything she is. He tilts his head towards her, and she thinks for anyone else looking at them, they wouldn't even notice but she did. His eyes drop down to her lips and she feels as though she's been sucked into a vacuum where everything around them ceases to exist.
"Harvey," she murmurs, shaking her head slightly, her cheeks flushing.
It seems to jolt him and he looks away to the side, the connection broken.
They stay like that on the dancefloor for some time after that but they don't look each other in the eye again, both of their hearts beating way ahead of normal rhythm as they pretend that they're just two colleagues, two best friends, spending the day at a wedding. Completely normal.
Once the band starts to play more upbeat song that they can't pretend to sway to anymore they pull apart, and with a tight-lipped smile, Donna asks him if he could drive her back home now, because her feet are starting to hurt and she's guessing they've definitely stayed their welcome.
The drive back is in silence, their hands resting on the seat between them, pinkies merely an inch apart but neither makes the move to close the distance between them.
Donna thinks that perhaps she's imagined the moment earlier, her judgement clouding and magnifying a moment that probably wasn't anything. There were so many feelings between her and Harvey, and for a long time, they had been set in stone, startling clear about what they were but recently it was starting to blur for her and she was finding it harder to ignore. She had thought that he was going to kiss her earlier, and how stupid, she thinks, when it was most likely a moment that hadn't even registered but it was glaringly obvious to her how much she had wanted him to.
He sits beside her in the silence, trying to make sense of how he's feeling. There's something in him that's drawn to Donna, and he's always known about it but something about her being with Stephen caught him by surprise and he was bothered by the amount he was bothered by them. But he knew that he had wanted to kiss her earlier while they were dancing, and in that moment, there was no worries about being friends, or ruining the partnership they had built the last few years. There was nothing but him and her, and it hadn't been so long that he had forgotten how she felt against him, how right it had felt when they were together. But she had pulled herself away from him, and that had made the decision, he wasn't going to push her into anything if it wasn't what she wanted.
Taking a step towards her building, she turns back to him.
"Thank you for today, Harvey. I know you didn't want to go, but I had such a great time."
"I actually had a lot of fun too," he smiles, shaking his head, "Surprisingly."
She rolls her eyes, and pulls her coat tighter around her against the cool evening breeze.
"Told you it would be fun", she breathes, stepping a half-step towards him. "I was right."
Their eyes meet, shining in the moonlight.
A beat where neither of them looks away.
"And I told you that you'd be the most beautiful woman there, and I was right," he pauses, the muscles in his jaw tensing as though they were gearing up for something.
"About earlier", he starts, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"You didn't," she smiles, "It was just the day, and it's easy to get a bit swept away with the emotion."
He hums in response, his eyes not having left hers. Suddenly very aware that there was only a half-step between them, he closes the gap, his heart hammering in his chest. If she's surprised at the lack of space in between them, she doesn't show it, her gaze flicking from his eyes down to his lips, and back up again.
"Maybe it wasn't just the day," he breathes, so quiet that she isn't sure this is real, that it isn't just his voice in her head. He leans his head down a fraction, leaving the choice to her, and she tilts hers up and their lips meet.
It's barely a kiss, their lips are touching and neither of them are breathing. She comes to her senses quicker than he does and puts more force into it, pressing her body against his as she raises a hand to cup his jaw lightly. That seems to get his attention and he grips her waist, reminiscent of the way he held her earlier. He springs into action, pulling her even closer than seems possible as his lips move against hers, his tongue brushing against her bottom lip. She moans softly at the contact and her fingers tighten on his face as she opens her mouth to deepen the kiss.
It could be minutes, or hours, or years that pass as they stand there, in front of her building, their arms firming anchoring them to the ground and to each other.
Eventually needing to breathe, Donna pulls back slowly, her chest heaving. Her thumb brushes his cheek softly as she catches her breath. He flexes his fingers at her waist but doesn't remove them, his eyes shining in the dim streetlight.
Leaning up again, she smiles and whispers "Goodnight, Harvey," against his lips, kissing him tenderly. "See you tomorrow."
He smooths the lapels of her coat, a glaring parallel of what their usual contact is and lets her go. "Goodnight, Donna."
Biting her bottom lip, she tilts her head to the side and turns, walking into her building and up to her apartment, a whirling carousel of images from the day spinning in her head, and her heart spinning in her chest.
The next morning she meets him at the elevators with his coffee as usual, chattering about the deposition he has that afternoon. Neither spoke of the wedding, or the kiss to each other, or anyone else again.
The Earth spins, and years to by and they stay the same, edging closer and then she leaves to work for Louis and their respective worlds fall apart and then are glued back together and there's girlfriends and boyfriends and finally, time seems to click into place for them, like the most important piece of a jigsaw puzzle and all at once, their forever is together and they won't need to be apart again.