I Missed You Ch. 06

"No." Mira shook her head.

"Ew Ro." Calisto spoke quick and sharp.

"Why do you even own that? It makes you look like a cream puff." Kurt grimaced at the choice hands twitching to fix what was in front of him.

"I think you look delicious," Erica said, straight faced, Rose laughed and spun around once more in a fluffy tan number, she wasn't entertaining any thoughts of actually wearing it out today but a girl only gets so many chances to have an outfit montage and a diva uses every single chance she gets.

"Ok, I can't take this I'm commandeering this fashion montage" Kurt stood up from sitting on Rose' midnight blue bed. "Alexander McQueen once said 'I want people to be afraid of the women I dress' so Rose?" Kurt grabbed onto her shoulders and stares into her eyes, blue clashing with brown, "let's terrify him."

"Amazing." Erica whispered in reverence.

"Uh Kurt, not that I don't appreciate the mildly threatening encouragement but John said to dress comfortably, so maybe we should save the McQueen and Chanel for another time? How about something that says less is more" Kurt pouted for a moment, but perked up immediately and turned towards Rose' closet.

"I don't know about that. After all Iris Apfel said 'more is more and less is a bore' besides what is more comfortable than a silk and chiffon drape dress? Light pink of course." Rose rolled her eyes at that and started to strip out of the tan taffeta, to the hoots and cheers of Erica and Calisto. "Well I doubt Madame Apfel was saying that about a date with John Hayes." Mira drew her knee up to her chest and rested her chin on it, smiling slowly, watching her best friend putter about her room in her underwear. Rose was playing like this was all a big joke but in reality, Mira could see her nervousness in how she was standing and glancing at the clock every five minutes.

"Rose, how long have I known you?" Mira asked, inspecting her nails while Kurt murmured to himself about the apparently "tragic shortage of epaulets in a post Elie Tahari world". Rose turned towards Mira with a confused look on her face, but answered nonetheless.

"About five years Mira. But you knew that." Mira stood while Rose spoke and walked towards her closet, gracefully spinning Kurt out of her way. "And you knew from the minute you invited us here that I was going to pick this outfit for you. Which is why" She plucked two items on the closet and put them in Rose' hands, "You'll be wearing this today."

Smiling guiltily at Mira, Rose immediately changed into the simple white button up and flared a-line floral print skirt. Erica and Calisto began to applaud when Rose paraded around in her bare feet, twirling the skirt for dramatic effect, when Mira interrupted.

"Not yet." She un-did the two top buttons and slid Rose' gold 'foxy' necklace into her hand to put on. "Now we're done." Staring at each other in the full-length mirror, Mira and Rose grinned big and bright.

"Okay! Now all of you get out, John will be here any minute and I don't need y'all all over him." With grumpy concessions, the group filed out and into Mira's car so she could drop them all off.

"Good luck Rose, make sure you wrap your legs around his blond he tongiht!" Calisto yelled out of the passenger window of Mira's BMW as they drove away.

"I'll keep that in mind Cali." Rose said to herself after going back inside. She checked the clock again. Twelve o'clock exactly, but it'd be unrealistic to expect John to be exactly on time, he isn't Superman.

Even with that reasoning in the back of her mind, Rose paced in front of her couch, slowly ruining her carpet with her heels. She glared at the time, 12:03 and just as she opened her mouth to curse at it she heard rhythmic knocking against her door. Not even sparing a look at the mirror by her doorway, Rose grabbed her keys and swung the door opening, revealing a surprised looking John with his hand raised in a fist, probably to knock again. He recovered quickly and flashed his signature grin at her. "Did you get what song that was?"

She kept staring at him and murmured quietly, "Human Nature." Without waiting for his confirmation Rose stepped back from the door frame and shamelessly checked John out. Her eyes snagged on the way he filled out his own white button up shirt and jeans that were folded up just enough to expose-

"John Sebastian Hayes, are you wearing cowboy boots?" John crossed her threshold and pressed himself

to her front to stoop down and whisper hotly in her ear, "Why yes, Rosie, I think I am." She sneered at them. Now. They are in. My. House.

"If this is your way of telling me I'm getting on a horse today, I will bite your lips off." John shook his head and chuckled framing Rose' face with his hands, "Of course I'm not taking you horseback riding, if I was I would've worn my bolo tie."

"The one from junior prom." She didn't even phrase it as a question, she knew exactly which one he was talking about.

"Exactly."

"Well you better keep that damn thing under lock and key, because if I ever find it I'm going to toss it in the trash." In reality, there was absolutely no way she could do that even if she could get her hands on it. She loved that stupid thing, but there was no way John would let her live it down if he knew.

"I'm sure you would, come on, we can talk about why bolo ties are the pinnacle of fashion in the car." He grabbed her hand and led her out and into the driveway.

-o-o-

"And so what we're gonna do is add a few drops into the vanilla and our batter will be done. Once we pop them into the oven, we'll ice the ones we've already got ok?" The peppy blond woman at the front of the kitchen full of people doing their best to make halfway decent baked goods.

"Ugh I love cupcakes, John, this is cheating." Rose held up the red velvet cupcakes she'd been icing to her face, with longing in her eyes. John put down the chocolate cupcake he'd been studying and dropped his voice, faking an accent.

"Oh, you think sweetness is your ally. But you merely adopted the sugar; I was born in it, moulded by it. I didn't see the icing until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but FROSTING! The cupcakes betray you, because they belong to me!" John finished his impression with a bite of Rose' cupcake.

Rose snickered "Bane, John? The Dark Knight still your favorite?"

"It's a classic, darlin'." John swiped a finger through the bowl of icing in front of them before dolloping it onto Rose' nose. They traded swipes of icing over and over until the baking instructor told them to stop wasting ingredients. Struggling to muffle cackles and snorts they move towards the sinks at the back of the professional kitchen to wash off the mess. While John washed up Rose turned to face the class, full of couples young and old, baking various flavours of cupcakes. She couldn't help but look at a certain elderly couple, the short brown skinned lady openly chiding her husband. She and John had met them earlier, Ramona and Charles, who'd apparently been married "49, no 50, no 51 years". Rose found herself imagining her and John that old and that...happy.

"You're staring." John broke her out of her reverie, flicking water onto the back of her neck. "Think you'll ever get married? Because I know this guy who's really good at impressions and totally into you." Rose turned to face John, face pensive but didn't answer. "Charles reminds me of you."

"Debonair and Handsome?"

Rose laughed. "Sure. Let's go with that."

-o-o-

"Okay John, what's next?" Rose clipped her seat-belt in place, then situated their box of cupcakes on her lap.

John grinned at her blatant excitement. Everything was going according to plan, she drummed her fingers on the cardboard holding their (frankly, ugly) cupcakes and lightly bounced in her seat. When Rose realized he was staring at her she stopped moving but continued to smile.

"Well?" She raised an eyebrow. John remained silent and slid her hand into his. He raised it to his mouth and lightly kissed it before letting go. "Wait and see." They took off in John's truck, quiet save for Rose humming along to the radio.

-o-o-

"Are you serious?"

"...Yes?"

"How do you even know this place?" Rose asked, face frozen in awe and basked in the neon pink light of the "Sugar Shack" sign. John chuckled and guided her past the line and into the club, exchanging a small nod with the bouncer.

"I know the owner's daughter," When Rose snorted John replied, "What? You don't believe I have connections?" Rose shook her head in turn. "I just can't believe you have connections to a jazz club. After all country's always been more your style." As the two slipped into a low-lit booth, the band began to play.

"Well I sure as hell wasn't going to take you to a square dance. Now," a waitress in all black save the pink letters "Sugar Shack: Nina" placed menus in both their hands smiling kindly. "What looks good?"

Rose bit her lip and skimmed through the menu, and action John found himself getting lost in. He saw her lips move but for the life of him couldn't pay enough attention for her words to make sense.

"Huh?" he muttered after finally snapping to attention, Rose just laughed, handing her menu to Nina and then snagging John's to give to the brunette as well. "I'll have the catfish and he'll get the sirloin." Rose ordered for the both of them, making Nina blink once and grin.

"And how would he like that?" both Nina and Rose looked at John expectantly.

"Medium-rare please." He spoke, eyes on the table.

"I'll get right on that."

"You know, I don't think I appreciate being ordered for Miss Rose." John sassed.

"Is that right? I just figured I'd do you a favour because you seemed so interested in something else."

John couldn't stop a flush from rising to his face at being caught.

"I stand by my actions."

-o-o-

"Okay, so I always knew Mr. Richards was a little off but I had no idea-" Rose clapped her hands, eyes wide. "I know you didn't! But I'm telling you he was ALWAYS just staring and you and Chris and Mike, it was so wild. I mean, I know Bea only reported him because she didn't get the lead in our play but she was right!"

"How is Bea anyway?"

"Broadway actually. You know that was the only future she saw for herself John. She drove me nuts but I've got to give credit where it's due."

Nina Simone began playing throughout the club and Rose sighed, closing her eyes. "Yes." John stood the table and grabbed Rose hand without a word. She let him lead her onto the dance floor basked in cool blue light.

Fish in the sea, you know how I feel

River runnin' free, you know how I feel

Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me,

And I'm feelin' good

They swayed slow and close together to the saxophone and smooth lyrics, Rose laid her head on John's chest and took a deep breath, just letting herself enjoy the moment. What had she been doing up until now? John was this solid sturdy feeling of home and happiness and warmth and now Rose felt stupid for letting herself wait this long to be with him.

"You know," She met his eyes when he began to speak. "I spent a lot of time thinking about this date and for some reason it still doesn't feel like I've done enough for you yet."

"John, are you insane? This...all of this is so sweet and thoughtful and I can't even explain how much this means to me. How much you mean to me. I've been dancing around this and us for some weird reason and I'm sorry about that. John, I really care about you. I love you, and I thought I fucked that up a long time ago, so I was scared I was going to do it again." John released Rose hips and she frowned for a second before he covered her mouth with his, framing her face with his hands. "I love you so much." He muttered. "You don't even understand how I feel about you." Rose fisted her hands in his shirt and pull him closer, staring into his eyes. "Yes, I do."

John hugged Rose closer and they danced for what seemed like hours, in their own little world separate from the rest of the club.

-o-o-

John pulled into Rose's driveway and hopped out to help her down. They hadn't said much after dancing. He walked her to her front door and smiled down at her and their linked hands. "Well, I don't know about you Rosie, but I had a great time." Rose laughed "I had an amazing time." John hesitated but pecked her once on the lips before turning around to get into his truck.

"John?" Rose called before he took his second step. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" John whipped around so fast he almost fell down, Rose held her door wide open and tilted her head inside.

"C'mon."

Rose didn't bother giving John a tour, they'd have time for that later. She grabbed his hand and took him upstairs into her room. He took a second to look around before Rose slipped off her skirt and John found better things to look at. His eyes trailed up from her toes and by the time he'd gotten to her bare thighs, Rose had walked towards him lips parted and eyes hooded. She pushed him backwards and straddled him when he sat on the edge of her bed. She smoothed her hands down the front of his shirt and slowly unbuttoned it, never breaking eye contact. Rose pushed the shirt off of John's shoulders and reached down to undo the button of his pants. Once she finished he lifted her off him and flipped them around, depositing Rose flat on her back. He made quick work of her shirt and bra, pressing close to her, kissing her deep and urgent.

"John please," Rose muttered, and John chuckled quietly. He knelt, dragging Rose' panties off as he went, and kissed her bare feet, parting his lips wetly, sliding them up Rose' right ankle, and then up his leg, excruciatingly slow and devastatingly attentive, not missing an inch, all the way to her bare sex.

Her skin cooled in the wake of John's light, warm, worshipful kisses, raising goosebumps along Rose' skin, making her shiver, and when John kissed her exposed slit, Rose arched, sliding her hand down to grip and tug at John's hair.

John's eyelids were heavy, "You're so wet," he spoke, voice hoarse and low, "Is this for me Rosie?"

John's erection had thickened, standing swollen and flushed between his thighs and he was loathe to ignore it but he wanted to taste Rose first. He licked at her entrance lightly and met her eyes.

Rose groaned, hips thrusting upward involuntarily at the gentle movements of John's tongue. "Of course it is" she said, barely holding on.

John wrapped his arms around Rose thighs and pulled her even closer to his face. He kissed her clit once, twice before slowly dragging his tongue up and down her folds, gradually increasing the speed of his tongue until he could feel Rose legs tensing up. John sucked on the sensitive bundle of nerves hard and Rose was seeing stars.

"Fuck!" She screamed as her orgasm racked through her. John rose from between her legs and slotted his mouth over hers, making Rose taste herself. Before John could deepen the kiss further Rose pushed him back.

"What is it?" John asked, chest heaving and face flushed.

"Protection, I think I have something on my nightstand, just let me-"

Rose slapped her hand around blindly for the tiny foil packages, looking John right in the eye. After a few moments of searching John and Rose began laughing.

"How were you going to find it without looking hm?" He smirked at her.

"Shut up, I have a lot of confidence, alright?"

John pushed off the bed and pulled his pants down from where they'd been around his ankles while Rose finally got the condom. She handed it to John when he was completely naked and settled back into her former position.

John got back on top of her and stroked at his cock, practically forcing Rose to bounce her attention from his face to his cock and back again. Shifting forward Rose reaches towards him. John's breath hitched, his exhale a low, shaky laugh Rose' hand found its way to his cock, her smooth fingers wrapping tightly around the wide base of John's cock and stroking him once, palming the hard, dampened tip until John is making long half-broken sounds at the back of his throat.

"Get inside me," Rose whispered, "Now."

"As you wish," John said, soft despite his ragged breathing and redness in his cheeks.

Rose spread her legs apart further, bracing herself on her elbows so she could stare at John sinking into her, stretching her open gentle and slow. Rose groaned and let her head flop back. She appreciated what John was trying to do but she wasn't in the mood for a flashback to their first night together.

Rose wrapped her legs around his waist and dragged him into her, forcing John to bury himself all the way inside her. Rose hissed despite herself and clenched down on John's dick, feeling hot all over. John looked floored for a little before he grinned at her like a mad man.

"Are you ready?" He murmured, like Rose hadn't been ready for five million years.

"The chair," Rose said. "Wanna ride you on the chair, fuck, John—" she flicked her eyes to the black armchair in the corner of her room.

In a blink, Rose had been lifted, and then dropped, directly onto John's dick, as John sat and hauled Rose on top of him.

She cried out in shock, because John had entered her as swiftly and brutally as she'd needed, John's unbelievable girth just abruptly inside of Rose, stuffing her so thoroughly that it was as though she was being split in half.

John's abs rippled when Rose grinded down on his cock, her clit rubbing against the skin below his abdomen. John was breathing like he was in pain—deep, ragged inhales that ended in equally ragged moans, the sounds torn from him as Rose sped up, slamming down on John faster and faster.

John's head was tilted back, groans and praises spilling from his mouth without thought.

Rose' hips stuttered as she felt her orgasm rushing over, but John picked up the slack, grabbing Rose' ass and fucking into her rough and unforgiving. He bit at her skin where her neck met her collarbone and whispered platitudes into her ear, urging her to cum.

Rose screamed when her orgasm hit her, shaking with the strength of it. John followed soon after and emptied himself into the condom between them. After a few moments of stillness John realized he couldn't let Rose fall asleep like that. Slowly he moved the both of them back to her bed, tossing the condom as he went.

-o-o-

Always the early riser, the next morning John woke before Rose, and sat up in bed, watching her. When she finally did wake up she hoisted herself up and into his arms. In that moment it was like John's heart was a little too big for his chest, because this was the girl who had ruined him seven years ago. And there she was; lying in bed with him, in his arms, sleep ruffled and drowsy but happy all the same. John couldn't help but feel like everything was how it should be, because he fucking loves her and she loves him and nothing was going to fuck it up, ever again.

END