Save the Dance

"First of all, who would have thought that my baby sister would be getting married?" There were cheers at the start of Natasha's speech. "And second of all, she's wearing a dress! I've got to be honest here, our dad and I had bets on whether or not she would come to her wedding in trousers and it looks like I owe him a tenner!" There was laughter at that. Her sister was laughing and shaking her head as she listened. "But most importantly, that fact that she has found happiness with someone else other than her dog is just terrific. We're all rooting for you, Kels. And Rob, if you ever hurt her, remember she can take you in an arm wrestle."

Once her speech was finished, Natasha dropped down into her seat and took a sip of her wine, grinning when she saw the look her sister was giving her. When she'd been asked to give a speech, she'd warned her sister that it wouldn't be the sappy stuff that most people would probably give. That wasn't what they were like and she'd be damned if she conformed to the norm. As it were, her sister had themed her wedding based on her favourite film, so her speech wasn't going to be something that was all that different.

The best man gave his speech, with it lasting three minutes longer than her own, and then they were able to get up from their seats and finally stretch their legs. She finished her drink before leaving her seat and heading to the other end of the bridal table. "Nice speech," she said, sliding into the now vacant seat of the best man.

"If I'd know you were mentioning her dog, I would have told him to go for the snake joke he cut out," Nathan replied, toying with the half-eaten breadstick that was in his hand.

She shrugged. "That's the beauty of surprise."

"So, when's your big day?"

That made her snort. "You're hilarious. I'd probably only get married to a kebab but I don't think that's legal."

"Aw, no one likes the ickly Tasha?" Nathan teased, making her snatch the breadstick from him and take a bite out of it. "I was going to eat that!"

"Not any more," she replied with her mouth full. "Call me Tasha again and I'll make sure you don't get any of the cake."

He straightened up in his seat and narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't believe you."

Natasha saw her sister stand behind him and look towards her, motioning to the side with her head. "Try me," she said coyly before taking another bite of the stick and dropping it back on his plate. She stood from the seat and went over to her sister, accompanying her to the bathroom. She was on dress helping duty for the day and it didn't get any easier each time her sister had to use the bathroom.

They had just finished and she was helping smooth down the skirt of the dress when her sister spoke. "Having a dance with Oli?"

"Why would I?" she asked.

Her sister rolled her eyes. "Well, he is the best man."

"I'm not your maid of honour."

"Just dance with him!"

She held the door open and the two left the bathroom and headed into the reception. The bride went and found her groom on the dancefloor while Natasha went to get a drink refill. Her shoes were beginning to make the soles of her feet ache so she glanced at her watch to see that there was only an hour and a half left until they could all leave. She was obliged to stay until the end because she was family and had been a bridesmaid. If she'd just been a guest, she would have left right now.

As she stood by the table, Oli came up to her. "I thought we'd agreed no animal jokes," he accused, grabbing a drink as he stood next to her.

"I lied," she said.

"I went for the sappy bullshit because of you."

She gave him a smile. "That was the plan. Couldn't have you best my speech."

"You're such a sneak."

"You say that as if you never knew that."

Just then Nathan came and joined them at the table. "You guys going to dance?" he asked, looking between the two.

Natasha rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. What was with people suggesting that? She never danced, not really, and dancing with friends wasn't something that she did often. Being at a wedding didn't change that.

"Music's shit," Oli excused, and although that was the truth, his words held barely any weight.

"Give over," Nathan said, rolling his shoulders back. "It's a wedding. You have to dance."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Does that mean I have to dance with you?"

He laughed and shook his head. "God, no! Please don't ever suggest that again. It's just you two. Might as well dance, right?" With that he walked away from them.

For a moment Natasha held her glass to her lips, furrowing her eyebrows at the behaviour of the man. He was the second person in the space of ten minutes who had suggested she dance with Oli. Her sister's suggestion might have been innocent but having Nathan come up and say that was anything but innocent.

They stayed by the table for a little while long, trying to be inconspicuous at their blatant over-consumption of the alcoholic beverages. She ended up removing her shoes and ducking behind the table, with Oli following shortly after. "They're off on their honeymoon in about three days," she said, reaching up and bringing one of the wine glass down off the table. "I promised I'd look after their house."

He smiled. "Regretting it?"

"It's not funny," she chided. "Their dog is bloody psycho and that snake is just beyond gross. Forgive me for not wanting to die."

"Wuss."

She hit him on the arm. "Bloody not."

"Can't even cope with a dog," he teased, taking a mouthful of the cider he had.

"You refused to housesit! So mister 'can't even cope' can just shut up," she said smugly.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm just smart enough not to agree to do stuff like that. He asked and I said no. How simple is that?"

Before she could reply, there was movement from behind them and a girl pushed her way through the tablecloth, wedging herself between the two of them. "We were wondering where you had got off to!" she exclaimed, looking at Natasha before Oli. "You should stay here. Dancing is for babies." With that she disappeared back the way she came.

"Okay, something's going on," Natasha exclaimed, "that we're not aware of."

Oli nodded. "Rob told me I shouldn't dance with anyone this morning."

"Well Kels was adamant that we danced."

"And Nathan wants us to dance too."

"But Kathy just told us not to."

He nodded. "She's Rob's niece, so we know where that comes from," he deduced, rubbing his chin. "And Nathan's been Kel's friend longer than Rob's, so it makes sense that they're saying the same thing. But where do we fit in?"

Natasha downed the rest of her drink and put the glass on the floor. "Maybe the fact that they're so adamant that we're in denial about loving one another?"

Oli laughed. "Forgot about that."

"And knowing Kel and Rob, they've probably plotted something--"

He interrupted. "Or made a bet. On whether or not we're going to dance, and they both can't play fairly which is why Nathan and Kathy are involved."

"I bet Susie and Rob B are also involved," she added, shaking her head. "Those idiots. Did they really think we wouldn't twig on?"

"Probably thought we were too consumed with our speech competition that we wouldn't realise."

She gave a laugh. "Fools."

"Question is, who do we want to win?" he said, giving her a sly smile. "If we do nothing, Rob'll win by default."

"If I have to look after his snake, he's losing this bet," she commanded, standing from the floor and helping Oli up. She left her shoes were they were, grabbed his hand and led him onto the dancefloor, giving her sister a smirk when she saw her.

They position themselves so that she had one hand on his arm and the other was being held before they started dancing to the somewhat sappy music that was playing. He bent his head slightly and she smiled. "Is he watching?" she murmured.

"She's made sure he noticed," Oli replied, amusement in his voice.

"Why are they so obsessed with proving we have feelings for each other?"

He shook his head softly. "Rob's always thought we're more than friends."

"I think he's convinced Kel of that."

A silence fell between them as they continued dancing. The song felt never-ending but for some reason Natasha felt oddly satisfied being this close to Oli. At least her sister could now say that she danced at her wedding.

She was startled when he broke the silence. "I've never actually asked," he said, making her look at him confused. "Whether you have feeling for me?"

"Oh," she said. "We're friends, right? Well there's your answer. Unless...you have feeling for me?"

"No, no," he said quickly, "we're friends. You said so yourself."

She frowned. "Yeah."

"Now that our feelings are clear to each other, let's go see what the bet was?" he said, making her nod and step away from him.

Natasha couldn't help but wonder what he would've said had she said yes.