[SOL! Verse - I Heard It Through The Grapevine]

[nyota_uhura24]

Finally it was Monday. Nyota usually went several days without seeing Jim during the week, but the wait between Saturday and Monday always felt like forever. Thankfully her father had mostly recovered from his illness and told her he didn't mind if she kept her weekly dinner date with “Anna.” She felt a little twinge of guilt every time someone used the name she'd invented to cover for her relationship with Jim, but as always she ignored it. She deserved her happiness.

Besides, she really needed to be out of the house tonight. Trent and his mother were coming over for dinner, and she'd been avoiding him since Saturday night, which was... Just what in the world was that? He usually managed the diner on weekdays, but because her father was ill he came in on Saturday night. After closing they found themselves alone in the kitchen, and while she was talking to him about Jim's music he tried to kiss her. She panicked and turned her head away, downright nauseated by the idea of anyone but Jim kissing or touching her. She knew about her father's hopes, of course, but had never known that Trent wanted any part in them. He apologized profusely when she told him how very improper it was, and she fled before he could say anything more.

She had been hoping to steal a few moments with Jim that night, but perhaps it was for the best that he was already gone when she left the kitchen. There could never be anyone in her heart but Jim, but she knew she'd have to reconsider her assumption that Trent opposed their marriage. But surely... surely he didn't actually want to marry her? They'd been close friends for so long that she thought of him as a cousin, almost a sibling. Maybe he was just trying to please their parents. She knew on some level that she'd have to figure it out eventually, but for now she just wanted to spend time with the man she loved. Smiling a little to herself and putting Trent far from her mind, she walked into Jim's building and took the elevator to the top floor, where she knocked quietly on the door.

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[owns-the-chair.livejournal.com]

One full Sunday and the better part of a Monday had not even been close to sufficient time for Jim to calm down. Not after what he'd seen and heard before leaving the diner late Saturday night. After his last set, he'd packed up, then headed to the kitchen to see if he could steal himself a moment or two alone with Nyota. He'd gotten as far as the door when he'd stopped dead in his tracks and just... stared through the small round window. There she'd been, having a seemingly intimate conversation with Trent, and then the bastard had leaned in to kiss her. And she. hadn't. stopped. him. After that, he'd turned on his heel and gone back to the small stage to gather his things.

To add insult to injury, Kamau had been there, and at Jim's oh so very helpful hint that he go check on what Trent was doing with his sister in the kitchen, Kamau, the rotten kid, had smirked at Jim and informed him that Trent was allowed. Because he was her fiance. As in, the man she was engaged to be married to. At that point, Jim had put on his jacket, picked up his guitar, and tried to look as amiable as possible while simultaneous getting the hell out of there before he gave into the temptation to storm into the kitchen and break Trent's face.

He'd wandered the streets for a while, and finally made it home sometime after midnight, then proceeded to crawl as deeply into a bottle as he could. The hangover he'd had all Sunday hadn't helped matters, but at least it had kept him immobile enough not to seek her out and tear her head off.

And now, it was Monday, he hadn't acted on any of his impulses to call her and cancel, and she'd be here any second. There was no more time to lick his wounds, but that didn't mean he had to play nice with her anymore. She'd used him, she'd filled his head - and even worse, his heart - with pretty words, and known all along that none of what she said would ever happen.

When the knock on his door came, he set his jaw and called for her to enter, flipping through a few records until he found the one he wanted. She was here to learn how to dance, he'd teach her how to dance. And tonight, he'd teach her the tango. Just because he felt like it.