The uncontrollable urge to dance (n)

“Taste,” Nora says, holding the spatula towards Melody.

Melody grabs Nora’s hand to bring the spatula closer to her mouth. She licks the cookie dough off the side. Her head tilts. She licks the other side.

“You’re joking, right?”

Nora turns her attention fully towards Melody. “What are you talking about?”

“Where’s the box? There’s no way we made this,” Melody says, more towards the spatula than Nora.

Nora pulls the spatula back and licks what’s left on the top. She closes her eyes and smiles.

“That tastes like childhood.”

Melody pulls the spatula completely away from Nora and licks off the rest of the dough. She hums a happy tune and wiggles her shoulders. Nora bites back a laugh as she reaches for her phone. She snaps a picture of Melody just before she opens her eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey! No!”

Melody reaches for Nora’s phone. She backs Nora into the cabinets and leans around her.

“It’s cute! I’m keeping it!” Nora laughs. “You have so many terrible pictures of me, let me have this silly one.”

Melody sets her feet down on the flour splattered kitchen tiles and rests her hands on either side of Nora.

“I’ll let this go if you let me put the music back on.”

Nora hands Melody the phone.

“Oh come on! Is it really that bad?”

Nora crosses her arms as best as she can with the limited space between her and Melody. “I couldn’t even get you to grab the bag of flour from the pantry while the music was on. You can’t multitask with music.”

Melody rocks back onto her heels and throws her hands out. “It’s not my fault. The music moves within me. I have no control over it.”

Nora rolls her eyes, but the effect is lost in the crinkles from her smile. “My point exactly.”

Melody poses like the Thinker. Nora laughs, a pinch spreading across her side.

“How’s this,” Melody suggests. “You play a playlist of your choice on a low volume while we finish up and get these cookies in the oven, but once they’re in I’m the DJ. We can crank it up, I’ll pick great dancing songs, and we will have the best dance party two lousy bakers could ask for.”

“Hey, you can call yourself a lousy baker, but I’m great.”

Melody nods. “You’re right. You’re definitely right.” She points to the bowl full of dough. “Someone had to be at least half decent to make that crack.”

Nora sighs and turns on her phone.

“Whatcha doin’?” Melody asks.

“Picking the playlist least likely to make you break out into a musical number.”

Melody raises her fists in the air, a huge smile spread wide across her face. “I win!”

Nora presses shuffle on her romantic songs playlist and hopes for the slower half to be queued up first. She pauses for a moment, debating whether or not to manually order the que, but sides with fate. Nora places her phone face down on the counter and meets Melody’s side. There are two greased and lined cookie sheets on either side of the bowl. Melody has rolled three cookies and placed them far too close on her tray. Nora shakes her head and begins rolling her own tray’s worth of dough balls.

80’s Makeout Session” by dacelynn is the first song to play. Melody sings bits and pieces under her breath and lets her shoulders and hips toss side to side. Half of the bowl is rolled by the time the song ends.

“Cloud 9 (feat. Tegan and Sara)” by Beach Bunny follows. Melody stops rolling to belt the chorus each time it comes around. When she stops to play the air guitar for the solo Nora tosses her a glare. Melody immediately mouths an apology and goes back to rolling. Her shoulders begin to bounce again after two more rolled cookies.

By some miracle, they finish rolling the dough by the end of the song. Nora reorganizes their trays to give the cookies enough room to stay separate as the next song begins playing: “Friday I’m In Love” by The Cure. Melody nearly gasps at the first few notes.

“Please, please, can we dance? Just one song.”

Nora shakes her head at Melody. She’s already swaying to the beat, and a huge smile is plastered across her face. She reaches her hands out.

“I’ll press the cookies, and you can dance.”

Melody frowns. “But it’s not as fun without you.”

Nora can’t help but match Melody’s smile. “Once these are in I promise I’ll dance with you to whatever song you want.”

“Pinky promise?” Melody holds out her pinky. Her stub of a nail is painted a pale pink, a perfect shade match to her socks and the claw clip in her hair.

Nora locks her pinky with Melody’s. “I pinky promise.”

“Pinky promise what?”

Nora tosses her head back before locking eyes with Melody. “I pinky promise to dance with you once the cookies are in the oven.”

Melody nods in approval. They lift their hands and each kiss their end before releasing pinkies. Nora grabs a fork from the drawer and begins crisscross pressing the top of each cookie.

“It’s Friday, I’m in love!” Melody scream sings behind her.

Nora laughs as she shakes her head. Melody sings every word behind her as she presses the detail into each cookie. At the end of the first tray, Melody hugs Nora from behind. She forces Nora to sway with her as she sings quietly in her ear. Nora continues to press the cookies, but she lets her head rest back on Melody’s.

The song fades out and “She’s So Lovely” by Scouting for Girls replaces it. Melody gasps, releasing Nora and grabbing the phone. She cranks the music up as high as it will go and puts a hand out to Nora.

“Nora, will you do me the honor of dancing with me?”

Nora rests her head on her shoulder. “I’m almost done with this.”

“But this is our song, Nora.” Melody places her hands on Nora’s hips and turns her towards her. “Please dance with me. Then I’ll stop bothering you.”

Melody makes her bottom lip quiver and sniffles. Nora can’t help but smile. She pushes away Melody’s face.

“You’re an idiot, but you’re never a bother.” Melody’s face softens. “You’re right. I’ll dance.”

Melody cheers and takes the fork from Nora’s fingers. She sets it on the counter. Her hands find Nora’s hips again to pull her closer.

“Just in time for the chorus,” Melody says.

Melody tosses her head back and begins to scream the lyrics as loud as she can. She uses her hands to pull and push Nora’s sides, making her twist. Nora gives in and throws her arms around Melody’s neck and mirrors her movements.

Nora takes a shuffle closer and rests her head in the crook of Melody’s neck. Melody rests her head on Nora’s.

“I love the way she bites her lip,” Melody sings into Nora’s ear. “I love the way she shakes them hips.”

“I love the way she makes me drool,” Nora chimes in.

“I think that she is beautiful,” they sing together.

Melody moves her hands from Nora’s hips into a hug. She pulls Nora as close as she can and nuzzles her nose into her neck. Nora laughs as she listens to Melody’s muffled singing. She stops singing after the chorus.

Nora pulls her arms tighter and leads them into a sway.

“I think that you are lovely,” Nora sings into Melody’s ear. Melody perks up, pulling her head away from Nora’s neck.

Nora continues to sing the repeating line over and over. Melody chimes in by the line’s fifth repetition. They sing the rest of the lyrics together, each line getting louder and louder until they’re screaming loud enough for the entire apartment building to hear.

As the song fades out, Nora rests her head against Melody’s forehead. Melody moves her right hand to the side of Nora’s face. She looks straight into Nora’s eyes.

“Have I told you how much I love you today?”

Nora shrugs. “You can always tell me again.”

A loud beeping makes them both jump. They laugh, resting their foreheads together again. Nora slips away, presses the fork into the last few cookies, and places both trays in the oven. As Nora looks back at Melody, she presses play on “Paper Rings” by Taylor Swift.

She holds out her hand. “May I have another dance, m’lady?”

Nora ignores Melody’s hand and goes straight for a tight hug. “You may.”