you and tequila
rating: t++ ??? very mild m?? but only barely
ship: hope/kelley
summary: after a team's night out, somehow, Hope and Kelley end up as the room voted 'most responsible with alcohol'. Never a pair for labels, they set out to prove the rest of the team wrong....mostly by accident. Mostly.
notes: i might be willing to write more of this, if multiple people ask for it in reviews. just so you know~
[I went to Stanford.]
She's pretty drunk. She'd have to be, for this to even be happening-- both of them are drunk, in fact, the alcohol turning their brains to watercolor abstracts, numbing their mumbling mouths and making something as simple as unlocking the hotel room so difficult that it takes a solid two minutes.
They're both laughing, Kelley in her giggly, girlish way, Hope at her own uncoordination. She sets the paper bag down- tequila, limes, salt and all- and shakes her head. "I love that we were voted as the safest room to keep the goods in," she says. Kelley flops onto her stomach on Hope's bed, which is closer to the door. "Nobody would ever try to steal from you," she temporizes, still giggling, "unless they had some kind of death wish." Hope frowns. "I think Abby made me take it instead of Alex because she was worried about leaving Al and Syd with the stuff do to body shots. Considering they've definitely both done them. And recently, too."
She sighs over dramatically, rolling her eyes- "To be young and in college and in the height of body shot days," she says as she leans against the wall.
Kelley scoffs, rolling over onto her back and looking at Hope upside down. Hope's noticed Kelley's face before- she notices everyone- but for some reason upside down she can see Kelley's freckles more clearly, can see the way her nose scrunches up when she grins. "You're not old," she says, matter-of-fact, "and anyway, you're crazy. I don't even hardly know what a body shot is. And I," she sniffs self-importantly, "went to Stanford."
.,.
Hope bursts into laughter and Kelley's confusion grows with each second. Part of that is probably because she's a little drunk. Part of it is probably because she's upside down. But part of it is just Hope- she's confusing, and half the time Kelley thinks she might be like that on purpose. Right now she just wants to know what she said that was funny.
"Stanford's a pussy school," Hope says. Kelley's not expecting the obscenity and the punch it carries gives her a weird, warm little jolt. For a second she's not sure whether to focus on that random reaction or on the contet of the setence.
"I'd be surprised if you've even seen a keg stand."
She hasn't.
"I-"
Hope bursts out laughing again before Kelley can come up with the rest of her response. Kelley feels little and dismissed and she knows her face is bright red when she rolls over and says, "Teach me."
.,.
Hope stops laughing abruptly, still huffing a little, one hand braced on the wall behind her.
"What? Kelley, we can't do a keg stand in here."
"Not a keg stand." Kelley props herself up on her elbows, suddenly serious. "Body shots."
Hope almost laughs again, but the deadly calm on Kelley's face keeps her from so much as a giggle. "You're crazy," she says, but something- probably the alcohol- keeps her from believing that completely. Kelley shakes her head again, sitting up. "I'm not. We have the limes and the tequila and the salt. Teach me."
.,.
The idea of actually saying ‘no’ never occurs to her. If Kelley really wants to learn, Hope’s not going to stop her-- at the very least this will be entertaining. Besides, it’s just a body shot or two. She’s been there, done that. It’s nothing. It means nothing.
Not to mention, it’s Kelley, so it’s really not a big deal at all, because Hope is straight, and Kelley is straight, and they’re not drunk enough for that to blur, just enough to be convinced that body shots are appropriate.
So she sets it up and keeps herself calm by explaining what she’s doing. Kelley is stupidly focused, watching in complete silence as Hope sets each bit out. “So...how this works, really, is...kinda up to the people doing it.” She’s seen body shots where the salt was as high as people’s necks, but that’s not the kind of party Kelley would be caught dead at, probably. “We- since this is purely demonstrative, it’s....not gonna be the way it’s usually done in college. But I’m pretty sure this is the most common way for anyone with a degree to do it.” She corrects herself, hastily, blushing a little- “not that I -we- not that it’s done a lot, exactly.”
Why is she qualifying herself to Kelley? Kelley is the last person on Earth that would judge anyone for anything, probably, and Hope’s getting distracted again so she takes another deep breath and sits back. “Okay. You start with the salt-- in college it gets in some weird, weird, weird places-- but normal people usually just do a line on the stomach, from the belly button up.”
When she talks about it like that it seems more manageable.
"Then the tequila... usually it's in the belly button but some people actually drink whole shots. I don't think we need whole shots." Not that she wants Kelley's tongue on her stomach. It's just not practical in the state they're already in. Kelley just nods.
"The lime is usually in the hand of the person you're doing the shot off of. Really desperate freshmen sometimes put the limes in their mouths."
She takes another deep breath and looks up. This time Kelley returns her (mostly) steady gaze.
"Ready?"
.,.
She nods but she's not really ready. The jolt of Hope's words are still thrumming in her veins and she can't breathe, especially when Hope goes and lays back against the headboard, lifting her shirt so that the bottom of her bra, simple and black lace, just barely peeks out.
She gives Kelley an expectant look.
Kelley takes the hint and springs into action. The salt is easy- it's not a straight line but it's pretty close- but her hand shakes when she pours the tequila and it spills a little out of Hope's belly button, no matter how hard she focuses. She takes a deep, shuddery breath and hands Hope the lime wedge.
"Nervous, Stanford?"
Hope's jibe puts everything back in perspective, and Kelley shakes her head.
.,.
"No, I'm not nervous, but I kinda thought- I thought you were gonna demonstrate on me."
Hope feels the blush threatening as she realizes her mistake-- Kelley would never have been the one doing the body shots. She'd have been the one getting body shots done off of her. She hides her embarrassment by brushing off the salt and sitting up with a casual shrug. "Okay. I can do that. Switch with me."
Kelley's freckles don't stop at her face. She's got a dusting across her hipbones and abdomen that distract Hope for all of 2 seconds before she refocuses and sets up the shot. Kelley grips the lime in one hand and nods when Hope glances up to see if she can actually start.
She settles to Kelley's right, bracing herself on one elbow, and tries to pretend this is just some random person and not a teammate she's feeling a weird and growing attraction to. Alcohol is easier to blame, though at this point she's closer to sober than drunk.
She drops her head and licks the salt off of Kelley's stomach, starting from the bottom and moving up. She's made the line too long- long enough that when she pulls back a little her face is dangerously close to Kelley's cleavage.
Weird is a line they crossed a while ago.
Kelley is blushing red when Hope catches her gaze, but she immediately looks away because she knows Kelley won't, and eye contact is just gonna make this weirder. I'm just demonstrating, she reminds herself, but she's enjoying this way too much, especially enjoying the way Kelley squirms when she moves to the tequila in her belly button. The alcohol bites at her tongue, a welcome distraction, and there's a taste under that, too, that she knows is the taste of Kelley's skin.
Now she wonders if she'll ever be able to look at Kelley and not remember that taste.
She lifts her head and refuses to look Kelley in the eye before she scoots up and grabs Kelley’s wrist with her right hand. With the lime between her teeth, she finishes the shot, tosses the remains of the wedge into the trash can on the other side of the bed, and sits back on her heels, oddly breathless and doing her best not to think about the fact that she aches.
She’s suddenly very, very glad their positions weren’t switched.
But she’s straight. So it’s all fine. It’s the tequila playing tricks on her.
.,.
Kelley’s chest is tight when Hope actually gives her a second to breathe.
She’s not sure exactly what changed between “teach me” and now, but she’s pretty certain it has a little- maybe a lot- to do with the electric shock that went through her body the second Hope’s tongue hit her skin. Which is weird because they’re both straight.
Except she’s pretty sure straight women are not supposed to get turned on when another woman does a body shot off of them. Even when that other woman is Hope freakin’ Solo. That’s a little gay.
But she doesn’t care that much really, she just has this sudden and overwhelming urge to return the favor, because Hope has this weird smug look on her face like she knows she’s causing such an issue and Kelley is very aware that she has two options: kiss the smirk off Hope’s face (where did that thought even come from? She’s not half drunk enough for this) or disguise it all as a ‘practice body shot’ and pretend like she’s actually practicing instead of just wondering what Hope tastes like.
“Your turn,” she manages through half-gritted teeth. Hope gives her a weird look, but after a second of hesitation she obliges and they switch places again.
.,.
She knows she should really say no. This isn’t demonstrative anymore, this is just...this is just doing fucking body shots, and she shouldn’t be as okay with this as she is, she knows it. They’re roommates. They have practice tomorrow, a game the next day. They play together. She’s going to be staring at the back of Kelley’s jersey for months with this on replay in her head and she has nobody but herself to blame for agreeing to this in the first place.
But she still doesn’t regret it.
Kelley doesn’t spill the tequila this time. Hope digs her fingernails into the lime and feels some of the juice drip onto her palm. Kelley braces herself with a knee on either side of Hope’s leg (of course she couldn’t stay even a little out of her personal space) and Hope just completely loses her ability to concentrate.
Kelley takes her sweet damn time with the salt, using broad, slow swipes of her tongue like this is some kind of game. Hope hears herself suck in a breath and prays that Kelley didn’t hear it.
.,.
Kelley hears everything.
She especially hears it when she finishes the line of salt and Hope whispers, “Christ,” and then the lime is on the floor somewhere and Hope’s hands are tangled in her hair.
She freezes.
Hope freezes.
There’s a split second where Hope starts to pull her hands away before Kelley launches herself up and kisses her full on the mouth.