All Bets Are Off 5/?
Title: All Bets Are Off 5/?
Author: GreysAddictJ
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. No infringement intended. Also, I don’t use a beta, so all mistakes are mine.
Summary: A/U - World class professional poker player Arizona Robbins is known for keeping her cool in high intensity situations. What happens when an upstart new player, Callie Torres, sets her world spinning out of control?
A/N: There’s a tiny bit of actual poker in this chapter. I didn’t want to get too bogged down on the details of how to play, but if you’re curious, read a basic intro here in about 30 seconds. http://poker.about.com/od/poker101/ht/holdem101.htm
After a few moments of heavy silence, Arizona stood and headed towards the door. “Come on, rock star. I happen to know there’s a small stakes tournament in the casino downstairs that starts in a few minutes. It’s the perfect time to test out your new look.”
Callie took off the sunglasses and nodded. She felt a little like she was pretending to be someone she wasn’t, but figured the new persona would grow on her with a little practice. Arizona gently and briefly put her hand on the small of Callie’s back, and it felt so, so right. She followed the blonde out the door, desperately trying to gear her mind up for a game of poker, trying with every last ounce of her being to forget about the internal battle raging within her. This was not helped by the fact that every nerve ending in her body was standing on end from Arizona’s brief touch, that her eyes were glued to the sexy rear end of the woman a few steps ahead of her, that her nose was filled with gentle wafts of Arizona’s citrusy perfume, that her ears were still ringing with the joyful sound of her voice. She silently wondered what her perky lips would taste like. Hell, all of her senses were keyed in on one thing and one thing only. And it wasn’t poker.
As they made their way to the poker room to register for the tournament, Callie silently hoped that she’d be assigned to a different table than Arizona. Not that she didn’t want to spend time with her . . . quite the opposite in fact. She wanted it too much and she was afraid she’d make a major blunder due to her lack of focus. As they paid the cashier their entry fees, they were handed a computer-generated printout which told them their randomly assigned tables.
Arizona read her assignment. “I’ve got Table 2, Seat 3. What about you?”
Callie glanced down at her card. Her heart began to flutter uncontrollably. She couldn’t even begin to convince herself that she was disappointed. “Table 2, Seat 4.”
“So we’re right next to each other. Super. I can spend some more time checking you out . . . uh checking your game out.” Arizona quickly corrected herself, hoping Callie hadn’t noticed her slip.
But of course Callie had. Arizona wanted to check her out. Why did that make her so excited? It’s not like no one had ever shown interest in her. Guys had hit on her plenty - but she’d never felt the butterflies she was currently feeling. She swallowed hard and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “So, uh . . . I guess we should go take our seats.” She silently thanked her lucky stars that if even if she hadn’t avoided Arizona’s table, at least they were next to each other. She wouldn’t have to stare at her beautiful face all night. Maybe it would help her focus if she could only see her out of her periphery.
As soon as they sat down, Callie realized that sitting next to Arizona was an even bigger problem. A full poker table is not exactly spacious and personal space is at a minimum. Callie had even less space because the man to her left was about 7 feet tall and must have weighed 350 pounds. Needless to say, Callie was somewhat unwillingly pushed closer to Arizona. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t exactly unwillingly, but being that close to her, practically touching her with every movement, breathing in her subtle scent, was not helping Callie focus.
The tournament got underway and was fairly uneventful for the most part. Well, uneventful apart from the fact that both women were completely on edge. Arizona felt as though her entire body was vibrating with electricity. As she reached for her chips during one hand, her arm grazed Callie’s, sending shock waves through her whole being. She put on her best poker face and continued to play the hand. Somehow, she managed to keep it together and won the hand, despite the sexy leather-clad distraction next to her.
The time seemed to crawl by, neither woman able to truly concentrate on the game. Of course, Arizona had no one to blame but herself. She couldn’t help herself. At every opportunity, she would “accidentally” brush against Callie, sending jolts of pleasure through both their bodies. It seemed as though Callie were doing the same thing. Occasionally, their knees would bump, their hands would touch. It was a very subtle, but very enticing dance.
As Arizona leaned to collect a small stack of chips she’d just won, she purposely bumped into Callie, the whole length of their bodies, from thigh to shoulder, touching in silent innuendo. Callie had to bite down on her lower lip to stifle the involuntary groan threatening to escape from her throat. She only hoped that she didn’t outwardly appear as hot and bothered as she was feeling. If she knew what was good for her, she’d start leaning away, start making friendly with the giant to her left. However, there was no way that was going to happen. First, King Kong over there smelled like stale beer and cigarettes. Second, as much as her unspoken game with Arizona was driving her insane, it was also giving her the high of a lifetime. It was exquisite torture.
Their interaction reached a climax, when after about 45 minutes, the two women found themselves in a hand against one another. Looking down at a pair of Jacks, Callie made a raise, which forced all of the other players but Arizona to fold. Arizona glanced at her cards. She had two Aces, the best possible starting hand in poker. She looked over at Callie, studying her for any sign of what her hand was. For once, Callie kept her poker face intact, staring down at the table and refusing to return Arizona’s gaze. Arizona reached for some chips, purposely brushing against Callie’s arm as she did so. She took a moment, expertly shuffling the chips between her fingers before throwing them into the center of the table.
As she did so, Arizona smirked at Callie. “Re-raise you, 150 more.”
Callie pondered her next move for a moment. Jacks were a pretty good starting hand, but there were a lot of hands that could beat her. If Arizona had Aces, Kings, or Queens, she was going to have trouble winning. After a moment, unable to resist playing against the object of her constant thoughts, Callie matched Arizona’s bet and added chips to the pot. After she did so, the dealer laid out the first three community cards face up on the table. Callie’s heart caught in her throat as she took in the cards on the table. They were, Jack, Jack, and Ace. In other words, Callie had 4 Jacks.
Arizona was also thrilled at the turn of cards. The cards revealed gave her a full house, one of the strongest hands in poker. What she didn’t anticipate was that Callie had just made an even rarer hand - four of a kind. Both women, confident in the strength of their hands, began to toy with one another. Callie smirked and removed her sunglasses so she could look directly into Arizona’s eyes as she grabbed a large stack of poker chips. She slid them into the center of the table. “I’ll bet 500.” She announced.
Arizona beamed back and rested her chin in her hand. Leaning over a bit flirtatiously as she drummed her fingers against the side of her face, Arizona shot Callie a curious look. “You sure that was wise, Calliope? I’m not sure you want to mess around with me.”
Callie smirked right back at her, never averting her gaze from Arizona’s baby blues. “Oh, I definitely want to mess around with you.” The tension was intoxicating. After a moment, Arizona nodded and simply matched Callie’s bet, not wanting to scare her off with a huge raise. What Arizona didn’t know was that she was dead meat and that Callie was about to crush her.
The dealer turned over the next community card, which was an irrelevant and non-eventful 7 of hearts. Callie began to reach for more of her chips, eyeing the bubbly blonde the whole time to gauge her reaction. “Make it 1000.” She announced once more as she added chips to the pot. “Really, Calliope? You’re ready to play with me?”
Callie arched her eyebrow, challenging Arizona. “Totally ready to play. Why? Are you scared?” As she said that, she couldn’t resist reaching out and briefly touching Arizona’s forearm. God, Callie thought. What were they doing? Whatever it was, it was hot. Arizona smiled and once again called Callie’s bet.
The dealer revealed the final card, which again, did nothing to change the strength of their hands. Callie would win this hand, unless she folded, which was not about to happen. Just as Callie went to reach for her chips, she let out an involuntary gasp. The cause of her outburst was sitting right next to her.
Arizona was feeling bold for some reason. Maybe it was the rush of having a great hand. Maybe it was the stream of endorphins caused by her flirtatious banter with Calliope. Who knew? Whatever it was, she was feeling a little like taking a risk. Just as Callie went to make her next bet, Arizona slipped off her shoe and silently began rubbing her foot up and down Callie’s calf. Who said she had to play fair? Judging by her reaction, Callie was enjoying their little game as much as she was.
Feeling Arizona playing secret footsie under the table did nothing for Callie’s concentration. Swallowing hard, she struggled to figure out her next move. Ignoring Arizona’s foot, she shifted to gaze directly into her eyes once again. She smirked and put on her most flirtatious air. “You seem nervous, Arizona. Fidgeting a lot aren’t we?” She said, making subtle reference to Arizona’s secret touches below the table. “Afraid I’m going to top you?” She smirked again, recognizing the double-meaning of her words. God, playing this hand was like foreplay. Really, really good foreplay. Callie shook the thought from her head - did she even want to go there with a woman? Yes, Callie finally had to admit. She did. At least she did with this particular woman. Callie finally added another bet to the pot and waited for Arizona’s next move in their little tango.
Arizona withdrew her foot, needing to focus on making her next poker move. As much as she’d been trying to distract Callie, she also had been affected by the touch. She chewed on her lip in a contemplative manner as she studied Callie. It was much harder to read her than she’d thought. Callie was all confidence and smirks. It was damn sexy. Finally, deciding there was really only one move to make, Arizona shifted the rest of her chips to the center. “So, I’m all in. How about you, Calliope? Willing to live dangerously? Willing to take a chance?”
Callie chuckled, knowing Arizona’s flirtatious grin was about to be destroyed. Callie nodded. “I am so in.” Once again enjoying their not-so-subtle sexual innuendo, she shoved her remaining chips into the pot. As Callie expected, Arizona’s face fell as they revealed their hands and she realized Callie had beaten her.
“Uh. . . nice hand, Calliope.” Arizona said as she gathered her things to leave the table. Since Arizona had lost all of her chips, she was knocked out of the tournament. Callie placed an apologetic hand on Arizona’s arm as she rose from the table. Luckily, both women were too wrapped up in their exchange to notice the smirks coming from a few men at the table and didn’t hear the remarks about how hot it was to see “two chicks going at it.”
Rather than choosing to sulk, Arizona spent the rest of the time watching Callie play from the sidelines. Callie did pretty well, holding her own for a good portion of the tournament. However, Arizona realized that Callie still made a pretty amateur mistake - she relied too much on the odds and the math and not enough on reading the other players. But that was easily fixed with practice - and was something Arizona knew a lot about.
Callie managed to last long enough in the tournament to earn some money before she was finally knocked out in 10th place. Callie was a little depressed as she made her way over to join Arizona. She smiled weakly. “I can’t believe you stood here and watched me the whole time.”
Arizona shrugged. “You’re fun to watch.” She paused as she gazed at Callie. “You look a little down.”
“A little. Kind of wish I’d lasted a little longer.”
“You did great! You made money. Come on, I’ll buy you a drink and have you cheered up in no time.” Arizona led Callie towards the nearest bar.
Callie could only smile. She had no doubt that Arizona’s perky demeanor would rub off on her in short order. That, combined with the fact that Callie couldn’t think of anything better than spending time with the blonde, immediately lightened her mood. Arizona was right about one thing, Callie had to admit. She was pretty awesome.