Chemistry Pt 1
“You’re frakking kidding, right?” Kara smiled with her whole damned face. She grinned so hard her eyes were practically closed. Laura flashed the bottle briefly and gestured to the closest exit. After barely twenty minutes, the President made off with the most expensive bottle in the room on a dare, and the two walked casually towards the door. Kara is so close to bursting she avoids touching anything on her way out for fear of an explosion.
They don’t speak on the walk to her room. This isn’t the first time that Kara has been so physically close to Laura, but they said more in their last few words to each other than they’d ever intended. She could feel the air crackle between them and the hair on her arms raised. The pilot couldn’t shake her light-headedness, and she’d barely touched her drink at the party.
It had happened so fast. Proper greeting, small talk, awkward silence. All of a sudden they were alone. Her uniform had never felt so stiff. She fought the urge to rip at it and breathe deeper. That was when she heard her own voice spew before she could think.
“Betcha all the good stuff’s in that cabinet there,” she pointed, “feel like losing some cubits? I’ve got my cards, let’s ditch this place.”
The look on Laura’s face made her heart sink through her guts. Looking to the floor, she winced a little. She saw Roslin shift her weight from one leg to another. Without shame, she glanced back up, and Laura offered a crooked smile.
“I’m out of cubits, but we’ll work something out.” Determination took over and Laura headed for the wall with all the focus of a lioness. No one disturbed or challenged her progress. And Starbuck stood there like a dope with a shit-eating smirk because the President of the Gods Damned Colonies was pilfering booze to play cards with her.
“This is the place.” The soldier stationed outside registered nothing on his face in response to her company or her silly grin. He let them inside.
“It’s not what I’m used to, but I don’t know that I’ve been this excited to sleep in a long time.”
Kara looked at her bed, made crisply and big enough to be considered luxurious. “Oh, I don’t know that I’d be excited to sleep in it…” Kara barely finished her thought when Laura closed the space between them.
“You’re pretty famous, you know,” She purred.
“The last time I checked, you were chosen by the Gods, and President, or something.” Kara felt the heat in her cheeks and assumed she had turned beet red, not that there was a damned thing she could do about it. “You aren’t exactly low profile.”
Laura pulled back and began the search for two glasses. Making a conscious effort to continue breathing, Kara removed the worn pack of cards from her jacket. Her fingers brushed against her cigar tube and she plucked it smartly from her pocket.
“I can do better than that,” Laura called over her shoulder. She took the book from her bedside table and opened it to the intended section, holding the joint out to Thrace. It took Kara a few seconds to process the picture before her. Getting beyond the unfamiliar room and the sense that she was way out of her league, she then realized that the stunning woman in front of her was waiting for her to come over and take the damned thing out of her hand.
Hop to, Dumbass. Kara moved as slowly as she could, knowing full well from experience that she had a tendency to rush when excited. She pocketed her own cigar and flicked out her lighter, anchoring herself into a chair. The fire danced at Laura and she responded in kind, sauntering over. If there were ever any question that the Presidency had stripped her of her womanhood, her hips laid it to rest. Had she moved any further laterally, she would have fallen over. Good Gods. Kara’s mouth went dry.
Hotter and hotter the lighter became, warming and then burning the tips of her fingers. Only one thought flashed in her mind. Worth it. She held fast, watching Laura dip down until fire and paper touched. There was a tiny flash when the joint lit and Kara watched it spark in Laura’s eyes. She glanced back over her thick glasses. She only said one word, but Thrace was too entranced to process it. Laura smiled and spoke again.
“Cards.”