Chapter Text
Kelley’s ears are still ringing from the game, her shoulder still hurts from where Tobin pulled her in every direction after Stanford’s third touchdown, her eyes hurt from squinting to see the game from where she was stood behind the tall guy in front of her and her fingers still hurt from the string of angry texts she sent Christen on the way home from the game.
“Fuck Berkeley.” Kelley grumbles once she’s back in the car, her fingers shaking as they hover over the heater in the car, tapping her foot as she waits for Tobin to turn the engine on. “That was the worst fucking decision that’s ever been made in the history of college football. Did I mention how much I hate them?” Kelley asks, knitting her eyebrows together as she scowls, scrunching up her face when Tobin just laughs.
“You hate them?” Tobin teases, turning the engine on as she pulls her seatbelt on.
Kelley switches the heat up, pressing her hands against the heater before she turns to Tobin.
“Fuck off.” She mutters. “That was the first time we’ve lost to them for five years, five fucking years!” Kelley shouts, slamming her hand against the dashboard before throwing herself back and crossing her arms over her chest.
Tobin struggles to stifle her laughter as she pulls out of the parking space and heads towards the exit, she relaxes as the car comes to a halt, resting her head against her hand as the line for the exit is around seven cars back, she turns the radio on.
“And in your local college football news - for the first time in five years, Berkeley have beaten Stanf—”
Kelley slams the palm of her hand onto the off button before the reporter could finish his sentence, earning a glare from Tobin who pushes Kelley’s hand away, slapping her and turning the radio back on.
“— The winning touchdown was scored by new talent, Matthew Jackson.”
Kelley mutters a string of incoherent curse words but this time she leaves the radio on — she does have a few choice words for the reporter calling the Berkeley win ‘historic’ in terms of the winning streak Stanford had until tonight.
The drive home takes twenty-five minutes longer than it took to get from their apartment to the stadium and by the time Tobin pulls up to the sidewalk outside their building — Kelley’s bad mood has mellowed, not entirely but she’s no longer berating Stanford’s football players with every other word, in fact, now she’s just coming up with wild theories as to why Berkeley happened to win tonight — everything from a meteor shower to a thousand year old curse — Tobin entertains them, she doesn’t believe them but she humors her friend nonetheless.
Kelley still talks about it as they walk up the stairwell to their apartment, she’s yawning as she puts the key into the lock and pushes open the door but before Christen has a chance to ask about the game — Tobin is distracting their roommate and making a cut throat gesture that’s not entirely too inappropriate.
“So, it’s not a right time to mention the party?” Christen winces as she says it, realizing that it’s in fact not the right time to mention it.
Kelley stops, turning around to face the couch that Christen’s sitting on.
“What party?”
Christen just smiles, whipping her head around to look at Tobin who is instantly shaking her head, holding her hands up and not getting involved. Christen turns back around, tucking a piece of hair behind her ears.
“Allie mentioned a party at Cal tonight, she wants to go and crash it.” Christen tries to lie — she fails because Kelley, having spent the last couple of years living with Christen, knows that her best friend cannot lie even if her life depended on it.
Putting her hands on her hips and pursing her lips, Kelley stares at Christen long and hard until she cracks.
“Okay, so the guy that scored the winning touchdown-”
Kelley scowls.
“— Allie thinks he’s cute and she wants us to go so she can flirt with him.” Christen admits, her voice is small and she looks as though she’s just waiting for Kelley to blow up and explain to her with very choice words why that is the worst idea Allie’s ever had — reiterating that Allie has had many.
Instead Kelley just turns around and starts walking down the hallway towards her bedroom but not before throwing a wave over her shoulder and shouting what sounds like — text me the details when Allie crashes and burns
“Told you.” Tobin chimes in when she’s certain Kelley is out of earshot.
“Don’t get smug just yet.” Christen says, voice high as she holds one finger up before she’s up from the couch and rushing down the hallway towards Kelley’s bedroom.
Christen pushes open Kelley’s door, stopping and leaning against the doorframe — Kelley is lying on top of her bed, tossing what looks like a balled up pair of socks up in the air.
“You won’t convince me into going.” Kelley’s voice rasps when she catches sight of Christen, flicking her gaze to her roommate before back at the ceiling. “I'm not going to that fucking party, not for Allie, not for anybody."
“I know you’re bitter—” Christen starts, a hint of a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth when Kelley glares at her “— come on, I think Allie really likes this guy and you want Allie to be happy, right?” Christen’s voice is gentle, in that tone that would have any of them agreeing - even something as ridiculous as vehicular manslaughter — that Kelley has to scowl and remember the winning touchdown to not feel her resolve begin to melt. “I’m going, Tobs is going, Allie wants you there too — also Kel — when have you ever turned down free alcohol?”
Kelley stops tossing her socks up into the air, instead she tosses them to the side and sits up, a hint of a scowl still at the corners of her mouth but her eyebrows aren’t pulled together anymore.
“I swear to god, if Allie doesn’t end up sleeping with this guy, I’m going to be so mad.”
“Oh please" Christen laughs. “You’ll be too drunk to care.”
****
Kelley digs her heels into the ground, coming to a straight stop causing Tobin to crash into her back — the music is blaring, resonating around the house and the surrounding area — she can hear the Cal fight song being slurred drunkenly in the near distance and she instantly turns her nose up when two guys run past them screaming go Bears, faces covered in smudged blue and gold paint, wearing school apparel.
“I’m going home.” Kelley huffs, turning around and making a dash for it — two sets of hands wrapping around her arms stopping her.
“You’re coming.” Allie says in her ear, voice loud and commanding leaving Kelley wondering if fighting against a sexually frustrated Allie Long is worth it.
That's how they enter the house — Kelley in the middle of Tobin and Allie, their hands wrapped around Kelley’s biceps as they cross the threshold, despite Kelley's attempts to dig her heels into the wooden floors — Allie only letting go once she’s far enough inside the house to go searching for Matthew. Tobin doesn’t let go of Kelley’s arm until she’s pushing her into the kitchen, grabbing a beer, thrusting the cold bottle into Kelley’s hand and telling her to drink it.
Kelley takes three large gulps of the beer and wills the alcohol to fill her system faster so can drink more and more until she’s drunk enough that her surroundings aren’t so clear, that the Cal fight song isn’t the most annoying thing in the entire world and she’s not feeling as bitter as she actually is.
Tobin leaves Kelley’s side when Kelley reaches for her second beer — rolling her eyes at the guy helplessly trying to flirt with a girl who couldn't care less if she tried to her left. Tobin and Christen are in the living room, their hands joined as Tobin tries to get Christen to dance — she thinks she can hear Allie’s laughter close by, she cranes her neck to see who she’s laughing but can't get a clear enough view.
Kelley takes a sip of beer this time, pulling at the collar of her jean jacket, feeling her cheeks turn red at how stuffy the kitchen is. Grasping the neck of the bottle, Kelley weaves through the crowd in the kitchen and walks through the house, she stops by the living room door, standing up on her tiptoes to try and find Christen and Tobin who have stopped dancing or at least Tobin’s stopped trying to convince Christen to dance and they’re sitting together on a couch, closer than usual. Kelley just rolls her eyes before turning and continuing to walk, this time she walks up the stairs, she drinks more as she walks down the hallway, rolling her eyes at almost all of the photographs hanging on the wall.
"I can't believe they actually dragged me to this — fuck." Kelley grumbles to herself, scowling as she walks down the hallway, swinging the bottle at her side.
Kelley stops walking when she hears a voice, spinning around, she furrows her eyebrows as she tries to figure out what direction it's coming from.
The door of the room at the end of the hallway is ajar, Kelley’s curiosity getting the better of her. Turning around, she walks down the hallway and stops outside the door, hesitating before she pushes it open fully, looking in and freezing when she catches the source of the voice — a girl, she’s standing in a pair of jeans and a bra, rifling through shirts in the closet, turning, she stops with her hands held up in mid-air only able to stare at Kelley who is equally as stunned to see her.
“Can I help you?” She asks, her voice turning to a high-pitch squeal as she scrambles for the shirt that’s on the bed, holding it in front of her. “Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?” She asks, her voice lower now but panic still seeps into her tone. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
Kelley can’t move, can't find the words to apologize for walking in, settling for just staring at her gormlessly, her grip on the bottle loosening — only realizing she's dropped the bottle when the remaining liquid spills out of it, soaking into the beige carpet.
“I'm so sorry.” Kelley rushes out, her eyes widening as the contents of the bottle empties fully onto the carpet.
“Oh, you do speak.” The other girl comments sarcastically, getting to her feet and using the shirt she's holding in front of her to soak up the alcohol spilt in the doorway.
Kelley kneels down too, resting her arms against her knees as she finally looks at her — she’s stunning, definitely her type.
She has long brown hair that's pushed over one shoulder, eyes that are so blue, so warm and comforting and definitely the prettiest that Kelley thinks she has ever seen — they remind her of her mornings with Tobin at the beach, walking towards the water as the sun starts to rise, the water is so blue during those few moments, a deep blue. The girl’s arm flexes as she puts pressure on the carpet and Kelley (barely) resists the urge to swoon at how muscular her arms are — Kelley almost doing something stupid when she drops her gaze to the girl's lips, slightly parted as she furrows her eyebrows and looks down at the beer stain on the carpet before shrugging, giving up.
“I have to ask—" the girl says, catching Kelley by surprise "— is this a thing you do? Walking in on other girls half naked?"
Kelley’s eyes grow wide, opening her mouth to dispute it, call it an accident, blame it on a curious nature but she can't form any of those — blushing bright red under her stare until the other girl starts laughing, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth.
“I’m just joking, don't worry.” She says, wrapping her hand around Kelley’s bicep, “I’m actually relieved you walked in on me and not one of the guys at this party — you can imagine — most of them are football players and I only come to these stupid things because my boyfriend is friends with every guy that has ever stepped foot on campus.” She laughs, rolling her eyes and scrunching her nose as she gets to her feet.
“I’m sorry about the carpet, again.” Is what Kelley replies because that is clearly what she should be apologizing for, groaning to herself and hoping the other girl doesn't notice — she doesn't.
“Don’t worry about it — it’s not even my house.” The other girl smiles “as long as you’re here, can you help me pick out a shirt? The one I used to clean the carpet with, yeah, some frat guy had already spilt his drink over me.”
“If it’s not your house, why did you try to clean the carpet?” Kelley asks, her face contorting in confusion as she shuffles inside the room and towards the open closet, flexing her fingers as she looks at the shirts folded up on shelves.
"I really don’t know, it just felt like I should." She laughs as she sits down on the bed, crossing her legs, still shielding herself with the beer-soaked shirt. “I feel like I’m on one of those reality shows, you know? The one where a stranger picks out an outfit for you? Wow me, stranger.”
“Kelley.” Kelley smiles, turning and looking over her shoulder. “I’m Kelley.”
The girl looks at Kelley for a second, her mouth open to reply before she hesitates and smiles back.
“Alex.” She tells her. “Alex Morgan. You don’t look familiar.”
“I don’t go to school here.” Kelley replies back immediately as she starts sifting through the shirts on the shelves in the closet. “I’m only here because my friends dragged me, my friend, Allie, she likes that guy, the one, you know, football.” Kelley tries to say his name, she really does but she can't bring herself to name the guy who scored the winning touchdown because despite being two beers deep and not close to being as sober as she was - her bitterness and school pride lies deep within.
“Matt?” Alex guesses, though she sounds unsure. “I’m guessing you’re from Stanford and you’re still mad about it or you really don’t know anything about college football.” Alex’s voice is light and Kelley finds herself fighting back a smile.
“The first option.” Kelley says to her as she pulls a tank from the back of the second shelf. “Try this” Kelley turns around and tosses the shirt to Alex who catches it easily.
“If it makes you feel better — I didn’t even know the game was on — I slept through it.” Alex shrugs as she unfolds the shirt. “I only heard about it when my boyfriend ran in and told me to get up because we were going to another party – I didn’t even know this shirt existed, I’m stealing this from Serv.”
Kelley leans against the closet, arms crossed over her chest as Alex pulls the shirt on.
“Thanks for your help, Stanford. I'm going to get a drink, you coming?” Alex asks it but from the way her gaze is set on Kelley, she thinks there is a right answer to the question.
Alex swipes two bottles of beer from one of the coolers in the kitchen before she reaches for Kelley’s hand, grabbing it through the crowds of people and pulling her through the house until they’re outside and walking over to an empty table that’s littered with empty cups and bottles — Kelley doesn’t say anything about Alex still holding onto her hand.
“Tell me something interesting Kelley—” Alex stops and frowns when she realizes she doesn’t know Kelley’s last name.
“O’Hara. Kelley O’Hara.” Kelley answers with a small smile before she takes a sip of beer.
“Tell me something interesting about yourself, Kelley O’Hara.” Alex repeats, smiling when she realizes. “You’re that forward for Stanford, you and Christen, I had a feeling I recognized you.”
“You’ve recognize me?” Kelley asks her, unable to hide the amusement in her voice.
“It’s hard not to when Stanford are always on TV.” Alex huffs, feigning annoyance as she does but Kelley can see straight through it. “You’re really good.”
“Thanks.”
Alex smiles at her, repeating her earlier words.
“Tell me something interesting about you but not the boring stuff, tell me about the dumb stuff you’ve done, your best moments, funniest, the stuff you wouldn't want your parents knowing."
Kelley thinks Alex is either drunker than she’s letting on or she’s just too friendly for her own good — she doesn’t know which one she wants it to be more.
Kelley thinks for a moment, she has done a lot of crazy things, especially throughout her teenage years and especially when she thinks back to the friends she had growing up who she did all of it with and only stopped to think about the consequences after they had to deal with them.
“Where do you want me to start? The time my friends and I drove three different golf carts into a lake or the time we snuck into three different frat parties in one night?” Kelley asks her, giving her two options that she's sure she can remember the full stories to.
“Everybody sneaks into frat parties, tell me about the golf carts.”
“My best friend as a kid, her dad owned one of the golf clubs near where I live and we got drunk and were walking around — daring the other to do something stupid when we decided to break into the club and drive the carts around—” Kelley stops talking and lets her gaze fall on Alex -
— Alex is sitting with her thigh pressed against Kelley’s, her body twisted to face her and she’s hanging onto every word that Kelley says.
“— One of my friends, Adam, he was driving one of the carts and he called out to all of us and said, watch this, driving it at the top speed it could go which, you know, it was a golf cart so it wasn’t much and he drove straight into the lake, the golf cart crashed and he climbed out and I don’t know what told us that it was a good idea but we followed him and drove them into the lake. They sorta drowned.”
“Sort of?”
“I was drunk, how was I supposed to know golf carts didn’t float?” Kelley asks her through laughter, Alex joining in seconds later.
“It’s common sense, Kelley.” Alex's laughter slows and she drops her head onto Kelley’s shoulder, her shoulders still shaking slightly “everybody knows that golf carts can’t float.”
“You try and remember that when you’re head is spinning from drinking a lot of vodka in a short period of time.” Kelley mumbles out, embarrassment creeping into her voice, scrunching up her nose. “Your turn, what’s your wildest night?”
“My sisters and I crashed a wedding once.”
“Come on—” Alex pushes the now empty bottle of beer away from her and stands up from the table. “I want to dance and you’re coming with me.”
“No chance, I don’t dance.” Kelley protests, throwing her hands up, vehemently shaking her head.
“Neither do I but I’m happy, a little drunk and I want to dance with you.” Alex says, trying to convince her, pushing her face closer to Kelley's as she holds out her hand towards her. “Please” Alex murmurs, leaning down until her forehead is pressed against Kelley’s. “Come on, Kel, it’s not like I’m asking you to take part in a dance—off — everybody inside that house is too drunk to notice any of their surroundings.”
The feeling that floats across her chest at the nickname causes her to smile, sure, it’s what everybody calls her but it sounds different, it feels different in the way Alex says it.
Relenting, Kelley places her hand in Alex’s and allows her to pull her up from the table and lead her into the house, stifling her laughter as Alex pushes three different guys out of the way until they finally find some space. The music playing is loud and it's something that would be on the warm-up playlist in the changing room before games but when Alex places her hand on Kelley’s waist, the music fizzles out to background noise underneath the sound of Kelley’s heart starting to pound and she’s almost certain that Alex can hear it too.
Alex’s other hand finds Kelley’s and she slides her fingers between hers, squeezing once before spinning Kelley around and pulling her back into her, Kelley tripping over her planted foot but Alex catches her before she tumbles backwards, Alex’s hand finding her waist again. Kelley finds Christen out of the corner of her eye and she’s staring at her, a small smile playing on her lips before Tobin taps her shoulder and disappears out of sight, Kelley turns back and finds Alex staring at her.
“I bet I could count your freckles.” Alex mumbles, her voice barely above a whisper. “You have a lot.” She laughs quietly, lifting one of her hands and pressing the pad of her thumb against Kelley’s cheek allowing Kelley to melt into the touch. “I like freckles.” Alex confesses and it feels like a secret.
The music softens towards the end of the song but Alex’s fingers never leave where they’re tracing Kelley’s cheek, she’s got her eyebrows furrowed in concentration and her tongue between her teeth as she seriously attempts to count Kelley’s freckles — Kelley’s breath catches in her throat when Alex’s thumb traces along her jaw.
“Alex—” A girl bumps into Alex clumsily stumbling and failing to keep most of the contents of her cup in the cup. “— have you seen Dom?”
“No, but Luke did tell me that he was with Serv so I’m guessing they’re still together.”
“Thanks babe, you’re the best.” She bumps Alex's hip before kissing her cheek and disappearing into the crowd of people in the hallway.
“That’s my best friend, Syd.” Alex scrunches her nose as she smiles. “I also lost count, but there’s a lot.” She says with a shrug, not too disheartened by it all.
The beat of the next song is heavy, echoing off the walls and Kelley feels like the floor is shaking underneath her feet but before she has the chance to say something in response — Alex is pulling her close and wrapping her arm around Kelley’s shoulders, tilting her head to the side and mouthing the lyrics to the song that’s playing. Kelley fumbles over where to put her hands, Kelley’s track record with girls has always been more than just mediocre but the way Alex is staring at her and the way her fingers are tangled in the loose hairs at the back of her neck, her other hand holding onto Kelley’s bicep and they’re swaying far too slowly for the beat of the song — it leaves her dumbfounded and scrambling for what to do, what to say.
“So... did your friends ditch you or did you ditch them?” Alex asks over the music, Kelley somehow managing to hear her over the song, despite Alex barely raising her voice loud enough.
“Both?” Kelley laughs, unsure of it. “Allie and Christen ditched Tobin and I when we got inside and Tobin ditched me after a few drinks, probably to find Christen but I have no idea where Allie is.”
“So that’s when you decided to go and stalk every bedroom in this house?” Alex teases, struggling to hide the smile fighting its way onto her lips.
“Stalk is a strong word.” Kelley argues. “I prefer to call it curiosity.”
“Let’s go with stalking.” Alex laughs, leaning forward and smoothing down Kelley’s jacket collar about to say something else when something or rather, someone catches Alex’s eye. “Hey, isn’t that your friend Allie?” Alex asks — her hands on Kelley’s shoulders as she spins the Stanford forward around.
It’s Allie and she’s walking upstairs with who Kelley is assuming is Matt.
“Young love.” Alex sings into Kelley’s ear. “Can we go back outside now? I’m sweating like hell.” Alex sighs, lifting her hand to fan her face.
This time Kelley takes the lead and slips her hand into Alex’s, pushing through the crowd in the kitchen that are cheering on a guy who doesn’t look old enough to have graduated high school who is currently shot—gunning a beer. Kelley catches Christen again, she’s sitting on one of the counters with Tobin stood in—between her legs and they’re laughing over something but Christen waves when she catches them both walk past.
****
“What? You seriously pretended you had a twin?” Alex asks, furrowing her eyebrows as she looks at Kelley, trying to catch Kelley out but her deadpan expression remains.
“Seriously.” Kelley nods. “I was in sixth grade, I think? I had this huge crush on one of my friends, Jason and I told him that I had a crush on him and he literally backed off, he stepped back, Al.” Kelley throws her arms up in the air. “He looked mortified and he started laughing before saying and I will never forget this for as long as I live — if I would have known sharing my cookies with you would make you love me I would not have been a gentleman.”
Alex drops her head onto Kelley’s shoulder, her shoulders shaking violently as she struggles to catch her breath from how hard she’s laughing.
“I would not have been a gentleman, oh my god.” Alex starts laughing again and despite how much Kelley tries to stop herself, she can’t help but reach out and pry Alex’s hands away from where she’s covering her face. “I need to know, what was your twin’s name?”
Kelley mumbles the answer out at first, blushing bright red, her face flushing further when Alex locks her ankle around hers under the table and asks her to repeat it.
“Tabitha.” Kelley answers, loud enough for Alex to catch this time.
Alex raises her eyebrows, repeating the name quietly.
“It’s cute.” She settles on replying with. “Kelley and Tabitha.” Alex sighs, smiling sweetly as she leans forward on her hands. “Okay, that’s actually kind of cute, you have to admit.”
Kelley hums and humors Alex.
“That’s the only part of this story that’s cute.”
“Yes, continue.” Alex twists her body and sits cross-legged in the chair facing Kelley.
“So, I was embarrassed like seriously, I ran onto the playground and climbed a tree and hid there for most of recess and I liked the cookies, they were the nicest cookies ever so I sort of started thinking of ways to make him think I didn’t like him so he would keep sharing his cookies with me and I came up with the idea of having an identical twin sister.”
“This can’t end well.” Alex shakes her head, not believing the story for a second.
“The next day I went to school and ran up to Jason and pretended like everything was cool and he looked at me and told me he couldn’t be my friend anymore and that shit hurt, okay? He was my best friend so I started laughing and he looked pretty terrified and in his defense, I probably looked scary—”
Alex opens her mouth to say something but Kelley stops her.
“I told him that he must have talked to my twin sister, Tabitha because I didn’t like him because liking boys was gross and obviously he wasn’t buying it and asked me why he had never seen my twin before yesterday and I — oh god — I told him that my parents sent Tabitha to boarding school in England when she was young because she was basically evil and that the boarding school was to teach her how to behave properly and that she only came back home a few days ago.”
“Please don’t tell me he actually bought that.” Alex shakes her head in disbelief. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“He believed it and then he reached into his backpack and gave me a cookie and we were friends again and a few days later he asked me where Tabitha was and I told him my parents sent her back to England.” Kelley continues. “I only told him the truth during high school graduation.”
“He believed you up until graduation?!” Alex exclaims, her eyes wide. “That poor guy must have one hell of an imagination. How did he just believe that your parents would ship your twin off five thousand miles away and never bring her home?”
Kelley just smiles.
“We were in the sixth grade and okay, I’m pretty sure he forgot in seventh grade.”
Alex just rolls her eyes.
“I can’t believe you couldn’t handle rejection.”
“I was a sensitive child.” Kelley protests “oh come on, you’re telling me you have never made up a fake twin to get yourself out of something?"
Alex thinks for a moment.
“Fine, you got me, I made up a fake twin to get out of a date with a guy in high school — I know you’re thinking it but I was a freshman not a senior.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything.” Kelley grins “— but I was totally thinking that.”
They switch up the topic of conversation from fake twins to favorite colors and movies, to their favorite TV shows, to their favorite childhood TV shows and all the while — Kelley stares at Alex when she’s sure Alex can’t see her. Kelley watches the way her face lights up and she snaps her fingers when she remembers something or the way her eyes light up when Kelley reminds her of something that they both loved from their childhood — it’s endearing and Kelley knows it’s almost impossible to feel this warmth towards her after spending only a few hours in Alex’s company — they’re barely acquaintances yet.
“So, have you always wanted to play soccer?” Alex asks, shuffling around in the chair and shivering a little, wrapping her arms around herself.
Kelley sheds her jacket and holds it out to Alex.
“You look like you need it.”
Alex takes the jacket gratefully, putting it on and wrapping it around herself as she fiddles with the buttons.
“Yes.” Kelley answers causing Alex to look up again. “I’ve always wanted to play soccer, I used to play in the backyard all the time as a kid and inside the house, and my mom finally found me a team after I broke the kitchen window for the third time.”
“I have to ask... why Stanford?”
“Why not?” Kelley laughs. “I knew I wanted to come to California and I fell in love with Stanford.” Kelley shrugs. “Also, it made me realize I wasn’t so stupid after all.”
“You’re not stupid.” Alex shakes her head.
“Clearly you don’t know me that well.” Kelley grins at Alex.
“We’re going to have to change that.” Alex says seriously, leaning forward. “I think getting to know you is going to be a whole world of adventure.”
Kelley freezes as Alex covers her hand with her own.
“You can back out right now; I won’t hold it against you.” Kelley offers, raising her eyebrows and ignoring the way her heart starts racing as she considers how she's going to feel if Alex does.
“That’s not happening.” Alex squeezes Kelley’s hand before letting it go and slouching in the chair. “So tell me more about playing soccer; I saw the way your eyes lit up before.”
****
They talk until Kelley’s pretty sure it’s after midnight, Alex’s eyes starting to droop and she yawns every few words but continues to fight the lull of it, a lazy smile on her face as she listens to Kelley tell her about her family, laughing at some anecdotes that Kelley offers up on her siblings — apparently her parents still haven’t forgiven Kelley and her siblings for Thanksgiving ’06 and that her Aunt and Uncle are still traumatized by the dessert disaster. Kelley’s rambling now, she’s starting to feel tired herself but she needs to stay awake because she’s pretty sure if she isn’t awake by the time Christen has stopped Tobin from drinking and Allie from flirting with anything that walks after four shots that could easily be mistaken for pints of vodka and gets ready to leave to go back to their apartment — she will most definitely leave without her — accidentally of course, although Kelley’s still aggrieved about the supermarket in March.
Alex is tapping away on her phone, her knees to her chest but her feet are on the chair Kelley’s sitting in, the conversation has died down now but the music and the loud chatter from inside the house hasn’t started to cease yet. Kelley sits up straight and cranes her neck, looking through the kitchen window to see if she can find the top of Christen or Tobin’s head — not that she wants to leave, this is the most content that Kelley’s felt in a while, relaxed, not being stuck in a situation where it’s awkward if there isn’t constant talking, it’s a comfortable silence that whilst it can be put down to the fact both of them are struggling to keep their eyes open so thinking of new conversation topics aren’t at the forefront of their minds, it’s still nice.
“Looking to make a quick getaway?” Alex’s voice causes Kelley to jump, mainly because it’s been nearly five minutes since either of them have said a word.
“The opposite.” Kelley corrects. “I’m looking to make sure my friends aren’t looking for me because I don’t want to leave.”
“Romantic.” Alex chuckles softly. “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve heard in a while.”
If Kelley was mistaken then she could swear she could sense a sour tone to Alex’s voice but she doesn’t mention it, she doesn’t dare.
“Here, I want your number.” Alex thrusts her phone into Kelley’s hand. “Please don’t give me a fake one.”
Kelley laughs as she taps in her number.
“I won’t give you a fake number; I might give you a dumb name though.” Kelley shrugs, she doesn’t but Alex doesn’t have to know that just yet.
They fall back into their comfortable silence. Kelley leans back in the chair, her head hanging over the back as she stares up at the sky; Californian night skies aren’t her favorite, her favorite are how the skies look during nights back home, in fields with her friends when they have had too much to drink and have to lie down to keep their heads from spinning, the skies are so clear then, the stars brighten up the sky in a way that causes Kelley’s mind to go wherever it wants to go until she’s disturbed by her friends laughing loudly or punching her in the shoulder and forcing her to sit up so they can play a game together that ends up with too much shouting, broken rules, accusations of cheating but the biggest smiles on each of their faces. It encompasses home and she holds it close to her heart when she's across the country.
Californian night skies come close though.
“There you are!” Christen calls out, finally stumbling out from the house to the patio where Kelley and Alex are. “Kel, I’ve been looking for you for thirty minutes, come on, I need help because I’m pretty sure Tobin is about to square up to a guy twice her size and I’m not strong enough to stop her.
Kelley turns to Alex who is giving her a look that could only say are these your friends?
“What about Allie? Shouldn’t you find Allie first?”
“Allie’s out front puking in the bushes, sorry to whoever lives here.” Christen directs the apology to Alex who just smiles and nods before mumbling out that it’s cool. “Kel, can you go and get Tobs whilst I make sure Allie hasn’t passed out or something, please.”
Kelley nods as she pushes herself up from the chair, accidentally knocking Alex’s feet off the chair as she does so. Kelley hesitates when she’s almost certain she hears Tobin’s scream and before she can think about what’s happening to her friend, she’s running past Christen into the house and following in the general direction of Tobin’s voice, she thinks. She finds Tobin a few minutes later, still squaring up to a guy who has to be eight inches taller than her at least and before Tobin can say something she regrets; Kelley swoops in, curling her hand around Tobin’s bicep and hauling her friend’s drunken ass away from the Berkeley football player despite Tobin’s protests and claims of I so fucking had him KO.
“Sure you did, bud.” Kelley humors Tobin as she drops off the midfielder at Christen’s side who is holding Allie upright.
Alex is waiting by the door leading out onto the patio when Kelley walks back out to grab her phone from the table, she doesn’t realize that Alex has followed her until she turns around and almost walks into her.
“Tonight was fun, thank you.” Alex smiles sincerely as she rests her hand against Kelley’s shoulder. “It started off – well you remember.” Alex’s smile grows wider if that’s possible and Kelley swallows thickly at the feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Not bad for a stalker, right?” Kelley teases her causing Alex to roll her eyes.
“Not bad for a stalker.” Alex repeats at a softer register.
“Kelley, help me!” Christen’s shout can be heard from just inside the kitchen.
“I’ll see you around.” Kelley hugs Alex quickly before she has the chance to talk herself out of it and she’s walking back to the house when Alex calling her name stops her.
“What about your jacket?” Alex asks her, already shedding the item of clothing.
“Keep it!” Kelley shouts over her shoulder. “It gives me an excuse to see you again!”
Kelley just reaches Christen before Allie stumbles backwards - Kelley using her quick flexes to catch her, Allie grins like a Cheshire Cat at Kelley, reaching up to poke at the forward’s cheek.
“Hi.” Allie grins before she bops Kelley’s nose, or at least attempts to.
Alex watches them, an amused smile on her face as she shrugs the jean jacket back on, wrapping it further around her body and holding the collar between her fingers until she’s pretty sure the four of them are out of sight.