Mistletoe
Leslie didn't know what she was thinking going to this party. Or maybe she does a little bit.
It was another one of Ann's parties, a Christmas one. Red and green decorations adorned the living room and kitchen. Most of the Parks gang were more than a little tipsy, and so were Ann's hospital friends.
Ben was there, too. Another reason she decided to come. The rules denied her right to kiss him, or date him, or do anything less than professional or friendly with him, but being at a party with him was nowhere near crossing that line, so was she really doing anything wrong? Besides, the spiked eggnog she drank was definitely entering her bloodstream, making the mental restraints she had when she soberly thought about him start to fall, allowing her imagination to run wild.
She'd only had one drink; Tom put way too much alcohol in the eggnog.
Anyways, back to what happened.
It all started when Leslie was standing alone, leaning against the kitchen counter. Ben must've seen her looking bored, because he approached her with a shy smile on his face.
"Hey, what's up?" Leslie asked, her eyes lighting up the moment she saw him.
"Not much. I just wanted to get away from April and Andy," Ben said as he gestured over to them. April was straddling Andy's lap as they made out passionately, and yeah, Ben's discomfort was justified.
"Yeah, good call."
An awkward silence fell over both of them, which didn't seem possible given the loud music that was playing in the background.
"Anything on your mind?" Leslie blurted out in an effort to make some kind of conversation with him.
"Uh, not really. This music is way too loud, though."
"Never let Tom take control of the music," Leslie said seriously.
"Too late for that," Ben said as he looked over at Tom, who was dancing terribly while dressed head-to-toe in a sparkling silver outfit, mistletoe taped to his forehead.
"I don't think he realizes how he looks, especially with that mistletoe," Ben said.
"He's been following Ann all night with that mistletoe. I think she's hiding in the bathroom right now."
"Understandable."
A silence fell over them again, but it was different. It wasn't an awkward one, but one where they maintained eye contact with a genuine smile on both of their faces, feeling content with their quietude.
"Yo, roomie! You and Leslie are standing under the mistletoe!" Andy suddenly called out to Ben, a beer in his hand. Leslie's eyes widened, and she and Ben simultaneously looked up to see the green mistletoe pinned to the ceiling.
Everyone was looking at them at that point, and while Leslie had the mindset of just doing it and getting it over with to end the embarrassment (yeah, that's the reason), Ben had the look of a deer caught in headlights on his face.
"We don't have to if you don't want to," Leslie said, and she genuinely meant it, because while she was comfortable kissing him now, she'd rather kiss him in a more natural setting, where it wasn't forced on the both of them. She internally cursed herself for thinking that, which was a nice distraction from the pang of hurt she couldn't stop herself from feeling at Ben's discomfort.
"No, that's the rules! You have to kiss," April said, egging them on.
Leslie quickly realized that she had to do something before... she doesn't know what, but she couldn't keep dragging out the awkward moment. She stepped up on her tip-toes, grabbing his shoulders to steady herself, and then kissed his cheek softly before letting go.
"Don't worry about it," she said, walking off to the bathroom that she was almost certain Ann was in listening to the situation while trying to ignore everyone's surprising annoyance at Ben.
//
"What happened out there?" Ann asked, but it was pretty obvious she already knew and just wanted to hear Leslie's side.
"Uhh, mistletoe. Me and Ben."
"Up to speed. Did you kiss? I couldn't tell," she said, but this time, she sounded like she truly didn't know.
"Uh, no. To be honest, Ben looked like he'd rather get a root canal," Leslie said softly, breaking eye contact with Ann to stare down at the white tiles of the bathroom floor.
"Well, that's good, right? It's against the rules anyway," Ann said.
"I know what you're doing, Ann."
"I'm not doing anything."
"Right. I guess I can't blame him. It was an awkward situation to be in," Leslie said, staring at her nails.
"Something tells me you're not entirely convinced."
"It's just– it wouldn't have been so bad, you know? At least for me."
"I know. Just look on the bright side. I can't believe I'm the one telling you that," Ann joked. "If you had kissed, things would have gotten complicated. You want to keep your job, right?"
"Yeah. It's already complicated, though. But, you know, maybe he just–maybe he just didn't want to kiss me," Leslie suggested.
Ann narrowed her eyes at that but said nothing, which was probably for the best. "Right. Just talk to him about it."
"I'll try," Leslie promised.
//
"Hey, Leslie," Ben said, leaning against the doorway of her office.
"Hey!" She said, smiling at him. He tried to ignore the sweating of his palms and his heart skipping a beat, but it was no use.
"Is there somewhere we can go to talk in private?"
"We're alone here," Leslie said confusedly.
"I know... It's just– I'd feel better if we went somewhere else," he explained, fidgeting a little as he looked outside the window at Tom and Jean-Ralphio jumping up and down.
"Oh, okay. I know somewhere we can go."
She got up and gently took his wrist to guide him into the hallway before letting go, Ben instantly missing the contact when she did.
He followed her into an empty closet.
"Is this okay?" She asked, and she wasn't sure if she was just talking about the setting. Maybe it was the fact that they were standing a little too close to each other.
"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"What's up?"
"I just... wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings about what happened last night."
"Nothing did happen last night, Ben." Her voice was sullen, but clear, like she had rehearsed that part of the conversation. He knows he did.
"Right. It was just weird. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings."
"Don't worry about it. It's not the first time someone didn't want to kiss me," she joked.
"Well, did you want to kiss me?" Ben couldn't stop himself from asking.
Leslie fell silent for a moment, like she didn't anticipate him saying that. "I just meant that I was comfortable with it. I mean, we're friends, aren't we? And mistletoe is a classic."
"Yeah, that's true."
"I wasn't vehemently against it, but I can see why you would be. It is awkward, after all."
Ben stood there in shock for a few moments about how she didn't seem to notice his strong feelings for her, because this whole time he felt like he was being obvious. There was a hint of insecurity lacing her voice, and his instincts told him to do something about it, but his own insecurity held him back.
"Besides, I'm no prize," Leslie said, chuckling.
Ben's resolve faded, his facial expression turning into one of repressed anger, his lips pressing into a thin line. "You really think that?"
"Don't you?"
"God, you really don't get it, do you?" Ben muttered self-deprecatingly.
"Get what?"
Ben took a step toward Leslie, causing her to take a step back. Not out of fear, he knew, but instinct. The obligation to give each other space in a futile effort to ease the tension. But something in him snapped, and the rules and all the things he had been reminding himself all these months he wasn't supposed to do seemed unimportant in that moment.
At some point, they'd ended up with Leslie's back against the wall and Ben pinning her gently in place.
He leaned forward, kissing her hard. Leslie was taken by surprise for a second, but quickly reciprocated, her arms moving up to cup his neck and pull him closer.
Their hands quickly began to explore each other's bodies, Ben's moving up and down her back and Leslie's resting against his chest.
After what felt like hours but still not enough time, they separated to catch their breaths.
"Well," Leslie said. "We broke a rule."
Her lipstick was smudged and her eyes were sparkling while she looked up at him with a hint of shyness.
"Yeah, we did. How do you feel about that?"
"Pretty damn good, actually," Leslie replied.
"Me too."
"Do you want to come over to mine to... talk?" She paused before she said that last word, sending a message that while they definitely were going to talk, that wasn't the only thing on the agenda. She was about to clarify that before he interrupted.
"Yeah, that– that sounds good."