Chapter 19
Hope is woken up by nothing other than Lily trying to sneak her way out of bed. “Lil, what are you doing?” Hope asks, quietly, into the darkness. “I need to see if Santa came or not.”
Hope smiles into her pillow, before begrudgingly sitting up in bed. She looks at the alarm clock, which glares back at her with a bright ‘6:03’. “We can’t go downstairs without your mom.” Hope whispers. She looks at her sleeping girlfriend and almost feels guilty for what’s about to happen. Almost.
“Mommy!” Lily whisper-yells. She hops onto Kelley’s sleeping figure and bounces on top of her. “Mmmmphhhhh” Kelley groans out.
“Mom, it’s Christmas! You gotta get up.” Lily states, loudly. Hope pulls herself out of bed and heads into her ensuite to brush her teeth. By the time she gets back into the bedroom, Kelley is awake and Lily is waiting, impatiently, by the door. “Mom, go brush your teeth, we gotta go open presents!” She whines.
Eventually, the three make it downstairs, followed by Judy, who was woken up during the chaos of Lily waking everyone up. “I’ll meet you guys in there.” Hope whispers, before heading to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.
Hope walks into the living room to find Kelley sitting on the floor next to the tree, which is lit with the lights shining through the darkness of the early morning. Lily is holding a wrapped present in her lap, waiting impatiently for Hope to come into the room so she can rip the present open. Judy is sitting on a chair, dozing off, while Pinoe and Sera are laying down, tiredly watching Hope reenter the room.
“Go ahead, Lil.” Hope says, as she walks in the room. Lily rips off the wrapping paper, while Hope hands Judy and Kelley cups of steaming coffee. Pinoe and Sera end up going upstairs and using the guest room to get a few more hours of sleep, after Judy offered it to them.
It only takes Lily about twenty minutes to finish ripping open all her gifts. Hope opens a couple of the toys for her, after Lily insisted on playing with them right away. So Lily sits on the floor in front of the TV with her new toys, while Kelley and Hope exchange their own gifts for each other.
Judy sits on the couch and watches a Christmas movie on the TV. Hope and Kelley sit cross-legged next to the Christmas tree. Hope hands Kelley a rectangular box, wrapped poorly. “Wow, did you wrap this yourself?” Kelley asks, sarcastically, giving Hope a wink to let her know she’s joking. Hope rolls her eyes, but nods. Kelley takes off the wrapping paper to see a sparking silver bracelet. Her eyes widen, as she looks at the diamonds shining back at her.
“This is too much.” She whispers, looking up at Hope, who smiles. “It’s not.” She replies. Kelley carefully takes the bracelet out of the box. She holds it up to the Christmas lights to see it sparkle, before holding it out to Hope. “Help me put it on?” She asks.
Hope clips the bracelet on Kelley’s wrist, before the shorter woman crawls the short distance to her girlfriend. “You didn’t have to spend so much.” She says, softly. Hope shrugs. “Do you like it?” Kelley nods, enthusiastically, before grabbing Hope’s chin and pulling her into a loving kiss.
Kelley pulls back and gets suddenly nervous. She was convinced she had the perfect gift for Hope. She didn’t have much money to spend after buying Lily all her presents, but she didn’t think it would matter, until now. She sighs, as she picks up a small square box.
“It’s nothing fancy, but I want you to have it.” She whispers, nervously, as she holds the present out to Hope. The goalkeeper smiles at Kelley, trying to reassure her. She carefully opens the unwrapped box and her face drops at what’s inside.
“Is this….?” She trails off, looking at Kelley for help. The bartender nods, trying to read her girlfriends reaction. Hope lets out a deep breath and smiles brightly at Kelley. “You’re sure?” She asks. Kelley nods. “Of course I’m sure.”
Hope takes the key out of the box and clenches it, tightly, in her palm. “This is perfect. Thank you.” Hope whispers, leaning over to give Kelley a kiss. Hope pulls back and looks down at the small silver key. It may not be what Hope was expecting, but the gesture means more than she can explain.
“It’s just so you don’t have to wait out in the cold for me to let you in when you come over.” Kelley explains, looking at the key that Hope is playing with. “It’s perfect, Kell.” Hope reassures, once again. Lily bounces up to them, needing help opening one of her toys.
“Go. I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” Judy states, once again, as she all but pushes Hope and Kelley out the door. It’s New Year’s Eve and Judy insisted that she watch Lily while Hope and Kelley go out with their friends. “Solo, get your ass out here, it’s already 10.” Pinoe calls from inside the taxi. Hope rolls her eyes, but leads Kelley outside and into the car.
The six of them arrive at the club just after 10:30, leaving them with a good amount of time to get a buzz going before the ball drops. The club is absolutely packed with people of all ages. Hope leads the group to a secluded table in the back corner of the club, where everyone drops their jackets and sits down.
They start out slow, having a drink each, but before long, Pinoe has them all on the dance floor making fools of themselves. The dance floor is flooded with people, everyone back to back, front to front, celebrating the start of a new year. Kelley’s alcohol tolerance level is well below the rest of the group’s, so she’s feeling the effect of the drinks more-so than the rest of them.
“Let’s go take a shot.” Hope states, in Kelley’s ear over the sound of the music. The DJ is pumping the crowd with upbeat dance music and everyone seems to be enjoying it. Kelley follows closely behind Hope and downs a shot of tequila with her. “I’m gonna go check on Car.” Hope mentions. Kelley nods, easily. “I’ll meet you on the dance floor.” She winks at Hope.
Hope finds Carli and Brian whispering to each other back at the table. “Where’s Pinoe?” Hope asks, loudly, over the music. Carli looks up at her and nods her head in the direction of Pinoe, who’s dancing with Sera and a group of women who look to be laughing at something she had said.
Hope takes a swig of the beer that she had left at the table with Carli, before heading back out to find Kelley. She walks towards the bar, where she last saw her, but her girlfriend is nowhere in sight. She’s immediately concerned, frantically darting her eyes from face to face on the dance floor, trying to find the one she’s looking for.
Eventually she finds her. Deep into the large dance floor, she finally lays her eyes on Kelley, who’s ass is pressed up against a tall man’s crotch. Hope freezes, her eyes trailing up Kelley’s body, to the man’s hands, which are running over Kelley’s hips. Kelley’s eyes lock on Hope’s and the shorter woman smirks at the goalkeeper, only making Hope’s blood pump even more.
Kelley turns her body so she’s facing the man, who’s greasy blond hair is wet with sweat. She dances in front of him, allowing him to trail his hands along her legs, and then to her ass. Hope seethes. She stands, frozen, in the middle of the dance floor, trying to reign herself in before she makes a bad decision and knocks this creep’s lights out.
Kelley turns around so she’s facing Hope, again. Hope looks at her and shakes her head, her eyes burning holes into her. Kelley smirks, once again, and places her hands over the man’s, bringing them to rest on her lower stomach. Hope turns away and starts to storm off the dance floor entirely, but she’s stopped by Kelley’s hand on her wrist.
Hope turns around to throw scathing words in her girlfriend’s direction, but she’s met with a heated kiss. Nothing but a clash of teeth and tongues and fighting for dominance. Hope bites Kelley’s lip, roughly, winning the battle, before pulling away, abruptly. “Fuck you.” She spits out, trying to walk away again.
Kelley grabs her arm and drags her back to the middle of the dance floor. The man that Kelley was dancing with approaches them, earning a scathing glare from Hope. “What is this? A two-for-one deal?” He asks, smirking, as he looks them both up and down. Kelley rolls her eyes.
“You fucking wish.” Kelley snarks back, easily. She has enough experience with drunk men to know that this one is harmless. Just an asshole who thinks he’s getting some tonight. He tilts his head, before looking at Hope. “Come on, baby. Give me a dance.” He flirts, reaching his hand out for Hope to take.
Hope smacks it away from her and shoots Kelley a glare for putting them into this situation. “Woah, woah, baby, come on. Don’t be like that…” He trails off, giving her a smirk. Kelley steps in front of Hope, who’s silently seething. “Thanks, for the dance, but we’re together.” She states, motioning between her and Hope.
Kelley doesn’t give the man a chance to respond, before she grabs Hope’s wrist and leads her away from him. Once they’re off the dance floor, Hope rips her arm from her girlfriend’s grasp. “What the fuck was that?” Hope asks, angrily. Kelley sighs and leads Hope to a secluded corner of the club, where they can talk in privacy.
“It was just a dance, babe. I was just having fun. He’s harmless.” She explains. Hope looks at her with hard eyes. “Just a fucking dance? You let everyone run their fucking hands all over you?” She asks, backing Kelley into the wall. The shorter woman shakes her head.
“N-No, I just…I was having fun.” She replies, quietly. She feels her back hit the wall and she looks up at Hope, who’s looking at her with heated eyes. She feels warmth spread through her face. “You like his hands more than mine?” Hope rasps, lowly, into her ear. Kelley gasps, at the feeling of Hope’s breath against her neck.
She feels her girlfriend’s fingers softly running under her shirt, trailing up and down her stomach. “No.” Kelley breathes out. She closes her eyes, as Hope’s lips press against her neck, sweetly, before she feels teeth sink into her skin. She moans, and feels heat make its way to her core.
They faintly hear the countdown begin in the background. Hope pulls away from a heated kiss and rests her forehead against Kelley’s just as the countdown reaches ‘one’. “Happy New Year, Kell.” She says, leaning in so Kelley can hear her.
The bartender smiles and leans in to peck Hope on the lips. “Happy New Year.” She whispers, as she pulls away slightly. Hope doesn’t waste any time before capturing Kelley’s lips in a passionate kiss. She runs her tongue along the roof of Kelley’s mouth, earning a moan. Kelley pulls her lips from Hope’s and kisses her way along Hope’s jawline to her ear.
“Let’s get a room.” Kelley whispers, seductively, in Hope’s ear. Hope shudders at the feeling of Kelley’s breath on her skin. She nods, shakily. Kelley doesn’t miss a beat, before grabbing Hope’s elbow and leading her back to the table. “We’re getting a room. We’ll see you at Hope’s tomorrow morning.” Kelley states to Carli and Brian, who nod. “Be safe!” Carli calls after them.
Hope sends her mom a text to let her know they wouldn’t be home tonight. They ride in the back of the taxi, in silence. Hope runs her hand up and down Kelley’s leg, allowing them to trail under her dress. Kelley lets out a shaky breath and just as Hope reaches her center, they pull up to the front of the hotel.