Who: Kenzie and Chris When: late afternoon, Monday, Dec 25th Where: Juniper to start Warning: turns NSFW Status: Part 2, complete
Chris did not need to know that Kenzie wasn’t wearing a bra, and he was kind of proud of himself that he hadn’t noticed on his own. Granted, he was more of an ass man, and he’d done plenty of looking at that, but still. That fact did not help the restless feeling in his groin. Why couldn’t he have gone to a bar to drink like a normal person? Oh yeah, Christmas. Fuck. He could hear that Kenzie had moved further away, and that was probably for the best at the moment. He tried to focus on finding something useful as he opened a few random boxes to squint inside of them. It all looked like random junk, there was a whole tower of paint cans, how fucking extensive was this basement, anyway? Chris had lifted up the lid of what looked like a rotting steamer trunk when Kenzie said his name. It startled him a bit and he lost his grip on it, the old wood and leather banging down hard. “Shit,” he hissed, straightening up again. That would’ve hurt if it caught a finger. “What? Find something?” Chris called back.
Kenzie heard the bang but Chris answered her so she assumed he hadn't been hurt. And frankly she was a bit distracted by the music. In a way it reminded her of some cliché horror movie, but then again, so did this entire inn. Kenzie started toward the music, not entirely sure where it was coming from, but she wouldn't be any good at her job if she didn't investigate. It didn't occur to her that she ought to investigate when she was sober and had everything she needed. Realizing she hadn't answered Chris's question, Kenzie glanced back to spot him. "Not really. Just... you hear that, right?" It didn't seem to be getting any louder, but it wasn't like there was any noise down here but their two voices.
Chris made his way closer to where her voice had come from, finally starting to hear the music when he was a row or two away. He found Kenzie, a vague frown on his face as he approached. Something was fucking with them down there, a locked door and then quiet, warbly music playing White Christmas? Not a coincidence. “Yeah, I do,” he answered, putting his hands on his hips for a moment as he slow-swiveled his head around and tried to pinpoint where the music was coming from. It didn’t really sound like it was coming from any particular direction, so he walked past Kenzie to try and hear it better.
Kenzie wasn't afraid of whatever was down here. She and Chris had dealt with much worse over the years and a haunted inn was not going to send them screaming. She watched Chris start to search for the source of the music himself and Kenzie did the same, though she had to admit this particular version was lovely... a stark contrast from the distorted warbling she had heard moments before. Kenzie had paused and closed her eyes as the music washed over her. If she had been giving it anymore logical thought she would have found it odd to be taken in by a Christmas carol, of all things. But the whiskey was still pumping through her and she had been feeling silly and drunk before they got locked in down here. And Chris had smelled good up close, and her hand had felt the muscle in his back when she grabbed him earlier.
She wasn't really prepared to feel his mouth on hers, or his hands on her body but Kenzie wasn't even surprised by it. The music was quickly drowned out by the sound of her heart pounding in her ears, and the moan in her throat. When he parted his lips against hers, Kenzie could taste the whiskey on his tongue. His hands were in her hair, his kiss hard and possessive and Kenzie was grabbing him to her now, desperate and achy. It felt like his hands were all over her body, groping her breasts, and then her ass. He squeezed hard, prompting another moan into his mouth. And then he was moving her back against the hard, concrete wall beside an old, broken ladder. Kenzie's hands were everywhere, under his shirt, scratching nails against his back and abdomen. Rarely had she ever allowed herself to think about Chris in a sexual way. He was a constant partner and she was a professional. But she was also a woman and there had been the occasional night when she was in bed where she tried to imagine what sex with him would feel like. He wasn't disappointing her now, that was for damn sure.
Kenzie had no idea what or how it happened so fast but her yoga pants and panties were shoved down, she was being lifted against the wall and his cock was thick and hard and... her orgasm slammed into her as hard and fast as his first thrust inside of her and Kenzie couldn't help but cry out as she came around him. It was violent and borderline painful but it felt so good. As soon as the hard pulses of her body started to dull and her breath came back to her, Kenzie managed to open her eyes and realized she wasn't up against the wall anymore. She wasn't naked from the waist down. Chris wasn't fucking her either. She was standing where she had first heard the music, her lips parted and her body still shaking from her orgasm. That seemed to be the only thing that had actually happened in the last couple of minutes. She tried to say something, at least even curse a little, but she was still feeling the aftershocks of her orgasm and her heart was still beating so hard in her chest she couldn't quite catch her breath to talk yet.
Chris was busy being frustrated over not being able to find the source of the music -- it hadn’t changed in quality for him, and it just sounded like it was far away no matter which way he turned -- when the first moan sounded behind him. He’d kind of expected Kenzie to follow, but when he looked back in surprise, she was still right where she’d stopped, her eyes closed and her body swaying slightly. “Kenz ...?” he started, not sure he’d heard that moan quite right. Concern turned into shock and confusion and more than a little arousal when she groaned again. She was breathing hard, obviously caught up in whatever was going on in her head. Chris walked in closer slowly, cautiously, one hand lifting a bit, but he didn’t touch her since he wasn’t sure what was going on. All doubt about the essence of those noises was blown away when she really cried out, and Jesus Christ, that was unmistakably an orgasm, what the fuck kind of spirit was this? When Kenzie opened her eyes again, Chris was staring at her with a mix of wariness and fascination, color high in his cheeks and a bit of a bulge in the front of his pants, because ... damn. “You okay?” he asked softly.
It was too hard to be embarrassed right away because of how good that had felt and for a split second Kenzie considered launching herself into his arms to do it all for real. But that was the whiskey talking and even now she knew it. As her breathing returned to normal, Kenzie stared at Chris for a ridiculously long moment before she felt her cheeks start to burn and she closed her eyes. What the hell was that? The music was gone and Kenzie lifted her hands to her cheeks. "I'm fine," she managed, her voice husky from arousal. "It was something in the music. I just... I think I was hallucinating." Or something. She couldn't know for sure because it had all felt so real. It was like a wet dream happening while she was awake. Kenzie inhaled deeply and then opened her eyes to look at Chris again. And then she laughed, because she needed to, otherwise she wouldn't be able to work with him again, let alone even look at him. "I'm so sorry. That must have been so uncomfortable for you. There's... definitely something down here with us, and we should probably try to get out of here before it does that again."
It wasn’t until Kenzie mentioned the music that Chris realized he couldn’t hear it anymore. He’d been caught up in their locked gazes before she closed her eyes, and Chris blinked rapidly to himself. Okay, there was something in the air, yeah. He gave his crotch a quick adjustment while Kenzie’s eyes were shut, not wanting to make her uncomfortable -- but really, how was he just supposed to not react to his crush having a loud orgasm right in front of him? “Don’t apologize, not your fault,” Chris murmured. He wanted to ask what she was hallucinating, but that would definitely make her uncomfortable, so Chris bit his tongue on it. “Are you really okay though? You don’t feel ... anything weird? Besides the ... y’know.” He made a vague gesture. The last thing they needed was Kenzie getting possessed by some kind of succubus or something.
Kenzie arched a brow, a slow but amused smile spreading on her lips. "Besides the hallucination triggered orgasm in front of my partner? No, I feel fine. I mean, besides a little dizzy, but that might be the whiskey. I'm not becoming possessed by some sex demon, I promise. I'm a little annoyed they used White Christmas though. What about some Sade to get me in the mood?" Kenzie lowered her hands and blew a breath from between her lips. She could feel her panties were damp and please, if there was a god above, couldn't he or she just strike her dead right now? Kenzie swallowed and licked her lips before looking around. "No luck on the tools? Maybe we should try to knock again. At least get away from this side of the basement." Changing the subject was a good idea, and hopefully would make things less awkward in this moment.
He hadn’t expected her to be quite so frank about it -- though Chris didn’t know why not, Kenzie was nothing if not practical and straightforward -- and he felt himself blush a tiny bit more. Damn that Irish complexion. It was awkward, but in a way he kind of liked a bit too much, because it was hot at the same time, and Chris had to wonder if he could make Kenzie make those sounds. Maybe better than a fucking ghost in a basement, or whatever the hell was happening. It was reassuring that she didn’t feel weird though. Besides the spontaneous orgasm, of course. “Uhh, no, didn’t see anything,” he answered, sounding distracted because he couldn’t stop hearing those moans in his head. “You wanna go try to knock and I’ll look some more?” It would give her some space if she wanted it, at least.
She was beyond grateful to him that he wasn't teasing her about it. He had every right to, and if the situation was reversed Kenzie wasn't sure she wouldn't have cracked a joke about it to try and ease her own awkwardness. But Chris had seemed more concerned with her than anything else, and that helped ease some of her embarrassment. Some. More than anything she was thankful that he hadn't asked what she hallucinated because she feared she would have to make up something. There was no way she could tell him the truth. The practical side of her wanted to find out more about whatever was down here, but she needed some of her equipment and all of that was back in her room upstairs. Maybe later, once she was out of the basement and recovered she would come back down here and figure out what happened to her. Chris's offer gave her some reprieve and she figured that's why he suggested it, so Kenzie nodded quickly and turned away to head back toward the steps. At the top near the basement door she knocked again, loudly, calling for anyone to open the door. She tried for several minutes before sighing and turning to sit down on the top step. As funny and humiliating as it was, the orgasm had taken a lot out of her and Kenzie was feeling boneless now and ready to curl up in bed, or a hot bath. Not to mention she was starting to get a bit cold. She stayed near the door in case she heard anyone walk by. "Any luck?" she called down to Chris.
If it hadn’t turned Chris on so much, he might’ve teased her about it, but at the moment he wasn’t thinking clearly and it was just hot and he didn’t want to be weird about it. “Fuckin’ weirdass basement,” he muttered as he turned away from the space Kenzie had quickly vacated. “The hell are you tryin’ to start?” Chris went about trying to locate some tools while Kenzie knocked and yelled, as per the plan, but his mind kept wandering. What in the hell had made her come so hard? And so fast, because she hadn’t been moaning but a couple of minutes before the big one. Was it weird that Chris knew what she sounded like in the throes of passion now? Was it bad that he wanted to hear it again, like ... close up in his ear? Jesus. He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to wrangle those drunk thoughts as he nudged boxes here and there with his foot to see if they were metal-heavy. Chris shuffled back toward the foot of the stairs when Kenzie called, shaking his head a bit. “Nothin’ useful, it’s all just ... fuckin’ junk.”
Kenzie wished she knew what it was that had caused her to do that. Honestly, she couldn't remember a time when she was touching herself that she had come that fast, or that hard. Maybe it was the whiskey, although she'd had drunken sex before and it had never felt like that. It was too much to acknowledge that it was because she had been fantasizing, or hallucinating, or whatever it was, about Chris. If it had been Nick down there with her, would she have imagined him ravaging her body that way? Oh god. Kenzie did her best not to groan because Chris was talking to her now and she didn't need to be making any noise that could be construed as sexual. "What do you think we should do?" Kenzie asked, wrapping her arms around her knees now. "Keep knocking until someone hears us?"
Chris sighed, walking halfway up the stairs to squint at the door some more. There didn’t seem to be any sliding locks or anything on the top or bottom of the door he’d just missed. “How the hell do you have a basement that can’t be unlocked from the inside? Fuckin’ nuts,” he griped, running a hand over his short hair. Chris did not want to spend the night down there, he was already cold and it would just get worse. Especially with no shoes. They could maybe find some musty-ass blankets to huddle under, but fuck ... Chris blew some frustrated air out between his lips and leaned one hand against the railing. “Not sure what else ...” he muttered. “I can keep looking. Or try to find a window to get out of.”
"I think the windows are too small for us to climb out of," Kenzie said. "But I'm trying to think..." She felt confident she would have had a solution by now if she hadn't been drunk. Or on the tail-end of drunkness. She was capable of getting out of so many jams in her job and now she was stuck in a locked basement in her socks after having an orgasm in front of her partner. Merry Flippin' Christmas. Kenzie turned back to the door, on her knees on the top step to look at the lock itself beneath the doorknob. It was an old lock like on their doors, but this door in particular was much heavier than the ones she had seen everywhere else in the inn. She tried to dig her pinky nail inside of it, but that wasn't going to do anything. If she had a hairpin she could probably try to jimmy it or something, but a hairpin was probably too flimsy. Frustrated, Kenzie sat back down and looked at Chris. "Why don't we just... take a second and try to warm up for a minute before we start searching again. There's no rhyme or reason to this place and it's probably going to take us awhile to find anything useful down here."
Chris couldn’t help but look at the curves of Kenzie’s body as she turned and knelt on the step. She’d said she wasn’t wearing a bra, but he could see her pantylines and somehow that was even more arousing than wondering if she wasn’t wearing any underwear at all. He forced his eyes upward and took a deep breath, his hand tightening on the railing. He tried to focus on their problem, think up some sort of solution, but it was so difficult when Kenzie’s ass was right on his eye level. Chris made himself walk up a couple more steps and told himself this would all be over soon. Then he could have a hot shower and jack off and they could put all this behind them. When Kenzie turned around and sat again, Chris clearly saw that her nipples were hard through her shirt, and he averted his eyes again, his cheeks suddenly the warmest part of him. “Yeah, it’s ... fuckin’ cold,” he agreed in a mutter. He picked a step two down from where Kenzie was sitting and plunked down onto it, hunching over a bit and rubbing at his arms.
It was probably the least of her worries right then, but it bothered her in a mild way that Chris was sitting two steps down from her. She had to think if she hadn't embarrassed herself, and probably him, that he would have sat beside her. They could have at least huddled together with their body heat. It was too bad he hadn't brought his whiskey with him, because that would have kept them warm. Sex would keep them warm too, her brain supplied, but Kenzie cringed and forced the thought away. That was not happening. Sighing, Kenzie scooted down the two steps until her butt landed on the step where he was sitting. It was instinctive to shift in a bit closer to him. "Body heat," she explained, tugging her shirt sleeves down over her palms a bit. "Not that I have much of that right now. But we at least know there's definitely something down here. Maybe we can investigate further when we get out of here and get everything we would need. Sorry I suggested exploring. Seems like a waste of Christmas and good whiskey."
Chris wasn’t so much embarrassed as he was annoyingly horny now. He didn’t blame Kenzie for that, he’d been having that feeling thrumming under the surface before she’d climaxed in the middle of this gross basement. That had just served to make everything worse. Better? One of those. Chris liked it more than he should have that she moved down to sit next to him and got closer. The stairs weren’t very wide to start with, and it didn’t take much scooting until they were touching. Hoping he wouldn’t make her more uncomfortable, Chris tentatively put his arm around Kenzie’s shoulders. Sharing body heat was more effective that way, and it was more comfortable to boot. “Don’t apologize, it was a good idea,” he said. “You couldn't know there was some kinda trickster asshole down here. ... hey, at least you got an orgasm out of it?” He cocked an eyebrow and smirked a tiny bit, looking over at her. “More’n I can say.”
She liked his arm around her, not only because it helped warm her, but because she liked the feel of it. It reminded her of what she had fantasized about... but had that been a fantasy? It felt real. Kenzie could still recall how the wall felt up against her back when Chris had pushed her back against it. The urge to maybe scoot away from him was there, but honestly, she was chilly and he was comfortable so Kenzie stayed put. "Please," she said with a low groan and a chuckle. "As much as I enjoy orgasms, I would have preferred not to have had one down here, and like that... and in front of someone I work with. It's unnerving how real..." Kenzie exhaled and shook her head before flashing him a smile. "Look, if you want to go find a corner and rub one out so we're even, I'll wait."
Again Chris wanted to ask her what exactly it had been that she saw, but she seemed pretty embarrassed about it. “You keep makin’ me curious,” he murmured, quirking a little half smile at her. “But nah, I’ll pass. The only place warm enough to get a boner is right here. Without some spirit help, I mean. And I’ll pass on that too.” He didn’t really want to hallucinate anything and make Kenzie witness whatever dumb faces he made when he came. ... unless she wanted to see, like he’d seen hers now. Chris doubted she did. She felt really nice against him though, and Chris wanted to pull her even closer but he didn’t try. Still, her hip felt really good pressed against his, and part of Chris was going to enjoy the closeness while it lasted.
Kenzie was sure she would have been curious had it been Chris doing... what she did. But she was also sure that if Chris had imagined her ripping his clothes off like that, he wouldn't be so quick to tell her about it. So she focused on the logical side of it. The side that appealed to their work. "I think whatever is down here can manipulate surroundings, make you think something is happening that isn't. Maybe I was in a trance, but it didn't feel that way to me at the time. I couldn't begin to tell you what the music had to do with it." The alcohol had settled, and with the orgasm, Kenzie was starting to feel pleasantly tired. She rested her head against Chris, not really acknowledging or caring that maybe she shouldn't. "But that doesn't go into any reports we have to turn in. Okay?"
He nodded a little at her assessments, understanding in a subconscious way that she needed to put it in a work perspective to make the embarrassment more tolerable. It helped Chris a little too, focusing elsewhere besides how nice Kenzie felt against him and how good she’d sounded lost in pleasure, however random it was. “Could be some kind of trigger,” he murmured about the music. “I heard it, but nothin’ changed for me though ... maybe it just likes ladies.” Chris gave a wry chuckle. The skin on the side of his neck tingled when she put her head on him, and his arm tightened just slightly around her. “And ‘course not, no reports. It’s a holiday, we’re off duty.” He didn’t want to have to explain what they were doing down there anyway. After a second’s hesitation, Chris lightly rested his temple against Kenzie’s hair. She smelled nice.
Kenzie wondered if Chris was the one she fantasized about because he also heard the music. Or maybe because he was the one physically present with her. She wanted to think about it more, find the logical reasoning behind what had happened, but she was too drunk now to think of much of anything. Chris was solid and warm and she was pretty sure she could fall asleep right where she was. His body felt exactly how it had in her fantasy. Could she continue to call it that when he felt so real? Kenzie closed her eyes, feeling herself start to doze a bit despite how chilly it had become down here. Then her eyes shot open and she pulled back to look at Chris. "Do you still have my room key? In your pocket? Maybe that'll work?" It made no sense since her door wasn't the same as the basement door, but the locks looked similar. Kenzie was sure the key was made solely for her door, but fuck it, they needed to try something.
Chris had been getting relaxed, some of the tension leaving his back. His eyes had been lingering on the front of Kenzie’s shirt before they closed about five seconds before she abruptly moved. It gave him a little start too, and he immediately stupidly wished she had stayed put. Fuck. Chris blinked at Kenzie without comprehension for a beat until his brain caught up to the words. “Oh, uh ... yeah,” he mumbled, straightening his right leg out to dip his hand into the pocket. He let his arm fall away from her and offered the key over. “Worth a shot, right?” It was beyond ridiculous, but he kind of hoped it didn’t work, because then they would leave and go back to their rooms with no excuse to touch each other anymore. Chris obviously needed to hook up with somebody in this town, he was getting pathetic.
Kenzie took the key and twisted her body to stand up. She had to use the railing because getting up so quickly made her feel dizzy. Her fingers tightened on the key until she was in front of the lock again. It probably wouldn't work because why would it? But stranger things had happened to them in the past and Kenzie just needed it to work before she sobered up and had the clarity to think about what had happened down in the basement. Chris wasn't giving her shit about it now, but he was kind of drunk too. "Fucking work," she said under her breath as she shoved the key into the lock and tried to turn it. It barely budged so she took the key out and turned it the other way to see if that worked. It didn't. Frustrated, she began to jerk the key around inside the lock, hoping it would just snap something out of place to open the damn door. "Come on," she barked, ratting the doorknob. And then the door open and Kenzie practically fell out onto the carpet of the hall, one hand still on the doorknob. It worked! Only, there was a pair of shoes in front of her face and Kenzie looked up to see the young desk girl staring down at her with a dumbfounded expression. She had been the one to open the door.
"What are you doing?" she asked Kenzie, her gaze shifting away from Kenzie to Chris down the stairs. "You're not supposed to be down there."
Chris had turned to sit sideways on the stair to watch Kenzie struggle with the door. He didn’t think it would work, and he was getting a sinking feeling from the confirmation of that when it opened. He saw the girl before Kenzie did, and a mixture of relief and disappointment flooded him. They were saved, but also ... they were saved. He stood up, swaying a bit himself as he grabbed hold of the railing. “We got stuck, didn’t you hear us pounding on the door for help?” he demanded, immediately going on the offensive to pull the heat off of them. Better to be a confused dumbass of a customer than be caught snooping. “What kind of dangerous place is this? There wasn’t even a sign anywhere.” Chris walked up the couple of steps to the top, moved to help Kenzie back to her feet, then started to crowd the girl so she would get out of their way.
The girl's brows drew together in confusion. "I didn't hear anything. And there is a sign." She had stepped back several feet when Chris helped Kenzie to her feet and moved in her direction. With the two people out of the way, the girl shut the door and pointed. A silver sign was nailed on the door that said "Employees Only. Keep Out." She turned to the two, feeling rightfully vindicated. "If you two need anything, feel free to let me know, but we do ask that you adhere to designated areas for guests. We do have a billiards room if you're bored."
Kenzie didn't bother brushing off her yoga pants. She was dusty from the basement and she was in need of a shower and change of clothes anyway. But the sign on the door was new to her, because she was pretty sure even in their whiskey laden state that the sign hadn't been there when they found the door. She glanced at Chris. "We were looking for the billiards room," she said lamely. "I guess we missed the sign."
Chris looked dubiously at the sign once the door was shut, hardly aware that he was still holding onto Kenzie’s arm. He was pretty sure it hadn’t been there when they’d gone in. It made him wonder if they opened it back up and looked down there again if the basement would be such a maze of junk, and if the door would lock on its own again. Was there some weird trap down there? It would be something to look into. But later, without an audience. “Thanks,” he muttered to the girl, not feeling the need to be nice to her at the moment. She would probably bitch about drunk inn guests to her friends or something, but he didn’t think they would get kicked out of the place. “Come on, my feet are frozen,” he said to Kenzie, starting down the hallway with her in tow. Chris just wanted to get away from that door now.
Kenzie had her own curiosity about the basement, but she wasn't in the right state of mind to go back down there and check on it. Plus, she was still cold and Chris was walking her down the hall away from the door and the desk girl. "That sign wasn't there," she muttered once they were far enough away from the basement. "I know it wasn't." Kenzie didn't tug her arm out of his hand. If anything she appreciated it more as they got to the stairs. God, there was so many of them. Kenzie wondered if they would part ways once they got back to their floor. Spending the rest of Christmas alone felt more depressing now than it did when she first woke up. "You think she knows what's in the basement?"
Those stairs did look daunting, and Chris was tempted to go hunting for an elevator, but the exercise would probably warm them up some and he didn’t want that girl to keep watching them or whatever. “I know it wasn’t too,” Chris agreed with Kenzie in low tones as they started to climb. He held onto her to help them both with balance, his free hand reaching for the railing. “But I dunno, maybe she doesn’t, maybe she goes down there to get off, who fuckin’ knows.” It was a valid question and one he would’ve wanted to investigate if he was more sober and this was work and not some shit that had ruined their good time. “Worth lookin’ into later, maybe,” Chris added, so as not to sound like a complete asshole.
"Maybe," Kenzie agreed. "But not today. We've got the day off, remember?" Now was the time to focus and climb, as not to fall backward and break their necks. As soon as they reached the top step Kenzie groaned and felt another giggle form in her throat. She thought she was past the happy drunk phase. If Chris hadn't been holding her arm she might have just sat down right there and stayed for a while. "I think she'd rather you get her off. Yeah?" She nudged Chris playfully with her elbow, thankful to be on the second floor down, even if it felt like they had just climbed some huge mountain. Kenzie groaned, rubbing her thigh. "Seriously, whose idea was it to drink whiskey? Do you think maybe this is all a dream? We're drunk and sleeping on my bed right now and none of this is actually happening."
Being back in the inn proper and not in the basement in December was warming Chris up and making him feel somewhat better. He realized he was still ‘escorting’ Kenzie, and that should probably stop, but Chris honestly didn’t want to stop touching her. He released her onto to sling his arm around her shoulders again to steer them toward their rooms. Chris gave a snort and shook his head. “She probably don’t anymore,” he muttered, though he couldn’t sound too put out about it. That girl was young, and fooling around with an employee of where they were staying for a while was just stupid. “I think it was your idea, ‘cause you gave it to me,” he went on, flashing Kenzie a little grin. “And if it’s all a dream ... I’m pretty impressed with myself for making you come like that just by being there.”
"Hey, a weird basement ghost made me come," Kenzie reminded him. Her face felt hot, because it had been Chris. He just didn't need to know that. She was too distracted to realize he was talking about it potentially being a dream. Because it occurred to her then that he still had his arm around her, even though they were nearly back to their rooms and they weren't huddled in a cold basement anymore. This was exactly why she didn't drink a lot around her colleagues, especially Chris. "Let's just never talk about that ever again," Kenzie suggested, keeping her tone light. "I'm already embarrassed. I can only imagine how horrible it's going to be tomorrow when I'm sober again."
Chris thought that he knew a way to kill that embarrassment for the morning that had nothing to do with talking, but suggesting so would probably be beyond inappropriate. He didn’t know if it was the whisky or the weird-sexy shit in the basement or the rush of being out of it or that they’d never touched this much, but his crush was humming loud in the back of his brain. He could make her come even better than some pervy basement ghost, Chris was sure of it. He drew a deep breath in through his teeth and grinned laxily again. “I’m not sure I can promise to never talk about it again,” he said, only half teasing her. “But I’ll drop it for the night if you have another drink with me.” They’d reached Kenzie’s door and Chris left his arm where it was, quirking a brow at her.
“Another drink?” Kenzie shot him an incredulous look. “Drinking is what got us into that basement mess, totally unprepared. But... wait, are you blackmailing me into having another drink with you? Like if I don’t, you’ll just tease me mercilessly about what happened?” It was a wonder she got those words out with minimal slurring. Kenzie wasn’t actually mad about it. She was amused if anything, and frankly Kenzie didn’t want Chris to go back to his room. “Okay, fine,” she exclaimed before he could respond, throwing her arms up in defeat. “Fine, but only one more drink. And if I’m hungover tomorrow you have to get me food and coffee.” She turned to unlock her room, finding it a bit more difficult to get the key into this particular lock. Then Kenzie straightened, her lips parted as if she had just remembered something. “Oh gosh, we left our cups in the basement. I feel bad. Should we go get them and throw them away?”
Her dramatics made Chris grin, and then he outright laughed at Kenzie’s alarm over the cups. “What? Fuck no, with all the junk down there, are you kidding?” he asked, bracing both hands on either side of the door, blocking her in. Chris didn’t want to go anywhere near that basement again tonight, and maybe not even a while after that. “I’ll take care’a you in the morning, and we won’t go anywhere else tonight, promise.” Even if they just got drunk together and fell asleep in front of some dumb holiday movie, that would be better than parting ways, in Chris’s opinion. He knew he would just drive himself crazy if he went back to his room alone. Kenzie didn’t seem keen on kicking him out either, so Chris took that as a sign that she wanted company too.
Her heart thumped madly in her chest with his arms on either side of the door and she was suddenly acutely aware of his presence and how close he was standing. Remembering how his lips felt on hers in the basement, Kenzie wondered if he actually kissed that way or if it was just what the weird hallucination Christmas ghost thought she was expecting. Thinking about it hurt her brain. The smart thing to do would have been to push him along down the hall back to his room so she could just crawl into bed for the rest of the day and sleep off the whiskey. But she didn't want to be alone and maybe today wasn't a day for smart decisions. Kenzie had already made a couple of bad ones, why not keep that ball rolling. "Fine," she said with exaggerated exasperation and Kenzie managed to get her door unlocked and open. "We used all my cups for the first round," she pointed out, sitting down on the edge of her bed to peel the dirty socks off her feet.
They spent their whole lives running on smart decisions, the kind that were life or death. They had to relax that constant vigilance sometimes, right? Why not do it in a safe place with someone they trusted completely? It all made sense in Chris’s head, at least. He hadn’t exactly intended to box her in like that, but Chris’s stomach gave an intrigued twist too before Kenzie actually got the door open. He licked his lips as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Chris made sure to lock it, then ambled over to where he’d left the whiskey bottle when they’d left. “Nothin’ wrong with taking straight from the bottle,” he said as he unscrewed the cap. Chris moved to the edge of Kenzie’s bed to sit down next to her. “It’s alcohol, it’s disinfected,” he said, nodding at the bottle as he offered it over to her. She could take the first swig. They’d wanted to get drunk, so why not complete that objective? He didn’t want it to end up a waste.
Kenzie left her socks on the floor and took the bottle from him, eyeing him suspiciously. "It's unsanitary to drink from the same bottle," she reminded him before taking a pull from it. The whiskey tasted good but still burned a bit and it felt like her entire body was suddenly reeling, protesting the thought of even more alcohol. She swallowed and quickly wiped the tiny bit that had dribbled down her chin as she handed the bottle back to Chris. "This is so unprofessional," she murmured as she turned on the bed and crawled up to the fluffy white pillows where she stretched out. "You're a really bad influence, Washburn."
Chris rolled his eyes dramatically as he accepted the bottle back. “It’s alcohol, Novak, you can pour it in wounds, it’s fine,” he said. The whiskey was strong enough to kill any germs left on the lip of the bottle. He took a sip and peeled his own socks off, glancing over at where Kenzie was going. The crawling made her ass look fine as hell until she flopped again, and he snorted softly as he shook his head. “It’s Christmas, who gives a fuck about professional,” he offered. There was still plenty of room against the pillows, so Chris scooted himself up and back until he was leaned against some too, his legs stretched out in front of him. He crossed his ankles and took another sip before offering the bottle back to Kenzie. “Think this is prob’ly my weirdest Christmas ever, how ‘bout you?”