Jill and Anita had been running around the hotel yammering on about bugs in Fara's room all evening, which Alex was fairly confident would keep anyone who felt like leaving their room occupied and also meant Anita wasn't in the room she shared with Kelly. "Kells?" she called softly, knocking on their door. "It's me."
Kelly didn't answer, and for a moment Alex thought she might be asleep, but then there was a shuffling sound and the door opened. "Go on then, if you're coming in," Kelly said ungraciously, and didn't wait to see if Alex did before she retreated back to her bed and flopped down onto it, staring up at the ceiling. Alex took a deep breath and fixed a smile on her face before sitting beside her. "God," Kelly said. "I want a drink."
"Well, you can't have one," Alex said. She didn't scream, but it was a near thing. It wasn't fucking fair of Kelly to pull this now, she thought, like she wasn't disappointed too, like it didn't eat at her to know that no matter what she did she couldn't make Kelly forget about the bloody drink. Maybe once she would have said something stupid, like "why can't I be enough for you," but Alex was older now. "I'll get you a cuppa and some biscuits if you want."
"Did I fucking ask for -- oh, Alex," Kelly sighed, suddenly deflating. She rolled over and pushed her face into the pillow, muffling her voice almost to the point of incomprehensibility. "I'm sorry, I'm being a fucking awful cunt, aren't I."
"A bit, yeah," Alex said. She cautiously rested her hand on Kelly's back and felt her inhale. "It's okay."
"No, it's not. You should call your mum or something, I'm going to be rotten company. I'll be better in the morning."
"For better or for worse, woman," Alex said. "You're not getting rid of me that easily. Budge over."
It took some doing to fit two grown women into a single twin-sized bed, but Alex and Kelly had had a lot of practice over the years. "I'm just so tired of almost getting there," Kelly said when they were settled, her breath tickling the side of Alex's throat. "Every time -- and then it happens all over again."
"I know." The thing was, she did and she didn't. Alex had been there for so many of Kelly's disappointments, but there were still the ones that had piled up before they ever met, and sometimes -- not often -- the six years between them felt like a mountain she could never manage to climb. "But every time we pick ourselves back up and try again."
Kelly sighed and let her body relax completely, pressing Alex down into the mattress. "I'm glad we're here together, at least." She submitted to having kisses pressed to her forehead and the tip of her nose, but when Alex caught her lips she pulled back. "Alex! Anita could come back any minute."
"Jill's on the rampage, she'll keep Anita busy," Alex said with a grin and another stolen kiss. "And anyway, I'm sure she's seen worse. But if it makes you feel better, I could put a sock on the doorknob, give her a proper warning -- " By the time she finished speaking both she and Kelly had dissolved into giggles, and any hope of a mood had been lost. Alex wasn't necessarily sorry. There would be plenty of time for that when they were home, in their own bed. Fooling around in sterile hotel rooms on away trips had lost a lot of its charm after they bought the house. "Well, it was worth a try."
"I'm too old for sex in a twin bed," Kelly said. "Maybe you should run off with Jill after all."
"Nah, the weather in Liverpool'd make me mental and I've never fancied being treated like a queen anyways. I reckon I'd better stick with you and your creaky joints, the poor old dogs would never understand if their mums got divorced."
"You'll put up with it for the sake of the children, huh? Sulks and all."
"Sulks and how you can't make your own bloody tea and half-kill yourself to win at table tennis and everything else that comes parceled with Kelly Smith, yeah." Alex smiled up at Kelly and was rewarded with another kiss. "Go to sleep, Kells. I'll still be here in the morning."
