Gail Peck had never been in a relationship where she felt she could turn the switch off.
She was always on, always charged to full capacity and ready to go.
The light was always brightly shinning, so much so that it hurt the eyes of those around her.
Simply put, she could never fully relax, yet after that kiss and with the two of them just standing in the small dimly lit room, she felt her shoulders sag just a smidgen and it felt good. God did it ever feel good.
"I um..." she paused for a moment to smooth out her uniform. "I should get going" she looked everywhere except at the taller woman's eyes.
"we'll talk later?" Holly's voice was just above a whisper.
"yeah, yeah of course" Gail shook her head as if to try and clear it from all the haze.
Just as Gail walked over to the door and placed her hand on the knob, she heard Holly's voice; soft and gentle.
"be careful" Gail looked back over her shoulder briefly and saw a glimmer of something in the other woman's eyes, "please" she added before offering Gail a small smile.
As Gail walked out of the room, she carried herself slightly different. Her hips weren't as rigid, her shoulder's weren't as squared off, and her face wasn't as stoic. She felt a smile creep onto her lips just as she heard Oliver's voice beckon her.
Saying that her day had been long would be an understatement. So as she slowly ambled up the steps to hers, Dov's and Chris' apartment, she didn't notice at first the tall brunette waiting for her.
"I had to make a guess"
Gail looked up from her bag that she was rummaging in searching for her keys.
"Holly" was all she could say as she watched the other woman lean up against the wall of the hallway.
"I had narrowed it down to this floor and this hall way but you see, I was pretty intoxicated that time you actually let me come here so I couldn't quite remember the apartment number, I know it had a eight in it, but I couldn't remember if it was actually an eight or that was the number of drinks I had before you led me up here and then-"
"okay you can stop, please" Gail walked up to her then past her and around the corner.
She heard the footsteps behind her as she slid the key in the hole and turned to open the lock.
"It was eight, just eight, and it was also the number of drinks you had, you thought it was hilarious, you laughed so hard you collapsed on my couch then passed out" Gail opened the door dramatically and motioned for her to follow her in.
"Oh... right" Holly looked a bit embarrassed as she slid past Gail and into the living room, gingerly sitting down on the edge of the armchair.
Gail wordlessly went to the fridge to grab them both a water before making her way into the living room and sitting down on the couch. She handed the bottle of water to Holly before opening her own and taking a long drink.
"you can, you know, stay a while" She motioned to the coat rack by the door and her shoes laying haphazardly on the floor next to it.
"Oh, yeah, thanks" Holly stood back up, setting her bottle on the coffee table, and proceeded to take off her shoes and coat.
Gail watched her intently as she took another drink of her water. She watched the way her jeans fit perfectly onto her long lean legs and she slipped her boots off, the way her dark hair fell around her shoulders when she slid her coat off, the way she smiled over at her as she caught her staring.
Holly let out a quick sigh and put her hands on her hips, standing in the entry way.
"You have anything stronger than water?" She asked and Gail was up and heading to the kitchen before she even finished asking.
"God, I thought you would never ask" She smiled and grabbed a couple of beer out of the fridge.
When she turned around she was surprised to see Holly face to face with her. The taller woman reached out and took a beer from her hand, and Gail could almost feel her breath on her neck as she did so. When Holly pulled back she was looking right into Gail's eyes as if she was searching for something. Gail hid things well, anyone would need a GPS to understand what was going on in her head, but not Holly, Holly gave her a knowing look before reaching for the other beer in her hand and setting them both on the counter behind Gail.
"It's silly really, but I couldn't stop thinking about-"
"Yeah, I know" Gail cut her off, knowing exactly what she was referring to.
"What is this?" Holly took a step closer so that they were so close Gail could now feel the warmth emitting from her body.
"I, I don't know, for once in my life I have no idea and it doesn't even scare me, I don't care" Gail looked up at her, her eyes were big and questioning.
Then that was it, Holly leaned in slowly and captured Gail's lips in her own.
For the first time in Gail's adult life she was quickly losing her charge.
The switch had been turned off.
The bulb was beginning to dim.
She was at 0% .
She was finally unplugged, and she had never felt better.