I know everybody here wants you
I know everybody here thinks he needs you
I'll be waiting right here just to show you
How our love will blow it all away
-Jeff Buckley
"What is it about me that attracts psychopaths?" Alicia addresses the question to the proffered shot of tequila in front of her.
Perched on the stool next to her, Kalinda Sharma chooses to treat the question as rhetorical. Instead, she reaches across the bar to push the glass closer to her companion. Taking the hint, Alicia sighs and tosses it back.
Speaking around a lime wedge, Alicia gestures with her hands emphatically. "No, seriously, what is it? First Colin Sweeney, now Jarvis Bowes. Do I need to rethink my wardrobe? My perfume?" She turns toward Kalinda, now demanding a response.
"I think you dress very nicely." Alicia rolls her eyes, and Kalinda can see that her noncommittal response is not going to satisfy her friend. "You smell nice, too." This time her deadpan hits the mark, and Alicia laughs in spite of herself. Kalinda smirks and holds up two fingers to signal the bartender for another round.
Fortified by another infusion of tequila, Kalinda decides to enter the fray. "Alicia, is this really bothering you?" Twirling her empty glass, Alicia ponders her answer.
"Maybe? I don't know. I don't know if Peter and I are finished, and I don't know how to feel about not knowing. But it's definitely not encouraging to know that the only men I seem to be attracting are murderers."
Kalinda's scoff draws Alicia's gaze. "Are you being serious? You know that's not true. Look around you. Most of the men in this bar are undressing you with their eyes, and half the women too."
The pink tinge that spreads across Alicia's cheeks is endearing. "Stop exaggerating."
Her friend's cluelessness rankles Kalinda. She leans toward her and lowers her voice. "Nine o'clock. Investment banker. He's been looking at you every thirty seconds. I think he's hoping I'll leave and give him an opening." Alicia opens her mouth to contradict her, but Kalinda puts a hand on her forearm to preempt the objection. "Four o'clock. I'm guessing she's in real estate. She might be in the business of selling flats, but I think she'd settle for getting you into her bed."
"Kalinda!" Alicia's scandalized stage whisper provokes only a raised eyebrow from her friend.
"What?" Kalinda feigns innocence. "You were lamenting that only murderers are attracted to you, I'm simply pointing out that's not the case."
Another round materializes in front of them. The corners of Alicia's mouth turn upward, and Kalinda can see that she has decided to play along. Placing her elbows on the bar, she leans in and mirrors Kalinda's conspiratorial tone. "But for all we know, they're murderers too."
Their faces are inches apart, and Kalinda suppresses a shudder at the proximity. It was impossible to resist the opening Alicia had left for her.
"And me?" Her tone suggests levity, but the eyes that hold Alicia's invite sincerity. "I'm not a murderer."
Kalinda fully expects Alicia to pull back from the intimacy of their position, and she steels herself to backpedal from the impending awkwardness. Alicia breaks eye contact but does not retreat, reaching instead for her untouched tequila. After a sip, she shifts her eyes back to Kalinda.
"That's true," she says slowly, clearly trying to decide how to proceed. Kalinda had given her a choice; Alicia could dismiss her comment as a joke, or she could address the elephant in the room. "So. Three o'clock. She has a certain…mystique. Whatever she does for a living, she does it well. And while she attempts to boost her friend's ego by suggesting that patrons of this establishment might be pining after her, it's reasonable to assume that those patrons might actually be more taken with her." Alicia flicks her eyes to the real estate agent at four o'clock, who is, in fact, watching them. The silence stretches.
"Maybe her friend is too modest." Kalinda gives in to the urge to close the scant distance between them, touching her knee to Alicia's under the bar. She doesn't attempt to break the contact. Emboldened, Kalinda allows her leg to dangle and rubs a leather-clad calf gently against Alicia's shin.
"Kalinda…" A raised eyebrow is the only response Alicia receives. "I don't want to lead you on."
Kalinda allows herself a Cheshire smile before straightening on her stool. She sees Alicia watching from the corner of her eye as she throws back the shot in front of her and reaches for a lime wedge. Flustered, Alicia pulls back and fumbles for her wallet to pay the tab. Kalinda puts a hand over Alicia's to still her movements.
"Alicia-"
"I'm sorry-"
A pause, as they both wait for the other to continue. Alicia waves a hand, deferring to Kalinda.
"Alicia, look at me." She waits for the other woman to comply. "You're not leading me on." Alicia starts to speak, but a squeeze of Kalinda's hand silences her. "I flirted with you. You flirted back. Do you apologize to everyone you flirt with?"
A flush spreads across Alicia's cheeks and she smiles. "No, but I don't usually flirt with women."
Kalinda mirrors her smile. "Well there's a first for everything. Everything you want to be you, is you." They share a laugh at that, remembering Kalinda's words from another night of drinking. The laughter subsides, and Alicia looks down to where Kalinda's hand still covers her own.
"I don't want this to come between us." Kalinda rolls her eyes and removes her hand. "No, Kalinda, I didn't mean-"
Before she can finish her thought, Kalinda slides a hand to the nape of Alicia's neck and draws her forward. Slowly, allowing her time to pull away, Kalinda touches her lips to Alicia's in a soft kiss. It is undemanding and brief, and she pulls back to look into Alicia's eyes.
"You've kissed Will, yeah?" A bewildered nod from Alicia. "And you can still work with him, be friends with him?" Another nod. "Ok then."
Kalinda slides off her stool, lays a few bills on the bar, and leaves a dumbstruck Alicia tracking her retreating form.