#INTERACTION ;; jasper x margot (001)

[seolinah]

continued from here for @unsoundintuiitions

The shot doesn't have the grounding affect he's hoping for. The burn at the back of his throat and the warmth in his chest only a fleeting distraction to what almost happened. Wanting to kiss Margot, nearly doing it, has to be a stupid idea of epic proportions. It's not worth ruining the only solid relationship because he gave in to temptation.

His chuckle comes out in a strained breath. Feigning amusement is better than the mini freak out he otherwise would be having. Even if that last shot was momentary, he's ready for more of them. Surely he's safer in that bubble until his brain shuts off and Jasper isn't forced to think about what Margot's lip would taste like or how she'd feel in his arms. Yeah, no. More shots are preferable.

"It won't be the first time I've had a hangover at 9am," he shrugs. Won't be his last by a long shot either. He smirks, gaze only shifting from hers slightly as he looks towards her. "But if you need me as an excuse not to drink that badly then we can do something else." His tone lilts in challenge, holding up his shot towards her.

[seolinah]

The question has his mind wandering with one too many answers to give. There's plenty of things he wants to do with Margot, but he can't claim any of them are good ideas. At least not ones he's going to be able to stand by the next morning when reality inevitably crashes back in. But the rounds of shots makes it all to easy for Jasper to silence those doubts along with her proximity coaxing him in.

His gaze lingers over her lips, slowly dragging up towards her eyes. The expression there doesn't have him reconsidering his actions. Closing whatever distance is left between them, his lips pressed against hers. A hand falls to her waist. Jasper pauses momentarily, their lips a breath apart. He lingers, waiting to see if she wants this the way he does. As much as his head is screaming to kiss her again and again and again, there's at least some rational thread still there. It's different from the last time they'd done this a near decade ago. Better if he's being honest, but perhaps that the alcohol coloring his perception. And now that he's kissed her, it's difficult to remember the exact reasons they had thought this was a bad idea. Why he thought it would be a bad idea.

"Of course you can," Margot says, laughing like this doesn't try to punch a hole through her ribcage. Like the thought of kissing him doesn't send a spike of adrenaline through her veins that could keep her going for a long time. Like the idea that she's capable of leaning into his space and not leaving isn't more tempting now than ever. She thinks of the shots they've downed, of the dances they've circled around each other, of all the ways this could go wrong. She thinks of all she could lose if this goes badly, all she could gain if it doesn't.

And then he says it. I'm not interested in going home with anyone else. Another way of saying I am interested in going home with you. It makes her throat tighten up, her fingers around his wrist tensing reflexively at the thought. It's on the tip of her tongue, lips parting for the words. "Jasper... do you..." He leans in towards her and the words fall away, breathing the only way she can plunge into the next moment. Margot tips her head up, so close she could almost taste his lips from here, and the edges of her lips curl up in a smile. "I guess you won't know unless you ask for specifics." Teasing, she can maintain, when it's easy to pretend that the blush spreading up her cheeks is from the booze. "What do you want?"

[seolinah]

@unsoundintuiitions​

Jasper downs his second drink in a matter of seconds. A sigh leaves his lips as his phone vibrates in his pocket. It’s no doubt some work email about yet another things he needs to take care of within the next day. As if he isn’t aware of the mindless tasks his job requires of him to do. Sure, he’s lazy at times, but it’s not as if he’s incompetent--not completely anyway. 

Sparing a glance in Margot’s direction, his attention shifts as he noticed someone else paying attention to her. He’s half-tempted to move closer to her just to scare them off, but he lacks the motivation to really do anything. “Remind me why I decided to work at father’s company again,” he says to her instead in conversation. “You’d think I’d have the benefit of being able to slack off since you can’t sack the boss’s son, but he must’ve hired idiots to work around me just so I’d have to do something. It’s definitely a conspiracy in the making.” 

[seolinah]

The press of her body against his does wonders for his already wandering imagination. A hand rests around her waist, steadying her, or maybe himself in the process. There's plenty he wants to do with Margot, but at least some part of his brain is working and reminding him that they are very much in public still. He's very adamant about that changing as soon as possible.

His lips tingle where her thumb brushes against it. "Your place sounds good," he murmurs, staring down at her. It's difficult not to stare at her in awe or as if she's still bound to disappear in the blink of an eye if he isn't careful. It's enough of a distraction where he can't fully remember where it is that Margot lives... Though that might've had something to do with that last shot as well - Jasper's not exactly sure he'd be able to remember where he lives either. "How do we get to your place again?" he says with a light laugh.

She smiles when he agrees, lips still tingling from the press of his against them. His fingers dig into the fabric of her top, pressing hard against the skin of her back with only that barrier between them, and Margot wonders what it'll feel like when his fingertips drag across her skin for real. Her pulse jumps at the thought, another shot of adrenaline down as his hand slips to hers from her waist. The impulse to kiss him again is strong--she's half-drunk on that alone--but she follows him out of the bar and onto the street with only one bump of her hip into someone else's table and a slurred, rushed apology.

"Mine's closer," Margot says, leaning into him as best as she can without toppling either of them over. Being far from him feels impossible, pulled in his direction like magnets drawn together. She looks at him, breath catching in her chest as she registers that his lips are as kiss-swollen as hers must be, and she reaches up to run her thumb across them slowly. It's magnetic, the way he's looking at her now, like he needs her. Like he has to have her. Like she's the only woman in the world. She squeezes his hand tighter in hers and nods, sharp and decisive. "Definitely mine. I need..." She stops abruptly, unsure if she should say it out loud. If it's too obvious. If it'll break whatever spell they might be under. Unable to stop herself, she leans in closer again and presses her lips to his, murmuring his name against his lips.

[seolinah]

It's impossible not to feel like his skin is on fire with every place the two of them are touching. His hand falls to her waist, sliding across her lower back as he tried to bring her as close as he can. There's a strong possibility Jasper won't be able to go back from this, but it's not exactly a pressing concern to him in that very second (even if it should be). The swipe of her tongue fizzles those concerns down to a low hum, but it's completely thrown out of his mind with her whispered words in his ear.

His fingers dig slightly into the material of her clothes. It isn't as if he's thinking with his brain any longer, the function of that had disappeared two seconds into their lips meeting along with that fourth shot they shared. "Yes," he breathed out quickly. "God yes, let's go." As much as he'd like to stay pressed against her, the public eye be damned, he separates from her aside from placing his hand in hers. They make their way through the bar, Jasper doing his best to avoid outright bumping into the other people in the place - a feat tricky when his sight's drunk and wobbly. "Your place or mine?" he questions once they manage to get out into the fresh air.

It's impulsive. Reckless. Dangerous. The step they've taken here is set up to topple a series of dominoes that Margot isn't sure they can set up again. The last time they kissed, they were kids. They were young and stupid and trying to be something they weren't. This time... this time, she doesn't know if she can go back to not doing this. Luckily, she doesn't have to think that way for long: he pulls her back into his gravity again and as soon as their lips meet, any nay-saying thoughts disappear.

She presses herself ever closer, hunting the feeling of his skin against hers as press of lips comes with a chaser of tongue. Her hands roam his shoulder, his jaw, his neck, desperate to feel every inch of his skin that she can. It's a slippery slope, this kiss, and she has no intentions of slowing down. When Margot pulls away, it's only so she can run her lips across his cheek, his jaw, towards the shell of his ear. "You wanna get out of here?" Over his shoulder, she spots the girl from before, who now looks angrily at the bottom of her glass. It might make her a bitch, but Margot grins anyway.

[seolinah]

Everything else falls away and all he can focus on is her in his arms. Her against his lips. His skin warms further under her touch. A shiver running down him when he fees the intake of her breath against his lips. It's why pulling away, even for a few seconds, felt like torture. How he managed to be sensible under the circumstances would have to be one of those questions for the ages. No trace of regret or uncertainty lines her face. Instead there's a look in her eye that mirrors his own. A hunger for her builds at the sight of it all over again. One he isn't about to push aside or pretend isn't there now that the floodgates have opened. Margot's voice brings him back to what they're doing, or were doing until he had pulled back in question.

Jasper brushes back her hair, hand tangling in the strands to caress the back of her head. A slow smile creeps over his lips. "Just making sure I haven't passed out," he says with a chuckle. At the very least he's about eighty percent sure this is real and not some drunken hallucination. Leaning back into her space, his lips find hers again. He's not as careful or gentle as he was the first time around. He tilts her face up towards him, deepening the kiss. Greed overtakes him, wanting more with every kiss. After denying every impulse of his to kiss her prior, rejecting any notion of wanting anything of the sort from Margot, it's difficult not to pour year's worth of desires.

When Jasper presses his lips to hers, she forgets how to breathe. It's a fraction of a second, her body shocked out of a reaction, before her hands start to move. The one at his wrist slides up, up, up his arm until she finds his shoulder and then down a little, pushing against the bump of his shoulder blade to encourage him closer. The other comes up to cup his neck, thumb grazing against the underside of his jaw. Only as his stubble grazes her skin does she remember to take a breath.

When he pulls away, she follows him back, chasing the feel of his lips on hers as he gives them a moment to breathe. And to think he's the one playing it safe here, looking down at her with a studying look. She's afraid to think what he might see when he does--the desire burning hot down her throat, the high flags of color on her cheeks, the desperate look in her eyes. So long. She's wanted to kiss him for so long. "Jasper...?" Her voice is barely above a whisper, thumb sliding very intentionally up and across the line of his jaw. "Why did you stop?"

[seolinah]

Whatever peace he thought he'd loosely grabbed after their round of drinks, disappears with her fingers circling his wrist. She's not focused on him, not really, and he's aware that she's gesturing to someone behind them, but he doesn't bother looking. It's seemingly impossible to look anywhere aside from Margot. Margot who once again is standing much too close and saying things that have his mind wandering to not so innocent places.

His attention flicks towards the other girl in question. "I'm sure I can do fine all on my own," he replies with a nervous laugh. He's half tempted to feign interest in whoever she's pointing out just so he doesn't cross a line with her then and there. But even if the other woman's cute, she doesn't compare to Margot. The issue seems to be that not many people do. But as her grip tightens around his wrist, he turns back to look at her. He thinks he's reading too much into it again. Jasper wants to read into it.

"We can do something else," he says. The last thing on his mind now is the other woman that had been mentioned prior. "I'm not interested in going home with anyone else." There's an implication there that he'd rather go home with her, but he's not sure under what context he means -- he's leaning towards something not so platonic though. He leans in towards her a fraction more. There isn't much room left between them, especially if one of them were to suddenly retreat back over that safety line. "Whatever I want to do though, huh?" he chuckles. "Are there limitations to that statement?" ‖ @unsoundintuiitions

She doesn't even realize she's reaching out for him before she does it. One moment, Margot's hand is laying atop the bar empty, and the next her fingers are twining around Jasper's wrist. She shuffles in a little closer, eyes locked over his shoulder for a moment before she says anything. "Depends on the kind of bad decisions you're looking for, I guess." It feels like fire is burning its way up her throat, scalding her voice as she continues. "Pretty sure there's a girl across the bar who'd be willing to do anything you asked."

When her eyes finally move to him rather than the girl in question, she feels locked in place. This was not the plan. The whole point of the shots, of the distance, was to keep them level and separate, to give them something to do other than think about sex, about kissing, about the way it might feel if they tried it again. But it's not working. And Margot, for all her big talk, is only sure of a few limited things at her core in this moment: 1. Jasper O'Hara is her best friend in the entire world. 2. She wouldn't know how to function if something changed that. 3. She wants to kiss him.

"I can wingman for you if you want." Words say one thing and actions say another as her grip on his wrist grows tighter. Words say, go forth and be free. Actions say, please stay here with me. Please don't go. She forces a smile, tight at the edges where the lines are too sharp. "Or we can do something else. Whatever you want, since I'll be out of town in a few weeks."

[seolinah]

Without Margot putting a stop to their drinking, he follows suit. One after another, he throws them back. It's more of a distraction now that they're drinking rather than staring at each other (or not staring at each other). He much prefers the safety of these actions than the one he was tempted to fall into if given a few more moments of silence between them.

There's a nice buzz going on in his head by the time the shots are all downed and gone. While he'd like to say the thoughts are completely gone once he's turned back towards Margot, but it's not all consuming in the way that had him previously panicking. Maybe if it's a passing thought rather than one he fixates on and overthinks, he can hold a semi-normal conversation again.

He hums in consideration at her question. "I guess it's helped some," he replies casually. "But I'm not going to say to more drinks either, so..." It's probably safe enough for him to switch to something he could nurse for some time. As long as they didn't have any other moment Jasper could read into, it'd be fine. "What about you? Feeling okay? Any other horrible ideas we should enact to ruin my morning?"

There's part of her that wants to reach out for him. Stretch her hand out to grab his, wrap her fingers around his wrist, tell him to put the shot down for just a second, to talk to her. There's a part of Margot that has always wanted that, to linger with him long enough to see if he's really seeing what she's seeing. If he really feels the way he puts on that he does. There's part of her that wants to kiss him. That wants to pull him in and press her lips to his and put every curiosity she's ever had to bed. They haven't kissed since high school. They haven't even tried since high school. So much has changed since then.

She turns to look at him, shot in hand, and downs it. "I don't need an excuse, O'Hara." She just needs the burn, the ever-familiar heat that eats its way out from her throat until that little ember of affection she's been holding for him feels cool by comparison. "Keep up or don't." And so she throws back another, smiling wickedly as she does. It's the wrong way to go about the night, to go about anything really, but it's the choice she's made for now.

After knocking back the shots he'd grabbed for them, Margot feels alive. Lit up like a Christmas tree, like a bonfire. A high fire risk, threatening to overtake her like a poorly insulated building. "So," she says slowly, intentionally, "feel better?"