Popcorn Love (15 page)

“Sorry,” they both said simultaneously. “I’m…”

Silence enveloped them again as small smiles slipped
across their lips and then Allison broke. Her laughter started low
and soft but built and flooded into the room as the awkwardness of
it all cracked her up. Elena’s own laughter soon followed, melding
with Allison’s as it danced in the air of the small dorm room.

“You’re just beating the hell out of me tonight,
aren’t you?”

Elena smirked. “I believe it was
you
that just
rammed your face into mine.”

“Rammed? Don’t you think ‘rammed’ is a little harsh,
Elena?”

“If you say so, dear.”

“Gentle, really,” Allison said. “A gentle nudging of
noses.”

“Really?” The deadpan expression on her face did
nothing to deter Allison.

“A nose nudge. A nose
hug
.”

“Okay!” Elena grabbed one of the pillows and whacked
Allison with it. “I get it.”

“See? I knew you’d see things my way.”

The movie was completely forgotten as they teased
each other. When the soundtrack began to play loudly through the
room and they turned to see the credits rolling across the small
screen, Allison took that single moment of distraction to lunge
across the bed and grab Elena’s feet. She scraped her fingers
across the sensitive skin, and Elena instantly screeched and began
to flail. Allison only lasted about ten seconds before she took a
hard kick to the gut.

Her breath slammed from her lungs in one loud rush of
air, and she keeled over on the mattress, laughing even as she
wheezed. But Elena was on her knees in seconds and reaching for
her.

“Shit, Allison!” She placed a hand on Allison’s arm
as the blonde curled in a ball on her side. “Are you okay? Can
you…can you breathe? Are you hurt?”

Allison coughed a few times before reaching for
Elena’s hand where it was still attached to her bicep. “It’s okay.”
Sucking in a few deep breaths, she pushed herself upright once
more. “I’m fine.”

The sigh of relief Elena released quickly morphed
into quiet laughter when Allison gave her a ridiculously wide smile
and pointed to the visible pearly whites. “See? Still got all my
teeth.”

“So you do.” Elena ducked her head. “I’m sorry,
Allison. I didn’t mean to kick you.”

Allison could tell that Elena felt genuinely bad
about it, so she shifted a little closer to her and rested a hand
on her knee.

“Hey.”

When Elena looked up and locked eyes with her in the
glow of the television screen, she smiled at her again. “In all
fairness, you did warn me, right?”

“I did.”

“Well then, I totally deserved it.” Allison squeezed
Elena’s knee. “I’m okay. Okay?”

“Very well.”

“Good.” She pointed toward Elena’s feet. “By the way,
those lethal fuckers are hella cold. You want some socks?”

Truthfully, Allison had noticed that Elena’s feet
weren’t the
only
things that were cold. When the credits
finished and the DVD menu had popped up on the television screen
again, its bright glow cast over Elena, and that was when Allison
noticed that her nipples looked hard enough to cut glass at that
point and that she was definitely not wearing a bra. This caused
strange tickly feelings in her stomach, but she quickly dismissed
the sensation and did her best to avert her attention.

She hated that she was one of those people that
couldn’t
not
look. Any kind of weird or noticeable thing
going on and Allison did double and triple takes. It wasn’t that
she found the fact that Elena wasn’t wearing a bra disturbing or
newsworthy for Christ’s sake. Boobs were great, but it wasn’t like
she didn’t have a set of her own, and everyone knows what happens
when a woman gets cold. It was not a phenomenon. Still, that didn’t
stop her eyes from darting quickly down at least seven times before
Elena seemed to notice her looking and tried to discreetly cross
her arms over her chest to hide the perky little monsters. Allison
was pretty damn grateful for that, because as soon as they were
covered, she was no longer compelled to stare.

“I suppose,” Elena agreed. “Thank you.”

“I
suppose
you’re welcome.” Allison darted
over to her dresser and pulled another pair of fuzzy socks from her
drawer, identical to the ones she was wearing, except purple. She
tossed them to Elena and sat back down on the bed.

“You are apparently intent on having us match this
evening,” Elena said. She slipped the socks over her feet while
still attempting to keep her chest covered, using her knees to
block them. From her expression, she seemed to be internally
cursing her body and her decision not to wear a bra.

“True friends wear matching outfits when they watch
horror movies,” Allison said. “Everybody knows that.” She cracked
up at herself again. “I guess I am a fuzzy-sock hoarder.”

“Oh?” Elena asked, amused. “You have an entire hoard
of fuzzy socks?”

“Don’t judge me!”

Smiling, Elena rested her chin against her knees
which were still pressed to her chest, and Allison sat right across
from her. Silence crept back in on them then, both of them just
sort of rocking back and forth and staring at each other.

“So.” Allison smacked and popped her lips, just to
fill the void, but then quickly decided that words were a must.
“Um, so, what’s your favorite color?”

“Red.”

“Mine’s green.” Allison beamed. “Together we make
Christmas.”

“Green is Lucas’s favorite as well.”

“I know.” Knees lifted and pressed up against her
chest so that Allison mirrored Elena. “He told me that first night
I watched him. We bonded over our mutual love of the color green
while he was dunking rubber boats under giant waves of bubble
bath.”

“Well, it sounds like you and Lucas had a better date
than I that night.”

“Oh yeah, it was pretty great. I was totally ready to
see him again by the end of it.”

Elena shook her head and sighed. “I suppose I should
go soon.” The blinking clock on the DVD player read 4:45. Her eyes
widened. “It is quite late.”

“Or you could stay.” Allison’s entire face went red
as she realized what she’d just blurted out. She was having such a
fun time with Elena, and once she left, Allison would be alone
again and most likely bored out of her mind and unable to sleep.
She cleared her throat, adding, “for a while.”

Elena didn’t say anything at first. Her eyes merely
stared into Allison’s, and Allison was so freaked out by her own
word vomit that she almost missed the way Elena’s lips were just
slightly pulling up at the corners.

“I just meant that I, uh, I don’t mind if you wanna
stick around a while longer,” Allison clarified, trying to fill in
the silence. “I probably won’t sleep for a while, and I’m…well,
this has been fun.”

Elena’s smile fully blossomed then as she nodded
gently against her knees. “It has.”

Hope bloomed in Allison’s chest in that moment, but
then Elena exhaled. “However, I told Lucas I would pick him up
first thing in the morning, so I really should be on my way.”

“Oh, right. Sure, yeah. That’s totally
understandable.”

They shared another awkward smile before Allison
hopped off the bed, slipped on her house shoes, and busied herself
with removing the DVD from the player while Elena slipped back into
the bathroom to change back into her dress. When she re-emerged,
she handed Allison the neat pile of clothes she had worn and slid
her feet back into her red pumps.

The two women were silent as they shuffled slowly to
the door. Elena turned and opened her mouth to say goodnight, but
Allison urged her on. “I’ll walk you down.”

“Oh.” Elena smiled. “Very well.”

The elevator ride seemed to only last about a second,
although Allison frequently felt the thing crawled. It landed at
ground level way too soon, and then she and Elena took baby steps
all the way out of the building.

When they stepped outside, the warm night breeze
washed over them and both women breathed it in. “Uh,” Allison
muttered. “It’s dark. Might as well walk you to your car, just to
be safe.”

“Are you sure?” Elena asked. “It is a bit far.”

“Yeah. I don’t mind.”

They continued their shuffling crawl a few blocks
over to Elena’s waiting black Mercedes. Elena held her clutch
tightly in her hands while Allison crossed her arms over her chest
and they stood across from one another. Neither actually made any
attempt to move or leave. The silence between them dragged on for
quite some time before Elena finally cleared her throat and said,
“Well, good night then.”

“Yeah, good night.” Allison smiled and gave an
awkward little wave of her hand.

Elena placed a hand on her arm. “I really did have
fun, Allison. Thank you.”

Allison could do little more than smile and watch as
Elena turned and lowered herself into the car. When the engine
started, Allison let out a long sigh and turned to walk back to the
dorm, wondering when Lucas might need a babysitter again.

“Wow, you look terrible.”

Elena rolled her eyes as she settled Lucas into a
high chair at the restaurant table before dropping into the chair
opposite Vivian. “Sometimes, I have to remind myself that I love
you.”

Chuckling, Vivian leaned over to kiss Lucas’s cheek
and place a small coloring mat and crayons on the table in front of
him. “Thank you!” He latched onto her finger and held it tightly in
one hand as he used his other to grab the green crayon and begin
scribbling all over the paper.

“You’re welcome, sweet pea.” Vivian pulled her index
finger from his grasp as she cooed at him. She watched as Elena ran
a hand through her hair and reached for her menu. “So, are you
going to tell me why you look like you had a wild party last night
and woke up hung over?”

Elena glared. “Well, obviously, I did not have a wild
party.”

“Obviously. So, spill.”

“I was out,” Elena said. “Later than I expected to
be.”

“Oh
really
?”

Elena ignored Vivian’s teasing tone, raising an
eyebrow as she plowed right through and said, “And then of course
my mother called me at six a.m. and put Lucas on the phone.” She
turned to Lucas. “And what did you say very loudly in Momma’s ear,
munchkin?”

“Momma!” Lucas quoted himself. “I’m awake! Where are
you?”

“That’s right,” Elena said as Vivian laughed.
“
Very
loudly.”

“Uh-huh,” Vivian said. “Let’s get back to the ‘out
late’ part. Where exactly
were
you, Elena?”

Elena cleared her throat and straightened her
shoulders as she kept her eyes fixed on her menu. “I was at NYU
with Allison.”

“Alson!” Lucas never lifted his gaze from the paper
where his little hand was still scribbling animatedly away.

“Allison, huh?” Vivian asked, smirking.

“Yes, Vivian,” Elena snapped. “Allison, the
babysitter. What is the big deal?
You
were the one who told
me to take her backpack to her.”

“Yes, but giving someone a backpack takes all of five
seconds.”

“And?” Elena asked. “Am I not allowed to make
friends?”

“Well, I don’t know why you would
need
any new
friends considering the fact that you already have me and I am
amazing.” Elena rolled her eyes but smiled. “
But
yes, I
suppose you’re welcome to make new
friends
.”

Vivian would not necessarily refer to the budding
relationship between Elena and the babysitter as strictly
friendship. But the fact that Elena was completely oblivious to the
developing chemistry did not surprise Vivian.

The conversation was put on hold as Vivian and Elena
gave the waiter their orders.

Elena reached down into the large bag she carried
with her on her outings with Lucas and pulled out a small squeeze
carton of organic apple juice. She pulled the little straw from the
side and popped it through the hole on the top of the carton before
setting it in front of her son. “Here you go, munchkin.”

“Is it apple?” Lucas asked, reaching for the
juice.

“Of course.” Elena pointed to the picture of the
apple slices on the front of the carton. “See the picture?”

“Oh.” Lucas nodded as his little finger traced over
the picture. “Thank you!” He brought the little straw up to his
mouth to drink.

“You are very welcome, dear.”

“So,” Vivian said. “What did you and Allison do last
night?”

“Oh nothing.” Elena flicked her hand in the air.

“Oh, I see.” Vivian laughed. “So, you were out late
doing nothing. That makes complete sense. Nothing is one of my
favorite pastimes as well. Boy, if I could count all the times that
nothing has kept me out late.”

Elena sighed. “Must you always be so
frustrating?”

“Must you always give vague responses?”

“We watched a movie! There, are you happy? We watched
a movie and then I went home. I had no intentions of staying when I
took Allison her backpack, but she was kind enough to invite me up
to her dorm room. She had no plans for the evening, and obviously,
neither did I; thus, she asked if I would watch a movie with her
and I agreed. End of story.”

Vivian nearly bit through her tongue to keep from
both squealing with excitement and laughing at her best friend’s
obviously flustered state. When she was able to control both urges,
she cleared her throat. “So, you two really are becoming friends
then?”

“Yes, I suppose we are.” She smirked at Vivian. “I
have to have
someone
I can complain about
you
to.”

“Oh please,” Vivian said with a dismissive wave of
her hand. “So, what movie did you watch?”

“Ugh, some foul horror film featuring a cannibal and
a psychotic man with a penchant for lotion and wearing other
people’s skins.”