Popcorn Love (27 page)

Allison swallowed thickly, heat ripping through her
body at the sound of Elena’s voice. Before she could reply, though,
a loud sigh sounded from inside the car and they both heard Lucas
shout, “I’m here too!”

They laughed, and Elena surprised Allison by turning
and opening the passenger door for her. “Uh, thanks,” Allison said.
“No one’s ever opened the door for me before.”

Elena smiled and waited until Allison was seated
before closing the door and leaning down through the open window.
“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Oh, and you have much more going
for you than just your abs, dear, though they are rather nice.” She
winked and made her way around to the driver’s side.

Allison bit her lip and shook her head as Elena
disappeared from the window. That woman was seriously going to be
the death of her. She took a deep breath, and as Elena slipped into
the driver’s side, Allison turned in her seat and smiled back at
Lucas. “Hey little man!” she greeted. “You ready to see some
animals?”

“Yeah!” he shouted. “You like algators?”

Allison sucked in a hissing breath and tilted her
head. “Ooh, I don’t know, Lucas. They’re a little scary.”

The small boy giggled. “Me and Momma will hold your
hand! Won’t we, Momma?”

“Absolutely,” Elena agreed as she pulled into
traffic. She glanced to the woman beside her and added, “If you
would like, dear.”

“What if there aren’t any alligators? Do I have to be
scared in order for you to hold my hand?”

Elena kept her eyes on the road, but Allison could
see the pink tint on her neck and cheeks. When Elena shook her
head, Allison grinned like a fool.

* * *

Elena unbuckled Lucas from his car seat with only a
bit of difficulty, and, as soon as she pulled him from the car and
set him on his feet, Allison whistled loudly. “Whoa, Lucas, you
look handsome, buddy.”

He beamed up at her and waited for Elena to prepare
the stroller. “Thank you!” A faint blush touched his cheeks, making
him somehow look even more like his mother than he already did.

“Who’d you get all dressed up for?” Allison asked,
squatting down to be eye level with the kid. She poked his sides
playfully, and he giggled and pushed her hands away. “The
monkeys?”

“No.” Another giggle burst forth. “Our date.”

“Aw, really? You got dressed up for our date?”

“Yup!” He nodded. “I’m a gennlemen, right Momma?”

Allison swooned as Elena laughed. “That’s right,
Lucas. You are a perfect gentleman.” Elena wheeled the stroller
around and motioned for her son to climb inside. He happily took
his juice cup from his mother as Allison buckled the strap around
his waist.

“All right,” Allison said with a clap of her hands.
“Are we ready, Vega family?”

“Ready!” Lucas boomed, and Elena laughed from behind
the handles of his stroller.

“Lead the way.”

They took off as a unit into the zoo.

* * *

Lucas squealed and pointed every few minutes as Elena
and Allison wheeled him from exhibit to exhibit, animal to animal.
She made easy conversation with Elena about random things as they
strolled along. They talked about everything from Elena’s lack of
comfort clothes to Allison’s strange habit of brushing her teeth in
the shower every morning. It was easily the most comfortable date
Allison had ever been on, though there hadn’t been many.

They took a break after about an hour of walking to
eat. They ate simple—chicken fingers and fries shared among the
three of them. Allison cracked a joke about how Elena looked like
she was eating escargot in a fancy restaurant and was pleasantly
surprised when Elena teased in return that Allison looked like she
had never eaten before in her life.

Once finished, Allison insisted on buying everyone
ice cream. Lucas wanted chocolate, so she ordered him a small sugar
cone with a single scoop of chocolate. Elena asked for mint
pistachio, which earned her another teasing smile from Allison, and
Allison went for plain old vanilla.

“I love ice cream!” Lucas cheered halfway through his
cold snack, his cheeks, chin, and nose already covered in
chocolate.

“Yes, we see that, dear.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Elena,”
Allison said, her eyes glinting with mirth. “He doesn’t look to me
like he’s enjoying that ice cream cone at all.”

“Oh, didn’t you know?” Elena asked. “You simply
cannot enjoy ice cream unless it’s covering at least half of your
face.”

Allison grinned wickedly. “Oh, well, in that case,
you’re not enjoying your ice cream at all, are you? I don’t see a
single bit of—oh wait.” She popped her hand over and jostled
Elena’s wrist just as she went to take a lick, and Elena gasped
when green ice cream smeared across her chin.

“Allison!” Elena’s hand instantly went up to cup
around her chin as Allison buckled over laughing.

Allison couldn’t help herself. Elena’s expression was
priceless, and she couldn’t stop the laughter as it bubbled up and
out of her. She expected Elena to instantly go for the baby wipes
in the stroller, ridding herself of the cold evidence of Allison’s
betrayal, but, instead, Elena thoroughly surprised her.

“Well, I suppose you’re not enjoying yours either,”
she said and launched forward, smashing the globe of her ice cream
cone against Allison’s lips and nose. “Perhaps you should try some
of mine!”

Allison’s gasp was even louder than Elena’s, but she
needed hardly any time to rebound before she burst out laughing
again. Green ice cream decorated her face. She could feel it
freezing against her nose and smeared across her lips, and she
couldn’t believe that Elena went there, but she was so glad. It was
incredible to see this playful side of the usually tightly bound
woman. Allison wanted to unravel her entirely and see all the
quirky parts that she kept hidden.

Lucas’s high-pitched giggle echoed around them like a
warm embrace as Allison glared at Elena’s mocking smirk and asked,
“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?”

“Quite.”

One fair hand shot out and latched onto Elena’s arm.
Allison jerked Elena flush against her and asked, “First date
kiss?”

Elena sucked in a sharp breath as their eyes locked,
but laughed, the sound muffled, when Allison then pressed her
ice-cream covered lips to hers. She nuzzled Elena’s nose with her
own, covering its dainty tip with sticky green, all to Lucas’s
great amusement.

“Alson! Don’t ‘tack Momma!”

Both Elena and Allison chuckled as they pulled apart.
Allison smiled down at him. “Sorry, buddy. But she got me
first.”

“Oh, I did no such thing! You started it.”

Allison shifted a little closer to her. “Fair
enough.” She laughed.

Elena grabbed the wipes and passed Allison a few. She
cleaned her own face and hands quickly, tossing the rest of her
melted and destroyed ice cream cone in the nearby trashcan, and
cleaned Lucas’s face as well. “What do you think, Lucas? I think
Allison might like me a little.”

He nodded vigorously and smiled up at Allison who
hovered over Elena’s shoulder. “Yup!”

When Elena peered over her shoulder, Allison mimicked
Lucas’s response, nodding just as vigorously. “Yup!”

“Hey look!” Allison pointed to a large stand near the
front of the zoo where dozens of stuffed animals hung from racks
and lined shelves.

Elena laughed. “I never would have pegged you for the
type to sleep with a stuffed animal, dear.”

Allison nudged her with her elbow as she leaned atop
the handles of Lucas’s stroller and pushed it along, Elena walking
leisurely at her side. “Ha ha. I meant for Lucas.”

“You have been in my son’s room.” Elena glanced at
Allison with a pointed sigh. “I’m sure you are aware of the already
excessive number of stuffed animals he owns. They are impossible to
miss after all.”

That was true. A large shelf lined the corner of
Lucas’s bedroom and was covered in books and stuffed animals of all
kinds, mostly dinosaurs. Allison thought it was cute but yeah, a
little excessive. Still, she wanted to get the kid
something
.

“Well why do you keep buying him stuffed animals?”
she asked, poking Elena’s side.

“I haven’t bought him a single stuffed animal since
before he was two. There is no need. My mother buys every one she
comes across.”

“Aw. That’s kind of sweet that the kid’s grandma
wants to spoil him.”

“It’s not sweet, dear, it’s detrimental to
discipline.” Elena chuckled. “Lucas has both my parents wrapped
around his little finger, and they don’t even deny it. If I refuse
him something, my mother is always there to swoop in and buy it for
him anyway. It’s maddening.”

“Your mom sounds like a trip.” Allison shook her
head, remembering her short encounter with Nora Vega. “Scratch
that,” she said. “I
know
your mom is a trip. Within about
five seconds of meeting me, she was basically asking you if you
were mad that we didn’t sleep together.”

Elena groaned at the memory. “My mother has no
filter.” She then amended herself. “No, actually, she
does
have a filter. She simply chooses not to exercise it where my
personal pride is concerned.”

“Yeah.” Allison cracked up. “I swear I thought your
face was gonna explode. It was bright red.”

Elena poked Allison’s side. “Yours was not much
better.”

“Yours was worse.”

“How can you possibly know that? You couldn’t even
see your own face. I assure you, Allison. It was red.”

“Yeah, but yours was redder,” Allison teased.

“It was not.”

“Was so.”

“It was not.”

“It totally was.”

“This is childish,” Elena snapped, though the edge of
her words was softened by the growing smile on her lips. She tilted
her head back, poking her nose into the air as if she was much too
classy to participate in such childish banter. Allison laughed,
though, when she heard Elena murmur, “Yours was redder.”

“Ha!” Allison croaked. “No way. Had to be yours,
because it was
your
family doing the teasing.”

Elena glared at Allison. “Fine.” She released an
overly dramatic sigh. “You have a point.” She inched a little
closer to Allison, seeming to enjoy the way their shoulders brushed
together as they walked. A contented sigh escaped her.

“My mother
does
quite like to see me squirm. I
suppose it’s merely a maternal thing, though. I’m sure I will tease
Lucas once he is old enough to date. It’s a rite of passage for
mothers. Don’t you think?”

Allison shrugged, her laughter crumbling in her
throat. For only a moment, her eyes grew distant, but then she
snapped back to the present and said, “I wouldn’t know.”

Elena’s gaze shot to Allison. “Allison, I …”

“No, don’t,” Allison said, turning toward Elena. “I’m
sorry. I don’t know why I said that. I didn’t mean to make things
uncomfortable.”

Elena looked at her, and Allison was surprised to
find that it was not pity she saw reflected back at her, but
something akin to admiration. It made her feel stronger somehow,
better. She was so used to avoiding topics or making comments that
in any way related back to her upbringing, or, rather, the lack
thereof, because she hated the way people always
reacted—sympathetic, pitying. She had even had a few people pretend
they had not heard her and just change the subject. She hated the
look people got in their eyes, like she was some kind of stray
puppy that hadn’t eaten in weeks. It made her feel weak. It made
her itch in all the worst ways until she just wanted to peel her
fucking skin off.

Elena was different. She did not look at Allison with
pity in her eyes, even when caught off guard by a comment. She
appeared startled, sure, and maybe a little unnerved, but not
pitying. Instead, she looked at Allison like she was some kind of
hero, and, well, Allison didn’t quite know how to respond to that.
Still, she couldn’t deny that it was an incredible difference, one
that made her feel like so much more than the lost, lonely girl she
had always been.

Elena took a tentative step closer to Allison and
placed a hand on her bicep. “Don’t apologize, Allison. You never
have to apologize for who you are or where you come from, not to me
and certainly never for speaking your mind.”

Allison let out a heavy breath. “You’re like crazy
perfect, you know that?”

A smile bloomed across Elena’s supple lips. “Crazy or
perfect, which is it?”

Allison laughed, her hands inching out from her body
and toward Elena’s as if they were magnets, constantly straining to
touch. She wrapped her arms around Elena’s waist and pulled her a
little closer. “A crazy amount of perfect.”

They breathed in the heat of the building tension
between them. It was electric, sparking higher and brighter with
every passing second, and Allison asked, “Is this okay?”

Elena watched the way Allison’s mouth moved as she
spoke, her tongue unconsciously peeking out to moisten her bottom
lip. “Is what okay?”

“That I’m, you know, holding you like this? I mean, I
kind of just grabbed you.”

“Allison, we nearly slept together only a few nights
ago.”

Allison cleared her throat. “Right, yeah. You’re
totally right.”

“You are welcome to touch me, dear,” Elena whispered,
reaching up to trace a finger along Allison’s bottom lip. “But
thank you for being respectful. You are quite the gentlewoman.”

“Yeah, that sounds weird. But ‘lady’ doesn’t really
seem very fitting either. There should be a better word.”

“There should,” Elena agreed. They seemed to regain
their senses some in that moment, both taking a deep breath and
stepping slightly away from one another. Space allowed more air,
and air allowed oxygen to actually reach their brains, which was a
good thing, because it seemed like the closer they were to one
another, the more likely they were to simply short-circuit and
implode. Or they would end up making out in the middle of the zoo,
scarring children and animals left and right. Allison seriously
considered it anyway.