Popcorn Love (12 page)

“That was the plan, though you know your father,”
Nora said. “I’m sure he and Lucas will have had quite the adventure
about the city by the time we return from the show.”

Before Elena could respond, the sound of the front
door closing echoed through the house, followed by the clicking of
heels, and then Vivian appeared. She smiled brightly at the two
women before turning her attention to Elena.

Vivian bugged out her eyes. “How did you do it, Mom?
She’s actually dressed and ready to go
on time?!
”

The small hairbrush Elena sent soaring in her
direction pulled a shriek from her lips, and she laughed
triumphantly when she successfully dodged it.

“You are lucky that you are even invited.”

“Ah, what did I do now?”

“From what I’ve heard, dear,” Nora cut in, “you have
made Elena’s dating life even more of a hell than it was prior to
this little adventure the two of you agreed upon, and in only
two
dates. Well done, Vivian.”

“Mother! Don’t encourage her.” She turned back to her
best friend. “Honestly, last night was a simply horrific
experience.”

“I think you are too harsh of a judge.” Vivian pursed
her lips and attempted to look serious despite the mirth dancing in
her azure eyes.

“He spoke about his bowels at the dinner table.”

Vivian actually gagged while Nora shook her head.

“My dear, I would love to have seen your face.”

“It wasn’t pleasant, I can assure you.” Elena’s dark
eyes turned back to Vivian, who was now laughing about the entire
thing.

“That was only the beginning, Viv. It ended as
uncomfortably as it began. I was beginning to think you set me up
with a dud on purpose.”

Vivian’s laughter instantly died in her throat. Her
eyes widened just slightly. “That’s ridiculous, Elena.”

“As was the date.” She propped her hands on her
hips.

“I can’t learn a person’s entire life story prior to
setting him up with you, Elena. If that were the case, then
I
would be dating him. He looked good on paper. What more do
you want me from me, woman?”

“You didn’t even meet him first?”

Vivian’s cheeks flushed a light pink as she turned
and her eyes pleaded with Nora for help. The older woman shook her
head. “You’re on your own with this one, my dear.”

“Gee thanks,
Mom
.”

“Look, Elena, I will make it up to you. The next date
will be better,
much
better. Oh! I will set you up with a
woman this time! How about that?”

“A woman?” Nora arched a brow. “Elena, I’m surprised.
Have you finally embraced your inner lesbian?”

Elena’s entire face flushed as she dropped her
forehead into her hand. “Please, can we not talk about this?”

“Oh honey, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I’m not ashamed, Mother.” But she kept her head
down, avoiding Nora’s eyes and teasing smile.

“Well good. Because it’s about time you were honest
about it, Elena.”

Vivian cackled as she watched Elena’s cheeks grow
redder under the thin curtain of dark hair that had fallen around
her face. “That’s what
I
said!”

The familiar glare shot in her direction only caused
her to laugh harder.

“What? I
did
!”

“I hate both of you.” She grabbed her small clutch
from the vanity and strode by Vivian and out of the room. Vivian
and Nora followed Elena down the hallway.

“It’s perfectly natural, Elena.” Gathering their
purses, they made their way to Elena’s car. “I was a lesbian once
myself.”

Elena halted in the middle of the walkway and whirled
around. “Excuse me?”

Vivian clamped a hand over her mouth. Her entire body
shook with the laughter she fought to contain as Nora shrugged and
repeated herself. “I was a lesbian once.”

“What do you mean ‘
once
’? How can you be a
lesbian ‘
once
’?”

“Oh dear,” Nora said, waving her hand dismissively,
“it was the seventies and I was a teenager.”

“
And?
” One red pump tapped impatiently,
Elena’s expression severe as her mouth pressed into a thin
line.

“And everyone was still hung over from all of that
‘free love’ crap from the sixties.”

“
And?
” She could not believe what she was
hearing. How had she never known this?

“
And
I went through a bit of a lesbian phase
with a girl at school.”

“What about Daddy?”

“What about him? I hadn’t met your father yet, dear.
I was completely within my right to engage in certain
activities
with my friend.” Nora then sighed almost
wistfully. “Still the best sex I’ve ever had.”

“
Mother!”

“Oh my God.” Vivian’s voice squeaked between rolling
giggles. “This is the best day of my life.”

* * *

Allison finally woke up at around three in the
afternoon, having slept her Saturday away. Rolling onto her back,
she stretched out her limbs, her body tangling in the sheets. She
hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, fully amped by her
hilarious night with Elena, and, once she got back to her dorm, she
had stayed up most of the night watching movies.

The muscles of her biceps strained and her toes
curled down as she stretched her body as far as it would go. She
groaned and yawned. Sufficiently stretched, Allison popped her
knuckles, her elbows, her knees, and her neck, and crawled out of
bed to finally start her day.

After a shower, she slipped into a pair of black
leggings, a long gray V-neck T-shirt, and fuzzy socks. She poured
herself a bowl of cereal and then crawled back into bed. She had
absolutely zero plans for the weekend, and her roommate was out of
state until Monday, visiting some distant cousin or something. The
note she left on the massive dry-erase board that hung between
their beds made Allison laugh as she read it again.

Alli,

Would’ve said goodbye but didn’t want to interrupt
your snore-fest.

Be back Monday. No sex in my bed unless you wanna
buy me new sheets.

XX, Macy

Allison munched on her cereal as she clicked on the
small television she and Macy shared, flipping channels before
settling on something random she only paid partial attention to as
she ate her cereal and reached for her phone on the bedside table.
When she saw she had a text from Elena, she smiled, causing milk to
dribble down her chin and onto her shirt.

“Shit.” The blanket became her napkin as she opened
the text message, grinning again as she saw the photo she had sent
to Elena the night before. There were six simple words Elena had
sent in response.

Thank you for the picture, Allison.

That was it, but for some reason, Allison could not
stop smiling. She stared at it for several long moments before
putting her phone back on the bedside table.

For the next few hours, Allison cycled through a
number of random activities, none of which were very entertaining.
She watched TV for a bit, washed the dishes, and played Bookworm on
her phone. She even tried to read for a while, her favorite
pastime, but simply could not get into it.

She hated days like this, when she desperately wanted
to do something,
anything
, but everything she actually did
just bored her. It drove her mad. She finally gave up after a while
and figured she might as well do something productive, since there
was apparently nothing that was actually going to please her. There
were a few chapters she needed to review and take notes on for
class, so she went to grab her textbook from her backpack, but her
backpack was not where it usually was on the floor at the end of
her bed.

After going through everything twice, Allison finally
accepted that the damned thing just wasn’t there.

“I must’ve left it at Elena’s.”

It was most likely still sitting on the floor next to
Elena’s couch. Allison grabbed her phone again.

Hey Elena. Sorry to bother you, but I think I might
have left my backpack at your house last night. Could you
check?

Hopefully, she would be able to just swing by and
grab her bag. She sent the message and then plopped down on her bed
to wait for an answer she hoped would be swift.

* * *

After the show, Elena drove her small group to her
mother’s house, and the moment the three women went inside, they
were instantly bombarded by a tiny flying boy. Lucas crashed into
Elena’s legs with a loud squeal of “Momma!” before jumping over to
Vivian’s legs and then Nora’s.

Hugging each of them, he began to babble in
rapid-fire excitement about his day. Elena reached down and grabbed
her son by the shoulders. “Lucas, Lucas, slow down,” she said. “Did
you have a good time with Pop?”

“Yeah! I slided down a fire pole!”

“You
slid
. That’s great! Did you save anyone
from a fire?”

“No silly.”

“Silly?” Elena gasped and poked Lucas’s belly, making
him giggle. “
You’re
the silly one, mister.”

A light blue tint coated her sons’ lips, teeth,
tongue, and cheeks, and Elena frowned as she noticed it. It felt
sticky on her thumb as she rubbed across his cheek. “What is all
over you?”

“I may have given him a popsicle,” another voice
said, and Elena glanced up to see her father leaning in the doorway
of the kitchen, smiling at her, “or two.”

“Daddy.” Elena scowled. “You know how he is when he’s
had too much sugar.”

“I’m so fun!”

Everyone in the room burst into laughter, and Elena
kissed Lucas’s forehead. “That you are, munchkin.” She licked her
thumb and used it to scrub away the gunk on his cheeks while he
squirmed and pushed at her hands.

“Moooooooooooom. That’s gross.”

“Oh hush.” She licked her thumb again and scrubbed a
bit more, but threw her hands up when he grumbled and pushed at her
again. “Fine,” she laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. “You
can just be sticky.”

“Gram will give me a bath.”

“Oh, I will, will I?” Nora asked as she crossed the
room and pressed a brief kiss to her husband’s lips. He wrapped an
arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side.

“Yeah!” Grinning widely, Lucas looked at his mother.
“Can I stay with Gram and Pop, Momma?”

“Overnight? I don’t know, munchkin. You will have to
ask Gram and Pop.”

Lucas whirled around to face his grandparents. “Can
I?!”

“Of course you can, Lucas,” Nora said.

After a cup of coffee with Elena’s parents and
listening to Lucas ramble on about his day for a while, Vivian and
Elena made to leave. Hugs and kisses were passed around, and Elena
propped Lucas up on her hip to give him extra. “I’ll pick you up in
the morning, okay munchkin?”

“Okay Momma.” Little fingers tangled in Elena’s hair.
“Miss me!”

“I always do, baby.”

Vivian leaned in and smacked a kiss on Lucas’s sticky
cheek before Elena put him down again. “Be good for Gram and Pop,”
she said, and he nodded that he would.

As she pulled out of the driveway, Elena could see
him standing at the window and waving as Elena and Vivian left,
face pressed to the window until the house was out of sight.

* * *

“Elena, whose bag is this?”

Elena came around the corner and into the living room
with two glasses of wine just as Vivian held up the item in
question, a green and blue backpack. “Christ, it’s heavy.”

“Oh. It must be Allison’s.”

“I see,” Vivian whispered to herself, taking the
small glass of wine from her friend before settling onto the couch.
“Well, you should probably text or call her. I’m sure she will need
it for school. Maybe she could pick it up tonight.”

“That’s true.” Elena set her wine on the coffee table
and retrieved her phone from her purse. “I will text her. She is
probably out with friends tonight anyway, but perhaps she could
come and collect it tomorrow.”

Dropping back onto the couch, Elena held her phone
out to show Vivian a message. “She apparently beat us to it.”

Hey Elena. Sorry to bother you, but I think I might
have left my backpack at your house last night. Could you
check?

Vivian watched as Elena tapped out a quick
response.

Yes, it is here.

Not even ten seconds later, the phone beeped with a
response. “Wow,” Vivian said. “She must really want that
backpack.”

A quiet laugh slipped from Elena’s lips as she read
the message, while Vivian read it over her arm.

Sweet, any chance I could get it from you? I mean,
are you busy? Are you home?

It was interesting how Elena seemed to slip into
another world while responding to the babysitter. Vivian wondered
if Elena even had a clue how she looked in that moment—her eyes
fixed on her phone screen, a small smile gracing her lips, and her
teeth gently biting at her full bottom lip. She looked like a
teenager again, having just gotten a text message from her ultimate
crush.

This is just sad,
Vivian thought, willing
herself not to laugh.
How blind can you be?

The clicking sounds of the phone keys were the only
sounds in the room as Elena typed out her message—
Yes, I’m home.
Are you not out with friends?—
and pressed the
send
button. She then frowned and speedily wrote another message—
I’m
sorry. That really isn’t any of my business.

Ha!
came the reply from Allison.
It’s all
good. No, I don’t go out a lot, and my roomie is out of town. So,
could I come get my bag now then? I’m bored as hell and have
nothing else to do. Might as well do some homework, right?