Popcorn Love (19 page)

“And then it just hit me,” Elena said, taking a shaky
breath as her heels tapped against the floor. “I realized that she
was right. I was interested in Allison. I
am
interested in
Allison.”

Resisting the urge to clap was terribly difficult
because Vivian was on cloud nine watching Elena’s eyes grow distant
yet warmer.

“I suppose it has been developing since the
beginning.” Elena twisted her fingers together in her lap. “Though
I somehow never noticed it. We would spend time together after my
dates, and she makes me laugh like I’ve never laughed. She is so
wonderful with Lucas. He loves her, and she seems to genuinely
enjoy spending time with him and with me, though I suppose I could
be reading into that. I just feel so comfortable with her, Viv,
which is shocking, I know, because she and I are so different. We
come from completely different worlds, and there is nearly nothing
that we have in common, but she somehow seems to understand
me.”

Vivian bit the inside of her cheek to keep the
massive smile she was withholding from spilling across her face.
She was
so
happy for her friend and that her plan had
actually worked that she was afraid if her lips even slightly
parted, she would burst into song or something equally over the
top.

“I know that none of this makes any sense,” Elena
continued. “In reality, she and I hardly know one another, but when
I’m with her, I feel like we’ve known one another forever. It feels
easy with her when it shouldn’t. It feels comfortable even when I
am actually uncomfortable.” She laughed, pressing a hand to her
forehead. “And God, Vivian, the way she looks at me sometimes, and
the way she holds Lucas, and th—”

“Oh my God,
stop
!” Vivian couldn’t hold it in
any longer. She squeezed Elena’s hand as she groaned. “I am dying
over here!”

Startled by her sudden outburst, Elena jolted from
her reverie and stared at Vivian, completely bewildered. “I’m
sorry?”

“This is just
too
good. You’re spewing sonnets
about the way your babysitter holds your son and makes you laugh,
and it’s like a freaking movie, and I’m
dying
from an
overload of feelings.”

Elena’s face brightened with her smile, a
disbelieving and breathless laugh escaping her. “Oh God, I know! I
don’t even know what I’m doing right now.”

“Seriously! What
are
you doing? Why are you
here?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why the hell did you come here looking like
you needed me to help you hide a body instead of rushing straight
home to have hot lesbian sex with the babysitter?”

Blushing deeply, Elena smacked Vivian’s hand. “Must
you be so crass?”

“Uh yes.” Vivian laughed. “Yes, I
must
be
crass. This situation calls for it. Why aren’t you off scissoring
or whatever it’s called? Do lesbians really do that?”

Elena’s blush somehow managed to deepen, creeping
down her neck. She swallowed thickly. “I’m terrified to go
home.”

“What do you mean?” Vivian asked. “I thought you were
all fluttery and lovey and ‘oh the way she looks at me’?”

“I am! I am, yes, but Vivian, I’ve never actually
dated a woman. I’ve never actually
physically
been with a
woman either, at least, not fully. I don’t even know if Allison is
gay!”

“I definitely wouldn’t rule it out.”

“She
did
seem awfully flustered when Alexis
appeared on my doorstep,” Elena pondered, tilting her head to the
side.

“Mmhm. I bet she did. Look, babe, there’s only one
real way to find out, but that means you’re going to have to go
home and face her.”

“I can’t just outright ask her, Viv!”

“Why not? You’ve never been one to shy away from
being direct.”

“Yes, but truthfully, it’s none of my business. Would
it not be inappropriate for me to ask?”

“Well, I think it would be far more out of line for
you to just attack her with your mouth, Elena. Asking a question is
much more appropriate, though admittedly less hot.”

Elena sighed heavily as she collapsed against the
back of the couch and leaned over until her body collided with
Vivian’s arm. When Vivian moved to wrap that arm around her, it
drew out another, quieter sigh.

“What am I going to do?” Elena groaned.

“Oh honey. It’s just love. It’s going to be all
right.”

* * *

Given the dull ache still throbbing in her purpled
forehead, Allison thought she would be ready to crash after putting
Lucas down, but she was wide awake. She didn’t want to make a guess
as to why. In fact, she didn’t want to think on it at all, but her
brain was determined. The issue kept shooting to the forefront of
her mind.

Elena liked women. She
like-
liked women.

This one simple truth had seemingly devoured
Allison’s entire soul, and she could not stop obsessing over it.
Allison didn’t know why it bothered her so much that she hadn’t
known about Elena’s sexuality, that she hadn’t even
guessed
,
but it did. It bothered her beyond words, and the only possible
explanation she could come up with was one she wasn’t willing to
touch with a ten-foot pole.

Because in Allison’s mind, there was no way, in the
history of all worlds and possibilities, that Elena Vega would
ever,
ever
, be interested in her.

Elena was rich, like really friggin’ rich, and
Allison was basically the complete opposite. Elena had an entire
family that she was really close to, and Allison only had a
roommate. Elena had a son. Allison was just a babysitter. Elena had
class. She was poised and graceful and spoke like a fucking
textbook. Allison didn’t feel like she had any of that.

She was a smart person, and she knew how to speak
well, but she rarely did. Sometimes she cussed like a sailor and
she hardly ever took anything seriously, whereas Elena seemed to
take
everything
seriously. Elena had a friggin’ mansion and
Allison lived in a dorm room. Elena was everything that Allison
knew she would never be, so yeah. There was absolutely no way that
a woman like that would ever be interested in a woman like her, not
that Allison would ever approach Elena on that level. She was her
employer
, for starters, and what if Elena thought Allison
just wanted her for her money or something? The thought alone made
Allison’s stomach turn.

“And why am I even thinking about this at all?” She
spoke to the empty room. “It’s not like I like her. I don’t. I
mean, I’m not
into
her or anything. Christ, I’m talking to
myself again.”

Allison took off through the house, deciding to
explore a bit to keep her mind off the whole thing. The less she
thought about it, the better and, apparently, the saner. There were
whole portions of Elena’s house that Allison had never ventured
into. There was an entire second floor she had never even been
on.

She wandered from room to room, taking in all the
details. Elena’s taste was impeccable. Every inch of her house was
beautifully designed and decorated. It screamed style, class, and
money. It somehow, though, still managed to feel homey. There was a
toy box in every room and pictures scattered about the
house—pictures of Elena and Lucas; pictures of Elena and some
people that Allison assumed were Elena’s parents, considering the
physical likenesses; pictures of Elena and Vivian; and pictures of
Lucas and Vivian. Elena even had framed colorings and drawings that
Lucas had obviously done. Allison felt she was not just in a giant
house. She was in a giant
home
, and that was a nice
feeling.

Allison had not experienced that feeling too often in
her life. She shuffled through too many homes as a kid and never
quite felt like a real part of any of them. There had never been
hallways littered with photographs or toy chests abundant with
toys. She could only remember being in two houses that felt homier
than usual, one because the mother liked to bake a lot and would
frequently let Allison help. Something about the scent of baked
goods filling the house made it feel more like a home. The other
house was one she shared with two other foster kids, and the rooms
were all decorated according to themes—an Americana living room, a
kitchen adorned in ceramic roosters and rooster-covered wallpaper,
and a bathroom made to look like a beach, with seashells and even a
lifeguard ring hanging above the toilet.

Once she had wandered around for a while, Allison
came across the only open room she hadn’t yet been in. It was
located at the very end of the long hallway on the second floor and
was tucked just around the final corner. It was a fairly large room
with custom hardwood flooring and bright white walls, and Allison
was surprised to find it featured several different
instruments.

No way
, she thought. Was Elena a musician?

Allison carefully ran her fingers along the keys of a
baby grand piano, but she quickly skipped past it to get to the
part of the room that made her mouth water—a wall featuring several
different acoustic guitars and even a banjo.

Pulling one of the guitars off the wall, Allison
carried it over to a sleek black couch on the opposite side of the
room. She sat down and plucked at a few strings, only to realize
that the instrument was severely out of tune. She tuned it quickly
by ear, a skill she learned while in one of her foster homes.

Although the father in that family had been a
complete drunk, he’d been a pretty skilled musician. He taught her
how to play guitar and even a tiny bit of piano, and she had loved
playing ever since. It offered her an escape from life when her
head was a mess of shitty memories or shitty circumstances, and so
an old acoustic guitar was the first purchase Allison made with her
first paycheck after leaving the foster system. She bought it from
a lady at a garage sale for only thirty bucks, and she played the
thing practically into the ground. It was the only one she had,
though, and she didn’t have a lot of money to spare for a new
one.

Maybe she would look into it now, though, since Elena
seemed to like paying her way too much.

Allison settled the guitar on her knee and got
comfortable behind it. Once it was tuned, she played and played,
her fingers dancing across the strings as she hummed or sang along
through song after song, the perfect distraction from her toiling
thoughts about her employer.

She played so long, her eyes closed and a smile
pulling at the corners of her mouth, that she didn’t notice the
full hour that passed or the footsteps echoing through the
house.

* * *

Elena shakily pulled Lucas’s door closed after
checking on him. A deep breath steadied her as she went on the hunt
for Allison. She checked the kitchen and dining room first. Both
were empty.

When she made her way into the living room, a soft
sound caught her attention. Curious, she followed the sound through
the house and up the stairs until she eventually found herself in
the open doorway of her father’s music room. She peeked into the
room and saw Allison seated on the couch with her back to the door
and an acoustic guitar tucked under her arm.

She could hardly help her surprise as she realized
how skilled Allison was with the instrument, but when she began to
hum and sing wordlessly to the sounds, Elena’s eyebrows shot into
her hairline and warmth spilled through her body, tugging low in
her stomach. As tingles rippled down her spine, she found herself
taking several steps into the room without even realizing it.

The click of her heels finally caught Allison’s
attention and the music stopped as the blonde whirled around and
jumped to her feet.

“Shit, Elena,” Allison said, her cheeks turning red.
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have messed with your things. I just
love music, and I saw these and I thought—”

Elena waved her hand to silence Allison. “Calm down,”
she said with an easy smile despite the fact that inside, she was
positively screaming and on edge. “It’s all right.”

“Right, uh, do you play?” Allison asked as she stood
with the guitar, shuffling from foot to foot.

“I don’t, no. This is my father’s music room. This is
the house I grew up in. My parents bought a new place about five
years ago, and I received this one as a graduation present. He
never took his instruments with him. He likes to play for Lucas
when they come to visit.”

“Oh, okay, cool.” Allison grinned. She scratched at
the back of her head as they stood a few feet apart, staring at one
another. “Hell of a graduation present.”

“Yes. It was rather overwhelming to live here alone
for the first few months. I even convinced Vivian to live with me
for a short period, but we tend to get a bit catty if we are in
each other’s hair twenty-four-seven.”

“Really? You guys seem really close.”

“Oh we are.” But Elena’s words were quiet and lacking
spirit. She was too busy indulging herself: her gaze roamed over
Allison’s body, taking in every detail. Elena could not believe how
blind she had been. The more she looked at Allison now, the more
beautiful she appeared.

Of course, Elena had always known Allison to be
beautiful, but she had simply never realized how much that beauty
affected her.

Allison clucked her tongue in the painfully tense and
awkward silence that developed between them before holding up the
guitar again and pointing at it. “Are you sure it’s okay that I…you
know?”

“Oh,” Elena said, shaking herself back to reality.
“Oh yes. It’s fine.”

Neither moved from where they stood. The silence
began to filter between them once more, and neither seemed terribly
comfortable with it. Elena found herself wanting to blurt out the
revelation she had had earlier that night, but another part of her
wanted to pretend like the revelation had never happened just so
that she wouldn’t have to try to figure out if Allison was even
remotely interested.