Popcorn Love (20 page)

Pointing at the guitar seemed to Elena like a really
good stalling tactic.

“I heard you as I was coming up the stairs,” she
said. “You’re rather skilled, Allison. How long have you been
playing?”

“Uh, about eleven years now.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it took me a while to get the fingering down,
but I eventually mastered it.”

Their eyes locked hard, and, in that moment, a
strange form of tension filled the space between them. Electricity
practically crackled in the air as they took unconscious steps
toward one another, the only obstacle between them the acoustic
guitar in Allison’s hand.

Elena’s entire body vibrated. She didn’t know what to
do, but she knew she wanted to do
something
.

What if my feelings aren’t reciprocated, though? I
would hate to make things awkward and messy.

But her body seemed less concerned with repercussions
than her mind as she leaned in. It was as if the tiny golden flecks
in Allison’s emerald eyes were beckoning her in, and she followed.
A single word slithered across her lips before she could stop
it.

“Allison?”

Allison sucked in a sharp breath. She shifted just
slightly forward and whispered, “Yeah?”

Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Elena jerked
back and cleared her throat. She blinked and refocused her gaze on
the guitar, finding Allison’s eyes too captivating to chance
looking at again. She pointed to the guitar once more. “Would you
like to play something for me?”

“Um, s-sure,” Allison stammered, “if you want.”

“I want,” Elena answered. Her cheeks flushed a little
at her tone, but before Allison could notice, Elena stepped around
her and settled gracefully on the couch.

“Well, um, okay.” Allison sat down. They glanced at
one another a final time before Allison dropped her head to rest
her chin on the side of the guitar, closed her eyes, and began to
play a random melody.

Deft fingers moving effortlessly over tense strings,
gliding gracefully from fret to fret, kept Elena utterly
captivated. Her eyes tracked the movements of Allison’s fingers,
but what Elena was most drawn to was the expression of sheer bliss
and peace that settled over Allison’s face as she played. She was
entirely serene in that moment, and Elena thought she had never
seen her look more beautiful, even with the large bruise marring
the skin between her eyes.

Chin resting atop the side of the guitar, Allison
swayed gently as she strummed and hummed softly along. She didn’t
play any one song in particular but rather an amalgam of
melodies.

Elena’s lips parted, her fingers twisted together in
her lap, and the more Allison played, the harder Elena’s heart
pounded against her ribcage. It was as if she could feel her
rumbling pulse in every part of her body. It throbbed in her ears
and quaked in her throat. She felt it fluttering in her chest, a
steady, excited rhythm. It sent tremors down her spine and
whispered between her legs like a purring plea.

She could not recall a time in her life that she had
been more attracted to a person. It was completely overwhelming, as
the realization seemed to only heighten the attraction, the new and
wonderful sensations rippling through her cells. She was so
mesmerized by it all, in fact, that she didn’t even notice that
Allison had stopped playing.

“Elena?”

Jolting, Elena blinked rapidly and realized that
Allison was looking at her. Allison’s fingers were still, settled
neatly atop the guitar that was no longer producing gentle
melodies, and a smile played at her lips.

“Yes?” Elena shook her head just slightly and cleared
her throat. “Apologies, dear. I seemed to have gotten lost in the
music. You play incredibly well, Allison. That was beautiful. Thank
you for sharing it with me.”

Cheeks flushing a beautiful shade of pink, Allison
ducked her head a bit and shrugged as if to dismiss the compliment.
“Yeah, it’s no problem. I like to play.”

“Yes, I could tell. You seemed quite peaceful.”

Allison nodded and patted the guitar. “Yeah, there’s
something about playing that really mellows me out. It’s like
everything in my head just gets really quiet, and all I hear is the
music, you know?”

Not waiting for an answer, she popped off the couch
and carried the guitar over to the wall of instruments. She settled
it back in its rightful place and walked back over to the couch.
“So,” she said as she plopped onto the couch much closer to Elena
than before, “how bad was
this
date?”

As soon as the question slipped across Allison’s
lips, all of Elena’s fluttering butterflies shriveled and died.
Panic spilled through her cells as she tried to think of an
appropriate answer. She didn’t want to lie to Allison and say that
Alexis was horrible, because she wasn’t. She also didn’t want to
tell the entire truth, because she didn’t want Allison to know that
she had had a teenage meltdown. At the same time, Elena didn’t want
to make Allison think that she had been completely taken with
Alexis either, because truthfully, Elena only wanted one
person.

“Wow,” Allison said. “Silence, huh? Must’ve been
really
bad.” Allison reached over to poke at Elena’s knee.
“Was she like a total snob?”

Elena said nothing, merely shaking her head in
answer.

“No? Okay, don’t tell me. Let me guess.”

“Very well,” she agreed, knowing that Allison would
never guess, considering Elena hadn’t actually found anything wrong
with the woman. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Elena supposed the
only thing wrong with Alexis was that she wasn’t Allison, but
Allison certainly was not about to guess
that
either.

“Okay, so she wasn’t a snob.” Allison tapped her
finger, as if ticking off the first of many options. “Did she have
an issue with Lucas? You know, a lot of women don’t want kids,
despite the completely idiotic belief that that’s all we’re good
for.”

Elena chuckled. “No, dear.” She shook her head.
“Alexis seemed perfectly fine with my having a son.”

“Yeah, well she should be,” Allison said. “Because he
is the cutest son ever.”

A melodious laugh slipped through. “I am in perfect
agreement with you there.”

“Okay, so there goes that issue.” Allison ticked
another one of her fingers. “Oh, was she like overly sexual? You
know, to the point of being inappropriate or whatever?”

“Not at all.”

“Damn. Did she have bad grammar? You seem like the
type of person that would be annoyed by terrible grammar. Speaking
of which, you know I can actually speak really well, right? I just
choose not to.”

Elena smiled. “I gathered as much, yes, but no, she
spoke well.”

“Well, hell, Elena.” Allison threw her hands up.
“Just tell me then, because I’m starting to think that there wasn’t
anything wrong with this woman. She was hot. I know that much.”

“She was rather attractive, yes.”

“And she was definitely rich,” Allison said, “because
the jewelry she had on probably could’ve paid for my entire college
education.”

Elena tilted her head as if in reluctant agreement.
“Yes, it likely could have.”

The frown that touched Allison’s lips bit at Elena’s
insides. “Was there
anything
wrong with her, with the
date?”

“No,” Elena whispered, her gaze never fully rising to
meet Allison’s. She decided to be at least partially honest and
simply avoid the details. “It was actually quite nice. Alexis was a
lovely date.”

“O-oh,” Allison stammered. “Oh, well…oh.”

When she finally looked up, the completely devastated
expression on Allison’s face caused Elena’s heart to rise into her
throat. Flares of hope burned brightly as her thoughts went into
overdrive. Did this mean that Allison was interested? Did it mean
that Allison reciprocated her feelings? Should she just ask and get
it over with, put herself out of her own misery?

Of course not, Elena reprimanded herself. There had
to be cleverer, subtler ways to go about this than to have to put
everything on the line and possibly embarrass the hell out of
herself. Elena mulled that over for a moment, searching her mind
for a slightly probing yet still safe question.

“Should I be worried about how disappointed you
seem?” She let out a small laugh. “Were you hoping that the date
would be another disaster?”

“What?” Allison shook her head. “Of course not.”

“Are you certain? Because you seem rather less
spirited now.”

“Yeah. I mean, no. No. It’s just, uh, I mean, nothing
really to rant about if the date was awesome, huh?”

“Oh,” Elena said, “I see. I suppose you are
right.”

“Yeah,” Allison whispered. She raised a hand and
pressed it to her chest, rubbing a small circle over the spot as if
it hurt.

Elena tried not to put too much stock in the action.
She didn’t want to get her hopes up too high. “Well, shall we have
a change of subject then?” she asked. “How was Lucas tonight?”

“So, you liked this chick then?
Alexis
.”
Allison practically spat the woman’s name, as she ignored Elena’s
question.

Elena reeled back a bit in shock at the sudden change
in Allison’s tone. Was that jealousy? Elena certainly hoped so.

Only a brief silence passed between them before Elena
decided to test the waters. “I did, yes.” She watched carefully for
Allison’s reaction.

Allison nodded roughly at the same time that she sort
of shrugged and even inched away from Elena a bit. “Well, that’s
cool, I guess.”

The tiniest jolt of excitement rippled through
Elena’s body. “Yes.” She kept her eyes locked on Allison. “She was
easily the best date I’ve had thus far.”

Scoffing, Allison mumbled, “Well, you’ve only been on
three
, so that’s not
really
saying anything.”

“Allison.”

“I mean, like you shouldn’t just settle for the first
good date that comes along, right? And yeah, Alexis was like really
pretty and rich or whatever, but I mean, do you really wanna date
someone who is basically
you
but in a different body?”

“Allison.”

“If you wanted pretty and rich, you could just go
look in the mirror, right? Maybe you should branch out or whatever
and, like, date someone a little different.”

“
Allison!”

“What!” They both winced at the bite in Allison’s
voice, and Allison quickly shook her head. “Shit. I’m sorry, Elena.
I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s okay. I snapped first.” Elena reached out to
lay a hand on top of one of Allison’s. “But are you all right? You
seem flustered.”

Allison sighed. “I just…my head hurts a little I
guess. I, uh, I think I need to get some air.”

Before Elena could utter another word, Allison jumped
off the couch and ran out of the music room. Elena let out a heavy
breath, her chin sinking to her chest. Her stomach churned
uncomfortably as she whispered to herself, “What the hell just
happened?”

* * *

Allison bolted down the stairs, through the living
room, playroom, foyer, and out the front door without a second’s
hesitation. As soon as the warm evening breeze ghosted across her
face, she sucked in a deep breath and began to pace the short
length of Elena’s stoop. “What the fuck was
that
?” She
smacked her palm against her forehead. Her hand collided with the
deep bruise between her eyes.

“Ow!” She clenched her teeth and blinked rapidly to
hold back her tears as pain blasted through her forehead and face.
“
Stupid!
”

Allison breathed heavily through the pain until it
began to dwindle to a dull throb. Her brain felt like it was on
fire. What the hell had just happened back there?

She had not only
completely
freaked out, but
she had also snapped at Elena. That wasn’t cool. Why was she even
freaking out to begin with?

“Oh God,” she whispered as she ran a hand through her
tangled curls. “I’m
jealous
.”

As soon as the words slithered across her lips,
Allison knew they were true, and, in that moment, she wanted
nothing more than to crawl in a hole and die. She could not, could
not, could
not
be falling for Elena fucking Vega. It was
positively
out
of the question.

And why was it out of the question?
Because
,
Allison told herself,
you are a poor orphan student and she is a
rich, successful businesswoman. She is way, way out of your lame
little league!

“Just let it go, Allison,” she whispered. “Just let
it go.”

It wasn’t like they couldn’t still be friends, though
Allison was going to have to get a handle on her jealousy, but
yeah. She could do this. It wasn’t like this was the first time
she’d crushed on a girl she couldn’t have. It would pass. She just
needed a little time.

She took a deep breath and let it out in one long,
easy sigh before cracking her neck to both sides, shaking out her
hands, and walking calmly back into the house.

* * *

Elena was in the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of
water, when she heard footsteps sound behind her. She looked up to
see Allison standing just a few feet away, expression sheepish and
feet shuffling in place. “Oh,” Elena said. “I thought you might
have left.”

Allison shook her head. “No, I just needed some
air.”

“I see,” Elena replied. She took a tentative step
toward Allison and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Are you all
right?”

Allison visibly swallowed. “Yeah, fine.”

“Are you sure? Allison, have I done something to
upset you?”

“No!” Allison took a step closer and reached for
Elena’s hands. She laced their fingers together. “No, Elena. You
didn’t do anything.” She released one of Elena’s hands and
scratched awkwardly at the back of her neck as she then avoided the
woman’s gaze. “I guess pain just makes me a little grouchy.”