Popcorn Love (21 page)

Elena smiled and slowly reached out to graze her
fingers across the puffy, purple flesh between Allison’s eyes.
“Would you like some more aspirin? Or an ice pack, perhaps?”

Allison shook her head gently back and forth against
Elena’s fingertips. “Nah,” she whispered. “I should probably get
going anyway. I’m sure you’ve gotta work in the morning, and I’ve
got a nine a.m. class.”

“You could stay,” Elena suggested and nearly bit
through her tongue the second the words escaped her. Had she
really
just said that?

“What?” Allison blurted. “Like overnight?”

Elena, realizing it was too late to take it back,
choked down the quivering lump in her throat and nodded. “Yes. It’s
late, and you’re in pain. I would offer to drive you, but then we
would have to drag Lucas out of bed, and I’m still concerned about
your head injury. Please, will you stay? I can drive you to school
in the morning after dropping Lucas at my mother’s.”

“You’d do that?”

“Allison, of course.” She squeezed Allison’s hand,
which she only just realized was still latched onto her own. “Will
you stay?”

Allison smirked. “You sure you’re not just trying to
get me into your bed?”

Elena was absolutely aware that Allison was joking,
but her entire body exploded, regardless, at the mere thought. She
sucked in a sharp breath and before she could stop herself, she
summoned her courage and whispered, “If you would like to be there,
you are welcome to be.”

“What do you mean?” Allison asked, her voice strained
and her eyes practically boring into Elena’s.

“I just meant that it would likely be best if I could
monitor you overnight, considering you could still have a
concussion,” Elena explained, internally smacking the hell out of
herself.
So much for courage
, she thought.

“O-oh. Right. Uh, I mean, I guess that’d be okay.
Your bed
is
pretty huge anyway. Are you sure you don’t mind,
because I don’t wanna inconvenience you or anything?”

Elena shook her head. “No, it’s fine.”

“Okay.”

Elena wasn’t sure who moved first, only that they had
somehow gone from standing and staring at each other in the kitchen
to walking slowly and silently down the hallway toward her bedroom.
Their shoulders brushed occasionally as they walked, and Elena was
desperately trying not to overthink the fact that Allison still had
yet to let go of her hand.

The air was thick and ripe with their silence as they
entered Elena’s bedroom. They stood inside the doorway for a
moment, holding hands and staring at the king-sized bed before
them, which now seemed terribly daunting. Elena was the first to
move.

“Would you like something to sleep in?” She untangled
her hand from Allison’s and moved across the room to her
dresser.

“Oh no, that’s okay,” Allison said. “But do you have
an extra toothbrush?”

Elena pointed toward her bathroom. “There should be
one in the second drawer to the right of the sink.”

“Okay, thanks.” Allison crossed to the bathroom, and
Elena heard her open a drawer and rip open the package of a new
toothbrush.

When she heard the faucet running, Elena quickly
changed into a small silky nightgown and settled onto the edge of
her bed to apply lotion to her legs, as was part of her nightly
routine. She was rubbing down the length of her left leg when she
glanced up to find Allison peeking around the corner, watching her
hands move.

Their eyes locked and Elena felt a wave of heat roll
through her lower abdomen. Seeing Allison immediately jerk back
into the bathroom almost made her laugh out loud and gave her a
flare of confidence. She finished with her lotion and then took a
deep breath before sauntering into the bathroom.

Preparing her own toothbrush and popping it into her
mouth, Elena stood opposite Allison. Their hips leaned against the
counter, and they awkwardly stared at each other while they
brushed.

Elena chuckled low in her throat when a long stream
of toothpaste dribbled out of Allison’s mouth and down her chin.
She smiled around her toothbrush at her, but when she did, a stream
dripped down her own chin, and that caused Allison to erupt into
laughter as well. They cackled at each other as they each tried to
catch their own minty drool, swiping at their chins and spitting
their excess toothpaste into the sink.

The laughter helped to calm Elena’s nerves—that is,
until they re-entered the bedroom and faced the daunting bed once
more. “Are you sure you don’t want something to sleep in?” Elena
asked again.

Allison nodded as she rounded the bed. “I usually
just sleep in my boy shorts and a tank top. Is that okay?”

Heat sparked in Elena’s body again, curling low in
her stomach, but she did her best to appear casual and unaffected
by simply nodding and slipping into the bed on her usual side. She
tried to avert her gaze, but it was hopeless. Her eyes had other
plans, and she found herself covertly sneaking glances in Allison’s
direction as she undressed.

First went Allison’s boots and socks, then her belt.
Elena clenched her fists tightly around her blankets as she watched
Allison somewhat slowly unbutton her shirt before letting it drop
to the floor, leaving her in only a thin tank top and jeans.
Finally, Allison popped the button on her jeans and shimmied out of
them with some difficulty, so that she only wore that thin tank top
and boy-short panties.

Allison was quick to slide beneath the covers once
she was exposed; so quick, in fact, that Elena barely got a glance
at her long and muscled legs. Still, a glance was enough. Elena’s
entire body felt that glance.

They lay on their backs several feet away from one
another, staring up at the ceiling. Elena reached over and clicked
off her bedside lamp. Once the room was fully encased in darkness,
she quietly said, “Goodnight Allison.”

“Night,” Allison replied.

Elena didn’t close her eyes but continued to stare up
at the ceiling. The air in the room seemed to grow thicker in the
darkness. Allison shifted a few inches closer before rolling toward
the center of the bed, and Elena turned on her side and inched over
like a caterpillar until they met in the middle. They stopped when
there was only about a foot of empty space between their bodies,
and Elena’s heart pounded.

She lay awake for a long time, long enough that it
felt as if hours had passed, though she wasn’t sure. She could have
easily just rolled over and checked the time on her clock, but
Elena couldn’t bring herself to move. She was still on her side,
facing Allison.

Elena slowly opened her eyes and it took a few
seconds to adjust to the darkness so that she could see the woman
lying beside her. Allison was positioned on her back, and Elena
strained to see her better. She let out a sigh of relief when she
noticed the way Allison’s chest rose slowly, indicating that she
was breathing deeply—a sure sign that Allison was fast asleep.

Her heart stammered and her stomach clenched as she
reached across the small space between them, her fingers slipping
slowly through the dark. She could barely make out Allison’s serene
features through the shadows, facing upward toward the ceiling.
Elena tentatively grazed her fingertips over Allison’s cheek as she
whispered, “I wish I were braver, brave enough to have said this
when you were awake.” She let out a shaky breath. “Allison, I adore
you.”

Elena sighed as she then moved to retract her arm,
but jolted in place when a hand shot out and wrapped around her
wrist. Her heart blasted against her ribcage, panic spilling
through her chest, as Allison turned quickly on the mattress to
face her. She was awake. Allison’s eyes locked onto her in the
dark, and Elena’s breathing grew fast and shallow.

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes.”

The silence that followed seemed almost loud, and
Elena’s stomach rolled at the thought that she might have just
ruined everything, but then Allison tightened her grip, and Elena
felt a tug on her arm and followed the motion, shifting closer to
Allison until they were a mere inch or two from one another. The
warmth of their combined body heat quickly devoured the hair’s
width between them. Elena took in shallow breaths as their noses
brushed and Allison’s grip loosened, but only so her hand could
slide up and tangle with Elena’s.

It felt like electricity sparked in the dark, fueled
by the energy flowing between their buzzing bodies as their noses
bumped again and their fingers clenched tightly together. Elena
could feel Allison’s breath in hot puffs against her face, and then
Allison whispered, “Elena?”

The breathy sound of her name sent tingles rippling
down Elena’s spine and pooling at the base of her back in a
near-painful knot of tension. “Yes?” she breathed.

Allison nudged her nose against Elena’s again. “Can
I—”

Elena couldn’t help the raspy moan that escaped her
as she cut Allison off. “Please kiss me.”

Allison closed the minute distance between them and
tenderly pressed her lips to Elena’s. Elena melted into her in a
hard shudder, their bodies molding together beneath the sheets as
shockwaves rippled through her at that first heated press of lips
and breath.

That aching knot of tension at the base of Elena’s
spine exploded at the first gentle touch of Allison’s lips. It
burst open, sending ripples of pleasure in every direction. Rolling
waves billowed up her spine, causing her back to bow and lurch
forward. She released a deep moan, the sound vibrating its way up
her throat, as those waves then crept down her legs. Prickling
tingles tickled across the backs of her thighs and in-between, so
that she clamped the flesh together almost unconsciously to assuage
the sudden assault of sensation between her legs.

The softest of whimpers echoed just behind Allison’s
teeth as she sucked in a sharp breath through her nose and pressed
further into Elena’s heated form. Her palm was hot and slick,
sliding over Elena’s curves. She splayed her fingers over Elena’s
hip before slipping them down into the dip of Elena’s side and
around to her back, pulling her even closer.

Allison’s exploration encouraged Elena, and she shot
her own hands forward, eager to feel more. One hand wove its way
into pillow-mussed curls and the other grazed over a defined bicep
and a pounding pulse beneath a heaving chest. They touched one
another tentatively, brushing so lightly that their touches were
but fleshy whispers over shoulders and elbows, over hips and
ribcages, over thin material covering quivering stomachs and
twitching vertebrae in bowing backs.

Breath hitching roughly in her throat, Elena felt the
tip of Allison’s tongue flick gently at her bottom lip before
sliding across its full length. She pulled back just a breath, her
hand coming up to cup around the back of Allison’s neck. Elena
smiled as she slipped her lips over Allison’s again and Allison’s
grip dug into her hip. She didn’t hesitate another second as she
claimed Allison’s lips once more, letting her own tongue slip out
and into Allison’s mouth.

Both women moaned deeply as their tongues touched
once and pulled back before tangling together. They explored one
another with an achingly slow yet building hunger, their grip on
each other soft but growing tighter by the second. Their gentle
kisses deepened and turned faster and harder. Elena nearly came
undone, her fingernails digging into Allison’s back when Allison
darted her tongue slow and deep across the roof of Elena’s mouth—in
and out, over and over, in a way that made Elena instantly imagine
Allison’s mouth travelling elsewhere.

Allison chuckled, low and raspy, against Elena’s
mouth as she took in a sharp gasp at the motion and tightened her
grip to the point of pain. Their fingertips were lit candlewicks
against taut, waxen flesh, searing, scorching, and melting their
bodies further together.

Allison sucked on Elena’s bottom lip before releasing
it with a wet pop and whispering, “Elena.”

Just that tiny introduction of voice into the space
between them seemed to jolt both women out of the haze of their
heady and overwhelming connection. They broke apart, just enough to
look into one another’s eyes in the dark.

“Elena,” Allison panted. Her fingers ghosted over
Elena’s side, up the exposed flesh of her arm and neck, and then
grazed across a heated cheek. “What are we doing?”

Elena breathed deeply through her nose and out
through her mouth. Everything seemed cloudy, and she felt like she
might burn alive at any moment, especially with the heat of
Allison’s body still pressed against her. “I,” she said, a soft
laugh bubbling up from low in her stomach, “I think that much is
fairly obvious.”

Fingers running through silken strands of hair and
over flushed cheeks, Allison whispered, “Well, yeah, but I mean,
what are we
doing
? What is this?”

Elena smiled against Allison’s lips as she planted
another tender kiss there. “I don’t know,” she answered. “Does this
require a label?”

Shoulders shrugged under Elena’s hands. “No, I guess
not, but, like, you
do
realize that this is
me
you’re
kissing right now, right?”

“Allison, of course.” Elena jerked back so that she
could search the younger woman’s eyes. “What is that supposed to
mean?”

Sighing, Allison bowed her head forward and rested it
gently against Elena’s. “I don’t know. I guess I just mean that
you’re
you
, you know? You’re rich and powerful and, God, so
gorgeous, and I’m just me.”

She looked up and grinned at Elena through the dark.
“Not that I’m not totally awesome, because duh.” She laughed as she
poked at Elena’s sides, making her squirm. “It’s just that even
still, I’m nowhere near your league.”