Popcorn Love (28 page)

“So.” She cleared her throat to get the dirty
thoughts out of her voice. They never left her brain though, not
for a second. “Which stuffed animal are we getting for the little
guy?”

Elena groaned. “Must we?”

“Alas,” Allison said dramatically, nodding, “we
must.”

A snort escaped Elena with her small burst of
laughter, an entirely undignified sound that Allison wanted to
squeal over, but, instead, she just smiled and kept her cool. “Note
to self,” she said, “talk fancy more often. It results in
snorts.”

Elena smacked her arm. “I did not snort.”

“Elena! You
so
did. Now you’re just blatantly
lying.”

“It isn’t a lie if it never happened.
I
do not
recall a snort, therefore it never happened.”

“Oh, is this you getting all existential on me now?”
Allison asked. She pinched her face and pressed a hand to her chin.
In a nasally voice, she asked, “If one snorts and then lies about
it, does the snort really exist?”

Elena burst into loud laughter as Allison slung an
arm around her and kissed her cheek. Even when things were awkward,
a comfort always existed between them, as if they had been laughing
together for years, or as if they would.

When the laughter quieted, Allison pointed toward the
stroller in front of her. “Why don’t we just ask Lucas which one he
wants?”

“Oh, dear, Lucas is fast asleep,” Elena told her.

“How do you—” Allison bent around and peered down
into the stroller. Sure enough, Lucas was out like a light, like a
broken light. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, chin pressed
hard to his chest and his head lolled over to one side. A large
stream of drool fed a growing spot on his polo. “Wow, he is like
really
sleeping. How’d you know?”

“We have been walking for nearly thirty minutes now
and haven’t heard a peep from him,” Elena said. “I’m sure the
excitement of the day has merely worn him out.”

“Yeah, there’s a river running from his mouth.”

“I suppose our conversation wasn’t entertaining
enough to keep him awake.” Elena smirked at Allison. “Although,
you
certainly seemed to find it titillating considering you
didn’t notice his silence.”

Allison leaned in and lowered her voice. “You totally
only said that word so you could say ‘tit’ on our first date,
didn’t you?”

Elena gaped as Allison doubled over in laughter.
Allison wrapped an arm around her and joked, “Geez, Elena. First
date, and you’re already bringing up tits. Your gay is
showing.”

Allison only laughed harder when Elena hilariously
glanced down at herself without thinking. They then both erupted,
poking at one another and forgetting entirely where they were and
what they were doing. They jumped apart, startled, when a throat
cleared loudly behind them.

They turned to see the teenager running the
merchandise booth staring pointedly at them. “You guys have been
standing there for like ten minutes.”

“So?” Allison shrugged.

“So, you’re kinda blocking the stand.”

It was obvious the kid hated his job, or maybe his
life, Allison didn’t know; all she knew for sure was that he had a
bad attitude. Not really the best person to be working in a place
teeming with children.

“Are you gonna buy something or what? ‘Cause if not,
then you should move already.”

Just as Allison was about to retaliate, she felt
Elena’s hand slip around her wrist and squeeze. “Don’t bother,
dear,” she said. “Let me handle this.”

Elena stepped over to the counter of the stand.
Allison was a little intimidated just watching the way Elena moved,
her spine straightening, her body somehow growing taller, larger,
more imposing. How she could just turn it on like that, just go
from laughing and adorable to the larger-than-life head bitch in
charge in a snap, was completely beyond Allison. It also completely
turned her on.

Elena narrowed her eyes at the nametag on the teen’s
shirt. “Hello, Seth. It appears you aren’t having the best of
days.”

“Lady, come on,” Seth said. “I don’t need any kind of
weird reverse psychology or lecture or whatever. I’m just trying to
do my job and you’re blocking the stand.”

“Mm.” Elena glared at him. “I would inquire as to who
taught you your manners, Seth, but it appears you have none. Quite
a shame when one works in the service industry. You see, in a job
such as this one, you need to be able to maintain a polite demeanor
and attitude with any and all potential and paying customers.”

Seth let out a dramatic sigh as he rolled his eyes at
Elena and tapped his fingers against the counter. “Like I said, I
don’t need a lecture.”

“
Because
,” Elena bowled right over the boy’s
words, “you never know with whom you might be speaking.”

That got the kid’s attention. His eyes narrowed as he
looked her over. His gaze then flicked over to Allison and back to
Elena. Allison could see Elena had him then; that tiny flicker of
panic in his gaze was all she needed to work with.

“Ah yes.” She was perfectly composed and poised, her
hands clasped neatly in front of her. “Now I have your
attention.”

“Should I know you?” he asked her.

“Oh no, dear.” Elena never dropped that strangely
cold smile that painted her luscious lips. “You wouldn’t know me;
however, you should have thought to be a bit kinder before speaking
to my girlfriend and me in such a rude manner.”

Allison perked up at the mention of ‘girlfriend’, her
stomach flipping and her heart kick-starting into a drumming
rhythm. Did Elena mean that? Surely not. It was only their first
date, after all. She probably just said that because it was
convenient. She couldn’t decide, though, if she was happy or
disappointed about that.

“You see,” Elena told Seth, “some of us have quite a
bit of power. In fact, some of us might even own this very zoo you
are working in.”

Seth’s eyes practically bugged out of his skull, and
Allison even had to turn her head to hide her own reaction. She
could hear Seth stammering out an apology, obviously afraid he
would lose his job.

A few minutes later, Allison felt a tap on her arm
and turned to see Elena holding a green stuffed monkey with long
lanky limbs. She wore a satisfied smirk. “Shall we, dear? I believe
it may be time to get Lucas home.”

“Uh, y-yeah, yeah. Of course.” As they moved away
from the merchandise stand and toward the zoo’s main entrance,
Allison asked, “Do you seriously
own
this freakin’ zoo?”

Elena chuckled. “Of course not,” she said, nudging
Allison with her elbow, “but Seth didn’t know that.”

Elena didn’t ask if Allison wanted to go home with
her, and Allison didn’t ask if she could. It was apparently a
silent yet mutual understanding that neither wanted the date to be
over, so instead of driving toward campus, Elena headed home,
bringing Allison along.

Lucas hadn’t stirred once, not even when Elena lifted
him out of the stroller and settled him into the car seat. That
didn’t change when they finally made it back to Elena’s house. He
curled around his mother like a koala bear as she hoisted him out
of the car seat again and carried him into the house, Allison
following closely behind.

After following Elena down the hallway, Allison
watched her settle the boy into his bed, having to unclench his
fingers from around the hair at the base of her head. She pulled
his shoes and socks from his feet, popped off his hat, and then
stripped him down to his pull-ups. The kid only mumbled a few times
throughout the whole process but then settled right back into his
sheets and drifted off again.

Allison stepped in and handed Elena the green stuffed
monkey. “Here,” she whispered. “He can sleep with it.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather save it so that
you
can sleep with it?” Elena tucked the toy in beside
Lucas. “You were rather adamant about getting a stuffed animal
after all.”

“I don’t need to sleep with monkeys if I’ve got
you.”

When Elena pulled the door shut behind them, the two
women stood staring at one another. That painfully familiar
electricity sparked between them again, and Elena cleared her
throat, letting her gaze fall away from Allison’s. “Would you like
something to drink?” she asked, moving past Allison and heading
back down the hallway toward the kitchen. Allison shrugged and
followed, laughing internally at herself because it seemed like
every time she was in this big, beautiful house, she followed Elena
around like a puppy. In fact, she realized she had been doing it
since her very first visit. It seemed the draw between them had
always been there despite the fact that, foolishly, neither had
noticed it.

“Uh, like alcohol?” Allison asked. “Because I’m not
big on wine. I’ll take some tea or something if you’ve got it.”

“Juice?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Elena went about readying a couple of glasses,
filling half of one with wine and the other to the brim with apple
juice. She turned to see Allison leaning up against the kitchen
counter and watching her. They looked at one another, and both
women sighed, completely affected by only a glance. Elena handed
the juice to Allison, their fingers brushing in the exchange and
causing a delightful shiver to ripple down Allison’s spine.
Retreating until her back nudged the counter on the opposite side
of the kitchen, Elena stared at the woman across from her as both
took long sips from their glasses.

“So,” Allison said, setting her glass on the
countertop. Her entire body felt like a coiled snake, tense and
practically vibrating with energy as she watched Elena’s tongue
slip across her bottom lip to capture a bit of escaped
moisture.

Elena mimicked Allison’s action, placing her own
glass down behind her. “So,” she repeated, the word barely a
whisper. The pull between them was magnetic, and neither said
another word. Both women shot off of their respective sides of the
counter and collided in the middle.

Hands landed anywhere they could,
everywhere
they could. Elena’s fingernails dug into Allison’s scalp as
Allison’s gripped tightly around Elena’s hips. The kiss was hot and
rough, desperate and hungry, tongues slipping together, tasting,
exploring. Their teeth knocked together with the frantic motion,
but neither paid any mind to the messy state of the kiss. They only
wanted more.

Elena pushed her body into Allison’s, backing her up
until they slammed into the counter again, the cabinets shaking and
the glass of juice nearly falling from the edge.

“God, you’re hot,” Allison whispered as she ran her
hands around from Elena’s hips and cupped them over jean-clad
cheeks. Allison moaned into Elena’s mouth, echoing a similar sound
that bubbled up from Elena’s throat. “Your ass.”

Elena smiled into the kiss as she slid her tongue
along Allison’s bottom lip. “Mm. Your mouth.”

Her hands slinked down from Allison’s hair, down the
column of her slender neck, down over collarbones, down until they
were cupped around—

“Momma?”

Allison and Elena sprang apart fast, bodies whipping
in the direction of the sleep-laden voice.

“L-Lucas.” Elena’s hand shot up to wipe at the corner
of her mouth where her lipstick had smudged. She righted her shirt,
which was only slightly askew. “What are you doing up,
darling?”

Naked but for his pull-ups, Lucas rocked on his heels
a few feet from them. His messy hair stuck up on one side and his
eyes drooped. He held his green monkey in one arm, tucked atop his
round belly, and he used his other hand to rub at his eyes. “Hot,”
he mumbled, too tired to even attempt a full sentence.

Allison tapped her fingers atop the counter nervously
as she stood a bit away from Elena, putting some distance between
them. It was the only way to keep her hands to herself. She could
feel the heat in her cheeks, entirely mortified at having been
caught macking on Elena by none other than Elena’s son.

Awkward and uncomfortable.

Lucas didn’t seem to mind, though. In fact, he didn’t
even seem fully awake—just a partially naked zombie baby, too tired
to function.

“Oh,” Elena sighed, the blush on her own cheeks
prominent, even as she tried to pretend like they hadn’t just been
doing what they had totally just been doing. She crossed over to
her sleepy child and hoisted him up into her arms. “Let’s go get
your fan, okay? Then you can nap some more.”

He laid his head on her shoulder and nodded into her
neck. Elena glanced back at Allison and offered an apologetic smile
before carrying Lucas back to his room.

Allison scrubbed a hand down her face and let out a
heavy breath that quickly evolved into quiet laughter. What a
day.

* * *

When Elena returned to the kitchen, she found Allison
leaning against the counter and sipping her apple juice. They
smiled at one another before Elena said, “He apparently required a
story.”

“Ah. I wondered what was taking so long. I was
starting to think that maybe you had crawled into bed with the kid
and had fallen asleep in there, too.”

“No, of course not.” Elena chuckled.

“Wouldn’t blame you. The kid is pretty snuggly.”

“True.” Elena cleared her throat, her cheeks flushing
a soft pink as she added, “However, I highly doubt I would be able
to nap after…”

“Yeah,” Allison breathed. Her body still buzzed from
the impromptu kitchen make-out, and she couldn’t help but grin like
an idiot at Elena, basically confirming that she felt the same
way.

They shared a small, almost shy laugh, both blushing.
Their gazes flicked between eyes and lips, hearts pounding in
unison. When Allison pushed off the counter and took a step
forward, though, Elena took a step back and put up a hand.
“Allison, I think we should talk.”