Popcorn Love (31 page)

The sound of heels clicking toward the living room
was followed by the form of Elena’s mother whipping around the
corner. A wide-eyed and obviously highly annoyed Elena followed
right behind.

“Allison darling!” Nora said. “How lovely to see you
again!”

“Uh.” Allison scrambled to get out from beneath
Lucas’s weight where he had unconsciously shifted over and halfway
onto her lap once Elena left the couch. She finally scooted him
aside and stood to take Nora’s hand. “Uh, Mrs. Vega. Hi…uh, hi.
Wow, I wasn’t expecting…uh, hi.”

Nora smiled at Allison’s babbling as they shook
hands. She pulled Allison into a shallow hug, adding a few quick
pats to her shoulder. With eyes a little panicked, Allison glanced
over her shoulder at Elena, who mouthed
I’m sorry!
As soon
as she pulled out of the embrace, though, Allison forced herself to
school her features and relax.

“Do take a breath, dear. I’m not here for your
firstborn.”

Allison sucked in a breath and let it out in an
awkward, strained laugh. Glancing at Elena, she saw her fighting a
smile, and Allison glared before turning back to Nora, who moved
past her to get to the little boy on the couch.

“Pumpkin!” Nora lowered herself elegantly onto the
couch. Lucas only continued to gape at the television. He did,
however, shift his body over and onto his grandmother’s lap without
a word. He leaned back into her chest as he continued to watch the
movie and then he tugged on her hand as he exploded into a fit of
high-pitched giggles at another minion moment.

Nora glanced up at the other two women. “Apparently I
am only useful as a piece of furniture.”

Elena and Allison stood several feet apart. Allison
didn’t have a clue how to respond to this entirely unexpected
interruption of their date, and, given Elena’s complete lack of
action, it seemed she didn’t either. Allison felt nervous as hell,
because, unlike the first time she met Nora Vega, she was now
actually
dating
the woman’s daughter. The words Elena had
spoken that day outside of Nora’s house kept echoing in Allison’s
mind.
Nora Vega Inquisition. Nora Vega Inquisition. Nora Vega
Inquisition.

“So, Allison,” Nora began as she bounced Lucas
lightly on her knees, and Allison felt her stomach clench as her
mouth went dry. She didn’t know what was coming, but if her first
meeting with Elena’s mom was anything to go by, she had half the
mind to expect it wouldn’t be a standard “How have you been?”

“My daughter informs me that today is your first
official date,” Nora said. “So, I assume this means that you are
interested in more than a one-night stand?”

“Mother!” Elena hissed.

“Daughter!” Nora rolled her eyes.

“Must you do this?” Elena groaned.

Just then, the credits of the movie began to roll,
and it was like an instant trigger snapping Lucas back to reality.
He looked around and grinned at them all as he bounced on his
grandmother’s lap. “You having a sleepover, Gram?”

“No, my sweet boy,” Nora replied. “Gram can’t have a
sleepover tonight, but perhaps soon.”

Lucas looked in Allison’s direction. “You having a
sleepover, Alson?”

Allison froze as Lucas stared at her expectantly.
Pressing a hand to her temple, Elena let out a soft sigh, and Nora
merely arched a brow, clearly waiting to hear Allison’s answer.

“Erm, I don’t think so, kid.” She glanced over at
Elena, who looked just as lost for an answer as she did. All she
could think to do was to shrug and repeat herself. “I don’t think
so.”

“My, my.” Nora stood and lifted Lucas up into her
arms. “Let me just take my grandson to bed, and then we shall
discuss this further.”

“We
shall
?” Elena’s expression turned even
more incredulous. “Mother, honestly—”

“Say goodnight to Momma, pumpkin.” She drifted past
Allison and toward Elena. Lucas waved at Allison over Nora’s
shoulder, already rubbing sleepily at his eyes, then turned to
Elena. She sighed as she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his
cheek.

“Goodnight, munchkin. Sweet dreams.”

“Night Momma.” He yawned, and then they were
gone.

Elena and Allison shot across the gap between them,
both grabbing the other’s hands.

“Oh my God, Elena, I’m tripping out.”

“Allison, I am
so
sorry. I had no idea my
mother had any plan to visit.”

“Is she gonna interrogate me?”

Elena hesitated. “It is likely,” she admitted. But
then, an idea struck her. “Unless!” She darted away to grab her
cell phone before returning. A moment later, the device was pressed
to her ear.

“Daddy!” she said into the phone. “Yes, yes, listen:
I need you to call mother and ask her to return home at once.
Daddy, I’m not kidding. This is serious. She is imposing on my date
and is being entirely inappropriate. You have to—what?
Vivian
?”

Allison hadn’t seen that one coming. The dread
pooling in her gut only intensified.

“Vivian, what are you doing at my parents’ house?”
Elena shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Put Daddy back on the
phone. He has to convince Mother to return home before she
interrogates Allison about God only knows what.”

“It’s not funny, Viv!” Elena’s eyes went wide. “Oh
no! No, no, no, no, you are
not
coming over here. No! You
will not add to this! Vivian, don’t you da—hello?”

Elena cursed as she slammed the button to hang up her
phone. She looked at Allison. “This is about to get ten times
worse.”

Allison’s heart pounded. Was she seriously about to
get a tag-team interrogation from both Elena’s mother
and
Elena’s best friend? “Elena, I’m too young to die!”

Snorting with laughter, Elena pulled her closer. “You
can escape now. I will cover for you.”

A smile spread over Allison’s lips, lopsided and
tense from her buzzing nerves. “Will that automatically make me a
coward in your mom’s eyes?”

“Likely yes,” Elena admitted, and they both sighed,
pressing their foreheads together.

“Well, shit. I guess we’re doing this then.”

Elena pressed a quick, small kiss to Allison’s lips.
“I guess we are.”

Sitting on the small loveseat across from the couch,
Allison’s spine was like a steel rod. She was pretty sure she had
never exhibited better posture in all her life. Her fingers
tingled, that feeling of borderline numbness, as they danced
nervously atop her knees. Her stomach rolled with every breath, and
she was certain that her heart had not stopped pounding since the
moment she heard Nora returning from Lucas’s room.

Elena, seated beside her, leaned over and bumped
Allison’s shoulder with her own. “Take a breath,” she
whispered.

Realizing she had been holding her breath to the
point of pain, Allison took Elena’s advice and sucked in a mouthful
of air. Her shoulders sagged an inch as he exhaled and she smiled
at Elena. “Thanks.”

Nora swept into the room with a calculating look in
her eyes. She dropped onto the couch opposite her daughter and
Allison and inspected them. “My, you two look as if you’ve seen a
ghost.”

Elena leaned back into the cushion of the loveseat,
her shoulder resting warmly against Allison’s. “Stop taunting us,
Mother, and let’s get this over with, shall we?”

“Oh, Elena, I haven’t the slightest idea as to what
you are referring.” The sparkle in her eyes, so like Elena’s, gave
her away, though.

An annoyed, pointed stare was all she received from
Elena. Allison, though, chuckled awkwardly and scratched at the
back of her neck as she said, “You’re a bad liar.”

Elena whipped around, eyes wide, as she stared at
Allison with a mixture of shock, worry, and something akin to
admiration.

“Pardon?” Nora asked, her face hard.

Chest clenching tightly, Allison internally screamed
at herself for opening her big mouth in the first place. She
swallowed thickly before she answered. “I said that you’re a bad
liar.” Her voice shook just slightly.

Nora’s lips parted as the woman made to respond, but
Allison cut her off. “I didn’t mean any disrespect,” she said.

That earned her another brow raise, which made
Allison’s stomach roll. “Not that I’m calling you a liar or
anything. I figured you were teasing or whatever. So was I. But if
we’re being real here, I think we all know we wouldn’t be sitting
here like we’re facing a firing squad if you weren’t intending to
have a little fun at our expense, right?”

Elena, smile tugging around her pearly white teeth,
stared at Allison as if she was a revelation of sorts.

“Well, well,” Elena said, turning to offer her mother
a smug expression. “It seems Allison here has you pegged rather
well, wouldn’t you say?”

Silence grew between them then as Nora narrowed her
eyes at Allison. She allowed that silence to grow and fester in
Allison’s soul until Allison was so freaked out that her insides
squirmed.

She held her breath as Nora and Elena looked at one
another, and then Nora began to smile. As soon as Allison saw that
slight upturn, she let out a slow, silent breath of relief. Perhaps
she would live to date Elena Vega another day after all.

“She certainly seems to match you in boldness,
Elena.”

“So, that’s good, right?” The words rushed out of
Allison. “I mean, I haven’t failed already, have I?”

“Failed what, dear?”

“The, uh, Inquisition?”

Allison felt Elena’s shoulders next to her shake with
laughter.

“Sorry?” Nora asked.

Clearing her throat, Allison tried to covertly dig
her elbow into Elena’s side as payback for the laughter. “The uh,
the Nora Vega Inquisition.”

Nora smirked and tilted her head. “Ah, I see Elena
has made you properly afraid.”

“Oh, I’ve done no such thing,” Elena said.

Allison, though, merely gulped. “Properly?”

“Hmm?”

“You said ‘properly’. So, I
should
be
afraid?”

“No,” Elena said quickly. But her mother’s voice
competed with hers. “Perhaps,” Nora said.

“Oh Mother, stop it.”

“Yeah, you’ll probably end up more mortified than
scared.”

A voice chimed from behind them, and all in the room
turned to find Vivian standing in the open arch of the doorway.

“Vivian, dear!” Nora turned toward Vivian and waved
the woman over. “This is a lovely surprise.”

“Yes, Vivian.” Elena’s voice drawled the words out
with maximum irony. “What a
lovely
surprise.”

Vivian grinned as she bent down and pressed a kiss to
Elena’s cheek. She nodded at Allison, who offered her a half smile
that she was pretty sure came off more as a grimace, and then
Vivian turned to kiss Nora’s cheek as well before dropping onto the
couch beside her.

“So spill,” she said. “How was the first date?”

Elena’s tone deadpanned. “The level of enjoyment just
hit a sudden and rapid decline.”

“Oh come on, Elena. You didn’t actually expect me to
miss this, did you? It’s been way too long since the last Nora Vega
Inquisition.”

“You girls,” Nora said. “You act like I’m going to
water-board the poor girl for government secrets.”

“Well, I don’t have any government secrets,” Allison
said, the heel of her foot tapping rapidly against the floor. “In
fact, I don’t have any secrets at all, so we could probably just,
you know, skip this whole thing and it’d be totally fine.”

“Uh-huh.” Vivian leaned back and put her arm around
Nora’s shoulders. “We’ll see about that.”

“Or we could see both of
you
to your
vehicles.” Elena pinned her best friend with a glare.

Allison smiled. At least she wasn’t in this alone.
She could only imagine the embarrassing crap that Nora and Vivian
might ask her.

“In my defense,” Nora said. “I’m only here because I
assumed
the date would be over by now. I wouldn’t have come
otherwise.”

“Yeah, and stop acting like you don’t want us here,”
Vivian said with a grin.

“I
don’t
. Why were you at my parents’ house
anyway?”

Vivian shrugged and patted Nora’s shoulder. “I was
taking Mom’s dishes back from that lasagna she sent me home
with.”

“That was over a month ago. You just
now
decided to clean those dishes and return them? How convenient.”

“
Anyway
.” Vivian barreled right through
Elena’s snide remark. “I was there when you called, and of course,
I wasn’t about to miss this.”

“Elena?” Nora gave a melodramatic gasp. “Were you
calling your father to try to get rid of me?”

“Yes.”

Nora pressed a hand to her chest. “I’m hurt.”

“Oh please, you are not.”

Elena laughed, and then, before Nora or Vivian could
respond, Allison cleared her throat and leaned forward.

“All right, look,” Allison said, locking gazes with
Nora, “I don’t really know how this is supposed to go down, but
this whole dragging-it-out business is driving me nuts. You’ve got
me here. I didn’t run even though I knew you were probably going to
ask me embarrassing things, because, hey, I can respect the fact
that you’re curious and maybe even cautious about who your daughter
chooses to date. But I seriously can’t take this build-up anymore.
So, can we just get on with it? Ask me what you need to ask me, and
then this can be over with.”

Vivian laughed. “Oh yeah, she’s definitely a
winner.”

Elena pressed her shoulder closer to Allison’s and
offered her mother and Vivian the smuggest expression she could
manage without contorting her face. “Excellent,” she said with a
smack of her lips, “then perhaps we could skip this entirely.”

“Such confidence,” Nora said. “That’s good. You will
need it if you want to keep up with my daughter.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Allison let out a relieved
breath. “I mean, she’s always pretty sweet around me, but I’m
guessing that’s not the entire picture.”