Popcorn Love (44 page)

Allison nudged her shoulder. “It’s not like
that.”

“That’s a shame.” Elena clucked her tongue.

They stepped around the corner and into the next
aisle. “Momma, I need these!” Lucas pointed to a package of green
invitations.

Allison laughed. “Yeah, Elena, surely all the
toddlers coming to the party would love some invitations that none
of them can read.”

“I can read!” Lucas crossed his arms over his
chest.

“Yes, dear, you have already learned to read many
things.” Elena pointed to a word on one of the packages. “Tell
Allison what this says.”

Lucas eagerly leaned forward so that Allison had to
tighten her arm around him to keep him attached to her hip. “Um,”
he said, scrunching his face up as he stared at the word.

“Sound it out, munchkin.”

“Ha—Hhhha…p…Happy!” He clapped his hands and turned
wide eyes to his mother. “Is it
happy
, Momma?”

“It is! Well done, Lucas!”

He beamed at her before sticking his tongue out at
Allison. “See?” Allison grinned despite Elena telling Lucas that it
wasn’t nice to boast.

“I see, buddy,” Allison said. “Good job!”

Lucas leaned his head over and rested his forehead
against Allison’s, one of his hands curling into her bun. “Alson,
am I heavy?” He stared into her eyes from less than an inch away,
pressing his face against hers.

Allison kissed the tip of his nose and shook her head
against his. “Not at all.”

“But I’m a big boy.”

Allison and Elena both glanced to one another,
sharing a smile that somehow felt intimate. “Yes, you are,” Allison
agreed.

“So why I’m not heavy?”

“Why
am I not
, Lucas,” Elena said.

“Right,” he said. He then looked back to Allison,
waiting for her answer.

“Um,” Allison muttered, contemplating what to say.
She didn’t want to call the boy scrawny or skinny, because he might
not like that. She patted a hand over his chest. “Because you’re a
big boy in
here
, and big hearts aren’t heavy.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re full of love, kid.” She caught
Elena’s eye for a moment and couldn’t help but blush a bit. “And
love doesn’t weigh anything.”

“Even if there’s a lot?”

“Even if there’s a ton.”

Lucas quickly looked over at his mother for
confirmation. “No matter how much love you have in your heart, it
is always light as a feather,” Elena said, and Lucas narrowed his
eyes.

“You sure, Momma?” he asked. “I got lots.”

“I know you do.” Elena tickled his belly and he
giggled and squirmed in Allison’s arms. “You love Momma, don’t
you?”

“Yup!”

“And Aunt Viv.”

“And Gram and Pop,” he said.

“That’s right.”

“That’s a lot of love, kid,” Allison said.

She then practically swooned as he leaned in and
rested his head against hers again and said, “And Alson.”

Allison’s eyes instantly watered. She squeezed
Lucas.

Elena smiled. “Yes, you love Allison.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. Wiping it away
quickly, she smiled at Elena. “It’s crazy how that gets to me so
easily.”

Elena stroked Allison’s cheek and nodded. “It does me
as well, dear.”

Allison kissed Elena’s palm where it rested around
her cheek before squeezing Lucas again. “I love you too, kid.”

“Well, this looks cozy.”

Nora and Lucas Sr. both stood at the end of the aisle
watching them. Nora rolled her eyes, despite her smile. “My
daughter is canoodling in the middle of the party supplies.”

“No one is canoodling, Mother.” Elena rolled her eyes
in just the same fashion.

“Nah.” Allison laughed. “I was totally
canoodling.”

“I like her,” Lucas Sr. told Elena.

Allison and little Lucas beamed while Elena smirked
at her father. “So you’ve said, Daddy.”

“Well, some things need to be said more than once.”
His voice was deep and cheerful. He then clapped his hands together
and asked, “So, who is ready for lunch?”

Allison burst into the dorm room, and Macy winced as
the door slammed behind her. She was barely inside the dorm before
she began to pace over the short length of the room.

“Uh,” Macy muttered as she watched this strange and
slightly amusing behavior, “something on your mind there,
mate?”

“I love her,” Allison blurted out, shaking her head
and alternating between planting her hands on her hips and tugging
at the bottom of her shirt.

“Come again?” Macy asked. She wasn’t quite yet fully
awake, having slept a good part of the day away after a late night
at the bar, post meeting Allison’s girlfriend. She sat up in her
bed and reached to mute her rerun of
One Tree Hill
. Macy
rubbed at her eyes and yawned as she asked, “Do I need coffee for
whatever this is? Are you having a complete panic or just a partial
one? Because it’s already almost five, so we can skip the coffee
altogether and go straight for shots if we need to.”

“Elena!” Allison snapped, eyes wide but distant as if
she was in some sort of trance or somewhere else entirely; most
likely, she was just stuck inside her own head. “
Elena
,” she
repeated. “I
love
her.”

“Yeah,” Macy said, shrugging. “I don’t mean to sound
like an insensitive twat here, Alli, but well,
duh
.”

“No, no, no,” Allison babbled as she crossed over to
Macy’s bed. She plopped heavily down onto the mattress and pinned
her with wide emerald eyes full of both panic and thrill. “I mean,
I
love
love her, Mace. Like, I’m 99.999…oh hell, I’m
one
hundred
percent sure that I am
in love
with her.”

“Yup,” Macy said, popping her lips loudly.

Allison’s eyes bugged as she exclaimed, “That’s
it
?” She threw up her hands. “I tell you that I’m actually
in love, repeat
in love
, with Elena Vega, and
all
you
have to say is ‘yup’?”

“Um,” Macy said, “please refer to my previous answer
of ‘duh’. It’s more suited to this situation anyway.”

Allison stared at her, blank-faced, and Macy burst
into laughter. “You knew?” Allison asked, smacking her roommate’s
shoulder roughly. “You knew how I felt even before
I
knew
how I felt? How is that even possible?”

“Well, Alli, that would be because I have functioning
eyes,” Macy teased, “as well as common sense and excellent
deductive reasoning skills.”

Allison smacked her shoulder again.

“Ow!” Macy pushed playfully at Allison’s arm and leg
in retaliation. “Don’t beat me up just because I know you better
than
you
know you.”

“How long have you known?”

Macy grinned as she scooted backward and bundled back
under her covers. “Oh, let’s see?” she said. “I would say that I’ve
known ever since you were like, ‘Elena and I are
just
friends,
Macy!’”

Allison smacked a hand to her face. She then slid her
hand up and cradled her forehead in her palm. “Oh God,” she
groaned. “What the hell am I gonna do?”

Through the covers, Macy nudged Allison’s thigh with
her foot. “What do you mean?” she asked. “You’re going to keep
doing what you’re doing, and just
love
the woman.”

“But—”

“No,” Macy said, shaking her head against her pillow.
“No
buts
, Alli. I know your automatic response to those
gross and terrifying things known as
feelings
is to
completely freak out and run away, but you don’t have to. You don’t
have to do anything, okay? Just because you love Elena doesn’t mean
you have to suddenly change or act differently. You don’t have to
be
anything or anybody but yourself. That’s kind of the
whole point, mate.”

Allison stretched out on Macy’s bed, throwing her
legs over the blanketed lump of Macy’s own and resting her back
against the wall. “You’re the best friend ever.”

“I know,” Macy said. “So, I’m guessing you had some
wicked sex last night since you burst in here with frantic
declarations of love spewing out of your face.”

“Yes, yes I did,” Allison admitted. “And then we went
out with her parents today to shop for party supplies for Lucas’s
birthday party.”

Macy shifted so she could see Allison’s face better.
Smirking, she quirked a brow at Allison. “A family outing, eh?”

“Yup.”

“I see, and how was that?”

Allison stared off into the empty space of the room
for a moment, and Macy watched as a smile worked its way onto
Allison’s lips. “Weirdly amazing,” Allison finally answered after a
moment.

“Wow,” Macy said. “I feel like I should be
documenting this moment.”

Allison snorted with laughter and smacked Macy’s
thigh. “Probably,” she agreed. “It’s true, though. I mean, her mom
is tough, but she’s also…I don’t know. She hasn’t ever looked at me
or talked to me like I was less than her or less than her daughter.
They just accept me, you know? They called me
family
today.”

Macy’s instinct was to tease her best friend, but she
knew how big this was for Allison. She could actually see tears
glistening in Allison’s eyes. Family was everything Allison had
always searched for.

“So,” Macy said. “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah,” Allison whispered. “Yeah, and it felt
genuine, you know? Like when they said that to me, I didn’t have
any doubt that they meant it.”

“So, why all the panic?”

Allison groaned and dropped her forehead back into
her hand. “Because I’m no good at this stuff, Macy,” she said. “I’m
not good at being part of a family. I’m not good at loving
people.”

Macy’s stomach clenched uncomfortably as a wave of
sorrow rolled through her, and she sighed and nudged Allison with
her foot again. “I would argue otherwise.”

Keeping her head down, Allison picked at Macy’s
blanket. “I need popcorn,” she grumbled, “to help me
deal
.”

Macy snorted and rolled her eyes. “And
I
need
coffee in order to help you deal, but you don’t hear me whining
about it.”

“You should make me some popcorn,” Allison said,
smiling slyly. Her smile then quickly morphed into a well-practiced
pout. “
Please.
”

“You go make your own popcorn,” Macy said. “What am
I, your maid? Does being in love mean your limbs suddenly no longer
work?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what it means,” Allison told
her. Her pout then deepened. “Please, Mace? Can’t you see I’m in a
crisis? I need comfort food made by my best friend.”

“You’re not in a crisis, Alli. You’re in love.”

“Same thing,” Allison said.

Macy laughed out loud at that one. “Not quite, mate.
Last time I checked, crises don’t come neatly packaged with a
smokin’ hot millionaire and an adorable three-year-old.”

Allison pinned her with a playful glare, and Macy
just shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll make you some
bloody popcorn, but don’t think this conversation is over. I want
full details on this birthday party you mentioned.”

Nodding, Allison sighed and sank down further on
Macy’s bed. “Yeah, yeah. I hear you.”

“Oh,” Macy added as she climbed out of bed, “and I
want full details on the awesome sex you had last night, too.”

“Not a chance,” Allison said as Macy disappeared into
the kitchen that joined their room to another.

“Do you want the popcorn or not?”

* * *

“Hello?” Allison answered the phone but quickly
jerked her head away from the device when random loud tones went
off in her ear. She glanced at the caller ID again to be sure she
read it right. “Elena?”

“Alson?”

Allison smiled, surprised to hear Lucas’s voice. “Hey
buddy!”

“Is this Alson?”

“Yeah, kid.” Allison let out a soft laugh. “This is
Allison.”

“Alson!” He squealed. “What you doing?”

“Well, I’m talking to you,” she told him.

“Oh. When you coming home?”

Allison closed her eyes at those words, letting them
sink in and swirl around. It was amazing how children could say the
simplest yet equally monumental things.

“I don’t know, buddy.”

“Now?” he asked. “It’s dinner time.”

“I don’t think so, Lucas. I just saw you earlier
today.”

Lucas whined. “But me and Momma miss you!”

Ah, hell
, Allison thought. He was laying it on
strong. She could imagine the pout he likely wore, his puffy bottom
lip poking out as far as it would go.

“I miss you guys too.”

“Okay!” Lucas cheered. “See you at dinner! Bye!”

Allison blinked and looked at her phone to see that
the call had been disconnected. She thought about calling back to
see if Elena actually intended for her to come over again so soon,
but after a moment’s hesitation, she simply decided to go.

When Elena pulled open the front door fifteen minutes
later, in fresh clothes, and grinned at her, Allison knew she had
made the right decision. “I see my son has conned you into devoting
more of your day to us,” Elena said.

Allison shrugged. “He told me to come home.” She
stepped over the threshold and pulled Elena against her. Allison
nuzzled her nose against Elena’s before pressing a tender kiss to
her supple lips. “So I did.”

When they were finally able to get Lucas to sleep
after a wild temper tantrum that resulted in the boy barring
himself behind a coffee table and refusing to go to bed, Allison
grabbed Elena’s hand and pulled her from Lucas’s room.

“Where are you dragging me off to?” Elena asked once
they were in the hallway.

“Living room,” Allison said. “I figured we could
watch a movie or something.”

Elena tugged on Allison’s arm to pull her to a stop
at the end of the hall. “I thought we were going to bed.” She
pulled her a little closer. “That
is
what you told Lucas
after all, and we would not want to violate his precious trust, now
would we?”