Popcorn Love (9 page)

“Yes, but—”

“The arrangements should complement the season, not
match it,” she said. “Or are you suggesting that we fill a room of
designers in designer clothing with centerpieces that draw
attention
away
from them?”

“Well…”

Elena turned to the rest of the table and cleared her
throat. “Would Elliot be correct in speaking for you all then?” she
asked. “Do you share his
concern
?”

Every other employee at the table quickly jumped to
reassure that they didn’t have any issues with a splash of color.
Peter, who was probably her sweetest employee but also her most
timid, even looked like he was on the verge of crying. The more
people made to reassure her, the more uncomfortable Elliot became,
and Elena reveled in him getting a taste of his own medicine.

She turned back to him and smirked. “Reassured,
dear?” she asked, her amusement evident in her voice.

With pursed lips, Elliot avoided her eyes, and Elena
smiled. “Excellent,” she said. “Now, if there are no other
concerns
, let’s move on to the next order of business.”

Her phone vibrated as Nia stood at the other end of
the table and began addressing an issue with construction in one of
their upcoming shoot locations. Elena glanced at the screen to see
a text from Vivian. She slid her finger over the screen to unlock
it and quickly read the message.

Date tonight! Call your babysitter!

Elena sighed but made a mental note to call Allison
before turning her attention back to Nia.

* * *

Allison sprinted out of her dorm building, her hair
disheveled and her clothes wrinkled. She spit a wad of toothpaste
onto the grass as she took off across campus. She was already
fifteen minutes late for her Narratology exam.

She cursed when her phone rang. Tugging the shrill
device from her pocket as she ran, she glanced down and saw
Elena Vega
flashing across the screen and smiled
unconsciously as she tapped to answer it. But as soon as she put
the phone to her ear, Allison looked back up to see that she was
headed straight for a pole.

“Shit!” She dodged the pole at the last second but
still managed to trip over her own feet.

A faint reply of
“Pardon me?”
echoed from
Allison’s phone, but she was too busy yelping as she tumbled
forward with a string of curses: “Fuck shit damn ow!”

Her textbook shot from her hands as she landed
roughly on her side, and Allison groaned as she rubbed at her
elbows and rolled onto her stomach so that she could push herself
up to her feet again. Just as she started to move though, she heard
the muffled sound of a voice saying,
“Hello? Allison?”

“Shit!” Allison grumbled again. She scrambled to get
her phone and quickly put it up to her ear. “Uh, Elena?”

“Allison?” There was utter confusion in the other
woman’s voice.

“Yup, sorry ‘bout that.” With a grunt, she used her
hands to push herself up onto her knees and then into a squat so
that she could stand up again and collected her things.

“Are you all right, dear? It sounded like you were
having quite the struggle.”

Allison blushed. “Oh, yeah, well I may have,
possibly, sort of, fallen down or whatever.”

“You
may have
fallen down, Allison, or you did
fall down?”

A smile stretched Allison’s lips even as her cheeks
maintained their reddish tint. “Shut up,” she grumbled and was
rewarded with a burst of laughter over the phone line. “Yeah, I
fell. I was running and wasn’t paying attention. So, yeah, laugh it
up, I guess.”

It took a while for Elena’s laughter to die down. “I
apologize.” she said. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m good, yeah. Thanks. Just late for an exam.”

“Oh. I will let you go then. Perhaps you could give
me a call once your classes are finished for the day?”

“It’s cool.” Allison sighed and glanced at the time
on her phone as she plopped down on a campus bench. She was already
far too late to make it for the exam. She shook her head,
disappointed in herself. “I’m never gonna make it now anyway.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Allison leaned her head back and
soaked in the morning sun. Her eyes stung with tears that she
blinked quickly away.

“I’m sorry,” Elena said.

“Don’t be.” Allison swallowed down the lump in her
throat. “I stayed up really late with my roommate last night, and I
slept through my alarm. It’s my fault. I just hate screwing up like
this. It makes me feel like an idiot, you know?”

Elena was silent a long time before saying, “Could
you talk to your professor about it? Perhaps you could make it
up?”

Allison bounced her knee rapidly as she pressed a
hand to her eyes. “Yeah, maybe,” she said. She was fairly friendly
with her professor, so maybe Elena’s suggestion could work. She
could email him and say that she was sick or something. Her stomach
rolled at the thought, as if it was trying to make the lie true. He
might let her make up the exam since she otherwise had near-perfect
attendance and a perfect grade in that class. It was worth a shot,
but that didn’t stop Allison’s chest from aching with guilt.

“I hope it works out for you.” Her voice was sincere
and even tinged with a bit of sadness and that, for some reason,
made Allison feel the slightest bit better.

“Thanks.” Allison ran a hand through her ratty hair
and hissed as her fingers snagged in several tangles. This was
really
not
her morning. “So, what’s up?”

“Right, yes.” Elena cleared her throat. “I was
calling to inquire if you might be free this evening. I apologize
for the last-minute call, Allison. Vivian only just sprung this on
me. I was hoping an early call might make the difference.”

Allison propped her phone up against her ear with her
shoulder. “It’s fine. You don’t have to keep apologizing, Elena.
I’m pretty much free all the time, so, yeah, I can come over
tonight.”

Elena sighed. “Excellent. I greatly appreciate
it.”

“No problem. What time should I be there?”

“Would six be acceptable?”

“Yup, six is good. I’ll see ya then.”

“Okay, wonderful. See you then.”

With a groan, Allison hung up the call and forced
herself off the bench to head back to her dorm room. At least her
day had just gotten a lot better.

* * *

Elena was just slipping into her dress when Lucas
shuffled into her bedroom. Cheeks red, he stared at the floor as he
quietly said, “Momma.”

Her lips tugged with a frown when she saw his head
ducked down and his body slowly swaying from side to side. He
always stood like that when he was guilty of something.

“Lucas,” Elena said. “What is it?”

He didn’t say a word as he moved his hands out of the
way and Elena was able to see the large wet spot on the front of
his pants. She frowned as she walked over to her son and kneeled in
front of him. “Did you have an accident, munchkin?”

His wide expressive eyes shot up as he quickly shook
his head back and forth in adamant denial.

“Lucas.” Elena ran a hand through his hair and then
tapped her index finger gently against his nose. “It’s okay if you
had an accident. You can tell me.”

“I didn’t!” His voice turned into a high-pitched
squeal. “Swear!”

“Well then why are your pants wet?”

Ducking his head down again, he whispered, “I spilled
my juice.”

Elena slipped her index finger under his chin and
pulled his head up so that she could look him in the eyes. “That’s
okay, baby.”

“Really?” he asked, shuffling a little closer to
her.

She pursed her lips as she pretended to think about
it. “I will tell you what. If you give me a super special kiss and
hug, then it is definitely okay.”

A massive grin stretched Lucas’s lips and he giggled
as he threw his arms around Elena’s neck and pressed a big,
smacking kiss half on her cheek and half on her nose. Elena
squeezed him and planted a dozen little kisses all over his face,
causing him to squeal and squirm, but he never actually tried to
escape.

“Okay, munchkin, let’s get you some new pants before
Allison gets here.”

“Alson!” Lucas sprinted down the hallway toward his
room. Elena made to follow him, but she only managed a few steps
down the hall when the doorbell sounded.

“I will be right there, Lucas.”

She passed Lucas’s room and made her way toward the
front of the house instead.

* * *

Allison was standing at the door, gaping at Elena
with a dark blonde eyebrow rising in question. “Um…”

“What?” Elena frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Running late? Or are you just happy to see me?”

Elena just stared at her, blinking. “What are you
talking about?”

Blushing, Allison pointed at Elena and muttered,
“Your dress is uh…it’s open.”

Glancing down, Elena was greeted by the sight of her
dress hanging loosely on one side, making her bra clearly visible.
Her own face flushed as she cleared her throat. “Right, yes…well.
Children can be distracting, I suppose.”

Allison slipped by Elena and into the house, kicking
the door closed behind her. “Well, let’s not just stand here and
show off your bod to the whole neighborhood, yeah?”

The red of Elena’s cheeks only darkened as Allison
quickly reached out and latched onto her shoulders. With a quick
spin, Elena’s back was facing her. “I can get it for you.” Settling
the dress back into proper position, she slipped her hand to the
base of Elena’s spine where the zipper began.

Allison didn’t even realize the way she held her
breath as she slowly zipped up the dress, but she
did
feel
the tug low in her abdomen when her fingertips brushed over warm
flesh. She shrugged the sensation off as her body’s basic reaction
to a beautiful woman. It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be
the last, so she quickly finished zipping the dress before
awkwardly patting Elena on the back and clearing her throat as she
squeaked, “All done.”

Elena turned to smile at Allison. “Thank you.”

An awkward silence grew between them as they stared
at each other. Green eyes traced the length of the Elena’s body,
and both women jumped when a loud yell of “MOMMA! PANTS!” echoed
into the foyer from down the hall. Allison raised a brow in
question.

“He had a spill,” Elena said and then motioned for
Allison to follow her down the hall.

Once they got Lucas fixed up and settled him down
with his toys, it wasn’t long before the doorbell rang again. Once
again, Allison found herself following Elena to the front door
while Lucas played with his dinosaurs in the living room.

When Elena opened the door, the man on the other side
offered a wide smile. He was short, Allison noted with
amusement—like
really
short, much shorter than Elena. He
wore an obviously expensive suit and shoes that Allison figured
some poor reptile had to have died for, but it did little to
distract from the man’s appearance. It wasn’t that he wasn’t
decent-looking, because in all fairness, the guy was pretty
attractive if you could look past his height and the strange
situation at the top of his head. It was just…well, who
could
look past the situation at the top of his head?

His hair sat oddly, almost unnaturally, on top of his
head. The color didn’t quite match his eyebrows or short sideburns,
and the front of his hair swooped dramatically to the left side.
Allison could not stop staring at it. She tried to look away, but
it was useless. She didn’t know how Elena was going to get through
an entire evening with the guy without gawking at him.

Completely ignoring Allison’s intense stare, the man
held out a bundle of red roses and introduced himself in a rush of
minty breath. “Elena, hi. I’m Garrett. Wow! You are even more
beautiful than Vivian said. These are for you.”

Allison grunted and Garrett finally looked at her. He
frowned momentarily before plastering on a smile as he glanced at
her clothes and asked, “Oh, are you the help?”

“Ha!” Allison barked. “Dude. Wow.” She shook her head
as she turned and walked back into the house.

“Allison is my son’s babysitter.” The words were
spoken in a clipped tone as Elena thrust her hand out and took
Garrett’s flowers and asked him to wait outside while she slipped
them in water and grabbed her clutch.

Allison followed Elena into the kitchen. “Oh, Miss
Vega, would you like me to take those flowers for you? I can clip
and arrange them in a lovely vase for you, Miss Vega.”

They shared a disgusted look, Allison rolling her
eyes and Elena curling her lip. “We haven’t even left the house yet
and already I have a headache,” she said.

“Wanna fake sick?” Allison offered. “I can go run the
guy off for you.”

Elena chuckled as she pulled a vase from a cabinet.
“Oh, the temptation.”

As she filled the vase with water, Allison pointed at
the waiting roses and asked, “Overkill, don’t you think?”

“Oh? Here I was thinking the roses were the saving
grace of that greeting. Flowers
are
a lovely gesture, after
all.”

“
Roses
?” Allison scoffed. “No, that’s a lame,
clichéd gesture that men put way too much stock in. You don’t get a
woman like
you
roses. Seriously.”

“No?”

“No way. You’re way too, I don’t know…just a lot
better than roses. Roses are generic. Orchids maybe, because
they’re unique and way prettier than roses. Wildflowers even, but
definitely not roses.”

When Elena’s brows rose in surprise, Allison
immediately went over her own words in her head. Should she not
have said that? Was it too unprofessional? Allison wasn’t even sure
if she and Elena were friends, or if Elena was simply
friendly
with her because Allison babysat her kid. The
small, almost shy smile that Elena gave her a moment later, though,
made Allison’s stomach flip pleasantly and she couldn’t bring
herself to regret the words at all.