Popcorn Love

by KL Hughes

  “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 breat
hy 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.

  Chapter Fifteen

  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.”

  “I’m not a team sport, dear. I have no league.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I do,” Elena conceded. She rubbed her thumb over Allison’s bottom lip and cupped her cheek. “Allison, please don’t put me on a pedestal. I am only a person.”

  A soft breath slipped through Allison’s lips. “You really like me?”

  Those familiar flutters returned to Elena’s stomach as a slow smile slipped across her lips and she nodded against the pillow. “I really do.”

  Allison mimicked Elena’s nod. “Okay. So then, I guess maybe I should go sleep in a guest room or something.”

  “What?” Elena asked. “Why?”

  “Because I feel like if I stay, I might maul you or something.”

  One of Elena’s eyebrows shot up as another wave of heat curled through her abdomen and pulsed between her legs. She blew out a slow breath as she laughed. “I never knew a mauling could sound so thoroughly appealing.”

  “Oh God, could you not?” Allison groaned. “My whole body already feels like it might explode, and I’m trying to be respectful here, woman—take it slow and all that.”

  With every word from Allison’s mouth, Elena’s confidence only grew, despite her lack of experience with women. She slipped her hand around the back of Allison’s neck again before tilting forward and pressing her lips to the slender column. Allison sucked in a shuddering breath at the sensation.

  “Or you could just make it so much worse,” Allison said through gritted teeth. Elena’s hot breath scorched up the length of Allison’s neck, and when Elena’s tongue dipped into the hollow of Allison’s ear, her entire body jolted and she moaned.

  “Oh my God, Elena. That is so unfair. Seriously?”

  Allison grabbed Elena by the shoulders and pushed back, looking into the other woman’s eyes. “What did I just say?” she teased, poking at Elena’s stomach. “You’re making it worse.”

  Elena smiled mischievously at her before moving to close the distance between them once more, but Allison quickly stopped her. “Wait, is that supposed to be a hint?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, is this your way of saying you don’t want to take this slow?” Allison asked her. “Because I mean, I don’t mind sex early on, except when I’m really invested, and I really am, so I’d like to take this slow, unless…Well, did you just want this to be about sex?”

  “Oh,” Elena whispered, her heart clenching at the tremble in Allison’s voice. She cupped her cheek once more as she inched her body closer and shook her head slowly. She kissed Allison’s lips. “No.”

  Allison let out an obvious sigh of relief that had a smile blooming across both of their faces. She leaned forward and kissed the tip of Elena’s nose. “Well okay then. I need to go.”

  “Really?” Elena asked. “You are really going to leave me here alone?”

  Gentle hands ran down Elena’s body once more, then pulled back. “Yup, yup. Have to. I guess I’m just old-fashioned like that.”

  “Allison, we ar
e both adults. I’m sure we can behave ourselves.”

  Allison narrowed her eyes in the dark. “Nah.” She clucked her tongue. “I don’t think you can control that devil mouth of yours.”

  “Devil mouth?” Elena gasped, arching a brow.

  “Mhm. Devil mouth, as in hot as the fires of hell.” Allison crawled off the bed and ducked down to feel around on the floor. When she found her clothes, she balled them up in her hands and held them against her chest. “So, I’m going, because—”

  “Because my mouth is the devil.” Elena was still laying on her side and peering up at Allison through the dark.

  Allison shook her head and groaned. She shuffled a little farther from the bed, her eyes never leaving Elena. “Yup,” she said, “and I gotta go because goddamn if it doesn’t make me wanna be a sinner.”

  Another wave of heat rippled through Elena’s body and burned between her legs. She clenched her thighs tightly to alleviate the throb as she watched Allison walk toward the door. “Are you sure?”

  “Stop talking!” Allison hissed from across the room. “Your voice is the devil too. Right now, pretty much all of you is the devil. So, shh, and just let me go in aching, throbbing peace, woman!”

  “Do you know where the guest ro—”

  “There’s gotta be like fifteen in this house,” Allison grumbled. “I’ll find one.” She slipped out of Elena’s bedroom, clicking the door closed behind her.

  Elena rolled over and stuffed her face in her pillow. The butterflies in her stomach had grown and transformed into excited birds, crashing wildly around inside of her. She sighed into her pillow, the sound bordering on a soft squeal, before groaning and rolling her eyes behind her eyelids.

  “I am behaving like a lovesick teenager.” She rolled over and laid an arm across her eyes. Her entire body was thrumming with an excitement that simultaneously thrilled and embarrassed her. Flipping restlessly onto her side and bunching her pillow up, she wrapped one arm around it. “I feel like a lovesick teenager. This is ridiculous.”