Popcorn Love

by KL Hughes

  Still, the smile on her face never faded.

  * * *

  Elena jolted awake with a yelp as music blasted through her house. Jerking herself into a sitting position, she blinked rapidly through the lingering haze of sleep and glanced around her room. She could tell her hair stuck wildly out on one side, and her lips were swollen and sore.

  As her sense of awareness slowly kicked in, Elena frowned in confusion. Lyrics spilled through the air and assaulted her ears. Why was The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back” echoing through her house like there was a live concert in progress?

  Her blurry eyes widened as the events of the previous night came rushing back. She gasped as her body flooded with heat and she whispered, “Allison.” Her fingers came up and touched gently at her lips. They were puffy and a bit chapped. Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson as she shook her head and smiled against her fingertips.

  She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table and was shocked to see that it was barely six a.m. Typically, it would be another thirty minutes before she would be up and around on weekdays. The same was true for Lucas, who usually woke around the same time as his mother.

  Slipping out of her bed, Elena grabbed her robe from where it hung just inside the closet door. She checked herself in the mirror and scoffed at her predictably wild hair. It was incredibly frizzy on the top. She grabbed her hairbrush and ran several fast strokes through it, taming it as best she could before returning the brush to the vanity. She ran her hands down the front of her robe, smoothing it out as if it were an elegant gown, before sucking in a steadying breath.

  Elena crept down the hallway as quietly as possible. She peeked into Lucas’s bedroom and was unsurprised to see that his bed was empty. There was no way her child, who was both a light sleeper and an early riser, would be able to snooze through the blaring tunes spilling through the house. No, he was assuredly with Allison, wherever the two were.

  She found them soon enough, and Elena remained tucked partially behind the corner as a smile blasted across her face at the scene playing out in her kitchen. She quickly brought a hand up and cupped it over her mouth, containing the laughter that threatened to spill forth as she watched Allison, clad in her jeans and tank top from the previous day, dance all around the kitchen with a spatula held to her lips like a microphone. Lucas sat in his chair, bopping excitedly up and down and giggling and clapping as Allison danced around him and sang into her spatula.

  Even though Allison was singing several octaves higher than what Elena would guess was her natural register, it was still startlingly beautiful. God, Elena thought, how was it that literally everything about this woman seemed so incredibly attractive to her?

  Elena felt her insides turn to mush as she watched Allison hold the spatula out toward Lucas and let him babble senselessly before turning back toward the stove and grabbing the skillet. With a flick of her wrist, a pancake soared high into the air. Elena snorted with laughter as Allison barely caught the pancake again, nearly letting it tumble to the floor.

  Lucas clapped happily as Allison then returned the skillet to the stove and resumed her dancing. Elena watched every second of it, completely absorbed in this precious moment. Thought after thought spiraled through her mind, too rapid to pinpoint any particulars, except for one. Elena was quite certain that she wouldn’t mind waking up more often to find Allison Sawyer dancing around her kitchen.

  It was in that moment that Elena’s darling son happened to glance over and see her. He threw his hands into the air and squealed. “Momma!”

  Elena’s breath hitched in her throat and Allison, red-faced, whirled around at Lucas’s cry and nearly dropped the spatula in the process. Her heart jumped into her throat and stuck there as Allison’s eyes glittered in the sunlight streaming through the kitchen window and her lips parted just slightly.

  “Good morning,” Allison whispered so quietly that Elena had to read her lips to understand her over the loud music.

  “Hi.” She mouthed the words with a smile as she leaned her head gently against the wall.

  “Hi!” Lucas screamed at his mother, waving his arms dramatically.

  Allison’s eyes widened, and then she shook her head and shot over to the stove to check on her now-burning pancakes. “Crap,” she muttered as she threw one in the garbage and poured another dollop of batter onto the skillet to start anew.

  Elena laughed as she finally tore her gaze away from Allison.

  “Good morning, munchkin!” She crossed the kitchen and bent to kiss Lucas’s forehead. “You are up bright and early.”

  “Can’t hear you!” Lucas shouted.

  “Oh!” Allison exclaimed, shooting past them. “I got it. Just a sec.” She ran into the living room, and the volume of the music went down. She then shot back to the kitchen to finish cooking the pancakes.

  “Sorry,” she said when she returned. “Lucas said that it was time for you to wake up, so we figured music would be a good replacement alarm.”

  Lucas beamed up at Elena as she ran her fingers through his soft and wild hair. “What you say, Momma?”

  “I said you are up bright and early.”

  Lucas nodded. “Momma, did you know Alson had a sleepover?”

  Moving to grab a glass from the cabinet to the left of the sink, Elena chuckled. “Yes I did.” She crossed to the refrigerator to retrieve the apple juice.

  “Yeah,” Lucas sighed. “She didn’t sleep with me.”

  “No?” Elena asked, biting her lip as she stood in the open door of the refrigerator and poured her apple juice. Elena’s breath caught in her throat when Allison placed a hand on her hip before leaning slowly around her to grab the butter from the side door. Turning to put the juice container back just as Allison straightened from the door, their chests brushed gently, and they both breathed sharply at the contact, their eyes locking again.

  “No,” Lucas said, snapping Elena and Allison back to attention. He let out a dramatic huff as he popped the straw of his juice box into his mouth.

  Elena smiled teasingly at the woman in front of her. “She didn’t sleep with me either, dear.”

  Allison turned a playful glare onto Elena before returning to the stove so that she could transfer the final finished pancake onto a plate. “Ha. Ha.” She shook her head.

  “You’re sposta sleep with someone when you have a sleepover, Alson,” Lucas said. “Like when Gram sleeps with me.”

  “Yes, Allison.” Elena smirked. “You are supposed to sleep with someone.”

  Allison’s cheeks burned a lovely shade of pink as she carried Lucas’s plate over to him. “Sorry, little man,” she said. “I didn’t know the rules.”

  A bright smile greeted her as she set two small silver-dollar pancakes in front of him. “Thank you!” He then jumped right back to the topic of sleepovers. “Next time you gotta sleep with me or Momma, okay?” Lucas looked over to his mother as he picked up his syrup-less pancake and bit off a piece. “Right, Momma?”

  Elena pinned Allison with a smoldering look. “Absolutely, darling.” She tilted her head and added, “Whichever you prefer, Allison.”

  Placing a plate of pancakes in front of Elena, Allison shook her head. She lowered her voice to a whisper as she said, “Just eat your pancakes, woman.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “See that!” Lucas cried, pointing out the window of the moving vehicle. Allison looked over her shoulder so she could look out Lucas’s window. She didn’t have a clue what he was pointing at, but she still gasped and pretended to be thrilled.

  “Whoa! Yeah!”

  “And that!” Lucas shouted again, still pointing.

  “Yeah, what was that?”

  “I don’t know!” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned like he was on top of the world. He seemed even more pleased with himself as both his mother and babysitter laughed loudly.

  “Is he always like this in the car?” Allison asked Elena.

  Elena shook her head and kept her eyes fixed o
n the road. “Not typically, no. He has occasional mornings when he is more energetic, but he usually sleeps or repetitively sings the dinosaur song.”

  “What?” Allison asked, her grin widening. “There’s a dinosaur song?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “Like from a TV show or something?”

  “No.” Elena rolled to a stop at a red light. “It’s his song.”

  “His?” Allison glanced back at Lucas again. “As in he made it up?”

  Elena confirmed with a proud nod. “He is rather creative, that son of mine.”

  “Heck yeah he is.” Allison turned in her seat again and faced the back. “Hey Lucas!”

  “Hey!” Lucas’s gaze snapped away from the window and back to Allison in the front seat.

  “Sing me the dinosaur song. Please?”

  Lucas didn’t hesitate to nod. “Okay!”

  He kicked his legs in an absentminded way against the front of his car seat as he began to sing loudly, and Allison had to cup a hand over her mouth in order to keep from laughing or squealing or some strange combination of the two. The song came out in shifting rhythms with no set pattern, and none of the lines rhymed. Lucas didn’t seem to notice, though, bopping his head as if the rhythm never altered and made perfect sense.

  “Dinosaurs are big.

  Dinosaurs are green.

  They eat plants and other dinosaurs.

  Dinosaurs have big teeth.

  And big claws too.

  Dinosaurs are my friends.

  Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs.”

  Lucas held out the last word for a long time, raising his voice an octave and throwing a small fist into the air dramatically, and Allison just completely lost it. She had been biting her lip behind her hand the entire time, trying her best not to ruin the moment, but she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She burst into laughter as she clapped her hands and cheered for Lucas. Elena joined in the cheering and Lucas beamed from the backseat, clapping his hands as well.

  “That was a great song, little man!” Allison reached back to pat his exposed knee. Elena had let him choose his outfit for the day, and he had chosen khaki shorts, a green-and-white striped polo, green socks, and solid white tennis shoes. There was no denying that the kid had style, much like his mother.

  “And a superb singing voice,” Elena added as she glanced at her son in the rearview mirror.

  Allison nodded enthusiastically. “Totally!”

  “Want me teach you?” Lucas offered.

  “Do I want you to teach it to me?” Allison raised her brows and bugged out her eyes. “Well yeah! Of course!”

  “Perhaps next time, munchkin,” Elena said before Lucas could begin another loud round of the dinosaur song. “We are here.”

  Allison whirled around in her seat and her jaw instantly dropped.

  “Holy Cracker Jack!” Her eyes widened as she leaned forward in the passenger seat of Elena’s car and stared up through the windshield at the massive home looming in front of them. “This is where your parents live?”

  Elena glanced up as well as she parked the car. “Yes. It is rather ostentatious, I know.”

  A teasing smile painted Allison’s lips. “Like you have any room to talk about other people having ostentatious houses.”

  “Ah-ah,” Elena said, clucking her tongue. “You forget that my home first belonged to my parents before it belonged to me.”

  “You’re right. I forgot. Fair enough.”

  “Thank you.” Elena unlatched her seatbelt and exited the car.

  “You want me to help?” Allison asked, unlatching her own seatbelt. “I can get Lucas.”

  “No, that’s all right dear. I only have the munchkin to carry, since he has duplicates of nearly everything here. There is rarely a need for me to pack anything for him.”

  “Oh.” Allison pouted. “Well, you want me to walk with you to the door?”

  “You could. But only if you wish to subject yourself to my mother’s interrogations.”

  “Interrogations?” Allison asked. “What about?”

  Elena opened the back door and went to work unbuckling Lucas from his car seat. “Oh, a variety of topics, I’m sure.”

  “Ow, Momma,” Lucas squeaked and lifted his leg. “Don’t pinch.”

  “I’m sorry, baby,” Elena cooed, readjusting her hand around the base buckle. “It was an accident.”

  Allison’s hand shot to the door handle. “Need some help?” she asked, ready to exit the car and run around to assist Elena.

  “No, it’s fine.” Elena shook her head. “This one is frequently a hassle, but if I can just get enough pressure on th—” A click sounded as the buckle released, and Elena glanced up at Allison with a smile. “There.”

  Lucas threw his arms out for his mother to pick him up. She propped him on her right hip and bent to look back into the car at Allison. “I’ll just be a moment.”

  “No big.” Allison shrugged and watched Elena close the door and make her way up the walkway. She didn’t get very far, though, before Allison heard Lucas shout through Elena’s cracked open window.

  “Momma wait!”

  Elena stopped and patted his thigh. “What is it, Lucas?”

  “Alson!”

  “Yes.” Elena nodded, and Allison waved from the car. “Allison is waiting in the car.”

  “No,” Lucas told her, shaking his head. He started waving his arm wildly, motioning for Allison to join them. “She has to say bye.”

  Elena sighed and freed her left arm to mimic Lucas’s beckoning motion.

  Allison reached out and turned the key back in the ignition to shut the car entirely off. She pulled the key out and stuck it in her pocket as she jumped out of the car and jogged over to where Elena and Lucas waited.

  “Apparently, your presence is required.” Elena chuckled as Allison stepped up to them and Lucas dove toward her.

  She caught him mid-dive and transferred the small boy from Elena’s hip to her own. “Well, I’m cool with that,” she said, shrugging her shoulders and bouncing Lucas atop her hip.

  When they turned to continue their short trek up the walkway, the door opened and out stepped an older brunette woman that Allison had seen in several pictures around Elena’s house. The resemblance was striking if you knew what to look for, and Allison had spent plenty of time studying Elena’s features, whether consciously or not, so she could definitely see the similarities. This woman was most certainly Elena’s mother.

  “Gram!”

  “Hello, my sweet boy!” Nora called to him from the porch, but she wasn’t looking at Lucas. Her gaze was locked onto Allison. Her eyes narrowed as she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over her silken robe.

  As Elena, Allison, and Lucas reached the door, Lucas dove forward again without warning, practically leaping from Allison’s arms to Nora’s. His grandmother caught him easily. She kissed his cheek as she held him at her side before leaning forward to kiss Elena’s cheek as well. “Good morning, darling.” Her narrowed gaze never left Allison as she greeted her daughter. It made Allison squirm.

  “Good morning, Mother,” Elena replied, pressing her lips to her mother’s cheek as well. “He is rather excitable today, so he may be a handful.”

  “Oh, he’s fine, dear.” Nora waved a hand dismissively. She then pointed at Allison. “Who’s this?”

  “Mother, this is Allison. Allison, this is my mother.”

  “Allison,” Nora repeated, smiling at Allison as she held out her hand. “Lovely to meet you.”

  Allison shook her hand firmly. “You too, Mrs. Vega.”

  “Oh dear, please call me Nora.”

  “Okay, Nora,” Allison replied. That was a good sign, right? Allison relaxed a bit and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Allison is the babysitter that I told you about,” Elena said.

  “Of course. Of course,” Nora said, nodding. “I knew the name sounded familiar. Lucas goes on and on about you. So, how do you like our darling b
oy?”

  Shuffling in place, Allison’s shoulder brushed gently against Elena’s. “He’s the best kid I’ve ever worked with,” she said.

  Elena beamed, as did Lucas, who was now twirling Nora’s hair around his fingers. “Alson likes green, Gram.”

  “She does?” Nora asked, bouncing the boy on her hip.

  “Yup!”

  “Well then I suppose Allison is a keeper, isn’t she?”

  Lucas nodded.

  “So,” Nora said after a beat, “why might the babysitter be needed this morning? Am I being replaced?”

  Allison felt her face flush with heat as the boy exclaimed, “Alson had a sleepover!”

  One of Nora’s eyebrows arched impossibly high, much as Allison had seen Elena’s do countless times. The resemblance between them in that moment was almost uncanny. “Is that so?” Nora asked.

  “Yeah,” Lucas told her, “but she didn’t sleep with me.”

  “She didn’t sleep with me either!” Elena added in one long, frenzied stream of words. She then cleared her throat and straightened her back. Her mother’s face erupted into a knowing smirk, and Allison was fairly certain they were screwed. She glanced to Elena and noticed that her face was as red hot as Allison’s felt.

  “I see.” Nora hummed. “And were you disappointed by this?”

  “Mother!” Elena hissed.

  Nora completely ignored Elena. Her eyes locked onto Allison and she asked, “So, I take it your position has surpassed babysitter then?”

  “Uh.” Allison glanced back and forth between Nora and Elena. “Uh, y—”

  Elena subtly shook her head, and Allison quickly changed her course of speech. “…No. I mean, uh, nope. Just a babysitter.”

  “And a poor liar.” Nora chuckled. “So, may I ask—”

  “No, you may not, Mother.” Elena snapped at her. “We have neither the time nor the desire to endure a classic Nora Vega Inquisition.”

  “Inquisition is a bit harsh, don’t you think, Elena?”