by KL Hughes
Maybe she would look into it now, though, since Elena seemed to like paying her way too much.
Allison settled the guitar on her knee and got comfortable behind it. Once it was tuned, she played and played, her fingers dancing across the strings as she hummed or sang along through song after song, the perfect distraction from her toiling thoughts about her employer.
She played so long, her eyes closed and a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, that she didn’t notice the full hour that passed or the footsteps echoing through the house.
* * *
Elena shakily pulled Lucas’s door closed after checking on him. A deep breath steadied her as she went on the hunt for Allison. She checked the kitchen and dining room first. Both were empty.
When she made her way into the living room, a soft sound caught her attention. Curious, she followed the sound through the house and up the stairs until she eventually found herself in the open doorway of her father’s music room. She peeked into the room and saw Allison seated on the couch with her back to the door and an acoustic guitar tucked under her arm.
She could hardly help her surprise as she realized how skilled Allison was with the instrument, but when she began to hum and sing wordlessly to the sounds, Elena’s eyebrows shot into her hairline and warmth spilled through her body, tugging low in her stomach. As tingles rippled down her spine, she found herself taking several steps into the room without even realizing it.
The click of her heels finally caught Allison’s attention and the music stopped as the blonde whirled around and jumped to her feet.
“Shit, Elena,” Allison said, her cheeks turning red. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have messed with your things. I just love music, and I saw these and I thought—”
Elena waved her hand to silence Allison. “Calm down,” she said with an easy smile despite the fact that inside, she was positively screaming and on edge. “It’s all right.”
“Right, uh, do you play?” Allison asked as she stood with the guitar, shuffling from foot to foot.
“I don’t, no. This is my father’s music room. This is the house I grew up in. My parents bought a new place about five years ago, and I received this one as a graduation present. He never took his instruments with him. He likes to play for Lucas when they come to visit.”
“Oh, okay, cool.” Allison grinned. She scratched at the back of her head as they stood a few feet apart, staring at one another. “Hell of a graduation present.”
“Yes. It was rather overwhelming to live here alone for the first few months. I even convinced Vivian to live with me for a short period, but we tend to get a bit catty if we are in each other’s hair twenty-four-seven.”
“Really? You guys seem really close.”
“Oh we are.” But Elena’s words were quiet and lacking spirit. She was too busy indulging herself: her gaze roamed over Allison’s body, taking in every detail. Elena could not believe how blind she had been. The more she looked at Allison now, the more beautiful she appeared.
Of course, Elena had always known Allison to be beautiful, but she had simply never realized how much that beauty affected her.
Allison clucked her tongue in the painfully tense and awkward silence that developed between them before holding up the guitar again and pointing at it. “Are you sure it’s okay that I…you know?”
“Oh,” Elena said, shaking herself back to reality. “Oh yes. It’s fine.”
Neither moved from where they stood. The silence began to filter between them once more, and neither seemed terribly comfortable with it. Elena found herself wanting to blurt out the revelation she had had earlier that night, but another part of her wanted to pretend like the revelation had never happened just so that she wouldn’t have to try to figure out if Allison was even remotely interested.
Pointing at the guitar seemed to Elena like a really good stalling tactic.
“I heard you as I was coming up the stairs,” she said. “You’re rather skilled, Allison. How long have you been playing?”
“Uh, about eleven years now.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, it took me a while to get the fingering down, but I eventually mastered it.”
Their eyes locked hard, and, in that moment, a strange form of tension filled the space between them. Electricity practically crackled in the air as they took unconscious steps toward one another, the only obstacle between them the acoustic guitar in Allison’s hand.
Elena’s entire body vibrated. She didn’t know what to do, but she knew she wanted to do something.
What if my feelings aren’t reciprocated, though? I would hate to make things awkward and messy.
But her body seemed less concerned with repercussions than her mind as she leaned in. It was as if the tiny golden flecks in Allison’s emerald eyes were beckoning her in, and she followed. A single word slithered across her lips before she could stop it.
“Allison?”
Allison sucked in a sharp breath. She shifted just slightly forward and whispered, “Yeah?”
Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Elena jerked back and cleared her throat. She blinked and refocused her gaze on the guitar, finding Allison’s eyes too captivating to chance looking at again. She pointed to the guitar once more. “Would you like to play something for me?”
“Um, s-sure,” Allison stammered, “if you want.”
“I want,” Elena answered. Her cheeks flushed a little at her tone, but before Allison could notice, Elena stepped around her and settled gracefully on the couch.
“Well, um, okay.” Allison sat down. They glanced at one another a final time before Allison dropped her head to rest her chin on the side of the guitar, closed her eyes, and began to play a random melody.
Chapter Fourteen
Deft fingers moving effortlessly over tense strings, gliding gracefully from fret to fret, kept Elena utterly captivated. Her eyes tracked the movements of Allison’s fingers, but what Elena was most drawn to was the expression of sheer bliss and peace that settled over Allison’s face as she played. She was entirely serene in that moment, and Elena thought she had never seen her look more beautiful, even with the large bruise marring the skin between her eyes.
Chin resting atop the side of the guitar, Allison swayed gently as she strummed and hummed softly along. She didn’t play any one song in particular but rather an amalgam of melodies.
Elena’s lips parted, her fingers twisted together in her lap, and the more Allison played, the harder Elena’s heart pounded against her ribcage. It was as if she could feel her rumbling pulse in every part of her body. It throbbed in her ears and quaked in her throat. She felt it fluttering in her chest, a steady, excited rhythm. It sent tremors down her spine and whispered between her legs like a purring plea.
She could not recall a time in her life that she had been more attracted to a person. It was completely overwhelming, as the realization seemed to only heighten the attraction, the new and wonderful sensations rippling through her cells. She was so mesmerized by it all, in fact, that she didn’t even notice that Allison had stopped playing.
“Elena?”
Jolting, Elena blinked rapidly and realized that Allison was looking at her. Allison’s fingers were still, settled neatly atop the guitar that was no longer producing gentle melodies, and a smile played at her lips.
“Yes?” Elena shook her head just slightly and cleared her throat. “Apologies, dear. I seemed to have gotten lost in the music. You play incredibly well, Allison. That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
Cheeks flushing a beautiful shade of pink, Allison ducked her head a bit and shrugged as if to dismiss the compliment. “Yeah, it’s no problem. I like to play.”
“Yes, I could tell. You seemed quite peaceful.”
Allison nodded and patted the guitar. “Yeah, there’s something about playing that really mellows me out. It’s like everything in my head just gets really quiet, and all I hear is the music, you know?”
&nbs
p; Not waiting for an answer, she popped off the couch and carried the guitar over to the wall of instruments. She settled it back in its rightful place and walked back over to the couch. “So,” she said as she plopped onto the couch much closer to Elena than before, “how bad was this date?”
As soon as the question slipped across Allison’s lips, all of Elena’s fluttering butterflies shriveled and died. Panic spilled through her cells as she tried to think of an appropriate answer. She didn’t want to lie to Allison and say that Alexis was horrible, because she wasn’t. She also didn’t want to tell the entire truth, because she didn’t want Allison to know that she had had a teenage meltdown. At the same time, Elena didn’t want to make Allison think that she had been completely taken with Alexis either, because truthfully, Elena only wanted one person.
“Wow,” Allison said. “Silence, huh? Must’ve been really bad.” Allison reached over to poke at Elena’s knee. “Was she like a total snob?”
Elena said nothing, merely shaking her head in answer.
“No? Okay, don’t tell me. Let me guess.”
“Very well,” she agreed, knowing that Allison would never guess, considering Elena hadn’t actually found anything wrong with the woman. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Elena supposed the only thing wrong with Alexis was that she wasn’t Allison, but Allison certainly was not about to guess that either.
“Okay, so she wasn’t a snob.” Allison tapped her finger, as if ticking off the first of many options. “Did she have an issue with Lucas? You know, a lot of women don’t want kids, despite the completely idiotic belief that that’s all we’re good for.”
Elena chuckled. “No, dear.” She shook her head. “Alexis seemed perfectly fine with my having a son.”
“Yeah, well she should be,” Allison said. “Because he is the cutest son ever.”
A melodious laugh slipped through. “I am in perfect agreement with you there.”
“Okay, so there goes that issue.” Allison ticked another one of her fingers. “Oh, was she like overly sexual? You know, to the point of being inappropriate or whatever?”
“Not at all.”
“Damn. Did she have bad grammar? You seem like the type of person that would be annoyed by terrible grammar. Speaking of which, you know I can actually speak really well, right? I just choose not to.”
Elena smiled. “I gathered as much, yes, but no, she spoke well.”
“Well, hell, Elena.” Allison threw her hands up. “Just tell me then, because I’m starting to think that there wasn’t anything wrong with this woman. She was hot. I know that much.”
“She was rather attractive, yes.”
“And she was definitely rich,” Allison said, “because the jewelry she had on probably could’ve paid for my entire college education.”
Elena tilted her head as if in reluctant agreement. “Yes, it likely could have.”
The frown that touched Allison’s lips bit at Elena’s insides. “Was there anything wrong with her, with the date?”
“No,” Elena whispered, her gaze never fully rising to meet Allison’s. She decided to be at least partially honest and simply avoid the details. “It was actually quite nice. Alexis was a lovely date.”
“O-oh,” Allison stammered. “Oh, well…oh.”
When she finally looked up, the completely devastated expression on Allison’s face caused Elena’s heart to rise into her throat. Flares of hope burned brightly as her thoughts went into overdrive. Did this mean that Allison was interested? Did it mean that Allison reciprocated her feelings? Should she just ask and get it over with, put herself out of her own misery?
Of course not, Elena reprimanded herself. There had to be cleverer, subtler ways to go about this than to have to put everything on the line and possibly embarrass the hell out of herself. Elena mulled that over for a moment, searching her mind for a slightly probing yet still safe question.
“Should I be worried about how disappointed you seem?” She let out a small laugh. “Were you hoping that the date would be another disaster?”
“What?” Allison shook her head. “Of course not.”
“Are you certain? Because you seem rather less spirited now.”
“Yeah. I mean, no. No. It’s just, uh, I mean, nothing really to rant about if the date was awesome, huh?”
“Oh,” Elena said, “I see. I suppose you are right.”
“Yeah,” Allison whispered. She raised a hand and pressed it to her chest, rubbing a small circle over the spot as if it hurt.
Elena tried not to put too much stock in the action. She didn’t want to get her hopes up too high. “Well, shall we have a change of subject then?” she asked. “How was Lucas tonight?”
“So, you liked this chick then? Alexis.” Allison practically spat the woman’s name, as she ignored Elena’s question.
Elena reeled back a bit in shock at the sudden change in Allison’s tone. Was that jealousy? Elena certainly hoped so.
Only a brief silence passed between them before Elena decided to test the waters. “I did, yes.” She watched carefully for Allison’s reaction.
Allison nodded roughly at the same time that she sort of shrugged and even inched away from Elena a bit. “Well, that’s cool, I guess.”
The tiniest jolt of excitement rippled through Elena’s body. “Yes.” She kept her eyes locked on Allison. “She was easily the best date I’ve had thus far.”
Scoffing, Allison mumbled, “Well, you’ve only been on three, so that’s not really saying anything.”
“Allison.”
“I mean, like you shouldn’t just settle for the first good date that comes along, right? And yeah, Alexis was like really pretty and rich or whatever, but I mean, do you really wanna date someone who is basically you but in a different body?”
“Allison.”
“If you wanted pretty and rich, you could just go look in the mirror, right? Maybe you should branch out or whatever and, like, date someone a little different.”
“Allison!”
“What!” They both winced at the bite in Allison’s voice, and Allison quickly shook her head. “Shit. I’m sorry, Elena. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“It’s okay. I snapped first.” Elena reached out to lay a hand on top of one of Allison’s. “But are you all right? You seem flustered.”
Allison sighed. “I just…my head hurts a little I guess. I, uh, I think I need to get some air.”
Before Elena could utter another word, Allison jumped off the couch and ran out of the music room. Elena let out a heavy breath, her chin sinking to her chest. Her stomach churned uncomfortably as she whispered to herself, “What the hell just happened?”
* * *
Allison bolted down the stairs, through the living room, playroom, foyer, and out the front door without a second’s hesitation. As soon as the warm evening breeze ghosted across her face, she sucked in a deep breath and began to pace the short length of Elena’s stoop. “What the fuck was that?” She smacked her palm against her forehead. Her hand collided with the deep bruise between her eyes.
“Ow!” She clenched her teeth and blinked rapidly to hold back her tears as pain blasted through her forehead and face. “Stupid!”
Allison breathed heavily through the pain until it began to dwindle to a dull throb. Her brain felt like it was on fire. What the hell had just happened back there?
She had not only completely freaked out, but she had also snapped at Elena. That wasn’t cool. Why was she even freaking out to begin with?
“Oh God,” she whispered as she ran a hand through her tangled curls. “I’m jealous.”
As soon as the words slithered across her lips, Allison knew they were true, and, in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to crawl in a hole and die. She could not, could not, could not be falling for Elena fucking Vega. It was positively out of the question.
And why was it out of the question? Because, Allison told herself, you are a poor orphan student and she is a rich, suc
cessful businesswoman. She is way, way out of your lame little league!
“Just let it go, Allison,” she whispered. “Just let it go.”
It wasn’t like they couldn’t still be friends, though Allison was going to have to get a handle on her jealousy, but yeah. She could do this. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d crushed on a girl she couldn’t have. It would pass. She just needed a little time.
She took a deep breath and let it out in one long, easy sigh before cracking her neck to both sides, shaking out her hands, and walking calmly back into the house.
* * *
Elena was in the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water, when she heard footsteps sound behind her. She looked up to see Allison standing just a few feet away, expression sheepish and feet shuffling in place. “Oh,” Elena said. “I thought you might have left.”
Allison shook her head. “No, I just needed some air.”
“I see,” Elena replied. She took a tentative step toward Allison and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Are you all right?”
Allison visibly swallowed. “Yeah, fine.”
“Are you sure? Allison, have I done something to upset you?”
“No!” Allison took a step closer and reached for Elena’s hands. She laced their fingers together. “No, Elena. You didn’t do anything.” She released one of Elena’s hands and scratched awkwardly at the back of her neck as she then avoided the woman’s gaze. “I guess pain just makes me a little grouchy.”
Elena smiled and slowly reached out to graze her fingers across the puffy, purple flesh between Allison’s eyes. “Would you like some more aspirin? Or an ice pack, perhaps?”
Allison shook her head gently back and forth against Elena’s fingertips. “Nah,” she whispered. “I should probably get going anyway. I’m sure you’ve gotta work in the morning, and I’ve got a nine a.m. class.”