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.”
