CHAPTER VII – American Beauty
"How much alcohol did you buy? There're a gazillion empty bottles in the kitchen!" asked surprised the brunette.
"The perks of sending Graham to buy it" Ali laughed "Are we done? I'm exhausted; I just wanna lie down on the couch and do nothing!" she exclaimed with a sound of tiredness in her voice and sighing heavily.
"Yeah, we have to take out the trash and that's it" said Eva excited. She just had the best birthday party ever. "Open the door for me please" she said as she carried the garbage bags from the kitchen. Allison let her out and back in. "Finished" called Eva as she went to the bathroom to wash her hands.
"Great, what do you wanna watch?" said the blonde raising her voice and approaching her movie collection. "Anything you want is in here" added bragging. Eva came back from the bathroom drying her hands in paper towel and took a look at the DVDs.
"What about American Beauty?" said throwing the wet paper to the garbage. It was her favorite movie; she had seen it more than 25 times. Allison searched for it.
"Here it is, put it on, I'll go make the popcorn. Butter or sugar?" asked the blonde giving the plastic box to the brunette.
"Holy fuck, you do have everything in here" said Eva surprised as she inserted the movie in the DVD. "Butter-flavored is ok".
"What was that? Did you just say the F word? So much for the bossy doctor" quipped Allison. She knew she could already make that kind of joke.
"Maybe it's because you don't cease to surprise me, it's your fault that I curse" sincerely said the surgeon. She turned off the lights.
"Whatever, dirty mouth. Can I call you that?" Allison answered from the kitchen. She couldn't stop smiling. "What do you want to drink?"
"Do you have orange Minute Maid? If not, just water" Two minutes later there was Ali, with a bowl of popcorn, a soda and a glass of orange juice. They both sat on the extremely comfortable couch.
"Just press play, please" the brunette chuckled. They watched the whole movie in silence except for that one time Eva said "I love this scene" referring to a plastic bag flying. Allison didn't understand anything of what was happening in the movie; she couldn't stop thinking about the woman sitting next to her; she could feel the heat in her skin from being so close to her. She was going crazy. She was afraid her thoughts were louder than the TV.
Two hours later the black screen indicated the end of the movie. Eva stretched and Ali copied her. There was no more popcorn or drinks. Just silence. The blonde extended to reach the switch of the lamp she had right next to her, so she could see Eva's face. The birthday woman made herself comfortable by facing Allison. So did the other. Eva broke the silence.
"Hey, I just wanted to thank you for everything. The birthday party and you know… everything in general; being there for me even if sometimes I treat you bad" said sincerely. They stared at each other. Ali said nothing at all, she was terrified. Her boss' presence made her totally nervous; her heart was beating so fast she could feel it coming out of her chest. "You're allowed to talk now" Eva smiled.
"It's ok, I do these kinds of things because I care about you" she hesitated. "Oh, by the way, I didn't give you your birthday gift" said as she stood up and went to her bedroom to grab the present.
"Oh no, you didn't" said Eva as Ali entered the room with a box. "What is it?"
"Open it" challenged her the blonde. Eva took the ribbon off the box and opened it. Inside there was a script. 'The Mummy Returns' was written on the first page.
"A script?" Eva didn't understand what was going on.
"Turn to the last page" said Allison. She did, there was a signature of Rachel Weisz, her favorite actress of all time. Eva was speechless.
"How…" the brunette's voice cracked. She started crying. Rachel meant the world to her. Allison hugged her and comforted her.
"If I knew you were going to cry like a baby I wouldn't have given you anything" said the blonde trying to liven the moment up.
"I'm sorry, they're happy tears" mumbled Eva. "How did you know she was so important to me?" she asked drying her own tears.
"I asked around the hospital. Ruby told me you liked 'that hot chick from that movie with mummies and a lot of sand', her words not mine; so I did my research and got what I wanted" explained Allison.
"I can't believe you would go through all that trouble to get me a present" said Eva still tearing up.
'I work hard to get what I want' thought to herself the blonde. Instead she said "My pleasure. Well… I guess it's bed time, don't you think?"
"Yeah, thank you Ali, you just made my day" thanked Eva. Ali dried her tears with her thumbs. And then again, an awkward silence and a longer stare.
"Ok then, you have a queen bed to yourself, I'll sleep on the couch" said the blonde getting as far as possible from Eva's lips before it was too late.
"A queen bed and you'll sleep on the couch? Hell no, missy. I don't bite" said Eva as she headed to the bedroom. Ali was hoping she did bite. She followed the brunette to her own room. She sat on the bed and sighed. When she turned around to see why Eva was so quiet she found her partner unbuttoning her shirt and taking it off, leaving nothing but her black bra on. Ali's jaw dropped. Eva was the sexiest woman she had ever seen.
"What's with your face, blondie? Are you ok?" In that moment Eva realized how much power she had over Allison, and she liked it.
"Yeah, do you need a pajama?" asked very distracted the blonde.
"Nah, I'm ok like this. Does it bother you?" asked Eva with a naive tone.
"No, of course not, excuse me" She rushed to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Her heart was beating dangerously fast. She looked in the mirror and blushed. She needed to calm down. 'Breathe in, breathe out. Come one Ali, it's not that hard'. She came out and entered the room again to see the brunette already in bed. She took her shirt and pants off right in front of Eva and chuckled when she saw how nervous the other had suddenly become.
Ali walked around the room in her underwear, turned off the lights and got into bed. Silence again.
"Hey… have you ever met someone and wondered what it would be like to kiss them?" asked the blonde out of nowhere. Either of them could see the other; the room was too dark. They could only hear the sound of each other breathing. For a moment Allison regretted asking the question.
"Yeah" That's all Eva said. Allison sensed some tension so she just closed her eyes.
"Good night, birthday girl" Ali whispered in the dark.
"Good night, beautiful" answered the brunette.
