Leonard's eyes opened. Momentarily disoriented, he remembered the events of the day before in a flash. Allison was his girlfriend now. He was lying in her bed on the other side of the house, so that was why the sunlight looked wrong. He scooted closer to her and she stirred.
"Mmm. Good morning," she said when she opened her eyes and saw him, stretching.
"Hi, baby." He kissed her. She let out a little scoffing sound at the moniker but didn't comment on it. It must not have bothered her too badly—she was smiling. "We slept in," he added. "I have to go to work soon."
She grabbed at his shoulder and tried to make him lie down again, a sly smile spreading on her face. "Call off. They won't miss you."
Leonard's reluctance made his voice falter. "I can't. You're only allowed to live here if I go to class and to work." Now that school was over, that part didn't matter, but he couldn't call off for something like this. "You can handle me being gone a few hours."
She pursed her lips in a pout. "I can, I just don't want to."
He was wavering. He ran his hand up and down her arm, sighing. He just couldn't let himself give in. "You can't always get what you want." He kissed her cheek. "Please don't tempt me anymore, Allison."
Her disappointment lasted only a moment longer. She smirked. "You want to take a shower then?"
Suddenly he felt like that awkward schoolboy again, shy and intimidated. "You mean…with you?"
She smiled. "What else?"
He pressed in to kiss her. "You're full of good ideas, you know that?"
"Don't forget it," she teased. The two of them rose then, and made their way to the bathroom. He couldn't take his eyes off her as she set the shower and slipped in ahead of him. "Come on," she encouraged with a laugh. "You act like you've never seen me naked before."
He climbed into the tub next to her, drawing the curtain. "Every time I see you it's like the first time."
"Aw, so sweet," she said, running a finger down the center of his chest. "Did you write that in your notebook?"
He rolled his eyes. Of course she'd remember about seeing her name in his notebook. "Hey, you should be flattered, with the way you've been treating me."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm going to let that one slide."
"That's 'cause you know I'm right."
"No, it's because I thought you'd like to avoid an argument." She gave him a look before she stepped back to get under the stream of water, raising her hands to smooth over her hair.
He rubbed his chin, running his nails through the scruff of beard, and watched her. "You're pretty good at being distracting," he finally said, deciding to listen to her and drop it.
"You noticed." She grinned and stepped closer. "Why don't you get wet, Leonard?"
It was hard not to linger in there for too long, but eventually the water started to cool and he reluctantly shut it off. "I've got to shave, and then I've got to leave."
"Want me to bring you your clothes?" she asked, wrapping herself in a towel.
"Yeah, that'd be great." He stepped to the mirror and started slathering his face with shaving cream. By the time he was done shaving she'd returned, dressed for the day. "You're going to be late," she said, almost triumphantly.
"Mhm." At this point he didn't care. The last twenty-four hours had been great and getting a strike for being late wasn't going to bother him after that.
Work was entirely different that day. Leonard found himself smiling in the middle of mopping or filling orders, thinking of Allison's milky white skin and her blond hair, of water cascading down her body and wet kisses, instead of whatever he was supposed to be thinking about. Normally if he needed to concentrate on something he was able to compartmentalize any distractions and banish them from his thinking, but thoughts of his now-requited love were all-consuming—for at least one day. He kept making mistakes—dropping someone's ice cream cone, scooping the wrong flavor up for someone else, stupid little things like that. It was kind of embarrassing, but it was also hard to care.
"I know that look," Will said, stopping in the break room where Leonard was eating a hot dog.
He glanced up at his boss. "What look?"
"That stupid grin on your face." Will stepped further into the room, taking up a mop to give it a quick pass it over the break room floor. "Who's the lucky one?"
"Oh," Leonard said. "You met her one time a while back. Allison."
Will grinned. "The blonde?"
"Yeah. I'm surprised you remember that."
"I remember everyone. And their orders." Will headed toward the door of the room again. "Make sure to treat her right."
"I don't intend to do anything else," Leonard said. Really, why wouldn't he? That's what love was about.
Word got around quickly among his few fellow employees about his newly minted relationship. Luckily the number of people who worked in the shop at any one time was fairly small, so he only had to put up with a little teasing. It still irritated him, though.
"Hey, Church," said John, a fellow-student from school. "I'm surprised, I always thought you'd hook up with something a little less dangerous, like a bear."
He tried to take the remark in good humor. "Yeah, well, you know, I'm a real risk-taker."
"You'd better be," John said with a laugh.
Leonard stifled the temptation to get defensive about John's remarks. He had a reputation around here as a good employee and as much as he wanted to snap at him about the teasing, he didn't want to ruin that image.
At the end of his shift he decided to get himself and Allison a couple of sundaes. He remembered her favorite combination—black cherry with fudge—and he went around the counter to pay after he put them together.
"For you and your girl, huh?" his coworker, Deshawn, teased him as he rang the order up.
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, for me and my girl." He didn't like how it kept coming up. He pulled out his wallet and opened it.
He didn't believe what he was seeing. He stared. Most of his money was gone.
"Something wrong?" Deshawn asked.
"No, nothing's wrong." He was sick of interacting with his coworkers tonight and this situation certainly didn't make things any better. He gave Deshawn the payment and turned with the sundaes to leave. He was starting to feel his blood boil. It had only taken him a moment to realize what must have happened. Allison had had access to his wallet when she'd gone to get his clothes. But why would she have gotten into it? He set the sundaes on the front seat and buckled his seatbelt. He nearly wrenched the gearshift when he took off. She had been poor and homeless before he took her in. All she'd needed to do to get whatever she wanted from him was exactly what she had done—tell him she was ready for a relationship, bringing him under her spell. Had it really all been a ruse? A manipulation so she could take what she could with her and run?
The drive home seemed to take twice as long as usual. By the time he got back to the house he was ready for a confrontation, though he was more than half-suspecting she would be gone.
Lawrence's car was in the driveway, unusual for this early in the day. At least Leonard would have someone to rant to. He went ahead and grabbed the sundaes, prepared to throw hers in the garbage as soon as he got in the house. This whole thing was bullshit.
The sight that greeted him was the last thing he expected. The first thing he saw was Allison putting the finishing touches on the spread at the table. A messily decorated cake sat on the counter. "What's this?" he asked, confused.
"A graduation dinner!" Allison said. She was clearly pleased at his reaction, his apparent surprise.
Leonard raised his brows, trying to keep his recent anger from showing. He hoped the red had drained from his face. "Wow," he said lamely.
"She's been looking forward to this moment all day, I think," Lawrence chuckled from where he sat on the couch. His plate was mostly clear and he stood up with it. "I promised her she could have the evening alone with you, so I'm going to head out."
"Uh…okay." Leonard went over to the freezer to put the sundaes inside, then passed his hand over his hair as he turned around. He watched as his father placed his plate in the sink and then went through the front door. He waited until it closed to express his confusion. "What was he even doing here?"
"I called him." Allison gestured toward the table. "Come on, it's getting cold."
He went over to the table and pulled his chair out to sit down, looking the food over. For a moment it almost looked like the steak was made of rolled up dollar bills. How much of the money she had stolen would end up being swallowed tonight? He settled into his chair and looked at her. "You called him?" he asked, still confused.
"Yeah. I got the idea to do this earlier and I needed his help to get to the store. And to help me cook, 'cause otherwise I had no idea what I was doing," she said with a self-deprecating laugh. "So he took me to the store, and he helped me pick out a good cut of steak and fresh eggs…"
With that Leonard banished the thought of confronting her from his mind. No use thinking about that now. He was going to have some trouble recovering from the financial blow this would cause, but there was no point in rubbing her face in the mistake.
As she spoke he stopped really paying attention to the words and just let them wash over him. He couldn't deny the steak was good. It was tender and the sautéed onions on top were just the right complement.
"Leonard!"
"Hmm, what?"
"Why aren't you talking to me?"
"Oh, I'm just…really enjoying this food. It's good stuff." He looked away from her stare. "Really, it's good."
"What's your problem?"
"Who said there's a problem?"
She scowled. "You did. When you sat there ignoring me when I was talking to you."
They sat in silence and Leonard took another bite. He should have been listening. He didn't want to talk to her about the money right now. Save the explanations for later.
"Leonard?"
"Look…it's nothing, okay? It's nothing, not a big deal. We'll talk about it later."
"Talk about what later?"
"Allison, I said it's nothing."
She raised her eyebrows. "If it's not a big deal, then you can tell me what it is."
He shook his head. "It's just that I had a long day at work. Okay? That's all. Just forget it. Hey, you want to get me a slice of cake?"
Allison's eyes were cold. "Sure. Sure, whatever." She went over and served up a slice of cake before walking over his chair and slamming the plate down on the table. She walked back over to her seat and resumed eating her dinner.
The silence was palpable. All sorts of incidental noises were obvious now—the rustling of their napkins, utensils clicking and dragging against plates. He shook his head to himself. This wasn't worth arguing over, he decided. He looked up from his food and frowned.
"Allison? Look…I'm sorry."
Her expression didn't change. "I just wanted to surprise you."
"You did, Allison."
"You don't seem happy with it," she further complained, hunching her shoulders and crossing her arms.
"No, no, I am. I'm glad you did this for me."
She shook her head, still frowning, sullen. No…there was no way that he would ever be able say anything about the money now. Leonard felt the cost of the meal slipping away, like leaves washing down a storm drain. It was no use now. He was going to have to handle it all on his own.
Music for this chapter:
Mount Washington - Beth Orton
Allison has her own way of testing Leonard to make sure his love is genuine
Consequence - The Notwist
Leonard decides to shoulder the consequences of Allison's decision to steal his money
