Alicia's stockpile of stim toys - though pale in comparison to her collection at home - steadily grew. Two months from the fresh start with the weighted bear (and meeting Elyza), her supply contained said bear, plastic keys (the instance which ultimately led Madison to sit down with her daughter and finally ask questions, which then led to acceptance), a plastic rainstick, bean bags, and a fidget spinner...though she hated to admit she liked it.
And now, courtesy of Elyza, she added a glow-in-the-dark Hoberman sphere to her hoard. The blonde recovered it while siphoning gas with Madison, Nick, and Ofelia earlier in the day. After her first experience just a few weeks earlier, Alicia opted out of the nausea and headache, even though she now knew the correct way to suck out the liquid.
Perched on an arm of the largest couch upstairs, Alicia expanded and contracted the toy, lightly chattering her teeth together.
Madison and Ofelia snacked on plums in the kitchen while Elyza and Nick plugged in the air hockey table to play a round.
Though her gaze remained on the growing and shrinking of the sphere, Alicia grinned at the laughing and yelling several feet to her left. The two were evenly matched: Nick with his wits, Elyza with her reflexes. However, every post-goal groan that reached her ears was unmistakably Elyza's, which only widened her smile.
After seven goals (all Nick's), the small scoreboard on the side of the table beeped and reset to 0 on both sides.
"Winner winner chicken dinner!" Nick threw his fists in the air. "Loser chooses next victim."
Elyza smirked and walked over to Alicia, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Will you kick your brother's ass in air hockey for me?"
Alicia nodded eagerly and tossed the toy onto the couch before sliding off the arm and jogging to the table.
Nick glided the neon green puck to his sister. "Bring it on."
Alicia firmly grasped the striker and centered the puck. She faked a tap to the right and at near-lightning speed shot the puck straight down the middle of the table where it clattered into Nick's goal.
"Beginner's luck," Nick stated in the cockiest voice he could muster after such a simple mistake. He wasted no time hitting the puck as hard as he could, but dropped his jaw in disbelief when Alicia countered by slapping it against the side so it would ricochet into the goal at an angle. "You're cheating."
Alicia shook her head as Nick prepared for his next shot. "You might as well just tap out."
"Not in a million years, Leesh." He attempted Alicia's fake out, but the woman blocked the puck's path and shot it back, barely missing the goal. Nick angled his next shot to fly in from the side, but to no avail. Alicia swiftly slapped the disc at a smaller angle, causing it to bounce off the sides of the table several times before gliding into the goal. "Okay, you win," Nick lifted both his hands then pointed at Elyza, "I'd like to see you take her on."
"Those million years passed in the blink of an eye," Elyza teased and chuckled when Nick flipped her off on his way to the kitchen where Ofelia and Madison chatted about the contents of the cars that day. She placed the puck on the table and held her paddle over it, keeping it in place. Her eyes met Alicia's, and unbeknownst to her, the brunette's heart rate jumped from an adrenaline rush unrelated to the game. "Are you going to top me, too?"
Alicia wondered if the innuendo was intentional. Nothing came of the kiss on the curb, but tension of every kind mounted over the following weeks. Elyza slipped in what Alicia suspected were double entendres anytime possible, but none as blatant as this. Fuck it, she thought. "Not in air hockey."
Elyza quirked a brow at the woman's newfound boldness. For once, however, she was the first to break eye contact.
How had she not thought of it earlier?
Elyza and Ofelia discussed the future and what it held, including the eventual extinction of gasoline. Elyza mentioned the hybrid car she owned, but feared they would be stranded if the charge ran out and gas no longer existed.
"But you live in a rich neighborhood, don't you think someone around here would have a car that runs only on electricity, and efficiently so? You already have the home charger, you have solar panels, you just have to find the car."
Elyza stared into oblivion. "I am such a fucking idiot," she muttered, too ashamed of her own stupidity to meet Ofelia's amused gaze. "Yeah, okay, let's find that car."
They gathered up the rest of the group from the backyard, grabbed weapons, and headed out the gate to scour the neighborhood.
Three houses produced nothing but rotting bodies keening for a meal. The fourth house required brute force to open the wooden front gate, and the front yard held the final resting places for three dogs and one human, each with a bullet through the head.
"I don't think I could kill my own dog," Nick mumbled as they inspected the body for anything useful.
"I'd rather shoot the dog than let it starve to death," Madison replied, nose crinkling at the stench.
The front door of the house stood ajar. Alicia knocked on the dense wood to draw out whatever ghouls may be lurking, but the only movement the group detected was that of a rat scurrying under a couch. She led the group down a hallway, knife at the ready, and flung open all the cabinets upon reaching a kitchen. "Oh jackpot."
Madison, Nick, and Ofelia loaded their backpacks with granola bars, crackers, tea bags, and chips. Elyza opened the fridge doors to find bottle after bottle, can after can of beer. Before she could think to grab any of them, the foul odor of spoiled produce assaulted her nose and forced her to slam the doors shut. She coughed, "We'll come back for those."
Elyza assumed the rugged door beside the refrigerator would lead to the garage. At least, that made the most sense. She shoved the door open and jumped forward, ready to swing, but the stomps of her feet echoed through the half-empty garage. She stalked toward the only car in the room...a silver Chevy Bolt.
"I cannot believe we actually found one." Ofelia gaped and shook her head.
"I swear I have the best fuckin' luck," Elyza grinned and ran her fingers along the hood of the car. "But we need to find the keys."
"Might as well just go through the whole place." Nick shrugged. "I'll look for the keys."
"Madison and I will look around downstairs." Ofelia glanced over at Elyza and winked when Madison started back toward the front room.
Real smooth, Elyza thought and rolled her eyes at Ofelia before she turned to join Madison. Nick stepped into the garage and shut the door behind himself. "I guess that leaves us upstairs," Elyza chanced a look at Alicia, but the brunette had already scaled the first few steps across the room. The blonde smirked and jogged over to catch up, quickly tailing right behind the other woman. "A little eager, are we?"
Alicia marched straight into the room farthest to the left from the stairs, not taking even a second to acknowledge Elyza's teasing.
The blonde followed two steps behind. "What's the hurry?"
Alicia faced the wall, her back to Elyza, and squeezed her hands together with a bend at the wrists. The past weeks' tension certainly hadn't passed her by, and she attributed Elyza's comment before their game of air hockey as the straw that broke the camel's back. All the stimming in the world couldn't curb her impulses forever, and because of that, she finally gave in. She steadied her breath as quickly as possible, turned to the patiently waiting woman, and surged forward to kiss her.
Elyza couldn't deny she'd seen this coming, but the reality of it proved more joyous than the imaginary. She planned to remain chaste, but the girl adding pressure to the kiss and grabbing fistfuls of the blonde's coat seemed to have other ideas. It wasn't until the brunette nipped at Elyza's bottom lip that she decided to throw innocence out the window. She backed Alicia into a wall and grabbed both sides of her waist, fingers pressing into the skin just above the waistband of her jeans. She became so enraptured in the heated moment she forgot to breathe, but didn't realize until her head spun and she heard her own panting as Alicia brushed her lips across the sensitive skin just below her ear. Despite her attempt to bring her oxygen levels back to normal, her breath hitched at the sensation of teeth tugging the skin over her left carotid. Before she could contain it, a moan resounded from her throat, and the lips pressed against her lower neck tilted upward.
Alicia pulled back and rested her head against the wall. Her fists still held tight to the dark cloth around Elyza's torso, but her expression appeared calm, almost sated.
Elyza, on the other hand, couldn't shake the tension in her lower gut, legs, and shoulders. She took in the tranquil demeanor of the girl before her, but noticed immediately that green eyes betrayed whatever body language the brunette exhibited. The familiar emerald color darkened into a pine green, and the stare's intensity almost made her squirm.
...Almost.
"Is that all you've got?" Elyza smirked, egging her on.
Alicia smiled devilishly for a brief moment before her expression shifted to something neutral. She abruptly nudged past Elyza, paced to the other side of the room, and pretended to dig through the drawers of a desk.
"What-"
"Hey guys, we're ready when you are." Ofelia poked her head through the door for a second then shuffled down the stairs.
Astonished, Elyza turned her head from the doorway to Alicia. "You heard her coming?"
"Call it a curse and a blessing." A faint smile ghosted across her lips. She turned to lean back against the desk. "I'm sorry if I got carried away."
"Don't apologize." Elyza placed her hands on her hips, taking a moment to stabilize herself before even considering facing the rest of the group. "I... really enjoyed it. And I would be more than happy to do it again."