“Alan Rickman was such a good actor. I wonder if he was a nice guy in real life, and that’s why he played such an excellent bad guy. It’s sad he passed away,” Elise said from Luke’s couch.

She was sprawled out on it like she owned the place, her blonde hair fanned out around her head, but he didn’t mind. After she’d gotten to his house, he’d made sure to sit in his recliner, so she would know that he had been serious when he assured her there would be no sex.

Or rather, he was serious about it for tonight. Because he’d already decided that he was going to fuck her again.

Yeah, yeah, so he’d promised not to sleep with her in the first place, and when he had, he’d promised himself it wouldn’t happen a second time. Except he’d been thinking about it almost nonstop during the last two weeks. He’d been dreaming about fucking her, only to wake up hard, aching, and disappointingly alone. And that was when he had known he had to get inside her again. That was the only way he was going to stop thinking about it.

He was an adult, Elise was an adult, and what the two of them did in the privacy of the bedroom, living room, or back of a taxi wasn’t anyone’s business but their own. Their friends could just kiss off because Sean wasn’t the one walking around with a permanent boner.

“He was a good actor, but he hasn’t played that many bad guys, has he?”

“Yes. Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies, and Harry in Love Actually.”

“Love Actually?”

“Yeah. You know what I’m talking about.”

“Sorry, babe, no clue.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you telling me, you’ve never seen Love Actually? That’s only, like, one of my favorite movies.”

“Nope.”

“But…why?” she asked, clearly dumbfounded.

“Two words—chick flick.”

She shook her head. “I can see why one would think that, but it’s more than just a chick flick. It’s a holiday movie with a great message. You’re really missing out.”

Luke cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m serious.”

“Yeeaaah…I think I’ll just take your word on it.”

“I can’t believe no woman has gotten you to watch it.”

“Many have tried; none have succeeded,” he joked.

“Hmm…” she said with a glint in her eye.

“What?”

She shook her head and smiled. “Nothing. Just that I’m going to make it my mission in life to make you watch that movie.”

“Ha.”

“So, what would it take, huh?”

Luke grinned at her.

She pointed a finger. “And don’t say sex.”

“Aw, shucks.” He feigned disappointment.

“Come on.”

Because he had no plans to watch that chick flick, he told her, “Fine, I’ll watch it with my future wife.”

This way, they both won. He got her to leave him alone, and she got him to agree to watch the movie.

“Mission complete.”

She huffed, “Hardly. But I’ll concede for now.”

He laughed. “What makes Alan Rickman the bad guy in that movie anyway?”

Elise snickered. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He didn’t want to admit it, but he would. But he wasn’t going to tell her that. He shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll find out someday.” Someday far, far from now…maybe. Because Luke had no plans to get married in the near future.

They continued to watch the movie, subject dropped.

After the movie was over, Elise made no move to leave, so he asked, “Die Hard 2?”

It almost looked like there was some relief in her eyes.

But she shrugged her shoulders, like it was no big deal, and said, “Sure.”

“Do you want to change the movie while I go and make you the popcorn I promised you?”

“Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about the popcorn. You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Luke walked to the kitchen and pulled out the popcorn, oil, pan, bowl, and butter. The only way to make popcorn was on the stove. He didn’t like any of that microwave shit.

While he waited for the oil to heat up, his phone rang, and since Elise was in the other room and they weren’t in the middle of a movie, he answered, “Sydney, what’s up?”

“How’s my favorite brother?”

Between him and their other two siblings, Luke was not her favorite. “What do you want?”

“Lucas, what makes you think I want anything?”

“You’re calling me.”

Luke loved his sister, but she really never called unless she needed something. He would like to think it was because she was young and the baby of the family, but sometimes, he wondered if that was the kind of person she was always going to be.

“Maybe I’m calling you because I love you.”

“What do you want, Syd?” he asked again.

Elise walked into the kitchen. There seemed to be some uncertainty in her eyes and maybe, possibly, some jealousy. Luke could only hope because, if she was jealous, she was interested, and if she was interested, he had a shot of getting in her pants again. But he didn’t want her feeling envious. He wanted her to be relaxed and enjoying herself.

So, he mouthed, Sister, to her and turned back to the heating oil.

He checked to see if the popcorn kernel he had thrown in there popped. Not yet.

Luke realized he had missed everything Sydney had said because he wasn’t paying attention. “Hold up. Can you repeat that?”

Luke looked over to see Elise coming up beside him before his sister said, “Ugh, Luke. Will you pay for my acting classes or not?”

Easy question. “Not.”

“Luke,” his sister whined.

“Sydney, I am not giving you money for acting classes.”

Luke looked at Elise and shook his head as he grimaced. Elise giggled.

“Come on. You’re rich; you can afford it.”

“First, I am not rich. There are these things called student loans, which I will be paying back until I’m dead, not that you would know anything about it. Second, what did Mom and Dad say?”

“You suck.”

Translation: Mom and Dad had said no.

“Syd, you know I love you, but at some point, you have to stop wasting money and figure out what you really want to do.”

Getting down and serious was a sure way to get his sister off the phone.

“I gotta go,” she mumbled.

“Okay. Remember, we love you.”

“Whatever.”

And, with that, she was gone.

Luke tossed his phone on the counter and went back to making popcorn, pouring the rest of the kernels in the pot.

“So, that was your sister, huh?”

Luke snorted. “Yeah. She lives in LA with her yuppie boyfriend while she tries to find herself. Why she can’t do that while going to college like everyone else is beyond my parents’ comprehension. But I kind of don’t blame them. It’d be one thing if she supported herself, but she’s always asking for money. Today, she wanted money for acting classes. Two months ago, she was going to be an artist. Six months ago, she wanted to design jewelry.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“How old is she?”

“Twenty.”

“Wow,” Elise said again. “I can’t imagine moving to LA at such a young age with no job or anything. That takes guts.”

Luke paused as he shifted the popcorn pan back and forth. “I suppose you have a point. But it’s pretty easy to do that when you know your parents are never going to let you starve. Mom and Dad might not pay for her acting classes, but they do pay for her rent and car insurance.”

Elise didn’t reply and seemed lost in thought.

“You don’t want to move to LA with some loser guy, do you?”

Elise laughed. “No, not even close. I was just thinking, it’d be nice to be able to do what you wanted without worrying about your parents judging you.”

Luke gave her a questioning look.

“This is between us, but today, I found out my sister might be getting a divorce, and if she does, my parents are going to be devastated. They’re annoyingly conservative. What’s ironic is that the reason my sister got married was because she’d gotten pregnant. Can’t have a baby out of wedlock, you know. And the only reason she got pregnant was because my parents had refused to discuss birth control. Because, of course, nobody has sex before marriage.”

Luke chuckled. “Of course not.”

Elise looked at him and turned pink.

“That sucks for your sister.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I feel really bad for her.”

Luke poured the popcorn in the big bowl he had gotten out. “What about you? What would you do differently if you didn’t have to worry about your parents?”

Elise tilted her head to the side. “I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that before.”

Luke threw the butter in the pan to melt it. “So?” he prompted.

“Well, I still probably wouldn’t do anything like your sister, but there is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t because I don’t want to disappoint my parents.”

This, he had to hear. “What’s that?”

“Promise you won’t laugh?”

He drew a cross over his heart. “Promise.”

“I’ve wanted to get my nose pierced for years. Nothing crazy, just a cute little something. One of my good friends in Denver had one, and I always loved it.”

Luke put the pan in the sink and turned on the faucet to fill it with water. “That’s cool.”

“You don’t think it’s silly?”

“No, in fact, I think, if it’s something you want to do, you should do it. I think it’d be sexy.”

Elise laughed and rolled her green eyes. “I’m pretty sure you think everything is sexy.” She grabbed the popcorn bowl. “Come on. Let’s go watch the movie.”