Chapter 20

Elizabeth checked her watch as she headed into the kitchen. It was a quarter to six, only five minutes later than the last time she checked. She sighed as she emptied her bus bin into the sink.

“Liz, you’re just going to his house, it’s not a date or anything!” she mumbled to herself, trying to calm the butterflies that were forming in her stomach. Still, she couldn’t help being nervous about the whole thing. For one thing, she would be meeting her parents, which was frightening enough on it’s own. Luke Spencer wasn’t exactly well-known for his hospitality towards Cassidines!

She looked at her watch again. 5:50. She chuckled at her impatience and went back out into the restaurant, hoping to find something to distract her for another ten minutes.

Lucky stood outside of Kelly’s and looked in the window. He didn’t see her right away, and was worried that she forgot and went home early. He glanced at his watch. It was only 5:50, he still had time. He looked up again just as Liz came out of the kitchen. She turned and smiled at a customer and Lucky felt his stomach do a little flip. He grinned as he watched her move from table to table, taking orders and pouring coffee. She seemed to almost glide around the room.

He shook his head and laughed. “Oh, Dad’s going to be like a kid in a candy shop with her. What was I thinking?” He sighed and looked at his watch again. 5:55. Figuring he was going to look like some kind of stalker if he stayed out there, peeking in the windows, he headed for the door. As he passed one of the windows, he glanced around, making sure no one was looking, then waved at the “Open” sign. It flipped over as he entered the building, chuckling to himself.

Liz heard the bell over the door and turned around, her face lighting up as she saw Lucky walk in. He returned her smile and headed for the counter, lifting himself up onto one of the stools. “I’m a little early.”

She shrugged, pulling some money out of her apron. “Only by five minutes. I’m almost done. I just have to settle up a couple of checks.” She flashed him another smile and went over to the cash register. A few minutes later, she was done. She took off her apron and stashed it under the counter, then walked around to Lucky’s side. “Okay, I’m officially off-duty now.”

He smiled and stood up. “Let’s go, then.” They walked to the door and he held it open for her. As she was walking through it, something caught her eye.

“Just a minute,” she said, reaching over to turn the sign. “Someone keeps messing with that.”

Lucky suppressed a chuckle as she walked outside. “I suppose I should warn you: my dad can be kind of, um, well, there really aren’t any words to describe him.” He laughed. “Just consider yourself warned.”

“Why do I suddenly feel scared?” she asked, turning to look at him. He shook his head and smiled.

“Don’t be. He’s essentially harmless. He just has a strange sense of humor, and he’ll probably spend the whole night trying to embarrass me.”

She grinned. “Oh, well that I can’t wait to see!”

“Hey!” he said, trying to look hurt. They turned a corner and he sighed. “Well, here we are. Last chance to run screaming.”

She laughed and shook her head. “I think I can handle it.”

“Well, I gotta admire your courage. You realize you’re going into the lion’s den here.”

“You know, when you put it that way, you’re not helping!”

He chuckled and pushed open the front door. “They must be in the kitchen,” he muttered, looking around the empty living room. “Come on, follow me.” He grabbed her hand and led her back to the kitchen door as she tried to hide a smile at the sudden contact.

They walked into the kitchen and found everyone sitting around the table. There was even a birthday cake, which Lulu was busy filling with candles. Lucky laughed and picked her up. “Lulu, how old do you think Foster is?” he asked, whirling her around.

She giggled and shrugged. “She wanted to know how old he was in people years,” Laura explained. “I made the mistake of telling her he was 42!”

“Yeah, old skillethead’s hitting middle age already,” Luke chuckled. “Soon he’ll be riding in sports cars and chasing all the younger girl dogs” He paused. “Or is that chasing sports cars and…”

“Luke!” Laura scolded, throwing a dishtowel at him as everyone else burst out laughing. Lulu just giggled, not knowing what they thought was so funny.

Once the laughter subsided, Luke turned to Lucky, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “So, Cowboy, are you going to introduce us to the lady, or are we just supposed to guess her name?”

“Cowboy?” Liz asked, looking at Lucky in amusement. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his parents.

“This is Elizabeth Davis. Elizabeth, these are my parents. You can just ignore my dad. That’s what the rest of us do.”

Liz smiled and reached out to shake their hands. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Two Cassidines under my roof at once… I must be going soft,” Luke joked, ignoring the evil glares he was getting from Laura. “There isn’t a full moon tonight, is there?”

“Luke, you promised to be good tonight. No more Cassidine jokes, okay?” Laura pleaded. Luke smiled and raised his hands in submission.

Nikolas looked at his brother and raised his eyebrows. Lucky, change the subject, quick! “So, Lulu, why don’t we go light all those candles, huh?” he asked quickly, picking her up and carrying her back to the table, throwing a grateful glance at Nikolas. He was about to humiliate me, wasn’t he?

Yep. You can thank me later. Nikolas threw a smug glance at Luke, who glared back at him. “I hate you,” he mumbled, causing Nikolas to laugh. Laura had seen the whole thing and smiled to herself, shaking her head. Since Luke wasn’t a blood relative, Nikolas was able to read his thoughts, and would sometimes give Lucky advance warning if Luke was going to embarrass him.

Emily turned to Liz and whispered, “Just ignore them. They get kind of weird sometimes, but they’re mainly harmless.”

“You know, that’s pretty much what Lucky said too. So, why am I still afraid?” The girls laughed and everyone turned to look at them.

“What’s so funny?” Nikolas asked. Emily grinned and shrugged. “Nothing.”

Laura began to light the candles. As they were waiting for her to finish, Nikolas turned to look at Lucky again. Lucky…

“Lulu, why don’t you ask Elizabeth to help you blow out the candles?” Lucky asked his sister, throwing a quick smirk over his shoulder at an annoyed Luke, who had once again been cut off before he could say something. Luke glared at Nikolas again.

Liz shrugged and walked over to the table, standing across from Lulu. “Sure. That’s a lot of candles for one little girl to blow out isn’t it?” she asked, smiling at her. Lulu nodded shyly as Laura lit the last one.

“Okay, make a wish!” she said as Lulu took a deep breath and began to blow them out. Liz waited a moment then joined her, deciding to play a little trick on them. As Lulu was blowing the candles out, Liz was re-lighting them. Everyone else watched in confusion. Laura walked over and picked up the empty candle box.

“These aren’t trick candles, are they?” she asked, studying it. Lulu just giggled and looked up at Liz, who smiled innocently, then blew out the rest.

“All out!” she said, standing back. Laura, Lucky and Nikolas exchanged worried glances.

You don’t think… Laura started.

Lucky frowned. You said she wasn’t old enough.

Did Lulu do that? Nikolas asked, glancing at his little sister, who was still smiling adoringly at Liz.

Emily sighed and leaned back in her chair. “There they go again,” she muttered to herself, reaching down to scratch Foster behind the ears. She looked down at the mutt and sighed. “Sometimes I think you’re the only normal one in this family.”

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