Chapter 104
Luke looked up from their table as Carly strode over to them and grinned. "Caroline! I was starting to wonder if you were coming!"
She took the seat next to him and shook her head. "I wasn't about to miss this, I just had some stuff to take care of with Michael that held me up. Did anything good happen yet?"
"Well, I haven't seen the Cowboy yet, but Liz seemed awfully nervous for someone who's only pretending to be in love with him," he answered with a knowing smirk. "In fact, as soon as we got here, she headed straight for his dressing room."
"Oh really?" Carly asked, smiling as she looked over at the stage. She spotted Liz as she came out of the back hallway and made her way to the front table, sitting down next to Charisma. "Hey, how come they've got a better table?"
"I think that's the 'employee' table. Charisma offered to seat Liz there too, so we could talk freely about them," he explained with a small laugh. "Have I ever said that I love the way that girl's mind works?"
"Many times," Laura groaned, rolling her eyes. She was tired of hearing Luke sing Charisma's priases, even if she was doing a good job of helping them with Lucky and Liz.
After a brief silence, Caly sighed. "So, do you think this is going to be the night? They've been apart for the past three weeks, if there was ever a time to admit their feelings, I'd say it's now."
"Normally, I'd say yes, but I've learned that those two are far from normal, so your guess is as good as mine," Luke responded wryly.
~*~
"So, what were you all huddled with Liz for over there?" Jax asked when Alexis returned to their table.
She sat down and shook her head. "Sorry, I can't say. Confidentiality."
"She's a client? Since when?"
"I can't say that either," she sighed. "I just had to deliver some papers, that's all." She couldn't tell him outright what was going on, but she couldn't stop him from guessing.
Jax frowned. "Papers? They're not getting divorced already, are they?"
She shrugged, reminding him that she couldn't answer, but he knew anyway.
"Wow, I thought they'd end up staying together. It looked like there was really something there between them."
"It looked that way to me, too," she answered, wishing she could tell him that Liz had admitted to her that she was falling for Lucky, but since it was said in confidence, she couldn't even tell him that. Sometimes being a lawyer was incredibly frustrating.
He glanced over at the Spencers' table. "I'll bet Luke won't be too thrilled to find out about this."
"I'm sure he won't. I just can't help wondering how long it will take them to finally tell them everything."
"Maybe they never will," Jax said with a small shrug. "We didn't, and everyone still thinks we were really married for that year."
Alexis smiled. "Yeah, but we were really good at pretending. So good, we managed to convince ourselves, too!"
He chuckled softly, reaching for her hand. "So are they, so maybe there's still hope."
~*~
Liz shifted anxiously in her seat and threw a small smile to Charisma, waiting for Lucky to come onto the stage. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the lights dimmed and his band came out of the wings, followed shortly by Lucky. The crowd burst into loud applause for their hometown hero, and Liz grinned proudly at him.
It was the first time she had actually seen him in concert, aside from the duet he did at the AMAs and the song he did for Letterman. He was good, there was no doubting that. He had a strong stage presence, and boundless energy. She couldn't help being totally entranced by him. He would look at her every now and then as he sang, making her heart do a little jump. After a full set, he turned to his band and nodded slighly, then cleared his throat and looked back out at the audience.
"This last song is brand-new. I just wrote it recently, and this is the first time I'm performing it, so be gentle." He grinned, laughing lightly as the audience chuckled. "It's not the kind of song I normally write, but my managers have been nagging at me to expand my repertoire, so this should make them all very happy."
He smiled at Charisma, then looked over at Liz, locking eyes with her for a moment before signalling for his band to start. The music was more mellow than the rest of his stuff, but it was still upbeat. Old habits die hard.
"Well I'm shameless when it comes to loving you
I'd do anything you want me to
I'd do anything at all
And I'm standing here for all the world to see
There ain't that much left of me
That has very far to fall
You know I'm not a man who has ever been
Insecure about the world I've been living in
I don't break easy, I have my pride
But if you need to be satisfied
I'm shameless, baby I don't have a prayer
Anytime I see you standing there
I go down upon my knees
And I'm changing, I swore I'd never compromise
But you convinced me otherwise
I'll do anything you please
You see in all my life I've never found
What I couldn't resist, what I couldn't turn down
I could walk away from anyone I ever knew
But I can't walk away from you
I have never let anything have this much control over me
I've worked too hard to call my life my own
I made myself a world and it worked so perfectly
But it's your world now, I can't refuse
I never had so much to lose
I'm shameless...shameless
You know it should be easy for a man who's strong
To say he's sorry or admit when he's wrong
I've never lost anything I ever missed
But I've never been in love like this...
It's out of my hands
I'm shameless, I don't have the power now
But I don't want it anyhow
So I've got to let it go
I'm shameless, shameless as a man can be
You can make a total fool of me
I just wanted you to know
I'm shameless..."
As the song ended, the crowd erupted in loud applause and cheers. Lucky thanked them, looked down at Liz for a moment, then left the stage. Once he was gone, most of the room's attnetion shifted to her. Everyone knew she was Lucky's wife, but it was those that knew the marriage was a sham that were most interested in her reaction.
Liz stared ahead at the empty stage for what felt like forever, then suddenly bolted out of her chair and headed for Lucky's dressing room.
"I couldn't have planned that better myself," Luke said proudly, shaking his head. "Something tells me our wait is almost over."
"I just wish we could see what was going on back there," Carly pouted.
"I think they've earned a little privacy after everything we've done to them, don't you?" Laura asked, looking pointedly at both of them. They sighed and sank back into their chairs, waiting impatiently for the couple to emerge.
~*~
Lucky paced nervously in his dressing room, wondering if he had done the right thing by performing that song. What if she didn't feel the same way, and he had only succeeded in scaring her off? Before he could wallow any more in regret, there was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in!" he called out, his heart racing.
Liz opened the door and slowly walked into the room, not sure what to say. "Um, that was..."
"It was crazy for me to do that, I know. I'm sorry if it was out of line or anything..." he started to explain, rambling in an attempt to save face with her.
Liz shook her head. "Don't apologize, Lucky. No one's ever done anything like that for me before." She stopped, blushing for a moment. "I mean, if it was for me, it might not have been, I didn't mean to assume..."
"It was, Elizabeth," he interrupted, stepping closer to her. He smiled, trying to break the tension a little. "You're my wife, who else would I have written it for?"
She chuckled softly, looking up to meet his eyes. "Right, how could I forget? It was beautiful. Why haven't you ever done songs like that before?"
He shrugged, smiling nervously. "Probably because I can't write about something if I've never experienced it."
Her eyes widened as realization started to sink in. "But... you just said it was for me. I thought you meant it was part of the whole fake marriage thing....."
Lucky closed the gap between them and shook his head. "It was for you, Elziabeth, but not because of that." He paused and took a deep breath, looking deeply into her eyes and reaching up to gently touch her cheek. "As corny as it sounds, every word I wrote came from the bottom of my heart. Everything I said is true."
"You mean..." she whispered, unable to find her voice all of a sudden.
Lucky nodded. "I don't know how it happened, or even when it happened, but I can't deny it any longer." He swallowed quickly, not sure how she was going to react. "It's not an act for me anymore, because I've fallen in love with you."
[Song Credit: "Shameless" by Billy Joel. © 1989 Joel Songs, Administered by EMI Blackwood Music Inc.]
