Chapter 36
Liz eyed the telephone warily for a moment before picking it up, wondering how often they cleaned it. Finally, she grabbed it and dialed, waiting for someone to answer.
“Hello?” a familiar male voice answered.
Liz didn’t speak for a moment, surprised by his voice.
“Hello?” he asked again.
“Um, Jason,” she said. “It’s Liz. Is Carly there?”
“Hey Liz,” he said, his voice softening. “Yeah, she’s putting Michael to bed. Is everything okay? You sound kind of strange.”
“Yeah, I just need to ask her something. Could you get her for me?” She hated lying to Jason, but she really didn’t want to tell him where she was.
“Of course. Just a minute.” He put down the phone and she could hear him rushing up the stairs, then heard Carly’s voice as she came back down with him, asking him to find Michael’s favorite book.
“Hello?’
“Carly, it’s Liz,” she said, relieved to hear her friend’s voice.
“Liz, what’s wrong?” Carly asked, able to tell right away that this wasn’t a social call.
“You’re never going to believe this, but I’m in jail.”
“What?!?! Jail? Liz, what are you talking about?” Carly practically shouted.
“Don’t freak out, it’s nothing, really. Lucky and I were arrested for trespassing at the Outback, but it was all a misunderstanding. We think Luke is behind it, because they have us in the same cell, which isn’t normal.”
“No, it’s not,” Carly said, wondering what Luke was up to, and if it was too late to get in on it. “So, I take it you need bail?”
“Yeah, but they won’t let us out until morning. I don’t suppose you could come get me first thing? That is, if Lucky and I don’t kill each other!”
Carly chuckled. “Oh, I doubt you’ll go that far. Don’t worry, I’ll be there in the morning. Sleep tight!”
“Yeah, right, have you seen the beds here?” Liz asked, laughing.
“Actually, I have,” Carly said, remembering when she was there after shooting Tony.
“Oh, I forgot about that. Sorry. Well, I guess you know what I’m in for then. Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll see you in the morning.” Carly hung up and Liz turned to the guard reluctantly, nodding to let him know she was done. He quickly led her back to the cell.
“Who’d you call?” Lucky asked.
“Carly.”
Lucky nodded, not thrilled that she called his cousin, but Carly was Liz’s best friend, so it made sense. He just hoped Carly didn’t turn around and call Luke. He stood up and walked to the door, following the guard out to the phone, while Liz tried to make herself comfortable on the hard mattress of one of the beds.
Lucky picked up the receiver and thought for a moment, trying to decide who he should call. He couldn’t call Luke, that was obvious. He didn’t want to call Charisma or Rich, either, because he wasn’t completely convinced that they didn’t have something to do with this. Finally, he took a deep breath and dialed, hoping he had chosen the lesser of the evils.
“Hello?’
“Nikolas, hey, it’s Lucky.”
“Hey man, what happened to your date?” Nikolas teased.
“Let’s just say it was a bust...literally.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m in jail. Elizabeth and I were arrested for trespassing at the Outback. I’m pretty sure my dad is behind the whole thing.”
Nikolas burst out laughing at the news. “Jail? Oh, you’ve got to be joking!”
“Trust me, this is no joke,” Lucky said bitterly.
“So she didn’t send you that invitation?” Nikolas asked.
“Nope, and I know I didn’t send her one, either. Anyway, we’re stuck here all night, they won’t let us make bail until morning. I know this is a lot to ask, but if you could come bail me out in the morning, I promise I’ll pay you back.”
“No problem, I’ll be there. Hey, they don’t have you in a cell with some freak, do they?”
Lucky laughed bitterly. “No, worse. I’m stuck with Elizabeth.”
“How? I didn’t think they put men and women together?”
“They don’t. Taggert gave us some lame excuse about it being the only cell left. Like I said, my dad’s behind this. If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll be far away by tomorrow morning, too. Somewhere I can’t find him.”
Nikolas laughed. “Okay, well, try to get some sleep, and I’ll be there first thing.”
“Thanks, Nikolas. I owe you one.”
“Yeah, you do. And don’t think I’m going to forget it anytime soon either!”
They both hung up and the guard returned Lucky to the cell. Liz was sitting on the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest and his jacket wrapped around her. She looked up at the sound of the cell door being opened and watched quietly as the guard locked him in and left.
“So, did you call Luke?”
Lucky laughed and sat down next to her. “Hell no! I’m not going to give him the satisfaction. I called Nikolas instead.”
Liz smirked. “How long did he laugh?”
Lucky rolled his eyes and sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Only about a minute. Don’t tell me Carly didn’t laugh!”
Liz shook her head. “Nope. She was more shocked than anything. Although, Jason answered the phone.” She grew quiet, looking down at her lap.
“I’m sorry. That must have been....”
“Awkward? Embarrassing? Uncomfortable? Yeah, pretty much. And by now, I’m sure she’s told him all why I called. He must think I’m crazy, dumping him because of his job, then getting thrown in jail with you!”
“Hey, it’s not my fault this happened!”
“If Luke is behind it, then yeah, in a way it is your fault. You know, my gut was telling me that there was something weird about that invitation, but I ignored it and went anyway. Now I know better. If I had just gone with my instincts, I’d be at Kelly’s right now, not stuck in this cold, smelly jail cell with you!”
“Oh, and you think this is my idea of a fun night?” Lucky asked, growing annoyed. “Look, we’re stuck here, there’s nothing we can do about it now, so we might as well try to make the most of it. Why don’t we just try to sleep?”
“Good idea,” Liz said, looking down at the mattress with disgust. “Ugh, this is going to be a long night.”
Lucky stood up and walked over to the other bed, pushing his discarded tie onto the floor. He sat down and rubbed his face, wondering how he was going to get any sleep in there. Suddenly, there was a strange cracking sound, and the next thing he knew, he was sliding down the mattress onto the floor, as both legs at the end of the bed gave out.
Liz burst out laughing as Lucky scrambled to pick himself up off of the floor, brushing off his clothes in disgust. “I don’t believe this!” he exclaimed, looking back at the broken bed.
“I guess you’ll have to move the mattress off onto the floor,” Liz said in between giggles.
Lucky glared at her and shook his head. “Uh-uh, there’s no way I’m sleeping on that disgusting floor. Who knows what kinds of bugs crawl all over it at night?”
“Then where are you going to sleep?” she asked, stretching out on her bed.
Lucky studied her for a moment, then walked over. “We’re going to have to share, I guess. Unless you want the floor.”
Liz sat up. “Please tell me you’re joking! We can’t both sleep on this little bed, there’s no way!”
“We’ll have to find a way, because it’s the only option left. If it makes you feel better, we can sleep head to toe.”
“You mean, sleep with your feet in my face?” she asked, frowning. “No way.”
Lucky grabbed the blanket off of the broken bed and walked up to hers. “Then move over, because I’m coming in.”
Liz groaned and scooted over to the wall, making room for Lucky to lay down. This was definitely going to be a long night.
