Chapter 77
“What happened?” Luke asked, chuckling at Charisma’s obvious excitement.
“I just went up to Liz’s room to wake them up, and they were sleeping all curled up together. He had his arms around her, and she had her bead resting on his shoulder, with her face against his neck.”
“You don’t say!” he exclaimed, grinning. “Maybe this whole thing’s finally working.”
“I hope so, because I got some news today that could cause us some problems. Spence was just booked on a month-long tour of the East Coast. I just found out this morning, and there’s nothing I can do to get him out of it.”
Luke thought for a minute. “Well, how long do we have?”
“He leaves this Thursday.”
“You mean, two days from now? That Thursday?”
“Yeah, it sucks, I know,” she sighed,
“How did they take the news?” he asked, trying to figure out what to do next.
“Well, that’s why I went up there, but they were just so cute, I couldn’t wake them up, so I’ll have to tell them later.”
“You mean they haven’t gotten up yet?”
“Nope..oh wait, I think I hear them coming now. I better go, I’ll call you when I know more.” She quickly hung up, then returned to the table, trying to look like she had been reading the paper the whole time.
~*~
“What the-?” Liz gasped, nearing the bottom of the stairs. She stopped, and Lucky almost ran into her.
“Watch it there!” he said, brushing past her into the living room. There were flowers and gifts everywhere. Liz quickly hurried over to him, still staring in wonder.
“Where did all of this come from?” she asked, reaching down to read the card on a large gift basket of bath products. She gasped again. “Oh my God, I don’t believe this!”
“Who’s it from?” he asked, walking up behind her.
“Madonna! Lucky, you know her?” She turned to look at him, totally awestruck.
Lucky shrugged, taking the card from her to read it. “Yeah, she wants me to do a duet with her, but I keep turning her down. Her kind of music isn’t really my thing.”
Liz shook her head in amazement, then looked over at the vase of irises next to the basket, plucking the card from them. “Who’s John Rzeznik?”
He put down the card from Madonna’s gift and turned to the others. “Lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls. He likes to send irises, thinks it’s cute since that’s the name of their big hit. They did a tour with me a few years ago, and we still keep in touch.” He leaned over to examine a huge bouquet of roses that was sitting on the table behind the couch. “Hm, this one’s from L&B. I wonder if this means I have to be nice to them now...”
“What about these?” Liz asked, turning to study the vase of exotic-looking wildflowers next to them. She pulled out the card and read it, frowning. “Sarah Michelle Gellar. You mean, as in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer?”
“Yeah, that’s her,” he answered with a small smile, looking over at the flowers.
“How do you know her?” she asked, feeling a slight pang of jealousy.
“We were supposed to do a movie together, but halfway through filming it, the studio ran out of money and it was canned,” he explained.
“Oh, so you act now, too?” she asked sarcastically.
He chuckled softly, wondering if that was jealousy he heard in her voice. “What do you think I’ve been doing these past two days?”
“I mean, besides that.” She turned to walk towards the kitchen. “So what was it, a comedy?”
“Nope, it was one of those romantic dramas that you women love so much,” he answered, following her to the door. Deciding to have a little fun, he hurried up behind her and leaned over her shoulder to whisper in her ear, “I played her lover.”
Liz was in the middle of pushing open the door when he said that, and nearly tripped as she entered the kitchen. He laughed and pushed past her, making a beeline for the coffee. Liz quickly collected herself and walked over to the counter to get some food, still shaken by the thought of Lucky and Sarah Michelle Gellar doing a love scene together.
“Is something wrong?” Charisma asked, looking up from the paper and seeing that Liz looked somewhat agitated.
Lucky chuckled as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “I just told her about ‘Road to Forever.’ I think she’s jealous.”
“I am not!” Liz exclaimed, turning to glare at him as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. Lucky just laughed again and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning over her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, you know you’re the only woman for me,” he said softly, but still loud enough to be sure Charisma would hear. For extra measure, he kissed her neck, letting his lips linger a little longer than necessary.
Liz was surprised by his actions, and leaned against the counter to keep her knees from giving out, visions from her dream flashing through her head as she felt his lips brushing against her neck. She smiled shakily and nodded.
“Um, of course I do.” She blushed slightly and looked down at her cereal as Lucky let go of her and made his way back to the coffee maker.
“So I take it you saw the flowers,” Charisma asked, seeing that the show was over for the moment.
“How could we miss them? They’re all over the place in there!” Lucky said. “Did they all come this morning?”
“Yep. Speaking of which, I got a call from Rich earlier that you might not like too much.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Liz stopped pouring the milk into her bowl and turned to watch them, curious about this bad news.
Charisma sighed. “David booked you on a short tour of the East Coast without consulting any of us, and now it’s too late to pull out of it.”
“A tour? When? How short?”
“It’s for about a month, and you leave this Thursday.”
“Thursday!?” Liz exclaimed, carrying her cereal over to the table. Part of her was happy about this, because it meant they wouldn’t have to carry on with the charade of being married for a whole month, but at the same time, she was going to miss him a little. She had gotten used to him being around.
“Wait a minute,” Lucky said, shaking his head. “I’m on vacation. I just got married! Why did he do this?”
Charisma shrugged. “Money, of course. You know how he is. Trust me, both Rich and I tried to get you out of it, but we can’t.” She looked from him to Liz and smiled sadly. “You know what they say: absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Lucky sighed and stood up to get some sugar. He wasn’t sure how to feel about this. While he was happy about being given a break from their phony marriage, he wasn’t too thrilled about giving up his vacation. He wasn’t ready to deal with touring yet.
Liz stood up and hurried over to him, figuring it was time to start playing her part. “Don’t go!” she begged, grabbing his arm. Lucky turned and looked at her strangely, but she stared at him pointedly, trying to signal for him to play along.
He smiled and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Honey, you heard her, I have to do this. It’s only for a month. I promise, I’ll call as much as I can.”
“Only? A month is a long time! I’m going to miss you too much. I... I just found you, I’m not ready to let you go so soon.” She hoped Charisma was buying this.
Lucky looked at her for a moment, touched by her words, even if they were phony. He hugged her, reaching up to the back of her head and smoothing her hair. “Oh, baby, I’ll miss you too.”
He pulled away and smiled down at her, not sure what to do next. Figuring it was the next logical step, Liz grabbed him and kissed him intensely, catching him off-guard. He groaned softly and tightened his grip on her to keep himself from losing his balance.
“I think I’ll leave you two alone,” Charisma said with a chuckle, standing up to leave the room. She figured she had tortured them long enough, that they probably needed to discuss things without her around. Besides, if she watched them any longer, she might not be able to keep a straight face!
Once she heard the door close, Liz stopped the kiss. “Is she gone?” she whispered against his lips, not wanting to pull away until she was sure.
“Uh-huh,” Lucky murmured, still shaken. She let go of him and stepped back.
“So, this is good news, right?” she asked. “The tour, I mean. A whole month away from this stupid farce of a marriage, away from Luke’s schemes...”
Lucky cleared his throat, finally recovering. “Um, right. Good news. Just don’t forget we still have to have dinner with them tonight, so we’re not free yet.”
She frowned, having forgotten about their promise to Luke and Laura. “Damn, I forgot about that. Well, we’ve come this far, what’s one more night?” She looked up and met his gaze, their eyes locking for a moment.
They stared at one another until Lucky was able to tear his eyes away. He cleared his throat and turned back to the counter to grab the sugar. “Yeah, it’s just dinner, it should be fine.” What was happening with them?
Liz nodded and sat down to eat her cereal, wondering what was going on. She couldn’t get that dream out of her head, and now every time their eyes met, or he touched her, she got all nervous. Something told her that this dinner was going to be anything but fine.
