Chapter 8
Elizabeth unlocked the door and stumbled, half-asleep, into the diner, flipping on the lights. Kelly’s was the last place she wanted to be that day. Her date with Jason the night before had been wonderful, and she hadn’t wanted to leave.
“Luke owes me big-time,” she muttered to herself as she went into the kitchen to put away her purse. The phone rang, and she went back out to answer it, a feeling of dread coming over her. “Kelly’s.”
“Hey, Liz, it’s Jennifer *cough* I can’t make it today, I woke up with a horrible cold. I’m so sorry for the last minute notice! *Cough*”
Liz rolled her eyes and sighed. Could this day get any better? “Are you sure? You were my only waitress today!”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I promise, I’ll work a double when I’m better!”
“Fine, I’ll see if I can find someone to cover. Get some rest, okay?”
“I will. Thanks, Liz.” They hung up and Liz looked around the room.
“Great! Now what am I supposed to do?” She thought for a minute, then went upstairs and knocked on one of the apartments. Maybe one of the tenants could help. Unfortunately, no one was home in any of them. Well, she didn’t try Lucky’s yet. He was her absolute last resort.
She would have called Nikolas, but she knew he had a big meeting at Deception that day, so he wouldn’t be able to help. Bobbie was in surgery, Laura had work for the Outreach program, Luke was doing the books at the club, and Jason was busy at the warehouse. Finally, after going through everyone she knew, she sighed and climbed the stairs again. “Okay, now Luke really owes me!”
She knocked on the door and stood back, hoping he wouldn’t answer. A minute later, the door opened. Lucky stood in front of her, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. ‘Well, I guess that answers the boxers or briefs question!’ she thought, blushing when she realized she was staring. “Um, I don’t mean to bother you, but I need a favor.”
Lucky crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. “Oh really? And you’re asking me?”
She rolled her eyes. He wasn’t going to make this easy. “My waitress called in sick just now, and I can’t find anyone else to cover for her. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to help out? After all, your family owns the place, remember?”
He chuckled at her attempt to make him feel obligated. “And what’s in it for me?”
“Minimum wage?” she asked sarcastically, becoming increasingly annoyed with his holier-than-thou attitude.
“Sorry, money doesn’t motivate me anymore. I need something, oh I don’t know, juicier,” he said with a sly grin.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? And will you please put on some clothes! Don’t you have any shame?”
Lucky shrugged. “What do I have to be ashamed of? You don’t think I have a good body?” he asked, laughing when her face turned bright red.
“Oh, you’d like me to say that, wouldn’t you? I’m surprised you and your ego can both fit in this apartment! Now will you help me or not?”
He sighed. “Fine, but on one condition.”
“What?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“Don’t tell my dad about this.” The last thing he wanted was his father gloating.
“Sure, whatever. Wouldn’t want anyone knowing the famous rock-star actually got his hands dirty for once,” she muttered, walking away from the apartment. She stopped and shouted over her shoulder, “We open in an hour, don’t be late!”
Lucky stepped into the hallway and saluted her. “Yes, sir! You’re not going to start cracking a whip on me, are you?” he asked, a slight hint of flirtation in his voice.
She groaned and stomped down the stairs, wondering if she would have been better off just running the whole place by herself instead.
~*~
“You’re late,” Liz scolded as Lucky came down the stairs, twenty minutes after Kelly’s opened. She had waited as long as she could for him, then finally just opened by herself.
“Hey, it takes time to look like this,” he joked.
She rolled her eyes and threw an apron at him. “Then I’d hate to see how long it takes you to look good.”
He caught the apron and groaned. “Remind me again why I’m doing this?”
“Because somewhere under that celebrity attitude, you actually care about this place,” she answered, then shrugged. “Either that, or I’m just too cute to turn down.”
He laughed. “Must be the first one.”
“Excuse me, but if you two are done flirting, I’d like to order,” one of the customers at a nearby table said, causing them both to blush.
Liz recovered first and slapped an order pad into Lucky’s hand. “There’s your first customer. Go get ‘em, Cowboy.”
Lucky threw her an evil glare, then walked over to the table. Liz chuckled and headed for the kitchen to make sure the cook had bothered to show up. Thankfully, he had.
In an effort to avoid Lucky, Liz tried to stay in the kitchen, or at least behind the lunch counter. Since he had worked at Kelly’s for a short time during high school, she knew he could handle it by himself. A few hours into the shift, she heard a loud scream, and went running out into the diner, worried that someone had been hurt. Instead of an injured customer, she found Lucky, surrounded by four 15-year-old girls, all of whom were squealing and jumping up and down.
Lucky had been taking someone’s order when the girls came in, and didn’t even see them until one of them screamed. The next thing he knew, he was surrounded. He looked up and saw Liz grinning at him, fully enjoying his discomfort. Suddenly, he had an idea. Not only would it probably get the teens off his back, but it would totally irritate Elizabeth. He grinned at the thought, the untangled himself from the screaming girls and walked toward her.
Elizabeth saw Lucky sauntering over to her and suddenly wished she had stayed in the kitchen. Something told her that he was up to something, and that she wasn’t going to like it!
“Hey, honey!” he greeted, loud enough for everyone to hear, as he quickly pulled her away from the counter and hugged her. “Just go along with me here,” he whispered.
She was too shocked by the sudden contact to say anything, and was busy trying to ignore how her entire body was tingling from being so close to his.
Lucky pulled back, took a deep breath, and took her face in his hands. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized what he was about to do. He leaned in and kissed her, letting his lips linger on hers much longer than he had originally planned. The four teens sighed in disappointment and slowly filed out of the diner. Lucky finally broke the kiss and chuckled nervously. “Are they gone?”
“Hm?’ she asked, still reeling from what had just happened, finding herself lost in his perfect blue eyes.
“Those girls. Are they gone?” he repeated. Liz cleared her throat and looked over his shoulder. A huge grin spread across her face and she met Lucky’s eyes again, trying not to laugh.
“Yeah, they’re gone, but someone even better just showed up!” She covered her mouth to stifle another laugh as Lucky turned his head, unaware that he was still holding Liz.
“Oh, no,” he groaned, covering his face in disbelief as Luke waved from the doorway.
