Chapter 85
“How long do I have before the SPIN interview?” Lucky asked tiredly as he and Charisma boarded the tour bus. He had just completed two interviews for the local news stations and was already drained. All they wanted to know about was his marriage and Elizabeth. Keeping up this charade was starting to take more energy than he had expected.
“It’s not until 9:00, you have about an hour.”
“Cool. Where are we doing it this time?”
“Starbucks,” she replied with a small smile. “You look like you could use some coffee anyway.”
“No, what I need is a good night’s sleep, but that sure won’t be happening any time soon,” he grumbled, looking around the small living area. Most of the crew were watching Tv while the rest were either reading or napping.
“Rich, man, where’s that beautiful wife of mine?” he asked, smiling to himself as he pictured Liz’s face if she had heard him.
“She went into your room to lay down after you left. I haven’t seen her since.”
“Thanks. Can someone bang on the door when it’s time for that next interview? I don’t trust myself to stay awake.”
“No problem, Spence. Go ahead and take a nap, I’ll wake you up,” Charisma assured him, nudging him back towards his room. He nodded in thanks and slipped quietly inside, in case Liz was asleep.
Sure enough, she had drifted off to sleep while sitting in front of his TV. He switched it off and reached down to lift her off of the chair she was sitting in. She smiled in her sleep and snuggled against him as he carried her over to the bed. He gently laid her down and pulled a blanket over her, then walked around and crawled in next to her, determined to get a quick nap before his next interview. He rolled onto his side and watched her for a few minutes, marveling at how angelic she looked when she was sleeping. Impulsively, he leaned over and gently kissed her forehead, smiling as she murmured contentedly and moved closer to him, throwing her arm around his waist. Not wanting to wake her, he decided to just leave her be. He put his arm around her and closed his eyes, giving in to the overwhelming exhaustion he was feeling.
~*~
“Spence!” Charisma hissed, shaking him gently. When he hadn’t answered her knocks, she had let herself into the room and found him asleep, curled up with Liz. As adorable as they were, she had to get him to wake up. He still had an interview to do, and it was not a good idea to stand up a national publication.
“Come on Spence, get up!” she growled, shaking him harder. Lucky groaned and opened his eyes, squinting up at her.
“What?” he grumbled, obviously annoyed at the rude awakening.
“Get up, you’re going to be late for your meeting with SPIN.”
“I don’t want to,” he whined, tightening his hold on Liz and closing his eyes again. He was tired and comfortable, and he didn’t want to move.
“Tough. Come on, you know better than that. You have to do this. I promise, once it’s over you can come right back here and sleep the rest of the night.”
He sighed and carefully disengaged himself from Liz, trying not to wake her. Once he was freed, he rolled off of the bed and stood up, stretching for a moment before following Charisma out of the room. A few minutes after they were gone, Liz opened her eyes and sat up, looking around the room in confusion.
“How did I get in the bed?” she mumbled to herself, glancing at her watch. It was a few minutes after nine, so Lucky must be in that other interview Charisma had mentioned. She sighed and lay back down, figuring sleep was the best way to pass the time. His scent still lingered on one of the pillows, and she smiled softly, realizing he must have come back between interviews and taken a nap with her. She reached out and felt the bed next to her and sure enough, it was still warm.
~*~
Liz woke up the next morning to find that Lucky was already gone. She frowned and looked at her watch. It was almost 11:00. Cursing herself for sleeping so late, she got up and went over to her suitcase to grab some clothes. She then headed for the bathroom to shower and change, wondering what she was supposed to do all day while Lucky was off playing the rock star. After drying her hair, she returned to his room to deposit her dirty clothes, then sighed and made her way out to the main part of the bus.
Most of the crew had gone out for the day, so she had most of the bus to herself. She went out to the kitchen to see if she could find some coffee.
“Morning, Liz,” Rich greeted, looking up from the paper. He was one of the few people left on the bus since he had also slept late.
“Rich, I didn’t think you’d still be here. Don’t you usually go with Lucky to his stuff?” she asked, pouring a cup of coffee for herself.
“Nah, Charisma does that. I just organize the concerts. So, did you sleep well?”
She chuckled and took a seat across from him. “I must have, considering how late I slept. I still can’t believe I did that!” She sipped her coffee for a few minutes, then looked up at him. “So, what is there to do around here all day?”
“Not much. You can hang out here and watch TV, read, whatever, or you can check out the city. Spence made sure there was an extra car here in case you wanted to go out.”
“That was nice,” she mumbled, trying to decide what to do. Rich glanced at his watch and smiled.
“You know, he should be at the Tower appearance right about now. What do you say we drop by and surprise him?”
“Isn’t he busy, though? I wouldn’t want to bother him.”
He shook his head. “It’s just an autograph session. He can sign those things in his sleep, trust me. Come on, it’ll be fun, and I’m sure he’d love to see you there.”
Liz chuckled softly, picturing the expression on his face if she showed up. He’d probably kill her. “You know, maybe it would be fun. All right, let’s go!”
~*~
“Remind me to kill David later?” Lucky whispered to Charisma as she handed him another photo. There was a line of fans out the door of the record store, and it was showing no signs of getting any shorter. He took the photo and smiled politely at the nervous girl in front of him.
“Hi there. What’s your name?”
She giggled. “Lindsay.”
Lucky smiled and quickly signed the photo, then handed it to her. “Thanks for coming.”
She giggled again and hurried away as the next fan stepped up. Lucky sighed and turned to Charisma for the next photo. “I feel like a freakin’ robot here!”
“It’ll be over soon. Just keep signing,” she urged, thrusting another picture at him. He turned back to the fan and asked the same question as before, signed the picture, and handed it back to her.
Rich brought Liz through the back entrance of the store in order to avoid the huge crowd of fans in the front. They walked up behind Lucky’s table, nodding in greeting to Charisma. She started to lean over to tell Lucky they were there, but Liz quickly shook her head. She was amazed at the amount of people there, some of which were already studying her suspiciously. Figuring she could have some fun with this and annoy Lucky at the same time, she crept up behind him and leaned over to whisper in his ear.
“Hey, sexy.”
Lucky jumped at the sound of her voice and spun around to face her. He grinned as soon as he saw her and jumped out of his chair, forgetting about the line of fans waiting for him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, hugging her, not only for show, but in relief for having a reason to take a break.
Liz chuckled and shook her head. “Rich convinced me it would be fun to come here and surprise you.” She cleared her throat and raised her voice, figuring they should start their act before people started to get suspicious. “You were already gone when I woke up this morning. I missed you.”
Catching on, Lucky pulled her closer. “I missed you too, baby. I had an early rehearsal that I couldn’t get out of. Believe me, I would have much rather stayed in bed with you.”
Liz stifled a laugh as a disappointed murmur passed through the crowd. Lucky smiled and leaned closer to her.
“I told you they’d hate you.”
“I guess I should feel flattered to have so many people jealous of me, huh?” she asked quietly, looking up into his eyes and becoming immediately lost.
“I know what would make them even more jealous.”
“What?”
“If I kissed you right now,” he suggested. “I mean, they’re probably expecting it anyway...“
“True. Even if they aren’t, Charisma and Rich probably are. I guess we should get it over with, then,” she muttered, still gazing deeply into his eyes.
“Right,” he whispered, leaning down and meeting her lips in a passionate kiss. He couldn’t help hamming it up, knowing how many people were watching. Liz threw her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer, slightly thrilled at the thought of all of those girls envying her. No one had ever been jealous of her before, and she couldn’t help liking it.
They pulled apart slowly and Liz blinked up at him. “Did the lights get brighter just now?”
Lucky smiled and shook his head. “No, I think we just got our picture taken, that’s all.”
“Goody,” she groaned, stepping back. “Well, I should let you get back to your adoring fans,” she said sarcastically.
“Yeah, I can feel Charisma glaring at me already,” he joked. “Um, what are you doing for the rest of the day?”
“I’ll probably just hang out in your bus, why?”
“I’ve got some free time later this afternoon, and it would probably look odd if I didn’t spend it with you,” he explained reluctantly.
“Oh, right. Um, well, I guess I’ll just be in the bus, so...”
“Okay, we can decide what to do later. I better go before Charisma comes over here and pummels me.”
Liz giggled. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”
“Oh, you’re funny,” he smirked. “I’ll see you later.” He reached down and kissed her again. “Try not to miss me too much.”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes and smiled up at him. “Of course I’ll miss you, honey!”
Lucky chuckled and brushed his hand gently against her cheek. “I’ll miss you too.” She nodded and stepped back, then turned to nod at Rich that she was ready to leave. Lucky watched them go before returning to the table.
“Sorry about that,” he apologized, smiling warmly at the waiting fans. “We just got married, so we’re still kind of mushy.”
Charisma stifled a laugh as she went back to handing him his photos. They were getting way too good at this marriage thing, it was only a matter of time before they weren’t acting any more!
