Chapter 92
Elizabeth woke up in Lucky’s arms and looked around, disoriented. The last thing she remembered was laying on the floor in front of the TV, so how did she get in the bed? She was also surprised that Lucky was still there. For the past week, he had early appointments every day, and was usually gone by the time she woke up.
Lucky sighed in his sleep and tightened his arms around her. She snuggled back against him and closed her eyes, figuring she might as well go back to sleep. If he was still there, then it must still be pretty early.
A minute later, she heard the door creak open and looked up in surprise. “Charisma?”
“Hey,” she whispered. “You’re up.”
“Yeah, I just woke up a minute ago. What are you doing here?”
Charisma smiled and walked around to the other side of the bed. “I’m Spence’s wake-up call. He doesn’t trust alarm clocks, so he has me wake him up in the morning.” She held up a room key. “He even had the desk give me a key to your room for today.”
“You mean, you’ve been coming into our room every morning this week? How did I sleep through that?”
She shrugged and leaned over to shake Lucky. “I guess you’re a heavy sleeper.”
“Not usually...” Liz muttered, rolling onto her back. Lucky’s arms were still around her, and Charisma didn’t seem to be having any luck waking him.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to him, but this used to be a lot easier,” Charisma grumbled, shaking him harder.
“What do you mean?”
“It used to be that all I had to do was open the door and he’d wake up. Until this week, I never even had to come into the room. Now, I have to come in five minutes earlier to give myself time to wake him. I’m always afraid I’m going to wake you up in the process, because he sleeps all intertwined with you. It’s cute, but it’s a pain when I need him to get to an interview!”
Liz blushed slightly and smiled. “He does look pretty comfortable, doesn’t he?”
Charisma suppressed a smile at her comment and nodded. “Yeah. Lucky, come on, get up!”
He groaned and opened his eyes, surprised to find two people looking at him. “What?”
“You’ve got that All My Children shoot this morning. Get up, or you’ll be late,” Charisma ordered, turning to leave the room. “And don’t forget, you’re meeting with Mariah afterwards.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ll be out in a minute,” he grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. She nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Liz propped herself up on her elbows and looked over at him. “How did I get here? The last thing I remember, I was on the floor, in front of the television set.”
“You fell asleep, so I moved you,” he answered, sitting up.
“Oh. Thanks,” she mumbled, not sure what to think of it. That was the second time he had moved her to the bed when she had fallen asleep somewhere.
“Did you at least make it through the Late Show?” he asked, getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom.
She smiled and got up as well, grabbing for her robe. “Yeah. It was weird seeing myself on TV.”
A few minutes later, he came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to go. “Well, I better get out of here before Charisma starts getting on my case. I should be back sometime this afternoon to get ready for tonight.”
Liz nodded. “Okay. I’ll probably be here. Where else would I go?”
“I thought you went to school here. Don’t you have any old friends you want to visit?”
She stopped brushing her hair for a moment and shook her head. “No, they all pretty much moved out of the city when we graduated. I’ll probably just spend all afternoon getting ready, anyway.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll see you then,” he said, leaning over and kissing her quickly before leaving the room. She went back to her suitcase to grab some clothes, then froze when she realized that he had just kissed her, even though there was no one else around!
Out in the hallway, Lucky had the same realization. He shook his head and continued down the hallway, reminding himself this was just an act.
~*~
Lucky slid the key card into the door of his hotel suite and opened it, hurrying inside. His rehearsal had run late, and now he had less than an hour before the limousine arrived for them.
“Elizabeth?” he called out, seeing that the bathroom door was closed.
She opened the door a bit and stuck her head out. “I was starting to wonder if you were coming back. What happened?”
“Sorry, rehearsal ran over. You almost done in there?”
“Give me ten more minutes?”
“Sure. I’m going to change out here, so let me know before you come out.”
She nodded and closed the door again. He went over to the garment bag in the closet and unzipped it, pulling out the clothes he was supposed to wear that night. His stylist had chosen a pair of black leather pants and a long-sleeved, royal blue shirt. It was a shiny, satiny material that reflected the light, something he normally wouldn’t wear. But, it’s what had been chosen for him, so he didn’t have a choice. He dressed quickly, finishing just as Liz knocked on the bathroom door.
“Is it safe to come out?”
“Yeah, go ahead, I’m done,” he said, adjusting the collar of his shirt in the mirror. She opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom, her jaw dropping when she saw him. He looked amazing. The color of the shirt brought out his eyes even more than usual. The material was loose and shimmery, and looked really good on him, and the leather pants were incredibly sexy.
Lucky turned to look at her and smiled. “Um, I know people like to make strange statements at these things with their clothes, but don’t you think that’s a little bit too casual?”
Liz looked down at her robe and frowned. “I’m not dressed yet, dummy! I was just doing my hair and makeup in there.”
Lucky studied her for a moment. Even in the hotel’s robe, she was stunning. Her hair was up in a twist, with loose strands framing her face, and her makeup was perfectly applied. He could tell from where he was standing that she smelled good as well.
“Do you have something against buttons?” she asked, pointing to his shirt. He had only buttoned it about halfway, leaving the top half of his chest exposed, and she could see that it would be extremely distracting if he left it that way for the entire evening.
“No, but this is how my stylist told me to wear it.” He saw the look on her face and laughed. “Yes, I have a stylist. Anyway, I better go in there,” he said, pointing to the bathroom.
“Okay. I’m going to change out here like you did, so warn me before you come out.”
He nodded and retreated into the bathroom. Once the door was closed, Liz reached into the closet for the other garment bag containing her dress. As soon as she found out about the awards, she had run out to Wyndhams for a new dress, and had finally found one she liked. It was a floor-length, strapless, midnight-blue gown that looked almost black unless the light hit it a certain way, with a matching black shawl. She dressed as quickly as possible, figuring Lucky would be out soon. Sure enough, he called out to her as she was fighting with the zipper.
“Are you done yet?”
“Almost. Actually, I need your help,” she answered, standing in front of the mirror to make sure she was otherwise ready. Lucky came out into the room and froze. Liz was standing in front of the mirror, holding the back of her dress with one hand and fiddling with her hair with the other. Her attention was focused on her reflection, so she didn’t notice him gaping at her.
“Lucky?” she called out again, thinking he was still in the bathroom.
“Um, right here,” he said softly, having a hard time finding his voice. She looked over and smiled at him.
“Can you give me a hand with this?” she asked, turning her back to him and pointing at the zipper of her dress. She had managed to zip it up about halfway, but wasn’t able to get it any farther.
He swallowed nervously and walked up to her, reaching for the zipper. “Sure.”
Liz stood still as he slowly pulled the zipper up, his knuckles brushing lightly against her bare back, sending a small shiver down her spine.
“There you go,” he said, stepping back again. She reached for her shawl and draped it over her shoulders, then turned to face him.
“Thanks. So, is this okay? I mean, I’ve never been to one of these things, and I wasn’t sure what to get.”
Lucky nodded, his eyes traveling down her body. “You’re perfect...I mean, it’s perfect.”
She blushed at the compliment, not sure how to respond, but was saved by a loud knock at the door.
“Spence? Liz? The limo’s here!” Charisma called out.
“You ready?” he asked, holding out his arm. Liz nodded and slid her own through it as they walked to the door. Charisma grinned at them.
“You both look amazing,” she gushed. “Come on, you better hurry.” They made their way down to the car and sped off to the theater. The place was insane with activity, limousines everywhere, people crowding the red carpet area with cameras. Their car pulled up in front and the driver got out to open their door. Liz glanced over at Lucky and smiled.
“I could get used to this, you know!”
He laughed and waited for her to exit the car, then followed. As soon as he appeared, the crowd exploded in screams, flashes going off everywhere. He wrapped his arm around her waist and hurried them down the carpet into the building. One of the ushers showed them to their seats. They were on the aisle in one of the first few rows.
“Okay, I don’t know if I’ll ever be used that that,” she gasped, falling into the seat.
“To what?” Lucky asked, taking his seat on the aisle.
“Hundreds of people screaming every time you get out of the car,” she answered with a laugh.
“Trust me, after a while you stop noticing,” he responded, looking down at the program in his hands.
“So, what do we do now, just wait for it to start?”
“Yeah. My duet is at the beginning, so I’ll have to go backstage right before the ceremony starts. Oh, and just so you know, Mariah chose the song. I had nothing to do with it.”
She looked at him strangely, not sure why he was telling her that. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind, I guess.”
“Excuse us,” a man said softly, nudging his date in front of his as they slid past Lucky and Liz, taking the two seats next to them. Liz gasped as she recognized him and turned to Lucky.
“That’s Brad Pitt!” she hissed. “Brad Pitt is sitting next to me!”
“I think Jennifer is presenting an award tonight,” he whispered back, wondering why he, of all people, had been seated next to them. Liz was practically giddy, and he couldn’t help feeling jealous. He sighed and turned his attention back to the empty stage. This was going to be a long night.
Liz folded her hands in her lap and stared straight ahead, not sure how to act. Brad Pitt was actually sitting right next to her! She was going to be only inches away from him all night long. She smiled and glanced nervously at him out of the corner of her eye. How was she supposed to concentrate on the show with him sitting there, his shoulder practically touching hers? This was going to be a long night!
