Chapter 99
Lucky woke up and looked down at Liz, who was still laying in his arms, her head resting on his chest. He gently pushed some of her hair out of her face and studied her profile as she slept. There was something different about her all of a sudden, it was like for the first time, he was really seeing her. Maybe it was just the idea that she could be carrying his child that had caused his sudden change of opinion, or maybe it was the dream he had during the night.
He had dreamt that he and Elizabeth had stayed married and had a son, the spitting image of him. There was something so completely comfortable and perfect about the dream that it almost scared him. Being a father had always been something he wanted to do, but it had always been a future thing, something that wouldn’t happen for years. Suddenly, he was faced with the possibility of it happening now, and was surprised that the idea wasn’t at all unappealing. In fact, part of him almost hoped it was true.
Liz started to stir, so he let his arms fall away from her and watched quietly as she slowly woke up. She opened her eyes and turned her head to look up at him.
“Mm, you’re awake,” she mumbled, smiling.
He chuckled softly. “So are you.”
“Not really.” She laid her head back down on him and closed her eyes, still tired and much too comfortable to get up yet. Lucky sighed and closed his eyes as well. It was still early, so he figured he might as well get as much sleep as he could before the craziness of the tour started up again. For the moment, he could forget about all of that and just enjoy the peace and quiet.
That didn’t last long, however, because a few minutes later there was a loud knock on the door. He groaned, glancing over at the clock.
“Is it Charisma?” Liz grumbled, annoyed at being woken up again.
“No, it’s still early. Hang on, I’ll go see what’s going on.” He let go of her and got out of the bed, ready to give whoever was on the other side of the door a piece of his mind for disturbing them. He opened the door to find a man standing there with a huge vase of flowers.
“Is there a Liz here?’ the man asked, reading off of the paper in his hand.
“Yeah, why?” Lucky asked, still not completely awake.
“There are for her.” He shoved the vase into Lucky’s hands and walked away.
“Who was it?” Liz asked when she heard him shut the door. She had pulled the blankets over her head when Lucky got up, so she hadn’t heard the delivery man.
“I’m not sure. He said these are for you,” he answered, walking back to the bed. She threw off the covers and sat up, shocked to see the huge bouquet in his hands.
“Did you...?”
“No, it wasn’t me,” he answered, frowning. Who would be sending flowers to her?
She reached out for them and started searching for a card while Lucky sat on the edge of the bed and waited. Finally, she found it and read the message silently to herself, her jaw dropping in shock.
“What?” he asked impatiently. “Who is it?”
Liz shook her head in amazement. “Listen to this: ‘Missed you and Lucky at the Sony party last night. Heard you weren’t feeling well. We hope you get better soon. Best regards, Brad and Jen.’ Brad and Jen! I can’t believe they sent me flowers just because someone told them I was sick. They hardly know me!”
Lucky smiled, her excitement contagious. “They’re both really nice people. That’s what they do. I’ll admit, though, I’m pretty surprised too. You must have made quite an impression on them at the awards.”
She was still shaking her head, just staring at the flowers, captivated by them. “I just can’t believe this.”
He chuckled softly and walked over to the closet to grab some clothes. “Well, if you can’t, then just imagine what everyone back home is going to say!”
“That’s right,” she said, suddenly remembering that she was supposed to go back that day. “How long do we have before I have to be at the airport?”
“The plane will be ready by 11:00, but you’re the only passenger, so if we’re late, it’s no big deal.”
“You mean, I’m taking your plane back?”
He nodded, heading for the bathroom. “Yeah, of course. Did you think I was putting you on a commercial flight?”
She snickered sarcastically. “Well, you know, people do take those. I would have been perfectly fine on one, you didn’t have to make your pilot take an extra trip just to bring me home.”
“Maybe not, but that’s what I pay him for. If he didn’t fly people around, what’s the point in having him on my staff?” Lucky shouted through the door. “As long as you’re my wife, that’s one of the privileges that you have.”
“Well, I guess I better make the most of it then, since once this tour’s over, we’ll probably be divorced,” she shouted back, quickly slipping on a pair of jeans and changing her shirt before he came back out of the bathroom.
Lucky came out a minute later as she was tucking in her shirt. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were changing out here.” He started to go back into the bathroom, but Liz called out for him to stop.
“It’s okay, I’m done.” She smiled and sat down on the bed, looking over at the flowers again.
He walked around and sat down next to her. “Hey, I was thinking about something.”
Liz turned to face him. “What?”
“The baby. I mean, if there is one, which we don’t know yet, but there might be, so... Anyway, I was thinking that if it turns out that you are pregnant, maybe we shouldn’t get divorced after all.”
Liz stared at him, trying to figure out if she had heard him right. “You mean, stay married for the baby?”
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair nervously. “I know it sounds crazy, but I just think children should have both of their parents together, especially when they’re young.”
“Even if they hate each other?” she asked skeptically.
“Come on, Elizabeth. Can you honestly say that we still hate each other as much as we did when I first came back?”
She sighed and looked away for a minute. “No, I guess not. But just because we can tolerate one another doesn’t mean we can stay married!”
“What happened to us anyway? When we first met, we were really good friends,, but then all of a sudden you started being really nasty to me, and eventually I started to do the same thing to you. We were friends once, don’t you think we can be friends again if we just figure out what happened and try to put it behind us?”
Liz frowned, her mind returning to that time of her life, when all she had ever wanted was Lucky. “I can’t believe you never figured it out, that after all these years, you never realized....”
“Never realized what?” he asked, turning so that he was facing her.
“Lucky, when I first met you, I had the biggest crush on you. You were so cool and funny, and gorgeous...”
“Were? You mean, I’m not anymore?” he smirked, laughing as she blushed. He had been shocked by her statement, but covered it up with a joke. “Sorry.”
“Fine, you still are, but that’s not the point. You were right, we were good friends back then, but you were too obsessed with Sarah to notice that I liked you as more than that. So, when you agreed to go with me to the Valentine’s Day dance, I was so excited. Gram took me shopping for a dress and even let me borrow one of her old bracelets, one that my grandfather gave her when they were dating. So, just imagine how I felt when Sarah showed up and you spent the entire night dancing with her and completely ignoring me! After that, I told myself you weren’t worth it, and started to act like I hated you. After a while, it got easier and easier, until one day, I really did hate you.”
Lucky was speechless for a moment. He had no idea that she had felt that way back then. “I’m... Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. I never realized...”
“Yeah, well, it’s in the past, no point arguing about it now,” she mumbled, looking away so he wouldn’t be able to see that it still affected her.
He sighed, shaking his head. “I wish I had known back then. Maybe...”
“Maybe what?” she asked angrily. “Maybe you could have avoided me so I wouldn’t have been lead on? Maybe you wouldn’t have accepted my invitation to the dance? What would you have done if you had known, anyway?”
“Before the dance, I don’t know. But after it... All Sarah talked about that night was Nikolas, and it drove me crazy. I finally realized what you had been saying all along, that she was annoying, shallow and self-centered. Once I realized that, I suddenly noticed that you were just the opposite, that the girl I had been friends with all that time wasn’t just some brat that was always trying to impress everyone, that she was a beautiful, caring, funny person that I always had a blast with.”
“What?” she asked, completely blown away by his confession.
“I guess we just had really bad timing, because just as you gave up on me, I realized how much I liked you. But, no matter what I did, you were always so rude to me, I eventually told myself that whatever I thought I had seen in you was gone, or was never there to begin with, and I started to be rude back.”
“So, we liked each other, just not at the same time?” she asked, stunned that he actually liked her back then.
“I guess so. Now that we know all of that, don’t you think we can find a way to be friends again, for the baby’s sake? If there is one, I mean.”
She thought for a moment, the idea not as unappealing as it used to be. “Yeah, I think so. We can try, at least.”
“Good. I guess we can talk about it more once we know for sure what’s going on. For now, we better get to the airport so you can go home.” He stood up and went to get his bags, since they were checking out and returning to the tour bus.
“Right,” she muttered, standing as well. “Back to the real world.”
~*~
Lucky and Charisma walked with Liz to the gate for the private planes in silence. When they got to the boarding gate, Charisma hung back to give them some privacy, but stayed close enough so that they would have to keep up their act for her.
“Well, I guess this is it,” Lucky said quietly, turning to look at her. “Say hi to everyone for me.”
“I will.” She sighed and set the vase of flowers on the ground next to her, then reached up to hug him. “Thanks for putting up with me this week.”
“It was nothing, really. I wasn’t exactly around much to begin with. I’m sorry if you were bored.”
“I wasn’t. I had the guys to keep me company. Even made some money while I was at it.” She pulled back and grinned at him, still amused at herself for beating them all at cards.
Lucky laughed softly. “You’re something, you know that?” She laughed and nodded. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Charisma watching them. “I’m going to miss you.”
She smiled, nodding. “I’ll miss you too. It’s only three weeks, it’ll be over before we know it.”
“Right.” He leaned down and took her face in his hands, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Liz wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer as it deepened. After a minute, he broke it, not trusting himself to keep kissing her. Something had changed in him that day, and it scared him.
Liz left her arms around his neck and hugged him again, not ready to let go. She couldn’t figure out why, but the thought of leaving him now was starting to depress her. She sniffed as her eyes began to water, then backed away, stooping down to pick up the flowers.
“Bye, Lucky,” she whispered, backing towards the gate. She caught a glimpse of Charisma still hovering behind him. “I love you.”
He smiled, knowing that she was still watching. “I love you too, Elizabeth. I’ll call you soon.”
She nodded, then turned to hurry through the gate, confused by the way she was feeling. Telling him she loved him just now hadn’t felt nearly as forced as it used to. Something really strange was going on, and she vowed to find Alexis as soon as she got back. At least she had experience with this kind of situation, maybe she could offer some advice.
Lucky watched as Liz boarded the plane, reaching up to quickly wipe his eyes, which had started to water. He then took a deep breath and turned around, nodding at Charisma that they could leave. As they walked back to the tour bus, he tried to figure out what was going on with him, why her leaving wasn’t a relief, why he suddenly felt empty and alone.
