Chapter 19

Lucky stood outside Elizabeth's front door, waiting for her to answer. 'I shouldn't have offered to pick her up. This feels too much like a date now....' he thought. After what felt like an eternity, she opened the door.

"Sorry about that. I was upstairs," she said, grabbing her purse and coming outside. "Let's go."

Lucky just stood there, watching her walk out to his car. She looked amazing. She was wearing a short black skirt and a red shirt that showed off some of her midriff. He shook his head, trying to snap himself back to his senses. This girl had been the bane of his existence for the past week, and here he was, practically drooling over her because she put on some tight clothes!

He walked quickly to the car and they drove off to Luke's. Elizabeth kept throwing small glances over to Lucky. He looked nice, although she couldn't figure out what was different about him tonight than during school. He smelled good, too. She sighed, and forced herself to look out the window.

They arrived at Luke's before Nikolas and Emily, so they went ahead and sat down at a table. Liz was reading the menu in order to avoid having an uncomfortable conversation with him.

"Sorry we're late!" Nikolas announced, walking up to their table with Emily. They sat down and smiled. "Hello, sister-in-law," he said, smiling at Elizabeth.

She rolled her eyes, and Lucky nearly choked on his drink. "Don't start that stuff Nikolas!" he warned.

Nikolas laughed. "Hey, sorry, I thought we were on a double date or something."

"We're not on a date," Lucky said, glaring at him.

"Well, then why are you here together?" he asked.

"We got an A on the first part of our project, so we came here to celebrate, okay?" Lucky asked angrily, hoping that would be the end of it.

Emily smiled and looked at Nikolas. "Sounds like a date to me," she said innocently.

"It's not a date!" Lucky and Liz yelled simultaneously, causing their dinner companions to burst out laughing.

"Oh, shut up, both of you!" Lucky grumbled, picking up a menu. "If I had known you guys were going to be so obnoxious, I wouldn't have invited you."

"Then it really would have been a date!" Nikolas said, still laughing. Lucky shot him an evil stare, which only made him laugh harder.

"Why don't you guys go dance or something?" Lucky said, still reading the menu.

Emily looked at Nikolas and smiled "You know, that's not a bad idea. Let's go." They got up and went out to the dance floor, leaving Lucky and Elizabeth alone.

He sighed and put down his menu. "I'm sorry about that. They're not usually so annoying. I don't know what got into them."

She shrugged. "They're just messing with you. If you let them know it bothers you, they're just going to keep doing it."

"Yeah, I know. I'll try to keep my temper in check when they come back." When the song ended, Emily and Nikolas came back to the table. They all ordered their food and made small talk for a while. Emily was asking Liz about Colorado, and Lucky and Nikolas were talking about their little sister.

A disco song came on the jukebox and Emily grinned. "I love this song! Nikolas, come dance with me again." She grabbed his hand pulled him out of his char.

"Come on guys, don't make us go out there alone," he pleaded. Lucky glared at him and Liz shook her head.

"I don't dance," she said.

Lucky looked at her strangely. "What do you mean, you don't dance?"

She shrugged. "I thought it was a pretty self-explanatory statement. I don't dance, end of subject."

"Oh come on, not even to slow songs?"

"Okay, fine, I don't mind slow-dancing," she said reluctantly, then quickly added, "but not with you. No offense, or anything, but I only slow-dance with guys I like. You know what I mean."

He nodded. "I see, you're too good to dance with your own husband now."

She groaned. "Don't start, Lucky. Weren't you just yelling at Nikolas for saying that kind of stuff?"

"I know, but that's because he's my brother and he gets on my nerves. It's okay if I say it, because then I'm getting on your nerves." He grinned and took a drink of his soda. He could practically see the steam coming out of her ears.

She stood up angrily. "I'm going to the ladies' room!" He laughed as she stomped off.

"Uh-oh, trouble in paradise?" Nikolas asked as they came back to the table. Lucky just rolled his eyes. "Okay, admit it little brother, you like her, don't you?"

"What? Where would you get an idea like that? I can't stand that girl!"

He laughed. "You can keep telling yourself that, but sooner or later you're going to have to admit it."

"No, I'm not, because there's nothing to admit. Now will you please drop the subject? It's getting old."

Nikolas raised his hands in mock surrender. "All right, I'll drop it, but mark my words, you like that girl, even if you don't know it yet."

Before Lucky could answer, Elizabeth came back to the table. They finished eating, and managed to pass the rest of the evening in pleasant conversation. Around 10:00, Nikolas and Emily stood up to leave.

"Well, guys, this has been fun, but we should get going. It was good to see you again, Elizabeth," Nikolas said.

"It was good to see you guys, too. Thanks for coming," Liz answered, smiling.

Once they were gone, Lucky stood up. "I guess we should go, too. After all, it is a school night." She nodded, and they went out to his car.

They drove back to her house in silence, neither one of them able to think of anything to talk about. Finally, they pulled up in front of Audrey's house. "Here you go," Lucky said.

"Yeah, home sweet home," Liz said, opening the car door. "Thanks for the dinner. It was fun, well, most of it."

He laughed. "Yeah, sorry about my brother. He can be obnoxious sometimes."

"Gee, I don't know anyone else like that..." she said, looking at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, you made your point, but I'm not the only annoying person in this car, you know! Let's just say we're even and call it a night, okay?"

"Fine. I better go. See you tomorrow." She got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Lucky stayed in the car and watched her until he saw that she was inside safely before he left. He drove home, Nikolas's words running through his head.

You like that girl, even if you don't know it yet...

"He's nuts. Both him and Dad are crazy. I don't like her. We're partners on this project, and that's it," he muttered as he pulled into his driveway, determined to ignore the feelings that were slowly growing in him.

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