Chapter 21
"Elizabeth, we've been looking for 2 weeks now. We're running out of time. Now, we have 2 more houses on this list, and if you don't like either of them, I'm just going to pick one for you!" They had been driving around all afternoon, and Lucky was getting extremely frustrated. They only had a week left to find a house, and she was still turning down nearly every one they looked at.
"Hey, don't put all the blame on me. I've liked plenty of them, but you just don't like the same things that I do. Face it, our tastes are too different to agree on something like this...Ooo...look at that one!" They stopped at the next house on their list, and Liz was instantly in love with it.
Lucky studied the house, and had to admit that it was nice. The yard was big, it was in a nice neighborhood, away from the main part of town, so Elizabeth could feel like she was more in the country, but it wasn't overly secluded, either. "Let's get out and walk around."
"Can we do that?" she asked nervously. She didn't want to get arrested for trespassing.
He nodded. "Yeah, it doesn't look like anyone is living here right now, anyway. Don't worry, if anyone sees us, we'll say that our parents are moving, and we're helping them look for a house. There's a For Sale sign in the yard, so they have to expect that people will stop to look."
He had a point, so she got out of the car and they began to walk around. "What did the ad say again?"
He took the clipping out of his pocket. "3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 2-car garage, 3000 square feet of living space, fireplace, spacious rooms, $130K."
He heard her squeal and looked up. She was peeking through one of the windows. He chuckled and walked over. "You sure got over your fear of trespassing pretty quickly!"
She shrugged. "Like you said, it's for sale, they have to expect people to look. Come here, look inside. This place is huge!" He stood next to her and looked in the window. She was right, there was a lot of space inside. They were looking in what appeared to be the living room window, so he moved towards the back of the house to try another one.
"Hey, Elizabeth, check this out!" She joined him and gasped.
"Oh, I love this place. Look at the size of that bathtub!" They were looking in the master bathroom this time, and it was pretty spectacular. "Lucky, I think we found our house!"
He grinned, happy that they had finally agreed on something. They walked around the perimeter of the house, peeking in all of the windows, before going back to the car.
"I think I'm in love," she sighed as they started to drive away.
"What?" Lucky asked, not sure if he had heard her right.
"With the house. That's the kind of place I want to live in someday. It was absolutely beautiful. Did you see how huge the backyard was?"
"Yeah, it was nice. I'm just glad we finally picked a place. Now all we have to do is figure out what the mortgage will be."
"How do we do that? We can't exactly go to a bank. They'll laugh us out of the place as soon as they see how old we are."
"We don't need a bank. That's the wonderful thing about the Internet. You can find practically everything there. There's tons of websites that help people calculate mortgages and loans and stuff. Come on, let's go back to my house and check it out. The sooner we finish this, the sooner I can relax. I hate having deadlines hanging over my head!"
~*~
"Hello Nikolas, Emily!" Laura greeted, opening the door. "It's good to see you two."
Nikolas quickly hugged his mother. "LuLu invited us over for a tea party."
She nodded. "I know, it's all she's talked about all morning. Come in, she'll be down in a minute."
"Let me guess, tea party?" Luke asked, coming out of the kitchen and seeing their guests.
Nikolas nodded and sat down on the couch with Emily while they waited for LuLu to come downstairs. Luke sat in a chair as Laura finished setting up the small table. Luke and Nikolas had come to a truce, and although they still didn't like each other much, they had formed a sort of mutual respect for each other, for Laura's sake.
"So, I heard you two had dinner with Lucky and Elizabeth a few weeks ago," Laura said, trying to get a conversation going.
"Yeah, they were celebrating their project. They got an A on the first part or something." Emily said.
Luke grinned and looked at his wife. "See, I told you. They're already going out to dinner together. It won't be much longer now."
She shook her head and smiled. "One dinner isn't going to do it. Don't go getting your hopes up yet."
Nikolas was confused. "What are you guys talking about?"
Luke laughed. "We have a bit of a wager going about how long it's going to take the two of them to admit they're in love - or at least that they like each other."
Nikolas and Emily laughed. "Oh, they definitely like each other. It was so obvious that night."
"Let me guess, they fought the whole time, but couldn't stop looking at each other?" Laura asked.
"Yep. That's exactly what they did. Hey, you guys mind if we get in on this bet?" Nikolas asked.
Luke grinned. "The more the merrier. Only problem is that it's almost over. I said it would only take them a month, and that was 3 weeks ago. The wife said it would take much longer."
"Well, then let's change it a little. A month isn't enough time. You have to give them some time to get to know each other first. How about we say until Halloween?" Nikolas said, looking at Emily for confirmation.
"Okay, so which sides are you two taking?" Laura asked, still amused that they were doing this.
"I think it'll take them longer than that, probably more like Thanksgiving or so," Emily said. "They're both too stubborn."
Nikolas shook his head. "No, they're going to break sooner than that. I think Halloween is plenty of time. What's the wager?"
"A hundred bucks. You've got that big Cassidine wallet to bet with, so I'm sure you can handle it. How about you Emily?" Luke asked.
She laughed. "Don't forget, I've got the Quartermaine wallet! I think I'll be okay."
Luke grinned. "Great! So I guess it's men against women right now. Oh man, you mean you and I are actually on the same side for once?" he asked, looking at Nikolas.
"I guess so. Hey-what do you say we raise the stakes a little? Make a side bet, let's say $50?"
Luke grinned. Maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well, assuming that they do eventually admit their feelings, who do you think will be the one to crack and make the first move? Lucky or Liz? I say Liz."
Luke and Laura laughed. Now this was just getting silly. Luke nodded. "Okay, sounds like a good one. I'd have to say the Cowboy, though. Us Spencer men tend to wear our hearts on our sleeves, so to speak. Once he realizes his feelings for Miss Webber, he won't be able to keep them in. How about you babe?" He looked at Laura to see if she agreed.
"I think I'm with Nikolas on this one. Lucky's way too stubborn. I've seen the way Liz looks at him, and she'll crack first."
"Emily?" Nikolas asked, looking at his girlfriend.
"Lucky, definitely." She grinned, thinking how funny it was that they were betting on someone's love life like this.
"Okay, then. This should be interesting." Luke put his hand out in the middle of them, palm down. "Come on, put your hands in. We have to seal the bet."
Everyone laughed and placed their hands on top of his, like they're getting ready to go out and play football.
"Before we do this, we have to agree that no one is allowed to try to influence either of them. They have to do this on their own, okay?" Laura said. They all agreed and broke away, just as the door opened.
Lucky came into the house with Elizabeth and saw his parents, Nikolas, and Emily all huddled together in the middle of the living room. "What are you guys doing?"
They broke apart quickly, grinning. "Hey there Cowboy. They just came by to have tea with LuLu. What brings you and the missus by?" He knew that would get to him, and he would stop asking questions.
Lucky rolled his eyes. "We need my computer. We'll be upstairs." He quickly headed up the stairs, Elizabeth trailing behind him.
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