Chapter 26

"So, what did you think of your first horror movie?" Lucky asked Nikolas when The Shining was over.

"Well, it was definitely scary....but I liked it," he answered, smiling.

"Yeah, I bet this house is going to seem a lot creepier now!" Emily said, poking him in the ribs.

Lucky grinned. "And did you notice how every scene in that movie had the color red somewhere?"

"Stop it, you guys! You're freaking me out!" Liz said, huddling in the corner of the sofa. She had seen that movie numerous times before, but never on an actual movie screen like that, and for some reason it had really gotten to her.

Lucky laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, are we scaring you?" he asked innocently. She glared at him and moved farther away on the couch.

"Let's just start the next one, okay?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Good idea. How about Urban Legend next?" Emily said, popping the tape in the VCR. Nikolas grabbed the remote, and within seconds, the movie was playing. A few minutes into it, Emily let out a little squeal. "Ooh, it's that cute guy from Dawson's Creek! What's his name again.....Jonathan Jackson, right?"

Liz shook her head. "No, that's Joshua Jackson. Jonathan Jackson is the guy from that soap."

Emily nodded slowly, processing the information, then shrugged. "Either way, they're both hot!" Liz laughed and agreed. Nikolas and Lucky just looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

Liz had never seen Urban Legend before, so she was much more jumpy. Every scary scene had her practically jumping into Lucky's lap, and by the end of the movie, she was pretty much planted there. Lucky didn't seem to be arguing, and she was too scared to remember her earlier promise to stay on her side of the sofa. Nikolas and Emily looked over when the movie ended and saw how they were sitting, right before Liz quickly moved back to the other end of the sofa.

Nikolas turned to Emily and whispered, "Do you think that would count as her making the first move?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Oh no, you're not winning that easily. She has to actually admit that she likes him. Nice try, though." He shrugged and grinned as she planted a quick kiss on his lips.

On the other side of the room, Lucky and Elizabeth were too shaken up by the way they had been sitting to hear their conversation. Liz had been so into the movie that she hadn't even noticed what she was doing, and Lucky had been kind of scared himself, so he almost welcomed the contact. Now that the movie was over, they both felt silly.

"You know, if Luke and Laura find out about this, they're going to say we cheated," Emily whispered, putting the next movie in the VCR.

Nikolas just shrugged. "Not really. I mean, they're our friends, and no one ever said we couldn't invite them over to watch some movies. They're not even romantic ones!"

The next movie, Scream, started, and Liz vowed to herself that she would stay away from Lucky this time, no matter how scary the movie was. Unfortunately, that didn't last too long, because by the end of Drew Barrymore's part, she was practically sitting on top of him. After that, the movie calmed down a bit, and she untangled her fingers from his shirt and moved back to the end of the sofa, once again feeling stupid.

Lucky felt a twinge of disappointment when she moved away again. He silently berated himself for it, and focused his attention back to the screen. Their separation didn't last long, though, because the murders started again pretty quickly. Liz tried to summon up enough willpower to stay away, but after watching two other horror movies, she was just too jumpy, and every loud noise or sudden movement on the screen caused her to jump over to Lucky's side of the couch.

Halfway through the movie, Lucky looked down and realized that he had his arm around her. He didn't remember doing it, and she didn't show any signs of noticing, or at least, she didn't seem to mind it. He started to pull it back, but just then the killer jumped out from behind a door, and Liz screamed and tightened her grip on his shirt. He smiled slightly and left his arm where it was.

Nikolas and Emily had stopped paying attention to the movie ages ago, and were now focused intently on their friends. They smiled and discreetly high-fived each other when they saw Lucky unconsciously put his arm around Liz.

"You're a genius," Nikolas whispered to Emily.

She smiled and shook her head. "The movie thing was your idea."

"Yeah, but you picked the movies. I was just going to get some action films or comedies."

She smiled and kissed him. "Then I guess we're both geniuses. Look at them, do you think they even realize what they're doing?"

Nikolas shook his head. "I doubt it. I've seen the way she jumps away from him whenever she notices where she is. They're too engrossed in the movie right now." Just then. Lucky looked down at his arm.

"Uh, oh. I think Lucky just wised up," Emily whispered. "No, wait....aw, he left it there. Look, he just smiled. See, I am SO going to win this bet!" She turned and looked at Nikolas and grinned.

He shook his head. "Just because he smiled doesn't mean you're going to win. There's a big difference between smiling when you don't think anyone's looking and actually admitting to a girl that you like her!"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, just admit it, Nikolas. You're going down!" She giggled and nestled back into his arms, turning her attention to the movie.

A little while later, the movie ended, and Liz snapped back to reality She was shocked to find that she was curled up against Lucky, and that he had his arm wrapped protectively around her. Part of her didn't want to move, but she knew that she had to. She quickly sat up and backed away, causing his arm to drop down to the couch. Seeing that she had wrinkled his shirt, she guiltily smoothed it with her hand and smiled at him nervously. "Sorry about that. I guess I should stick to comedies."

He looked down at his arm and winced. There was a bruise forming already. "Well, at least I'm not bleeding," he muttered. She heard him and followed his gaze.

"Oh my gosh! Did I do that?" she asked, looking at him fearfully. He laughed and nodded. "Why didn't you say something?"

He laughed again. "I did. I said ouch, but you were in another world and didn't hear me. I had to pry your fingers off of my arm before you could cut off the circulation, and you still didn't notice!"

She gasped and covered her face. "Oh, Lucky, I'm so sorry! I didn't even realize...I don't usually do that, I swear!"

He shook his head. "Forget about it. I'm okay, really. It's getting late though, so we should be going." He looked up at Nikolas and Emily, who quickly looked away, trying to pretend that they weren't spying on them. Lucky noticed, but chose to ignore it for now. "Hey, thanks guys. It was fun, but we should get out of here," he said, standing up and brushing some popcorn off of his lap.

Liz stood up as well and smiled. "Yeah, thanks for inviting me. But next time, can we stay away from horror movies?" They all chuckled as they left the room.

Emily chose to stay at Wyndemere a little while longer, so Lucky and Elizabeth boarded the launch without her. They reached the docks and Liz looked around fearfully. It had gotten pretty dark, and after seeing those movies, she was still kind of skittish. She didn't like the thought of walking home by herself, but she wasn't about to give Lucky the satisfaction of asking him to go with her.

Lucky noticed her hesitation and smiled. "You want me to walk you home? You still seem kind of jumpy." When she didn't answer right away he chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Anyway, I'm kind of creeped out myself after that last one."

She nodded and they started off towards her house.

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