Chapter 3

They managed to get throught the first half of the day without running into each other. Elizabeth was finding her classes on her own, and meeting some other students, although she had yet to meet anyone she felt she could be good friends with.

It was lunchtime, so she headed for the cafeteria. She hadn’t brouhgt anything, so she got in line to buy something. After paying the cashier, she headed for an empty table...and saw that Lucky was doing the same.

“If you try to tell me that this was your table, I’ll have to kill you!” he said, noticing the expression on her face when she saw him.

She couldn’t help laughing. “No, I wasn’t going to say that. Anyway, there are enough chairs here for both of us, if you’re really determined to sit here.”

He shrugged. “It’s the only empty table. I gues you’re stuck with me.”

“Don’t you have any friends?” she asked, not thinking about how rude it sounded until it was too late. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

He smiles. ‘At least she knows how to apologize,’ he thinks. “It’s okay. Most of my friends have a different lunch period than me, so I’m stuck here by myself. I guess we can use the time to work on that project. The more time we spend on it in school, the less we have to work on it at home, right?”

“Yeah, I’m sure you have such a busy social life, what with all of the princes and other rich people you hang around with. God forbid you spend any time with us peasants on something as unimportant as schoolwork,” she says sarcastically.

He winced. ‘Is that really what she thinks of me?’ he wonders. “That’s not what I meant, Elizabeth.” She smiled slightly at the way he said her name. Most people just automatically shorten it to Liz or Beth or, even worse, Lizzie. Her sister always called her that, and it made her feel like she was 4 years old.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to sound so bratty. I’ve just never known people like that before. I guess I was a little jealous,” she admitted, hoping he wouldn’t let it go to his head.

He smiled, and she couldn’t help noticing how his eyes lit up. “I’m sure they’ll be invited to the wedding,” he joked.

“Yeah, that. I guess we should strat figuring out what she wants us to do. I can’t believe she didn’t give us any clues or anything. How are we supposed to know how to plan a wedding?”

“I think that’s the plan. You know, learn by doing. Anyway, if we get really stuck, we can ask my mom. She’s been to enough of them, and from what I hear, her wedding to my dad was the biggest one in Port Charles history or something.”

She giggles. “Must be hard to live up to such a legend.”

“Very funny,” he said, getting out some paper and a pen. “What do you think we need to do first?”

She thought about it while chewing on her cheeseburger. “Well, I guess the easiest thing to do is ask the 6 essential questions.” He looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language, so she elaborated, counting along on her fingers. “Who, what, when, where, why and how. They’re supposed to be the most important questions when telling a story, but they’ll work here too.”

He’s speechless for a moment. There goes his assumption that she was stupid. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad. “Okay, then. Let’s start with who. What does that mean? Us, right?”

“No, silly. The guests, maid of honor, best man, bridesmaids, that sort of thing. I guess the caterers, ushers, priest - or whoever performs the ceremony, also fits in.”

He stared at her, amazed that she knows so much. She stared back and snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Lucky? You in there? Are you going to write this down, or do you have a photographic memory?”

“Oh, sorry. I spaced out there. I guess Nikolas would be the best man, and we can have my sister as a flower girl. My cousin, Lucas could be the ring bearer, too.” He said, getting into it now.

“Since I don’t know anyone else here, I suppose Sarah would be my maid of honor, and some of my friends from Boulder would be bridesmaids.”

“That’s a start. We can do the rest of the guest list later. What about the ‘what’ part? I guess that’s just the whole wedihng itself, right?”

“Yeah. It could include what dresses are used, what tuxes you and Nikolas wear, what kind of food is served at the reception....” she trailed off, thinking again.

“Okay...when? Well, we know that one. Friday. Where? I’ve got that one. There’s a little church in the woods that my family goes to sometimes. It’s really pretty.” He rambled on, jotting things down on his paper. “Oh, I guess I should have asked if you were Catholic before suggesting that.”

She looked at him in shock. She would never have expected to hear him talking about pretty churches like that. It was almost romantic. She stopped herself form going down that road, and focused on the conversation. “Yeah, I’m Catholic, so a church and priest is fine. That place sounds nice. So, that leaves us with why and how. Well, we know why - it’s a stupid project. What about how?”

Lucky decides it’s his turn to take a crack at it. “Maybe, how the place is decorated. You know, flowers, stuff like that. Also, how the ceremony is conducted. Do we have a regular traditional kind with generic vows, or do we write our own and stuff. Music, too. Do you want to walk down the aisle to ‘Here Comes the Bride,’ or something else?” He looked up when he heard her laughing. “What?”

She stifled another giggle. “I’m sorry. You were just so into this right now. It seemed like you were really planning a wedding for a minute.”

His irritation at her came back, embarrassed that he had let himself get swept up like that. “Well, I want to get a good grade on this and she said the more realistic, the better, right?”

Liz nodded. He had a point. She just hoped she didn’t let herself get swept up in the whole thing. The last thing she needed was to fall for this guy.

“All right, why don’t we divide this up, then. Which stuff do you want to do?”

She leaned over and looked at his list. He couldn’t help smelling her hair. It smelled like violets. “I can look through magazines and pick out all the dressed, and the tuxed too, if you wnat. I’ll do my side of the guest list and the decorations, I guess.”

“Okay, then I’ll do the rest of the guest list, find a priest, pick out the music....oh, we need a place for the reception!” he said, suddenly remembering that part. “How about the Outback? My parents know the owners.”

“Sure. I’ll do the food part, too. I thnk that’s a pretty even split, don’t you?” She leans over to look at the list again, and he gets a stronger whiff of her hair. He can’t help thinking about how good she smells. He pulled back a little so that she wasn’t so close. He had to concentrate on the project and not get too caught up in it. He didn’t want to end up falling for her.

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