Chapter 45
Lucky put his tray on the table and sat down. “Okay, we need to decide what we’re going to do for this assignment. How do we fix this cheating thing?”
“Lucky, you don’t fix something like this. You work through it.”
“Fine, then how do we work through it? We can’t get divorced. Knowing Ms. Kraft, she’ll probably fail us on the spot.”
Liz nodded. “What about a trial separation? I hear a lot of people do that.”
“Get separated? That seems a little drastic, don’t you think?” Lucky asked.
She shook her head. “Look, if this was real, and you had cheated on me, you’d be lucky if a separation was all I insisted on!”
He chuckled. “Point taken. But, still, I’m afraid she would take points away for that. I think she wants us to find away to work it out while staying together.”
“Well, there’s always marriage counseling,” Liz suggested, popping a fry in her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
Lucky made a face. “No way. Spencers don’t do therapy.”
Liz started to laugh, almost choking on her food. “What? That’s the biggest load of... What’s wrong with therapy?”
“Nothing, we just don’t do it. We prefer to work out our problems in private.”
“And that works?” she asked, looking at him skeptically.
He shrugged. “You’ve seen my parents. Don’t they look happy to you?”
“Well, sure, but that doesn’t mean anything. As far as I know, they haven’t had any problems that required therapy!”
Lucky burst out laughing. “You seem to forget one big problem: Nikolas! How do you think my dad took the news that my mom had this kid, and he never knew about it! And then, once he was used to that, it came out that Stefan was his father, not Stavros! He nearly went through the roof that day. But, they worked it out, and they’re perfectly happy now.”
“Okay, so how did they work it out. It sounds to me like they’re a model marriage. We should just do whatever they did,” Liz said sarcastically.
Lucky looked down at his tray. “Um, well, my dad left the country for a few months, and my mom went to live with my grandmother in North Carolina.”
Liz suppressed a laugh. “So that’s the secret to a happy Spencer marriage? Run out of town when there’s a problem?”
Lucky glared at her. “Oh, and your parents have the perfect relationship?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never really heard them fight before, but then again, they’re never around much.”
He heard the sudden sadness in her voice and softened. “Hey, I’m sorry about that. I should have known better.”
“No you shouldn’t have. It’s okay, really. I just miss them sometimes, that’s all. Anyway, lunch is almost over, so we better decide on a plan here. I don’t want to wait until the last minute with this thing. It’s already been a week and we have nothing done!
Lucky sighed and thought for a moment. “Fine, we’ll do the counseling thing, but only because it’s what Ms. Kraft wants to see. If this were real life, there’s no way you’d get me anywhere near a shrink!”
Liz smiled and shook her head. “Fine, I’ll remember that for when we’re really married.” Lucky looked at her strangely, and she laughed, realizing how that had sounded. “It was just a joke, lighten up!”
“Oh, right, I knew that.”
“Hey!” Liz said, as she remembered something. “Have you seen that poster in the hall about the talent contest?”
Lucky nodded. “Yeah, why?”
“Well, you should enter. You said you write songs, right?”
“Sure, but I also said I don’t sing for anyone. I think being in a talent competition kind of goes against that, don’t you?”
“Maybe, but there’s a cash prize. Don’t tell me the money wouldn’t be nice. All you have to do is play one original song and one cover tune. How hard can that be?”
He shook his head. “I’m not entering, and that’s it. I don’t care if there’s money involved, I don’t play my songs for anyone but myself!”
She sighed and looked down at her tray. “You’re sure? Nothing is going to change your mind, not even if I beg?” She looked up at him, hoping he would agree to do it.
“Nothing, not even if you beg. I’m not budging on this, Elizabeth, so you might as well give up trying to convince me. It won’t happen.” He noticed the pained expression on her face and got nervous. “What? What’s wrong?”
She looked at him guiltily. “I... I already signed you up. I thought you’d want to do it.”
He stood up angrily. “What? Elizabeth, how could you do that? Since when do you know what I would want to do? You don’t know me that well!”
She shrank back in her chair. “I’m sorry, Lucky, I didn’t think it was that big a deal.”
“Well, it is. How would you like it if I went and signed you up for some big art show? Didn’t you say you don’t show anyone your drawings either?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think I’d mind. I mean, if you thought I was good enough..”
“But that’s just it. You don’t know if I’m good enough. You’ve never heard me, so how can you assume I would want to do this? How could you just go behind my back and sign me up? I thought you had better sense than that!” He grabbed his books and stormed out of the lunch room, leaving Liz behind, looking totally bewildered.
~*~
“Hey Cowboy,” Luke greeted as Lucky came into the house, slamming the door behind him. “What’s got you so riled up?”
Lucky rolled his eyes. “Elizabeth.”
Luke smiled. “Oh, really? Do tell.”
“Dad, don’t start with that again. This is serious.”
Luke wiped the smile off his face and looked at his son. “Okay, I’ll be good. Now, what’s wrong?”
“She signed me up for a talent show without asking me first if I wanted to do it, even though she knew that I never played if front of other people! I don’t understand what could have been going through her mind, why she would do that!”
Luke shrugged. “Maybe she thought you would like it. Why not do it? Is there a prize?”
“Yeah, the winner gets $500, but that’s not the point. She did this without asking me first. She just assumed I’d do it.”
“Are you any good?” Luke asked.
Lucky looked at him like he was crazy. “What?”
“Your songs, are they any good? Can you sing?”
“Yeah, I’m all right, why?”
“Then do it! That kind of money never hurts, you know. If you’re good at it, then why not do it? Are you afraid that you won’t win?”
“No, it’s not that. I just don’t want to play in front of all those people. Anyway, the point is that she took it upon herself to sign me up, without checking with me first.” He stormed up the stairs to his room, not wanting to discuss it any further.
Luke just shook his head, wondering how much longer it was going to take for the two of them to just come out and admit their feelings. This bet was dragging on way too long!
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