Chapter 5

"What do you want, Lucky?"

"Now is that any way to greet the man you are about to marry?" He chuckled at her obvious irritation. "Fine, I'll get to the point. I realized once I got home that we didn't split the work as evenly as we thought. I finished my part already."

She couldn't believe he was done already, when all she had so far was a dress, so she lied. "Oh, I hadn't started yet. I've been doing other homework. How did you finish so quickly?"

"Well, the guest list didn't take long, because the church isn't that big. For the priest, I just used the one we always go to, and the music, well, we'll have to do that together later. Why don't I do the food part, since you're stuck with the decorations?"

Shocked that he was actually offering to do more work than necessary, she agreed without any argument. "Why do you need me for the music part?"

"Well, I don't know what your tastes are, so I don't want to pick something you don't like!"

She rolled her eyes, something she seemed to have been doing a lot where he was concerned. "Lucky, this is just pretend. It doesn't really matter if I like it or not!"

"But how do you know that Ms. Kraft won't quiz us or something? If we want this to be realistic, we should agree on the decisions. So, what do you want to walk down the aisle to?"

His argument made sense, and she could tell he wasn't going to give up. She thought about it for a moment before answering. "Okay, don't make fun of me, but I've always wanted to use Pachelbel's Canon at my wedding."

He was quiet for a moment. This was not an answer he had expected. "You know, I didn't have you pegged as a classical music lover."

Not wanting him to think she was a dork, she defended herself quickly. "I'm not. I just heard it on TV somewhere and thought it was pretty." In reality, she had a big collection of classical music. One of her friends back in Boulder had been a musician and had introduced her to it, and she had loved it ever since.

"Okay, I'll put that down. What about the reception music? What song should we use for the first dance?" He said, looking down the list he had made "We could say we're hiring a band, too. A lot of people do that."

"What band would we be able to hire? If this is going to be realistic, it has to be within a budget, doesn't it?" She loved being able to smash one of his ideas, although secretly, she had to admit it was a good one.

"Well, it just so happens that I know the owner of L&B Records, who also happens to be Eddie Maine. Have you ever heard of him?"

The name sounded familiar. "I don't remember, but I might have heard his music somewhere. What's your point?"

"Well, he still performs sometimes, and it would be within reason to say he would be willing to perform at our reception. He's Emily's cousin, so we could say she pulled in the favor for me."

"Wait a minute. Are you saying he's also a Quartermaine?" How many connections did this guy have?

Lucky laughed. He could tell she was impressed but was trying to hide it. "Yeah. His real name is Ned Ashton. His mother is Edward Quartermaine's daughter, and he's the CEO of ELQ. He does the music thing in his spare time."

She tried not to sound awed. "Okay, fine. We'll say he's performing. So, what about the song?" She wanted to get this conversation over with so she could go back to her homework.

"I don't know, I guess it should be romantic. Any ideas?"

She laughed bitterly. "How about 'That Don't Impress Me Much'?"

"Somehow I don't think that's a love song. What is it?" He was getting tired of her stupid comments. He hadn't wanted to call her in the first place, but wanted to rub it in her face that he was done already, even if his part was easier.

"It's a Shania Twain song. You should listen to it sometime. Why don't you just pick the other song? I really don't care what it is. As long as it's appropriate, I doubt Ms. Kraft will say anything."

He sighed. This project wasn't going to be easy. "Fine. I'll think of something tonight and run it by you tomorrow, okay? Have you gotten any ideas yet for decorations?"

She hadn't even gotten that far yet, but she didn't want him to know. "Well, it's kind of hard to decorate a place you've aver seen!" she said sarcastically. "Do you have a picture or anything?"

"No, but if you're not doing anything after school, I'll take you there so you can see it in person. That is, if you can stand to ride in the pink caddy again!"

Great, now she had to see him outside of school, too? As much as she wanted to refuse, she had to see what the place looked like. Silently cursing at herself for walking right into that one, she agreed.

"Okay, I'll meet you in the parking lot then. You might want to bring a camera, so you don't forget what it looks like....unless you have a photographic memory or something." He said, imitating her comment at lunch that day.

She'd had enough of his insults for one day. "Fine, whatever. Look, if you're done, I need to finish my homework."

"Hey, far be it for me to keep you from that! I've said all I wanted to."

"Good." She was getting ready to hang up when something hit her. "Wait a minute! I never gave you my number. How did you get it?"

Lucky laughed. "Talk about a delayed reaction! Trust me, I didn't exactly go through a lot of trouble just to call you. You grandmother is an old friend of the family. My mom had it."

"Oh, yeah. How could I forget? I had to listen to her speech on the many wonders of the Spencer family earlier tonight," she said sarcastically.

"You already told her about me? I'm flattered!" He was joking, of course, sort of, but he knew it would get her mad again. It worked.

"I was telling her what a jerk you were today. She's the one that went off on me about how wonderful she thinks you are. Believe me, she's the only one in this house with that opinion. You must really have her fooled!" Liz knew that he was just trying to push her buttons, but she couldn't help losing her temper. He annoyed her way too much to just ignore him.

He figured he had gotten her angry enough for one night. "Okay, you think whatever you want to about me. As long as we get a good grade on this, I don't really care how you feel. I'll let you get back to your homework. Good-bye, Elizabeth." Before she could say anything in response, he hung up.

"Why that little....how dare he hang up on me?" she fumed, slamming down the phone. She stormed upstairs and back into her bedroom, as Audrey watched, amused, from the living room. She had overheard everything Liz had said, and something told her that by the time this project was over with, her granddaughter and Lucky Spencer would be much more than just classmates. That argument was much too heated.

Graphics Courtesy Of: