Chapter 7

Liz got to class somewhat early the next day, so she sat down and went over the stuff she had done for their project. It had taken longer than she expected, but she had finally managed to pick out the clothes for everybody, including tuxes for the guys. The ties and cummerbunds for the best man were lavender, the same color as the bridesmaid’s dresses, and the groom’s were all black. Her dress had a long train, a tight-fitting bodice, long veil, and flower accents along the neckline and headpiece. She figured she would match the flowers in the church to the ones on the dress. She had to admit, planning this was actually kind of fun. At least, until she remembered who the groom was going to be.

She looked up at the doorway, watching the other students enter. There was a fluttering in her stomach every time the door opened. ‘Must have been something I ate for breakfast,’ she thought, looking back at her notes.

She was jotting down decoration ideas when she felt someone’s breath on her neck. She turned slightly before realizing that Lucky had been looking over her shoulder. She jumped, then smacked him on the shoulder.

“Don’t ever do that again! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Lucky laughed, rubbing his shoulder and sat down in the desk behind her. “Sorry, you were just so deep in thought there, I didn’t want to disturb you. What was that?”

“Oh, just decorating ideas. I can’t do too much yet, since I haven’t seen the place, but I have some general ideas already,” she answered nonchalantly and turned back to face the front of the class. The bell had just rung, and the teacher was taking attendance. She couldn’t help being uncomfortable, knowing Lucky was sitting behind her. She felt like his eyes were boring holes in the back of her head.

Ms. Kraft finished the attendance and announced that she wanted them to spend the entire period working on their weddings.

“Great.” Liz and Lucky both muttered sarcastically. Liz turned her desk around to face his so they could start working.

“All right, hot shot. Let me see this stuff that you did so quickly last night,” she said looking at him defiantly.

He chuckled as he took out his notes. “What, you don’t believe that I really did it?” She shrugged. “Okay, here you go.” He handed some pages to her and watched as she read them. She was doing that thing again where she chewed on her bottom lip.

She looked up and found herself staring right into his eyes. It caught her off guard for a moment and she stammered before speaking. “Uh...who..I mean, why do you have these people on your guest list?” She pointed to two of the names near the top.

“Who? Sonny and Jason? They’re friends of my family, why?”

“Friends? Aren’t they in the mob or something?” Just when she thought she had him figured out, he pulled something like this on her.

He laughed. “Is that what you heard?” She nodded. “Well, they’re pretty private about their business, so I can’t speak for that, but Sonny and my dad are good friends. They own a blues club together, and Jason is Sonny’s partner.” He leaned in like he was going to tell her a secret. “He’s a Quartermaine too.” He didn’t know why, but for some reason he liked it that she was impressed by his friends.

“Who?” Liz asked, confused.

“Jason Morgan. He’s actually Jason Quartermaine, but he was in a car accident a few years ago and had a bad head injury. He had amnesia, and never regained his memory. He changed his name and moved out. The only family members he even cares about anymore are Emily and his grandmother, Lila. Sonny kind of took him in.”

Liz shook her head. “So you’re inviting mobsters to our wedding now.”

“Look, it’s not like it’s real anyway, and yes, I am inviting them. They’re good friends of mine, okay?” He couldn’t help getting defensive. She had a way of bringing that out in him.

She continued reading down the list, saying the names out loud. “Your parents, sister, grandmother, Nikolas Cassidine, Quartermaine family, Sonny Corrinthos, Jason and Carly Morgan....so who’s Carly? Some mafia princess?”

“She’s my cousin.” Liz looked at him strangely. “My aunt had her when she was really young and put her up for adoption. She found her way back here a few years ago, and now she’s married to Jason. Nosy, aren’t you?”

She chose to ignore that comment and continued reading. “Bobbie and Lucas Spencer, Jerry Jacks, Jasper Jacks, Chloe Morgan...another Morgan?”

“She’s Lila’s cousin. Her and Jax are engaged, and Jax’s brother Jerry is dating my aunt.”

“Jax?” She asked, looking at the list. “You mean Jasper?”

Lucky laughed. “Yeah, but if you call him that, he’ll probably kill you!”

She looked about him skeptically. “He’s not in the mob too, is he?”

“No, he’s a corporate raider. He’s a cool guy. All the women love him. I don’t know if it’s the Australian accent or what. I suppose he’s good looking...”

“Really?” She asked. Now it was getting interesting! She went back to the list. “Mike Corbin, Mac Scorpio, Felicia Scorpio-Jones, Tony Jones, Tammy...”

“Mike is Sonny’s dad, Mac is the police commissioner and Felicia is his wife. More friends of my dad. Tony is my aunt’s ex-husband and Felicia’s ex-brother-in-law. Tammy used to be a prostitute, but now she runs Kelly’s Diner. When my Aunt Ruby died, the ownership went to my dad and Aunt Bobbie, so he hired her to run it.”

“He has a hooker running a restaurant? And why doesn’t she have a last name?”

“I’m sure she does, I just never asked what it was. She’s not a hooker anymore. She’s a cool person, and a good friend of his. Anyway, just because someone was a prostitute doesn’t mean they’re a bad person...”

She had a feeling there was more to his comment, but decided to drop it. “Ned Ashton, Alexis Davis, V. Ardanowski...”

“I already told you about Ned. He’s dating Alexis, who is the only Cassidine my dad can stand, and V runs L&B Records.”

“Wait a minute, I thought Alexis’s last name was Davis. Did she get married or something? And what kind of name is V?”

“V is short for Venus, which she hates. Alexis is Stefan’s half-sister, the result of their father’s affair with an opera singer. Helena hates her for it, and killed her mother after she was born. She threatens to kill Alexis on a regular basis, so my dad tried to help her kill Helena once, but ended up killing someone else.” Liz looked at him in shock. “Don’t worry, the person didn’t actually die. She came back during her own murder trial.” He laughed, realizing how off-the-wall that sounded.

She shook her head. “I’m almost afraid to keep reading. Okay, how about Amy Vining, Lucy Coe, Kevin Collins, and Scott, Eve and Serena Baldwin?”

“Amy’s another aunt, she’s mom’s sister from when she was adopted. Lucy is an old friend of dad’s. She a real nut. She runs Jax Cosmetics, and used to rnn Deception. She’s been married to most of the men on that list, I think.” He laughed. “Anyway, Kevin is her fiancee. He’s a psychiatrist. He had an evil twin who used to stalk Felicia, but he died a while ago. Well, he came back once, but I think he’s really dead this time. Kevin went kind of loony once, and stalked Felicia too, but he’s better now.” He laughed again.

“Anyway, Lucy and Kevin have been off-and-on a lot. Scott and Eve just got married. Serena is Scott’s daughter from a previous marriage to a woman who died of a brain tumor. Lucy was Serena’s surrogate mother, since Dominique wasn’t going to live long enough to carry her to term. Scott was my mom’s first husband, when she was our age.”

Liz’s head was swimming. She couldn’t believe how complicated all of these people were! “Justus Ward and Dara Jensen?”

“Justus is Edward Quartermaine’s illegitimate grandson...really long story. Anyway, he used to be Jason’s lawyer, but he’s the D.A. now. Dara is his girlfriend, but she’s also the Assistant D.A., so they aren’t being public about their relationship.” He smiled at her. “The rest are just friends from school. Okay, how about your list,” he teased.

She glared at him. “Mine is just my family and some friends from Boulder. I’m sorry if I don’t hang out with mobsters, hookers, and psychopaths!”

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