Chapter 15

Lucky walked into the dark room and flicked the lamp on. He scanned the room
slowly, looking for something or someone that was nowhere to be found. His
eyes came to rest on the big, red illuminated numbers of the alarm clock. It
was already 1:00 a.m. It had taken him an entire three hours to get back from
Liz's dorm room, when it only should have taken two. He hadn't even realized
he'd driven so slowly. He had a full day ahead of him, an 8 o'clock class and
then the lunch crowd at Kelly's. Lucky knew he needed to sleep, but he dreaded
getting into that big bed alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'1:05!' she thought as she turned to face the alarm clock on her nightstand.
Liz had been tossing and turning in the tiny bed for an hour and a half,
trying and failing everytime to find a comfortable position. But she knew it
wasn't comfort she was lacking, it was Lucky. She had hidden away his red-
plaid shirt for this exact situtation, and even it wasn't working. She missed
his arm draped around her waist. She missed his breath tickling her ear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Go to sleep Spencer!" Lucky said aloud as he rolled over and read the alarm
clock: 2:15. "Ugh!"

Lucky had rolled around in the huge bed for what seemed like an eternity. He
was cold, on a night that was anything but. He missed the feeling of her hair
underneath his chin. He missed her smooth legs tangling with his. Suddenly an
idea hit him. He reached for the phone.

'If you could only hear her voice...' he thought, before the second thought
squelched the idea...'No. You'll only make it worse. If she's sleep, you'll
wake her up and make her worry about you. If she's not sleep...she doesn't
need you calling her and making her wish she were here. Besides, you'd wake up
her roomate.' He placed the receiver back in it's cradle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Liz," said Reese groggily, sitting up to turn the light on. "Aren't you
asleep yet, honey?"

Liz looked at Reese's tired eyes and instantly felt guilty for having
disturbed her sleep. "Oh Reese I'm sorry. Did I wake you up?"

"Don't worry about it Liz, I just heard you tossin' and turnin' over
there...Can't sleep huh? Are you just excited about your first day?"

Liz grinned sheepishly. "No. I don't think so. I've never been the type to get
excited over school, even if it is one that I could actually do well in."

Suddenly the reason for Liz's insomnia dawned on Reese. "Oh...you're missing
Lucky, huh?"

Liz nodded. "How did you know?"

"Well, because you look like you just lost your bestfriend." Reese answered
sympathetically. "How about this Liz? How about I talk your ear off until you
fall asleep? I mean I know I'm no Lucky...but I'm sure sheer boredom will do
the trick."

Liz laughed. "I couldn't let you do that Reese, you've got class tomorrow
too."

Reese shook her head at Liz. "Yeah, but mine's not until 11 o'clock. I learned
a long time ago not to torture myself with 8 o'clock classes. I'll just leave
that up to you freshmen."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"3:00," said Lucky. "I've got exactly five hours until my first class. This
sucks!" Lucky rubbed his face with his hands and sighed. Turning over yet
again, he noticed something that he hadn't noticed before, although how he'd
missed it he'd never know - Liz's pillow. Lucky slowly layed his head down on
the cool cotton and enhaled. A smile appeared on his face as he immediately
pulled the pillow closer. It smelled liked her hair. It smelled like apples.

Chapter 16

"So, how was your first day at PCU?" Nikolas asked as he came walking through
the door at Kelly's.

Nikolas placed his jacket on the coat rack and quickly walked over to where
his brother feverishly bussed one of the back tables. Lucky hadn't even
noticed Nikolas' arrival. He slapped him on the back to get his attention.

"What?!" said Lucky jerking his head up sharply. "Can't you see I'm working
here?"

Nikolas took a step back and grinned. "Whoa....somebody's a little on edge,
huh? School couldn't have been that bad Lucky, it was only the first day."

"Oh, what would you know about school Nikolas?" shot Lucky, glaring.

Nikolas and Lucky had come a long way in their relationship in the last two
years. They behaved like real brothers, and they hardly ever had petty
arguements anymore. Nikolas knew that something had to be seriously wrong for
Lucky to revert back to his immature habits.

"You know what Lucky?" said Nikolas sitting down at the now clean table. "I'm
gonna let that one slide because I know you're a little stressed out, and you
miss Liz."

"I'm fine Nikolas," said Lucky, his tone suggesting otherwise.

"Lucky...it's perfectly normal for you to miss your wife. Why don't you just -
"

"Hi honey, hi Lucky," said Emily as she came bounding into Kelly's. She bent
down and kissed Nikolas on the cheek, letting her hair fall down the side of
his face. She and Nikolas were meeting for a lunch date. Little did she know
she had interrupted.

"Hey," greeted Lucky solemnly as he headed back towards the kitchen.

"What's wrong with him?" Emily asked sitting down across from Nikolas, and
picking up a menu. Lucky's foul mood was obvious to everyone.

"Oh, he's just suffering from Elizabeth withdrawal," Nikolas replyed flattly.

"Already?" Emily smirked..."Jeez, they've got it bad."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, Mu-Shu or Kung Pao chicken?" asked Kyle as he stood in line to get his
lunch. "Liz...come in Liz...Earth to Liz....Kung Pao or Mu Shu?"

"Huh?..Oh, um none for me. Thanks," answered Liz staring off into space.

Kyle had asked Liz to eat lunch with him after their 11:00 Expressionism
class. He'd caught her zoning out a couple of times and thought that maybe
she'd like to talk.

"You know, " began Kyle carrying his tray over to one of the outside tables.
"You're never gonna make it through a semester if you continue on like this."

"Like what?" asked Liz, sitting down at the table they had found.

"Oh you know...the daydreaming, the not eating...here try some of this," said
Kyle, holding up a forkful of Chow Mein.

"No thanks," said Liz screwing up her face. She honestly was hungry, but the
thought of eating Chinese food with anyone other than Lucky was making her
naseous.

"What? You don't like Chinese?" asked Kyle, backing off.

"I like it fine," answered Liz. "I just don't want any right now."

Kyle decided not to press the issue. He quickly changed the subject. "So, what
did you think of Professor Bordeaux's lecture on Cubism vs. Expressionism?"