Chapter 19

Liz was ecstatic. It was Friday afternoon and in a matter of two
excrusiatingly long hours Lucky would be there to pick her up for the weekend.
She couldn't wait to feel his strong arms wrap around her. She was completely
packed and ready to go, she had even ventured into the city the night before
to buy a new nightie. It was lavender. Lucky loved it when she wore lavender.
A smile spread across her face just thinking about his reaction.

"Well, don't you look like the cat who ate the canary?" said Reese as she
walked into their room, throwing her bookbag on her bed. "I swear girl, I have
never seen anybody as happy to go home in my entire life."

Liz giggled. "Is it that obvious?"

"Uh...yeah," said Reese busting up with laughter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, did you try 'Drano'?" asked Lucky, getting more frustrated by the
minute. The day had started out perfect. Elizabeth was coming home and all was
right with the world, but it had quickly turned into the day from Hell.

"Yes Lucky," answered Sam, standing over the sink. Lucky had been lieing under
it for almost 20 minutes, and still it was clogged. "I don't know what's wrong
with it. I've tried everything," she continued in her best damsel in distress
voice.

Lucky groaned. Sam had moved in only two days ago and this was already her
second "emergency". He'd been running Kelly's for almost 4 months now, and
never had he had one complaint about the plumbing or the carpet. The girl was
royally getting on his nerves, and today was simply not the day to be wasting
his time. Lucky glanced at his watch. 'I should have been gone already,' he
thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Liz," said Reese sitting down on her roomate's bed. "We need to talk."

Liz looked up from her book. Reese sounded serious and Reese was never
serious. She immediately knew that something was up. "What's wrong Reese?" She
asked, putting her book down.

Reese fidgeted nervously. She didn't want to betray her bestfriend, but she
knew that Liz had a right to know about the conversation she had with Kyle the
other day. Liz was quickly becoming a very good friend and she didn't want to
lose that. "Um....it's about Kyle."

"Hey! Did I hear my name?" asked Kyle bursting through the door. "I thought my
ears were burning."

"Jeez Kyle can't you knock?!" Reese said, her frustration apparent.

"Hello to you too, 'Reese's Pieces'," he said, coming over and kissing his
friend on the cheek. If there was one thing Kyle Stratford would NEVER be
accused of...it was bad timeing.

Suddenly the phone rang. Liz got up and answered.

"Hello."

"Lizbeth?"

"What's wrong?" asked Liz, slumping over the nightstand.

"How do you know anything's wrong?" Lucky asked exasperated.

"One: you called me 'Lizbeth. Two: You sound out of breath. Lucky's what's
going on?"

"Ok, um...nothing's really wrong. It just might be a few, a couple of hours
before I'm able to come pick you up -"

"LUCKY!" whined Liz, fighting the urge to throw a major tantrum.

"I know, baby. I know. It's just that a tenant is having some plumbing
problems.

"Which tenant?"

"Oh, a new one...Sam...anyways, I've been trying to fix the damn thing and I
can't, so this guy is bringin' out a new sink and it's just a big mess over
here..."Lucky's voice trailed off. Things had gotton way too quiet on the
other end of the line. "Baby, I'm so sorry. I'll be there as soon as I
possibly can...wait, I got an idea..are any of your friends coming this way
for the weekend? I mean can somebody bring you down here?"

Liz's smile brightened. She turned around towards Reese and Kyle. "I hate to
ask this, but....could one of you take me home?"

"Sure thing Liz! I'm headed that way," yelled Kyle, cutting Reese off before
she could even get two words out.

Chapter 20

"So anyways, I was thinking that the gallery would be perfect for you. I mean,
my uncle's always looking for extra hands you know?...Elizabeth...Liz...are
you listening?"

"Huh?...oh, yeah Kyle - I'm listening."

The truth was that Liz was a million miles away. Kyle had been yacking non
stop for the last hour and a half, and all she could think of was Lucky. He
sounded so frustrated on the phone before, and she couldn't wait to get home
and take his mind off of things, and put his hands on others. She thought of
all the better ways he could use them, instead of fixing some tenants sink.
She laughed aloud at her own impure thoughts.

"What?" asked Kyle. "What's so funny?"

"Oh. Sorry - nothing," stammered Liz.

She really did feel guilty about not paying attention to Kyle after he had
been nice enough to drive her all this way. She vaguely remembered him saying
something about his uncle owning an art gallery on the upper east side and how
he could get her a job there.

"Uh, I don't know Kyle, I mean school's keeping me pretty busy right now, and
I'd never be able to work weekends because I'm always in Port Charles..."

"That's ok Liz, I mean honestly my uncle would be totally cool about that.
He'd let you set your own hours. You could work it around school and he
wouldn't make you work weekends if you didn't want to....but who knows? Maybe
you'd like it so much you'd start staying in New York on the weekends?"

Liz was bewildered by the comment. She stared at Kyle, trying to figure out
what he meant by that.

"Kyle - "

Kyle interrupted, cleaning up his potential mess. "Oh...I just meant that you
and Lucky need all the money you can get right? I mean, I'm not trying to
pry....but you guys are newlyweds trying to put yourselves through school..."

"Yeah, I guess...when you put it that way," said Liz staring out the window.
What Kyle was saying did make a little bit of sense. She figured she should
get a job and start pulling her own weight. Maybe that way Lucky could hire an
assistant manager at Kelly's, and be able to focus on his schoolwork.

"Plus," added Kyle. "I'd be there."

"What?" asked Liz, snapping her head around to look at Kyle.

"To keep you company I mean," stammered Kyle, chuckleling nervously.

"Oh," smiled Liz. She was beginning to feel uneasy, but she didn't know
exactly why. She couldn't tell whether it was her current company or her
future company that was doing it. Lucky has sounded so strange on the phone.
All she knew for sure was that she wanted OUT of the car.  They pulled up in
front of Kelly's not a moment too soon.

"We're here!" she yelled. Liz pulled down the visor above the passenger seat
and checked her makeup and fluffed her hair in the mirror.

Kyle stared at her longingly. He wanted her so badly he could taste it, but he
had to remain cool for awhile if he had any hopes of her returning his
feelings. "You look great."

'Way to be cool, Kyle,' he thought. "I mean...hurry up your husband's waiting
for you right?"

Liz brushed the first part of Kyle's outburst off. She was home now, she
didn't need Kyle's....whatever...distracting her. He was acting very wierd,
but she would have to get to the bottom of it later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh My G*d," Liz gasped as she walked into Kelly's. The place was packed. This
was unlike any dinner crowd she'd ever seen there before, even during her
waitressing days. If Kyle hadn't have been holding her bags behind her, she
definitley would have dropped them. "Jeez, what did Lucky do...decide to give
away free dinners while I was gone?"

Suddenly Lucky came running from the kitchen, bound for the stairs. He stopped
in his tracks, when he spotted her by the door.

"Elizabeth," he said jogging over to where she stood. Lucky placed both hands
on either side of her face and kissed her quickly. Much too quickly for Liz's
taste.

"Hey baby," he said pulling away. "I'll be right back ok? The plumber guy is
upstairs installing the new sink right now...and I gotta make sure he doesn't
make me a whole new set of problems, ok?"

Liz raised her eyebrows and slowly nodded. 'Hey BABY!' she thought. 'He hasn't
seen me in almost a week - and all I get is HEY BABY!'

Lucky looked at Kyle standing behind Liz. "Oh, thanks for bringing her home
man," he said quickly shaking his hand.

"No problem Lucky, any time."