Chapter 43

"Reese you're coming to my party right?!" Liz said, looking up from her book
as Reese walked into their room, throwing her bookbag on the bed.

"Jeez, Louise girl...you scared the crap out of me!" Reese sighed, walking
further into the room. "Yeah, Ms. Hyper...I'm coming," she said sitting down.

"Good," Liz said laughing. She was excited beyond words at the thought of her
upcoming birthday party.

"So...do I need a date for this shindig, because at the moment I'm totally
tapped out...now ordinarily, under these circumstances I would just draft
Kyle for the job, but..."

"But what?" Liz asked.

"Well I know you two are cool now, but Lucky...I mean that's a different
story right?"

Liz bit her lip. "Um...it should be ok. I mean if Kyle's with you...as your
date, I don't think Lucky would have a problem with it. I'll just explain the
situation and - "

"Liz are you sure?" Reese asked, interrupting. "I mean Lucky does NOT seem
that fond of Kyle."

"It'll be alright Reese, I swear. I mean I think Kyle coming to my party will
be the least of my problems. Some how I'm going to have to convince Lucky
that taking that job at the gallery isn't an insane thing to do..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lucky can we talk for a minute?" Emily asked, gesturing for him to sit down
opposite of her at the table.

"Yeah Em...sounds serious, what's up?"

"Sam," Emily answered simply, placing her coffee down on the table.

Lucky's eyebrows furrowed. "What about her?"

"Lucky I guess I should just come right out and say this, so here goes...I
don't trust her...and I don't think you should either."

"Why not?" Lucky asked, his curiosity peaked.

"Lucky, it just seems to me that she's a little TOO into you, if you know
what I mean?"

Lucky laughed. "You gotta be kidding me Emily. You think Sam has a crush on
me?"

Emily sighed. Men were so unbelievably clueless sometimes...even the most
intelligent ones. It was like highschool all over again. Liz had a mad crush
on him and he didn't even notice. Hell, she, herself had a mad crush on him
when she was 11 and he never even batted an eyelash.

"Yes, Lucky I do. I mean, don't you think it's a little odd that's she's
constantly around?"

"No, not really Em. I mean, she just moved here, she doesn't have a lot of
friends...besides, weren't you the one that told her about moving in here?"

"Don't remind me," Emily mumbled under her breath.

"Huh?" Lucky said, not hearing her.

"Nothing Lucky," Emily said, rising form her chair. "Just do me a favor and
be careful ok? she said as she started for the door. Lucky simply nodded.
Even if Sam did have a "thing" for him, it didn't matter. He only had eyes
for Elizabeth.

Chapter 44

Lucky ran down the stairs and out of Kelly's in a blur. He had exaclty six
hours to finish decorating at Lukes, go pick up Elizabeth, bring her home so
that she could spend an eternity on her hair, and then get back to Luke's for
the party. In his haste to get the night started, he had forgotton one
important thing. He'd forgotton to lock the door to his room. This oversight
did not go unnoticed.

Sam quickly and quietly slipped into the room. She had been waiting all week
to put this part of her plan into action and now, as luck would have it, she
wouldn't even have to pick the lock.

The first part of her plan had been easy: spend as much time alone with Lucky
as possible. Helping him plan 'Ms. Elizabeths' party had succeeded in doing
that. The second part of the plan would be a bit more difficult...becoming
Elizabeth.

Sam snooped around the room, picking up perfume bottles and spraying their
contents here and there. "Perfect," she wispered, as she sniffed the last
spot on her wrist. "That's definitely the one she's been wearing lately. She
wears that one every damn weekend so it must be the one Lucky likes."

She made her way into the bathroom, picking up bottles of shampoo and
conditioner. "Apple...hmm..I myself prefer strawberry...but whatever floats
your boat Lizzie...or whatever floats Lucky's rather," she chuckled. "I'll
just take these and return them before Ms. Lizzie gets home."

Lastly, Sam walked over to the closet. She looked down spotting the black,
strappy heels that Liz had been trying on the weekend before at Wyndam's.
"I've already got those," she said smiling like the cat who ate the canary.
"Now...where is the dress...she's got to have some fabulous dress all picked
out for this evening's festivities...and it's probably in this plastic bag
right here," she said untieing the garment bag that said Macy's on it. "Oh,
Liz honey, you've got great taste,' she said, eyeing the sexy, black number.
Sam retied the bag and hung it neatly back in the closet, exactly the way she
had found it. "Let's hope they have it in my size," she sighed looking at her
watch. "I've got five and a half hours."

Suddenly the phone rang. Sam placed a finger to her lips, wondering if she
should answer it. She took a chance. Why not?

"Hello?" she said, speaking politely into the receiver.

"Um, hi..is Liz there?"

"No she's not, this is her friend Sam though, can I take a message?"

"Um, yeah. I guess. My name's Kyle and Liz was thinking of applying for a job
at my uncles' art gallery...anyways, to make a long story short...I need her
application like ASAP if she's gonna do it. I'll probably see her tonight at
the party, but I may be a little late so I didn't wanna wait until then, and
I'm not on campus now so..."

"So...you want me to tell her that she needs to fax it to the gallery as soon
as possible, or..."

"Yeah that would be great. The number is..."

Kyle's voice faded off into the distance as the name of the third part of
Sam's plan suddenly came to her..."SABOTAGE!"