Elizabeth looked up into Lucky's eyes looking for signs that he was kidding. Any sign at all. But she didn't see any. Right as fear set in however, another emotion took over: curiosity. This had to be some kind of plan. Some master scheme that her brilliant Lucky had come up with. It had to be.

"What are you up to?" She said simply, raising her eyebrows.

Lucky laughed, partly because he was amused by how well she knew him and partly because he was relieved with how well she had responded. She knew he was up to something. 'All the makings of a good Spencer,' he silently thought to himself as his gaze traveled from her eyes to her lips. He quickly shook off the instinct to kiss her. Now was not the time.

"Well......if we're really going to do this...run away I mean...then....well, Elizabeth, think of how easily we can plan things if your parents think we have broken up. "

Elizabeth eyed him skeptically, so Lucky took that as a sign to continue. "Think about it...no questioning when you want to go out....or strict times you have to be home by....AND...they wouldn't be thinking anything strange about you working so much if they thought you were doing it just to take up time. We'll know you're doing it earn money for us...but they....they'll think it's so you can try and take your mind off of me........which we both know, couldn't happen anyway but....... "

Elizabeth laughed and playfully hit Lucky's arm. It was a good idea. He was a genius, but it still made her uneasy.

How could she possibly pretend to not be his girlfriend anymore? She'd forgotton how to not be Lucky Spencer's girl. And she wasn't quite sure she wanted to remember. "I guess it makes sense," she said quietly.

Lucky nodded, fully aware of what this would cost them. Not being able to hold hands in public. Not being able to kiss her anytime the mood struck him. Not even being able to look her way without people noticing that he wasn't exactly looking at her the way two people who were broken up looked at each other.

But this was the best way and if it worked they would be home free. It would take the Webbers awhile to realize that they had run away together. It would buy them time. And time was definitely something that they needed. Now the only trick was making Elizabeth believe that it could work, and that it wouldn't be a horrible, awful thing.

Her voice woke him from his thoughts. "You're right Lucky....it will be easier to make plans........but....."

"Yeah, I know...BUT......." Lucky said, leaning in closer to her. His lips hovering inches from hers. "But think about how much fun sneaking around will be" he whispered just before his lips touched hers. Brushing softly against her bottom lip in that way that drove her crazy.

Liz instantly smiled against his lips as his hands caressed her cheeks. How did he do that? How was he able to make everything ok so quickly? "I think I like breaking up," she giggled as she felt herself being lowered on the bed.

~~~~~~~~~

"Jeff, can you please calm down and tell me what happened?" Susan begged. Having pleaded with Jeff to tell her what happened ever since Lucky had left earlier. She had barely been able to get him to say the boys name. God, she wished she had been there when Lucky came over. She had a horrible feeling that things were about to go from bad to worse.

"Jeff...honey...please..talk to me," she pleaded. Her tone finally getting Jeff's attention. He turned to her and went to sit down next to her on the couch. He sat there shaking his head back and forth before speaking. "He came here Susan. That boy...that......he told me that Elizabeth wouldn't go with us. Can you believe the nerve of him?......I'm telling you Susan...I can't get the girl out of town fast enough!

"Jeff...really....the boy couldn't possibly be THAT bad. He seemed like a sweet kid when he was here with Elizabeth - "

"Sweet!" Jeff nearly screamed, standing up once again. "Sweet?...Susan you've got to be kidding me. You didn't talk to him this afternoon. I assure you that boy is anything BUT sweet.....and Susan...My God...the one time you did see him, he was mauling our dauther!"

"Mauling?" Susan asked incredulously. She would have laughed if she hadn't realized how serious her husband was. "Jeff...I believe the proper term is 'kissing.' "

"Whatever.." Jeff said as he began to pace the floor. He stopped in his tracks as the door flew open. "Elizabeth?" He asked, walking over to her as she ripped off her jacket and threw it in the hall closet. "Honey is something the matter?" It was quite clear that she was upset. Nearly in tears.

Elizabeth stood perfectly still looking her father in the eye. "Oh, what do you care?" She asked, sarcastically. Making sure to sniffle loudly right after the words escaped her mouth.

"Elizabeth.." Susan interjected, silently warning her daughter about her tone.

Elizabeth shook her head, and threw up her hands. Her eyes turning glassy as she looked from her mother to her father. "Well...I'm sure you'll both be happy to know that Lucky and I are no more....we broke up," she sobbed. 'God, I hope this is going like we practiced,' Liz thought to herself biting her lip in her mock anguish.

"Are you happy now!?" she added as her father's jaw dropped. "You got what you wanted Dad!...So whenever you're ready to go back to good ol' Colorado...I'm your girl." She turned on her heel quickly and bolted up the stairs to her room, slamming the door for affect and leaving a speechless Jeff and Susan staring at each other in disbelief.

Chapter 10

"Yeah!", Luke snapped impatiently as he always did when he had a visitor. Lucky just smiled on the other side of the door knowing that as soon as his Dad saw him, his grumpiness would fade. Lucky took some pride in knowing that he could make his Dad happy just by coming to visit him. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt knowing that in about 30 seconds, he was going to lie to him. He hated that. He hated that he was going to have to lie to everyone he knew, something he despised doing...but he had to. It was the only way. He wouldn't lose Elizabeth and if he had to lie to everyone in town in order to ensure that, he would.

He slowly opened the office door to see his father look up and as he guessed, see his lips curve into a smile. Lucky wanted to smile back but remembered he was supposed to be in turmoil so instead, he unhappily muttered a "Hey Dad."

"Well, hey Cowboy....this is a nice surprise...come on in." Lucky slowly almost agonizingly walked over and sat in the chair opposite his father's desk. As if on cue, a "What's wrong?" came out of Luke's mouth when he saw the sad expression on his son's face.

Not wanting to put this off any more than he had to, he blurted it out right away, "Elizabeth and I broke up."

Luke couldn't respond. He didn't know how to. This was impossible wasn't it? Those two had been as happy as two pyromaniacs on the Fourth of July, when he'd seen them last week. How could things have changed so quickly? Something about this wasn't right."Son, I don't understand....what happened?"

Lucky began to speak but suddenly realized that he didn't know what to say! He just thought he'd play it by ear but now sitting there, he couldn't think of anything. 'Dammit Spencer' he thought, chiding himself for not realizing that of course his father would be suspicious. 'God, how many times did I tell him how great Elizabeth was..how she meant the world to me..and just last week, I told him we were going to New York together...oh yeah...this is great......all that time preparing Elizabeth on what to say to her parents so they wouldn't be suspicious and what do I do? Screw up as soon as I see him.' He had to think of something good too or his Dad would never believe it....He was going to have to cover for now so he went for Plan B: The tears. Lucky bent his head down and began slowly.

"You know what Dad...I know you want to help me and I appreciate that," he paused, wiping a tear from his cheek."And I will tell you everything. But I just.....I just can't right now. It's been a rough day and........ I just don't want to relive it right now. So please.... I...I......please....not now," he finished, the last words coming out in a whisper for effect.

'Damn, he's good', Luke thought shaking his head back and forth. 'I taught him well.' Luke almost laughed but held back, since for some reason, his son was choosing to lie to him and he wasn't quite sure why. But if that was what he wanted, then so be it...he'd find out the reason sooner or later.

"Of course son, I understand...what can I do?"

'God I'm good', Lucky thought before realizing that this was the perfect opportunity to ask him for a job. Lucky raised his head then, wiping away the rest of his tears and maintaining his somber tone, "Well, there is something...I was sort of hoping that maybe you could find some extra work around here for me....it's just that..well.......I'd like to keep myself busy and the bike shop isn't everyday and I was hoping maybe I could do something here at night."

Luke stared at his son, trying to figure out what he was up to. Trying to read his mind. He wouldn't question him though. He certainly wasn't going to turn down a chance to see his son a few days a week just because he was suspicious. No, all that would have to wait. He was going to have Lucky working at his club and that made him so happy. So instead of all the questions he wanted to ask..he simply said instead, "Of course cowboy......you know we'll find something for you to do here."

~~~ ~~~

"Elizabeth, are you sure you want to go to Kelly's for lunch? You work there for crying out loud, I'm sure there's tons of other places we could go," Susan had asked as they were walking through the door.

Liz quickly took in her surroundings and hung her jacket on the coat rack. "No, no mom....this is where I want to eat....I've been craving the chili all day long."

"Ok," Susan said as she sat down across from her daughter. She had decided that they needed a girl's day out. Lunch and then shopping with just the two of them. She hoped that her daughter would open up to her about why she and her boyfriend had broken up. She'd been so miserable ever since she'd rushed into the house the night before. Contrary to her husband's belief, she wasn't *quite* sure that Lucky was all bad.

Liz sipped at her water once it had been set on the table and looked nervously towards the kitchen. Her mother's voice summoned her attention. "Sorry," Liz said, covering the real reason for her anxiousness. "I'm just a little out of it today Mom."

Susan nodded, smiling weakly at daughter. "Lizzie, is there anything you wanna talk about?....You still haven't told me exactly WHY you and Lucky broke up...."

'Damn,' Liz thought biting her lip. 'What do I tell her?...I mean, I kinda let them think it was because of Dad last night....but is she not buying that....ok...don't panic....just make up something she'll buy for now...and you can compare notes with Lucky later.....you can't mess things up now...'

She looked down at her hands, closing her eyes and sniffling. When her eyes finally opened, they had successfully produced some convincing tears. "Mom...could we not talk about this now?...I just wanna forget about it ok?"

Susan's brow furrowed in concern. "Honey are you sure?....Sometimes talking about things help.....did it really have to do with moving back to Colorado in the summer?"

Liz commanded her eyes not to roll, even though that's what they wanted most to do. She wanted to scream. 'Of course this is because of that! But Mom...guess what? We didn't REALLY break up! We'll NEVER break up! And that's why we're going to run away from here to be together!' She ran a hand through her hair, quickly trying to brush her hostility off.

"Mom...it's really complicated....I'd just rather not get into it now....I'll tell you soon, though ok?...I just need time."

"Sure honey," Susan said, as she patted her daughters hand atop the table. "Whenever you're ready."

'Speaking of ready'... Liz thought to herself as she looked down at her watch nonchalantly. It was 12:45 exactly. She looked up at her mom suddenly. "Um..mom, will you excuse me? I'm gonna go to the ladies room."

Susan simply nodded as she poured cream into her coffee. Not watching where Liz was headed. Not to the ladies room, but straight to the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz gasped as his hands snaked around her waist, pulling her into the kitchen and onto his lips. She giggled with delight at his surprise. She had known he would be there, but his hands had caught her slightly off guard.

"Ssh," he whispered, his lips still on hers, pulling her farther into the kitchen. "You wanna get caught!?" He joked, his voice still in hushed tones.

Liz pulled away reluctantly, biting her lip as he steered her backwards to lean against the countertop. She smiled widely as he wove his fingers through hers at their sides. "If you keep surprising me like that we're gonna get caught in no time," she said softly.

Lucky leaned in, capturing her face in his hands. His body in full contact with hers now as her back pressed against the counter. "Sorry...can't help myself," he said before planting his lips solidly against hers yet again.

Liz sighed as he pulled away, knowing that they could not spend the little time they had together, making out. "We need to get our stories straight," she said seriously.

He gazed into her eyes, suddenly upset by the look of worry that he saw there. "Ok...the thing to do, is not to panic ok? If they ask you a lot of questions, you can always get out of it by saying you'd rather not talk about it or you'll talk about it later..."

"I did that," Liz said nodding slowly.

"'Ata girl," Lucky smiled, kissing the tip of her nose. "You're good at this huh?"

"I learned from the best," she whispered, wanting desperately to kiss him again. This charade was going to be torture. 'Lizzie girl...it's only been a day....you cannot be losing it already'...she thought.

"Ok," Lucky said, rationally putting some space between them. He needed to think clearly right now, and her close proximity was not helping that. "I know my dad is going to start getting very suspicious unless we come up with a pretty good sounding reason for breaking up pretty soon...so what's it gonna be?"

Liz shrugged. "Why are you asking me?...I have no idea."

Lucky licked his lips. This was a bit trickier than he had imagined it would be. None of the standard reasons that people broke up were good enough. Neither of them would ever cheat on the other. Everyone knew that. They had been happier than ever only a week ago, and everyone knew that.

He suddenly turned back towards Elizabeth. "Ok...I got it....When I went to see your Dad, at one point, I sort of opened my big mouth and said that there was no way that you would go to Colorado with them. So I think we can use that... We say that when I came back and told you what I said, you got all angry at me because I had naturally assumed you wouldn't be going with them and you thought that I had no right to speak for you.......we had a huge argument because, even though you were angry about leaving, you couldn't just tell your family you weren't going and I was being completely unreasonable and not seeing things from your point of view. I didn't want to hear any of it because I thought you loved me enough to want to stay with me...and finally you had it with how much of an ass I was being......so, you stormed off saying you didn't want to see me anymore," Lucky finished, a huge grin forming on his face.

Elizabeth just shook her head and smiled, amazed at how good he was at all of this. "You just came up with all that just now?"

Lucky raised his eyebrows and gave her a wink, "Pretty good huh?"

Elizabeth laughed but, after a moment her expression turned serious. "Lucky, I don't know. I mean, my father already...well...your not exactly one of his favorite people... I don't want our breakup to be all your fault..he'll hate you. I don't really feel the need to have him hurl insult after insult your way."

Lucky understood. If the situation were reversed, he would have to have someone physically restrain him from punching out whoever was badmouthing Elizabeth. Yet, Lucky couldn't think of anything else. This would be the best scenario for them.

"Elizabeth, it's ONLY for a few weeks, I promise....It really is perfect...I do have a temper...and the thought of being away from you DOES drive me crazy...so you leaving could easily set me off.....It's something my father would believe as well as your parents...."

He stopped, pausing for a moment to allow Elizabeth to take in all that he was saying. "See Elizabeth, the thing is, we can't make it about us all of a sudden hating each other. It won't work...because it's not believable..........it has to be about how much we loved each other............does that make sense?" He added, lowering his voice even more. He hoped she would understand his reasoning.

Elizabeth shook her head, taking in everything he said. It made sense. "I just really don't think I can badmouth you to my parents Lucky," she said quietly.

"Yes, you can Elizabeth," he said stroking her hair. "Just always remember that it's not real okay? It's not...It would never happen, but the thing is....THEY can't know that."

Elizabeth nodded again slowly before he pulled her close to him one last time. He embraced her tightly, knowing that in a moment she would have to go back to her mother. Who knew how long it would be before they got a moment like this again?