The door to the studio slowly opened and Elizabeth wearily stepped inside. She was exhausted. Her feet hurt from standing on them for so long, her face hurt from smiling for hours, and deep inside, her heart hurt.
With a soft sigh, she closed the door behind her and kicked off her shoes, making a beeline for the couch. Pulling the blanket that hung off of the couch, she wrapped it around herself. Elizabeth frowned slightly when she inhaled. Lucky had been laying on it the night before and she could still smell his spicy cologne in the fabric. It was so strong that it almost felt as if Lucky had his arms around her.
She didn't want it to feel like Lucky was holding her.
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Elizabeth frowned, shaking her head at herself. Guilt started to seep into her body, threatening to overwhelm her. Rubbing her face with her hands, Elizabeth looked down at the makeup that was now caked on her palms. Sighing, she wiped her hands on her pants and settled, laying down on the couch. Her gaze caught the painting of The Wind on her display easel and a faint smile came to her lips.
She hadn't painted since she'd been named the Face of Deception. It was getting to her because painting was her release, and she was in desperate need of a release right about now.
Looking at the paining, knowing it belonged to Jason, seemed to give her strength. Almost as much strength as Jason himself gave her.
"I need to tell Lucky what I'm feeling," Elizabeth mumbled to herself. She looked over at the paining once more before settling back into the couch.
"Tomorrow… I'll talk to him tomorrow."
Closing her eyes, Elizabeth drifted to sleep, thoughts of motorcycle rides, the wind, and piercing blue eyes swirling around in her head.
An hour later, Elizabeth groaned as she brought her hand up to her face to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. The overhead light in her studio was glaring down at her and the couch was lumpy and uncomfortable.
How did Jason stand sleeping on this thing? >
Standing up, she stretched, grabbed her jacket, and made her way out of the studio. All she wanted was to get to Kelly's, get into her bed, and fall back asleep again.
It was late and long past sunset by the time Elizabeth got down to the docks. Looking around, Elizabeth hugged herself, tightening her jacket around her body in a vain effort to get warm.
There was a sound of footsteps off to her right and Elizabeth jerked her head up, trying to see who was coming. Fear flooded her stomach for a second before she clamped down on it, forcing herself to begin breathing again. The footsteps got closer and Elizabeth instinctively backed up.
"Elizabeth?"
At the sound of Jason's voice, Elizabeth calmed, exhaling shakily. Jason jogged down the stairs towards the docks and walked up to her, bending his knees slightly and his head lowering so that he could look her in the eye.
"Elizabeth?" he repeated. "Are you ok?"
Bringing her hand up to her heart, Elizabeth nodded, giving him a smile. "Yeah… I'm fine. You just scared me there for a second, Jason. I thought you were someone else."
Jason looked around. "Who?"
Shaking her head, Elizabeth shivered. "No one. I just thought… I heard footsteps and I didn't know who it was."
Watching her movements closely, Jason studied her. "The docks can be dangerous," he said slowly, his eyes instinctively scanning the area. "Are you going to Kelly's? I'll walk you there."
Smiling, Elizabeth shook her head. "You don't have to do that, Jason. You're going the opposite way. I'll be fine."
Raising his eyebrows, Jason shrugged his shoulders, looked over to the direction of Kelly's and frowned. "You mean Lucky's waiting for you."
Elizabeth shook her head. "No it's…" She stopped, not sure of how to continue. Jason stood in front of her, giving her the time she needed to voice her thoughts.
"I'm supposed to be staying away from you," she explained, moving to sit down on a bench. Unsure of what to do, Jason hesitated for a moment before following, sitting down as she continued talking.
"I know we just ran into each other tonight on accident, but if Lucky found out, he wouldn't understand. He'd think that we planned this. And if he sees you walking me to Kelly's…"
Elizabeth look up at him, her brown eyes pleading, hoping he understood what she was saying.
Taking a deep breath, Jason looked out towards the water before speaking. "You can't help it if we run into each other on the docks and neither can I. You said it yourself." He turned away from the water to look at her. "We ran into each other. You're blaming yourself like you did something wrong. You didn't."
Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed and reached out for Jason's hand, dropping it when she felt a jolt of electricity between them at the slight touch. "Jason… this is hard for me, you know that, right? I'm supposed to be staying away from you. I'm supposed to not care… I don't like having to pretend I don't care about you."
"You don't have to pretend with me."
Elizabeth held his gaze until she felt tears threaten. Looking down, she fumbled with her scarf before looking back up at Jason, smiling slightly. "Walk me to Kelly's?"
Standing, Elizabeth held out her hand for Jason to take when he remained silent. "I don't want to pretend anymore, Jason…. Please?"
The corners of Jason's mouth curved up as he reached out to grab her hand. He interlocked his hand with hers, letting her pull him towards Kelly's.
The walk to Kelly's was relatively short and the two made the journey in a comfortable silence. When they reached Kelly's, Elizabeth turned, smiling up at Jason.
"Too bad you don't have your bike with you. But then again, it's kind of cold."
Jason smiled. "I'll say. Your nose is red."
Laughing, Elizabeth covered her nose with her hand. "Thank you for making sure I got home ok."
Nodding, Jason motioned towards the doors of Kelly's. "You'd better get inside before you go numb."
Looking through the windows of the darkened diner, Elizabeth sighed. "I hate this, Jason. You're my friend. I want you in my life…" She started pacing, wishing he could tell her what to do, tell her how to make this right. "I want to make Lucky happy…"
Jason followed her movement, catching her arm when she walked in front of him so that she would look at him. "Why don't you worry about making yourself happy?"
She looked down at where he held her arm and tears of frustration welled in her eyes. "I love Lucky. Doing what would make me happy… would hurt him."
Swallowing hard, Jason kept his eyes locked on her. "What would make you happy?" he whispered.
Elizabeth look up and a single tear fell from her eyes. "You."
Another tear fell as she tried to explain. "I like spending time with you. You make me laugh… and I can talk to you. I like having you in my life." Wiping at her eyes, Elizabeth began pacing again, trying to get herself to stop crying. "I like going fast with you. You see life so differently than me. I like hearing about how you see things…" With every word she said, more tears fell from her eyes.
"Elizabeth…" Jason's voice broke as he called out to her, stopping her movement. She looked up at him and her brown eyes locked onto his blue ones. Reaching out, he grabbed for her hand, pulling her closer to him.
Wordlessly, Elizabeth walked into his open arms, letting him hold her as she snuggled closer to the comfort he offered her, getting lost in the feel of Jason's arms around her, holding her, giving her strength.
"Elizabeth?"
Lucky knocked on Elizabeth's door at Kelly's once more, placing his ear closer to the door to see if he could hear her moving around inside. He sighed when she didn't answer, reaching into his pocket for his keys.
"She's probably asleep…"
Opening the door, he peeked inside. Anger immediately swelled in his chest when he looked around the still room. Her bed was empty, still perfectly made. Walking inside, Lucky held his breath as he looked around.
Elizabeth wasn't there.
"No…" Lucky whispered to himself. "She's not… she can't be with him… she can't be."
Storming out of the room, Lucky slammed the door shut after him as he ran down the stairs. Kelly's was dark and he blindly moved past the tables, jerking the door open. The second he stepped out of the diner, he stopped in his tracks, shock forcing his jaw to drop open.
"What the HELL is going on?"