"Is Sonny in?"
Johnny frowned and nodded his head, motioning for Jason to listen. The sound of Sonny and Carly having another argument over Deception could be heard and Jason rolled his eyes. For two people who loved each other, they sure did fight a lot.
Shaking his head, Jason opened the door anyway, letting himself inside. "Sonny, I need to talk to you."
"Jase!" Carly cried out. "How did you know I needed you here right now? Explain to Sonny-"
"What is it, Jason?" Sonny interrupted, giving Carly a pointed look.
Jason hesitated for a moment. "It's… business."
Carly rolled her eyes. "Is that ALL you two talk about? I'm starting to think you two just say that to get me out of the room."
"Carly." Sonny's hard voice and stern look did the trick and Carly grudgingly made her way up the stairs. Sonny waited until he was sure Carly was in her room before turning his attention back to his best friend. "I know it's not business, so what is it?"
Sighing heavily, Jason walked over to the couch, sitting down and leaning forward until his elbows rested on his knees.
Sonny stood silent for a moment, waiting for Jason to speak first. When it was obvious Jason wasn't going to say anything, he spoke up. "Does it have anything to do with Elizabeth?"
Jason's head jerked up. "How did you know?"
Smirking, Sonny walked over, taking a seat on the footstool in front of Jason. "I know you. I know how you look when you… care about someone. And from the looks of it, you definitely care about Elizabeth Webber.
Shaking his head, Jason looked into the fire Sonny had roaring in the fireplace. "Having me here is confusing her. She's trying to make it work with Lucky. She loves Lucky. That's her choice. I can't tell her who to love."
"But you could tell her how you feel."
Jason shook his head. "That would just confuse her more."
Sonny's eyebrows raised. "You always say that we have no right to make decisions for the people we care about. Don't you think keeping quiet about your feelings is, in a way, making a decision for Elizabeth?"
Sighing, Jason shook his head. "I know what I have to do, Sonny."
"And what's that?"
Jason took a deep breath. "I'm leaving Port Charles."
Sonny froze. "Come again?"
"You heard me, Sonny. I'm leaving."
Shaking his head, Sonny stood, pacing. "That can't happen, Jason. I need you here."
"Sonny-"
"Alexis got the trial date for Zander moved up to next week. One week, Jason. I need you to protect the kid for one more week. You can leave after that, but I need you right now. I'm trying to protect my family and you're the only one I trust to help me."
Jason sighed. He had wanted to leave that night, but he couldn't leave if Sonny needed him. And Sonny needed him right now. "One week. I'm leaving as soon as this trial is over."
Sonny exhaled, watching Jason stand and make his way towards the door. "Are you sure about this."
Standing at the door, Jason nodded. "I'm sure."
Closing her eyes, Elizabeth rested her head on the counter, taking a deep breath. The dinner shift at Kelly's was always hectic, but it seemed like today had been even worse than usual. It seemed like everyone in Port Charles had decided to go out to eat that night and all of them had come to Kelly's. Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to close up, go upstairs, and take a soothing bath.
Heaving a sigh, Elizabeth straightened, grabbing a dishpan and filling it before taking everything into the back so that the plates could be cleaned. The diner was empty now and before she went into the back room, she hit the lights, lowering them. She preferred low lights to bright ones.
Humming to herself, Elizabeth thought back on the past few days. Telling Laura that she didn't want to be the Face of Deception anymore had been tough, but she was glad Lucky had supported her decision. It would have been nearly impossible if she would have had to fight both Laura AND Lucky.
Smiling Elizabeth pushed that out of her mind. She would be starting up classes at PCU again tomorrow and she couldn't wait. She had only been gone for from school for about a week, but she was still excited. Taking art classes again meant that she would definitely be painting more, and now that she wasn't modeling, she'd have even more time.
"And Lucky's still Laura's photographer, so I'll have time to myself to paint," Elizabeth mumbled to herself. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she frowned. The loving girlfriend should not be thinking thoughts like that.
Elizabeth was shaking her head at herself when she heard a scraping noise coming from the front room. Frowning, she peered through the opening in the wall that separated the kitchen from the dining area. Because she had turned down the lights, it was hard for her to see anything, but it didn't look like anyone was out there.
"Hello?" Elizabeth called out cautiously. "Lucky? Is that you?"
No one answered. Slowly, Elizabeth dropped the towel that was in her hand and she carefully made her way out of the back room.
Is it just me or is it even darker in here than it was before… >
Holding her breath, Elizabeth stepped out into the diner. The room was empty. Shaking her head, Elizabeth rolled her eyes at herself, embarrassed at her behavior. Of course no one was there. She was just hearing things.
"Get a grip."
Spinning on her heel to return to the back room, Elizabeth did a double take when she saw something on the floor shimmer out of the corner of her eye. Her eyebrows merged as she tried to remember if that had been there before. She hadn't remembered seeing anything there… and she was sure she had swept the floor thoroughly. Slowly, Elizabeth stepped towards the object, bending to pick it up. It was a bracelet.
Identical to the bracelet her Grams had loaned her when she had been raped.
The bracelet dropped to the ground a second later and Elizabeth backed away, not able to take her eyes off of it. The sound of her heavy breathing resonated in her ears and all she could focus on was the little piece of jewelry that lay on the floor as flashes of that night played in her head.
Fear clenched her stomach into a tight ball as she quickly stood, kicking the bracelet with her foot until it slid under the counter. Pulling her apron off, Elizabeth threw it onto the counter as she raced to the door, sliding the bolt into place before flipping off the lights and running up the stairs, taking two at a time.
Standing in front of the door to her room, Elizabeth paused, trying to catch her breath. Leaning against the door for a moment, she composed herself before pulling out her key and unlocking the door.
Lucky sat on the bed, looking up from his book as Elizabeth made her way into the room, careful to not look him straight in the eye.
"You finish closing up already?"
Looking up, Elizabeth forced a smile onto her face. "It went quick tonight."
"Are you ok, Elizabeth?"
She brightened her smile to the point where it felt like her face was going to crack.
"I'm fine, Lucky… I'm fine."