Wiping down the counter, Emily blew a bubble with her gum. It had been a quiet night at Kelly's and the last customer had ambled out about ten minutes ago. She hated the closing shift. It was boring, it was extra cleaning, and there was no one to talk to.
Moving over to the jukebox, Emily popped in a coin, picking fast-paced song to help her through the mundane work of cleaning the diner.
The door to Kelly's slowly opened and Jeremy peeked his head in. Feeling someone's eyes on her, Emily turned.
"Jeremy?" she asked her eyebrows raised. She looked around for a moment before throwing the dishrag on the counter, wiping her hands as she walked towards him. "Did you ever find Elizabeth?"
Jeremy bit his lip, his eyes drifting to the stairs that led to the rooms above the diner. "Yeah… I found her at Jake's like you said when I came in earlier. But… I need to find her again. I don't suppose she's here?"
Emily shook her head, watching as Jeremy frowned and looked down. "What do you need her for?"
Jeremy's head jerked up and Emily swore she saw panic in his eyes for a second. "Uh… nothing. I just needed to talk to her."
Eyebrows raised, Emily looked at him sideways. "You know… I can listen too."
"What?"
Smiling, Emily leaned against the counter. "It's obvious you have something on your mind, and I need someone to keep me from falling over from boredom…" Emily's smile faded and a look crossed her face, her cheeks reddened slightly. "Oh my… unless… oh, it's personal, isn't it? I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me."
Standing silent for a moment, Jeremy finally looked up as Emily backed behind the counter. "Have you ever been forced to do something you didn't want to?" he asked softly.
Surprised that he had spoken, Emily looked up. "It happens all the time in my family."
Jeremy shook his head. "No… I mean something you didn't want to do because it would hurt someone you love."
Emily bit her lip. "I had this boyfriend, Juan… but I fell in love with someone else and I had to tell Juan, even though I didn't want to because I knew it would hurt him."
Jeremy's eyes focused on the counter as he softly spoke. "There's the girl in my life. And someone who has control over me is trying to get me to hurt her because it will help him."
Frowning, Emily leaned forward. "Do you love her?"
Picturing Elizabeth's face, a small smile came to Jeremy's face. "I love her… and she loves me."
Emily watched him as he stared off at nothing. "And someone's trying to get you to hurt her? Is it your parents or something? Do they not like her?"
"Something like that."
Emily frowned again. "Well, what do you think is right?"
Shaking his head slightly, Jeremy turned, finally focusing on Emily. "I can't hurt her. She loves me, I know she does… and I'm not going to let her down."
Smiling, Emily slapped her dishrag against the counter. "Then it looks like you've made your decision."
Nodding, Jeremy started backing out of the door. "You know what? Thanks for your help." His hand was on the door by the time Emily called out to him.
"You and this girl… how long have you been together?"
Jeremy's eyes focused on the glass panes of the door. "Not for long…"
"You guys seem tight."
A faint smile came to his face as images of Elizabeth floated around in his head.
"We are… we'll be together forever."
Lucky walked towards Kelly's, watching his feet slap against the sidewalk. As he moved to open the door to the diner, he bumped into something hard.
"Hey, watch it."
Looking up, he frowned, shrugging slightly to the man in front of him who had been walking out of Kelly's. "Sorry, man. I didn't see you."
Jeremy shook his head but let it slip. What is with people bumping into me tonight? > "Probably because you were looking at your shoes. You might want to try looking up when you walk."
Shrugging, Lucky watched as the man straightened his shirt and walked away before turning into Kelly's. Emily was cleaning up at the counter and she smiled when he walked in.
"Hey Lucky, what's up."
Sliding into one of the chairs at the counter, Lucky rested his chin against his palm. "I saw Elizabeth today. Tried to get her to let me help her."
Emily tensed slightly. "You two didn't fight, did you?"
"You know where she was," Lucky asked, ignoring Emily's question. "She was a Jake's." Annoyance seeped into his voice. "Now what do you think she was doing there?"
"Oh, Lucky…"
"When she broke up with me, I TOLD her it was about Jason, but she said it wasn't. He confuses her, Em. Elizabeth doesn't think straight when she's with him. I need to get her away from him."
Emily tensed even more. "Lucky, Jason's my brother and I know he would never hurt Elizabeth."
"She pulled away from me tonight, Em… Elizabeth wouldn't do that if she were thinking straight. She would know that she needs my help."
"Lucky…"
"I need to get her away from Jason if I'm going to help her and get her back. She thinks Jason can protect her from whoever gave her that bracelet. Well he can't. He can't help her like I can, and he sure as hell can't love her like I can."
Emily sighed. "Lucky, maybe Elizabeth doesn't want your help. Maybe helping her won't get her back."
"Of course it will."
"Lucky…"
Standing up, Lucky moved towards the stairs. "Have you ever gotten that feeling that everything is too calm? You know, when things are too perfect. Perfection doesn't exist and everyone tells you that when it feels perfect, something back is going to happen to ruin it. Have you ever heard that?"
Emily nodded, not understanding what he was trying to get at.
"Well, things aren't perfect now, because Elizabeth and I aren't together, but I'm getting that feeling, Em. My gut's telling me that something bad is going to happen if I don't help Elizabeth." He paused and gave his best friend a hard look. "My father might not be my favorite person right now, but he taught me some important things. And one of those things was to trust my gut."
"But maybe-"
"My gut's screaming that something bad is going to happen if I don't help her. I have to help her, Em… I have to."
Slowly opening the door, Jason peeked his head inside. The lights were off and everything was still. From the little light coming through the window, it looked like the room was completely empty.
Part of him had thought that Elizabeth wouldn't stay, but he had been hoping that he had been wrong. Heaving a little sigh, Jason shook his head. He had, after all, been gone for nearly five hours, and the sun would be rising soon. He couldn't expect her to wait all that time for him.
But still… he had wanted her to.
Blindly making his way through the small room in the dark, he slipped off his leather jacket, throwing it onto one of the chairs. He slipped off his boots and froze when his socked foot brushed against something.
It was Elizabeth's left shoe.
Picking up the shoe, he looked up, his eyebrows jutted up when he noticed for the first time, the outline of a lump in his bed.
A lump the size of Elizabeth.
Quickly making his way over to the bed, he kneeled down, his hand hover over Elizabeth's cheek. She lay peacefully on her side, one hand tucked under her chin, the other disappearing under the pillow. Her hair was splayed across his pillow, her dark locks a stark framing her face. In the moonlight, her skin looked even paler.
He wanted to touch her and wake her up, showing her just how happy he was that she stayed, that she waited for him, but another part of him didn't want to disturb her.
Moving towards the chair off to the side, Jason settled down, his eyes still on Elizabeth. He settled down in the chair for a moment, closing his eyes. A second later, his eyes were open and he was once against standing by the bed.
After a slight hesitation, he climbed onto the bed, spooned up against Elizabeth as he lay on top of the covers. His arm snaked out to rest across her stomach and he buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply. Closing his eyes, he silently marveled on how well she fit in his arms.
It was perfection.