The Ripple Effect
Chapter 7
~Kelly's~
Jason was stunned when he felt her lips on his, but that lasted only for a second, she began to pull away and he responded quickly. He brought his hand up to cup the back of her head to keep her lips on his. Her lips were softer than any he had ever felt, and a little timid, she sighed and tilted her head, opening her mouth slightly. He used the opportunity to deepen the kiss.
She was kissing Jason and for once it wasn't a dream. Feeling his mouth move on hers, she realized that no dream she'd ever had even came close to the reality. She heard a moan and wasn't sure who let it out. She felt his tongue whisper past her lips and her arms tightened around his neck in response, as she opened for him.
"Elizabeth."
Her name came from behind her but it was easy to ignore, easy to keep on kissing Jason.
"Elizabeth!"
Her name was repeated and she felt Jason tense and draw away from her. She realized then that she should recognize the voice, but for the life of her she had no idea, who was speaking, she only knew they had lousy timing.
Jason broke the kiss reluctantly and looked over her shoulder at Lucky who had just walked out of Kelly's and was staring at them with a look of shock.
Coming out of a daze, Elizabeth stepped back abruptly and turned around, "Lucky?"
"What the hell are you doing Elizabeth? You don't belong with him," Lucky snapped. The shock he'd originally felt when he looked outside and saw them kissing had turned into anger. It was a deep anger, one that he hadn't felt before. Even as angry as he had been with his father paled in comparison to this, and that unsettled him.
"Lucky," Elizabeth spoke again, finally realizing who was standing there glaring at her. "Why are you wearing an apron?" It was the only coherent thought in her head. Too much of her brain was reliving the kiss Jason had just given her, or was it the kiss she gave him? After all she had initiated it.
"What?" Lucky demanded looking at her in shock, shock quickly turned to anger. "You don't belong with him," he turned on Jason. "You stay the hell away from Elizabeth."
"You know what? It's not up to you who I stand next to, or talk too," she retorted starting to get upset herself.
"Oh were you standing? Because from where I was, it looked like you two were kissing."
"I don't think this is any of your business," she wasn't ready to deal with the implications of the kiss yet.
"Not my business?" he repeated. "Everything about you is my business," he stepped closer to her. "Why don't you tell me again what happened when you two lived together."
Jason had been willing to let Elizabeth handle this but he didn't like the anger that was on Lucky's face, or the way he kept crowding her. He moved closer, "You need to back off Lucky."
"You don't tell me what to do," he yelled at Jason. "I'm not Emily, I don't buy your crap that you're better or wiser than humanity," he stepped closer to Jason. "So why don't you just admit that you are after Elizabeth."
It was getting harder and harder to recognize the kid he once knew in the angry person in front of him. "She's my friend, I thought you were too."
Lucky scoffed at that remark, "I don't want to be friends. In fact I don't want you around, so leave."
Elizabeth didn't like what she was seeing or hearing. She had never heard Lucky talk like this, and to Jason of all people. Her eyes moved from Lucky's angry face, to Jason's calm one and she instinctively shifted closer to Jason.
"That's not up to you to decide." Jason had been in enough situations that he knew Lucky was close to losing control. He remembered the boy who used to rent a room from him and tried again. "You know, whatever you're going through I didn't do it. Elizabeth didn't do it, so you shouldn't blame us for it."
"Us?" Lucky was finding it harder and harder to breathe. He had never been this angry before and it was focused primarily on the man in front of him. "You don't get to defend her."
"I will always defend her," Jason warned him. "I'm trying to respect you Lucky, but you're not making any sense."
"Screw you," Lucky screamed charging him.
"Lucky," Elizabeth yelled in shock.
Jason blocked his charge easily enough and shoved him back several feet. "That's enough," he wasn't going to play around with Lucky anymore. Lucky had changed and obviously not for the better, he stopped thinking of him as a boy he once knew and instead thought of him as a guy he had no desire to know.
"What are you doing?" Elizabeth demanded stepping in between them, focusing her anger on Lucky.
"What am I doing? You kissed him Elizabeth. What the hell are you doing?"
"I told you what I do with Jason is none of your business," she snapped, then grabbed a table to keep her balance when Lucky charged past her and after Jason again.
"That's enough," Jason grabbed Lucky's arm and twisted it around his back, immobilizing him. "Lucky I don't know where this is coming from, but you don't want any trouble."
Lucky jerked erratically trying to free his arm, but Jason merely increased the pressure, keeping his arm in place and Lucky off-balanced.
"Jason let him go," Elizabeth put a hand on his back.
"Are you sure?" he turned his head to look at her.
"Yes, Lucky won't do anything else stupid. Will you Lucky?" she asked moving closer.
"Whatever," Lucky snapped.
Jason let him go and took a cautious step back, eyeing Lucky warily when he turned around to glare at them again.
"I think you owe Jason an apology Lucky," she crossed her arms over her chest and waited.
"For what?" Lucky snorted refusing to rub at his sore shoulder, not wanting to give Jason the satisfaction of knowing how much it hurt.
"For attacking Jason like that. He's always been your friend, my god he gave you a job, a place to stay, why did you go off on him like that?"
Lucky shook his head stubbornly. "He's after you Elizabeth, and you belong to me, so he needs to back off."
Elizabeth took a step back in confusion at the words. Now he was saying she belonged to him, she wearily shook her head, he was making no sense as usual.
Jason frowned at the words. It sounded like Lucky was staking ownership of her, like the Quartermaine's tried to do with Michael. He didn't like it, he glanced at her face, and saw the confusion in her eyes when she shook her head. Lucky was playing with her head again. "Look if you have a problem with me, that's fine, deal with me. Don't take it out on Elizabeth, she's my friend, I'm not going to let you hurt her."
"You don't get it Jason, things change," Lucky shot back cockily. "She might have thought you were a friend, when I was away, but I'm back now and she knows better. I won't let you use her again."
"Lucky you don't speak for me," Elizabeth interrupted. "Jason will always be my friend, whether you will be, remains to be seen." She turned to Jason and gave him a quick hug. "Thanks again for tonight, I'm sorry about this."
"It's not your fault." He wanted to say more, but wouldn't, not with Lucky here.
"I'll call you tomorrow," she let her hands drop and turned around to face Lucky. "You need to think about what just happened here. Until you are ready to apologize to me and to Jason I don't want to see you." With that she walked past him into Kelly's pausing only to flip the sign from open to closed, lock the door, and pull down the shade, leaving the two men alone in the courtyard.
"Elizabeth," Lucky called after her moving towards the door in shock. What was she doing locking him out like that? He pushed on the door but it refused to budge, "Elizabeth."
"She doesn't want to talk to you Lucky," Jason watched him pound on the door again. "Lucky go home."
"What and leave her here with you?" Lucky turned around to glare at him. "You'd like that wouldn't you? That way she'd be easy pickings for you. But that isn't going to happen."
Jason pinched his nose in frustration. "Are you even listening to yourself? Because you are making absolutely no sense."
"I'm not going anywhere Jason, Elizabeth belongs with me not you."
"I thought she belonged with Nikolas," Jason countered. "Isn't that what you tell her everytime you see her?"
Lucky frowned at that, that is what he meant wasn't it? He shook the doubt away. "She doesn't belong with you, and that's what matters. So you stay the hell away from her."
"Lucky, only Elizabeth can tell me to stay away and she's not doing that."
"So you're admitting it. You do want her," Lucky cried.
Jason just shook his head, he wasn't about to explain his actions to some hot-tempered kid. "Lucky you need some help."
Lucky jerked back a step, he didn't need help, he was in control. His hands began to shake and he quickly shoved them in his pockets. "Just stay away from her," he warned him again, then threw the apron on a table and left the courtyard.
Jason was heading for the door, to talk to Elizabeth again when his cell rang. "Morgan," he frowned and glanced at his watch. "Now? Okay I'm on my way." He glanced at the closed door for a minute longer then headed for his bike, he would have to talk too Elizabeth tomorrow.
~Inside~
Elizabeth pulled the shade slightly to the side and sighed in relief when she saw the empty courtyard. She sat wearily at a table, what had just happened? She had kissed Jason, Lucky said she belonged to him, she had kissed Jason, Lucky attacked Jason, she had kissed Jason.
"Enough," she stood up and put the last two chairs on the table. She couldn't think about what had just happened right now, if she did she would go insane. She grabbed her purse from behind the counter, turned off the lights, locked the door and headed for home. She wasn't going to think about what just happened until tomorrow.
Elizabeth was replaying the kiss she wasn't supposed to be thinking about in her head, when she gradually became aware of footsteps behind her. She paused to listen and the footsteps stopped as well. Frowning at the dark all around her, she regretted that she had decided to take the shortcut through the docks, instead of walking on the well-lighted streets.
She picked up her pace and hurried towards the sign for Bannister's Wharf. She was almost home. A horrifying thought crossed her mind and slowed her steps, whoever was following her would know where she lived.
She looked to the right and saw the open bay door of the Corinthos-Morgan warehouse. A lot of people were visible through the door, unloading a shipment. She veered towards the warehouse and the people there. She had only taken a step when a hand fell on her arm stopping her in her tracks.
~Quartermaine's~
Lucky climbed the tree and tapped on Emily's window. He saw her frown at the window before setting aside a notebook she was writing in and crossing over to him.
"Lucky," she quickly opened the window when she recognized him. "What are you doing here?"
"I don't know, I just couldn't go home." Lucky glanced around the room but really didn't see anything. His mind was still trying to process what had happened with Jason and Elizabeth.
Emily could see the anger in his face and braced herself. "What happened?"
"Your brother happened," Lucky sniped angrily.
"What do you mean?" she sat on the bed and watched him pace.
"Jason happened, he has Elizabeth so confused, he's messing with her head."
"That doesn't sound like something Jason would do," she spoke quietly. "In fact I know he wouldn't do that."
"You don't know your brother Em, because that is what he is doing. He wants Elizabeth and he's messing with her head in order to get her." Lucky paused by her dresser and picked up one of the glass figurines that she had there. "She even sent me away tonight because of him."
"Lucky why don't you start at the beginning? Because I got to tell you, you're not making any sense here."
"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Lucky demanded raising his voice. He saw her eyes go wide and flick to her door, and quickly lowered his voice. "Tammy made me work so I was closing up when I heard someone in the courtyard. I looked outside and saw Elizabeth and Jason," his hand tightened convulsively on the fragile figurine. "He was kissing her."
"What?" she sat back in surprise. "Are you sure?"
"Yes I know what a kiss looks like. Kissing as in mouth to mouth, as in he had his hands all over her, holding her against him," Lucky snapped.
"Well where were her hands?"
Around his neck, holding him back, at that memory he snapped the figurine in his hand in two. "That doesn't matter, he was mauling her."
"It does matter," Emily shot to her feet ready to defend her brother. "Since you don't want to answer me, I would say she had her arms around him, therefore she must have wanted him to kiss her. Because he wouldn't maul her."
"Emily whose side are you on here?" Lucky turned on her. "Didn't you hear me? He was kissing Elizabeth. My Elizabeth."
"And she was kissing him back wasn't she?" Emily demanded moving closer. "Wasn't she?"
"Yes," he admitted reluctantly. "But that doesn't matter he has no right to kiss her, she's mine."
"Wrong Lucky she belongs to no one. You have been telling her for months that it's over between the two of you. She finally heard you and moved on." She didn't know how she felt about the fact Elizabeth seemed to be moving on with her brother.
"I thought you understood Emily. You know why I've been pushing her away, you know I don't mean too. What? Because she's kissing your brother you don't care about us getting back together anymore?"
Emily shifted guiltily on her feet. "I didn't say that."
"God Em, you have been our biggest supporter and now you think its great that Elizabeth has moved on," he dropped the broken figurine to the floor and headed for the window. "I thought you were my best friend."
"Wait Lucky I am your friend," she followed him to the window feeling guilty. "It's just…it's different now that my brother is involved."
"Well I guess I know where I stand then," he started to crawl out of the window.
"Lucky stop it. I have been telling you for weeks to talk to Elizabeth. But you refused too," she yanked on his arm and pulled him back in the room. "Don't blame me because when you finally do decide to talk to her she doesn't want to hear you."
Lucky slumped wearily on the window seat, "I told her she didn't belong with Jason, that she belonged with me."
She sat down beside him. "What did she say to that?" At one time she knew Elizabeth would have been thrilled to hear those words, but now she wasn't so sure. She had been thinking about Elizabeth tonight, replaying in her mind all the little conversations she'd had with her, especially the ones in the last few weeks. She finally realized that Elizabeth had been trying to tell her for weeks that she was giving up on Lucky, but she hadn't wanted to hear her.
"She told me that what went on between her and Jason was none of my business. Then she told me she didn't want to see me again until I apologized."
"Apologized for what?"
"I sort of attacked Jason," he admitted sheepishly, waiting for her angry reaction, he wasn't disappointed.
"What? Lucky what were you thinking?" She shoved at his shoulder. "Forget it, you obviously weren't thinking."
"I couldn't help it. He made me so mad, they both did," he frowned at her. "I was so close to losing control Em, it scared me."
"It's okay we'll figure it out," she hugged him trying to offer some comfort.
"I can't lose her Emily," his words were muffled by her shoulder. "I think I would die if I lost her."
Emily frowned at his words, he sounded like he meant them. She needed to talk to Jason and Elizabeth and find out what exactly was going on between them. She patted Lucky on the back, and she needed to do it soon.
~Docks~
Elizabeth screamed and flailed out with her purse when she was jerked around.
Immediately the hand on her arm was dropped and her attacker raised his hands in surrender and backed away. "Take it easy Elizabeth."
She put a hand over her racing heart. "Jesus Zander you scared me."
"I'm sorry, I thought you heard me call your name," Zander touched her arm lightly. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"No I didn't hear you, I must have been lost in thought," she took a step back breaking the contact.
He frowned at her actions but said nothing. "I wanted to see how you were. You were pretty out of it at the rave the other week. I was actually heading to that diner you said you worked at when I saw you."
Now her heart was racing for another reason. Realization was setting in that she was alone on the docks with a man who had drugged her, and killed a cop. "I'm fine," she was relieved her voice was only a little shaky.
"Good. I was sorry you left the rave with that guy. What was his name, Lucky?"
"Yeah."
"He's your boyfriend right?" He hoped not he had enjoyed talking to her, and was sorry that he had drugged her.
"Not anymore," she answered without thinking.
He smiled at that. "Good."
Elizabeth swallowed hard, this was not good, he seemed to really be interested in her. It was hard enough to pretend she liked him, when she knew Nikolas and Lucky were around, but out here alone, it was even harder.
"I was looking for you for another reason as well," he stepped closer. "There's another rave Friday night, I was hoping you would come."
"I don't know, after what happened last time," she forced herself to smile. He was giving him the information they needed, all she had to do was play along. "Are you going to be there?"
"Definitely. I was hoping you would be there too," he smiled his best smile hoping to charm her. "I can promise you that nothing will happen to you this time."
It was strange but she almost believed him. "Then I'll be there. Where is it?"
He dug in his pocket and wrote the address on a scrap of paper. "We're keeping this one quieter than the last one so it doesn't get raided." She reached out to take the paper from him and his hand closed over hers. "I'm glad you'll be there Elizabeth, I've been wanting to get to know you better."
She refused the temptation to pull her arm free and instead smiled at him again. "That's nice to hear Zander, maybe it is time to get back into the dating scene. Although I am going to take it slow."
"You should you're less likely to be hurt that way. Speaking of which," he glanced around the dark dock. "I better walk you home. You have no business being alone around here at this time of night."
"That's okay my place is real close by." The last thing she wanted was for him to know where she lived. It was bad enough he knew where she worked.
"I insist Elizabeth, I don't want anything to happen to you," he took her arm in a proprietary manner and began heading back down the dock, away from the warehouse. "So where do you live?"
"Over there," she gestured vaguely in the direction of her building. She kept the pace slow, trying desperately to think of a way out of this. She needed him to think she was interested in him. So he might get suspicious if she ran screaming away from him when he was trying to be nice.
"It's a gorgeous night, look at that moon. It's the Lover's Moon," he looked at the sky then glanced at her.
"Mmm," she answered non-committedly. Someone heading for the stairs by Bannister's Wharf caught her attention. "Johnny," she yelled in recognition. "Excuse me," she pulled free of Zander and ran for Johnny.
Johnny frowned at her fast approach, his eyes going to the man following her, "Miss Webber are you…"
"Call me Elizabeth and play along with whatever I say," she hissed cutting him off, keeping an ear pealed for Zander's approach.
"Johnny," she pitched her voice so it would carry around the dock. "It must be fate running into you like this."
Johnny frowned then smiled brightly causing her to blink in surprise. "You too Elizabeth."
Elizabeth kept her hand on his arm then turned to face an out of breath Zander. "Sorry but I had to catch Johnny. I've been playing phone tag with him for days now. I think you were it." She turned to him smiling a tad too widely.
"You must not have checked your voice mail then because I phoned you back." He could feel the uneasiness and a trace of fear coming off of her. He focused on the man with her, and made a mental impression of him. He knew Jason and more than likely Sonny would want to know every detail about him.
"Well since I've got you now, I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished with you."
"Elizabeth I thought we were going to talk," Zander jerked his head. "Alone."
Her hand tightened on Johnny's arm. "It will have to be right now Elizabeth," her hold caused him to speak. "I'm tied up in meetings the rest of the week."
"Sorry Zander, I have a portrait that I did for Johnny ready, and I need to talk to him about the next one." She tried to act disappointed, but she had a feeling she failed. "You understand a starving artist can't let a sale go by."
"How will you get home?"
"I'll see her home," Johnny said immediately.
"Okay, we'll finish this on Friday then," Zander locked eyes with her. "Right?"
"Right. I can't wait for Friday," Elizabeth smiled back.
"Sorry but we better go. I don't have a lot of time Elizabeth." Johnny interrupted their staring contest, he turned slightly to head for the other steps and her building. Her hand tugged at his arm trying to propel him in the other direction. He frowned until he figured out what she was doing. She wanted to take the long way to her building by going to Charles Street. He smoothly turned and they started walking to those steps that led to Charles Street.
"Bye Zander," Elizabeth called over her shoulder before preceding Johnny up the steps.
Johnny took one more look at Zander sizing him up and filing the information away for future reference, before following her up the stairs.
Zander frowned after them long after they disappeared from view. There was something a little bit off about Elizabeth. He had originally sought her out at the rave because he'd thought he had seen her talking with Gia. He had even drugged her in an attempt to get some information out of her. But she had left before he could get very much out of her.
He had finally decided that he was probably reading too much into it. Instead he remembered how fun she was to talk too, and how beautiful she was, so he had decided to find her, to see if she would be interested in a date with him. He felt bad about drugging her, and wanted to get to know her better.
He frowned and began to walk away, after speaking with her tonight he was worried again. She had said all the right things and smiled at the right times, but there was something a little off. Her smile seemed a little desperate at times, and the way she had run to that Johnny guy sent up red flags in warning. Johnny had looked familiar to him as well. He was going to have to keep an eye on Elizabeth, and the rave would be a perfect place to start he decided.
~Jake's~
Jason let himself in his dark room and made his way to the bed. The tip he had been chasing turned out to be a dud. He laid down on the bed and put his arm over his eyes. The timing couldn't have been worse too. He had wanted to talk to Elizabeth about what had happened, before she had the opportunity to build any walls between them.
He didn't blame her for wanting to get away from Lucky. Lucky, he frowned and considered what Lucky had said and done tonight. Lucky had acted like a guy who was still in love with her, and was jealous of her interest with someone else. Yet at the same time, his claims of ownership were way out there. If this is what Elizabeth had been living with for the past several months it was no wonder she was ready to blow.
He got off the bed and headed for the window, stripping off his shirt along the way. He opened the window and let the breeze in the room. He had been surprised that she had kissed him, he had tried to kiss her before and both times she had backed off and pretended it didn't happen. That's what made this kiss even more special, she was the one who initiated it.
He leaned against the windowpane, and wondered what she'd think about what Lucky said, after she had time to cool off and think about it. Lucky had said he wanted her back. He didn't know if Lucky meant it or if Lucky had just said it to keep her away from him. He shrugged in the end the only thing he wanted was for her to be happy. He hoped that she might be willing to see if they could be happy together, but if not, then he would live with that. The one constant in their relationship had been her love for Lucky, so if that won out in the end he would have to respect her decision.
"Jason will always be my friend."
Her words from earlier came back to him. But if she was ready to let Lucky go, he was going to be here for her. As for the kiss, whether it would end up being real or temporary madness on her part he didn't know. He was glad it happened, he had wanted it to happen for months now, so he had no regrets, and he hoped she didn't either. He would wait and see how she acted the next time she saw him. He didn't want to lose her friendship so if she regretted it, he would never mention it again.
With that decision made he headed for the shower, to wash the day off. One thing he did know for sure, he wouldn't be able to wash away the memory of holding her, and her kissing him, and he had no desire too either.
~Studio~
"Are you sure he didn't follow us?" Elizabeth asked again when she unlocked her door.
"Yes we walked slow enough, and took the most meandering route possible. I would have known if he was behind us." Johnny entered the room behind her, his eyes sweeping the room out of habit more than an actual concern of a possible threat. "So are you ready to tell me what that was all about?"
She watched him make himself comfortable on the couch and realized she was going to have to tell him something. She'd rambled on about everything under the sun during their walk home, hoping he wouldn't mention it. She saw him cross his arms over his chest and realized she was S.O.L. "I just didn't want him to know where I lived."
"And you couldn't just tell him that?"
"No, then he would know I wasn't really inter…" she trailed off and turned away to straighten up some papers on her table. "I just think that a woman should get to know someone before she lets them walk her home."
"I agree with you, in fact I tell my sisters the same thing all the time," he waited until he saw her shoulders sag in relief, then went on. "But in this case that wasn't the reason."
"What makes you say that?"
"Elizabeth look at me," he waited until she did. "You have a little problem, when you lie to someone you care about you don't look at them. But when you lie to someone you don't like, like Zander, you look them dead in the face."
She frowned at that, she used to be better at lying. Maybe she should think of it as pretending she seemed to be real good at that.
"Elizabeth?"
"I can't say anything else Johnny, can't we just leave it at that?" She pleaded with her eyes and her voice. "Just know you did me a huge favor and I'll owe you one," she saw him begin to shake his head and hurried on. "Please Johnny."
He frowned at her then nodded. "Okay I'll drop it." And he would too. He'd drop it right in Jason's lap. He knew Jason would get the truth out of her. He glanced around the studio. "You've changed this place, it looks good."
She looked around proudly and agreed. "Thanks again for volunteering to help move the furniture in."
"I didn't volunteer, Francis drafted me," he corrected with a laugh. "If I had known it was three flights I would have said no."
"Come on it wasn't that bad," she teased him. "You mean to tell me a big strong guy like yourself had trouble moving things up three measly flights?"
"In case you didn't notice Elizabeth your headboard is solid Oak. That's not exactly lightweight material," he told her sticking up for himself.
"Well one good thing about tonight is you're calling me Elizabeth again. I'm sick to death of the Miss Webber you call me everytime you and Francis come into the diner. You're older than me, I call you by your first name, and yet I'm Miss Webber."
"I think Mr. Corinthos prefers that when were on duty," Johnny explained. "We keep it formal with everyone."
"But I heard you call Sonny boss."
"Well," he shrugged and got up. "I need to go."
"Wait I really do have something for you," she headed for a stack of sketchpads on the floor. "I meant to bring it to work, but I kept forgetting."
"You didn't have to get me anything." In fact he wished she hadn't. He didn't exactly know what her relationship with Jason was, but he had no desire to find out the hard way.
"It's nothing major Johnny, it's just a sketch, so relax. You might not even like it."
"I doubt that Jason says you're good."
Her face flamed at the mention of Jason and she was relieved she was turned away from him so he couldn't see her reaction. "Did he? That's nice."
"Yeah," he moved over to look at some canvas stacked against the wall.
"Are you and Jason tight then?" She kept her voice casual, almost disinterested.
"I guess, I'm as close as anybody. He doesn't let people in very far," he crouched down to study a landscape.
"Do you think he'll stay in town?" She tried to make it sound like she was just making conversation, but she held her breath while she waited for his response.
"I don't know. I know he liked to travel. He'd send these postcard from all over the place." Johnny answered absently. She really was talented, he wondered if she sold any of her work. His mother had a birthday coming up soon.
"He sent you postcards?" He sent Emily postcards and Johnny some too. Why didn't he send her any?
He heard the shakiness in her voice and thought back to what he'd said. Oh boy. "It wasn't that many, just a couple. He must have remembered that I sort of collect postcards." Collect postcards? Could he sound any lamer?
"Oh," she cleared her throat. "Found it," she got to her feet and started flipping through a sketchpad. "Here you go," she carefully tore out a sketch and handed it to him.
"Elizabeth," he wanted to fix what he'd said.
"Wait I need to sign it first," she took the sketch back and scribbled her name. "So what do you think?"
He glanced down at the picture and couldn't help but laugh. She'd drawn a sketch of him and Francis on either end of her headboard. She'd emphasized the strain and perspiration on Francis' face, while his own face was calm and easy. What was so funny was she had drawn it so his end of the headboard was propped up on a box, so he wasn't lifting anything while Francis was in fact holding up the headboard. "You know I only did that for a second."
"Sure."
"I was just catching my breath," he continued on following her to the door. He frowned at the sketch, she had drawn Francis with all these muscles where were his? "You know this isn't an accurate picture."
"I draw what I see Johnny," Elizabeth laughed and opened the door. "Night."
Johnny frowned at the sketch again and looked up in time for her to shut the door in his face. "Night," he muttered. It was a very good sketch she'd only made one mistake his muscles were bigger than Francis' were.
~Inside~
Elizabeth leaned against the door tiredly. Although it was only 11:30 it felt so much later than that. She felt like her whole world had changed. In a sense she guessed it had, she had kissed someone tonight and it wasn't Lucky. That was a first for her, it wasn't like the time she'd kissed Nikolas trying to make Lucky jealous. No when she kissed Jason she wasn't even thinking about Lucky. In fact she wasn't thinking at all.
Maybe that was part of the problem, she had kissed Jason because she'd felt like it, she couldn't try to think herself out of it now. She had done it and couldn't change it. In fact she didn't want to change it, kissing him had felt good. She flopped down on her bed. Be honest Elizabeth it felt more than good, it was mind-blowing. She groaned Lizzie was back in her head.
But Lucky had said she belonged with him tonight too, wasn't that what she'd been waiting for? Not belonged with, belonged too, like you were his dog, or a trophy. She had to admit Lizzie had a point that time. She didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to feel, or how she was supposed to talk to Jason now. Lucky's interruption was good on that point, she didn't have to see if he regretted kissing her. But where did they stand now? He'd barely been back in her life for twenty-four hours, and she'd already kissed him. He had made no effort to keep in touch with her while he was gone. At the time she thought that's just the way he was, he'd only sent Emily two postcards. But now she knew differently. He'd kept in touch with Johnny too. Maybe she was reading to much into what she thought he was feeling, maybe he'd only kissed her back out of surprise. After all he was older and more experienced than she was.
"There is no word for what I feel for you."
She'd just play it by ear, she'd wait to see how he acted around her. If he didn't mention the kiss then she wouldn't. In the end the one thing she knew for sure was she didn't want to lose his friendship, even if that meant never kissing him again. So she would wait and see how he acted around her tomorrow. With that decision made she headed for the shower, she had a feeling she'd be having more dreams tonight.