Jan tilted her head to one side and eyed Nicole pleadingly, "But Nicole, I really don't want to go."
Nicole glowered at Jan, "Well, I really don't want to have to keep dealing with Victor. But thanks to you chickening out and running away without killing him, I'm still suffering!"
"But he was in the bathtub." Jan wailed, "I was afraid if I went in there, my eyes would start bleeding. Either that or I would be blinded by the excessive grossness of seeing your husband naked."
"I don't have time for this." Nicole glanced at her watch nervously, "Lucas, Sami and the two of us are taking a red-eye flight out of Salem tonight, whether you want to or not. I have a lot to get finished before leaving and I don't want to waste time listening to you bitch at me. You shirked out on your end of the bargain, so you're coming with me."
"But what about Shawn?" Jan reminded her accomplice, "He'll miss me too much if I'm gone. Now that we've found our way back to each other, it's so unbearable for us to be apart."
"You really do need to get a handle on reality, Jan. Can you not tell how sick Shawn is getting of having you follow him around everywhere? He's told you to leave him alone about a million times but you just can't take a hint."
Jan pouted, "It's all for show, silly. He doesn't really want me to go away, he just has to pretend he doesn't love me for a while. It would seem heartless to just be public about his romantic feelings for me right after breaking up with Belle. He has to make it looked like he actually loved Belle and is having a hard time getting over her, even though he isn't."
Nicole decided to try using another strategy, "You know what? You're absolutely right. Shawn does love you but he's just hiding it from everyone. But if you leave Salem, he'll worry about you. Then he'll do everything he can to find you and once he finds you, he'll take you in his arms and confess his undying love for you and make you swear never to leave him again." Nicole winced at the overly enthusiastic voice she had used and knew that even someone like Jan could probably tell when she was being harshly bull-shitted. But instead, Jan's eyes lit up gleefully after hearing Nicole's words.
"You're right, that's exactly what is going to happen." she agreed, "I guess I can go then."
Nicole let out a relieved sigh, "Great. I've already gotten two extra plane tickets for us from my agent. And judging from how stubborn Lucas and Sami are, I'm definitely going to need someone else to help me make sure they don't screw up my publicity campaign. Especially when I show them this." Nicole pulled out a small black jewellery case and opened it to reveal a diamond ring.
"What are you going to do with that?"
Nicole huffed impatiently, disgusted with Jan's stupidity, "I thought if it looked like Lyric and her 'boyfriend' were engaged, it would be better publicity. I found this in the bottom of Brady's underwear drawer and since he was obviously planning on giving it to Chloe, I decided to steal it. It's too pretty for Chloe. But Sami is going to freak. She was already really unenthusiastic about pretended to be Lucas' girlfriend. Can you imagine what she's going to do when I tell her she has to pretend to be his fianc?" Nicole chuckled at the prospect.
"What were you doing going through Brady's underwear drawer?" Jan inquired, "That sounds kind of creepy to me."
"It's none of your business why I was doing it." Nicole snapped, feeling her face heat up, "And I wouldn't talk, Ms. 'Shawn-Is-The-Only-Reason-I-Haven't-Slit-My-Wrists-Yet. Come on, we have to go talk to Lucas and Sami now." she added, wanting to get off their previous conversation topic. Not caring who saw her and Jan together anymore, she pulled Jan out of the park and the two of them began the walk to Lucas and Sami's apartment building.
Sami stared at the box containing the ring incredulously. She and Lucas had just finished packing up his things and they were now working on getting Sami's bags packed for the trip. Nicole and Jan had came into Sami's apartment a few minutes ago and were now filling Sami and Lucas in on the newest part of their plan.
"But... that's crazy." Sami sputtered finally, "It's bad enough we have to act like we're dating. If we pretend that we're engaged, everyone is going to expect us to act even more touchy-feely and crap. No, there's no way I'm going to wear that ring."
Nicole threw Sami an annoyed glance, "Between you and Jan, you're making this way harder than it has to be. You can handle this, Sami, it's only four weeks. Sure, you might have to push yourself to act like you're actually attracted to someone like Lucas," she stopped speaking for a moment and she and Lucas exchanged dirty looks, "But seriously, he isn't that bad-looking. It could be a lot worse. Imagine it was Victor you had to pretend to be sexually involved with."
Jan covered her face with her hands, "Ew, God! My eyes really are going to start bleeding aaaany minute now."
Nicole ignored Jan, "Sami, please stop giving me a hard time. I still have to go home and pack and get all the last minute arrangements made without Victor getting suspicious. The last time I tried running away from him, I got caught and I'll die if that happens again. Just give me a break, you're going to give me a serious migrane."
"Fine, give it to me." Sami reached for the box but Nicole moved it out of her reach. Nicole then handed the ring box to Lucas and grinned at him.
"You need to do this right. You know, to get in character and everything." Lucas took out the ring and tried putting it on Sami's finger but Nicole intervened once more, "That's not how you propose. God, no wonder it takes so much for you to get a girl to marry you. On your knees, dumbass."
Lucas scowled at Nicole but reluctantly knelt down in front of Sami, "This is going to be a long four weeks if you keep being such a bitch." he muttered. Then he turned his attention back to Sami and his eyes softened. Sami watched his adam's apple bob and she took in the way his eyes flickered from her down to the ring and back up to her face. He was obviously nervous. This is obviously just a little too real to him, Sami realized, What am I saying? This is hitting me way too close to home too. I can't believe Nicole is making us do this.
Finally, Lucas spoke, "Samantha Brady, will you marry me?" his voice was strained, low and husky all at the same time. Sami took a deep breath, unable to overlook the undisguised affection in his eyes, a look she was probably mirroring for him in her own eyes. She nodded silently, unable to speak and a tiny, almost imperceptible shiver ran down her spine at the feel of his hand encasing itself around her hand. She watched him place the ring on her finger and her heart rate sped up, Yeah, this is definitely getting too real for both of us.
Lucas stood up and both he and Sami turned back to see the amused expressions on Jan and Nicole's face.
"See, that wasn't so hard. And judging from that little scene, you two aren't going to have that much trouble pretending you have feelings for each other. All you need to do is... practice with each other a little bit." Nicole smiled devilishly, her true meaning not slipping past Lucas, Sami or Jan.
"Well, thanks for everything but you said you had a lot of work to do. Maybe you should get started on that work and, um, get out." Sami responded, pushing Nicole towards the door. After both women were gone, Sami and Lucas retreated back into Sami's bedroom to finish packing her suitcases. They went five awkward minutes without saying anything before Lucas finally broke the silence.
"She's right, Sami." Sami sat on the edge of her bed and added the last of her clothing to one of her suitcases that was sitting on her bed and closed it.
"Who's right?" she asked innocently. Lucas sat down on the bed next to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Nicole." Lucas said, regarding Sami carefully, "A little practice won't hurt either of us. In fact, I think we need to do it. Just to be on the safe side." he was slowly lowering his head closer to hers and Sami felt her mouth go dry with anticipation. His mouth was only about a centimetre away from hers when she regained her composure.
"But I don't want to practice." she protested feebly. Lucas' eyes darkened and his left hand came to rest on her denim-clad thigh.
"Maybe I don't want to either." he retorted, "But if we don't practice, then you know what's going to happen. Nicole is going to decide we need her to coach us and she'll be in our faces the whole trip, telling us how to act. Would you rather have that happen?"
Sami shook her head, "No."
"And I don't want that to happen either. It's just practice, Sami. It's nothing we can't handle. It's not like we're going to be kissing each other for the first time. Only, now we're just doing it to get used to each other."
Sami relented and let him lean down and kiss her. She would never have admitted it but she didn't even need to get used to Lucas. The feel of his lips and hands touching her was now deliciously familiar and never ceased to cause a penetrating bolt of lust to zing through her body. But those other kisses had been spontaneous, unexpected. This was different, it made her feel so much more self-conscious. So, instead of responding to Lucas' kisses, she sat stiffly on the edge of the bed, her arms at her sides, frozen with a combination of panic and desire. Lucas brushed against her lips lightly, reaching up to stroke her cheeks with his hands. He did everything carefully, as if he was afraid to do something wrong and send her fleeing from the room. But after a few more minutes of kissing her, he sighed with frustration and dropped his hands.
"Since when did kissing me become a chore for you?" he asked, his voice tainted slightly with annoyance. Sami flushed and looked away.
"Never." she mumbled before she could stop herself, scooting away from him.
Lucas softened and toyed with a strand of her hair, "Look, you don't have to be nervous. Neither of us should be nervous until we have to act like this in front of a whole bunch of total strangers."
"That's really reassuring, Lucas." Sami said sarcastically.
"Seriously, there's nothing to worry about. Relax, I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. We can stop whenever you want to stop. Just pretend it's like all the other times we kissed."
She nodded and this time, she moved her head forward to meet him halfway. Lucas increased the pressure of his lips with this kiss and she pressed back against his mouth with an equal amount of intensity this time. Her hands traced his taut stomach muscles and she parted her lips a fraction of an inch. Lucas suckled on her top lip for a moment before re-positioning his mouth to tug at her bottom lip tenderly. Sami stifled a gasp when she felt his tongue dart out to outline the contours of her lips. His tongue felt like both sandpaper and velvet at the same time as he continued swiping his tongue along her already swollen lips. His hands massaged her gently, moving down the slope of her shoulder and down her arms.
Lucas used one hand to tilt Sami's head back so that he could ease his tongue between the space between Sami's lips easily. When their tongues touched, Sami let out a small whimper and she immediately felt Lucas pull away. She opened her eyes to meet his brown ones, which radiated passion and the tiniest bit of fear, like he was afraid he had done something wrong.
"Do you want to stop?" he asked, his voice tight and hoarse. Sami snaked her arms behind his neck and shook her head. She pulled him back against the bed until she was laying on her back and his body was covering hers. Kicking the closed suitcase off the bed, she smiled encouragingly at him.
"No, I don't want you to stop." she whispered, capturing his lips again. His tongue met hers for a second time and Sami couldn't resist rolling her own tongue along the underside of it, feeling a wave of satisfaction upon hearing the low groan she received from Lucas in return. She wrapped one leg around his legs and her hands slipped underneath his shirt, her fingertips skimming across the heated skin of his back. She was vaguely aware of the dampness between her legs as Lucas curved one hand around her rib-cage. Her nails began lightly circling his shoulder blades and their bodies continued to move together, like they were magnetically charged. His erection pressed against her hip and Sami couldn't resist arching against the hard plane of Lucas' chest, knowing he would be able to feel her aroused peaks through the thin cotton of their shirts. Suddenly the hand that had been resting on Sami's rib-cage moved up to cup one of her breasts. Sami quickly pushed Lucas off her and pulled herself off of the bed. She smoothed her hair down with her hands, filling her lungs with air.
"I think that's enough... practising for today." she choked out, "We still need to finish packing or we might make Nicole late."
Lucas rolled over on the bed, propped his head up with one hand and smirked at Sami, "Yeah, even if our plane doesn't leave for another six hours, it's better to be safe than sorry, right?"
"Right." Sami turned to leave the room, "I'll be back in a minute." she hurried into her bathroom and shut the door quietly behind her. After splashing cold water on her face and taking several deep, long breaths, her heart rate had almost returned to normal. Almost. She shook her head, trying to clear the hazy expression in her eyes, which was a result of her 'practice' session with Lucas.
She remembered how excited their previous actions had evidently made both her and Lucas and Sami shook her head again, "Just practice, my ass."