Nicole's back was ramrod stiff against the seat of the plane and her hands clenched the armrests tightly. Her breaths were long and shaky as she unsuccessfully tried to calm herself down. From his seat on the other side of Sami, Lucas looked over at her and smirked.
"Are you afraid of flying, Nicole?" he mocked her.
"No." Nicole answered through clenched teeth, "What I'm afraid of is not flying." Lucas frowned, confused and Jan looked over at him from her sit between Nicole and the window.
"In other words, she's afraid Victor is going to find her and ship her off the plane like last time." Jan explained, "See, she tried running away this other time but she was stupid about it and then Victor found her and brought her back to the mansion."
It was several more minutes before the plane finally took off and Nicole's shoulders slumped in relief, "I knew he wouldn't find me. Stupid old bastard didn't even see it coming." As soon as the plane sped down the runway and raised itself into the sky, Nicole turned her attention to more important things.
"Did you two read the interview yet?" she asked Lucas and Sami, "You need to read that because if they ask you questions and come up with stupid answers that don't match up with what the interview says, they're going to know you're fake."
"Yes, we read the magazine interview." Lucas turned to grin at Sami, "Right after the two of us finished our p-" Sami quickly punched him in the stomach. He flinched and gave her a dirty look. Jan and Nicole both eyed the two of them with interest.
"After you finished your what?" Nicole asked skeptically.
"Our packing." Sami finished for Lucas, her cheeks pomegranate red, "We finished packing our suitcases, then we read the interview."
"Good." Nicole nodded approvingly, even though she was still worried that the two of them wouldn't be able to pull this off, "I wish I could be going on this publicity campaign. Then Brady would really admire me. He's so attracted to Chloe, he must have a thing for artistic women."
Lucas laughed, "I'm sorry, Nicole, but I don't think writing your autobiography counts as being artistic."
Nicole reached across Sami and smacked him on the head, "It is not my autobiography, you jerk."
Sami rolled her eyes, "Actually, I think those books really are you autobiographies. You probably used all the knowledge you obtained from your countless boyfriends and then just wrote about it."
Nicole pressed back against her seat irritably, "Well, even if you're both pricks, I still really appreciate you doing this for me." she told them, giving them a put-on appreciative smile, "You're like, my dynamic duo now."
"Oh, yes, Lucas, we're quite the dynamic duo, aren't we?" Sami returned sarcastically.
Lucas shrugged, "Sure. As long as I get to be batman."
Jan broke into the conversation at that point and eyed Lucas admiringly, "What a lovely little thought, I'm all for it. Mm, I can so picture you in tights right now."
Lucas looked a little bit embarrassed and unsure of how to respond to that, "Well... thanks, I guess." Nicole looked from Jan to Sami and saw that both of them were wearing almost identical hazy expressions that could only mean one thing. Nicole shook her head in disgust and sunk lower into her seat.
"Am I the only one not picturing Lucas dressed as Batman? God, you two are sickening." Nicole saw Jan dart her tongue out to moisten her lips as she looked at Lucas. Nicole bit back a laugh as Jan then winked suggestively at the now very confused man.
"Don't worry about her, she's just sad about not getting to stalk Shawn. She needs a new stalking victim for the next four weeks and from the looks of things, she's set her sights on you." Nicole informed Lucas.
"I have not." Jan hissed angrily, "All I said was that he would look good in tights. And he would. Better than... that other guy who played batman." Jan added for good measure, causing Lucas to continue to squirm uncomfortably. I bet he's incredibly grateful that he's got Sami and me sitting between himself and Jan, Nicole thought, then noticed the way Sami had moved a little bit closer to Lucas and was shooting annoyed looks at Jan out of the corner of her eye. Wow, someone is getting a little bit possessive, Nicole smiled to herself, Good for her. If she keeps this up, she and Lucas are going to have no problem with this charade.
When Jan curled up against the window and closed her eyes, Nicole took her opportunity to speak to Sami, "You liiike him, don't you?" she whispered in Sami's ear. Sami stiffened and shook her head emphatically.
"No, I don't like him at all. Our relationship is completely platonic and I am not even the tiniest bit attracted to him, even if I'm going to have pretend I am for the next little while. Stop getting the wrong idea." Sami retorted.
"Liar, liar, liar." Nicole sang, then lowered her eyes to the blanket that Sami and Lucas were sharing, "Hey, but that's fine. I can help you get him. I'm good with these things."
"I don't want to get him, now shut up. He's going to hear you." Sami murmured, looking over at Lucas to see if he noticed the hushed conversation she was having with Nicole.
Nicole sighed, "Sami, look. You're already underneath that blanket with him. Use that to your advantage. Just keep moving over and then kind of subtlety plop yourself down on his lap. Then, act like your clothes are really bothering you and act like it would just kill you if you had to wear them for a second longer. Then you could ask Lucas to help you take them off and you'd be under the blanket, so no one would have to know anything was going on. Then Lucas would be all, 'Oh, my clothes are bothering me too. Now you can help undress me.' And then it would be incredibly easy to seduce him but I won't go into anymore details because it is Lucas we're talking about here."
"I'm not going to do that. Save your breath." Sami struck back, her face reddening further.
Nicole scowled, "Well, you're stupid then. That's what I would do in your place."
Sami arched her eyebrows warily, "I didn't know you felt that way about Lucas."
"I don't, idiot. I meant, that's what I would do if I was with Brady or someone equally gorgeous." Nicole said, offended that Sami would even suggest she would do something like that with Lucas.
"What are you two talking about?" Lucas finally cut in and Sami jumped at the sound of his voice. She lowered her eyes to the blanket, letting Nicole answer his question. Big mistake.
Nicole smiled innocently at Lucas, "Sami was telling me about how much she would love for you to take her against the wall of one of the air-plane bathrooms." Sami's head shot up and she threw Nicole a horror stricken glance.
"No, I wasn't." Sami said weakly as an impish smile crossed over Lucas' face.
"Okay, Sami, I believe you. But if you do want me to do that, all you have to do is ask." he told her. Sami wrinkled her nose and let out a tiny sniff of indignation.
"I certainly don't want to do that with you." she replied, "In fact, I'm tired, so all I really want to do right now is sleep." Lucas and Nicole watched as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against her seat. Nicole also closed her eyes and tried to sleep. But only five minutes had passed when Nicole heard the slight rustling of blankets. She cracked one eye open to see Sami and Lucas cocooned underneath the blankets, Lucas' arms wrapped around Sami while Sami's head was nestled against his chest. I knew it, Nicole thought triumphantly, And once Jan and I get through with them, they're going to be setting carpets on fire everywhere they go. Exhaling with satisfaction, Nicole rolled over and once again, tried to fall asleep.