After a good hour of wandering around the hotel searching for Lucas, Sami gave up. She had wound up in the back alley behind the hotel and sunk to the ground in defeat. With her back pressed against the wall of the hotel, she hugged her knees to her chest, missing Lucas. Still unable to push his earlier words out her head, she relented, letting them run through her mind over and over, like a mantra."
"You're not the only woman in the world, Sami. But for the past little while, I thought you were the only one I wanted to be with."
God, she was an idiot. It didn't matter how scared she was, she should never have treated Lucas the way she had. But it seemed like he was always the one she took for granted and hurt, when he was the last person who deserved that from her. He had always been there for her, he had been one of the only people who had cared when she had been hurt or upset for the past few months. Had she ever really taken the time to acknowledge or appreciate him? Maybe a little bit, but definitely not the way she should have. Sami sighed, vowing to do everything she could to treat Lucas better. It would take some work, since she had so easily fallen into the pattern of pushing Lucas away and not letting him know how much everything he did for her meant to her but she could at least try.
Standing up, Sami brushed her jeans free of dirt and wondered if Lucas had went back up to their hotel room already. Even though she figured he was still too upset with her to go anywhere near their hotel room yet, Sami decided she would just go back up there and wait for him. She might even run into him on the way back up to the room. Anything was better than staying out here. She didn't have a very good history with dark, abandoned alleys in the first place.
As if on cue, a crashing noise sounded from about ten feet away from her. Sami jumped nervously, then relaxed when she heard the familiar huff of annoyance, "Damn trash cans. Why do people always put them in places where I end up walking into them?" Sami turned her heard towards the source of the noise and moments later, Nicole emerged, limping slightly.
"What are you doing back here?" Sami demanded as Nicole wobbled closer to her. Nicole gave Sami a pained smile before leaning against the hotel wall for support.
"Looking for love in all the wrong places." she said cheerfully. Sami frowned and took a step away from Nicole.
"I'm sorry but I don't swing that way." Sami replied. Nicole's smile faded and she shook her head unhappily.
"Ew, I wasn't talking about you. I just meant, well, you know, back alleys, male prostitutes." Nicole tried to explain, then threw her hands up in disgust, "Forget it. I don't think I'll ever be able to find someone who understands my sense of humour. Actually, I was just taking a walk because Jan was getting on my nerves. What are you doing back here? And where's your fiancé?"
Sami flinched, hating the way Nicole was constantly referring to Lucas as her fiancé, "It's sort of a coincidence that you'd mention Lucas." she began, then stopped abruptly, unable to finish what she had been trying to say.
"You two aren't estranged already, are you?" Nicole shook her head sadly, "And you two were getting along so well too. I knew it couldn't last that long."
"Estranged? That's a big word for a back alley whore like you, Nicole. Have you been reading the dictionary in hopes to expand your vocabulary so you can sell more books?" Sami returned nastily, wanting to deviate Nicole's attention from the current state her relationship with Lucas was in.
Nicole let Sami's remarks slide without protesting, causing Sami to wonder if Nicole really did read dictionaries in her spare time, "What happened?" Nicole crossed her arms across her chest and shifted her weight in anticipation, as if preparing to listen to long and dramatic story from Sami.
Sami scowled, "None of your business. I just said some things I shouldn't have. But I'm going to find him and apologize."
"Damn straight." Nicole agreed, then lowered her voice, "And if you apologize and he's still really pouty and everything, you could start kissing him and tell him you could easily make him forget all the awful things you said to him. You could move your hands down his chest until you reach his-"
"Nicole!" Sami intervened sharply, her face burning, "Stop giving me advice like that. It scares me. But I was planning on going to find him before you showed up, so I should leave now."
"I'll come too." Nicole added, "I have to make sure you apologize properly."
Sami gave Nicole a dirty look in response, "Did I not just tell you that I'm not going to follow your advice? Especially with you watching. Honestly, could you get any dumber?"
"You're just jealous." Nicole said arrogantly, "You just wish your relationship could be as wonderful as the one I have with Brady. We never fight."
Sami snorted and stepped inside the hotel, "If you want to think that, then by all means, have fun." she muttered, her voice oozing sarcasm. She and Nicole reached Sami's hotel room and they both entered it to find Jan sitting on the bed. Sami's opened suitcase sat next to her and Jan's head was bent over the contents of Sami's suitcase. Sami gasped indignantly and stormed over to the unsuspecting girl, who finally looked up guiltily.
"What the hell is going on? You have no right to go through my suitcases, you little tramp." Sami shrieked, shoving Jan off the bed angrily. Jan fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Sami, I wasn't doing anything wrong." she whined, pulling herself to her feet, "I had a perfectly good reason for going through you suitcase, I promise."
"Really?" Sami raised her eyebrows doubtfully, "Then, please, enlighten me. What were you doing?"
Jan smiled gleefully, skipping out of Sami's reach, "It's sort of a long story. Do you really want to know?" she asked in a sing-song voice. Wondering what had put Jan in such a good mood, Sami merely nodded and waited for Jan to elaborate.
"Well, I was downstairs and I ran into Lucas. He looked pretty upset about something, so I sort of tried to cheer him up. Then, after we had been talking for about ten minutes, he asked me if I wanted to go see a movie with him. He said he knows there's a movie theatre a couple blocks away and then I said y-"
"Lucas did what?" Nicole exploded, "He can't take you on a date. He's supposed to be engaged! Do you know what the press would do if they found out?" Sami just stood there, gaping at Jan in shock.
"But he will take me out on a date and there's nothing you can do to stop him." Jan said, her lower lip protruding stubbornly, "He told me he wants me. He said he can't wait until we get inside the dark movie theatre so that he can start feeling me up and-"
"You stupid bitch!" Sami interrupted, her eyes shooting icicles into Jan, who seemed oblivious to Sami's anger.
"I don't believe a word you're saying." Nicole knew Jan too well to buy any of it, "Tell the truth, woman. What did he really say?"
"Fine, the real Lucas said I was a sweet kid and that he'd like to spend the night with me as friends. But the fantasy Lucas was standing right next to the real Lucas, telling me all the other stuff Lucas was leaving out. I don't get it." Jan looked genuinely upset and confused, "Why do the fantasy Shawn and Lucas always say the really nice things to me while the real ones don't?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because they're in your mind." Nicole practically shouted the last three words.
"Would you mind? You didn't let me finish my story." Jan complained, "Anyways, Lucas is supposed to come get me in like, five minutes so we can go. He left for a while because he said he wanted to go for a walk. And after I had gotten changed into a nice outfit to wear to the movies, fantasy Lucas told me that it was Sami's perfume that made him like her better than me. So, I snuck it here to find your perfume and then you found me."
Nicole looked almost afraid for the young woman. She turned Sami and said in a low whisper, "It's bad enough she has these fantasy guys. But the fact that she actually listens to them is harshly creepy."
Sami's face was contorted with rage and she slammed her suitcase shut, "That bastard." she fumed, "How can he take her anywhere? I don't care if he's trying to prove a point, he had no right to ask her out on a date. There's no way I'm making up with him now."
"Aw, too bad." Nicole turned to Jan, "She had very special ways planned for how she was going to 'make-up' with Lucas." Nicole explained.
Sami looked up from her suitcase to roll her eyes, "Do all erotic novelists have one-track minds?" she asked Nicole.
"Probably." Nicole grinned for a moment but the grin faded when the door to the hotel room opened. Lucas took a few steps into the room, before seeing that Sami, Nicole and Jan were all staring at him.
Fighting his eyes away from Sami's furious gaze, he looked at the one person who seemed happy to see him, "Jan, um, I was going to come get you from your room in a minute. I just need to get my jacket and then we can leave." still avoiding the looks Sami and Nicole were giving him, he picked up his jacket off the floor. Shrugging into the denim jacket, he winced at the sound of Sami shoving her suitcase off her bed and letting it bang onto the floor. There was a few moments of prolonged and awkward silence, Jan cleared her throat nervously.
"We should go, Lucas." without a backwards glance at Sami or Nicole, Jan steered him out of the bedroom. Once they were gone, Nicole exhaled loudly.
"A whore and a whore. Wonder what they're planning on doing." Nicole mused, making Sami's eyes darken indignantly.
"Lucas isn't a whore." she shot back before she could stop herself.
"I thought you were mad at him." Nicole reminded Sami, then decided to change the subject, "But you're right. I don't think Jan is Lucas' type. Didn't Jan say that he called her a sweet kid? I guess he kind of considers her a little sister or something." Nicole grimaced, "Wait, judging from a conversation I overheard Rex and Mimi having, that's a very bad comparison. Because it sounded like Lucas and Cassie treated each other like siblings with benefits."
"I don't want to talk about Cassie." Sami countered, "But you're right, I know Lucas won't do anything with Jan. I would have apologized to him too, I really would have. But he had to go and be stupid and invite Jan to the movies with him..." Sami's voice trailed off. Nicole suddenly sprang to life and began pulling Sami towards the door.
"You can apologize to him at the movie theatre." Nicole told her, "Because we are going to follow Jan and Lucas and crash their date. I really don't want newspaper headlines reading, 'Lyric Wilson's Fiancé and His Infidelity' or something equally stupid. Come on, we have to catch up to them." without giving Sami the chance to protest, Nicole continued dragging Sami out of the bedroom, barely giving Sami the chance to shut the door to her hotel room behind her.