Nicole avoided eye contact with Lucas and Sami, keeping her eyes trained on the fork Jan was tapping nervously against her plate. Jan had been a nervous wreck all evening while she waited for phase one of their plan to be put into action. Nicole could tell that Sami and Lucas knew there was something wrong with Jan and if Nicole hadn't been so sure that the plan she and Jan had created was foolproof, she might have been worried. But at least Nicole was managing to act relatively normal.
Jan had come up with the main idea for the plan but Nicole had been the one who had fabricated the details and set everything up. She had managed to convince Lucas and Sami to have dinner with her and Jan, which was one of the hardest parts of getting their plan to work. The only thing that had been harder had been bribing one of the workers at the hotel to go along with the plan. She had picked out the best looking male worker she could find and had filled him in on what she wanted him to do. He had been reluctant at first but Nicole had managed to 'talk' him into it. It was amazing what people would do for money.
She checked her watch again, then looked up to see if the waiter she had hired was there. She noticed him walking towards their table, carrying a large plate of spaghetti. He gave her a little wink and Nicole had to bite back a smile. Keeping a completely straight face, she continued talking to Sami and Lucas as if nothing as going on. Jan was almost completely silent. Jan had told Nicole that she was worried about Lucas hating her if they got caught carrying out their plan. He better not hate us, Nicole thought to herself, We're the reason he's going to get some tonight.
The waiter had almost passed Nicole's table when he pretended to trip. His hands wind-milled around wildly but he still managed to make the plate of spaghetti hit Lucas square on the top of the head. Nicole began laughing almost immediately at the sight of Lucas covered in red spaghetti sauce and noodles and even Jan was giggling nervously. Sami stared at Lucas in shock for a moment, then also burst out laughing. Lucas whirled around to see what had happened and the waiter smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry about that." the waiter did everything he could to stop himself from looking at Nicole. He knew if he looked at her, he would start laughing too and that wouldn't look very good. He picked up the now empty plate off the ground and handed Lucas some napkins. Lucas took the napkins from him and tried wiping up some of the mess. Nicole stopped laughing and cleared her throat.
"Lucas, it's pointless to even try and clean yourself up. It's a complete waste of time, why don't you just go back upstairs and take a shower?" she suggested.
"You're right." Lucas agreed, standing up and trying to brush off the fact that half of the people in the restaurant were either staring or laughing at him. The waiter continued to try and look contrite but it was getting increasingly difficult.
"I really am sorry." the waiter said again, "If there's anything I can do to make it up to you-"
"Don't worry about it." Lucas interrupted, wiping off some of the noodles and sauce, "I'll be fine."
Lucas began walking away and Jan stopped laughing. Throwing a tense look in Nicole's direction, Jan fumbled for something in her pocket. She set off her cell phone, which had been programmed to call Nicole's cell phone. As soon as her phone began ringing, Nicole took it out of her purse and answered it.
"Hello?" Nicole pretended to be talking to someone on the other line, "I forgot to do what? Oh, no, I can't believe I didn't get around to doing that. I'm sorry, I'll handle it write away."
Once Nicole hung up the phone, Sami watched Nicole curiously, "What's going on?"
Nicole began gathering up her things, "I forgot to fill out some very important paperwork for the publicity campaign. I have to get some things together and fax it to my agent right away. Would you mind helping me, Jan?" Jan followed Nicole's lead and stood up.
"Sure, I don't mind. See you later, Sami." without giving Sami a chance to reply, Jan and Nicole hurried away. Jan let out a sigh of relief as soon as they stepped inside the elevator.
"I knew we could do it." Jan said triumphantly, "This is too perfect."
Nicole snorted, "Please, Jan. You looked like you were going to pass out the entire evening, you were so nervous. You are such a liar."
"I did too know it was going to work." Jan stuck out her chin stubbornly, "It was obvious that nothing could go wrong because... well, I have experience with getting people into showers for my own personal reasons. I did the same thing with Chloe."
The elevator stopped on the seventh floor and Nicole began hurrying towards her hotel room. She pushed open the door and quickly grabbed the basket she had left lying by the entrance to the room. Jan watched her leave the room in record time and move across the hall with an amused smile on her face.
"What's the hurry?" Jan asked, "Lucas is going to be in there for a while."
"So?" Nicole snapped, letting the basket rest on her hip while she tried the door. She sighed with disgust when she realized it was locked and reached into her pocket for the extra key she had to Lucas and Sami's hotel room. Shoving the basket into Jan's arms, Nicole unlocked the door and then slowly slid it open a tiny slit. Peering through the tiny crack, Nicole looked for signs of Lucas. When she didn't see him and heard the running water in the bathroom, Nicole crept inside the room, pulling Jan along with her.
"We have to be quiet. We don't want to Lucas to hear us." without realizing what she was doing, Nicole hunched over and continued sneaking over to the bathroom door. Jan stood next to the door, shaking with silent laughter. Nicole frowned at her accomplice, "What are you laughing at?"
"You look like a such a retard when you're trying to play secret agent or whatever the hell you're doing." Jan whispered, walking over to the bathroom door. Nicole smacked Jan in the arm, then snatched the basket away from Jan and set it down on the floor. She pulled two items out of the basket and handed one of them to Jan.
"We can't let him see them." Nicole informed Jan, who rolled her eyes.
"I know, Nicole. We've been through this already." Jan shot back.
"Yeah, well, I have to make sure you don't mess this up." Nicole returned, "I want to get this over with as quickly as possibly. We still get to spend the rest of the night here and I intend to find a hot, unmarried man tonight and enjoy myself. Maybe I could track down that waiter..."
A few minutes later, the water turned off and Nicole stiffened. She reached for the door knob, then hesitated, "Maybe we should wait a couple minutes. You never know, he could be naked."
"Who cares? It certainly wouldn't be too hard on the eyes and besides, you used to be married to the guy, it's nothing you haven't seen before." Jan reasoned.
Nicole tilted her head and grinned knowingly, "You wanted to see him naked, didn't you? That's why you came up with this particular plan, so you would have the chance."
"That's not true." Jan shrieked, looking embarrassed at the suggestion, "I'm too innocent to even consider those kinds of things."
"Ha!" before Nicole could continue tormenting her, Jan turned the doorknob herself, relieved to find it was unlocked. Nicole followed Jan inside and spotted Lucas still standing inside the bathtub, thankfully sporting a towel around his waist. His eyes widened when he saw Nicole and Jan.
"What are you doing in here?" he demanded, his eyes flickering warily in Jan's direction every few seconds.
"We've got a surprise for you." Nicole told him, "And since you're not going to get out of it, I think it would be better if you didn't try to fight us."
"Okay, then." Lucas tried to step out of the bathroom but Nicole blocked his path. When he tried to push past her, she grabbed his arm and raised it above his head. He tried to pull his arm away from her and she squealed an objection.
"Lucas, you bastard! I told you not to fight us, we're doing you a favour. Jan, help me out here." Jan grabbed the same arm as Nicole, throwing her set of handcuffs to the ground. After struggling with Lucas for a few minutes, they finally managed to handcuff his arm to the shower rod. Picking up the other set of handcuffs, Nicole and Jan still had a little bit of a problem getting Lucas' other arm shackled to the shower rod but it wasn't as hard as the first arm had been. Once they finished, Jan and Nicole stepped back, breathing heavily.
Lucas glared at Nicole, "This was your idea, wasn't it? It is not even the slightest bit funny, so un-handcuff me now."
"Oh, I don't think you'll be laughing once you get your surprise." Nicole commented, "And for the record, this was Jan's idea."
"Oh, God." Lucas groaned yanking on the handcuffs frantically. The shower rod rattled a little bit but Lucas couldn't free himself. Groaning again, he rattled the handcuffs with annoyance, "You can take your surprise and shove it up your ass." he spat out, "Jan, you're a nice person but I don't feel that way about you."
Jan's mouth dropped open in shock. Nicole had retrieved the basket and was arranging things on the bathroom counter, still trying to finish everything as quickly as possible.
"You're an awful person." Jan pouted, "We went out of our way to help you and Sami get together and you just go and jump to conclusions."
Lucas looked a little less freaked out at the mention on Sami, "What do you mean?" he asked. Nicole ignored him and stepped back to look at the job she and Jan had done. She gave a little nod of satisfaction after looking him over.
"You know, if you were Brady, you would present a very pretty picture." Nicole decided.
"That's an understatement." Jan murmured, remembering how many times Shawn and been in this position in her fantasies. Lucas' hand were handcuffed above his head and the struggle he had just had with Nicole and Jan had caused his already low-slung towel to fall even lower, revealing a broad expanse of tanned skin. Yeah, Sami definitely owed her and Nicole big time, "He looks positively kinky."
"Er, if you say so." Nicole gave Lucas once last brief glance, "Now, we're just going to go get Sami. Don't go anywhere."
"I wasn't planning on it." Lucas called after Nicole, who had already left the bathroom. She and Jan found Sami back downstairs, sitting at the table they had left her at.
"Sami, you have to come back upstairs to your hotel room right now." Jan did her best to look horrified when she spoke to Sami.
"Why? What's wrong?" Sami asked.
"It's Lucas." Nicole jumped in, trying to hold back from breaking into a smile, "He's, ah, in trouble. You have to go... help him."
"What happened?" Sami asked, getting to her feet, her eyes shining with worry.
"I can't go into it here." Nicole lowered her voice, "But it's serious. He really needs you right now."
"Fine. Let's go." Sami said shortly, leaving some money on the table. Nicole couldn't believe how easy it had been to convince Sami to follow her and Jan back to the hotel room. Sami wasn't usually so gullible. But then again, when it came to Lucas, Sami obviously lost her head quite frequently. Sami was practically running back to the hotel room, Nicole observed.
Once inside the room, Sami turned to Nicole, her expression panicky, "Where is he?"
"He's in the bathroom." Jan whispered, trying to sound scared. Sami spun around and practically flew into the bathroom. Jan and Nicole followed behind her. Before Sami could figure out what was going on, Nicole and Jan shut the door, then moved a large dresser in front of the door. Sighing with relief when the two of them finally managed to move the heavy dresser in front of the door, Nicole sat down on the bed, listening to Sami bang on the door furiously, screaming at Jan and Nicole to let her out.
"Well, that was fun." Nicole said sarcastically, "But now that we're finished, I think I'll go find out what that waiter is doing once he gets off work."