Two nights later, Bonnie dropped herself into her office chair again, only this time she was accompanied by Lucas instead of Jan, Nicole and Crystal. Bonnie wrinkled her nose distastefully as she surveyed the boring surroundings of her office. She was spending way too much time in this room lately. Ever since she had opened the club, spending time in her office was something she had always avoided unless it was absolutely necessary. She hoped that after tonight, it would be a while before she had to do anymore unpleasant business.
While Lucas seated himself, Bonnie prepared to do some very unpleasant business: firing one of the sexiest strippers that had ever set foot on the stage of Unzipped. Think of the money, Bonnie, think of the money, she repeated in her head over and over to make the task at hand more bearable.
"Lucas," Bonnie began, trying to sound professional, "I've noticed a lot of changes in your work habits lately. A lot of negative changes," she added pointedly.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Lucas said offhandedly, not realizing what Bonnie was leading up to, "I've had other things on my mind."
"I can tell," Bonnie responded wryly, "But until you get those other things resolved, I have to do something about you. You've been in a horrible mood on all of your most recent shifts, and you're playing hooky without even calling in sick. I have no choice. I have to fire you."
Lucas' casual, uncaring manner was gone as soon as the words had left Bonnie's mouth. He shot straight up in the air and looked at Bonnie with his mouth hanging open slightly in surprise. Immediately, he began to try and figure out some way to get out of what looked like a hopeless situation. Bonnie couldn't fire him. He had already come to the conclusion that his job here was the only thing left to help him determine whether or not Sami believed in his love for her.
He had been planning to quit his job as soon as Sami came to her senses and decided that she trusted him no matter where he worked. He had hoped it would only be a matter of time before Sami realized he needed her to trust him in order for their relationship to work. If he left his job now and got back together with Sami, there would be no way of knowing if Sami trusted him, or if Sami had only gotten back together with him because he wasn't working at Unzipped anymore.
"I really don't think you should do this," Lucas began carefully, "I apologize about missing work the other night. It won't happen again. I know I should have called, but I just didn't want to."
"Exactly," Bonnie shook her head, "You've seemed to have lost all your enthusiasm and I can't work with that. Your unhappiness and lack of energy is going to bring all the other strippers down. If you don't look like you're into it, then you're going to make all the rest of the strippers look bad too."
"I can get into it again," Lucas tried to bargain with her, "I'll be totally enthusiastic and energetic again. I'll be a model stripper for everyone."
His offer was very tempting, and Bonnie had to remind herself of the payment she had received from Nicole to carry out this task. She had to steel herself against his words and get this over with. The money waiting at home for her would be comfort enough.
"I already did," Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and gave Lucas a little wave, "See you around, hun."
"Bonnie, just give me another chance. This is really stupid." Seeing that Bonnie couldn't be reasoned with, Lucas leaned back in the chair unhappily. The Bonnie he knew was a lot more malleable when it came to the young, attractive strippers at the club. He wondered why she was so adamant about him not working at the club anymore. As a last-chance attempt to keep his job, he chose to hit the older woman in her weakest spot.
"Bonnie, you think I'm good at stripping, don't you?" Once Bonnie nodded, Lucas continued, "If you let me keep my job, I'll be an even better stripper than I was before. I'll do anything, I promise." Lucas gave Bonnie the most suggestive, alluring smile he could manage under such tense conditions.
Looking ready to succumb to Lucas' request, Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and muttered something to herself. When she opened her eyes again, the resolve that had returned to her face made Lucas' heart sink.
"Sorry, no can do," Bonnie replied, her tone light and firm at the same time, "And I have several other things to take care of, so maybe we should leave my office now."
Knowing there was no other way to convince Bonnie to let him keep his job, Lucas stood up and walked out of the office a few steps in front of Bonnie. Now that he knew he wasn't going to get his job back from Bonnie, he wanted to leave the club as soon as possible. He retrieved his clothes, but was stopped by Phillip and Jan before he could leave the dressing room.
"Where are you going?" Phillip asked with a frown, "I thought you were working tonight."
"I was," Lucas tried not to let them see how upset he was, "Until Bonnie fired me."
"She did what?" Jan's eyes were round and disbelieving, "Why would she fire you?"
"She said I had a bad attitude and was making everybody look bad," Lucas said. "It doesn't really matter, I just want to get out of here."
After he said good-bye to her and Phillip, Jan watched him leave. She hadn't known what reaction to expect from Lucas once he had found out he was fired, but she hadn't expected him to look so defeated. He didn't really have a reason to be defeated. He hadn't been happy with his job after losing Sami, so getting fired shouldn't have mattered to him. She, Nicole and Crystal had done the right thing by getting him fired, hadn't they?
Trying to brush away her insecurities, Jan left Philip to go find Nicole and Crystal so they could help her carry out part two of their plan.
"Get up, you two," she ordered Nicole and Crystal once she had reached their seats, "Lucas just left, which means we have a phone call to make."
Nicole and Crystal followed Jan to the phone booth outside the club. Jan did a quick scan of the parking lot to make sure Lucas had already driven away, then dialed Sami's number.
"Hello?" Sami picked up on the fourth ring.
"Sami, it's Jan. I have some really good news for you."
"Good news?" Sami's voice was laced with doubt, "Well, if you really think so, go ahead and tell me what it is."
"Okay," Jan smiled at Nicole and Crystal before giving Sami the news, "Lucas just left the club. I asked Bonnie why he left, and she told me that he is no longer working at the club. Isn't that great?"
Sami was stunned into silence for a few seconds, but she finally replied, "What? You mean he really just... stopped working there?"
"That's what happened," Jan clarified, "See, he really does love you. He knew you wouldn't be with him unless he left Unzipped and it only took him a matter of days to end his career there for good."
"I just can't believe he really quit," Jan gave Nicole and Crystal another broad smile to let them know Sami was reacting according to plan, "I didn't think he would do that for me so soon."
"Sami, he loves you," Jan reminded her, "And you love him."
"I do," Sami agreed dreamily.
"Then you know what you should do?" Jan didn't wait for Sami to answer, "You need to wait for him in his apartment. When he gets back, you should show him how much his quitting his job means to you, how much he means to you."
"You're right, Jan," Sami sounded even farther away now, and Jan could tell she was already visualizing her reunion with Lucas, "Thanks for calling."
"Anytime," Jan responded cheerfully, "Just hurry up and get over there. He'll be back at his apartment any minute."
A few moments later, Jan set down the phone and turned around to Crystal and Nicole, "I think we did it. You should have heard how happy Sami sounded. I don't think there's any way they could not get back together after everything we did."
"I hope so," Nicole said, "Because now that we got that over with, I can go back to figuring out how to take this club away from Bonnie Lockhart for good."
Sami had already let herself into Lucas' apartment and was impatiently awaiting his return. Her hands shook with anticipation and she had to keep reminding herself to breathe. It was hard to believe that after the summer they had just had, things might actually work out tonight. Her heart palpitated fanatically in her chest as she paced back and forth in front of Lucas' couch, staring hard at the door, willing it to open.
A few more painfully long minutes went by until the doorknob twisted with a faint clicking sound. Lucas walked through the door with his head lowered, so he didn't notice Sami until he had taken a few steps into the apartment. When he did see her, he stopped abruptly and shot her a puzzled look.
"Sami," he said her name awkwardly, not seeming to know how to respond to her presence, "What are you- what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"Everything is perfect," Sami knew she had to be almost glowing by now, and left her position near the couch to walk over to Lucas, "I heard about what happened tonight. I'm really glad you made the decision you did."
"Decision?" Lucas didn't look any less confused.
"It's okay, Lucas. I already know that you quit your job." Unable to stop herself, Sami wound her arms around his neck, "Thank you."
"But, Sami, I didn't-" Lucas didn't have a chance to finish his sentence. Sami's mouth collided with his hungrily, and he was powerless to do anything but return her kiss. He could feel how much she had missed him in the way she alternated between suckling his upper and lower lip and in the way her fingers toyed with the short hair at the nape of his neck. He couldn't stop himself from pressing his hands into her back, drawing her closer and returning her kiss with the same amount of passion she was giving him. Even his worry over never knowing whether or not Sami trusted him wasn't enough to make him end the desirable contact between the two of them.
"Stop it! Stop kissing her, Lucas! You don't know what she's done!" Kate burst through the door of Lucas' apartment, prepared to shatter everything Jan, Nicole and Crystal had worked for.
Lucas pulled his mouth off of Sami's but his arms remained locked around Sami's waist, "Mom? What are you doing here?"
Kate had known how the night was going to turn out, and had been waiting for Lucas to return to his apartment after being fired, but she certainly wasn't going to tell Lucas that. With a false story already fabricated, Kate explained, "I heard about you getting fired from Philip. I rushed to the club right away and demanded an explanation from Bonnie. It turns out that Sami here, along with those other three sluts, bribed Bonnie until she agreed to fire you."
Lucas' arms fell to his sides and he took a step away from Sami, "That can't be true." he muttered, more to himself than Sami or Kate.
"It is," Kate's eyes burned with fury as she zeroed in on a very bewildered Sami, "Sami didn't want you to work at the club. She doesn't trust you, Lucas, she even said so to Bonnie. You can't be with her when she tried to manipulate you like that!"
Sami was looking at Lucas now, "You were fired?" she asked in a small voice.
"Don't play innocent, Sami." Kate's face twisted into a scowl, "You know he was fired, you arranged the whole thing!" Kate switched her attention to Lucas, "Honey, I hate being the one to break this news to you, but it's true. Bonnie won't tell you the truth, because Sami, Nicole and those other two paid her enough to keep her mouth shut. This is all Sami's doing. I'm just lucky I was able to get the truth from Bonnie so I could stop you from making the huge mistake of getting back together with this bitch."
Lucas was staring at Sami in horror, "I can't believe you would do this to me. Didn't I tell you I wanted you to trust me? Now I'll never know if you trust me or not."
"Lucas, she is lying!" Sami cried, "I wouldn't do something like that, I didn't even know you were fired. I thought you quit!"
"Sure, that's what you want him to think," Kate cut in snidely, "He knows how much you wanted him to stop working at Unzipped. He also knows that you'll scheme until you get your way, and that's what you did in this situation too."
"I did not, you liar!" Sami screamed, "Stop trying to ruin me and Lucas' relationship and get a life!"
"I don't have to ruin anything. You're the one that doesn't trust the man you claim to want to be with." Kate shot back.
"That's enough!" Lucas broke up their exchange, "I can't listen to this anymore. Mom, you've said you're part and now I want to be alone, so please leave."
"But Lucas-" Kate tried to protest but Lucas held up his hand to silence her, then walked her over to the door and closed the door once she was outside of his apartment.
Now that Kate was gone, Lucas turned back to Sami, his eyes glistening with hurt, "I really wish you hadn't done that, Sami."
"Lucas, I promise that I didn't do anything," Sami swore. "You have to trust me."
Lucas laughed bitterly, "Trust is a two-way street. You never trusted me with this job. Who else would have wanted to see me stop working at Unzipped? Besides, if you weren't responsible for my getting fired, why were you waiting for me in my apartment right after I had lost my job?"
"I- I got a phone call," Sami's lower lip trembled, "Lucas, you can't take your mother's word over mine. You know how much she hates me."
"I'm sorry, but it's the only thing that makes sense." Lucas shook his head sadly, "I wish things had turned out differently. But it doesn't matter how much I love you anymore, I can't be with a woman who has such little faith in me."
"Lucas..." Sami reached out to touch his arm but he jerked away from her.
"Sami, just leave, okay?" Lucas wouldn't meet her gaze, "I'm finished talking about this."
Sami could tell there wasn't going to be any other way to get through to Lucas at this point. She felt her heart twisting as she walked out of his apartment. She had been so close to being with Lucas again, only to have her chance demolished by Kate.
Remembering the phone call she had received not much earlier that night, Sami knew there were several women she could confront about this situation. She certainly wasn't behind whatever scheme had been concocted, but she had a feeling she knew who was. If anyone could help her get some answers, Sami figured the most likely candidates were Nicole, Crystal and Jan. She was going to go down to the club and find out exactly what they had done this time.
