A new face after the race
Chapter 11
Lucky grabbed his things and slowly left the office building, even though he wanted to run out of it. He had enough of it for the moment. He had worked his butt off trying to get all documents and such restored on each computer. He did some extra work on them, just because ironically he had energy to burn. That sugar and caffeine finally worked its magic. The only thing he wanted to do was sleep in a bed with blankets and a stuffy pillow, as Emily was doing at the moment. She would have to get up in a few hours to get ready for her early class, he knew she took. Emily thought the earlier you got up, the more the day started and sooner ended. The afternoon would be when she would be doing all the homework she got that day and the homework that was due a few weeks later. Emily was like that. She liked to be ahead of the game. She worked after class on Tuesday though, so that left her little time. That would probably be an all-nighter for her. The teachers were beginning to throw more homework on them and that meant with his and Emily schedules being mixed up. Him work, which was often, and her school, homework and work which left very little free time no matter what Emily did. That put a small strain on their relationship, but it would be worth it. It was only two more years of college and they had their breaks too. That small strain pulled them though the first year, the years following would be fine as well.
As Lucky was on his way out he heard some racket a few feet away, and unable to resist finding out what it was, he walked toward the way the sound came from. A few seconds later Lucky saw a figure messing with a mop and the yellow water holder. It must have been the new janitor Jax hired. The office women were all talking about him. The figure obviously didn't know what he was doing, so Lucky walked over to see if he needed any help. My as well try to be neighborly.
"Need any help?" Lucky asked a safe distance, to not scare the man.
The figure looked up and studied him. "No thanks, I almost got the thing figured out. Thanks for the offer though."
"Okay. Perhaps I'll see you another day." Lucky turned to leave until the man called him back. Lucky turned and saw the man clearer.
He had black hair and was wearing messy clothing, fit for the job. "What are you doing here?" He asked, leaning against the wall with a mop in hand.
"I was working with the computers all night. I'm the computer specialist." Lucky answered and felt the need to retreat. This guy was starting to creep him out. Something about the guy rubbed off on him, for some reason.
"Oh. I expected someone older." The janitor murmured.
"I get that observation a lot. Better let you get back to work though." Lucky said and waited to see if the janitor had anything else to say. He had a feeling that he did.
"I didn't mean to be rude. My name's Mark." The man that had just introduced himself said. A hand was out for him to shake.
"Lucky." Lucky said shaking his hand to be respectful though he had a feeling meeting this guy was far from good.
"Interesting name. I'm the janitor if you didn't know." Mark said, feeling he needed to state why he was here. Though he wasn't working, he didn't want to. He already started and already hated the job.
"I figured as much." Lucky said as the sun started setting, letting light through the windows. The light rays let Lucky get a glimpse of the guy's features except the hair he had already figured out. As Lucky saw them, he remembered seeing him before. He was walking with Emily a few days ago.
Mark's brows rose. What was this guy named Lucky staring him like that? It was kind of creepy. Had he met this character before? Shaking his head, he decided no, he didn't. Lucky would be more familiar to him. Mark cleared his throat loudly to get Lucky's attention.
Lucky blinked surprisingly. He was staring again. Darn that habit, it wouldn't go away. "Sorry, I just remembered you were walking with Emily a few days ago." Lucky explained. My as well, he was acting pretty rude.
"You were there?" Mark asked, curiously. He didn't remember anyone else walking that night. Of course his face was stuck on checking Emily out and he blocked anything but her out. He felt a need to talk to her and get information on her, he remembered. He was still on that mission.
"I saw you on the way home." Lucky said and bit back using the phrase I was in the neighborhood. Mark was already suspicious from his staring, though he thought he cleared that up.
"Oh, it was pretty dark, so I wouldn't know. You know Emily?" Mark said quizzically. He could probably find some good information about Emily from this guy. Who was the boyfriend, age, where she lived in that building, what floor.
"Yes, Emily is my girlfriend." Lucky explained. He better understand that too, he saw Mark looking Emily over. He didn't like it either. So it was jealousy speaking, he had a right too. Emily never mentioned the guy either; of course she was too worried about them to bring it up. His fault of course.
Mark's brows once again rose. This guy was the boyfriend? He was surprised. He thought Emily would go for muscular types who could protect her, not a stick who could say he was fit. If he had ideas to go after Emily, this guy would be no problem.
"See something you don't like?" Lucky asked with a righteous smirk. He should have said my with more emphasis.
Mark gained back his composure. "Oh, no. I just thought Emily's boyfriend would look differently." Mark explained, uncertain on how to describe his dislike. It may be that he was jealous and attracted to Emily for all he knew.
"I see you don't know Emily that well." Lucky said, eyes growing narrower. No matter what his denial, this guy was bad news. He knew that well.
"It's entirely possible. I have only talked to Emily a few times since my arrival." Mark said, trying to act cool. This Lucky was on to him. That meant no good can come from him.
"I suggest that it stay that way." Lucky stated, not trying to hide his suspicions and obvious jealousy that Lucky felt was justifiable. Without waiting for an answer, Lucky turned and left the building.
Mark stared back at Lucky's retreating form. The boyfriend's suggestions fell on deaf ears. He wondered how Emily would like to hear her boyfriend was trying to rule her life. He sensed Emily's valued virtue was independence. So it would cause a small hole in their relationship, wouldn't it? With an evil grin planted on his face he reluctantly went back to work.
Outside the building, Lucky fumed all the way to his truck that was parked near the end of the parking lot. That Mark had a lot of nerve. He knew Emily less than two days and he has the guts to assume what Emily's boyfriend would look like, him nonetheless. He suggested that Emily and Mark's talking stay with only those small conversations, but he doubted it would stay that way. Mark wasn't one to back off, he knew that. As for Emily, he couldn't tell her to stay away from the guy. That would just cause problems and she would insist it was none of his business, even if Lucky told her that he sensed that this Mark was bad news. Emily was an independent person; she wouldn't take his instinct to mind. She needed to find it out for herself, which is good he guesses, but what if she found out too late? He couldn't imagine surviving without her. She was his whole life, contrary to the idea he has been working a lot.
Maybe he could talk to her and try to convince her of his suspicions. Maybe she would not spend too much time with Mark or none at all. He didn't know anything until he talked to her. He could call her, but Emily was probably busy getting ready. Another possibility was to drive her to class, but he didn't know if he was up to it. The conversation can't wait too long either. The sooner she knew, the sooner she would do whatever she wanted to do. If Emily wanted to talk to him still, he would just have to watch out for her and accept that Emily wanted to get to know him.
Or maybe he shouldn't mention it at all? It would be hard not to. Emily might just say he was acting jealous, which was a direct possibility. There was only one way to find out though. He would have to talk to her about it and have to face the consequences. It was the only clear option he knew.
Checking his watch, Lucky saw Emily would be leaving shortly to catch the bus to the Port Charles University main campus. He could drive her there and they could talk. His mind made up, he got in his truck and started it up. After they talked and he got Emily to the main campus he could go home and sleep for a few hours.
That was a wonderful thought. No matter what happens with Emily and the discussion, he could forget about it for a few hours in the depth of sleep.
When he got to Harberview Towers he shut off his car and walked to the entrance and leaned against the bricks, waiting for Emily to go through them. Indeed, a few minutes later Emily walked through the doors with her green and black messenger bag that held her books and homework.
As Emily took a deep breath of the outside air, she looked over to her right to see Lucky leaning against the brick building.
"Lucky, what are you doing here?" Emily asked, surprised to see him. She thought he would be sleeping after the night he had.
"Waiting for you." Lucky said obviously. He got off the bricks and walked toward her.
"That's pretty obvious, but I expected you would be at home now." Emily commented.
"Obviously I'm not." Lucky said with gestures to his surroundings. "I needed to speak with you though." Lucky stated, getting to the point. They both had things to do. Him a bed, her school.
"Can't it wait? I have to catch my bus." Emily said and looked around to make sure it didn't leave without her. She couldn't be late. Her early class was an important one.
"No, it can't. I thought I could drive you to school and talk at the same time." Lucky said, waiting for an answer, he hoped she couldn't refuse. Emily complained the bus was always too crowded, and with her touching issues it didn't help any. She survived though, but barely.
"That's true, but you should be sleeping." Emily argued. It was obvious Lucky was exhausted, but Lucky was stubborn.
"I'll sleep after I drive you to school. It isn't that long of a drive." Lucky confessed.
Emily checked her watch, arguing wasn't helping any. She needed to get to school early to talk to the professor of her early class. "Okay, let's get going. The faster I get there, the faster you get to bed."
With a smile Emily and Lucky walked to the back parking lot and were soon on their way to the main campus of Port Charles University.
"Okay, so you wanted to talk about what?" Emily said, and Lucky thought of how to approach the subject.
"That newcomer Mark something." Lucky remarked, seeing it safer to cut to the chase.
"How did you meet him?" Emily asked curiously. She hasn't mentioned him to Lucky.
"Apparently he's the new janitor Jax hired." Lucky commented and kept his eyes on the road. He was distracted as it was.
Emily looked at him strangely. That was the job Mark got interviewed for? She thought it was something better than a janitor. "Oh, what about him then?" Emily was confused of why he was talk able in the first place.
"You two have talked have you not?" Lucky asked, being vague.
"Yeah, he kept me company on my walk home the last few nights." Emily answered, not seeing where the questions were going.
Lucky held back a snort. Coincidence, I think not. "Did you even tell him about me?" He asked pointedly.
"You never came up. The only thing we have talked about is school, Port Charles, Boston and him. But I don't really see if that is any of your business." Emily said stubbornly. If Lucky wants to act like the betrayed boyfriend, fine. He won't bait her into admitting she had done anything wrong though.
"I'm your boyfriend, so it is my business." Lucky argued, this was getting them no where, but if Emily was going to be stubborn, so will he.
"You knew about him, so I didn't have to tell you about him. Remember? Stalking me all the way home?" Emily pointed out. She still wasn't happy about that.
"I remember clearly." Lucky clarified. What he did was fine, in his book. For all he knew Emily was playing him. They weren't talking at the time.
"So I'm in the clear, unlike you." Emily argued. She felt like groaning. They were fighting again! All because Lucky again! Him and the green color of jealousy.
Lucky opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it. She had a point. And here they were quarreling again. This conversation and vagueness was not helping. As he saw the beginning of the campus buildings, Lucky decided to just say what he wanted. "I just want you to stay away from the guy. There's something about him that isn't right."
"There's something about everyone not right." Emily commented and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the sign that said "Port Charles University". She needed to get out of this truck and away from Lucky for the first time in her life.
Lucky parallel parked his car and turned to Emily. "Well, then more than usual then. I just don't want you near the guy when that 'more' shows up."
"You don't want me around him at all, which is my decision. Not yours." Emily said, angrily grabbing her messenger bag.
"I know that." Lucky assured, not wanting to leave her angry. As Emily opened the door and was going to walk out he grabbed her wrist. "Emily, just listen to my reasoning..." Lucky started, but Emily wanted nothing of it.
"No." She interrupted. "You can take your demands elsewhere. There is nothing wrong with Mark. You're just jealous, so you can take your jealousies and leave. You can do whatever you want with your jealous reasoning but I hope you take it to the opposite of heaven. Better yet, I hope you join them there." Emily said, pulling her wrist out of his grip, loudly slammed the door and walked away to where her early class was.
Lucky just leaned back into the car seat and groaned. That was a joyous conversation. He approached that real well. It started smoothly and ended up with Emily telling him and his jealousy to go to hell. Just wonderful considering he was still making up for forgetting their anniversary. That, he had to say, was the way to do it.
Author's note: Wow, wonderful ending, no? Now what to do now? Read or write the next chapter. Considering I would rather write than read that book, write the next chapter. More reviews would be appreciated, as you know. I'm thankful of the ones I'm getting though. Stay tuned for the next chapter, which will be out as long as I keep procrastinating reading that novel, lucky you I'm doing so.