A new face after the race

Chapter 13

Lucky woke up that afternoon by his sister screaming his name and jumping on him.

"Lucky, Lucky! Wake up!" Lulu yelled, while jumping on the edge of his bed, making the bed tip.

"I'm up, I'm up." Lucky said grumpily, putting his pillow over his head to block out his sister's demands.

Lulu got off the bed and walked to where Lucky's head lay. "No you aren't!" She argued grabbing his pillow away from him and Lucky opened his eyes to see his sister's face waiting for him to get up in front of him. Lucky just stared at Lulu for a second before leaning up and giving up a big yawn. "I'm up, now what do you want."

Lulu smiled even though Lucky was grumpier than usual. She crawled up on his bed and sat near her brother. "Mommy was supposed to take me to Melissa's, but something came up and daddy said he's busy so he said you would, besides the fact that you and Emily need to talk."

Lucky looked at his sister strangely and then groaned, grabbing his pillow from the floor and once again hid his face underneath it. Lulu just had to bring up Emily. That's the reason he was sleeping! Hiding from his problems again, but he didn't care. He just wanted to forget them and get lost in fantasy, not reality for the moment.

Lulu sat by Lucky still and watched him as he did this. Discouraged, she got off the bed and ran out of the room to find her dad. Luke was in the kitchen, reading the newspaper, when she called for him. "What is it Lulu?" Luke asked, putting his newspaper down and concentrating on the little girl in front of him.

"Lucky's awake, but he is really grumpy and he won't get up to take me to Melissa's." Lulu said, impatiently, wanting to go to Melissa's sooner than later.

Luke stared at his daughter who had lost her patience. He could have brought Lulu to Melissa's but after seeing Lucky's room clean, meaning that he wanted to forget her or a problem, he assumed Lucky would want to see Emily. Apparently he was wrong and whatever happened was bad enough that Lucky was hiding.

Getting up reluctantly, Luke pushed the chair in and stopped by his daughter. "I'll talk to him and he will be up in a matter of minutes, go get ready and when your done your brother will be up to take you."

Lulu smiled at her dad and ran to her room to get her shoes and everything she needed. Luke trudged toward Lucky's room and opened the door to Lucky's room. Lucky still had his head under the pillow, his blanket fell to his waist and his bare back was visible. Walking through the room, Luke momentarily thanked the fact that Lucky was in enough trouble with Emily that he cleaned up his room to forget it. His room was starting to look like a pig sty for all he knew there was a family of rats living in it. He could barely walk without stepping on something too.

Luke sat on the edge of the bed, away from Lucky. "You need to get up and put on some shoes and a shirt. Your sister has wanted to go the Melissa's for what feels like centuries." He said patiently.

Lucky came up from hiding under his pillow. "Why can't you take her, you aren't doing anything." Lucky said, running his hand through his hair, leaning against the top frame of the bed.

"I'm not, but you can't hide from your problems." Luke argued, realizing he might have to use his fatherly voice that screamed "take your sister to her friend's place, NOW!"

"I've done it before, I'll do it again." Lucky said stubbornly and continued stay in bed, making no movement of getting up and taking his sister to where his really ticked off girlfriend was.

"Yeah, and if I remember correctly you got a door slammed in your face and your relationship was only saved because Emily was tired of fighting." Luke answered, reminding lucky barely had a relationship now. More time would only make it worse and closer to the idea of no relationship; nothing that would be good for either of them.

"It's a good thing I didn't tell you how." Lucky remarked, starting to think about actually taking his sister and talking to Emily. Let's hope Mark wasn't there.

"Your right about that, but I can still use it to my advantage." Luke replied, realizing Lucky was skipping around what he was to do.

Lucky shrugged, indifferent and continued to sit there at the top of his bed.

Luke thought to what to say as he heard another door open. It was probably Lulu's because Laura had a crisis at the printers and would be home much later.

"Look Lucky." Luke started and Lucky waited for him to continue. "The only reason you aren't taking your sister is because you don't want to see Emily. Isn't that a little selfish? Sacrificing your sister's happiness for yours which you won't get seeing that if something is wrong with Emily something wrong is with you." Luke stated, trying to use the guilt, though he doubted it would work. Some remorse showed on Lucky's face so he continued. "Besides you don't have to see or talk to Emily. Just drive your sister and to the doorway and leave. Then you can come back and hide some more."

Lucky listened to his dad's little speech. He was right on all counts. Guilty for destroying Lulu's happiness for the non-existent happiness that won't happen because all isn't right with Emily and him. He also didn't have to see or talk to Emily, though he guessed she would ignore his existence. Good or bad thing, he didn't know.

Lucky got out of bed and grabbed his shirt. "Fine, I'll take her, but don't expect me to pick her up."

Luke smiled he didn't even have to threaten to kick him out of the house, which would be an empty threat. Lucky would just lounge somewhere else. As he left Lucky to his duty, Lucky finished putting on his shoes and fixed his hair a bit, though there was nothing wrong with it in the first place. He made his way to the kitchen and heard Lulu happily pounce around with saying things that she and Melissa were going to do. Lucky grunted in response, but Lulu continued talking as if she didn't hear Lucky or even sense him near. A door closing told him that he finally had some peace to read the paper.

Lucky drove while half listening to Lulu sing happily at the songs that were playing. If Lulu was happy with the music fine, but if he had to listen to it one more time, he suspected he would scream. He nearly sighed in relief at seeing the apartment building ironically. He usually loved coming here and surprising Emily like he did earlier this morning. That wasn't the case this time.

Soon, Lucky was in front of penthouse number one. He knocked on the door reluctantly while Lulu jumped around excited to see her friend. The door opened after some click of heels padded across the wood floor that was so familiar. They stopped and the door was pulled open. Emily stood there and accessed the adult standing there. She gave him a scowl and then looked down to see Lulu smiling brightly. Emily smiled too, just not as bright.

"Hey, Lulu. Melissa's waiting for you in her room. "Emily said as a greeting. Lulu continued to smile, brighter if possible and ran across the room, up the stairs, and out of view; leaving Lucky standing in the entrance doorway nervously. As soon as Lulu was out of sight, Emily gave one last cold glance at Lucky and prepared to close the door. Subconsciously Lucky's hand reached out and stopped the door from fully closing. After this, Lucky realized what he had just done and nearly groaned. The idea was to not see or talk to Emily, and yet here he is. Keeping the door open by his hand!

Clearing his throat Lucky spoke up. "I don't get an invitation in?" He asked and nearly kicked himself. How dorky was that response?

Emily shrugged as if indifferent and walked away, heading for the kitchen, where he guessed her homework was. Following her, Lucky stopped at the open doorway. His eyes widened in surprise. Emily usually wasn't this messy. The kitchen looked as if a tornado blew through. Resource book lay on the counters while countless papers were scattered on the table, some falling on the floor.

Looking to Emily, who was sitting on a chair and staring at a stack of papers. She caught his attention as she groaned and a deep frown was plastered on her face. Lucky hesitantly entered the kitchen slash tornado damage area and went to her side, knowing something was wrong and couldn't resist asking. He cared for her too much not to. He walked up behind her in the chair. "Something wrong?"

Emily, wanting to keep silent, but yet couldn't answered. "Other than you being here and all my homework being done?" She asked theatrically. She stood up and scooted the chair back from the chair, making Lucky back up. Without waiting for a response, she started to clean up her homework that was laying around everywhere.

Lucky stared as Emily did this. Having your homework done was a bad thing? As far as he knew it was a good thing. He couldn't help but act about what he was confused about. "And that's a bad thing?"

Emily looked over at him, and some of her mask she kept up fell. This gave him a view of what she was feeling. He could see tiredness and exhaustion present, seeing as how hard she had been working since coming home he supposed. She looked a bit pale and he guessed she didn't eat lunch. He didn't get to see anything else because Emily quickly built up the mask again.

"Did you not hear the first part of my answer?" She asked, annoyed.

Lucky took a minute and thought to Emily's answer. Something about him and being here, he remembered. He knew right then that Emily had been busying herself like him. It seems it worked to a point, much like him. His point was his ecstatic sister and overbearing father. Hers, he didn't know.

"Is that a way to tell me to get lost?" Lucky asked, though he doubted he would follow it.

Emily waved around her hand uselessly. "Take it as you will." She responded and finished organizing her papers finally.

Lucky cocked a grin. "Does that mean I can stay?" Lucky asked, cockily. He gave a small smile and Emily just rolled her eyes.

"You could, I mean your sister is upstairs, so I have no right to kick you out." Emily said calmly, too calmly to be true.

"Lulu's staying the night so I don't have to stick around." Lucky replied, though he knew he would regret it later.

"Then you have no reason to stay." Emily stated, stuffing her papers in her messenger bag. She picked it up and made her way to the stairway, passing him in her wake.

Lucky followed. "You call yourself no reason to stay?" He questioned her. He hated how she never stood up for herself sometimes.

Emily stopped herself at the bottom stair. "Your words, not mine." She said dismissingly and resumed traveling up the stairs until Lucky grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"We need to talk. We can't go and try busying ourselves and try to forget each other and our problems. It isn't working; just torturing everyone around us. Too much has happened between us to do that." Lucky said, and frowned. That sounded like a lecture. He always hated them and now here he is saying one.

Emily heard him and closed her eyes for a second before turning around and looking at Lucky warily. "There isn't anything to talk about and as for keeping myself busy, that work needed to be done sooner or later. And yes too much has happened to us, but what can we do about that now?" She said and marched up the rest of the stairs after Lucky subconsciously loosened his grip.

As Emily walked up the stairs Lucky thought about what she said. Emily agreed that too much had happened, but he just said that, and he hadn't expected Emily to agree. As for the homework part, it was half-true. That work needed to be done if Emily wanted to pass. He just thinks that she didn't have to do all that work that soon. If he remembered correctly, they were due next week and the week had just started. Emily had been using it as a distraction as Lucky did with his room and computer. As for the nothing to say, she was dead wrong about that. There was plenty to say. Coming back from his thoughts, Lucky saw Emily was out of sight and heard the click of heels on the wood floor in the hall. More determined than ever he ran up the stairs to catch up with Emily. HE was going to run no more. As he got to the top, Emily was just passion Melissa's bedroom door. Giggles and the talk of what Barbie was going to wear to the swimming pool were heard. Emily paused, however, with her back to him. She had her head down sadly. Cautiously, he walked to where she was standing. "Emily." He called and laid a hand on her shoulder.

A moment later she spoke up. "I thought you were leaving." Her tone was not too high that her anger was showing and it wasn't too low that she would be sad. It sounded not indifferent, just emotionless with some pain that Emily couldn't hide.

Lucky said nothing, but turned to face Emily, with his hand still on her shoulder. "Why would I leave if I keep arguing the fact that we need to talk?" He asked.

Emily looked at him and then at his hand. She snatched it away. Calling her strength that was failing to show, she looked at him with controlled anger showing in her brown, sparkling eyes that Lucky loved. "And like I said there is nothing to talk about."

"That's where you're wrong. There is plenty to talk about." Lucky said stubbornly, not standing down on this issue. They were settling this now. The fight and arguments, even the small disagreements were quickly forgotten, but this was not something to be forgotten. It was about something big and Emily needed to know, wanting to hear it or not.

"Define plenty." Emily remarked and struck Lucky dumb for a moment. Lucky quickly waved it away. He needed all his concentration for probably the biggest fight of their relationship.

"Plenty means a lot. Mark, me and you, and me being jealous would be the details needing to be discussed fully." Lucky said sharply, even to his ears.

"I recall I told you and all bull to go to hell." Emily pointed out, too deciding not to back away. If Lucky wanted to mess with her words and mind and her beliefs, she was just going to do the same.

"You did, but haven't you heard of the saying 'I have been to hell and back?'" Lucky stated, almost smiling at the thought he said something intelligent even though he felt he was far from it at the moment. He thought and waited for the come back that was bound to happen.

"I believe I have." Emily replied, surprising Lucky again by agreeing.

Lucky nearly screamed. How did Emily do that to him all the time? It was annoying. He was a Spencer, a quick thinker with boundless intelligence when it came to most things. And here he was, getting outwitted by his girlfriend, who had a tough life and was trying to make up for it while putting it out of her mind. Getting back the first subject, Lucky decided what to say and found he couldn't speak. Sure, she had ways to outwit him and she was good with it. Probably how he was tongue-tied at the moment. H was not going to be the unintended victim though, not this time around.

Letting lose some anger he finally got his tongue moving and his thoughts moving. "Stop that, would ya?" He demanded.

"Why should I?" Emily challenged him stubbornly, forgetting they were standing outside in the hall, by Melissa's door and not even seeing that it would catch the two little girls' attention away from their Barbie's.

"Because it's annoying!" Lucky said, his tone raising more than he wanted. He knew it sounded weak, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Am I?" Emily replied, a smirk on her face that screamed triumphant. He was losing the argument and he knew it, but wouldn't admit it. He still had time in between the beginning and ending of the disagreement.

Lucky's brows rose. She was trying to test his patience, or something else, he figured out. He could play that game as well, but decided to state what she knew. "You're testing my patience." He spat out.

"Not intentionally." Emily responded, the triumphant smirk still on her face. She still continued to act calm even though they were getting at each other's throats.

For another moment, he was speechless. What could he say to that response? He wondered. After a minute or so of wondering, Lucky finally gave up. He couldn't so he decided to change the subject, just as a door opening caught his attention.

"Stop it!" A voice screamed. Emily and Lucky quickly looked around to where that came from and whom. Looking down, they saw Lulu with Melissa hovering nervously behind her. Lulu looked upset, while Melissa just looked down at the wood floor.

Lucky and Emily gave each other questioning looks and then turned to Lulu again as she started to speak.

"Stop fighting." She said and then continued. "People who love each other don't constantly fight. That's all you have been doing! No one is mentioning it, but it's hurting us too!" Lulu finished, and Emily and Lucky frowned. Lulu was right. His mom, dad, sister, and Emily's adoptive sister and possibly Jason have kept silent, but they were starting to think the worst. They both realized that now. Just how to explain what was happening to Melissa and Lulu, that was hard. Emily made no movement to do so, so he took it upon himself to do so.

He knelt by Lulu, who now had some tears falling. "Lulu, were sorry about hurting you and Melissa, me and Emily didn't know. We have been caught up in our own lives to notice it."

Lulu sniffed. "So stop fighting and notice it!" She protested, taking his explanation.

Lucky thought of how to explain a 'rough patch in a relationship.' "Lulu." He started. "We notice now, but that isn't going to stop our fighting. Mom and dad fight all the time, and us noticing doesn't help."

"Yeah, but they don't have screaming matches like you and Emily! You just throw challenges and such in each other's faces." Lulu said, contradicting the point he was trying to make.

Emily stood by and watched Lucky try to explain their rough patch in their relationship and found he wasn't doing it. So she would have to.

Emily walked up to Lulu and Melissa and walked with them to their bed while Lucky watched now standing. She swiped some small doll clothes away and set them on each side of her. "Lulu, have your parents ever stopped talking to each other and possibly forced someone to sleep elsewhere?" She asked, though she was thinking Luke being kicked out. Laura had some real strength when it came with Luke.

"Yeah, but that hasn't happened recently." Lulu agreed, and Melissa silently nodded.

"That's good, but what has happened in those situations is the two people in a relationship have something called a rough patch." Emily explained, and Lulu's face scrunched up in confusion, while Melissa continued to be quiet, though she was also confused.

"A rough patch? I thought a patch is something covering clothes or where vegetables grow." Lulu said, and Emily bit back a laugh. They were cute when they didn't seem to know what was going on too well.

"Those are literal meanings. A rough patch in a relationship is an oxymoron phrase. It just means the people in the relationship get at each other's throats because of the littlest things. No relationship is perfect. They disagree and bicker, but in these times, they do it a lot and only the people in the relationship can do anything about it." Emily explained the best that she could. She didn't know how to describe her and Lucky's problems.

"Then why don't you or Lucky just forgive each other?" Lulu continued her questions while Melissa stayed silent.

"It goes deeper than that. Lucky and I have let too many things pass not being forgiven and its starting to come back and haunt us. That's pretty much the basis of our problems that provoke the fighting." Emily said, vaguely. She didn't have ideas of what their fighting was about really. Everything they talked about led to a fight. It left her wondering herself what had happened and why it was coming back now to haunt them and hurt the people close to them.

"Then face them and be forgiven!" Lulu demanded, she wanted her brother to be happy again. She was tired of him moping around even though he was out a lot more and she didn't see him often expect for the few times Lucky had dinner with her mom and dad.

"It's not that easy. Your brother and I tend to hide our feelings and let them pass, which you know is not working anymore." Emily said repeating the explanation for Lulu to fully understand, Melissa too, if she was listening.

"What if you and Lucky talk now? Would things be better?" Lulu said, keeping her questions coming while Melissa said not a word even though she and Lucky's problems should have been bothering her. Melissa was a mystery these days and neither she nor Jason could figure it out fully.

"I doubt it, besides your brother was just leaving." Emily justified, and the thought of sleeping sounded more than pleasant. It sounded glorious. That reminded her why she was heading towards her room with her backpack, which probably lay on the hall floor as she spoke.

"That's not what Lucky said. Lucky said he wanted to talk." Lulu protested fully.

"And we all know how that turned out." Emily said and got up, tired of the life she had once thought was great and now turning out to be a disaster. Her schooling was fine, and her grades were still high and her teachers loved her and how determined she was. Her relationship with Jason and Melissa was fine, could be better. She had great friends and a good job that paid well. She lived in a penthouse and had quite a few belongings more than she probably needed. All that was bringing it down was Lucky and their-so-called relationship that was falling apart. Great news for everybody! Sara could have her way; she could be miserable and put up her mask that she was starting to lose control of. Live her life without romance and love and attention that she needed too often.

Lucky saw how Emily tried explaining, succeeding a bit more than him, but Lulu's questions still came and demanded answers that she couldn't answer anymore than him. What to do? Stay and argue? Or go home and mope around until he was sleepy? Hard choice.

Lucky cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. "Well, me and Emily have much to talk about, why don't you continue playing with your dolls?" Lucky suggested and Emily gave him a cold glare for a moment, then it fell. She was much too tired to do or say anything than sleep and forget reality until her alarm screamed, calling for her to go to school and then work.

Lulu, now surprisingly quiet, nodded and she and Melissa started to pick up their dolls as Emily left. The door closed and Emily bent to pick up her backpack that she found laying at the wall's edges. She quietly made her way to her room and Lucky followed.

Emily searched around for her necessities in the room as Lucky closed the door, but made no sound. She took it as such, with some relief. Finding them all, she quickly made her way for the attached bathroom and closed the door with a slam that she hoped didn't go out the hallway. The last thing she needed was a provoking Lulu at the moment.

Lucky stood in Emily's room, which was clean, not surprising. She was always a clean person and liked to keep things tidy; one of the good things that he loved about her. She had tried to get Lucky to be like her, but Lucky didn't care enough and just randomly placed things unless they were important, which were around often enough.

His dad should be happy now though. He could actually walk through the room without making it an obstacle course. Wouldn't be like that for long though. He was bound to mess it up again, or Lulu would think "Let's play in my big brother's room!" In English, let's invade my brother's privacy and throw everything around. She had done it before, but he hardly noticed. All he cared was about was the fact that nothing was placed on the bed, he needed to sleep with out throwing things off of it mindlessly. Nothing good could become of it.

He sat heavily on the bed and gave a sigh and looked over on the nightstand. There was a picture of them, Emily smiling and him giving a happy grin. It was taken at the park where his family and Emily's adoptive one gathered together for some fun on a Saturday. It had been at least a month ago. They were so happy, life was good; wonderful girlfriend, no problems in between them, good job and a wide future shining on them. Apparently it was only the sun, because everything was looking down and definitely not shining. The future was now going down the drain. Who knew if they were going to be a couple tomorrow? Certainly not him.

He would give anything to be back to that day. Everything was simple and great. There were no problems, except heavy thoughts and realizations. Nothing Emily knew of and he didn't think she should know just yet. Maybe she should, now that the relationship was falling apart and he felt worthless and miserable, though he tried his best to hide it. It must have fallen, and now he was in Emily's room debating whether or not to tell her something that might even shake up the relationship more; nothing that was needed. Their relationship was the basis of his life, without Emily, girlfriend or not, angry or happy, it was nothing. He needed Emily to survive.

Giving another heavy sigh, he looked at the door that led to the attached bathroom. He checked his watch worriedly. She should be out by now. He knew girls spent more time in the bathroom than necessary, doing their make up, making sure everything looked okay, but Emily wasn't like that. She did the minimum, checked the results quickly, grabbed everything necessary and fled to her destination. Did she run away and climb out the window? Was there even a window? Who knew but it didn't matter, something was wrong he could feel it. He and Emily had a sense of knowing if something was wrong or something was bothering each other. It usually was spoken of and both of them felt better after that. Usually anyway

The present was doing disastrous things to their relationship or what was left of it. All he knew that it was falling into pieces into a jigsaw puzzle. The master of the puzzle filling holes in an unbelievable speed an swiftness. And when that puzzle was full, Lucky was afraid, when the maker and piece holder put it away, along would go with their relationship among things. Their friendship and soon Emily and he would find that their lives were now good in things, worse than imaginable in other things, and their lives would never be full.

There would be an empty void in their hearts. There were other guys and girls who would go for each of them, but the rebound people and those who tried catching their attention would give up. They would compare each boy and girl and say is he or she like my ex? Nothing that the girl or guy would like, and then they are single once again! The cycle would continue on like that for their whole lives, or they'd bury themselves in their work, and have no social life and hide the many emotional and physical scars they carry. Emily had too many as it was.

He shook his head of his thoughts. Think of the now, he commanded himself. He stood up and marched to the door and knocked, calling Emily's name at least for ten seconds. Lucky turned around, more worried than ever. His mind thought of all the possibilities. She could be hiding, but it was too quiet. What to do then? Melissa and Lulu was playing in their rooms, oblivious to the drama happening here, within him.

A few more seconds passed no answer and the silence was too much for Lucky to handle as he thought to what to do. Then it hit him! The door might be open Lucky quickly drove for the handle and found it locked. He swore nervously under his breath and saw Emily's hair clip on her dresser. Emily would hate for him to play with the lock, but what other choice did he have. Retrieving the pin, he played with the lock and he heard it click open. He pushed the door open, but it only went so far, something must be in front of it. Squeezing through the small opening, he saw what he dreaded to see. Lucky immediately felt his heart stop beating.

He had found Emily, but unconscious in a strange position. Lucky came out of shock and quickly ran the small distance to Emily's side. He checked her pulse and gave a small sigh of relief. She had a strong pulse, but it didn't explain her being unconscious. There was no blood, so must have fainted, Lucky figured. Nothing fatal, but the reasons of why scared him. The possibilities were endless with the medical terms these days.

He was no doctor, but fainting wasn't normal, he knew that much. He picked up Emily from the floor cautiously and placed her on the bed, trying to wake her, but Emily continued to be unaffected.

He quickly fished around for his cell, he knew he would sound desperate, Emily just fainted, but she wasn't waking up. That scared him more than he could say. Making the call to the hospital, he sat by Emily and waited by Emily's side. He grabbed her hand and held it tight, saying a silent prayer, hoping she would be okay. Soon the sounds of sirens were heard.

Author's note: Hey, sorry for the long wait. School and the work itself are getting piled upon me and no time for writing, unless I want to sacrifice my very important internet time. Can't happen, sorry, too many things need to be checked. Anyway, thanks for the reviews. I can't say when the next chapter will be up, just be looking. Hope the very long chapter was enjoyed, reviews are always wanted!

p.s. If I mentioned things more than once or repeated some things, sorry. I wrote this in pieces, my mind half-asleep and exhausted.