What happens in New York Stays in New York
Mr. Alcazar stood at the chalkboard, squinting at the problem he'd completed last night. Damn Calculus. It made so much more sense last night. That is, with the help of a little scotch – not that he recommended that as a study habit.
He copied the original problem – the integral of x3 over (x2) + 1 – onto the board. There. Now the job was to try to figure out how to explain the rest of the problem when he could barely read his own writing.
"Okay, hold on, kids," he called over his shoulder. "Let me just get this on the board so I can walk you through it."
"No hurry, Czar," Luke replied, not even looking at the board. The young man was too busy trying to get just the right angle with the rubber band he was planning to zap Marcus with. "Take your time."
"Hey, Morgan," Marcus Taggert whispered from three seats away. "Are you up for lunch today? It's Wendy's Wednesday."
Jason nodded without glancing at his friend. His elbow was on his desk and he had braced his cheek in his hand. Currently, he wasn't concerned with lunch or his friends or the integration of natural laws.
There was only one thing on his mind, and she was too busy racing Mr. Alcazar to the answer of the problem to notice.
Elizabeth sat hunched forward in her desk, periodically blowing her bangs out of her face as her pencil flew over her notebook. Every now and then she'd punch a few keys on her graphing calculator, squint at it for a moment, and then resume her own calculations. The girl really was quite a nerd.
A smile tugged at his lips. That was one of the things he liked most about her.
But besides being a nerd, she had a lot else going for her. She had her funny, snarky side, and he'd gotten to see it when they had gone to the city the past weekend.
That had been the most amazing trip he'd ever taken.
Sonny shifted in his desk just then, effectively blocking Jason's view. He didn't do it intentionally, but it was hard for the boy to sit in one spot for so long without his bottom hurting.
He seemed to be in a strange mood today, too. Normally, he would have joined in on the rubber band battle between Luke and Marcus, or he would have joined Charlie and Ryan in trying to complete those box puzzles Mr. Alcazar kept "hidden" on the top shelf of his cabinet.
But today, the cuban just stared at the blank page in his notebook, pencil in hand, making no move to fill it. Jason wondered if he were thinking about Brenda. Those two also had a wonderful time in New York – although it was quite different from his and Elizabeth's.
Mr. Preuss had surprised them all by actually insisting that they remain chaperoned, so the entire group stayed together most of the time. They went out to dinner together – and completely took over the fancy restaurant, much to the chagrine of the other patrons. They went sight-seeing together – the cab driver wasn't too thrilled when eight kids crammed into the backseat of his cab. They even went out and enjoyed the night life together. Maybe that was what Sonny was mulling over, Jason mused.
Brenda had always been a social butterfly, this much he always knew. She had lots of friends and enjoyed hanging out with different people. Because the entire group remained together the whole time, she didn't get to spend much time alone with Sonny as she had planned. Instead, she also got to know the other boys on the team – not that she minded, of course. She was introduced to crazy Kyle and his little brother, both of whom had her crying with laughter that night. She spent some time with both Charlie and Ryan from their math class, and enjoyed their company tremendously. She even danced with several of the other boys and had a blast, especially when the DJ played some Dean Martin tunes at her request.
And Sonny had been left following on her heels, warding off the New York boys while shooting daggers at his team mates.
He had been jealous.
Jealous that Brenda was paying so much attention to everyone else, and in his opinion, not enough to him.
Jason wasn't sure if they'd patched things up yet, but they had been engrossed in conversation for more than an hour on Sunday.
Maybe that wasn't what Sonny was thinking about at all. Maybe he just had a lot of Student Union work to do. Or maybe he was reliving the races on Saturday, where he had placed first in the 1600 m. relay, Jason had placed first in the 3200, and the team placed second in state. Several other team members had won medals as well, and it had been a glorious day.
Elizabeth slammed a fist against her desk at that moment, and Jason was jarred from all thoughts of his best friend. Apparently, natural logs didn't come as naturally to the brunette as she would have liked.
He smiled at his lame pun, glad that Sonny chose to lean back so he could go back to his reverent vigilance.
Elizabeth was erasing now. Hard. And she was pouting.
He loved it when she pouted. Her lips were made for it.
Her lips were also made for kissing, he had decided long ago. He would have liked to explore that hypothesis in the Big Apple, but unfortunately for him, the opportunity had not presented itself. Besides, he really didn't want to rush things with her. From what he had heard, Elizabeth had never had a boyfriend before.
If she had been any other girl, he would have wondered what was wrong with her.
But she wasn't – she was Elizabeth. She was perfect.
And he'd be damned if he messed this up by going too fast and scaring her away.
Mr. Alcazar remained at the head of the room, his chalk scraping away at the board. He, too, had to pause and erase several times.
Elizabeth leaned back in her chair, and Sonny chose that moment – by some grace of the cosmos – to put his chin down on his own desk, leaving Jason's view of his favorite little bookworm unobstructed.
Elizabeth's eyes darted over to Sonny as he began to tap his pencil on his desk and hum. She strained to listen as he hummed several bars before she realized the tune. Luke and Marcus, too, had taken a brief recess from their rubber band war to listen. Sonny's humming became soft muttered words, and Elizabeth found herself joining in with Luke and Marcus. Charlie and Ryan looked up from their calculator games and joined in as well, slow smiles gracing their faces.
The song was a favorite of everyone's, and had become a Calculus tradition. Whenever things were slow or tough, the kids had formed the habit of breaking into song. Mr. Alcazar hated it, but there wasn't much he could do. Besides, everyone always returned to the problem with renewed energy, so he supposed a few karaoke sessions weren't the end of the world.
Sonny looked around at his classmates, all of them bopping away to the beat, all of them at different places in the song. He smirked and stopped, waiting for everyone else. Then he started anew, the entire room joining in.
"Is this the real life? Is this just a fantasy?" he sang, his black eyes twinkling. "Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality-"
"Look up to the skies and see," Jason continued, nodding his head to the beat that Marcus and Luke were stamping on the floor. "I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy because I'm easy come, easy go, a little high, a little low,"
"Anyway the wind blows doesn't really matter to me," Elizabeth joined in, tapping her fingers on the desk.
"To me," Charlie and Ryan added, moving their books aside and pounding on their desks to match the rhythm.
Mr. Alcazar stopped at the board and slowly turned around, hoping a stern look would put an end to the singing. No such luck – the little hooligans were too far gone to even notice that he was staring them down.
Jason smiled when the song reached the good part. He joined in on the pounding and his desk shook with the blows. "I see a little silhouette of a man, scaramouch, scaramouch, will you do the fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening me! Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro – Magnifico!"
From behind Sonny, Elizabeth grinned at him and he found himself smiling warmly back. Nothing like a little Bohemian Rhapsody to lift everyone's spirits.
Next came Elizabeth's favorite part – the part she always waited for. She quickly pulled the rubber band that held her hair in a ponytail out, and the chestnut tresses cascaded over her shoulders as the beat picked up and the noise in the room increased.
"Kids, I don't think-" Mr. Alcazar tried to restore order, but his voice was barely heard over the din. He'd be lucky if one of the deans didn't show up soon.
This was it, and Elizabeth grinned as she kept up with the lyrics.
"Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?" Sonny yelled, stamping his sneakers on the tiles.
"Bismillah!" the entire class burst out, pounding in unison. "No, we will not let you go – let him go! Bismillah! We will not let you go – let him go! Bismillah – we will not let you go – let me go! Will not let you go – let me go – never! Never let you go – let me go! Never let me go – ooo!"
Mr. Alcazar's mouth dropped open as the entire class, girls included, began to headbang. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no – Oh, mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go!"
"What is wrong with you children!" Sonny winked at Mr. Alcazar, who stood staring wide-eyed at them after his outburst.
"Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me!" Jason crowed, grinning at his nonplused teacher.
Mr. Alcazar grabbed his paperweight and smacked it against his desk until the singing eventually died down. "That's enough, guys," he said sternly.
"Nothing really matters," Sonny mumbled under his breath, ducking his head when his teacher glared at him.
"Now, you little demons are going to pay attention while I explain this," Mr. Alcazar instructed. "And then you can get back to your singing."
"Wow, that was great," Marcus chuckled, leaning back in his desk and plucking a pencil out of his afro.
"And made absolutely no sense," Charlie joked from across the room.
"It's just like Calculus," Luke asserted, clearly pleased with himself.
"We have to do that more often," Elizabeth nodded, trying to sweep her tangled hair out of her face. Perhaps head-banging hadn't been such a bright idea – it always left her feeling dizzy.
"After the AP, hooligans," Mr. Alcazar muttered before launching into a long-winded explanation that Jason was in no mood to pay attention to – something about doing long division first and then integrating with natural logs and then repeating the whole damn process all over again.
Instead, his thoughts drifted back to the weekend in New York.
It was gray. And barren. And windy. And freakin' cold.
Jason stood on the track, surrounded by his teammates. The race was about to begin – they only had about eight minutes left. The coaches had been instructed to leave the track, and it was up to him and Sonny to give they boys the pep talk that would carry them through the entire race.
"We've worked long and hard to get here," Sonny began, looking each boy solidly in the eye. "We're the first from PC High to get here. W e have a lot of people depending on us – we have to do our best not only for ourselves, but for all of them."
Jason pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that Sonny was only making them more nervous. Normally, he'd stand back and only interject with a few words while Sonny motivated the team. But this time, he knew that he'd better step in and mediate before the newer members like sophomore Max Gambini fainted.
"Look, he's right," Jason interrupted. "We have worked long and hard to get here. Remember that while you're running. But also remember that this isn't just a fluke – we didn't get here by some random stroke of luck." Elizabeth's words came back to him as Sonny stared at him curiously, wondering what propelled his silent partner to give a speech. "We got here because we're good enough to be here. Don't go out there thinking about all the other great schools that are here. Go out there thinking that weare here. We deserve to be here. We wouldn't be if we weren't good, so if you have those doubts, it's best to push them out of your heads right now. There's no room in a racer's mind for doubts. You guys are all good and you've trained hard. Sonny and I are honored and proud to call you our team mates. But we don't need to stand here and wax poetic about it. The time has come for us to get out there and show New York how to run – Raider style. Good luck. Remember – Chariots of Fire."
Sonny smiled. The movie was a special past time among the runners. He patted Jason on the back and turned to the runners. "Good luck," he repeated. "Time to do what we love to do." Fifteen hands met in the middle of the huddle. "Let's go, Raiders!" the boys yelled before separating.
They tipped their heads at each other before walking off in groups. It was time for the relays and the next event featured Sonny, Jason, Johnny, and Kyle.
The four boys passed the bleachers, and Jason heard his name being called anxiously over the clapping.
"Jason! Jason!"
He turned and instantly saw his little brother clinging to the wire mesh fence, waving something in his fist. "Jason! Jason! I found it! I found the hackey sack! It was by Gramma's rose bush! I found it! Here!" He made a motion to throw it to his older brother, but Jason just waved a hand at him.
"Keep it for now," he grinned, raising a hand to his neck to finger the hemp necklace he wore. "I've got all the luck I need."
AJ watched him walk away, confused, as Sonny and Kyle snickered.
"Jason's got it bad," Kyle teased, giving his friend a shove on the shoulder.
"Bite me," was all he got in reply as Jason strode on, unaffected by their teasing. Kyle quirked a questioning brow at Sonny, who shrugged his shoulders as he zipped up the wind breaker all the runners wore.
The cold New York wind cut through their skin and whistled through the shorts they all wore, but they didn't complain. All the boys hated running in wind breaker pants, and were happy to deal with the frigid temperatures if they also had the freedom the shorts allowed.
We must have been quite a sight, Sonny mused. Four boys, all tall with broad shoulders and slim, narrow waists. He, Kyle, and Johnny were about the same height, and Jason was about two inches taller. And the way they were walking now – three boys in a row led by an even taller boy in shorts and a wind breaker with long hair that the wind was currently blowing in his face. Quite a sight.
The boys stood near the starting blocks, tipping their heads politely at the other runners, most of who responded in kind.
Johnny stooped to tie his sneakers. "You know," he began, "I kinda miss those hackey sack games."
Sonny laughed. "Didn't you hear? Jason got something better than that old thing."
Johnny's brows furrowed. "What?"
"This," Jason volunteered, holding out his necklace with two fingers. His eyes twinkled as Johnny looked at it.
"What's so special about it?" he wanted to know.
"The person who gave it to him," Kyle grinned.
"Who?"
"Beth Webber," Sonny replied, smirking at Jason.
"Beth Webber…"Johnny tried to place the name. "I don't know her. Does she go to our school?"
Sonny nodded. "Oh, yeah, of course."
"Is she a senior?"
It was Kyle's turn to nod. "Yeah. And from what Jason tells us, we have reason to believe she's in those bleachers over there."
Johnny strained to look even as Jason shook his head. "No, not over there," he said. "I already looked."
Sonny smiled. "Maybe she and Brenda are sitting over there."
All four boys squinted, searching the sea of faces sitting high against the gray skies.
"There she is!" Kyle burst out, pointing into the crowd.
"Where? Where?" Jason scanned in the direction of Kyle's finger, still not seeing her.
"Calm down, Lassie," Kyle scoffed. "Look over there. Fourth row. There's a woman wearing a hot pink hat – see her? Brenda's next to her, and Johnny-" he glanced at the sophomore, who nodded. "The brunette sitting next to her in the blue puffy jacket is Elizabeth."
"Oh," Johnny nodded. "I know her. I've seen her in the halls before." He glanced at Jason, smirking. "She's pretty hot."
"Tread carefully, Obie," Jason warned. "You're on dangerous ground."
"He knows it," Sonny snickered, dropping a hand on Johnny's shoulder.
"Eat it, Corinthos," Jason tossed back. "And just be glad I'm not going to start making fun of you and Bren in front of these two."
Sonny crinkled his nose and rolled his eyes at Jason before sauntering off to a group of kids he recognized from a nearby school. Johnny and Kyle followed his lead and Jason was left still staring at the bleachers, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket.
He stared at Elizabeth's face, watching her carefully as she laughed at Brenda's jokes and cracked a few of her own. The two giggled in the bleachers, and Jason watched as she muffled her laughter with a knitted blue mitten.
He waited patiently, hoping to catch her eye before the races began.
Now the two girls had befriended the woman in the hot pink hat, and all three were chattering away. The woman pointed to a group at the opposite end of the track, perhaps her son, and Brenda and Elizabeth strained to see where she was pointing.
Come on, damn it, Jason glowered at them. Look at me.
"Runners, to the blocks." The announcer's voice boomed over the speakers.
Swearing, Jason turned for where Sonny and the boys were standing. They stood with him at the block, he being the first one to run in the relay.
"Good luck, Jason," Sonny smiled. "Knock 'em dead, Golden Boy."
Jason watched them walk off toward the side, hurrying toward their posts for the relay races. An official came by and handed all the first runners the baton that they would be passing to the second.
"Three minutes until starting time," the announcer informed the audience and the runners.
Jason watched as the other runners tied their shoes and pulled down the cuffs of their pants. This was it – it was time to run.
"Jason," Mr. Alcazar's voice interrupted his memories. "How many times does x go into x2?"
It was a mickey mouse problem – they'd been doing long division since elementary – so Jason had no problem coming up with an answer on the spot. "X times."
"Right," the teacher nodded, getting back to his explanation. "So you multiply that, and don't forget to change signs…"
"Nice save," Elizabeth whispered to Jason, knowing he had been zoning out for the past five minutes. When he grinned wickedly back at her, she forced herself to look away before a blush stole across the cheeks. Honestly, the boy just had no idea that was completely gorgeous. Downright drool worthy.
And she certainly had to struggle not to drool over him at the races in New York.
"That's my son," Abby Konshin beamed, pointing toward a redhead by the scoreboard. "His name is Danny and he goes to River Forest High."
"I've heard of that school," Brenda nodded. "Dance team went there last year for a competition."
Elizabeth looked back toward the track as Abby and Brenda gabbed. She wasn't interested in Danny – she was looking for Jason.
"Come on, Golden Boy," she muttered. "Where are you?"
Movement on the track caught her eye. Sonny, Kyle, and some kid she didn't know were skirting the edge to go to their positions. At the starting block stood none other than Jason Morgan. The wind was lovingly caressing his hair and ripping across the material of his jacket. He stood still, his face set and focused. The other runners chattered anxiously and stretched quickly, hopping around to release their pent-up energy.
Not Jason. He just stood stock still, closing his eyes and smelling the wind. He looked so serene and at ease, and she realized that she had been holding in a breath as she watched.
"One minute to starting time!" The announcer was excited now.
The runners took their time setting themselves up at the block. One minute was a long time when you were waiting to run.
Jason opened his eyes. From the angle at which he was standing, she could see his face clearly. A muscle in his jaw ticked. She watched, spellbound, as he raked a gaze over the other boys, as if sizing up and weighing the competition. She hoped he remembered what she told him about not being nervous.
The clock ticked away the seconds and Jason launched into movement. His face remained set, his brows slightly furrowed with concentration and determination. She loved how he looked when he was focusing on something – running, especially.
His fingers found the zipper of his jacket and tugged it all the way down. He shrugged his broad shoulders out of it and flung it off the track.
An official standing near by said something to him, and Elizabeth assumed he was advising Jason to put it back on – New York winters were no laughing matter. Jason tipped his head at the man, letting him know that he knew exactly what he was doing.
The wind kicked the jacket, making the lining billow. The official scooped it up and folded it over the mesh, glancing at Jason.
The shirt came off next. It was a nice shirt – black. Half-sleeved. Plus, Elizabeth liked how it stretched over Jason's chest, pulling taut against the hard plane of his pectorals. And it bunched up just so over his shorts, and made for a very appealing view. Written across the front was the standard team name and school, along with the school logo. Emblazoned on the back was the US Marine symbol, a new logo that the team had decided to adopt. It was a tough shirt, Elizabeth decided. Not that Jason wasn't already tough enough.
He pulled it off his head, running a hand through his hair to tame it. Elizabeth's eyes widened.
Holy….
Her mind seemed to just stop in its track, and even the teasing jab of Brenda's elbow into her side didn't do much.
Jason Morgan was a freakin' god.
His naturally tan skin stood out against the sky, mocking its hazy shade of winter. Each muscle seemed so perfectly emphasized – like Michaelangelo had picked up a pick and sledgehammer and set out to outdo himself and put David to shame.
Her eyes trailed hungrily down his washboard abs to the waistband of his blue shorts. Surprisingly enough, the only words that came to her mind were the ones she wasn't allowed to say.
"Hey – who's that runner?" A girl's giggly voice from below interrupted Elizabeth's eyegasm, as Brenda called it. Looking down, she saw two blonde girls in orange and blue school colors pointing at Jason. "Number 24. Look at him – he's gorgeous!"
Elizabeth's lips twisted sourly. Greaaaat. A couple of floozies had their eyes on Jason now.
The thought stopped her – was she jealous?
No. Couldn't be.
Elizabeth shook her head at her own foolishness. Certainly, there was nothing to be jealous about.
Jason knows meshe told herself. Not those two. I have nothing to worry about.
Jason was arching his body into position at the block as he waited for the announcer to call out twenty seconds. The muscles of his calves bulged attractively as he strained his foot against the wooden stand. Fingers already planted on the springy material of the track, Jason Morgan was ready.
He looked up at the bleachers then, and his eyes miraculously met hers. Her breath hitched in her throat when his gaze caught and held.
He smiled – slowly, wickedly – and braced his body on one hand, using the other to finger his necklace.
Elizabeth grinned. She knew she was probably as red as a tomato, but she didn't care. Next to her, Brenda squealed and clapped her hands.
"That necklace is good luck, Beth," she exclaimed.
"Indeed."
"Elizabeth!" Mr. Alcazar's voice shattered her images of a bare-chested Jason. "How do you integrate seven over x2 +2x+2?"
"Uh," she stammered, squinting at the board. She wasn't as fast on her feet as Jason, and his naked upper body hadn't helped matters any. Still, her mind raced as she rewrote the problem in her head. "Er, seven times the arctan of x+1?"
"Exactly," her teacher grinned. "Now we're getting someplace, people!" He turned back to the board, his chalk scraping away excitedly.
"Smooth, Webber," Sonny mumbled, winking at her. Next to him, Jason watched Elizabeth nod and look away. Was she blushing? Perhaps. He had remembered thinking she was blushing at the races – which made him wonder what he had done to cause that – but then realized it was from the cold.
"Third goes to Adlai E. Stevenson High," the announcer boomed. The coach whooped and clapped his boys on the back, all of them cheering and pumping their fists in the air.
"Second place is Port Charles High, led by Coach Andy Preuss." Mr. Preuss let out a yell and the boys stood up, clapping. Brenda and Elizabeth whooped from their place in the audience, clapping loudly. The boys grabbed their medals and donned them, beaming proudly for the crowd. History had just been made for the sleepy little town of Port Charles.
The first place winners were announced and the state conference was over. Each school retreated to their own area on the track to meet with their spectators in the audience.
Brenda and Elizabeth pushed through the throng of people and ran straight for the Running Raiders "Congratulations!"
Brenda reached up and pecked Sonny's cheek. "You were great! Good job – I can't believe it!"
He laughed and captured her dainty hand in his. He was about to say something, but she turned and saw Kyle standing behind him. "Kyle – good job in the shot put. You were amazing!" Kyle grinned and thanked her and the two began to chat. The other boys joined up and the conversation continued around a very animated Brenda and a slightly put-off Sonny who was still holding her hand.
"Jason!" Elizabeth exclaimed, squeezing past the crowds. Her grin was radiant and he found himself drawn into her dazzling eyes. "Jason, you were unbelievable!"
She was a few steps away, but he covered the distance between them and pulled her into his arms before she knew what was happening. Sure, he'd cheated her out of a hug, but he figured that sometimes it was okay to be selfish.
She tensed for a minute and then relaxed, looping her arms around his neck. "You must be freezing," she clucked.
"I'm all right," he assured her, pulling back but keeping one hand at the small of her back. "Really."
She nodded, eyeing him skeptically.
"No, I'm serious," he insisted. "I just don't get cold."
"Still…" she trailed off, raking a gaze over him. She was still half in his arms, one hand at his neck. She boldly ran the other one down his bare chest. When he shivered, she naturally assumed it was from the bitter wind. "There – you see? Let's go find your jacket."
She pulled back and grabbed his hand, and he allowed her to pull him through the crowd as she searched for his wind breaker and t-shirt. The wind howled around him, ruffling through his hair, but his body remained warm.
"Wait, Czar-"
Jason looked up in annoyance when Sonny's voice cut through his daydream.
"I still don't get it," the boy continued earnestly. "Why is it arctan and not arccos?"
"Look at it this way, Clyde," Alcazar instructed, pointing at the board with one dry chalky finger. "X2 + 2x + 2. How can you rewrite that?"
Sonny squinted, biting his lip.
"Complete the square," Alcazar hinted.
"Oh," Sonny exclaimed. "Wait – that's x +1 quantity squared plus one, right?"
"Yes," Alcazar beamed. "Now, what is arctan?"
"Sum of squares on the bottom," Sonny replied immediately. "I get it."
"I'm so hungry," Marcus murmured from across the room.
Elizabeth's stomach rumbled. She was ready to hit the cafeteria, too. I wish they served manicotti, she sighed. Like the one at Regeneau's in New York.
Mr. Alcazar, done with the first problem, moved on to the next as Elizabeth slipped back in to her memories.
"I'm famished!" Brenda exclaimed, clutching her stomach as Sonny smirked. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
Kyle opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. "Nah," he muttered. "Too easy."
Brenda shot him a dirty look before grabbing Sonny's hand. "Look, here comes the waiter."
"We're ready to seat you now," the waiter began. "Follow me, please."
The group trailed behind him – fifteen boys, two girls, and two adults. The restaurant was Regeneau's, a relatively swanky Italian eatery in the heart of New York. Mr. Preuss had informed them that the school was paying for dinner, so all qualms about parting with money that come naturally to teenagers disappeared.
Dinner was a calm, quiet event as the famished runners tore into their pasta. But once satisfied, the fun began, much to the chagrin of the restaurant staff and patrons. The table erupted in conversation and good-natured ribbing as the boys talked about the race and cracked jokes about their team mates. Brenda and Elizabeth could barely contain themselves as Jason and Sonny argued over who was 'hunkier' and Johnny and Kyle did impressions of what a drunk Elizabeth would act like.
Other customers – all businessmen or lawyers or some sort of professionals – shot them disapproving glares, but no one noticed. Coach Preuss and his wife Patty were sitting in a nearby table for two, pretending they had nothing to do with the rambunctious teens taking control of one of the most expensive restaurants in town.
Dessert soon arrived and Elizabeth was faced with a dilemma. She really wouldn't be able to eat a whole dessert – and Brenda was already splitting a piece of cake with Johnny, who wasn't feeling too well anyway.
Jason watched her as she mulled over it, and she eventually heard him say, "You know, I'm not in the mood to eat a whole dessert – you wanna share?"
She nodded and smiled graciously when he told her to pick whatever she wanted. She refused, and eventually they agreed together on a bowl of crème brulee.
When it arrived they both reached for their spoons, and Jason unconsciously scooted closer to Elizabeth. When he realized this, he took advantage of the opportunity to get even closer until the petite brunette was practically in his lap.
Elizabeth had always liked crème brulee, especially when aspiring cook Sydney made her some, but there was something about sitting mere inches from Jason Morgan, feeling the heat radiate off of his body and through her dark red sweater, and enjoying an intimate conversation with him while the rest of the table when nuts that made the dessert even more heavenly.
"Now, some of you had questions about the area between curves. I can go over that right now if you like." Mr. Alcazar looked out at his students, waiting for feedback.
"Please do," Marcus spoke up. "I keep forgetting how to do that stuff."
"OK." Returning to the board, Mr. Alcazar drew three curves on the x-y plane. "Look at this." He took the blue chalk and shaded in part of the graph. "This is the area we want. If you look at it from this angle, it looks like one fourth of the club symbol in a deck of cards."
Jason made no move to copy down the parametric graph, his thoughts turning instead to a different sort of club.
"I hate this song!" Brenda yelled through the music, covering her ears.
"What?" Sonny yelled back, bending closer to hear her. "You're wearing a thong?"
"No – well, yeah, but no!"
"She said she hates this song," Jason clarified, speaking into Sonny's ear.
His best friend turned on him, smirking. "Oh," he nodded. "That's fine, because if you had said that youwere wearing a thong, I would have been a little concerned."
Jason rolled his eyes as Elizabeth snickered. "As would I," she responded, winking at Jason.
The music blared on, some strange sort of European techno. Brenda and Sonny ducked off of the dance floor, choosing a table in the corner to sit and talk.
Mr. Preuss and his wife, after making sure everyone was safe and almost asleep back at the hotel room, had retired to their own on a different floor. That was when the fun began.
In less than twenty minutes, all the boys were dressed and ready to go. Certain that the hotel receptionists would report a bunch of high schoolers strolling out at eleven o'clock. Instead, they climbed down via the fire escape from the small balcony. Sonny had already called Elizabeth and Brenda at her brother's apartment, and although Jason wasn't sure what trouble they were going to get into tonight, he was very happy that he remembered to bring the fake ID his cousin Ned had made for him.
That night had been amazing. Jason could hardly believe his luck – it passed without any embarrassing moment or awkward instance or any problem whatsoever. Being runners, all of the boys were too conscientious about their bodies and their health to get smashed. Basically, the entire purpose of the excursion was to be able to say that they had set foot in a New York club.
And they did more than just set foot – they danced and danced and danced until Brenda almost rolled her ankle. Elizabeth was uneasy at first, but as the evening wore on she came in to her own as she got to really connect with the rest of the runners. Instead of being complete strangers, Jason could she that she had begun to think of them as friends. She chatted with Johnny about several teachers and gave him some hints on how to make it through his junior year alive. Kyle's little brother got some advice on women, and Kyle himself managed to keep Elizabeth entertained all night long with anecdotes about all the crazy things the track boys did when they were together – including one streaking incident that had Elizabeth doubled over and Jason wishing he was never born.
Sonny and Elizabeth tore up the dance floor when he taught her how to reallydo the salsa beyond the rocking foot movements, and Jason had never wanted to be his best friend as badly as he did when Sonny twirled Elizabeth repeatedly and grinned down at her when she sank into his arms for the finale.
Still, he had the amazing privilege of sharing a sultry slow dance with the petite brunette, who actually allowed herself to snuggle into his chest as he held her close. Her hair smelled like berries and her breath smelled of mint, and Jason Morgan was in high heaven as her small body swayed with his.
And as the music died down and gave way to the solitary trumpet and the piano, as the lights dimmed down low and a gentle mist filled the air, as Elizabeth sighed with contentment and turned her face into his neck, Jason could have sworn that heaven was nothing compared to what he was experiencing at the moment.
It had been an unforgettable night.
Right down to running through the streets of New York back to their hotel because they were too cheap to call a cab as it rained. And how was he supposed to know that the red bandana he usually used as a handkerchief would bleed all over the dress shirt he borrowed from Sonny?
So from a piping hot Italian dinner that burned the roof of his mouth to the slow dance with Elizabeth that burned the rest of him, and finally to narrowly escaping Sonny's sucker-punch, the excursion to New York had been one that he would remember with pleasure to his dying day.
"Sorry, Czar," Luke Spencer drawled as he stretched languidly in his desk. "It's about that time."
Mr. Alcazar glared witheringly at him. "I've got a watch, Spencer, and I say that it is not that time."
"Can't argue with Father Time," Marcus reasoned, discreetly slipping his notebook into his backpack as he readied himself for his daily dash. When the teacher turned away, he glanced at Jason. "You comin' to lunch, man?"
Jason's eyes darted to Elizabeth as she finished copying down the problem on the board. "Um, you know, I think I'll have to take a rain check on that," he replied without looking back at his friend.
Marcus shrugged. "Sure – whatever." Glancing at the clock, he picked up his backpack and put it on, one eye on the door and the other on Mr. Alcazar.
Unfortunately for him, Mr. Alcazar saw what he was up to. He turned for the door the same instant that Marcus decided to break into a dash in order to escape.
"Oh, no, you don't, Taggert!" he sputtered, trying to physically bar the door with his body. Marcus, however, was faster on his feet. After a little fancy footwork, a fake right, a fake left, and another fake right, the basketball player was out the door as Luke clapped his hands.
"Sorry, Czar," he winked. "You didn't stand a chance."
Mr. Alcazar sputtered angrily. "One of these days, he won't get past me."
"Don't hold your breath, Sir," Sonny smiled as he packed up his own stuff.
The bell rang and the students immediately left. Mr. Alcazar returned to the board and began to erase it, paying no mind to the kids left in the room.
Sonny had already split, and as Elizabeth gathered her books she felt someone approach her desk. Looking up, she met Jason's deep blue eyes.
"Jason," she smiled, standing up and balancing her book on her hip. "Aren't you going out to lunch? I thought today was Wendy's Wednesday."
He shrugged, looking down at his feet as he shuffled them. "Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to go out to lunch."
She considered it, watching him carefully. He was looking at her with hopeful eyes, and she knew she wouldn't be able to disappoint him. "Sure. Let's go."
His smile was immediate and he walked her to the door, not noticing the way Mr. Alcazar watched them with open fascination and a smirk. The door closed behind them and Alcazar shook his head, straightening his papers into a neat pile.
"Looks like I've got a new Bonnie and Clyde."
