Puttin' On The Ritz

This takes place on the Sunday and Monday after Prom.

It was late by the time Jason and Elizabeth made it back to Brenda's house. And as soon as they stepped in through the doors, they were instantly bombarded with questions from their grinning friends about where they were, who they were with, what they were doing…

To his credit, Jason didn't get nasty. He just let the lethal glare loose, not that it did much good. But soon, their friends' thoughts turned to other things and the heat was off. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett had already retired to their bedroom upstairs and the high schoolers had free rein of the main level of the house.

Brenda and Sonny had been bringing down sheets and pillows, dropping them on the couch, while everyone else raided the refrigerator for a late-night snack. When it was just the four of them in the room, the couple turned to their best friends.

"So, I gotta ask," Brenda began with a mischievous smirk, "just where were you guys?"

Elizabeth laughed, flopping down on the couch next to Jason. "Well, Jason found this really cool old house way down the Cliff Road and we just kinda walked around and explored it. It has these gorgeous hanging gardens and-"

"An old house?" Brenda's nose crinkled and the brunette shook her head sadly. "You two are such a boring old couple. Jesus – a house!"

"Hey, it was nice," Elizabeth admonished defensively. "There was this really pretty statue out back, too. It was fun."

Sonny shrugged and eased himself down on the couch, putting his bare feet on the ottoman and slinging his arm over the armrest. "Well, that's good. How far away was it?"

Jason pursed his lips, thinking. "About ten or twelve miles from the Manor."

The Cuban's eyebrows shot up. "You made good time, then."

"The roads were empty."

"I hope we're as lucky when we head into the city tomorrow," Elizabeth sighed, curling up into Jason's side and feeling a hazy, comfortable warmth flood through her body when his large hand found her hip. "How much you wanna bet that traffic's going to be a bear?"

"Ooh, speaking of tomorrow," Brenda interrupted, making her way over to the couch and squeezing in between her boyfriend and Jason and draping her arms around their shoulders. Jason gave her a disgusted look but the brunette was far from caring. "I wanted to talk to you boys."

"Does that mean you have to touch us, too?" Jason asked, squirming under her suddenly vice-like grip on his shoulder while Elizabeth laughed.

Brenda just ignored him and plastered a sugar-sweet smile on her face. "Okay, I realize that what with Prom and everything lately, I've been a bit…enthusiastic."

Jason snorted and Elizabeth tickled his side, trying to suppress her own grin. Brenda slid him a warning glare before continuing. "In fact, I have it on good authority that someone who shall not be named-" she squeezed Jason's shoulder hard, "-referred to me as 'Promzilla on acid'."

Her three friends chuckled and the brunette daintily crossed her legs, pulling both boys closer into her and smirking when Jason groaned. "So, because you two have been so sweet-" she placed a smacking kiss on Sonny's temple and then Jason's, much to the boy's displeasure, "-you can decide what we do tomorrow. Anything you want – I mean it. I won't say anything. It's totally up to you."

"Aw, that's really generous of you, Bren," Elizabeth laughed as Jason finally managed to extricate himself from the pestiferous brunette's grasp. "Guys? Isn't that nice?"

"It's nice that she's not touching me anymore," Jason muttered, pulling his girlfriend onto his lap and then depositing her safely between him and Brenda.

"Very nice," Sonny laughed, kissing Brenda's silky black hair. "So, Jason, what do you say? Pizza joints and arcades?"

"Sounds good to me."

The brunette's lips turned downward in a sour grin. "Damn it. I knew I was going to regret this."


"Boy, these kids sure can eat, can't they?" Hayden Barrett watched in amazement as Luke Spencer guzzled down the last of the orange juice and tossed the carton over his shoulder into the garbage can. Behind him, his girlfriend Laura grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and passed it to Johnny and the rest of the gang. Breakfast was almost over – the kids had been in the kitchen for the past hour, trying to make omelets and pancakes and bacon, and it had been complete chaos. So chaotic, in fact, that Hayden had made a quick trip to Kelly's to grab some other necessities like the apple turnovers his daughter's boyfriend had just devoured.

"Do you need any more money, sweetheart?" his wife was asking Brenda, fishing through her wallet. "I can give you more."

"It's okay," Brenda shrugged, pulling her silky black hair into a loose ponytail and fiddling with the string on her pink pajama pants. "I have Daddy's credit card."

"Oh, that's right," her mother nodded. "Well, is everyone else set?"

Laura, a tall blonde from a neighboring high school, glanced at her boyfriend. "Luke, please tell me you packed already."

The trumpet player paused with half a muffin crammed into his mouth, and then quickly headed toward the stairs. "I'm on it, darlin'."

Sonny was going through a quick checklist – the boy was always prepared for every occasion – and Johnny was sprawled out on the kitchen counter, fully intent on catching some sleep before they hit the road.

"Where's Beth?" Hayden wondered aloud, looking about the kitchen. "And Jason, for that matter – that's the boy's name, isn't it, dear?"

Brenda nodded. "Yeah, it is. And I haven't seen them, Daddy. Yo! Does anyone know where Beth and Jason are?"

Luke entered the kitchen that minute with his face contorted in disgust. "Yeah – they're totally hard-core making-out on the couch."

"What!" That certainly got Johnny's attention and the boy sat up suddenly on the counter, almost banging his head on the low-hanging decorative lights. "Seriously?"

The boy made a gagging motion. "Yeah. It's disgusting. They're all over each other."

Sonny spun around so his girlfriend's parents wouldn't see the wicked grin on his face as he clicked away on his Palm Pilot. Brenda, however, lacked that sort of discretion and burst out laughing in front of her stunned parents.

"Jesus," Luke continued despite himself, "it's like they're trying to crawl into each other's mouths. I feel like I oughta be socking it to that creep for going all hormonal on sweet little Bethie, but…what can ya do? He's her fella."

He shrugged and swung his duffel bag onto one of the seats as his friends continued to laugh. Brenda's parents, suddenly feeling very out of place, excused themselves and left the kitchen to tend to other things.

A few minutes passed and Elizabeth came sauntering into the kitchen in her pajamas. She wore blue cotton bottoms with a baby tee of the same color, and the first thing her friends noticed about her was that her hair – so carefully curled and arranged the night before – was now a wild riot of mussed curls springing out in every which direction. And Jason followed not two steps behind her, his lips swollen and a small, pleased smile on his face.

There was no way in hell that Johnny O'Brien was going to let such a golden opportunity pass him by.

"Whoot! Morgan's a man!"

Brenda sprayed out a mouthful of apple juice onto the kitchen counter, and Carly choked on her bagel. Elizabeth and Jason both gaped at the grinning Irish boy, and the brunette blushed a most vivid red which only incited more teasing and playful ribbing.

"Woah, Jase!" Carol laughed, tossing her friend a wink. "You animal!"

Luke and Taggert had cornered a very embarrassed Elizabeth and were inspecting her hair as the girl laughed despite herself. "Nice work, Morgan," Taggert offered, cocking his head and looking at her wild curls. "Mussed and tousled, not a hairpin in sight. A good, clean job if I've ever seen one."

"Oh, knock it off, Taggert," Jason glowered, stalking forward and pushing the boy out of his and Elizabeth's way as he reached for Carol's half-finished glass of orange juice.

A flushed Elizabeth, desperately trying to suppress her giggles even as her friends teased her, tried to smooth her mussed locks down but soon quit and gave in to the ribbing.

"Must have been a good morning, indeed." Jason turned around at Sonny's smug voice and shot his best friend daggers with his eyes. Unfazed, the Cuban only grinned, showcasing his irresistible dimples. "Looks like some of us had a better time than others."

Jason's eyes narrowed as he set down the now empty glass and turned on him. "You know what, Corinthos-"

Chuckling, Elizabeth reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him back as Dara and Sydney made awww-ing noises in the background. "It's okay, Jason – they don't get to me."

"No, that's Morgan's job," Johnny chuckled, seeing the defiant glint in the brunette's eyes and then fell off the counter trying to avoid the sneaker Jason launched at his head.

"Next one who says anything gets it," Jason warned, sliding Brenda an icy but amused look. "Go ahead, Brenda, make my day."

Sonny laughed and stepped forward, ready to get on to more important things. "Okay, okay, I'm sure we can all congratulate Jason on his journey through the threshold of manhood later, but right now, we've got to get a few things settled."

Before long, they had managed to decide who was going with who and where all the luggage was going. Jason volunteered his jeep, and the seating arrangements worked out to most everyone's satisfaction. In the end, Brenda, Sonny, Elizabeth, and a ton of luggage were coming with Jason in his black Jeep, and everyone was ready to get the cars packed and get on the road.

Jason hopped toward the door with Elizabeth at his side, trying to step back into the sneaker he had thrown at Johnny's head when the Irish boy stole up next to him and clapped him excruciatingly hard on the back.

"Morgan's a man!" was the only thing he heard as the dark-haired boy launched himself through the door and safely out of Jason's reach as all their friends laughed.


"Put on Simon and Garfunkel!"

"No – Hendrix!"

"Forget that; how about…ooh! Blue Oyster Cult! Blue Oyster Cult!"

"Everyone shut up – I'm driving and I say we listen to Queen." Glaring at a pouting Brenda in the rearview mirror, Jason grabbed A Night at the Opera album from his visor and slid it into the player. "You say one word, Barrett, and I swear I'm going to-"

"You are no fun at all," the brunette huffed, kicking the back of his seat with her bare foot. "I don't know what Beth sees in you."

"Well, he is nice to look at," Elizabeth tossed in, looking out the window to avoid Jason's glare. "Other than that…I don't know. I chalk it up to a rare fit of insanity."

"Owned," Brenda chirped, smacking the back of Jason's headrest once more for good measure.

"Don't make me come back there, you little midget – I swear, I'll drive into oncoming traffic if it means shutting you up."

Brenda hunkered down in her seat with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest. "I should have gone with Luke. At least he likes me."

"That's because he's insane and partly deaf," Jason supplied helpfully as he merged onto the highway.

Elizabeth slid him a grin, shaking her head as she linked her fingers with his on his strong thigh. "Jason, stop being mean to Bren. She doesn't mean any harm."

"That's why she's been going ape on me since we met, right?" Jason smirked in reply. "She's crazy, Elizabeth – face it, you have a crazy friend. She should be given a white jacket and locked up someplace with padded walls."

"She's just…excitable, Jason," Elizabeth responded, stroking his warm thigh softly through the denim of his jeans. "Peppy."

"Crazy," her boyfriend translated. "That's all there is to it." His eyes darted to the rearview and the boy frowned instantly when he saw what was going on in the backseat. "Hey! You two stop that! God, my eyes! I swear, I will drive into the oncoming lane! Good Lord!"

Elizabeth was laughing hysterically by the time Brenda lifted herself up off of her boyfriend and landed a good kick square in the center of Jason's seat. Her boyfriend was grimacing with disgust at what he had just witnessed and was staring straight out at the road, muttering all the while that Dante had it easy when he ventured down into the bowels of Hell.


Brenda and Elizabeth hopped out of Jason's Jeep as soon as the boy pulled into the hotel parking lot where everyone else was waiting. They left the luggage in the cars and wandered over to the main desk first to get their rooms in order. The arrangements worked out well – a few of the couples stayed in the same room and a few of the couples split into groups of the same gender and since everyone but the juniors was above eighteen, the staff didn't have much of a problem with them.

And then it was time to get the luggage. Sonny and Jason coaxed the rest of the boys into being gentlemen and retrieving the ladies' luggage as well, and they all trooped out to his Jeep and Sydney's minivan where all the bags and accessories were stowed. Forming a vast and disorganized assembly line, they somehow managed to get all the duffel bags into the appropriate rooms, right after Johnny put on a vaudeville-esque show in the hallway complete with obscene gestures and undergarments after being handed a girl's bag by mistake.

Everyone got settled in and unpacked a bit before deciding to head out for lunch. Elizabeth and Brenda hastily ducked out of the room they shared to find Sonny and Jason bored and waiting for them in the lobby. After a couple snide remarks about growing beards and watching glaciers pass, the whole group assembled at a nearby café that Taggert and Dara had scoped out.

Lunch was a casual affair – Brenda sat in Sonny's lap the whole time, Luke and Laura threw more food at the squirrels than they ingested, Johnny spent twenty minutes walking around on the terrace grounds with toilet paper stuck to his foot because no one had the decency to clue him in, and Jason and Elizabeth spent their time drawing out maps of their planned route on paper napkins, complete with elaborate little drawings of trees and bunnies courtesy of Elizabeth.

There was some type of concert going on in the park and that was where they headed next. Jason, not being a big fan of the music that was playing, sprawled out on the picnic blankets Sydney and Carol had brought along and promptly fell asleep with Luke's baseball cap over his face to ward off the sunshine.

Evening set in before any of the kids were ready for it, and that was when the planning for dinner began. The boys, namely Jason and Taggert, wanted to grab a pretzel from a cart. The girls, however, proved to be a little more high-maintenance – they all had their hearts set on dinner and dancing.

So they all worked out a compromise, one in which the boys naturally had no say. To her credit, Brenda sat the heated discussion out and let the other girls decide what everyone was going to do. Emily was the one that suggested going back to the hotel to change and asking the clerks for information on good restaurants nearby.

And that was what they did. Fortunately, the young female receptionist was very knowledgeable on the hot spots in the area and quickly identified the restaurant she felt they'd most enjoy. With that taken care of, the teenagers ducked into their rooms to change.

They were ready in no time and soon arrived at the restaurant. Dinner was much fancier than lunch – Jason, Sonny and Johnny all agreed that it was reminiscent of the dinner they had enjoyed in New York earlier that year after the track conferences. Brenda had elbowed Elizabeth discreetly during that conversation and the brunette had blushed furiously at the memories of that night that seemed to have been ages ago.

Jason suffered through the dinner as best as he could, wriggling and squirming in his fancy dress shirt and slacks, even the shiny shoes that creaked when he walked. But the food had been good and he and Elizabeth sat cuddled close together on the comfortable chairs, so it wasn't all that bad. And he had to admit that it felt nice to kick back and spend an evening with all of his friends far removed from Port Charles. At any rate, he felt like things had been so crazy for such a long time that he hadn't really had much time for them, and as much as it surprised him, Jason realized that he had missed some of his friends. And he knew he'd miss them more when everyone split for college in the fall.

They spent an unknown amount of time walking around downtown after dinner – Brenda claimed she ate an entire cow and needed to walk it off, then proceeded to hen-peck Sonny for letting her eat so much. And after that, she and Elizabeth had made a beeline to an ice cream store that was still open due to some grace of God, and Sonny had been severely warned against making any comment about hypocrisy.

Finally, they headed back to the hotel and their respective rooms. Sonny and Jason disappeared into the one they shared after kissing their girlfriends goodnight, and Elizabeth and Brenda retired to theirs.

The taller brunette was slipping out of her red dress and into her tanks and shorts while Elizabeth folded up her black pencil skirt and put away the camisole and cardigan combination she had worn. She flopped down on the bed and brushed her hair while Brenda changed, and finally slid a hesitant glance at her best friend.

"Hey, Brenda?"

The girl looked up instantly. "What is it, Beth?"

"Thanks for, you know, sharing a room with me." She fiddled with the sheets as Brenda grinned slyly and slid into her own bed. "I don't know if Jason and I…"

"It's no sweat," she replied honestly, settling down against her pillow. "I don't mind."

"Well, I know you and Sonny wanted-"

"It's fine, Beth," Brenda insisted honestly. "It really is. Sonny doesn't mind and neither do I. If you and Jason didn't really want to share a room, that's fine."

Elizabeth was biting her lip in the dark. "Does it…I don't know…seem weird to you that we're not? I mean, we've been going out for months and I know that I'm being-"

With a huff, Brenda sat up in bed and switched on the light between their beds. "Beth, you listen to me. There's nothing wrong with you or Jason – wow, I can't believe I just said that – and there's nothing wrong with not having had sex yet. You'll know when it's time and seriously? It's not that big a deal. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Her best friend smirked gratefully. "Yeah, you're right. And it's such a cliché, too – doing it on Prom night."

Brenda giggled. "Yikes, I know."

"Thanks again, Bren."

The room plunged into darkness once more as Brenda clicked the light off again. "See you tomorrow, Beth – with my luck, Jason and Sonny will want to go to the auto museum or some greasy taco joint. Ai, ai, ai, no me gusta."


"What time do you think we should head home today?" Carol asked as Steven Lars handed her a bagel with strawberry cream cheese spread across the top. "I don't want to get home too late."

"Technically, we could make tomorrow another Senior Ditch Day," Taggert suggested. "Instead of just Monday, make it Tuesday, too."

"I don't know," Emily replied slowly. "I mean, I hate school and all, but I kinda want to enjoy our last two weeks. It's not like we do anything all day anyway."

"Yeah, we should be back for tomorrow," Sonny agreed firmly. "And I think we should leave here around 5:30. We'll be home by eight, roughly, and that'll be plenty of time to unpack and change and hit the sack before school tomorrow."

"So at five fifteen, everybody be at the lobby," Brenda ordered, wagging her finger and plucking a few grapes from Sonny's plate. "Now that we've got that taken care of, what are we doing today?"

Jason had been eyeing his watch as the group conversed, and his gaze had darted to his Jeep a couple times as well. And now that Brenda had finally asked, he knew it was time to move. "You guys can do whatever you want, but Elizabeth and I are going to cut out."

Elizabeth looked at him in surprise while her friends pouted. "You're taking her away?" Emily frowned. "What for?"

"What've you got planned for Beth, Jason?" Carol asked with a saucy grin, even going so far as to blatantly toss him a suggestive wink.

The blonde rolled his eyes and stood up, fishing around for his keys as Elizabeth eyed him curiously. "Yeah, what do you have planned, Jason?"

"It's a surprise," was the only answer she got as he grabbed her hand and led her toward his Jeep, calling over his shoulder for Brenda and Sonny to bum rides with someone else for today.


"Where are we going, Jason?" she asked for the millionth time since he had started driving. Her boyfriend chuckled and squirmed when she started poking him in the side. "Come on, I want to know."

"Oh, you'll know."

"That's not an answer!"

"Elizabeth, trust me. I know where we're going."

There was a brief pause.

"Will I like it?"

"You'll love it."

Another pause.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

A few seconds ticked by.

"Yes, but how can you know for sure?"

His eyes twinkled with amusement as he turned and seized her gaze. "Because I know you, Elizabeth."

"Oh."

A full minute passed.

"Where are we going?"

"Elizabeth…"

"When are we going to get there?"

"When we get there."

"That's not an answer!"

He was laughing at her frustration. "Elizabeth, relax. Just trust me, okay? You do trust me, right?"

That shut her up; he knew full well that she trusted him completely and would trust him today even if the curiosity was driving her crazy. And he didn't intend to let her down – he had decided to take her to this place since they had all decided to spend the two days after prom in downtown New York. It had been too good an opportunity to pass up, and he was sure Elizabeth wouldn't have any complaints. After all, she'd be spending the next four years of her life there.


"Wow." Elizabeth's eyes were wide as she took everything in, almost as if she were seeing it for the first time. "I love this place."

Jason wrapped an arm around her tiny waist and led her in through the giant gates of Columbia University as college students milled around them, carrying books and laptops and insane amounts of coffee. "I know you do."

"I love it more and more every time I come here," she confided with a bright smile, sliding her small hand into his back pocket as they sauntered down the walkway toward the beautiful courtyard. "And I love it even more now that I'm here with you."

Jason smiled and rested his cheek against her hair as they walked. Students were sitting on the stone benches, some playing chess on the built-in boards, others reading, others sleeping. Columbia was on the trimester schedule and therefore still in session, and he could feel the frenetic energy on campus pulsating around him as students studied furiously for their finals, or like the almost comatose ones, tried to pretend that finals didn't exist.

They passed by the main building used for admissions, an impressive structure, and then wound their way over to the library which was too incredible to be left on its own. Quickly ducking inside, the two of them wound their way through rooms upon rooms of thick, leather-bound books from Cardano's Ars Magna to Harry Potter translated in ancient Greek. Elizabeth pointed out the charming study nooks with the handsome tables of dark wood, and the stained glass windows, and then eagerly led him to the Periodicals section which she claimed was the best part about the whole library just because of the uber-cute college boy that was always on duty. Jason didn't find her joke all that amusing.

Presently, they found themselves at the dining hall and Elizabeth claimed that the food was surprisingly good. She did, however, warn against the swordfish on the menu, and Jason didn't need her to launch into an explanation.

It was a warm day out as they strolled through the campus grounds, stopping at an outdoor kiosk and lemonade stand combination where Elizabeth bought a New Yorker and Jason bought two lemonades. He had just paid for the drinks and was heading over to Elizabeth when he noticed her talking to an elderly man with silvery hair and a briefcase in his hand. The man's back was toward Jason but he instantly knew that it was a professor. Edging closer, he was able to pick up the conversation and soon realized that the old man had mistaken Elizabeth for one of the girls in his seminar on Nietzsche – and what was more, his girlfriend was playing along!

He heard her comment on the philosopher, something that the professor obviously agreed with because the old windbag immediately launched into a long oratory on nihilism. Elizabeth's sapphire eyes met his for an instant and she shot him a quick smile of amazement as if to say, look at me! I'm a bona-fide college kid!

And so Jason leaned against a tree and watched with a smile as she nodded along to whatever her 'professor' was saying. She chattered along with ease, not at all fazed by what the old man threw her way and if she was, she spit out a non-committed statement and moved along. She looked so at ease, so entirely comfortable in the situation, that Jason almost didn't know if he should be pleased or saddened.

Going away for college was something he hadn't really wanted to think about since the beginning of senior year. It meant leaving behind his family – his grandparents whom he loved and looked to for guidance, his impressionable little brother that all out worshipped him – and it meant leaving behind his best friend, and since he met Elizabeth, his girlfriend. He had tried to brush the thoughts of leaving home away, but they had always been lurking. And now, seeing Elizabeth easily transition to a discussion on Sartre and his Zuggandeitt, all those thoughts came rushing back.

It wasn't something to avoid; everyone would be leaving for college and that was that. He knew that they would all have to part, that they would all have to start on their own paths. And for the first time since he had set foot on the campus of Columbia University with Elizabeth's little hand tucked away in his back pocket, Jason was almost ashamed to admit that he felt like an outsider.

This was Elizabeth's world. This would be her world in a few months. This would be her world for the next four years of her life. If the old adage – the one he despised – was true, then she'd 'find herself' here. She'd make lots of friends that she'd keep in touch with her whole life, she'd form important business connections that would come in handy in later years, she would be presented with opportunities that a young woman of her caliber deserved.

This was her world.

And he knew that in a couple months, he wouldn't be part of it.

No, he'd be one state and a couple hundred miles of cornfields away, at Boston University. He'd be doing his own thing there. And Sonny and Brenda would be doing their own thing at New York University.

He wasn't the type of man to give in to his doubts and insecurities easily. But as he watched her promise her professor that she'd be sure to get the assigned reading done, he just couldn't help it. This was a life-altering change. And it was as certain as the next sunrise. He didn't know what the future would hold for him and Elizabeth; he didn't want to think about whether or not they'd be able to make a long-distance relationship work, especially when they were both going to be so busy all the time and constantly surrounded by other young people their age. And he still didn't know if he should be happy that she would obviously adjust so well to life at Columbia or conversely be sad that she would obviously adjust so well to life at Columbia.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when her small hand wrapped around his arm. "Jason, did you see that?" she asked excitedly, hopping up and down on her toes. "Professor Ingles totally thought I was one of the kids from his Nietzsche and Camus seminar! And he asked me what I thought of the readings from last week and we talked and, oh, Jason, did you see me?"

"I saw you," he smiled back, setting the lemonade on the table. "Yeah, I saw you."

A brief pause stretched between them as Jason's eyes drifted to the old professor who was now shuffling away, convinced that he had just spoken with one of his young students who would be joining him for the scheduled class period tomorrow and not knowing that at this time the following day, that 'student' would be singing showtunes in Mr. Alcazar's tenth period Calculus class.

He barely had time to blink before Elizabeth's soft lips pressed against his own, her slender arms snaking around his neck to pull him close. And Jason let her pull him down to her height, let her hold him tightly, let her kiss him deeply. When she pulled back, their breathing was a bit uneven.

"What was that for?"

Her fingers gently combed through the golden hair at his temples as she smiled thoughtfully up at him as if she could read his mind. "You looked a little sad there."

The corner of his mouth hooked up and Jason just looked at her. She was staring back up at him through wide eyes, soft and hesitant, and something about the way she was watching him made his heart swell as his doubts and insecurities receded to the back of his mind as before. Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers once again. "I'm not sad anymore."


"Simon and Garfunkel!"

"Hendrix! Hendrix!"

"Blue Oyster Cult!"

Jason's blue eyes met a pair of dark brown ones on the seat right behind his. "Fine, Brenda, Blue Oyster Cult."

"Hooray!" she cheered, kicking the back of his seat again.

"Damn it, woman, do you have to abuse me all the time? Don't you get your fill of doing that to Sonny?"

"Sorry," the girl smiled sheepishly. "Put the CD in."

Rolling his eyes as Elizabeth chuckled, Jason obliged and slid the disk into the player as they merged onto the highway and headed home. Her hand soon found his and their fingers twined over his strong thigh as he roared down the highway, a surprising sense of calmness enveloping him. The music was blasting but he had almost tuned it out; Sonny and Brenda were all over each other on the back seat but he didn't really care. His hand squeezed Elizabeth's and he drove straight on, following the highway that would take them all back home.


"First stop!" Sonny called out as he pushed the front door of Elizabeth's house open. Jason followed carrying Elizabeth's duffel bag and other items that she had brought along or left in his car on previous occasions, and finally Brenda and Elizabeth straggled in.

"You guys want something to drink?" Elizabeth inquired, shucking her shoes and padding down the hall barefoot. "Water, milk, juice?"

"Water," Jason replied.

"Milk," Brenda yawned.

"Juice," Sonny half-groaned as he stretched his back.

"You guys are so not original," Elizabeth sighed as she entered the kitchen. "Mom? Dad! Gram! We're home!"

Not waiting for Elizabeth, the small group trudged over to the den and flopped down on the couches. It didn't take the brunette long to appear with the cold drinks and they all sipped in silence, utterly drained from the events of the past three days. It had been absolutely crazy – they had gotten maybe fifteen hours of sleep in the past sixty hours and they were all ready to drop.

"That was nice," Brenda sighed, burrowing back into the couch that she was sharing with Elizabeth. "I'm so glad we all went to prom together."

"You're not going to get all sentimental on us, are you, Barrett?" Jason yawned, throwing his legs over the armrest of the single person couch he occupied. "Because I might have to throw you out the window if you do."

"Don't listen to him," Sonny ordered weakly, settling comfortably into the soft brown recliner that had instantly caught his eye. "He's too chicken-shit to try anything."

"And what am I so chicken-shit of?" Jason wanted to know.

"Me."

"Not on your best day, Corinthos."

"Cat-fight," Brenda yawned, stretching her feet out and wrapping her arms around a pillow. "Let the fur fly, ladies."

A brief pause lingered in the den before Jason finally spoke to his best friend. "I don't see how you haven't thrown her out the window already."

The Cuban shrugged. "She's a good kisser."

"Yeah, and you can kiss your ass goodbye if you keep up that chauvinistic bull, Corinthos," Brenda spat, her eyes already closed.

"Knock it off, Lucy and Ricky," Elizabeth scolded, stretching her own legs out across Brenda's and occupying the pillow on the opposite side. "That's enough out of the two you."

The conversation lagged and eventually faded away into complete silence, and when Jeff and Caroline came downstairs to greet their daughter after her long journey, they were both surprised to find the den filled with sleeping children.

Jeff walked over to Jason who was sprawled out across the dark green armchair, snoring lightly, and he poked the boy lightly in the forehead before his wife grabbed him by the belt loops and pulled him away.

"Wow. They're dead to the world."

Caroline just shrugged, already leading her husband out of the room. "Poor little things. They must have tired themselves out. Remember when we were that age, Jeff?"

"Oh, don't even start," her husband warned. "It was a filthy age, that's what it was – a damn filthy age and-"

"Oh, Jeff," she laughed, kissing his cheek. "You loved it and you know it. You only get to be that age once."