CHAPTER THREE

"Is she gone?" Luke peeked outside.

"Yeah, she's gone," muttered Dillon. He admired his step-father…a lot. Adventurous. Courageous. Ambitious. Strong…A lot like his mother, if he omitted the adventurous part. But Luke was just as good as a husband as he was as a father, which in his case, wasn't very good at all. "How could you do this to her?" he turned around and stared Luke into the eyes.

"It was her idea," Luke stated, definitely trying to shift the blame.

"You drove her to it," he replied harshly.

Luke knew it was the truth, "What's the problem? She is filing for divorce. Not me. If she's miserable because of that, then it's her fault."

Lulu decided to step up, "You obviously care about Step-monster, so why are you acting like this?"

"He's afraid to settle down," whispered Dillon. "Remember?"

Of course Lulu remembered. "I hate Tracy, Dad, but if you are sooooo afraid of commitment, you shouldn't have married her in the first place."

Luke explained, although Lulu didn't need an explanation, "The marriage wasn't about that, Lesley Lu. It was supposed to go marriage, divorce, 15 million dollars in alimony."

"Yeah, but you shoulda known there was a chance she'd fall for you, right?"

"Well, yeah," Luke flaunted himself. "Who could resist?"

"Eww, Dad. Save it for someone who wants to see."

"Like me?" Holly Scorpio spoke in an eloquent tone, as she joined the three of them right outside the villa. "Has Ms. Quartermaine left?"

"Yep," answered Dillon. "Thanks to you and lover boy over here," he gestured to Luke.

"Hey! Who you calling lover boy?"

Dillon and Lulu laughed quietly.

"I was um, waiting for you," Holly said suggestively, brushing her fingers against Luke's clothed chest.

"How many times are we going to be subjected to this?" Dillon covered his eyes.

"Yeah, really. We've been scarred for life enough. Thanks a lot," Lulu agreed.

"I'll be there in a minute, English."

"I'll be waiting," she smiled, her eyes dazzling.

The teenagers pretended to gag.

"So, that's all?" asked Dillon. "You're going to forget that you were ever married to my mom and go to bed with that trash?"

Luke laughed, "Dillon, you're acting like Spankybuns and I had a real marriage."

"I don't know," shrugged Lulu. "It looked pretty real to me."

"You're confusing the hell out of me, Gumdrop. Whose side are you on, anyway?"

"You're confusing me too, Dad. I thought you at least respected Tracy on some level. Come on, Dillon. Let's get out of here."

"Where are you two headed?"

"Does it matter? You have Holly to keep you busy. Come on, Dillon," she said again. Luke didn't bother to stop them. He had pretended not to care that his wife had just left him. He had made it her fault. And for what? Pride? She dumped him, and he couldn't deal? It might've been the truth, but he'd never admit it.

Meanwhile, Lulu and Dillon found themselves in the middle of the jungle. "You better know where we are," Dillon told her.

"We've been walking for what? Maybe 10 minutes. Pretty hard to get lost in 10 minutes, don't you think?"

"I guess," agreed Dillon who took a seat on the grass.

"It's beautiful out here," she sighed.

"Yeah, um," he swallowed. "Are you ever going to tell me why you were so supportive of my mom?" Lulu didn't like her. It wasn't a secret, so her sudden defense of the woman had Dillon rightfully curious.

"I just know she loves my dad, all right? I saw her the day of the wedding, and she was doing all of this for him, and I don't know. She just had this look in her eyes like…I don't know," she repeated. "I just think my dad's a real loser for treating her like she does, and it's not like I don't think she deserves it sometimes, because let's face it, Dillon, your mom can be a witch, but I don't know, I just…" She had been rambling. Talking about Tracy Quartermaine in a semi-fondly manner certainly made her uncomfortable.

Dillon nodded, "I get it, but you know, my mom's not that rotten. It's okay to be on her side."

"This coming from the one who sided against her how many times?"

"Yeah, well, Luke's schemes are lot more fun than my mom's, and if I mess them up, I don't have to worry about him sending me away to military school."

Lulu laughed, "Good point. I guess."

The two of them sighed.

"Now what?" asked Lulu.

"Hmm?"

"I meant about your mom."

Dillon narrowed his eyes, "Are you planning something or what?"

"Well, we could maybe find a way to get them back together."

"Oh, kinda like the Parent Trap," he said. He just had to bring another movie into this.

"You and your movies," she shook her head. "But yeah, sure. I think." Lulu started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" wondered Dillon.

"I never thought I'd be trying to get your mom and my dad back together. I should be celebrating that they're getting a divorce."

"So, why aren't you?"

Lulu sighed responding, "It's like I said, all right? She loves him, and even if my dad doesn't love her back, there's still something there. Besides," she smiled. "I'd rather have her with my dad than Holly. And well, this is, um, selfish, but," she didn't know if she should continue. "I'd have more time with my Dad if he stayed with Tracy. He'd never be around if he was with Holly."

"Um," Dillon bit his lip. "I know you like spending time with your dad. I mean, I hardly know mine." He paused for a moment to think what it'd been like if his father had been involved in his life.

"Dillon," Lulu whispered.

He snapped back into reality. "Look, it doesn't matter if Luke and my mom are married or not. Luke's still going to chase after Holly or whatever woman 'satisfies' him, right?" He shuddered at the disturbing thought.

"Eww, Dillon. All right. Point taken. What do we do then?"

He shrugged, "Nothing, I guess. There's nothing we can do."

"Oh!" she shoved him lightly while laughing. "You're no fun."

"I'm serious though and," Dillon paused. "I still have a hard time believing that you want our parents together," he confessed.

"Wanting my dad around isn't a good reason, huh?"

He frowned. "I didn't mean it like that, but let's just stay out of this. My mom knows what she's doing. She wants the divorce, and she'll get it."

Lulu made a disgusted face, "I thought you cared about your mom more than that. Besides, weren't you just the one asking my dad how he could do this to her?"

Dillon didn't answer.

"It's so obvious she doesn't want the divorce."

"This is where we're going to disagree. Look. I think Luke is the most awesome step-dad ever, but he has treated my mom like garbage, and he's not the first man to do so. She's right to divorce him."

"Maybe," Lulu bit her lip.

"I know my mom, all right? This is what she wants. If she sticks around with Luke, she's going to get her heart broken even more. I don't want that for her, and I don't want you to mess it up for her."

"Why are you being such a jerk all of sudden?" Lulu stood up.

Dillon also stood up. "I'm sorry. I just…My mom loves Luke, okay?"

"Yeah, we so know that already." Lulu rolled her eyes at him for stating the obvious.

"And if she once again insists on staying with a man who doesn't love her back, it…uh…It just won't be good."

"Oh yeah, 'cause that's specific."

"It won't be," he repeated. "Please Lulu, as your friend, I'm asking you to stay out of this. Let her divorce him."

"All right," she shrugged. "I will."

"Really?" he was surprised.

"Yeah," she smiled. "What are friends for?"

Dillon believed her…He shouldn't have.

PREVIEW: Tracy contemplates whether or not divorcing Luke is what she wants; Lulu sets her plan in motion.