Chapter 7
Frowning, Elizabeth shimmied in front of the full length mirror in the bedroom of her apartment. She tugged at the hem of the strapless, navy blue, knee-length dress she was wearing, trying to decide if she actually liked the dress or if she should accuse her tailor of ruining it.
When she originally bought the dress, it'd been floor length as well as a size too big, but she fell in love with it the second she laid eyes on the tight fitting satin material. She couldn't help but admit that her curves looked damn good, not to mention that the bust line did wonders for her breasts, but something was just…off. She sure as hell hadn't paid an arm and a leg for something to be off on what was an already overpriced dress. Turning her back to the mirror, she gave herself a once over, grinning when she realized how good her ass looked too.
Maybe the dress wasn't that bad after all.
Her entire goal when shopping had been to find something that would make people stop in their tracks, or rather a particular guy, and well, if a flimsy piece of satin that clearly outlined every curve on her body couldn't do it, then what would?
She smoothed the wrinkles out across her stomach as she turned to stare at herself again. With the right shoes, it certainly could work for her opening, but it just didn't feel like the perfect dress for the evening. And the last thing she had time for was another shopping venture, especially when it would mean dragging Jason along and forcing him to watch her try on dresses all day. It was a week before they spoke to each other after their last shopping excursion, which was partly his fault because he hijacked her shopping day as his own, forcing her to help him pick out suits for business meetings.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath, when she heard someone knocking faintly on the door of her Brownstone apartment.
Stretching her arms behind her, she grasped for the zipper of the dress, swearing again when she couldn't seem to get a hold of it. The knock grew so hard that she could hear her doorframe rattling, which only annoyed her even further. She never understood why people just couldn't give someone a freaking second to actually get to the door.
"I'm coming!" she shouted, hurrying through her tiny apartment as she still tried to get the zipper. She continued to swear under her breath as she undid the chain and flipped the deadbolt. "Jesus Christ, just give me a sec-" She stopped mid-sentence when she opened the door to find Lulu Spencer standing on her doorstep.
Oh, why hadn't she used the peephole?
It was bad enough that she'd stormed into Jason's office hours ago, only to get caught off guard by Johnny being there and staring at her and Jason with some goofy ass grin on his face. She was so flustered she couldn't even talk to him when it was the prime opportunity to set him straight on all of this Lulu business. Instead she mumbled about coffee beans and hurried out the door, knowing all the while that Jason was making fun of her in his head.
"Elizabeth," Lulu said, clasping her hands in front of her as she rocked back and forth in her black ballet flats.
She wasn't wearing her usual plaid skirt and sweater over her shoulder, having traded in her usual attire for a simple black flowing skirt that stopped just below the knee and a white camisole. Elizabeth could have admired her outfit, maybe even tossed out a compliment, had the all too perfect blonde not continued to speak.
"I was hoping we could talk," she continued hesitantly, tugging at her long ponytail that was tied neatly at the back of her head.
Every time she saw her, Elizabeth had the urge to reach over and give her hair a good shaking or to dump red wine on her starched clothes. It was disgusting that someone could look that together all the time.
"Please," she pressed, forcing a smile at the brunette. "It's about John and the…"
"Wedding," she finished flatly, gripping the doorknob so tightly that she was cutting off the circulation to her hand.
"Somewhat," she replied, shrugging as she continued to rock back and forth on her feet nervously, which was just a really annoying tick for her to have. "And you too."
"Me?" she grunted, finding it impossible not to roll her eyes.
Nothing about Johnny and Lulu's arrival had been about her. Never mind the fact that she practically let him put it to her before she left town, or that the second he was away from Port Charles he became so distant that he practically pushed her away. Did she even need to mention the real kicker – that he'd arrived with a high society girlfriend who looked as if she'd stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine?
Thank God Lulu had wide eyes and an ugly smile, thus giving her something to really hate.
"Well, of course, you," she said sweetly, her forced smile turning so genuine that it nearly made Elizabeth hurl. "You're one of John's best friends, and I know that you two haven't talked much since he's come back to town…I'm not stupid. I know that my presence has made you feel awkward, and I never wanted that to happen."
"I'm sure you'd rather we eloped or something," she continued, giving Elizabeth a knowing look with her piercing blue eyes. "It was just really important to John that we come back to Port Charles and get married in the same church as his parents.
She arched an eyebrow, refusing to move from her post in the doorway, especially when there were so many things wrong with what Lulu was saying.
Elizabeth didn't want them to elope or something, unless that something was the two supposed lovebirds parting ways and Johnny coming back home where he belonged – alone.
She also didn't like that Lulu was implying that she didn't like her because she was his fiancé or that she was jealous. She'd already told her that she wasn't in love with Johnny, and he clearly wasn't in love with Elizabeth, so she could stomach a wedding just fine. It wasn't Lulu's place to say she couldn't.
To top it all off, Lulu went and used the dead parent card as if Elizabeth didn't know what was important to Johnny in regard to his parents. When his mother lost a three year fight with cancer, she was the one who'd driven him around all night sophomore year, before she even had her license, because Johnny had been too drunk and distraught to do it on his own. Not to mention that she was one who held his hand during his father's funeral and practically carried him out of the church after he'd been unable to deliver the eulogy. She knew about his parents and St. Timothy's church, his parents' church, because it was the only place that gave him any kind of solace after they were both gone.
He hadn't actually told Elizabeth that he wanted to get married in that church or that his parents were married there, but still, Elizabeth had been around for everything else.
Oh, damn Lulu Spencer for playing all the right cards and completely trumping her.
"Come in," Elizabeth said, stepping aside and waving her into her messy living room.
Glancing around at the piles of clothes on the couch and the painting supplies strewn about the floor, she felt disgusted with herself for all of ten seconds and then found herself hoping the room made Lulu squirm.
"Okay," the blonde sighed, pushing her dirty clothes over a cushion so that she could sit down. "First things first, I get it, you know."
"Get it?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest as she paced back and forth in front of Lulu.
Her dress was too expensive to actually touch any of the dirt in her living room, so there was no way she was sitting down. It was dangerous territory with the leftover food on the coffee table and the possibilities of wet paint waiting to find something to cling to.
"For so long, you were the main girl-woman in John's life," she sighed, holding her arms tightly against her sides as if afraid of touching the furniture. "So it's only natural that you would feel threatened by me."
She held her eyes closed while she took a deep breath. This woman was not really going to give her the whole you used to be first, but now I am, and I hope that we can be friends speech.
"In a way I'm taking your place," she continued, picking at a stray thread on the end of her camisole.
Son of a bitch, she totally was.
"When I first met John, he was a complete mess," she laughed, shifting her eyes to Elizabeth. "He was completely homesick and all he ever talked about was you and Jason, and I was sure that you were this long lost-"
"We talked about this already," she interrupted, pinching herself in the arm in hopes of feeling pain not related to Lulu Spencer.
"I know, but I worry that it may have come off the wrong way," she said seriously, as she stood up and placed a hand on her chest. "I made it sound like I was suddenly his entire world, and I'm not at all…Why else would we have come back here?"
She nibbled her lip not exactly sure how to respond. The woman was not only being kind to her, but she was also telling her that Johnny still held a special place for her – though Lulu definitely had the upper hand on the special place roster.
"What it comes down to is that I'm the girlfriend, well, the future wife, and you're the best friend," she continued, holding her hand out to her. "We have to find a way to get along or it's only going to hurt John, and I know that's the last thing that you want."
Clearing her throat, she rubbed her hand over the back of her neck and looked at her with a tight-lipped smile. "What are you proposing?"
"I don't see why we can't be friends," Lulu shrugged. "I understand that you don't know me, and I don't know you, but he's told me so many things about you…I know that you can be territorial with him and Jason…How you don't always like the girls they date, which drives them crazy…But they also find it part of the great Elizabeth Webber charm I've heard so much about in the last year."
It wasn't her fault that her best friends just had a habit of dating terrible, worthless women, and after years of dealing with their broken hearts, she tried to run the bad ones off before they got settled. If they genuinely liked someone, Elizabeth could grit her teeth and bear the brunt of the ridiculous relationship, even if she knew how it would end.
Well, she could until bleached blonde bitches stepped into her life acting like they knew her and her characteristics. It wasn't any of Lulu's business if she was territorial in a charming way, and Johnny sure as hell had no business saying such a thing.
When Elizabeth didn't respond immediately, the blonde took a step towards her, reaching out to touch her by the arm. "I really do love him, more than you could ever know."
"I can see that," she replied, swallowing hard as she tried to ignore the fact that this woman was touching her.
"Now, this I am surprised to see," came a voice from the doorway, causing Elizabeth to suddenly realize that she'd left the door open behind them, because she'd been so damn distracted by Lulu showing up.
The brunette tipped her head towards the door, sucking in a breath when she saw Johnny O'Brien in all his handsome, three-piece-suit glory, filling up her doorway.
"Elizabeth and I are just burying the hatchet," Lulu said, grinning as she patted her on the arm before dropping her hand to the side. "What are you doing here?"
"I, uh, I wanted to talk to Elizabeth," he murmured, raking a hand through his hair like he was always did when he was nervous.
Normally she would have smiled at the familiarity, but she was too annoyed that he'd spent the last year filling Lulu's head with all these stories about her. They had good, friendly stories he could have told his fiancé. Did he really have to tell her she was territorial, but charming?
Seriously, who the hell says that?
"Oh, okay," she nodded, reaching out to squeeze Elizabeth's arm. "So, we're…"
Placing a hand over Lulu's, she squeezed hard and looked her in the face. "Friends," she filled in, appreciating the way she flinched beneath her touch. "We'll surely have to talk wedding plans and-"
"Oh, that would be great!" Lulu shrieked, throwing her arms around her neck and pulling her into a hug. "I have no idea what I'm doing here or where to go, and my mother is so busy with work…I was honestly hoping that you could help me. You have no idea what goes into a wedding…Flowers, caterers, seating charts, fonts for invitations, and place cards…Really, who pays that much attention to a font?"
Elizabeth did, and now that Lulu was ridiculing such a thing, it gave her yet another reason to hate her.
"It's going to be so much fun," she said, widening her eyes to mimic the blonde's overexcited face. "I can't wait!" She clasped her hands, forcing what had to be the most ridiculous grin in the entire world.
"See, I told you Lizzie and I would be fine!" Lulu cried, rushing over to hug Johnny, leaving her to cringe at the use of her old nickname.
Johnny was the only person who ever got away with calling her Lizzie, and that was simply because she spent most of her childhood being too afraid to tell him to stop, because he would have just made fun of her for something else.
"I can call you that, right?" she asked, turning around and grinning as he placed a kiss against her temple. "I know that was John's nickname, but if we're going to be girlfriends-"
"Uh, yeah, sure," she cut in, trying to figure out how one person could go from being so relatively sane to…well, that.
"Great, Lizzie," she said, laughing as she brushed her lips over her fiancé's, which forced Elizabeth to die just a little bit more on the inside. "I'll leave you to it, honey. I'm going to go call my mother and tell her how great things are going."
Laughing, Johnny shook his head as he closed the door behind her. "She's pretty excited about all this wedding stuff."
"Aren't you?" she asked curiously, knowing if he wasn't that it could be one thing she could use against Lulu.
After all, that was why she was befriending the girl. As the old adage goes; keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and Elizabeth had a feeling she could greatly benefit by putting it to use.
"Of course," he shrugged, giving her a crooked smile. "I could care less about all the planning and the food. If it were up to me, we'd get married by Elvis in Vegas. Maybe get a little drunk and lose way too much money on the strip."
"Now that sounds like the Johnny O'Brien I know," she said, smiling contently as she realized this was the first time the two of them had been alone since he'd come back to town.
"Are you saying I've changed, Webber?" he asked, winking at her as threw himself down on her couch and propped his feet on the table, looking like he was born to be sitting in her living room.
She glanced in the direction of the door, and then looked back at him.
"Aw, come on," he said, rolling his eyes as he dropped his head to the back of the couch. "You don't have to be so hard on her, you know. I know how you get with girls and-"
"Oh, I know you do," she interrupted, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him. "Lulu let me know that she knew all about me."
"It was the truth," he pointed out, sitting up and throwing his hands up at her. "God, you have no idea how hard it was to come back here, knowing how upset you would be."
She knew from his tone that he wasn't trying to be mean, but his words just rubbed her the wrong way. "Did you bother to think why I would be upset?" she hissed, shaking her head at him. "Or did you get amnesia while you were in Europe?"
Clenching her hands into fists, she turned away from him and looked around for the first thing she could hit him in the head with.
"Don't turn this around me," he replied, getting up from the couch and walking over to her. "You think I've changed? What about you?"
"Oh, God, I am not doing this with you," she said, rolling her eyes as she stalked across the room near a stack of easels she'd yet to take to her studio.
Maybe a canvas upside the head would help jog his memory.
"Doing what?" he grunted, following behind her, which only pissed her off more.
"Having some argument that borders on a teenage relationship," she replied, turning around and narrowing her eyes at him. "You changed. I changed. Well, that still doesn't change the fact that you came back to town with someone, and whether you like it or not, I get to be pissed off for a little while."
"Well, what about what you've been up to while I was gone?" he asked, giving her a knowing look.
Oh, son of a bitch.
Jason had sold her out.
She hadn't really been with anyone since Johnny left, but there was the incident with Ritchie on the pool table. Jax may have also swindled her out of her panties a couple of times when she was at a low point, but he was the one who picked her up at the MetroCourt Bar, not the other way around.
Besides, she wasn't getting married to any of them.
"Elizabeth," he said softly, reaching out to touch her, but she backed away and held up her hand. "Look, I'm not mad at you…I didn't go away thinking that you would move on from whatever the hell happened between us, but when I realized you were, it made things easier with Lulu. I met her and it was completely out of control, a total whirlwind, but I didn't make a move until I was sure that you were over this."
Right.
Well, he could have started by asking her.
"I don't think I thought about how upset you would be about Lulu, and things have been so busy since I got here," he continued, frowning at her in a way that made her heart hit the floor. "I wanted to make sure Lulu was comfortable, and I hoped that if I wanted you to be happy you would…It wasn't until I talked to Jason today that I realized how hurt you were."
"You talked to Jason?" she asked, rubbing two fingers against her temple when she felt an instant migraine coming on. He nodded, sliding his hands into his suit pants. "Just great."
"Don't worry about it. I'm okay with everything," he shrugged, stepping towards her, and this time she didn't back away. He stuck out his lower lip and cocked his head at her. "You know how I hate when you're mad at me."
"Johnny," she whined, hating that she just couldn't be angry when he not only infuriated her beyond reasoning, but was also marrying someone else.
"I suck, but you still love me, right?" he asked, holding his hand out to her. She nodded slowly as she placed her hand in his. "And you'll give Lulu a try?...For me?"
"Yeah," she said, letting him pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, probably holding on a second longer than she should have, but she just wanted to remember the way he smelled and how it felt to be in his arms. "I will give her a try."
"Thanks," he murmured, grinning as she pulled away. He let his hand slide down her arm to her hand, holding it tightly as Elizabeth tried to not fall apart beneath his touch. "You'll always mean the world to me, Webber."
Though she told it not to, her heart fluttered inside her chest as she watched him walk to her door.
Pulling it open, he turned around briefly, giving her an all too obvious once over. "By the way," he said, giving her a quick wink, "that is a very nice dress. I don't know if Elizabeth Webber's ever looked so good."
Before she could reply, he hurried out the door, forcing her to make the choice she'd been going back and forth on all day. The past twenty minutes, however, made the decision for her.
It was time to rage war on Lulu Spencer.