Chapter 14

"Here," Elizabeth muttered, dropping a bottle of water into his lap as she stepped over his legs that were resting on the coffee table.

"Son of a bitch," he hissed, as it landed uncomfortably in his lap. He glared at her, biting back any further remarks, and shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

"Sorry about that," she replied, grinning as she threw herself down beside him.

He shook his head, dropping the cold rag back over his face and settled against the cushions.

It wasn't her fault that he made it so easy for her to torture him. Not to mention that he'd been whining about needing water for the last hour, and she was just as hung over as he was, and yet, he forced her to practically crawl to the bathroom to get him a damp cloth, and then to the kitchen for a bottle of water.

"So, what do I need to expect from Johnny today at the meeting?" he asked, drawing the cloth away from his eyes and peeking over at her.

"I don't know," she replied quietly, lifting her legs onto the couch and hugging her knees to her chest.

His brow furrowed briefly, but he just sighed, pulling the cloth back over his face. She was relieved that he didn't press her any further, and it wasn't like Johnny wouldn't fill him in on her antics, but then again, he wasn't saying much of anything these days.

"Jason?' she asked, rubbing her cheek against her bare knee as she tucked the material of her dress between her legs. She had fallen asleep on the couch in her clothes from the night before, Jason in the chair across from her.

"Yeah?" he grunted, taking a swig of his water, most of his face still hidden beneath the cloth.

"If he says anything to you…"

"I'll let you know," he finished, shifting again on the couch.

She was going to tell him not to, but of course, he assumed she wanted to know, and at this point, she just wasn't sure what she wanted anymore.

Ever since Johnny had come back to town, she wanted him and only him, and when he asked her for the truth last night, she told him not to marry Lulu because she wasn't right for him.

Not once did she mention wanting him or loving him, and she had no idea why. The speech had been rehearsed and practiced in her bathroom mirror, and while she hadn't imagined him falling at her feet and returning her declarations, she'd had the chance to say what she wanted, but didn't.

She tried to figure out when things had gotten so complicated between them, when the innocence they had growing up as kids was lost, and life became one confusing mess. She could argue it was Jason Quartermaine's accident, but even before that, things were amuck. Be it teenage hormones or misplaced feelings, the day she acknowledged having feelings for Jason Quartermaine was probably the day it was all shot to hell.

No longer were they just Johnny, Jason, and Elizabeth braving the world together, but instead they were Jason and Elizabeth and their friend, Johnny. Sure, Jason hadn't openly reciprocated her feelings, and she would never know if he really wanted her, but he gravitated towards her nonetheless, and they were closer with every passing day, pushing Johnny just a little bit more on the outside.

And now the same thing had happened all over again.

Maybe that was why Johnny assumed she and Jason were finally together. She was aware that their relationship wasn't normal; that it was dependent to a fault, but neither she nor Jason seemed to mind. It wasn't like it was intentional, that she was trying to replace Johnny, and she hated that he thought that, which judging from his comment the night before he clearly did.

God, she was a fucking mess.

She sighed heavily, her eyes brimming with tears at the thought of Johnny's Jason Quartermaine comment. She'd never intended on putting one of them before the other. It was just a natural progression, and she'd never thought about it or what it meant until now.

"Jason?" she asked again, wiping her eyes with her fingertips before turning to look at him.

"Yeah," he murmured, pulling the cloth from his face and dropping it onto the couch. He yawned, his eyes crinkling in the corners.

"Johnny said something to me last night," she said, her voice breaking and her face flushing with embarrassment.

"What did he say?" he asked, sitting up beside her.

"You know how I told him not to marry Lulu," she replied slowly, telling herself not to cry and make things more complicated.

"What did you do?" he asked, shaking his head and looking away.

"Why do you assume I did something?" she cried defensively, dropping her legs from the couch and glaring at him.

"I imagine anything he had in response to you telling him not to marry his fiancé-"

"Go to hell, Jason," she spat, pushing herself up from the couch and hurrying past him.

"Elizabeth, come on," he said, getting up from the couch as she stopped to jerk on her shoes that were kicked off by the door.

"Shut up," she hissed, swearing when she tugged on the strap of her shoe and it broke off. "Contrary to what you think, Jason, I'm not some selfish bitch out to steal Johnny back from Lulu."

"I didn't say that," he groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Well, what do you think he said to me?" she asked, her chin quivering as she gave up on her shoes, kicking them aside and opening the door. "Obviously, it was justified right? Isn't that what you were getting at?" He let out a deep breath, folding his arms cross his chest as he stared at her. "You really can go to hell."

"So, I'm going to meet with the two guys from Manhattan next weekend after Elizabeth's showing, and then Lulu and I will leave the following week for France, so she can get her dress and fill her mother in on everything," Johnny said, tapping his pen on the edge of Jason's desk. "Then her parents are coming back with us, and it's just crazy…Can you believe I'm getting married in less than a month?"

"Guess not," he continued, tossing the pen down on the desk.

"Sorry," Jason muttered, glancing down at the makeshift schedule Johnny had jotted out for him. He wasn't too happy about having to deal with a couple of investors while his friend was away, but figured if he could convince Elizabeth to come along and sidetrack them from his terrible pitches, he would be okay.

That is, if she was speaking to him by then.

Sure, they'd fought over the last year, telling one another off time and time again. Hell, one night he was even screamed at all along Main Street for dragging her out of the bar to keep her from sleeping with Lucky Cassidine, yet again, and she'd pouted for days after, but that was nothing compared to this.

Not once had she ever told him to go to hell with a glare and tone that had left him feeling this miserable.

Not once had he ever wanted to chase after her and apologize, swearing to never be an asshole again.

And all for something he still didn't understand.

"She told you," Johnny sighed, shaking his head and getting up from the chair.

"Huh?"

"Elizabeth, she told you about last night," he continued, raking a hand through his hair. "I just got so pissed off, Jason."

He raised his eyebrows not sure what his friend was getting at, but figured he'd let him get there on his own.

"She told me she didn't want me to marry Lulu, and then she started slamming her, and she brought up what happened…" He grimaced, as if he'd gone too far or brought up something inappropriate. Jason shrugged, looking away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it, it just came out of my mouth, and man, I thought she was going to cry. And I hate when Elizabeth cries."

Jason perked up, leaning forward in his chair. Something had happened, and not only had it upset, but it nearly made her cry, neither of which sat well with him at all. "What did you do?"

"She didn't tell you?" he asked, his shoulders falling as he realized he'd walked right into it.

"She was upset when she left this morning," he replied seriously, not able to shake the look on her face before she walked out the door. How sad and defeated she'd been.

"Fuck," Johnny hissed, kicking the leg of the chair he'd been sitting in. "Promise me you're not going to get mad, okay?"

Jason clenched his jaw as he rubbed his palms roughly against the chair arms. "What did you say to her?" he asked, his chest tightening with guilt.

"I told her what happened between us shouldn't have."

Even if he did regret it, Johnny should have never told her that.

"That it was wrong of me to lead her on."

His best friend was the stupidest person alive.

"And I may have made a really bad comment about Jason Quartermaine."

Leave it to Johnny to lay it on nice and thick for her.

"What did you say about him?" Jason asked, his tone letting his friend know he was demanding to know, not asking.

"Look, I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated, or maybe I did…I just-"

"Johnny, what the fuck did you say to her?" he asked, grabbing some files from his desk to distract himself from the desire to punch him, but still gave himself the option to throw something. Thinking twice, he dropped the files and picked up a square, glass paperweight, clutching it tightly in his hand.

"I, uh, well, she said she was just an obligation to me," he replied, swallowing hard as he paced back and forth. "Which is the furthest thing from the truth, and you know that, Jason. She never was-"

"But you didn't tell her that," he cut in, narrowing his eyes at him and letting out a deep breath, quickly losing his patience.

"No."

"Well?"

"I told her she thought I was just a Jason Quartermaine stand in," he replied grimly, looking at Jason with apologetic eyes.

"You stupid fuck," he hissed, the paperweight flying from his hand without even thinking about it.

"There," Elizabeth muttered in satisfaction, turning off the vacuum and smiling at her perfectly cleaned apartment. Granted, the vacuum had left a trail of dust from all that it had collected in the back of her hall closet, but aside from that, the room was sparkling clean.

Every clothing item in her living room had been washed, folded, and put away, and what wasn't had been boxed and stacked by the door, waiting to be donated to Good Will. The pizza boxes, Chinese cartons, and empty wine glasses had been disposed off and washed, and the trash was waiting to be thrown out on garbage night. Her plush blue rug was soft and cozy beneath her feet, the grit and grime having been sucked into the vacuum or scrubbed away with her brush and mop bucket. Even the furniture seemed to be smiling at her, the cushions fluffed and the throws tucked neatly into the couch, happily matching her polished coffee table.

And she almost felt better.

She unplugged the vacuum and started to wrap the cord up, but just let it drop to the floor and walked over to the couch, throwing herself face down onto the cushions. Cleaning wasn't as much fun without someone around to appreciate it, or rather make fun of her for doing it, but she refused to mope over Jason.

Rolling over, she reached for the remote, pausing long enough to take in the nice, clean smell of her couch. Yawning, she sat up and flicked the television on just as someone knocked on her door. She sat up, turned the TV back off, and heavily debated answering it, just because it could be Jason.

She wanted him to fester for a while.

"Elizabeth? Are you home?"

"Oh, this is fantastic," she muttered, pulling herself up from the couch and walking over to her door. She peeked through the whole, hoping that it was some other annoying blonde, and not Lulu Spencer-soon-to-be-O'Brien standing on her doorstop.

Alas, it was.

She undid the chain and flicked the lock. "Hi," she said curtly, opening the door halfway.

"Oh, good you're here," she murmured, sounding relieved. She stared at Elizabeth for a few seconds, and then became uncomfortable when she realized she wasn't being invited inside. "Well, I was hoping we could talk."

"Uh, huh," Elizabeth replied, leaning against the door and rolling her eyes at the blonde's perfectly put together outfit.

She was dressed in ironed khaki skirt and starched button-downed blouse, every curl on her head neatly rounded, her black headband matching her belt, and her black flats, perfectly matching her designer bag the entire way down to the silver clasp on both of them. She looked incredible next to Elizabeth and her dirty yoga paints and sweat-soaked tank top.

And she hated her for it.

"It's just, Johnny didn't come back to the hotel last night, and he said it was work, but I'm afraid something else is going on," she sighed, frowning heavily as she stared at the brunette.

Elizabeth's eyes rose at her comment and a slow smirk formed across her face. "Well, he was having such a good time when I left him last night," she lied, stepping aside and motioning her in. "Maybe he just had too much to drink."

"I worried that was it, but when I talked to him, he was so upset," she replied, stopping when she stepped into the living room.

She tried to ignore the look of shock on the blonde's face, how she glanced around clearly wondering if they were in the right apartment.

"I thought you might know why," Lulu finished, turning around to face her, her purse tucked beneath her arm.

"Me?" she asked, biting her tongue at the tone she'd used as if Elizabeth had done something to upset him.

"You were with him," she replied, forcing a smile at her. "He told me how you don't mind flirting with the old men and asked if it would bother me if he took-"

"I mind the old men," Elizabeth corrected her, instantly infuriated with Johnny's stupid fiancé. "But I like helping Johnny and Jason, even if that means I have to bat my eyes at some geezer with old money…I also like helping them with their business."

"It's always bored me," she admitted, cracking a smile as she sat down on the couch, looking as though she belonged there. Apparently she could make herself at home now that she thought the apartment was sanitary.

"Yeah, Johnny told me that," she replied, kicking the door closed with her foot, not surprised that Lulu looked annoyed. "We all have our little faults that drive our boyfriends wild."

"I wouldn't say it's a fault," Lulu said, looking at her confused. "If anything, I was just raised that a woman doesn't stick her head where it doesn't belong."

Elizabeth grunted, folding her arms over her chest. The battle lines were being drawn, and she didn't even have to take the first shot. "What do you want?"

"To know why Johnny didn't come home," she replied seriously, tugging uncomfortably at her collar. "He was with you, and I know that somehow you upset him, even if it wasn't intentional, but I could just tell."

This was it.

First, Johnny had to act like she was the one at fault.

Then, Jason jumped to conclusions about how she had started all of this.

And now, Lulu wanted to know what the fuck she had done to her precious John Boy.

"If by upsetting him, you mean I demanded to know why he nearly slept with me and led me on for a whole year, only to come back to town with someone else," Elizabeth said, failing to choose her words carefully, "then yeah, I upset him."

She wasn't sure how long Lulu sat there, the silence consuming her as Elizabeth's words sank in. She saw the change in Lulu's face, how her lips shook and her smile became strained, her hands clutching the purse to her lap.

The blonde's eyes lifted to her's, filling with tears as she stared up at her. "I knew it," she said quietly, shaking her head in disbelief. "I knew he lied to me."

"Lulu," she murmured guilty, already regretting her words, but she was getting up from the couch and walking over to the door. "Lulu, wait."

"You don't have to say anything," she replied, raking a hand through her hair and messing up her curls. "You don't have to say anything at all."

She was out the door before Elizabeth could stop her, pulling it closed behind her. She didn't slam it, but it was clear that she didn't want to be followed.

"Fucking idiot," she moaned, cradling her face in her hands as she threw herself back down on the couch, letting out a high pitched scream of frustration.

She almost hated herself more than she could ever hate Lulu.

Sitting up, she reached instinctively for her phone to call Jason, wanting to tell him so he could somehow warn Johnny, but that just wasn't an option. She sat back trying to figure out what exactly was going through Lulu's head right now and how upset she was going to be with her fiancé, and then she cursed herself for feeling bad for her.

It was possible that Lulu thought she still wanted Johnny or vice versa, and that maybe coming back to Port Charles had upset him, and while yes, some of it was true, Lulu just wasn't supposed to know. She couldn't know that Elizabeth was stealing, or rather wanted to steal her fiancé because that would just be, well, tacky.

Lulu had to remain otherwise convinced.

Elizabeth smirked.

Then grinned.

And finally she snickered.

All the while knowing she couldn't, but she really had been left with no other choice.

Flipping open her phone, she dialed Ritchie's number, waiting impatiently for him to answer.

"Now, why is my favorite girl calling me mid-afternoon?" he asked, his words half-slurred, and she knew he'd hit the bar on his lunch break.

"Can it, jerk," she replied, rolling her eyes and picking at a stain in the couch cushion. "I need a favor."

"Anything for you," he laughed, and she knew he was wearing some loopy, drunken grin on his face.

To think, she had seriously contemplated sleeping with him at one point.

"I need you to get Jason to the Metro Court Restaurant tonight at seven, and I need him in a suit," she said slowly, frowning when she realized she hadn't thought about how to get Johnny and Lulu there.

"How in the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I also need you to get Lulu and Johnny there, which may be hard because they are fighting, but you're smart and you can set up some lie or something, right?"

"You said a favor, not two, and the first one is going to be hard enough."

"Ritchie, if you do this for me the next time we're alone..."

"Yeah?"

"I'll let you do more than cop a feel," she purred, rolling her eyes when he groaned on the other end. She hung up before he could reply, knowing he'd come through, and that for the rest of her life, she could never be alone with him again.