On a normal Guy's night, his claim of having to stop by Club Liquid for a minute because of work would have been met with jeers and inappropriate jokes. Even if it was actually a legitimate reason this time. But Lucky was increasingly beginning to realize this was not a normal night. Patrick had been distant for the past few days. Sure he still told the same jokes, made the same moves, but something was off, Lucky just couldn't quite put his finger on it. And Cruz had been distracted all week. He was ninety-nine percent sure it had something to do with the mysterious girlfriend but all hints to that nature had been met with silence and a completely random subject change.
"I swear this will just take one minute." He offered. He didn't expect it to take even that long. All he had to do was run to the DJ booth, ask about the reaction to the newest dance mix of Daphne's first single and then it was over, they could leave. And it wasn't like they actually paid to get into the club in the first place so they would be out no money whatsoever.
"Are you in a hurry to get rid of us?" Patrick asked in a mocking voice.
"No more than usual." Lucky responded.
"We both know you're really going to call Miss Elizabeth." Cruz teased. Not that he would be much better. Bobbie was still battling whatever flu she had caught. She had refused to go to the doctor but had finally relented late last night. The first chance he got he was calling her and checking in.
"Those of us without secret girlfriends don't have to sneak to call them." Lucky pointed out. Countdown to subject change, he thought. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
"Is it just me or have the clubs in this town gotten louder?" Cruz wondered.
"And you accuse me of being an old man?" Patrick inquired incredulously, slapping Cruz on the back.
Lucky tried to hold back his laugh. It was textbook. He motioned to the DJ booth. "I'll be right back," and made his way up the stairs to talk shop.
"What's with him?" Patrick asked Cruz as he watched his cousin walk away.
"Besides the usual?"
"He seems a little off tonight." Patrick didn't know if he really believed that or not, but it was the fastest way to divert attention from himself. He had come home early and Robin had gone after him with questions. He hated lying to her but, really, at this point, who wasn't he lying to?
Cruz shrugged. "First weekend since they got back he's not spent it with Elizabeth attached at his hip. Probably the shock to see that they do detach."
"I guess." Patrick answered distractedly. Usually the bar scene would relax him, but not tonight. No, tonight he could think of somewhere else he'd rather be.
"What's the verdict? Wait here or make him think we ditched him?" Cruz snuck a look at his watch. Lucas, Dillon, and Lance had planned to come over to spend time with Bobbie tonight. They should be gone by ten. At least Cruz thought so. Lance was five. He didn't need to be out that late. He could sneak a phone call in two hours. Plenty of time. Maybe even a quick visit. He was betting Patrick and Lucky would both come up with lame excuses to leave well before that.
"Which would bring more enjoyment for us? It's not often we get to see him pissed off." Patrick reasoned with a chuckle.
"So ditch it is then?"
Patrick was about to agree when he noticed two familiar brunettes heading their way. "Well, what do you know? Look who followed us here." He said once they were in hearing distance.
Elizabeth cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Oh I'm sure Courtney would have been all over that plan."
"Where is Courtney?" Patrick glanced over their heads, ready to hop over the bar if she showed herself.
"She's parking the car." Robin explained barely suppressing her smile.
"Quick Patrick there's still time for you to escape." Cruz teased
Patrick cut him a sharp glance, "That's not funny."
"Actually it is a little funny." Robin pointed out.
"More than a little." Elizabeth agreed.
"So what is your lame excuse for being here since it's obvious you couldn't stay away?" Patrick wondered, cocking an eyebrow at his girlfriend.
"Because when you look as good as we do, you don't sit home on a Saturday night because of some stupid bullshit like Guys' Night." Courtney answered coming up behind her friends. "Hello Patrick." She drawled out slowly.
"Medusa. Nice to see you out and about." Patrick greeted her, biting the inside of his cheek.
"Patrick!" Robin scolded him. "Be nice."
"It's ok Robin. I know how to forgive little people." Courtney over-emphasized the word little and teamed it with a pointed look as to insinuate she knew something no one else in the room did.
"Drinks? Anybody want a drink?" Robin gestured toward the bar, slamming the heel of her silver shoe into Patrick's left shin.
"See I told you it wouldn't take..." Lucky stopped dead in his tracks when he recognized who was standing with his friends. "I thought this was Girls' Night. Doesn't that include girly movies and face junk?" he teasingly asked his girlfriend.
"Well I was under the impression that Guy's Night involved going to Jake's, watching some sports thing, and drinking until you're stupid." Elizabeth smiled.
"Lucky brought his work home with him and we ended up here." Patrick clarified.
Courtney nodded. "Well then you can move on now can't you?"
"We were here first." Patrick reminded her.
Lucky moved closer to Elizabeth and whispered in her ear. "I sense a bloodbath about to start. Want to dance and avoid it?"
"You owe me if I miss all the fun."
"Then we'll just have to make our own won't we?" he drawled leading her out onto the floor.
"I always knew you drove men away, but there goes Elizabeth too. Your powers must be growing." Patrick teased Courtney curtly.
"What is the matter with you?" Robin demanded barely able to keep from stomping her foot at her boyfriend's behavior.
"You know Courtney, I was thinking about doing a profile on you and your up and coming film career." It was a bold face lie but he was about three seconds away from being a witness to someone's murder and Cruz had to do something. "Can we talk about that over by the bar?"
She was almost certain he was making this up, but publicity was publicity. And Courtney did have a career to think about. Besides it wasn't like she wanted to spend all night with Patrick anyways. "Sure. I feel the need to spend time in more intelligent company anyway."
Robin mouthed a "thank-you" to Cruz and spun around to face Patrick, "You have about thirty seconds to explain to me what the hell that was all about."
"Robin, you know she hates me." Patrick started with reason, but he doubted it'd be all that effective.
"Courtney is my best friend. How dare you talk to her that way? It was uncalled for." Robin insisted angrily.
"She'd like nothing better than for us to break-up and I'm not underestimating her anymore. How else could she convince you to wear...that, and in public no less?" Patrick motioned toward her outfit. The sapphire blue dress was held up by a single two-inch strap and hung well above her knees. Her toes were freshly polished and shown off by a pair of metallic silver high heels.
Robin's eyes widened at his explanation and she gaped at him for a few seconds, not sure that the next words out of her mouth wouldn't be in relation to his murder. What was wrong with her dress? She had gotten it on her lunch break today and, while Courtney had been the one to suggest Girls' Night, she certainly hadn't been malicious about it. "What?" She choked out, her eyes going from a soft brown color to a bottomless black shade.
"You heard me. You shouldn't be wearing a dress like that." Patrick stressed each word.
"A dress like what?" Robin's voice rose in irritation.
"You were the one who insisted on the relationship thing and you come in wearing that dress. Why not just hop up on the bar and give all the assholes in this place a free show?" Patrick shot back unhinged.
Robin reached over and slapped him hard across the face. "Why are you saying these things to me? What's got you so angry, because it sure as hell can't be a dress?"
"Do whatever you want, Robin. I really don't care anymore." With that, Patrick stalked out of the bar, leaving his friends with uncertain looks on their faces.
"Do you want to follow him?" Elizabeth asked in concern.
"If I thought he would tell me what has been bugging him for the past few days I would. But right now I think I'd just get my head bitten off worse than Robin." Lucky grinned a little. "Besides I drove so he'll either have to walk home or wait for me anyways."
He pushed her in Robin's direction. "Go check on her. I know you want to."
Elizabeth kissed his cheek. "I'll make it up to you."
"I'll hold you to that. Now go check."
Elizabeth moved through the sea of dancers as quickly as she could, watching Lucky head towards the end of the bar. When she reached Robin, she gently tapped her friend on her shoulder. "So did I miss anything?"
Robin shook her head. "I don't understand. He was so upset."
"Yeah that was way more than just Courtney setting him off."
"He practically said I'm dressed like a slut. He's not going to let me in and tell me what it was really about." Robin whispered embarrassed.
Elizabeth hugged Robin hard. "In the first place you look fabulous. Don't let him tell you differently. Now let's go over the bar, let someone else buy us drinks, and curse him for awhile."
"Tequila it is." Robin decided, hurrying over to the bar. How many drinks did it take to forget the ugly things your boyfriend just said to you? She was about to find out.
"Do you want to go over there?" Cruz offered Courtney when Elizabeth and Robin took up spots at the other end of the bar. Lucky had shot him a "save me" look when it became clear he was about to play babysitter to two women determined to figure out what was wrong with Patrick and more than likely men in general.
"Somehow I think it may be safer over here." Courtney smiled. "Robin has this crazy idea that I provoke Patrick."
"And I wonder where she would get that idea from?" Cruz mumbled under his breath. "I am just tragically misunderstood."
"What exactly is it you have against Patrick anyways?" At first the war between the two of them was amusing but now it was starting to affect Cruz's life. There was no way he or Lucky would leave without trying to contact Patrick and find out where he was. If he came back in, round two was most likely to start and Cruz wouldn't be able to leave then. If Patrick had left and found other company, then he was most likely going to be on the receiving end of another Robin Scorpio revenge ambush.
"You mean besides the five years of hell he put Robin through while she was married to his slug of a brother? Besides the living hell he made her life because he didn't want to face the truth about his brother? Besides his 'love em and leave em' reputation? Besides all that?"
"Yes." Cruz knew his friend had more than his fair share of flaws, but underneath it all he was a good guy. Ok so his exes may beg to differ with that impression but there were very few people Cruz wanted standing behind him in a fight besides Patrick Drake.
"I don't want Robin hurt. He's going to hurt her. He just did it again or did you miss that?"
"Believe it or not he doesn't want to hurt her either you know."
"You have to say that as his friend."
"No as his friend, I'm supposed to be honest about what type of guy he is." Cruz paused to take a sip of his beer. "He really is trying Courtney."
"A leopard can't change his spots."
"But a confused zebra can." Cruz smiled as his remark got the desired puzzled stare from Courtney. It had shut her up and ended that conversation quite nicely, he congratulated himself.
He sneaked a glance at his watch. Still plenty of time if Patrick was just out in the parking lot, kicking Lucky's tires. He missed the smirk Courtney gave him when she noticed the action.
"Hot date tonight Cruz?" She purred.
"No just trying to remember the bus schedule to track down Patrick later if I need to." It was scaring him how quickly the lies could fall out of his mouth these days.
"The bus schedule? You're sure it's not a hot date?" Courtney affected a pout.
"Courtney I think I would know if I had a date or not."
"Well I guess you would, but I just thought you would with Bobbie being sick the past few days. I do hope she's feeling better."
"She was a little..." he stopped himself, realizing too late his mistake. Cruz narrowed his eyes. "What are talking about?"
Courtney laughed and shook her head. "You are dating Bobbie Spencer right? I just assumed since I keep seeing her car in your drive and vice versa."
"What are you stalking me?"
"Don't flatter yourself. You live near us remember? And sometimes to get to work I drive past Bobbie's house." Courtney shook her head in disgust. "Stalk you? Hardly. You are so not my type."
"Who have you told?"
"Why would I tell anyone? You obviously want to keep it a secret and that's fine with me. Your business is your business."
"Look we're going to tell people, the time just isn't right yet."
Courtney placed her hand on Cruz's arm. "Relax. No one will find out from me before the time is right." She smiled and patted his forearm. "I promise Cruz. No one will hear anything from me."
Silently Lucky cursed his cousin. The night had started out so well. And it had promised only to get better when they had bumped into the girls. With that dark green tank top with spaghetti straps and those black pants that hugged her curves, Elizabeth had only added to his enjoyment of the evening. But then Patrick had to take out whatever the hell crawled up his ass and died this week on Robin and now he was stuck babysitting her and Elizabeth as the downed shot after shot of tequila. He thought he had paid for his mistakes in Vegas. Apparently he had thought wrong.
"Is it such a crazy thing to want a guy to say what he means and mean what he says?" Robin asked her friends, running her right index finger over the rim of her shot glass. This place wasn't nearly as dark and dreary as Jake's, but she figured out that the atmosphere had nothing to do with how fast she could get wasted.
"Nope. Not at all." Elizabeth chimed in. She pointed in Lucky's direction. "Pay attention here, you'll learn something."
He didn't know whether to laugh or groan. He settled for a mock salute.
"Patrick is your cousin. Why is he such a...a...you know?" Robin was trying to make them understand by snapping her fingers together.
When Patrick showed his face again, he was dead. Plain and simple. "I don't know Robin. He's normally not that bad."
"When do you see him as 'not so bad'? I want to see that Patrick." Robin sighed wistfully.
"Do we need another round?" Elizabeth asked.
"Do you have a spare liver?" Robin asked in a teasing voice.
Lucky snorted. "She didn't drive, did she?"
"Hey I'm still here you know." Elizabeth protested.
"Are you sure about that?" Teasingly Lucky held up three fingers. "Quick how many fingers am I holding up?"
Smacking his hand down, Elizabeth offered up one finger of her own. "How many am I?"
"You guys are killing me softly with your cuteness." Robin grumbled, stumbling off of the bar stool.
"I think we drove Robin away instead of cheering her up." Elizabeth mused.
"Damn. Alone again naturally."
"I should go after her." Elizabeth slid off her chair and immediately stumbled when she tried to walk.
"Steady there." Across the crowd, Lucky spotted Patrick wandering back into the club, obviously looking for a specific someone. Smiling, Lucky pointed in his cousin's direction. "I think you should let him take care of this one."
"But he's..."
"Her boyfriend and he's the one who made this mess. He gets to clean it up."
Sighing Elizabeth leaned her head into his shoulder. "You're so smart sometimes."
"Try to remember that when your sober."