Emily totally lost herself in the kiss. As suddenly as it had begun,
it ended. Nicholas pulled back and looked at her. ‘Oh, god,
what have I done. ‘ This was his best friend. He couldn’t lose
her because of something as meaningless as a kiss. Meaningless?
Well, to her it was. Wasn’t it? Finally he spoke. “Uh,
Emily, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“What…you didn’t mean to what? Kiss me?” Emily felt
her heart sink. Maybe he ws just worried about what it would do to
their friendship. “Don’t be…”
“Yeah, it…it was a mistake. I’m really sorry. I’m
just too confused and mixed up. I don’t know what came over me.”
He swallowed hard, willing himself to overcome the urge to kiss her again.
Emily tried not to show she was hurt. “Uh, yeah, forget
about it Nik…It’s okay, I get it. Nevermind…”
Nicholas was too confused himself to realize that Emily wasn’t
making much sense. “I, ah, gotta go. Thanks for, um, helping
me. See you. B…Bye.”
“Yeah, bye.” Emily watched him rush away. ‘God! Am I
that disgusting to you?’ She thought to herself, tears flowing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laura sat alone at her house. “Dear God, what have I done?”
The doorbell rings. Laura goes to answer it. “Elizabeth!
What are you doing here?”
Elizabeth smiles hesitantly at Laura. “Well…I was wondering…hey,
what’s wrong?” Liz put her hand on Laura’s shoulder.
“Oh, Elizabeth, I’ve ruined everything…” Laura broke down
in sobs. “My sons, my husband. All gone. Forever.
Forever!” She fell to her knees.
Elizabeth frowned. “Laura? What happened?”
Lizzie crouched down next to Laura. “Laura, are you okay?”
Liz asked, concerned.
“No, Elizabeth, I’m not. I…I…I’ve mad a horrible, unforgivable
mistake. A catastrophe. Luke and Lucky and Nicholas will never
speak to me again. God I’ve lost them, just when I got them back!”
Laura hugged Liz hard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke handed his son a shot of whiskey. “Here son, down one with me.”
Lucky hesitated. “It’s alright, Cowboy. Down the hatch!”
Luke downed his shot. Lucky did, making a face. He hated to
see his father like this. He looked so lost, so…depressed.
But, that was expected. What wasn’t expected was how decent he had
been to Nicholas on the docks. It would have been more “Spencer”
to blame him, then to make it known he wasn’t to blame. Luke handed him
another.
Just then Nicholas walked in, or I should say, stormed in. “Hey”
he grunted. He walked over and sat next to Luke, defeatedly.
He put his head in his hands. Luke clapped him on the back.
“Here, Prince Vlad, have one!” He handed him Lucky’s untouched glass.
Nicholas sniffed it. Then he quickly downed it, without flinching.
Lucky felt a sense of jealousy come over him as Luke respectfully looked
at him as asked for another. He shook his head. ‘This is stupid.
So the kis can drink, so can I!’ Lucky took it from him and downed
it, willing himself not to show his discust. He caught eyes with
Nicholas as he slammed it down. Nicholas smiled at him, and realizing
how foolish he ws being, Lucky laughed.
“What’s so funny, Cowboy?” Luke’s speech was slurred. He’s
been hittin the bottle ever since they had arrived at Luke’s. It
was practically gone. Lucky shrugged.
“Inside joke I guess. So inside that no-one knows about
it!” Lucky cracked up at Nicholas’ comment. His head felt a
little fuzzy. Maybe I’ve had enough for now. ‘Who knew, three
shots and everything’s funny!’ What he didn’t realize was that, after
three shots every night for as long as Luke had it was no longer
funny.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emily defeatedly trudged home. “Damn Nicholas!”
“Excuse me?” Ned said, starling her out of her train of
thought.
“Ned, hey! What’s going on? “ She smiled half-heartedly
at Ned. Ned smiled and shook his head at her.
“Oh, no Emily. You’re not getting away with it that easily!
Tell me, what’s wrong?” Ned put his arm around Emily.
Emily sank greatfully into Ned’s arms. “Oh, Ned, I’m so
confused!!!” She started to cry again.
