Chapter 4: Midnight Drive
Lucky stared at the phone for a long time, unsure of what to do what to believe. Surely he had made a mistake and the number on the piece of paper could not have been Kelly's. Maybe he had seen Kelly's number somewhere downstairs, and instead of dialing the number of the woman he was supposed to reach, he had dialed Kelly's. Taking a deep and nervous breath, Lucky reached again for the phone and looked at the little piece of paper for the phone number he really needed to dial. His fingers were trembling too much, and twice he had to hang up and start again. Finally, after making sure he had dialed the right 7 numbers, he waited while, on the other end of the line, it rang.
And rang.
And rang.
"Thanks for calling Kelly's. How can I help you?"
"Hi," Lucky said, more confused than ever but determined not to hang up, "Is this Tammy?"
"No, this is Bobbie. Who's this?"
"Nevermind, thanks!"
Lucky hung up and scratched the back of his head in confusion. Okay, so far he knew that Tammy, Elizabeth and this new woman, Bobbie, worked at Kelly's. How many more women worked in that small restaurant?
Despair filled his heart as he realized that, after all this time, the other woman had probably moved or found another job. If that was the case, Then how was he going to be able to find her? Granted, the town was small, but it was still big enough for someone to go unnoticed if they wanted to stay hidden. What if the woman didn't want to be found? What if his parents had told her that, one day, someone might be looking for her to give her a boy and she had decided that she didn't want to have anything to do with the child?
"Stop it!" Lucky hissed through his teeth and turned around quickly. He had to find something to do or he would go nuts. If he stayed in this room one more minute, he would probably slam his fist into a wall. All these crazy ideas, like him never finding that woman, never finding his parents, were running through his head and the little demon on his shoulder, like the one in the cartoons, was telling him that trying to find this woman, and by doing so, finding his birth parents was a lost cause.
Grabbing the key Elizabeth had put on the table near the door, Lucky opened the door and walked out of his room. He made sure that he had his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans before he locked the door behind him and walked downstairs. He looked longingly at the counter, wanting to march to it and ask to see the woman who's name was on the paper, but decided against it. He couldn't let anyone ask questions tonight about why it was so important to him that he talk to her. He would walk around town first to try and get the feel of said town. That way, if the woman wasn't working at Kelly's anymore, he would know where to look for her next. Besides, he didn't feel like having his hopes crushed so soon.
"Lucas?"
Lucky turned around right away, a frown visible on his handsome face. He was wondering how the red headed woman standing just a couple of feet from him would know his name, since he had never met her before in his life. She was looking in his direction, and Lucky's brow frowned further. "Do I know you?" He asked, thoroughly confused.
"Where were you?" The woman asked him, and Lucky really looked at her, trying to figure out where he had seen her before. She looked kind of familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on who she reminded him of.
"I'm sorry," Lucky started politely, "but I don't recall having had the pleasure of meeting you before."
"What?" The woman asked, and Lucky realized for the first time that her eyes hadn't been focused on him at all, but at the small boy that was standing a couple of feet left of him.
"You said my name," Lucky replied.
"No, I didn't," the woman replied, looking as confused as Lucky was. "I was talking to my son."
"Your son's name is Lucas?" Lucky asked, clearly skeptical.
"Yes, it is," the woman replied, her hands on her hips. She saw that the boy wasn't believing her, and she was clearly not amused by being silently called a liar. "Are you telling me that you are named Lucas, too?"
"Lucas Gloria," Lucky said, extending his hand to her. "I'm the new tenant upstairs."
"Oh, hi," the woman said, her voice softening a little and a smile rose on her face. She reached and shook his hand while introducing herself. "I'm Bobbie. Welcome to Kelly's. I hope you like it here."
"The room is real nice," Lucky answered with a smile. Now that the misunderstanding at been cleared, he didn't feel like being obnoxious to the woman who was obviously trying to make him feel at home.
"Your meals are included in the rent, and no overnight guests. It was my aunt's policy and my brother and I decided to keep the same rules when we inherited this place after she passed away."
"Oh, I know, Tammy and Elizabeth told me everything a little earlier. I just finished getting settled in and I thought that I would take a walk around, just to get the feel of this town," Lucky said, feeling as if he was talking to his own mother. It was weird, because he had never been one to volunteer information. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Bye, Bobbie. Lucas," Lucky nodded to the forgotten boy and walked out, but not before he heard Lucas say "who was that guy?"
Lucky laughed. It was the second time someone had talked about him that way, in the same tone of voice and using the same words, as if Lucky's presence in town was a big mystery. Well, in a way, it was a mystery. No one knew why he was here, or where he was coming from. Lucky wanted to keep it that way for as long as he could.
His train of thought took him full circle back to the woman he originally came to Port Charles to look for. According to Bobbie, her aunt, who was the old Kelly's owner, had passed away and left the restaurant to Bobbie and her brother. So if Bobbie's aunt had known the woman Lucky was looking for, maybe Bobbie would know her, too.
He was so lost in his thoughts that Lucky wasn't watching where he was going, and he stopped when he nearly fell. He looked down to see what had caused him to lose his balance, and he realized that he had reached the front step of a business. He looked up and tried to read the sign. He couldn't make it out from the angle he was in, but the music coming to him through the walls was exactly the kind of music his subconscious had probably been looking for. What better way to think about your problems while listening to the blues?
Lucky walked up the step that led to the door, and he opened it slowly. The cozy atmosphere welcomed him right away, and he stepped inside. He looked around, and tried to understand the pattern on the walls, but it didn't seem to follow any kind of logic. Still, it was cool enough, and the music playing was nice enough. He walked to the bar and sat on a stool, his arms linked in front of him while he waited for the big black man behind the counter to come and take his order. Lucky couldn't help but think that the man would probably be better as a bouncer than as a bartender.
"What will it be?" the man asked, forcing Lucky to snap out of his thoughts and look up.
"Whatever you have on tap," Lucky replied as he read the name on the man's shirt. Claude. Somehow, it seemed to fit him.
"Coming right up," Claude said but stayed in front of Lucky, looking directly at him.
"Well?" Lucky asked, trying to figure out why the man wasn't moving to serve him his beer.
"Well, you didn't really think I would serve you a beer without seeing an ID, did you?" The man named Claude asked in his big booming voice. Lucky sighed and reached into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet. He took his driver's license out and showed it to the man. "Now can I have my beer?" He asked as Claude looked the ID over.
"Looks legit," Claude said as he gave Lucky back his card.
"Of course it's legit!" Lucky answered, obviously insulted. Did that man really think he would present a fake ID just so he could get a beer?
Claude didn't say anything but moved away from the counter to go get Lucky's beer, clearly unaffected by Lucky's snapping tone of voice. As his muscular form moved away, Lucky was finally able to make out the name of the place.
"Luke's," he read out loud. "Damn, are all the men in this freakin' town named either Lucas or Luke, or what?"
Since no one was close enough to hear what Lucky had said, he didn't get an answer. He looked around again, his eyes resting on a painting of a half naked woman hanging on the far end of the wall. Somehow, this didn't belong in a blues club, but like everything else in the room, it didn't make sense, anyway.
"Hey! what does a woman have to do to get a beer around here?" Lucky heard a female voice say from two stools left of him. He saw Claude turn around and frown, before the big man walked to the woman and leaned against the counter.
"She has to get up, walk out the door and walk to Jake's. You know your money's no good here." Claude answered coldly and turned around again. Lucky saw the woman sigh and pass a hand through her hair, before she stood up. Ever being the gentleman that he was, Lucky stood up and looked at Claude.
"Hey!" he said, trying to get the man's attention. When Claude turned around, Lucky stared at him. "Serve this woman a beer and put in on my tab. Last I heard, my money was still good here."
"Who the hell are you?" The blond woman asked, staring hard at him, and Lucky frowned. He just offered to buy her a beer and all he got in return was attitude?
"I'm the man who's getting you your beer, in case you hadn't noticed," Lucky answered as Claude put the beer in front of the woman. The bartender looked at Lucky and shook his head, as if he was saying 'you're crazier than I thought'.
"Claude knows better than to get cute with me," the blond woman replied before she took a sip of her beer. "But thanks, anyway. I've never been one to say no to a beer."
"You've never been one to say no to anything," Claude answered coldly from behind his counter.
"Want to sit over there?" Lucky asked, pointing at a table with the beer he had just picked up. "I think I've had just about enough of his know-it-all attitude."
"Sure," the blond shrugged and picked up her purse from the counter. She followed Lucky to the table and sat down after she put her beer on the table and her purse by the foot of the table. "So what's your name?"
Lucky put both of his elbows on the table and leaned forward, a smile on his lips. How many more times would he have to say his name and how many more jokes would he have to endure? He really should think about either taking the nickname 'Luke' or going by Lucas. But he was used to Lucky. He even liked it. Saying it for the first time was always a pain, though. "I'm Lucky. Yeah, I know," he said, lifting his hand to stop her from saying anything else, "it's a weird name to have, but it suits me."
"Hey, you're the one having to answer to it, not me," the woman answered as she leaned against the back of her chair. "I'm Carly," the woman said. "My uncle owns this dump. As you can see, I'm not his favorite niece, even though I'm his only niece."
Lucky couldn't help it, so he chuckled. She didn't seem to care that her uncle didn't want her here, she wanted to be there, so she was staying. "Well, I wouldn't mind having you for a niece," he said, wanting to tease her a little.
"Aren't you a little young for me?" Carly asked with a grin as she took a sip of her beer. "I mean, it's kind of flattering being flirted by a guy who's only a couple of years older than my little brother, but don't get any ideas in that pretty little head of yours. I'm a happily married woman."
Lucky laughed and put his hands up in defense. "Don't worry," he said with a grin, "I'm just passing through this town, I'm not looking to pick up women. Especially not married women."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Carly grinned, "they all say that. So where're you from?"
"Here and there. We moved around a lot," Lucky answered evasively, but he should've known that she was not one to take a hint, because her eyes narrowed.
"Okay, hot shot," she said, "what are you doing in this town, then?"
"It's a long story," Lucky answered, trying, once again, to dodge answering her directly.
"Well, I am waiting for my husband to show up, and he's always late so as long as you have money to keep those beers coming, I've got time."
Lucky was about to politely tell her to mind her own business when he changed his mind. He needed someone to talk to, someone who didn't know him, didn't know where he was currently staying so couldn't just pop up to his door and ask where he was in his search. He needed to empty his heart, and wanted to ask for advice about how to proceed. "Well," he started, not really knowing how to voice his thoughts, "I came here to look for my birth parents."
He didn't miss the shock in her face, and his eyes narrowed. Had he just made a mistake in telling her the truth about himself? "Welcome to Port Charles," Carly muttered as she looked down at her beer. "I came here for the same reason. Do you know who they are?"
"No," Lucky sighed, realizing now why he had wanted to tell her the truth. Maybe he had sensed that she had been in his situation once and knew he could count on her to give him good advice. "All I have is a name and a phone number on a little piece of paper."
"The name you have on that paper," Carly asked, carefully voicing her thoughts so it wouldn't lead to any misunderstandings, "is it the name of one of your parents?"
"I'm not sure. I mean, I know it's not the name of my mother and father, because they told the people who raised me that if I was ever in trouble, they needed to come to Port Charles and find this woman, she would know where to find my parents. So am I related to her by blood? I have no idea."
"Did you find her?"
"No," Lucky sighed. "The number written on that paper probably changed owner, because now it's the number of a restaurant not too far from here. If I don't find her, I have no way of finding my birth parents."
As Carly was about to answer, they heard someone say "I'm 5 minutes late and I find you sitting with a boy young enough to be your brother." Carly looked up from behind Lucky and a big smile broke on her face. Lucky turned around to see what had made her face light up so completely, and was stared at by another black man. Although he was as built as Claude, his head was shaven and his skin color was lighter.
"I told you that if you were late one more time I would run off with some other guy!" Carly answered, her face serious and challenging. Before Lucky had time to defend himself and reassure the man that was big enough to crush him with one hit, though, Carly had shot out of her chair and ran into the man's arms.
The guy broke his wife's embrace and smiled at Lucky. "Hey," he said, reaching over Carly's shoulder to shake Lucky's hand. "I'm Marcus Taggert, this woman's husband."
"Lucky Gloria," Lucky answered, shaking Marcus' hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Thanks for keeping her company while she waited for me, man, I appreciate it. I don't know why she's so stubborn about coming to this place, but you know women."
Lucky laughed and Carly stuck his tongue at him. "So, Lucky, you never did tell me who you were looking for. Maybe I can help."
"Maybe," Lucky shrugged and took the paper out of his pocket, before he handed it to her.
"Oh, man," Carly said, her face down as she read the name written on it. "I'm sorry, Lucky."
"Why?" Lucky asked with a frown. "What's the matter."
"Ruby Anderson died about a year and a half ago."