When I See You Smile
by Brittany
Okay...to all of you New York natives out there, and I know you're out there.
Please don't kill me if I make mistakes with your beautiful city. I've only
been there once and it was years ago. And while most of the images are
indelibly seared into my brain, I'm sure I'm going to make mistakes. So
please just bear with me and use your imagination. I promise I'll do the same
if you ever want to write a story involving Lakeland, Florida.
Yeah...right....like THAT's gonna happen. :-))
Oh and I want to give a extra special thanks to Maria
Maria for her expert advice on New York City and Blu for proofreading my
spelling and punctuation. Any mistakes made within however are mine, since I
changed some things after they proofread. So my sincere thanks to these two
special people, Thanks ya'll!
Chapter Seven
The crown of the Statue of Liberty
"I can't believe that I just climbed all those stairs," Liz groaned "That was
worse than a hundred step aerobic classes."
"And with a hot-dog in your hand no less," Lucky laughed "When you said that
you wanted a hot-dog, I had no idea you meant for breakfast." Lucky grimaced
as Liz took a big bite of her now cold hot-dog.
After thoroughly chewing and swallowing Liz smiled sweetly at him "When else
would you eat a hot-dog?" She took another big bite "I can't believe this
view, it's amazing! All the boats look like little toys" Liz exclaimed with
delight in her eyes.
"Just wait until you see the cars from the top of the World Trade Center."
Lucky said, moving closer to her "Now hold still, you have mustard on your
chin." Lucky tilted Liz's chin up and wiped off the smudge of mustard.
Lucky's eyes traveled slowly up her face, lingering on her lips. Suddenly the
full lips he was admiring curved upward in a smile, Lucky's gaze flew to Liz's
eyes to find them brimming with laughter.
"See something you like?" Liz asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
Lucky blushed a faint pink "Yeah," he said softly, and smoothed his thumb
over her bottom lip. "something I like a whole lot." Lucky slowly bent
towards her, his eyes locked on hers. Liz smiled and placed her hand on the
side of his face, tilting her face to meet his.......and was suddenly shoved
into his chest.
"Oh I am so sorry!" said a male voice with a deep southern drawl.
Liz spun around and Lucky looked up to see a portly man in an "I Love New
York" shirt, holding a camera and looking mortified.
"I.....I....didn't mean to bump into ya'll," he stammered "I was looking
through my camera and just didn't see ya'll." the man looked around in
embarrasment. "There really isn't a lot of room up here is there?"
Lucky smiled, with a look of disappointment in his eyes. "No sir, there sure
isn't." Lucky took Liz's hand and pulled her towards the stairs. "We'll just
get out of the way so you can get your shot." Liz smiled at Lucky and
shrugged as they started down the stairs.
"Maybe next time." she said with a teasing smile
"You can count on it!" Lucky said, then he flashed her a huge smile. "Come
on woman, we've got a lot more city to see."
Several hours later in Central Park
"I know it's around her somewhere," Lucky said, starting down another path "I
remember my mom bringing me to it."
"Lucky, I'm hungry." Liz complained "and my feet hurt, can we forget about
this and go get lunch?"
"No, I promise, just as soon as I find it. HEY! There it is," Lucky grabbed
her hand and dragged her to a statue "See!" He said excitedly
Liz stared up at the statue. "Great, it's Alice in Wonderland." She turned
away, "now can we go get lunch?" She stopped walking when she realized that
Lucky was not following.
He stood staring up at the statue "Ever since I can remember, I loved this
story. Then I met you, and I realized why." He glanced over at her "I've
always been searching for my Alice, and that's who you are." He looked back
up at the statue and Liz walked back up to him and put her hand in his.
"What do you mean?" Liz looked up at him curiously
"Alice was never satisfied with the way the world was, she wanted it to be
different, better. She was headstrong and wild and free. She would have
followed the White Rabbit anywhere, just to see where he was going. But
unlike the cat...curiosity didn't kill Alice, It just made her stonger. It
taught her about herself and her world." Lucky looked down at Liz and touched
her cheek with his free hand. "You remind me so much of her. You are so open
and quick to laughter. You think before you act, but most of the time it's in
peoples best interest, and although these last few months you may have been
scared and sad. I know that Alice is inside you, just waiting to get back
out." Lucky wrapped his arms around her when he saw the tears in her eyes.
"I didn't mean to make you cry. I just wanted you to know how much I admire
your spirit and how much I *Like* who you are. I don't just love you
Elizabeth. I like you. You're my best friend. And I hope that will never
change."
"Lucky, I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying because I'm happy." Liz
wiped her eyes and stepped away from him. "The one fairytale character I've
always identified with was Alice. But those qualities that you just listed,
that I have?" Lucky nodded at her, "I always thought those were the parts of
me I needed to change. Too quick to action, too stubborn, too curious. I was
always too something. I never thought I'd find someone that admired those
qualities."
Lucky smiled brilliantly at her. "Well, I don't think there is a thing I
would change about you. And I know that anyone who bears the name Spencer
would agree. You have all the makings of a great Spencer. Stubborn, quick
tempered, impulsive. That's you, and the trademarks of the Spencers. Now
come on." He grabbed her had and started away. "Let's go get lunch."
"Oh, wait!" Liz pulled him to a stop. "I want to get a picture of us in
front of Alice." Liz looked around and spotted a young woman on rollerblades
"Excuse me, would you mind?" Liz asked holding out the camera to her
"Of course not" The woman smiled as Liz and Lucky put their arms around each
other and posed in front of the statue. She handed the camera back to Liz and
waved as she skated off. "Enjoy the rest of your stay," she said.
"Is it that obvious we're tourists?" asked Liz, smiling innocently at Lucky
"Well, we are taking pictures of statues in Central Park." Lucky laughed
"Didn't you think that would give it away? Now lets go get lunch."
"Yeah let's" Liz replied grabbing his hand. She glanced back over her shoulder
and said under her breath "Thanks Alice."
"What?" Lucky asked
"Oh.....nothing" Liz said, running ahead of him "let's go...I'm starved."
Stay tuned for part 2 of Liz and Lucky's day in New York City. ;-))