"We sound great, huh?" Chuck enthused.
"Yeah." Jon said, looking at Sly, who seemed to be in another world. He decided he had to snap Sly out of his funk. "Ok, Sly, who is she?"
Sly turned around abruptly. "What?" he said in an irritated tone of voice.
"When you sing all of these sad Alan Jackson songs, it's usually because you're having problems with some girl. So who is she?"
Sly took off his guitar strap and put the guitar in the stand. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, come on, Sly. You get all moody and depressed when you're having relationship problems."
"And you've had a lot of relationships," Cris joked.
Sly rolled his eyes. The guys were telling the truth.
Chuck put his bass down. "Let's see, there was Stefanie…"
"And Christy…" Cris added.
"And Bunny and Marion," Jon chuckled. "Plus Megan, Rachel, Beth, Gigi…"
"You guys are forgetting someone very important," Keith spoke up as he played a little drum roll. "Ynette."
Jon had a devilish grin on his face. "Gee, how did the song go?"
Sly covered his face with his hands. "Don't," he weakly protested.
All of the guys started to sing in unison:
Every night I dream of her
And I climb the walls
I just wanna be with her
Winter, spring, summer and fall
Am I in love with her?
You bet!
Ynette!
They finished the song by holding the last note for emphasis.
Sly blushed. "That was two years ago. My songwriting skills have improved since then."
"You had it bad for her," Cris grinned.
"How was I supposed to know she already had a boyfriend?" Sly said sheepishly.
"Look, we're only bringing this up to prove a point. It's never as bad as it seems," Jon said.
"And we're just going to end up knowing anyway," Chuck laughed.
Sly smiled at his friends as they packed up their instruments. "Someday, guys." He waved as they left the garage.
Sly sighed as he put his guitars into their cases. It had been three weeks since his fateful night with Emily, and his run-in with Lucky. Sly had recovered physically, but he still felt scarred by the experiences. He kept his distance from both of them. He had not seen Lucky at all, which was just fine with Sly. When Emily returned from Puerto Rico, she had attempted to get in touch with Sly, but he screened all of his calls, and refused to pick up the phone if she called.
Sly attempted to fill the time by throwing himself into his music. The period had been a little productive; he wrote five songs. He tried to convince himself he didn't care about Lucky or Emily. He would banish any thought he had of them. Unfortunately, it wasn't working too well.
There was a knock at the door to the garage. Sly pushed the button, and the door went up. "What did you forget?" he said, not looking at the door as it rose.
Emily stood in the doorway. The early September sunlight highlighted her form. "I didn't forget anything," she said.
Sly quickly turned around. "Emily," he said with a mixture of regret and contempt in his voice.
"What have you been doing, Sly? Why won't you return my calls?" Emily said, squinting into the dark garage.
"Gee, it seems like I'm avoiding you. Can't you take a hint?"
Emily was hurt by his words. "Why?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was the 'Dear John' letter, or the fact that you haven't broken up with Juan even after you slept with me. It doesn't inspire much loyalty on my part," Sly said, picking up the guitar cases and leaning them against the wall.
Emily got angry. "What do you want me to do, Sly? His father just died! You want me to break his heart again?"
"I just want you to be honest. But hey, I forgot, Quartermaines can't be honest."
"Don't bring my family into this," she seethed. "I told you my reasons. I had to go to Puerto Rico with Juan. It was the right thing to do."
"So did you break up with him when you got back?"
Emily frowned. "No."
"Then it doesn't matter, Emily."
"But I am going to! Why can't you believe that?"
"Because you haven't done it yet, honey. So you keep living a lie. I guess you like it both ways, huh?" he sneered. "Well, I don't. I refuse to be your boy on the side."
"You aren't. Didn't anything I said to you that night sink in? I love you, Sly."
Sly looked at Emily, whishing he could believe her. Seeing her now reminded him of how much he missed her. However, he had to stay strong. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and handed it to Emily. "Prove it."
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Luke walked the dark tunnels underneath Wyndemere. He had been turning Port Charles upside down for weeks, looking for evidence to clear him of the murder of Stefan Cassadine. Now it was time to go to the bat cave to see what he could dig up.
Luke ran his hands up and down the walls; he was looking for the trigger to open the door to the secret room he was sure was there. Eventually, one of the bricks went into the wall when he pressed on it. A part of the wall opened inward into the secret room.
"Bingo," Luke whispered. He chuckled to himself. Old Stiffy didn't know enough to change his secret lair? Maybe he was overestimating him.
Luke began to thoroughly search the room, from top to bottom. He shuffled through all of the papers on the desk, and looked in all of the drawers. After a few minutes, he was sure he did not find anything useful.
He spoke aloud to himself. "Well, Stefan, you certainly didn't expect to die, did you? I hope you rot in hell, and I'll soon be sending you your dear mother."
With those words, suddenly a part of the wall opened up. Luke was surprised, but he took a look inside of the hole.
He found a vial of a clear liquid, not unlike the vial the police had found in his safe at the club. There were assorted papers, like Stefan's will, and a letter marked, "Nikolas." There was one more mysterious note. It read: survival, escape, invincibility, neutralization, evolution.
Luke smiled. "Thank you, Stefan. You've just sealed your fate."
He gathered up all of the papers, and the vial, put the piece of the wall back, and closed the door to the room behind him.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Emily looked at the phone in Sly's hand. "What do you want me to do?"
"Call Juan right now and break up with him."
"On the phone?"
"Would you prefer you did it in person? I'd be happy to accompany you."
Emily wanted to break up with Juan. She wanted to be with Sly with all of her heart. But then she thought about Juan's state of mind. He was still devastated over his father's sudden death. He leaned on Emily so much. If she told him the truth now, well, she wasn't sure what he would do. She had to protect him, give him a few more weeks until he was stronger. So she shook her head.
"I can't, Sly. I can't put him through that, not now."
Sly's eyes took on a steely glare. "And my feelings be damned?" He walked away from her. "That night obviously meant nothing to you. Well you know what? It didn't mean anything to me either."
Emily blinked her eyes rapidly in an attempt to not cry. "Don't say that, Sly. Of course it meant something to me."
"No, it didn't, Emily. I realize that now. If I meant anything at all to you, you would have told the truth. But you didn't. Instead you just keep lying. And I don't need a liar in my life." Sly tried to take a deep breath. Don't cry, he thought. Not in front of her. "Get out."
"Sly, please," she said, not bothering to hide her tears anymore. "Don't do this."
"Leave. I won't ask you again," he said, turning towards the door.
Emily walked away, then turned around one final time. "You know what, Sly? I don't need this. I am not some child you can order around. If you want me to go, fine, I will. But know this…" she said, pausing.
"You just lost the best thing that ever happened to you."