CHAPTER NINE

Luci woke up two mornings -- or to be more accurate -- afternoons later to total quiet. Normally Allie would be up and have the TV or radio on. Luci slowly got up, pulled on a sweatshirt over her Villanova College tee shirt. "Al?" she called as she walked into the kitchen. Neither girl had really talked to each other more than they had too since the talk they had at Allie's house and the guys hadn't call either. There was no answer, but there was a note held up to the refrigerator, by a magnet of Luci and Allie together.

Luc,

I took your advice. I'm going to talk to my parents. I'll see you at work.

Al

"Work..." Luci moaned, remembering she had to work at 10:30. She was already 3 hours late. "I better call Daddy." Just as she was ready to pick up the phone, it rang."Hello?"

"Lucinda?"

"Yes Daddy?"

"Why aren't you at work?"

"Oh Daddy...I'm sorry. I forgot. I haven't been sleeping well."

"Well...okay honey. Are you coming to dinner tonight with Allison?"

"I think so."

"Alright. Well don't let this happen again, pumpkin."

"Okay Daddy."

"Bye Sweetheart."

"Bye." Luci replied hanging up the phone, only for it to ring seconds later. "What?"

"Luc?" A.J. inquired.

"Yeah. Allie's not here."

"I didn't call to talk to her."

"Oh..."

"So how are you?"

"Fine."

"Do you want to go out tonight?"

"A.J...." she warned.

"I meant with Nick and Allie."

"I can't anyway. Allie and I are having dinner at my father's."

"Oh..." A.J. muttered. "I would really like to meet your father."

"Oh..."

"Can I come?"

"Whatever."

"Luci?"

"Yes?"

"What did you feel when we kissed?" A.J. asked quickly without thinking. He was answered by the dial tone. An instant after he clicked the off button on the phone it rang again. Hoping it was Luci he picked up quickly. "Hello?"

"A.J?" inquired a soft and somewhat meek voice he recognized as Allie. It sounded kind of upset, but relatively happy at the same.

"Yeah?" A.J. responded, slightly left down.

"Um...you know that Nick and I kissed right?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Well, along with a lot of other things, I've come to the realization that uh...if you don't mind....that we could break up...." Allie stated. She hated doing this. She always felt so guilty.

"Okay, Al, that's fine." A.J. answered, almost immediately, causing Allie to sigh.

"And...uh...you wouldn't mind if Nick and I went out? Like hypothetically." Allie questioned. Everything had happened way to fast, and they all knew it. They shouldn't have rushed into everything like this.

"Nah, Allie. It's all good." A.J. assured her, smiling at her nervousness. It was in a way both endearing and annoying at the same time. He wished he had taken more time to get to know her as a friend. If he had, maybe all these problems wouldn't have been happening. "Um...how are you anyway?"

"I'm doing better than the other night. Thanks for asking, but I'm at work and a customer just walked in. I'll see you later okay?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tonight, though."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Luci invited me. You don't mind do you? If it would be like uncomfortable or something..."

"No. No, that's fine, but would you mind bringing Nick?"

"Sure."

"Okay. Bye.

"Bye."

~+~+~+~+~+~

'I don't want to go. I do not want to go.' Luci thought as she drove the car into her father's driveway. Allie's car was already there, and she had brought Nick and A.J., thankfully. 'Why did I say that he could come?' She grudgingly got out of the car, and walked up to the door of her massive mansion. She had hated the house ever since her mother had died. It always seemed cold and dark. She pulled open the large and heavy front door, before yelling, "I'M HERE!"

"There is no need to be so loud, Lucinda." Mr. Wilson stated, as he, Allie, A.J. and Nick walked into the front hall.

"Yes, Daddy." Luci replied obediently. Other reason she hated this house was because once inside she was longer Luci. She was Lucinda. She hated it. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed her father's cheek, wondering where this sudden animosity had come from. Hadn't she just lectured Allie on loving her parents? "How are you?"

"Fine. If you will all excuse me, I have some paper work to take care of. Madeline will have dinner soon, Lucinda." Mr. Williams responded, curtly, before leaving the room. Madeline was the Wilson's cook and maid. She had been working for them since Luci was seven and was almost like her mother.

Luci sighed. "Hey." she said, smiling at her friends.

"Hey. Luc? Can I talk to you?" Allie and Nick answered in unison.

Luci looked at them slightly bewildered. "Sure. That's fine. Um...I kind of wanted to go down to the barn to check the horses. You can come, or we can talk later." she responded, walking past everyone, and toward the backdoor. They all followed, but Luci noticed Nick stayed back slightly with A.J. while Allie walked next to her. Something was up. Something was most definitely up.

"Do you really like Nick?" Allie began, once they stepped outside.

"He's sweet." Luci replied. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the guys fall back farther.

"Alright...do you remember when we all went to the rave? Well, uh, Nick and I kissed. It wasn't anything planned, Luci, I swear. It just happened. I would never do anything to hurt you." Allie barged on, only taking a breath after she was finished.

Luci took a deep breath, and studied her surrounding. Directly in front of the group was the 15 stall barn. Behind it was about an acre of grazing land. To the left of the barn was a forest of maples her father had had specially planted. Their leaves were already turning colors. To the right of the barn was a cliff which under laid a man-made lake. Resting on almost the edge of the cliff, was two trees with a two person swing in between them. She remembered "helping" her parents put it up when she was 3. She and her mother would always go to sit on it after they road horses. It had been their place. "That's kind, Allie. I understand." she responded, assuring Allie with a smile, but she wondered about A.J.

Allie threw her arms around Luci, but let go almost immediately. "Oh thank God!" she giggled. "So you don't mind if we go out do you?"

"No, girl. You go for it. He's a sweetheart. Have fun." Luci advised, her anger fully gone. "So how did it go with your parents?"

"It went good. They've agreed to help me find my real parents. Thanks for pushing me to talk to them." Allie informed her, as they walked to the barn door. "Well anyway I'll explain later, okay? Nick needs to talk to you."

Luci nodded, as Allie rejoined the guys, with a smile emblazoned on her face. Nick joined her at the barn door seconds later. "Hey, Luc." he nearly whispered, as he opened the bar door.

Luci smiled at him. "Nick I already know what your going to say. It's fine. We can just be friends. You'll be a lot happier with Al. You guys look really good together." she rushed on before he could get a word in.

Nick looked totally relived as he bent to hug her. "Thanks Luci." he replied.

When he straightened up, she looked back at Allie who was watching them expectantly. "Go ask her out Nick." she commanded, pushing him toward her best friend. She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, but another one still remained. She should have told Allie about her kissing A.J., but Allie seemed so happy, why ruin it? As she watched Nick walked toward Allie she knew that everything she had done was for the best.

She walked away from the rest of the group toward the end of the barn. She had always loved the smell of the barn and the horses. She finally reached the very last stall, to find her old horse, Pretty Princess, with her head hanging over the stall door. All the horses that the Wilson's owned had been ex-racehorses who could no longer race due to different injuries, or just weren't winning anymore. She opened the stall door, and stepped in. "Hey Princess." she mumbled, leaning against the horse's solid back, and patting her neck. She nickered lowly, reaching her head back and rubbing it on Luci's leg.

"Luci?" she heard Allie call.

"What?" Luci called back, giving her horse one final pat, and leaving the stall. She took at deep breath, and saw Nick and Allie coming toward her, arm and arm. They looked so adorable. She laughed to herself, seeing that they even matched. They both had on Adidas tear aways and blue Nike shirts, although Allie's was long sleeved and Nick's was shortsleeved. A.J. followed behind them, looking like a third wheel.

"We just wanted to see where you were." Nick stated.

"Oh...okay...well I'm done. Let's go in to eat. Maddy should have dinner ready now." Luci responded, falling into step with Allie. "We need to talk." she whispered to Allie.

A scared look crossed Allie face, but she slowed the pace and fell behind the guys. "Yeah?" she whispered back.

"A.J. and I kissed at the rave too."

"That's great!"

"Okay..I just wanted to let you know." Luci replied, feeling totally unweighted as they walked back up to the guys.