By: Kris
Lucky's head slowly rose from where it lay on the edge of the bed. His eyes quickly adjusted to the light as he looked around the hospital room. It had all been a dream, a wonderful dream, but still a dream. He and Elizabeth were not going to Prom tonight, they couldn't, she was too sick. There were not Queen and King and he would not propose to her. They would be staying here, in her hospital room, enjoying what little time they had left together.
Lucky stood up and pulled up the shade over the window, letting the afternoon light in. The past few weeks, the days hadn't had boundaries, each one became the next and he could only sleep when he knew she was resting peacefully.
As the light hit her face, her eyes fluttered and searched for Lucky. He quickly returned to her bedside and took her hand.
"I'm right here, Elizabeth," he assured her.
"You always are," she whispered.
"Did you sleep well?"
She nodded slowly and asked, "What time is it?"
"About five in the afternoon," he answered.
"You know what tonight is, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Tonight's Prom, don't tell me you'd forgotten," she said with a laugh, though she could hardly speak above a whisper.
"Oh, I didn't think you'd remember, that seems so unimportant right now."
"Unimportant? Lucky Spencer, we're talking Senior Prom here!"
"What's important to me is being here with you."
"Thank you. That means a lot to me. But I still wish we could be going."
"I wish we could, too. But, Liz, I wish a lot of things that I know can't come true."
"Like me beating this?"
"Of course."
"But you know the cancer's gonna win. You know it is winning."
"Yes, Elizabeth, I know, but I can still wish, can't I?"
"Of course you can, and so do I."
Lucky gently squeezed her hand and then stood up as a nurse came in to check on her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After the nurse had gone, Lucky lay down beside her and put his arm around her, holding her as they watched some old sappy movies, something she always enjoyed doing and one of the few things that brought her enjoyment that she could still do.
There was a soft knock on the door. Elizabeth looked to the door and smiled as she said weakly, "Come in."
Two heads peeked around the door.
"Come on, guys, she said to come in!" Lucky said, standing up.
Sly and Emily entered, trying to hide the packages in their hands behind their backs.
"What do you have?" Elizabeth asked.
"Oh, nothing," Emily grinned.
"Em, Sly, what's going on? Shouldn't you two be all dressed up, going off to Prom with Deenie and Juan?" Lucky asked.
"Shouldn't you two?" Sly said sorta uncomfortably, looking at the floor.
"Sly…."
"Well, it's the truth, you should, you two deserve it more than any of the rest of us."
Emily looked sideways at Sly. She sharply grabbed him by the arm and whispered in his ear, "We're not here to make him feel worse, you know?" Sly nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"We'll make Prom in plenty of time, don't worry about us," Emily said, sitting down the bags that she was holding. "But we knew that you two wouldn't be able to come, no matter how badly you want to, so…"
"We brought Prom to you, gaudy decorations and all," Sly produced a package of shiny streamers from his bag.
"Sly and Emily, you really didn't have to do this," Lucky said.
Elizabeth smiled and put her hand on his, "Yes they did, they're friends, they're only trying to make us happy. And they are. Thank you."
"Thanks," Lucky said.
"Ok, enough with the sappy stuff, let's get this party started!" Emily said, strewing supplies out along the table. "Lucky, I know you're one of the guests of honor, but could you give us a hand?"
The three friends pitched in and had the room decorated in no time.
"Guys, this looks great," Liz said when they were finished.
"There's still a few more finishing touches. Sly?" Emily said.
"Oh, oh yeah," Sly went and got a garment bag off of the pile of other bags he had brought in. "Lucky, go put this on."
"What, what is it?" he asked, taking it from him.
"You can't be at Prom without a tux, now can you?" Emily said. "Now, go put that on so you can amaze your girl with how positively wonderful you look in one of those."
Lucky went into the bathroom and quickly put on the tuxedo as his friends had instructed him to. He couldn't believe they had done all this for him and Liz.
A few minutes later, he stepped back out into the room.
"Wow, you really clean up good," Emily cracked.
"You look great, Lucky," Liz said quietly.
"Thanks again, guys, it looks like your work is done, you should get going if you're gonna make it in time," Lucky said, sitting back down beside Elizabeth.
"Nope, we're still not finished, not hardly! Men, leave!"
"What do you mean?" Lucky asked.
"C'mon, girl stuff time," Sly said, heading for the door.
"Would it be fair to have you all dolled up and not give Liz a chance to look her best? Just give us a few minutes, okay?"
"Make it quick," Lucky said, following his cousin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sly and Lucky left the room so that Emily could help Liz into her dress.
"You're holding up real good, man," Sly said.
"That's only on the outside, inside I'm all torn up, but I can't let her see."
"I'm still proud of you, I don't think I could do it. Um…I got you something," he said, fumbling in his pocket.
"Sly…"
"No. If she was going to make it, I know the two of you would marry and spend the rest of your lives together." Sly handed him a small box.
Lucky quickly flipped the top open and examined its contents.
"Sly, you really shouldn't have-these are the rings we saw at the jewelry store last month…they must've cost a small fortune!"
"It's okay, nothing's too much to see her smile again, and I know she will when she sees those. Look at the inscription, I had them engraved on the outside."
Lucky picked up the larger ring, his ring, first and read the inscription. God must have spent, it read. He then replaced it in the box and took out Liz's ring. A little more time on you, was its inscription.
"You like them?" Sly asked.
"Of course I do. Thank you, so much. For these, and for everything you and Emily have done for her today."
The cousins hugged as Emily opened the door. "All ready!" she said, welcoming them back in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Wow, Liz, you look great!" Lucky said, bending down for a kiss.
"Thank you." She said.
"Well, we had better get going," Emily said, starting to gather her things.
Liz motioned for Sly and Emily to come nearer to her.
When they had come, she told them, "Thank you, so much, for doing all of this. For the decorations, and the dress, it's perfect."
"You know we'd do anything for you," Emily said, giving Liz a hug.
"Have fun," Liz told them.
"We will," Sly said.
"I left a stack of CDs by the boombox so you can have music for your Prom," Emily told them, picking up her bags.
"Thank you, Emily," Lucky told her.
"Bye!" Emily and Sly both said. They shut the door behind them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lucky knelt down by Elizabeth's bed. He picked up the stack of CDs Emily had left and sifted through them, one in particular catching his eye. He had to laugh when he saw it.
"What?" she asked.
"Well, I had a dream earlier, while you were sleeping," he told her.
"About what?"
"Us."
"Tell me about it."
"It was Prom night, tonight, and you and me were at the hotel with Sly, Emily, and Juan. I stopped outside and kept Sly with me while you went ahead with the others and I gave him a ring, a diamond ring, to hold for me during the dance. I told Sly to keep the ring a secret until I was ready to give it to you, but of course he ended up telling Deenie, who met us inside a few minutes later, and Deenie told Emily, who told Juan, but still it didn't get back around to you. Emily got up as class president and announced Prom Queen and King, us. We then danced to this song called "You Won't Ever Be Lonely" and afterwards, I proposed to you."
"And I accepted?"
"Of course," he said. "This CD has the song we were dancing to on it."
"Put it on."
Lucky did and skipped to "You Won't Ever Be Lonely."
As the song played, they continued to talk.
"I wish that we could really get engaged and be married," she said softly.
"Me too…wait," he said, remembering the rings in his pocket. "Sly gave me these," he took the box out. "I know it's not the same as a real wedding and all, but I'd be honored for you to wear this ring." He slipped the ring onto her frail hand. "For the rest of my life, I will love you, I promise this to you, Elizabeth, today and forever."
Elizabeth took the other ring from the open box and placed it on Lucky's finger. "For the rest of my life, I will love you, I promise this to you, Lucky, today and forever."
Elizabeth held her ring up close to her eyes, trying to read the inscription.
"Sly had them engraved. Mine says "God must have spent" and your's says "a little more time on you," our song."
"They're beautiful, Lucky," she smiled. "Did Emily include the N*Sync CD in that stack? I want to dance to our song one last time."
"She sure did," Lucky said, putting it in the CD player.
The music started and Lucky cradled Elizabeth in his arms, rocking to the beat of the song.
Can this be true, tell me can this be real
How can I put into words what I feel
My life was complete, I thought I was whole
Why do I feel like I'm losing control
I never thought that love could feel like this
Then you changed my life with just one kiss
How can it be, oh that right here with me
There's an angel, it's a miracle
She looked up at Lucky with a smile. He knew this had been one of the happiest days for her in the past few months. They both looked out the window at the horizon as the last traces of the sun disappeared.
Your love is like a river, peaceful and deep
Your soul is like a secret that I never could keep
When I look into your eyes, I know that it's true
God must have spent a little more time on you
A little more time
I'm sure he did
Yes he did
Her eyes slowly closed as he continued to rock her in his arms.
In all of creation, all things great and small
You are the one that surpasses them all
More precious than any diamond or pearl
They broke the mould when you came in this world
And I'm trying hard to figure out,
Just how I ever did without
Oh, the warmth of your smile, the heart of a child
It's deep inside and leaves me purified
He felt her breaths coming fewer and farther between. He knew she was slipping away. She had held on for so long and simply couldn't any longer.
Your love is like a river, peaceful and deep
Your soul is like a secret that I never could keep
When I look into your eyes, I know that it's true
God must have spent a little more time on you
Yes he did
Yes he did
I never thought that love could feel like this
Then you changed my world with just one kiss
How can it be, that right here with me
There's an angel, it's just a miracle
Lucky realized her breaths had stopped. She was completely still in his arms. A tear fell as he held her close to him.
Your love is like a river, peaceful and deep
Your soul is like a secret that I never could keep
When I look into your eyes, I know that it's true
God must have spent a little more time on you
God must have spent a little more time on you
On you
On you
A little more time
On you
His tears fell, but she never woke up.