Written in 22 minutes. No time for edits or typo checks.

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Elizabeth knocked on the door to Jason’s penthouse, then nervously ran a hand down the front of her dress.

This was not a date.

Jason pulled open the door and offered her a grin. “Hey—sorry—I’m running late.” He stepped back to let her walk through the front door, and Elizabeth arched her brow as he grabbed a tie from the back of the chair and wound it around his neck. “I got back late from the warehouse.”

“Oh, it’s fine. It took me longer than I thought to drop Cameron and Aiden with Patrick.” She wrinkled her nose, thinking of the third-degree her best friend had given her about today.

This was not a date, she’d told Patrick with exasperation. Just two friends attending the same event.

An event to which she hadn’t been invited, Patrick had reminded her with that irritating smirk. She was Jason’s date.

Guest, Elizabeth had thrown back at him, but now she was flustered because why had Jason invited her in the first place? It wasn’t like he couldn’t go alone—Carly would be there.

With Johnny Zacchara, her boyfriend—

“What’s going through your head right now?” Jason asked as he knotted the tie. He still had that sparkle in his eye—the one that told her he was teasing her.

She liked seeing that—liked remembering how nice it was that they were friends again, like they had been in the beginning. Jason had teased her all the time back then—

“Oh, nothing.” She played with the strap of her tiny purse. “Just thinking about something at the hospital.”

“Uh huh.” Jason grabbed his suit jacket and put it on. “Let’s get this over with,” he said, with a grimace.

“Oh, come on, it’s a wedding.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she followed Jason out the door and towards the elevator. “And Sonny and Kate deserve this. I mean, they’ve worked so hard to get back here.” And she would absolutely not mention where she and Jason had been in their relationship when Sonny and Kate’s first wedding had ended tragically.

She’d been left waiting at an airport gate, so close to their dream trip. She should have known better.

They stepped onto the elevator. “I know. But the Haunted Star?”

Elizabeth made a face. “I know. It doesn’t really seem like Kate, does it? And it guarantees Carly will bring Johnny. Anywhere else, she might have left him home.”

“No, she wouldn’t have. Carly lives to annoy Sonny.” He looked at her. “Thanks for coming with me. If I’m alone, Carly tries to make me have a good time.”

“We can’t have that.”

The elevator stopped at the parking garage level, and Elizabeth started towards her car but Jason took her hand and led her in the other direction.

“We’re going to a Corinthos wedding,” he told her. “Do you mind if we take the SUV?”

“The bullet proof SUV?” Elizabeth repeated. “Don’t tell me you’re expecting mayhem. I thought all of that was over—”

“It is, but it’s—” He unlocked the door with his remote. “Has Sonny ever been able to get married without something going wrong?”

“Yeah, but both those times were to Carly, so point taken.”

——

Elizabeth sighed as she watched Kate walk down the aisle towards Sonny. “She looks so happy,” she murmured to Jason, then caught Carly’s eye in the row behind them. Carly narrowed her eyes with a dirty look.

Some things would never change.

Kate reached the end of the aisle, and the guests took their seat. She could feel Jason’s tension next to her—this had been the moment in the last ceremony when Kate had been shot by Anthony Zacchara. She reached over and took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together.

“Relax,” she said softly. Their eyes met. “It’ll be fine—”

“I’m sorry, Sonny. I can’t marry you.”

They both looked to the front of the room as Kate Howard smirked, then angled herself towards the audience. She tossed her bouquet at a stunned Maxie Jones. “I’m already married!” she declared.

“What the—”

Elizabeth heard a groan behind her and twisted in her seat just as Kate declared. “To Johnny Zacchara!”

“What?” Carly screeched. She lunged to her feet, took one look at her shame-faced boyfriend sitting next to her. “What? You just asked me to run away with you?”

“What were you saying about everything being fine?” Jason asked Elizabeth as the room exploded in chaos. She didn’t get a chance to answer him because Jason had to stop Sonny from choking Johnny Zacchara.

——

“You know, it could have been worse,” Elizabeth told Jason as they pulled the SUV back into the parking garage at the Towers. She climed out of the car and waited for him to meet her at the back of the car.

“I guess. No one died,” Jason said with a sigh. “You want to come up?”

She hesitated. Cameron and Aiden were supposed to spend the night with Patrick and Emma since she’d expected to be a wedding reception until midnight, but it was barely seven at night. And they hadn’t eaten. “Um, okay—”

“I mean, we could get dinner. Or something.” Jason slid his hands into the pockets of his dress pants. “I promised you food.”

“True.” She wrinkled her nose. “But I guess we should have known better. Going to a Corinthos-Howard wedding. Oh, wait. Falconieri. Hey, how is that going to work?” She and Jason traced their earlier steps back to the elevator. “Didn’t the Connie alter cause that car accident?”

“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” He pressed the button. “Sorry.”

“For what?” She smiled at him as they stepped inside and he used his key to allow for the penthouse level.

“I don’t know,” Jason replied. He shrugged. “It feels like I should apologize.”

“Well, I was looking forward to the reception.” She glanced at him under her lashes. “I bet Carly could have made you dance.”

“Uh, probably not,” Jason said with a smile and shake of his head. His lips quirked up at the sides, that light in his eyes again. “You might have though.”

“Oh—sure, you say that now when you don’t have to.” She rolled her eyes. They stepped out into the hallway of the penthouse.

“I would have,” Jason protested as they stepped into the hallway and he unlocked his door

“Fine.” Elizabeth shrugged, walked into the penthouse ahead of him and spun to face him. “Then how about right now?”

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