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Date Posted: 19:22:40 03/05/01 Mon
Author: Vick
Subject: One Step at a Time, part 11

One Step at a Time, part 11

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Sami flung around in her seat, dropping her fork and nearly sending the contents of her plate soaring to the ground.
Lucas looked up from his plate, just as stunned.

"Austin!" Sami pretended to be surprised to even see him, when in reality, she was surprised that she'd been caught.

"I said, what the hell are you doing here?!" Austin's voice became louder with each word, gaining quite a crowd of
on-lookers.

"Well, Lucas had to come here on business for Titan and he asked me to come along, you know, to keep him
company. What are you doing here?" Sami looked nervously back at Lucas and gave him the "you better go along
with my story" look.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were here when you called me yesterday?”

“Well. I’m sorry. It never came up in our conversation.”

“Oh.” Austin stared blankly, calm for the first time since he’d walked into the restaurant. After a few awkward
moments of silence, Austin asked, “Have you seen Carrie?”

Once again, Sami put on her dumb face. “Carrie’s here? Well, of course she would be. I mean, you’re here, so it’s
obvious that Carrie would be here with you. Personally, I think it’s romantic, coming here to Las Vegas. OH! Are
you two going to get married while you’re here?…”

As Sami continued with her rambling, Lucas took a good look at Austin. He was still staring at Sami with a blank
expression on his face. On several occasions, he almost lost his balance, but with his hand, he steadied himself with
the back of a chair. Well, I’d say he’s drunk. But then, why wouldn’t he be. Carrie finally dumped him. I don’t
know what she ever saw in him. For that matter I don’t know what Sami sees in him. Oh well, what do I care.
As long as he’s not with Carrie, he can do whatever he wants.

“…and Carrie in a beautiful white dress. Or are you going to have a more contemporary wedding?…”

Austin wasn’t even listening to Sami. The only thing on his mind was getting Carrie back from Mike, oh, and getting
something to drink. Without a word, he turned and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Sami with her mouth open
and Lucas with a grin on his face.

Sami turned to Lucas. “Can you believe he just walked out on me like that?”

“First of all, he wasn’t with you, so he didn’t walk out on you. And second, with all that wedding talk you probably
just convinced him to go after Carrie. Once again, your brilliant plan has backfired.”

“Oh shut up!” Sami was peeved. There was no way she was going to let Austin get back together with Carrie. She
got up and followed Austin.

“Humph! Left with the check again, thank you very much Sami.” Lucas gritted his teeth as he pulled out a twenty from
his billfold and slapped it on the table before trying to catch up with Sami. He wanted to get to her before she could
get to Austin and do something really stupid.

**

Mike's eyes burned into Carrie's, sending a shiver up her spine. Carrie wished it were a shiver similar to the one she'd
experienced when they had kissed for the first time, but instead it was a shiver caused by eyes that told a story of hurt
and betrayal. Guilt swept over her and she quickly broke the intense stare. She looked down at her hands and
nervously fidgeted with the bracelet that Mike had given her just yesterday. Carrie felt as though her whole world had
been turned upside down and at this moment, she didn't know how or if it could be straightened. She looked back at
Mike only to find him staring out the window. Her heart wept at the frail sight of the man that sat before her, the man
that had been her boyfriend, for whatever short time it may have been. Flashes of her seduction on Mike came into
her head. She smiled to herself, remembering how she had finagled her way into sharing a bed with him and ultimately
into his arms. She longed to be there once again, only this time as his lover. In that instant, every thing became crystal
clear for Carrie. She knew what she had to do and she only hoped that Mike's stubborn side wouldn't come to life.

"Mike…we need to talk."

Mike didn't move from his position as he continued to stare out the window. How appropriate was the dreary
weather outside as it matched the turmoil that was in his heart. Hearing her voice, the desperation of her statement,
only made the storm seem fiercer. He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth.

"I don't have anything to say to you."

Although she had been expecting it, the sternness in Mike's voice caught Carrie off guard. But she quickly regained
her composure. "That's fine. You don't have to talk...only listen."

Carrie heard a heavy sigh and knew she had her work cut out for her. Sure, she could talk until she was blue in the
face, but would Mike actually hear what she had to say? Only time would tell.

"Mike, could you please turn around and look at me?"

Reluctantly, Mike turned in his seat, once again finding himself staring into Carrie's eyes.

Carrie took a deep breath and began to speak. "I owe you an apology...several, in fact." Carrie walked over to the
couch where Mike was sitting. She sat on the opposite end, one leg tucked under her, her hands resting on her lap.
Mike continued to look at her, his face unchanged.

“I’m sorry for the way I reacted last night…I had no right.” Carrie looked down at her hands. “I was jealous.”

“Jealous!” Mike sneered. “After what you did? You have the gall to sit there and tell me you were jealous?!”

Carrie let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She had expected as much of Mike. “I know that
right now that’s the way you feel. But if you’d let me explain, I know you’ll change your mind.”

“What could you possible say that would make me feel any different,” Mike spat.

“As I was saying, I was jealous…but I’m not anymore.”

“Oh, that’s a good one.” The sarcasm was strong.

“When I left here last night, I went back down to the bar. Linda was there.”

Mike’s head flew up and his eyes narrowed. “What did you say to her?”

“It wasn’t so much what I said to her as it was what she said to me.”

Mike looked confused so Carrie continued.

“She told me about how she had offered to listen to what was bothering you and she told me exactly what it was that
was bothering you. What I don’t understand, is why didn’t you just come and talk to me after you heard my
conversation on the phone?”

“Like you wanted to talk to me. I’m bet you couldn’t wait to catch the next plane back to Salem so you could be with
your lover.”

Carrie was getting annoyed. She shook her head and once again started to try and explain everything to Mike. But a
loud knock on the door interrupted her. Carrie looked at Mike. The knocking continued and Mike started to get up
to answer it.

“Please, Mike, don’t. We need to finish talking.”

Mike glanced in her direction before proceeding to walk to the door and open it. As Carrie turned to see who was at
the door, she saw Mike stumble backwards and collapse to the ground.

“Mike!” Carrie screamed as she rushed to his limp body. He was out cold. As she looked up, she gasped.

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