Crossed Paths

Chapter 1

"New York City!" Amy squealed. "That's where you should buy
your wedding dress, Laura. After all, how many times does a girl
get married?"

Laura glared at her.

"Oops," Amy said, "Sorry, I forgot."

Laura thought about Scotty, again. It hadn't been that long ago since she'd bought her wedding dress for their wedding. She had hurt him so badly. She sighed. There was nothing she could do about it now. He was somewhere in Mexico and probably didn't care what happened to her. She hoped he was okay. He had been her first real love. It was too bad everything had gone wrong. Right, she corrected herself. Everything had worked out, in the end. She and Luke were meant to be together. She looked up at her sister, and smiled. "New York City it is."

Amy let out a whoop and hugged Laura. "Yes!"

"Remember, I am the bride here," Laura laughed.

"Hmph, don't remind me. Someday my prince will come," Amy said dramatically, as she fell onto the bed.

"Reserve a hotel room, Snow White, while I go see Luke and tell him of our plans."

"You got it! New York City here we come!" Amy bounced off the bed. "Oh, and you can tell Lesley and Rick."

Laura groaned, "Come on, Amy. You know Rick isn't thrilled at the idea of me getting married to Luke."

"Not thrilled?" Amy laughed. "I think we can all safely say he hates the idea."

Laura was not amused and threw a pillow at her younger sister. "You can be a really big brat sometimes, Amy Vining." She walked out to the sound of Amy's peal of laughter. As she turned the corner of the hallway, she bumped into Rick.

"Did I hear right? You're going to New York City?" he asked, his displeasure obvious.

Laura's eyebrow shot up. "Were you spying on me, Dad?"

The pained look on Rick's face was enough to make Laura regret her accusation. "Laura, you know I only want what's good for you."

"I know, I know. But we've had this conversation before. I am in love with Luke and I'm going to marry him."

Rick sighed. "You always were stubborn. You get that from your mother."

"You're disappointed in me, aren't you?" Laura's eyes filled with tears.

"It just saddens me to think of what your life is going to be like with that man," Rick said. "I may not be your biological father, but you're very important to me, Laura. Just promise me you'll think about it."

"I promise," Laura lied. She walked out of the house, pushing all the doubts away.

*****

Stefan Cassadine stared at the ceiling. He had been doing that for quite a while now. The only good thing about New York City was that he was very far away from the Island. The phone rang. He didn't know who it could be.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Stefan! I thought I'd find you there. Someone like you wouldn't actually be having fun in New York City."

Stefan contemplated hanging up, but he knew that wouldn't be a good idea. "What do you want, Stavros? And how did you know where I was?"

"That's Prince Stavros to you," Stavros corrected. "And tracking you down was easy. Her Ugliness is making me go to some fancy dinner engagement with those people that live on that house with the blue thing in the front and--"

"Stavros," Stefan interrupted, "You're almost going to be twenty-five. Don't you think it's time you learned these people's names and where they live?"

"I don't need advice on being The Prince from a pathetic loser like you," Stavros sneered. "Just tell me what I should bring as a gift."

"Anything absurdly expensive will be fine," Stefan said through clenched teeth. "The Lady thrives on ostentatious jewelry."

"Thanks, brother," Stavros said, and hung up.

Stefan wondered how he could make such a word sounds so contemptible. Brother. Family. Would he ever know the meaning of these words? He thought too much, he determined. He'd call Alexis to see how she was doing. He dialed her number from memory.

"Unless you're selling coffee, I'm hanging up," a groggy voice answered.

"Alexis? Did I wake you?"

"Stefan!" Alexis' voice immediately cheered up. "No, you know how life in college is. I haven't gotten any sleep in weeks. Okay, slight exaggeration, but not by much. So how are you? Or rather, where are you?"

"I'm in New York City. I didn't want to return to the Island."

"Why didn't you come see me?" Alexis said, not able to hide the hurt from her voice.

"I apologize. I thought I needed to be alone. Hearing your voice makes me realize I made an error in judgment."

"Well, I would tell you to come right on over, but I'm swamped with finals, and you'd be incredibly bored. But you'll come see me the next chance you get, right?"

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"Good. Um, well, you know," Alexis hesitated.

"I know. Goodbye, Alexis. Get some rest and eat."

Alexis smiled. "Take care, Stefan."

Stefan hung up the phone, feeling better. 'Well,' he thought. 'Tomorrow can't be any worse than today.' He turned off the light and slept.