They got me again.  See how into my TV I get? I know this is Luke and Laura 2008 and still I let them blind me with Maxie’s hideous hair.  Once I read those blasted spoilers I always swear I’ll stay away from I got all mad that Lulu was going to “wash her hands of Johnny” when she never really had her hands on him.  Plus the Maxie crap had me really irritated, but I suspected since Johnny mentioned to Claudia that if he were noble he’d hurt Lulu so bad she’d have to write him out of her life, that Maxie would be what he would use to hurt her.  I dreaded that, but once I opened my eyes I saw it as the stepping stone it was and not a permanent pairing, I'm willing to play along through May. What am I babbling about?  I’ll explain.

In Luke and Laura, after he raped her and common sense would say she should stay far away from him and turn him into the police, she not only didn’t report him, she kept working at his disco so no one would suspect him.  After what Lulu saw at the hospital with Johnny and Sonny she should stay away, and she tried, but Johnny kept coming at her.  This time instead of staying around to protect him for hurting her, the female heroine went around making sure everyone knew he had an alibi for hurting her cousin (although in this case she doesn’t know he was involved so that’s a bomb waiting to go off later).  I truly think Johnny was using Maxie to make Lulu jealous enough to admit she wanted him, he knows their past and he did glance at her when he first started paying attention to Maxie.  That will give him his plan for what comes next.

Now we move to phase 3 of Luke and Laura.  This, like when I knew Brenda was going to wear that damn wire, is the train wreck I really don’t want to watch, but can’t make myself forget to record because I want to see if I’m right and I want to see Johnny handle the aftermath of losing her. This is the part where Luke had to flirt with and become engaged to Jennifer Smith to keep her father, mobster Frank Smith, from killing him and Laura both while Laura was forced to work at the disco she now wanted to flee since Luke had a new lady.  In this version, Johnny is going to set Lulu up to think he had sex with Maxie because his crazy father is on the loose and he won’t want her to be a target.  Since he’s in business with Luke, Lulu won’t be able to totally avoid him either. I think Lulu may find them on the Haunted Star as it would be the most hurtful place since she and Johnny made love there.  I do not think he will actually have sex with Maxie that would be too much of a betrayal of both Lulu and his own feelings.  I think once Lulu runs off, Johnny will turn his nasty side on Maxie and let her know he used her and she isn’t worthy of wiping Lulu’s shoes.  Maxie will then go after Lulu at work for revenge, but I think Lulu may finally get her own revenge and turn the tables on the Bad Blonde One. 

Since Logan is supposed to “not play nice about Johnny and Lulu” I think he will beat up Johnny for winning Lulu away and treating her so horribly.  Scott beat up Luke the day he was supposed to marry Jennifer after reading a love letter Laura wrote to Luke.  If Logan is guarding Anthony at Shadybrook, where Laura is at, maybe he’ll overhear Lulu pouring her heart out to her mom and go after Johnny.  Of course the day Luke married Laura he got to beat the crap out of Scott, so Johnny should get to get even later (smile).

The fourth phase of Luke and Laura was him taking her on the run from Frank saying he could put Frank away and get out of the mob with the decoded black book.  I don’t think Johnny is really meant to get out, but I do think he and Lulu will end up running and finally reuniting.  The most logical step would be for them both to get grabbed (perhaps the night of Crimson’s debut party?) and have to escape together.  I could also see Lulu seeing or hearing something and having to save Johnny, proving she still cared even though she thinks he betrayed her.  Best guesses for who they’ll be running from is Jerry Jax, who is supposed to take a turn for the bad, or Ian Devlin. 

What I’d bet money we’ll see:

• Johnny will immediately begin planning to keep Lulu safe once he learns Anthony is back in the game.
• Johnny will use Maxie to hurt Lulu, but he will not have sex with her.
• Johnny will confess to Claudia that he was trying to make Lulu jealous, but took it to the next level, and explain about Lulu’s past with Maxie.  Claudia will tell him there’s no going back from that.
• Logan will beat Johnny up while raging about his treatment of Lulu and a guilty Johnny, who always felt he should have stayed away from her, will not put up much of fight.
• This “hurt” phase will not last long.  Sweeps start in May and this is all coming at the end of April.  There are too many things that could go wrong popping up for it all not to hit the fan and put everyone in danger by mid-May. 
• Lulu and Johnny will spend part of the sleepy summer months on the run.  Anyone else see him helping to earn their keep as a piano player in a bar or something?

 What we may see:

• Lulu will get to leave town for a bit, either for work (fashion week) or to get away.  It will prevent her and Johnny from having run-ins and will make him wonder where she has gone.  She’ll come back changed and icy until the save.
• Luke may catch on to Johnny’s plan to hurt Lulu to keep her safe.  It would make him much more willing to help when Johnny needs it.
• Logan will think he still has a shot with Lulu after all only to get a big disappointment when she returns from her adventures with Johnny.  Maybe he’ll offer to take her to the debut and get stood up because she was grabbed.
• The bracelet Lulu dropped at the Zacharra’s will turn up on Johnny’s wrist or at least in his hand from time to time.  He didn’t give it back after all.
• The beloved character who dies is easily suspected to be Michael, but if Genie Francis is really gone for good and Anthony is at Shadybrook too, might he not kill Laura?  He did look into Lulu’s past.  If Luke is too grief stricken to act or flees town, Anthony will use it as a chance to get at an unprotected Lulu.
• Johnny turns up at Logan’s to threaten him, but Lulu is there and saves Logan and hurts Johnny by making it look like she had sex with Logan.

 Things I’d like to see:

• Lulu gets to finally beat Maxie with public humiliation (Diego’s old photos may appear for all to see at Crimson’s debut) or by taking her job (Maxie misses the debut because Lulu stole her car or locked her in somewhere).
• When they have to run, Lulu stops by Lucky’s for that carpetbag Laura carried in her running days.  When Johnny asks her what it is, she tells him it’s something the Spencers thought they were done with, but it will be a signal to her family that she needs help.  She’ll either leave it out for Lucky to find or maybe leave the door to the closet Laura kept it in open so Lucky will see it’s gone.  We know Lucky kept Laura’s things when Lulu found her classical records.
• Lulu steals Scott’s car to escape with Johnny.
• When Johnny learns how much she knows about running from the mob, he’ll get that shocked smile he gets when she surprises him with what bad stuff she knows.
• While on the run, all the truths come out between Johnny and Lulu:  who cheated, who shot Michael, Lulu’s abortion that made her not trust herself, Laura’s rape that taught Luke about forgiveness.
• Luke takes out Anthony.
• The comic genius who writes Sonny’s guards, Diane/Kate/Alexis, Spinelli, and Jerry beating up Scott plays a big hand in the escape and on the run scenes.