He used to hate her but now he's in love with her. How do you go from hating to loving in so little time?
Disclaimer: I only own Jennifer. Hope you enjoy! Please review!
"I want to know how you went from hating her to going out with her." Chris, my best friend and tag team partner asked. To be honest, I wasn't even sure how it happened so fast. "You do hate her, don't you?"
The girl he was referring to happens to be the niece of one Truth Martini. I had met her years before when Truth was helping train me and the sweetest girl I had ever met. But after a while she stopped being so nice and even started being mean. She became a whole new person in less than a week.
"How long have you two been seeing each other?" Chris was still yelling at me and rightfully so. I hadn't told him that Jenifer and I had been seeing each other for the last 3 months. It wasn't entirely my fault. Chris had been in his own world with his girlfriend and wrestling while I was stuck in Detroit for the past 5 months with an injury.
"3 months…"
"Are you shitting me?" Chris yelled. I'm not sure if it was a question or an exclamation. Plus I never really understood that phrase.
"No, I am not shitting you Chris." I said emphasizing the word 'shitting'. "Jennifer and I have been together for about 3 months now."
"Why didn't you tell me? I found out about it from Truth!"
"You never asked me about my love life and I guess it never just came up."
"The fact that you are seeing anyone I figured would be a conversation we would have."
"I'm sorry…it isn't a big deal."
"What happened? I thought you hated her?"
"Well apparently things have changed. Maybe she isn't as bad as you think. Maybe you need to hear her side to the story." Now I was starting to get mad. "Why can't you just be happy for me?"
"Maybe because she's a bitch, Alex!"
"You don't know her Chris!" Now we were both yelling trying to get our points across. "If you just…"
"No way man! I'm not hanging out with her!"
"Why?'
"I know what she has said about Jamie and what's she done to you. She's not a nice person. What does she have on you? Just tell me what she's blackmailing you with and we'll get her to stop." I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up and started towards the door. "Where are you going Shelley?"
"This is why I never told you Chris. You don't even know her and you won't give her a chance." Chris was completely wrong about Jenifer and if he wasn't going to give her a chance, they didn't need to hang out. I grabbed my cell phone as I climbed into my car. I dialed the number I had called almost every day for the last 3 months.
"Hello…" the groggy voice on the other side made smile every time.
"Did I wake you up?" I felt a little bad, but I really needed to talk to someone.
"Yea, I fell asleep watching TV, but don't worry about it. I'm up now." The sleepiness was coming out of her voice and I wished I had been there sleeping with her. "Lex? You okay?"
"Yea, I was just wondering if we could talk."
"Of course we can talk. I am always willing to talk with you."
"Do you mind if I come over?"
"Not at all, but are you sure you wanna drive the half hour here?"
"Yea, I just really want to see and talk to you."
"Just come one up when you get here. Drive safe."
"I will. See you soon." I hung up the phone as I pulled onto the highway.
4 months earlier
"Shelley! How's the shoulder feeling?" I had just walked into the House of Truth Wrestling School gym when my long-time friend and trainer saw me.
"It's coming along. How are you doing Truth?"
"Good…can't wait till you can get back in the ring. I'm in need of some competition."
"You'll get some good competition as soon as I can get clearance from the doctors."
"So anything else new?"
"Um, Melanie broke up with me after we lost the tag belts."
"Because you lost them?"
"Yea, she said she couldn't go out or be seen with a loser." I chuckled remembering the conversation we had the night after Genesis. I was fine with the break-up.
"Sorry to hear that…"
"Don't worry about it. She wasn't the right one anyway." I paused when I saw a girl walk into the gym. "What the hell is she doing here?" Truth turned to see who had just walked in.
"Not quite sure what she's doing here." Before I could say anything else she was walking towards us. "Jenifer? What are you doing here? I thought we agreed that you wouldn't…"
"I just had to drop this check off. My mom said you needed it and apparently it is more important than how I felt today. I told her you didn't want me here, but she wouldn't listen. Would you want to argue with her?" I couldn't help, but notice the expression on Truth's face had changed since she, Jenifer, had walked over. It wasn't the hard exterior as when she walked in, but more of an understanding and sincere expression.
"I'm sorry…"
"Stop! I don't want your apologies!" The yell from her baffled me. I turned to look at Truth again. I figured the blowout would have pissed him off again, but he still looked like he understood something I didn't. "Just take the money…" she threw the envelope at him. "I have to go." With that she stormed out of the gym. I saw Truth's eyes welling as the door slammed shut.
"You okay?" I asked as he walked back to his office.
"I'll be fine. I just need to gather my thoughts." He shut the door and I decided to give Jenifer a piece of my mind. She didn't always need to be a bitch to everyone. I ran out the back door and nearly tripped over a body on the ground. I looked down and noticed it was Jenifer.
"Jenifer?" I knelt down and shook her gently, but she didn't even flinch. I leaned closer when I wasn't sure if she was even breathing. I felt relief when I realized she was breathing, but she still wasn't responding. I grabbed my phone and dialed 9-1-1.
"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"
"I'm at House of Truth Wrestling School and there is a girl passed out in the parking lot. She isn't a wrestler, so not sure why she passed out."
"Is she breathing?"
"Barely, but yes."
"We are sending an ambulance over now. Would you like to stay on the line?"
"No, I can't."
"Sir…" I heard the operator start to persuade me otherwise, but I wasn't staying. I had to call Truth.
I had barely hung up with him when he ran out of the building. We could hear the ambulance coming down the street less than a minute later.
"What happened Alex?" Truth asked as he knelt down beside his niece.
"I don't know. When I walked out I found her there. She wasn't moving or anything." The EMTs had walked up and were tending to her. Truth had gotten up off the ground and was standing quietly next to me.
"Does she have any health issues at all?" I looked at Truth.
"Yes, she's been battling cancer for the past year."
"Has she been doing any chemo or radiation?"
"Um, she did it once but now they are trying some herb remedy or something." I was in shock. I had no idea that she was going through this. I watched as they put her into the ambulance. Truth wanted to go in the ambulance, but he wasn't immediate family.
"I'll drive Truth." He nodded as we walked to the car and watched the ambulance drive off. The drive to the hospital was silent, but my mind had a million questions bouncing around.
When we got to the hospital I followed Truth as he ran down the hallway. The answer to see Jenifer was the same every time he asked. He wasn't immediate family so he would have to wait until they made sure she was stable. When he got back from calling her family I decided to find out more details.
"When did she find out about the cancer?"
"Trying to figure that out is not an exact science."
"What do you mean?"
"She's known for real about a year, but she has had suspicions for almost 2."
"Why didn't she go in then?"
"She was going to, but her parents had just gone through a divorce and she couldn't afford the check-up."
"That's horrible!"
"Yea and her parents, more her mom, wouldn't help at all. That is why she started working for me. She needed to save up enough money for everything. When we found out she had cancer and chemo was a good choice I gave her some money. Apparently her mom found out and made her work enough to pay me back. That is what the check was for." I still couldn't believe everything I was hearing.
"She said and did all those things and you still gave her money?" I saw Truth's eyes grow darker.
"Can I be honest with her?"
"Of course you can."
"I don't think she's the one that actually did all those things."
"What do you mean? Jamie heard her say all those things." I wasn't about to mention what she did to me.
"Do you know Jen has a twin sister, identical twin sister?"
"She does?"
"Yea, she is about 2 minutes older. My sister and her husband thought they could never conceive and then they found out they were having 2 at one time. They were ecstatic about the possibility of a boy and a girl, but God obviously had other plans. My sister kinda rejected the idea of having 2 girls and when Jen came out she more or less rejected her. She wouldn't hold or feed or even talk to Jen for almost a month."
"Are you kidding?"
"Sadly I am not kidding. I was staying at their house and I usually got up with Jen, fed her, changed her…I did everything for that little girl."
"That is horrible."
"Yea, well after the first month the doctors diagnosed my sister with bi-polar disorder. She got on some medication, but she has never been very good at sticking with the medication."
"So does that mean you think it was her sister?"
"Jen and I have always been close and she has always been the sweetest girl. I just can't see her saying any of those things."
"Then why have you been so mad at her?"
"I truly thought it was her, but lately I have been hearing more things and it sounds exactly like CarrieAnn." Before I could say anything Truth's phone rang. "Jen's mom…" he said getting up and answering the phone call. I knew there was more to the story and hopefully he would tell me. I looked over when I heard a commotion from the other end of the waiting room. I ran over when I saw a stack of magazines go flying.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I reached down to pick up the magazines. Truth had slid down the wall and I could tell he was crying.
"She doesn't even care that her daughter is in the hospital. She is in Chicago with CarrieAnn and says they can't miss the runway show tonight. They might be back tomorrow. She isn't sure though."
"What about her dad?"
"He's on his honeymoon in Africa. I can't get a hold of him until tomorrow evening."
"Will he come back for her?"
"Yea, but he doesn't have money to help her."
"You just said he was in Africa on his honeymoon."
"Yea, he and his wife are down in Africa doing charity work with a church group they belong to." Now I understood a little better.
"Do you have a picture of Jen's sister?" Truth nodded and grabbed his wallet. He pulled out a picture and handed it to me. I looked at the picture and realized we had all been wrong. "It wasn't Jenifer after all. Her sister had set her up."
"How do you know?"
"Looking at the two of them side by side there is a huge difference and CarrieAnn is definitely the one." I said pointing at the picture of CarrieAnn. Truth put his head in his hands.
"That is what I was afraid. I don't know if she'll ever forgive me."
"Excuse me…" We looked up when we heard the doctor. "You're here for Jenifer Lewis?" Truth stood up and shook the doctor's hand.
"Yea, I'm her uncle."
"I have some bad news. Her cancer has gotten a little worse. It has moved into Stage IV. We have to remove her kidney. Only one kidney has the cancer, but the other one isn't very strong. We are transferring her to a facility where she can stay until we find a kidney. It will also help because of the 24 weeks of chemotherapy and radiation."
"Will she be cancer free after that?"
"She needs to stick with the chemotherapy and radiation this time."
"Can I see her?"
"Yes, but please don't stay long." We followed the doctor down the hallway before he stopped outside the room.
"I'll wait out here Truth."
The memory faded as I pulled into a parking space in front of Jenifer's building. I shut the car off and reached into the backseat until I found the stuffed elephant I had found at the store the other day. I walked inside the building and was greeted by the familiar sterile smell.
"Mr. Shelley, it's nice to see you."
"Hi Mrs. Morgan. How was your vacation?"
"It was good, but I'm happy to be back. I just got done talking to Jen. She's excited to see you."
"Good, I'm excited to see her as well. I'll talk to you later." I smiled at the older woman as I made my way to the stairs. I got nervous every time I saw Jenifer's door and this time was no exception. The girl made me lose all sensibility and reason, but she made me a better man. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
