A/N: This is a one-shot for Abiha for posting the 100th review of my story Wait, What?
I hope this is okay for you :)
Enjoy!
Second Chances
"Abiha. Abiha! Are you listening to me?"
"Huh?" The raven-haired woman snapped out of her daze to frown at her friend and then shook her head, smiling apologetically, "Sorry, Michelle. I was miles away."
"Yeah, I bet I can guess where. Are you still bumming over him?"
"Can we not talk about this right now?" Her dark, chocolate eyes were pleading and Michelle shook her head in exasperation. There were some things you just couldn't win with and this was one of them. Abiha and Randy had been seeing each other for a few months and then without warning it had all been called off. No-one knew why and they both refused to talk about. Michelle McCool was Abiha's best friend on the roster and even she didn't know what had happened. "Alright, well get off your ass. We gotta get to the airport."
Abiha nodded and sighed, lifting herself to her feet and slowly, apathetically beginning to throw her remaining items into her suitcase. She was almost finished, but Michelle was miles behind. Half her belongings were still strewn across their shared hotel room. "Come on, 'Chelle. Would you hurry up already? We were lucky to even get this flight with all this crap going on with the volcano. If we miss it we're gonna be stuck here with the guys from Raw." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. She had nothing against Raw per se, only certain factions of it. Namely a certain third generation superstar who continued to haunt her dreams.
What she'd had with Randy was special. It was something unique that neither of them had expected and without a moment's notice, without a word, he'd broken it off. He'd made the usual excuses of course; he was far too into his career, it was too difficult with them being on different shows. Blah, blah, blah. Abiha could tell he didn't believe it any more than she did, but she hadn't argued. She didn't want to be the woman who hung on pathetically and dragged it all out until it became one of those notorious break-ups that had ended horribly. It wasn't like they'd been serious or anything. It had only been five months.
Only, it was serious. It was serious for her. She was absolutely in love with him. She'd never told him. She didn't want to scare him off, but it seemed pointless now anyway. Maybe he'd guessed, maybe someone had told him. Maybe that was why he'd walked away so suddenly. It didn't really matter now. It was over and they didn't even speak anymore.
"Michelle, come on! We've got to be at the airport like...five minutes ago!"
"Alright, I'm coming!" Michelle ran out of the bathroom with her hair now wrapped in a towel and Abiha groaned in frustration, shaking her head, her long hair swinging from side to side. "Michelle!"
"What? I can't get on a plane with greasy hair! Are you crazy?"
"Whatever. I'll meet you in the lobby. Hurry up!"
"I'm sorry, Miss, but the flight left ten minutes ago. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the next one."
"Well when is the next one?"
"We don't know. With the ash cloud, all flights have been grounded until further notice. You're free to wait and see if another flight becomes available, but I'm afraid I don't have any more information at this time."
"I hate you. I mean, I know it's not your fault, but I've got to blame someone, so I just want you to know that I really, really hate you right now."
"I get that a lot." The man behind the counter smiled good naturedly as Abiha turned to glare at her blonde friend who was looking around perfectly happily. "We missed it! This is entirely your fault!"
"Uh-huh." Michelle clearly wasn't listening and Abiha snapped her fingers in front of the other woman's face, "Hey! I'm yelling at you, the least you could do is pay attention!" In response, Michelle grabbed her by the chin and turned her face to the right. At the sight that greeted her, Abiha's normally pale skin flooded with colour and she gasped. Randy was stood not far away, talking to a group of fans. He looked simply stunning. It was the only way to describe him. He was dressed casually in a pair of faded blue jeans and a white shirt, the sleeves were rolled up, exposing his tattooed arms and he wore an easy smile on his face as he chatted with the group of people around him. He moved his hands a lot as he spoke and seem completely comfortable with his surroundings.
Abiha felt as if her heart had stopped. She'd managed to avoid bumping into him at all recently and had thought she was getting over him, but now it all rushed back, like someone had punched her in the chest and she felt herself choking on air. "Hey...hey, you okay?"
"I need some air." She all but ran out of the airport, ignoring the calls from the fans and the various faces that turned her way. She kept moving until she was around the side of the building and then leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She ran her hands down her face and then folded her arms. She tilted her head back, keeping her eyes closed and let the cool air hit her face. She was starting to feel a bit better when a voice sounded that almost drove her to her knees.
"Abiha...are you okay?" Her eyes snapped open and met the steel blue of Randy's. She felt like her heart had jumped into her mouth and she couldn't speak. She didn't want to stand there staring at him stupidly, so she just nodded her head, hoping she came across as aloof rather than close to a stroke. "You don't look it. You look really pale."
"I'm always pale." Her tongue had finally come unstuck and she wished her voice sounded stable instead of shaking as if she were about to burst into tears, which was a lot closer to the truth than she was willing to admit, even to herself. It wasn't fair that he got to have such an effect on her and be completely unaware of it, not to mention totally not bothered by her presence at all.
"Do you need anything?"
"I need you to go away." Randy looked shocked, but that could be nothing to what Abiha felt. She lifted a hand to cover her mouth, not believing she had just said that out loud. She watched as hurt replaced the shock on Randy's face and he turned to walk away. She should have let him go, she should under no circumstances have rushed forward to grab his arm, her delicate fingers closing over the familiar, hard forearm and yet that's exactly what she did. "Randy, I'm sorry. It's just...hard."
"What's hard?" He frowned at her, confused by her behaviour. Abiha sighed and again knew she should not have been doing what she was doing, but she did it anyway, "Seeing you. Talking to you. Thinking about you."
Randy continued to frown at her, but it wasn't confusion in his eyes any more, it was regret. He could see how her face constricted in pain as she spoke, hear how her voice dropped down to little above a whisper as she spoke, revealing to only him the agony his sudden departure from her life had caused. She didn't know the real reason. He had never told her. He'd never told anyone. He was ashamed of the instinct which had made him run from her. "Abiha..."
"Don't. Please, don't. I know you're sorry. I know that it's not your fault I feel this way. It's not your problem." She let go of his arm then and backed away a few steps, closing down and shutting him out. He wasn't about to let that happen though and he closed the distance she had created, taking her face in his hands. The sudden contact made her gasp, breaking down the defences she had worked so hard to put up and as she looked up at him he saw tears glittering in her dark eyes and it broke his heart that he had caused her so much pain.
"I owe Michelle twenty dollars." The announcement was so abrupt that Abiha spluttered a little and then shook her head, which was awkward given that he hadn't released her face yet, "What?"
A sheepish smile lifted one corner of Randy's mouth and for a moment Abiha could swear he looked...embarrassed? "Well...I kind of...um...I asked her to make sure you missed your flight."
"What?!" Abiha stared at him in shock, "Why would you do that?!"
"Abiha...letting you go was the biggest mistake I ever made." The smile was gone now and his face was completely serious. Abiha felt her heartbeat pick up. How many times had she imagined him saying those exact words? How often had she imagined her own reaction? Yet now, it was nothing like she'd thought it would be. She wrenched her face from his hands and glared at him. Randy looked surprised and lowered his hands slowly to his sides. "I never meant to hurt you."
"But you did! You left me with nothing, Randy! You walked away without as much as a backward glance! And now...now you're here and you're saying these things and I should be happy, but...God! Do you have any idea what you did to me?!" She was angry, even against her better judgement. Her head was screaming at her to shut up and kiss him and just forget everything else, but she couldn't do that. He'd left her once without warning, without a word. There was nothing to stop that from happening again and she wasn't going to stand by and just let it happen. She wouldn't leave herself open to being hurt again. She loved him. She loved him so much, but it was clear that he didn't feel the same. If he had he would never have been able to walk away like he did.
"Abiha, I'm sorry. I never told you the truth. I never told you why."
"I know why. You think I'm stupid? You found out I was in love with you and you ran away!"
"You're in love with me?" They both froze, both shocked. He didn't know. The surprise in his face was genuine. He'd had no idea how she felt about him. "You didn't know..."
Randy shook his head, stepping closer to her again, "No."
"Oh, god." Abiha covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. She had made such a fool of herself. Randy grabbed her wrists, lowering her hands and then placed two fingers under her chin and made her look at him and to her shock, he was smiling. That just confused her even more, "Why are you smiling?"
"You really don't know?"
"No. Help me out here."
"Abiha...I'm in love with you too. That's why I ran. I got scared, yes, but not of you. Of myself. It had only been five months and I was already in love with you. I've never felt like that before and it freaked me out. I have regretted it every single day. That's why I got Michelle to make you miss that plane. I needed to see you. I needed to tell you. I love you, Abiha. I love you."
She couldn't believe what she hearing. It was impossible. Perfect, handsome, wonderful Randy Orton loved her...without warning she suddenly pinched him really hard. He yelped and jumped back a little. "What was that for?!"
"I was checking I wasn't dreaming."
"You're supposed to pinch yourself!"
"Yeah, but that was more fun."
"No, that was mean!"
"Randy."
"What?"
"Shut up and kiss me." He didn't need any further instructions and he proceeded to wrap his arms around her waist and draw her close to his body where she fitted perfectly and he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her breathless. She'd missed that. Her arms wound around his neck, keeping him close, bowing her body against his. Her head was spinning in the most wonderful way and she was sure she must have died and gone to heaven, but she didn't care.
When they finally broke apart, they were both gasping for air. Abiha felt Randy rest his forehead against her and smiled. "I'm gonna buy Michelle the biggest diamond bracelet in the world." Randy laughed and then kissed her again until all thoughts of anything else flew out of her mind, totally forgotten.
