Title: Ten Mile Sprint
Rating: T, to be safe
Main Roles: Maria Kanellis, John Morrison (I'm not using his real name cause, come on, Morrison just sounds so much cooler than Hennigan!)
Supporting Roles: Melina Perez, Michelle McCool, The Miz (Mike Mizanin), C.M. Punk (Phil Brooks)
Word Count: 2,573
Full Summary: "You know, they say if you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, it can really change your perspective." Maria scoffed, "If I had to walk in John Morrison's shoes, I'd mosey myself right off a cliff."
Maria Kanellis and John Morrison really, really don't like each other and neither of them really know how they got to this point, terrorizing and playing immature pranks on each other whenever deemed possible. Frankly, their friends and co-workers are sick and tired of the juvenile nature of it all, but none of them can get either one to throw up a white flag. Will a sudden lapse in time, possibly a cruel practical joke by the hands of something or someone far more powerful than them, get them to change their ways? Or at least stop annoying the crap out of everyone around them?
A/N: For all intents and purposes, all the following characters mentioned, except C.M. Punk have been on SmackDown/ECW for a while. Yes, even Melina. Oh, and she's not injured in the story either. Work with me people! :P By the way, I haven't written in a very, very long time, especially fanfiction, and this is a pretty random pairing, so just tell me what you think! :) All reviews are appreciated! Just a warning, this first chapter goes kinda slow..just trying to set the stage!
Maria couldn't stand him and he just couldn't seem to take the hint to back off. Or maybe he did take the hint, but enjoyed pushing her to a teetering standpoint on the edge of her sanity. What he got out of mocking her and tormenting her every chance he got, she didn't understand and probably never would. Not to say that she didn't give him plenty of doses of his own medicine, but that didn't change the fact that he knew exactly what buttons to press to bring her blood to a nice simmer and he often excercised this talent. The mention of his name, the sight of his face, the sound of his voice turned her into someone she didn't even recognize most of the time. Someone that was very beneath her.
When she had first met him over a year ago, he seemed nice enough. At the time, he was dating her best friend, Melina and the pair went on many double dates with herself and her boyfriend, Phil. The quartet found themselves attending parties and going out together whenever possible. Maria could even go as far as to say she considered him a really good friend in the short duration of his and Melina's relationship, which lasted a whole three months before Melina broke up with him, deciding for the both of them that they were better off as friends. He wasn't in agreement and he took it rather harshly. All the friendliness and kindness he had shone towards Melina turned into callous taunting and relentless cheap shots. While it was immature and unwarranted, Maria could vaguely understand where he was coming from. That is, until he concluded that Maria was deserving of the same cold treatment.
Initially, it had hurt her feelings and confused her. She really believed she had made a new friend in him and this new attitude just didn't seem like the guy she had come to know. It started with him subtly hitting on her, then not so subtly and then just shameless flirtation, although one sided. At first, she tried to let him down easily, just thinking he was hurt over her best friend and trying to find comfort in the arms of a familiar face, but eventually it just came to annoy her.
After continuous rejections, Maria came to believe he was only doing it for attention from the guys, who would whoop and laugh along with him everytime he would spew something vulgar to her. One particular day, she became fed up with it all and lashed back for what would be the first time out of many to come.
"Dammit, they put mayonnaise on my sandwich!" Maria complained to her friends Michelle McCool and Melina, slapping the sub sandwich closed and tossing it back on her plate.
"So, whufs wong wif dat?" Michelle questioned from across the table in catering, her mouth in mid-chew.
"I'm allergic to mayonnaise! If I eat it, I'll swell up like a balloon!"
"I can attest to this, I have seen it happen. It's not pretty." Melina shuddered, remembering the time she went out to eat with Maria and her friend failed to notice the mayonnaise they had put in her meal. The night ended with Maria's lips and cheeks blowing up to almost three times their normal size.
"Shut up! It's not my fault." Maria tossed her napkin at Melina. "Hmm..I guess I'll just eat this then, I can't go out there on an empty stomach" She picked up the popsicle she had purchased, beginning to peel back the wrapper before glancing at her watch, "Oh crap!"
"Whuf?" Michelle curiously glanced at her, mouth again full of sandwich.
Maria laughed at the sight of her friend, staring at her with confused eyes and a mouth full of half chewed food. "I left my cell in my bag and I forgot that Phil was supposed to call me in a little bit!"
"Oh, well you better go get it then! Can't keep your man waiting!" Michelle said as she finished swallowing the bite.
"Yeah, you got one of the good ones." Melina rolled her eyes as she bit into a baby carrot stick.
"I know! Gotta keep hold of this one! Don't worry Mel, you'll find the right guy eventually, it's a process." She winked, "But I do miss Phil, I wish he were on SmackDown. I suppose such is life." Maria sighed, "By the way, 'Chelle.." She touched the right side of her mouth, indicating that her friend had some leftover food smeared on her face.
Michelle looked confused at first before a look of realization came over her face as she grabbed a napkin and wiped her face. "I haven't eaten since yesterday, okay! Leave me alone!" The three friends laughed as Maria rose from her seat.
"Are you taking that with you?" Melina asked, referring to the popsicle that Maria was holding in her hand. It was generally an unspoken rule backstage that food doesn't go into the locker room in order to prevent messes.
"I sure am! I gotta eat something and I'll finish it before I get to the locker room anyway." She said, finally opening the package and putting the frozen treat in her mouth. She stood up completely and turned, only to come face to face with him and his posse of idiots.
She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, "What do you want John? I don't have time for -"
He cut her off before she could finish, "Hey, hey, hey, no need to be so hostile. How do you know what I'm going to say?"
"You're going to ask me out or hit on me to get a rise out of your little buddies, just a wild guess." She deadpanned facetiously, "Let me fast forward a little bit. No. Goodbye." She tried to push past him but he placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"You don't even know what it is!"
"Yeah, but I know what it's not. Now kindly let go of me." She tried to pull from his grip but he remained firm.
"You know, we have much bigger and better treats for you to quench your appetite at the Palace of Wisdom." He winked, eyeing the popsicle she was still holding.
If Maria had rolled her eyes any harder, they would have fallen straight out of her head. She felt bad for Melina, having to sit back and watch her spectacle of an ex hit on her best friend. Generally, for the sake of everyone around her (yes, even him) she would brush him off and walk away. Even though he was an ass, she didn't like to hurt or humiliate anyone, but day by day, as his attacks came on stronger, the gloves started to slip off more and more and today was the end of the rope. The gloves were torn to shreads, on the ground and she was now stomping on them.
"Actually, that does sound rather..enticing." She smiled coyly, taking the popsicle and slowly trailing it down his jawline and over his mouth. His first reaction was that of shock, but then realizing he had to man up for the guys, his face quickly twisted into a cocky smirk, as if he was expecting this all along.
"But.. there's just one little problem.." She continued.
"And what could that be?" He asked, the smile never leaving his face.
"I am so very hungry and I have to get lots of nutrients before my match tonight," She started.
"Well, that should be no problem." He nonchalantly added.
She nodded, "But I got word that the treats from the Palace of Wisdom were..well, not very satisfying," She faked a pout, using her head to point back in Melina's direction, as John and the guys behind him came to understand what exactly she was saying, "Not to mention, I heard they couldn't really fill you up, either.." She grimaced sympathetically, holding up her free hand's pinkie, wiggling it for effect, "If you know what I mean.."
The group of guys behind him burst into laughter, assuming that since she was his ex-girlfriend's best friend, what she was speaking was probably truthful. She glanced over her shoulder at her two friends. Melina was sitting with her hand pressed to her mouth, trying to suppress her giggle as Michelle's mouth, full of sandwich, hung open, her face a mixture of surprise and amusement. She turned back to the task at hand and attempted to continue her roast, "So in that case.."
"Stupid bitch," he seethed through his teeth as he slapped her arm away from his face. The popsicle dropped from her hand and landed on the floor between the two of them.
"Asshole." She returned.
"Whore." He stepped up a bit, getting closer to her face.
"Pencil dick!" She screeched, bending down and picking up her fallen popsicle. He opened his mouth to once again retaliate but was greeted by the stick of ice cream being shoved down his throat, then a knee connecting straight to his groin. He doubled over, now choking on the popsicle and holding himself. All he could hear was ringing and throbbing in his ears from the pain coursing through his body, which blocked out the laughter and the whoops that he was accustomed to hearing as he embarrassed someone else.
"If you could even feel that." Maria snidely remarked as she walked to the locker room, still in pursuit of her cell phone. She really needed to talk to Phil.
The nickname 'pencil dick' had caught on backstage in reference to John and since then, it had been an endless war between the two of them, dueling it out to see who could have the last word in each of their unpleasant encounters. Earlier in the day, she had gotten the final laugh once again insulting his manhood and questioning his sexuality, oldie but goodie. It had gone over real well with the guys that always seemed to be around during their face offs and she really thought she was even beginning to form her own fan club amongst them. John didn't find it too amusing though. Oh well, he was just a stick in the mud, wasn't he? She hoped it was the last time she'd have to deal with him today but considering it wasn't even four in the afternoon yet, she would probably have to see him more than once.
Maria sighed, stepping into the Diva's locker room at the American Airline Arena and setting her gym bag and purse down in a cubby hole. She fished out a towel and a change of clothes before stripping down to her underwear and walking to the showers. Her, Melina and Michelle had arrived at the hotel late last night, thanks to Michelle forgetting the directions at the arena, and she didn't get a chance to take a shower before passing out. Once in the shower area, she stripped herself of any remaining garments and stepped under the steaming water, letting all thoughts of John Morrison and other stress-inducing ideas leave her mind, if only momentarily.
She was disrupted from her idyllic state by the sound of soft footsteps on the square-tiled floors outside of her stall. Shrugging it off, she figured it was just one of the other girls getting a shower in. But when she didn't hear water starting, her suspicions rose and she peeked out the curtain. Glancing around, she saw no one, went back to her bathing and resumed the tour of her dreamland.
Fifteen minutes later, she had sufficiently cleaned herself and not really having time for a leisure washing, reached her hand out, searching for the towel she hung on the hook by her stall. After pawing around for it and still not being able to grasp it, she looked out and discovered the towel was no longer on the silver hook, nor had it fallen on the ground. Her eyes darted over to the bench she had placed her clothes on and those too, were gone.
'Really?' She mused to herself, 'He couldn't come up with something better than that? Not to mention I still have my gym bag full of clothes, amateur.'
Running a hand through her wet, auburn hair, she tiptoed into the locker room, peeking to ensure no one else was around. Not because she wasn't comfortable with her fellow Diva's, it just would have been somewhat awkward to come parading out of the shower butt naked. Seeing she was alone, she went to retrieve the rest of her wardrobe, but stopped dead in her tracks when her cubby hole was completely bare.
"Damn." Maria muttered to herself, hands on her hips. Before she could even react, Todd Grisham came bursting into the Diva's locker room, camera crew in tow, not even bothering to knock.
"Maria, Maria! Morrison told me to come get your take on your mixed tag match tonight, he said -" It took Todd a moment to notice what was before his eyes as Maria screamed and attempted to cover herself up to the best of her abilities. He couldn't help but stare, "Oh my God, Maria, I - I - I'm so sorry!"
"Get out! Turn that damn camera off!" She screeched. By now the camera man had lowered the camera from his eye and was staring like a man who had never seen a woman's anatomy before.
"I - Is there anything I can get you? To you know, um, make up for, uh, this?" Grisham tripped over his words.
"You can get the hell out! Now!" Grabbing the closest gym bag in her vicinity, which happened to be Michelle's, she used it as a shield of sorts, the only thing between her naked body and the camera. Todd and the crew filed out quickly thereafter and Maria let out a sigh and lowered the bag but had little time to regain her composure before Todd once again let himself in.
"Really, I am - I'm really very - terribly sorry, I -"
"Out, out, out, out!" Maria, once again using the duffel bag as makeshift clothing, chased him out the door, hitting him with one of Michelle gym shoes to punctuate each 'out'.
"Ow! Ow! Okay!" Todd squealed, running out. As he was leaving, Michelle and Melina were just making their way back from getting some drinks. Their eyes followed the interview out of the door and then widened as they made their way to a soaked and naked Maria, using red vinyl to cover what shouldn't be revealed to all the world.
"What th -" Michelle started, her face contorted in extreme confusion.
Maria began fishing clothes out of her friend's bag to wear for the time being and held up a hand in response to her question, shaking her head, as if to say 'do not even ask'.
"Do you really have to ask that Michelle?" Melina began laughing heartily.
"Yes?" Michelle replied, still not catching on.
Now finally clothed in a pair of Michelle's shorts and a white tank top, Maria sat down to tie on the pair of shoes she was previously beating the helpless Todd with, still moving her head in the same direction as she had before. "I'm going to kill John Morrison, I'm gonna kill him."