Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N: As I was looking over the stories on my profile I realized that the writing in this story wasn't very good. Since I have a special connection with the characters, I decided to re-write it and hopefully bring new life to it. So whether you are a long time reader or a newbie, I hope that you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please remember to review once you are done as they are my sunshine and I know that you don't want me to live in darkness.
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John could feel the fatigue from his flight starting to catch up with him as he waited impatiently for the elevator in another nameless hotel to appear and take him to his room. As the numbers slowly counted down to the lobby, John's mind wandered back to earlier that day and the confrontation that he had with his girlfriend, Addison.
"Addie!" John shouted up the stairs of his house. "Are you almost ready? We're going to miss the plane if we don't get going."
Addison appeared at the top of the stairs looking coldly beautiful. "I'm not going."
"What do you mean you're not going?" John could feel his temper beginning to rise.
"Exactly that. I'm not going."
"And why not?"
"Because I don't want to." Addison lifted her shoulders delicately. "There's a party being thrown by Lorraine this weekend and anyone who is anybody is going to be there."
"You're not going to come with me because of a party?" John couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"You know you should really blow off this trip and come with me to the party." Addison assessed her boyfriend coolly. "It would really help your career if you could just be seen in the right place with the right people."
"If I blow off this 'trip' it could ruin my career." John ground out. "Being at the house shows is part of being one of the top superstars."
Addison just arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow as if to question John's statement, letting the silence stretch between them. Finally, just as John was almost ready to yell from frustration, Addison spun on her heel, heading towards the room that they shared.
John stood at the bottom of the stairs, fists clenched at his sides. A quick glance at his watch showed that he didn't have time to try and take some sense into Addison. Grabbing his luggage from beside the door, John headed out the door letting it slam behind him.
The soft dinging of the elevator doors brought John back to the present. Wearily making his way into the car, he punched the number for his floor and waited anxiously for the doors to close behind him with a silent whoosh. Slowly the elevator climbed steadily upwards, stopping smoothly at the eighth floor. Gathering up his gym bag and suitcase, John let out a groan as he heard the faint strains of his single Right Now emanating from his pocket.
"Just my fucking luck." John muttered darkly, knowing that there was no way he was going to be able to reach his phone before it went to voicemail. "I swear that the damn thing only rings when my hands are full."
"You do know that they say the first sign of insanity is when you start talking to yourself, right?" A cheerful female voice said from behind John.
John turned his head to glare at Samantha Young, better known as Sammie. "You, my dear, are way to chipper for having just endured a hellishly long plane ride."
"Watch you you're calling 'my dear'." Randy Orton appeared next to the couple, slinging his arm over his fiancée's shoulder. "I just might think you're trying to steal my woman away from me."
John rolled his eyes at his friend. "Like I could even if I wanted to, for some reason that women truly seems to love you."
"I know." Randy couldn't stop the large grin that crossed his face. "I'll never know how I got so lucky to find her."
"Well I'm pretty sure it isn't your good looks, since you don't have any. I'm still leaning towards the fact that you have somehow brainwashed her." John could feel his bad mood start to lift as he bantered with his friends.
"No way!" Randy shook his head. "She loves me because of my prowess in bed."
John raised his eyebrows. "You know, that could possibly be construed as a form of brainwash."
Sammie was beginning to get frustrated by the fact that they guys were talking over her head as if she wasn't even there. "Being short really sucks. All the tall people talk over you like you aren't even here." She muttered under her breath.
"You do realize that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, right?" John threw Sammie's words back at her, a smile on his lips.
Wrinkling her nose in a mock glare at John, Sammie reached out and snatched the little envelope that housed his key card out of his hand.
"Hey!" John tried to grab it back but Sammie darted behind Randy.
"Randy!" John whined. "Make your woman give me my key back."
Randy just shook his head at his best friend and fiancée's antics. "I swear, you two are worse that a couple of kids. Sammie…" Randy's voice took on a patient tone as if he was talking to a little child as he turned around to look at her. "…why did you take John's room key?"
"I wanted to see what room he was in." Sammie smiled innocently up at Randy.
"Well you could have just asked." John reached around and yanked the envelope out of Sammie's hand.
"Fine." Sammie crossed her arms, a pout forming on her lips. "What room are you in?"
"I'm not telling you know."
At John's words, Sammie's face took on a shocked expression and she attempted to grab the key card back. John anticipated her move and dropped his bag off his shoulder so that he could hold her back while raising the card above his head with the other hand.
"This is so not fair!" Sammie turned to look at Randy. "Help me!"
"Uh uh." Randy crossed his arms and shook his head, a smile playing across his lips. "You started this, you need to finish it."
"Mean." Sammie glared momentarily at Randy before turning her attention back to John.
"Please tell me what room you are in." She asked sweetly, giving him a wide eyed innocent smile.
"All you had to do was ask nicely." John handed Sammie his room key before gathering up the luggage that he had dropped in his tussle with her.
"Yippy!" Sammie's squeal caused John and Randy to turn and look at her curiously.
"We're right next to each other." Sammie held up the card to prove her point. When the guys continued to star at her, she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just excited that we're close."
John looked over at Randy. "Your woman is weird."
"That may be true but at least she's my weird woman."
"There they go again, talking over me." Sammie mumbled as she handed John's key back to him.
"You guys headed back to your room?" John motioned with his hand in the general direction of their rooms.
"Actually we were just headed to get something to eat. You wanna join us?" Randy asked.
"Hell yeah. Just let me drop off my bags."
Randy and Sammie nodded their hands, agreeing to wait for John while he ran down to his room.
John quickly let himself into his room, dropping his bags on to the bed haphazardly. Taking a quick assessment to make sure that he had everything he needed, John began to head out of his room before remembering that he had a voicemail waiting for him. Quickly pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he hit the voicemail button and waited patiently for the electronic voice to tell him that he had one new message.
Addison's calm even voice flowed out of the phone. "John, I really hope that you are reconsidering the party. I went ahead and booked you a return flight for tomorrow afternoon which would get you here just in time for the party. Please don't be late."
Once the message was done playing, John could only stare at his phone in amazement. Did that really just happen? He wondered to himself. He couldn't believe that Addison would actually go as far as to schedule him a flight home as if he would drop everything for a party at some person's house that he didn't even know.
Deciding to nip this in the bud before it became something more; John quickly dialed his girlfriend's cell phone.
"John." Addison's voice was all business. "Did you get my message?" Without waiting for his confirmation, she barreled ahead. "I'm glad you're calling. We really need to discuss your attire for the party along with the people that you need to make sure that you are introduced to. Also…"
"I'm not coming home." John effectively cut off Addison's words.
For several seconds there was silence on the line. "What do you mean, you aren't coming home?"
John almost rolled his eyes at the similarity between this conversation and the one that had taken place earlier that day. "Exactly that. I told you before I left; I need to be at the house shows. The Royal Rumble is next weekend and if I'm going to convince the higher ups to give me another shot at the title, I have to prove myself. And the best way to prove myself to them is to prove myself to the fans. The best place to reach the fans is at the house shows."
"I thought we had discussed this." Addison's voice was cold with anger.
"Discussed what?" As was the norm when he talked to Addison, John felt confused as to what they were talking about.
"Your career, John. You can't be a wrestler forever. You need to be looking towards the future."
"And why can't I be a wrestler forever? There are a lot of older people still wrestling."
"Because I'm not willing to let you throw away the best years of your life on some damn job that gets you nowhere."
"What are you talking about?" John could feel a headache beginning to form.
Addison continued as if she hadn't even heard John's question. "You need to be getting out there and introducing yourself to the Hollywood producers. How else are you ever going to get a movie contract if you don't?"
"I don't want to make movies! I've told you that over and over. I love wrestling and I love the fans. Even though I had fun making The Marine, I really have no desire to do that for the rest of my life."
Addison sighed loudly. "I'm beginning to wonder why I'm even still bothering with you. It's obvious that you have no goals in life and are unwilling to look to the future."
"I do have goals in life." John's voice was tight with anger. "They just don't happen to be the same as yours."
Before Addison was able to say anything, John raised his voice. "And they aren't going to change. I'm not going to give up everything that I've worked my whole life for just because you don't like it."
"Then I guess there isn't any reason for me to continue with this relationship. I'll be out of your place before you get home." Without saying goodbye, Addison hung up leaving a stunned John to stare at the dead phone in his hand.
A myriad of emotions rushed through John as he slowly sat down on the edge of the bed to process what had just happened. He remained this way until a loud banging on his door brought him out of his silent reverie. Slowly, as if in a deep trance, John made his way to the door to reveal an impatient couple.
Catching sight of John stricken face, Randy and Sammie's impatience immediately turned to one of concern
"Hey." Sammie's voice was soft. "You okay?"
John blinked his eyes several times as if trying to compute what she was saying. Then with a slight shake of his head, he seemed to wake from his daze. "Addison just broke up with me." His voice had a hint bewilderment to it.
At first, neither Randy nor Sammie knew what to say. Even though they both felt that John was too good for Addison, he had loved her unconditionally and they had respected that.
"You okay, man?" Randy echoed Sammie's earlier words.
John was silent for a moment as he pondered Randy's words. "Yeah, I think I am." He said with a firm nod. "Now, how about we go get something to eat?"
Sammie studied John's face for a second before letting a grin split her face. Reaching out she linked one arm with John and the other with Randy.
"So what are we doing tonight after the show?" Sammie asked as the three friends made their way down the hallway.
John and Randy let out a loud groan at her question, knowing that they were going to end up going with her to whatever hot club she was able to find.
"What?" Sammie exclaimed just as the elevator arrived to take them down to the lobby.
John just shook his head at the grinning blonde next to him. With a smile he decided that maybe splitting up with Addison wasn't such a bad thing after all.