What Tangled Webs
Jessica Dawn
---
"We have a new student today boys and girls, I'd like you all to give Jayden a nice welcome. Just over there dear, there's an empty seat beside Randy… You can go put your things in your desk, and then, maybe Randy would show you around the school?" The teacher had asked, and watched as the little girl had made her way down the row, pushing a pair of glasses up her nose as she clutched her books to her chest, and put them inside the desk. She then turned back around, noting the boy with the short, curly brown hair, who must have been Randy.
He rose from his seat, and extended his hand towards her. "I'm Randy Orton."
She took his hand, and gently shook it. "My names Jayden Cochrane." She took her hand from his, and reached up to tuck a strand of chestnut brown hair behind her ear.
Randy quickly reached for her hand, and tugged her towards the door once he had it. "C'mon… I hate spelling…" He let out lowly, and pulled the door closed behind her as soon as she was out. "Perfect. Now we just gotta spend a half an hour showing you everything in the school."
Unfortunately, the tour only took about ten minutes. Just as Jayden reached forward to open the classroom door, Randy snatched her hand away from it. "C'mon… I got one more place ta show ya." And he took off once again towards the gymnasium. She ran along behind him, as he burst through the double doors of the gym, and made an immediate right, onto the stage. She turned right behind him, watching as he darted across it, and into the wings on the far side. He slid across the polished floor on his knees, coming into a soft collision with the wall, and he laughed slightly. "C'mon Jayden… You're slow, even for a girl."
"Shut up." She said simply, and sat down beside him. He reached up, tugging open a door to what looked like a storage closet.
"It's my hiding spot. I'll share it with ya, but only cause it gets me out of spelling." He explained as he climbed in. She climbed in behind him, and sat opposite him. The closet itself was easily big enough for the two children. Randy pulled the door closed, sending the two into darkness. "So, Jayden… Isn't Jayden a boys name?"
She shrugged, though he couldn't see it. "Jayden's my name. I'm not a boy."
"Are ya sure? I hear my mom tell my dad that he can be such a girl sometimes, and that my little sister – She's four – Is a tomboy. Are ya a tomboy then?"
She shrugged again. "I dunno."
"Oh well then. I guess ya don't have cooties, since you're a girl with a boy's name."
"You're such a baby… Cooties…"
"I gotta make sure, ya know. I don't wanna be running around with cooties."
"There's no such thing."
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too times infinite." Randy let out a laugh and stuck his tongue out.
"Baby."
"So what?"
"Nothing."
And the two sat in relative silence for a couple of minutes, which to the two children seemed like hours. Randy finally broke the silence. "So then, Jayden… Where'd ya move here from?" He asked
"New York." She quickly answered. "My daddy's job moved him here, and so mommy quit her job to bring me down with him."
"I've been there…" Randy quickly chimed in, something they had in common, sort of. "My dad took me there once for one of his shows."
"Shows?"
"He's a wrestler. Some rich guy pays him to beat people up."
"Aren't those hitmen?" The girl was small, but clearly smart, seeming to have an answer for everything Randy said.
"No. It's not so real as it looks on TV, but he can still get hurt."
"Well if it's not so real then how does he get hurt?"
"I dunno… Why don'cha come over some time and ask him?"
"Mmkay. I'll ask my mommy tonight."
"And I'll ask my dad…"
And yet again, the two had run out of things to talk about. Until Randy shifted slightly, his leg cramping up, and managed to kick her. "Sorry!" He quickly yelled, and pushed the door open so he could see better. There were tears in her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly before she could cry. "Jeez… Ya don't have to cry… I didn't kick you that hard… Where's your glasses…?"
"My daddy is gonna kill me…" She let out, biting at her lip as she reached down and picked up the two halves of her glasses.
---
"C'mon Jaybird… You've got an appointment with the florist on the other side of LA in twenty minutes…" the voice wafted in from down the hall of the apartment, eliciting a groan from the woman standing in front of the mirror. She fussed with her eyeliner for a moment longer, before dropping the pencil into the sink and storming out of the bathroom into the living room. She folded her arms across her chest, covering the white tank top she wore.
"I'm not going, Noah. You can call and reschedule it. I'm just not having a good day, and I'll be damned if I go to choose the flower arrangements today." She practically growled. He laughed at this and crossed the room, golden curls bouncing just off his shoulders as he did so, sidling up behind her and wrapping his arms gently around her waist.
"C'mon… The wedding's in two months, and you've still got to go to your final fitting, and see to all your bridesmaids, and get a hold of the caterer, and deal with the flowers. At least if you get one of those things done today, it's a lot less for you to stress out over."
"And I still have to call Randy and let him know…" She let out lowly, causing Noah to chuckle.
"Babe… I somehow doubt that Randy Orton is going to be your man of honour at your wedding…" He never had believed the stories of how the wrestler was in fact one of her best friends from her school days. He'd never heard from, or witnessed anything that would lead him to believe otherwise. His soon to be wife was just a fan, and that was what he figured of the whole situation.
"You really don't believe that he's my best friend, do you?" She asked with a smile dancing on her lips, until he scoffed and retorted,
"If he's your friend for real, then I'd have to wonder just what you're doing with me…" He answered. He gave her a light squeeze, and she unfolded her arms, reaching down to link her fingers through his.
"I'm with you because I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you… Randy's a good best friend, but not boyfriend or husband material for me… He's not what I want… I don't want a husband who's always away, and has a job where he puts himself on the line every night… Can you imagine how many girls he has chasing him? D'you really think I want to be the wife of somebody who could have a different girl every night of the week?" She asked jokingly, and once again he scoffed.
"I'd like to think that if I wanted anybody but you I could have a different girl every night of the week…" He let out lowly, leaning down slightly to plant kisses on her neck.
She smiled, eyes closing softly as the words barely escaped her lips, "Just call the florist…"
---
The first chance she'd got, she'd sent Randy an email from her professional account, asking that he contact her as soon as he read it. She had the house to herself for a few days. She'd had to laugh the previous night during dinner when Noah's phone had rung, and he was informed that his boss wouldn't be able to make his next string of overseas appointments for the next few months, and it left him needing to pick up the slack. He'd be out of town at least three days a week until the week before their wedding. Hadn't she just said she didn't want a husband who was away from her all the time? The wedding was the only reason he would even be off for those two weeks surrounding the early fall date.
Noah had apologized immediately and made a move to pack, his flight leaving early the next morning. He'd left a note beside her on the bed, entailing just how much he loved her, and that he'd call every night at 8 LA time. It made her smile to wake up that, since she couldn't wake up next to him. It wasn't very long after she had sent the email that the phone rang. She jumped, and picked up the cordless, answering almost breathlessly
"Hey, this is Jayden." She spoke quickly, only to be greeted by Noah.
"Wow… Not even two full rings babe… You miss me that much already?" His gentle voice rang back, and she could feel him smiling even over the phone.
"Randy should call me some time soon…" She responded, and then could hear the tease in his voice.
"Call you from wherever in the world he happens to be… I hope you're wearing one of my shirts, and not his…" He laughed.
"I'm wearing my own clothes, thank you. What's up?"
"Just calling to let you know that the plane landed… I'm in Spain now."
"Promise you'll take me to Spain one day?" She let out, her voice taking on an airy quality in the brief daydream of spending time together with him on the beches of Spain.
"Next time I come."
"Perfect. I can't wait."
"Yeah… It'll be our first trip after Waikiki."
"Nice..." She trailed off... Randy could be trying to get through right now... And she was stuck on the phone with the man she lived with... She loved him yes, but there was the unconditional love for her best friend, and the want to hear from him... "... The charges on your cell phone are going to be crazy if I keep you on the phone for long… Anything else you wanted to say?"
"Make sure you deal with the flowers this week?"
She sighed... He was still worried about the flowers. "I will. Anything else?"
"I love you…"
"I love you too… Don't work too hard, okay?" At least something brought a smile to her face in the way he always said I love you. The way he said it quickly, as though he was going to run out of breath was adorable, and had always made her melt.
"I won't… I'll call you later…"
"Bye." She quickly hung up the phone. It wasn't so much the charges on his phone for roaming that she was worried about as opposed to missing Randy's call if he tried to call while she was on the phone with Noah. Was it horrible of her to be waiting on a phone call from her best friend more anxiously than she did that of her fiancé?
No time to think about that as her cell phone rang, and she reached over onto the nightstand to pick it up, flipping it open to answer,
"Hey, this is Jayden."
"Well… If that isn't a voice I haven't heard in a long time… What's up that you need to talk to me so badly?"
She breathed a sigh of relief hearing his voice, and flopped back on the bed, smiling up at the ceiling. "Randy…" She let out in a sigh, and shook her head. "Really? It's not much…" She whispered, and could see him rolling his eyes in her minds eye.
"You know I'm a busy guy, Jay…" He teased, and she laughed outright, as did he.
"Are you free October 30thth?" She asked, and could then hear the sounds of him checking out his Palm Pilot.
"That's a Tuesday… Smackdown and ECW tapings in Tampa, I won't know until the week before if I'm needed for storyline…" He trailed off. "Why? What's up?"
"Well… I'm… kindofgettingmarried…" Her words were rushed, in her excitement, and apprehension in telling him.
"Woah woah woah… Slow down a sec… Come again?"
"I'm…"
"Yeah…?"
"Getting married."
The line went dead silent; leaving Jayden to believe that Randy had hung up on her, until he finally responded, "Congrats." It was simple, and not at all what she had expected. She rose an eyebrow at the phone, and then decided to continue.
"Randy…? There's one more thing…" She trailed off, allowing him the chance to jump in.
"What, you're pregnant too?" He came back, and she knew he wasn't taking the news very well.
"No… I want you to be my Man of Honour." She continued, correcting his assumption, and listened to the line before he spoke again, only after sighing.
"Jay… I don't know the guy, and I really don't know if I can deal with this right now… There's a lot going on here, and I don't even know if you should be getting married…"
"Alright… Who the hell are you, and what did you do with my best friend?" She asked, her tones changing to those of frustration and anger. "Since when did you stop supporting me, Randy?" She asked, feeling tears welling in her eyes.
"Since you seem to be throwing your life away. We both know you're not meant for marriage… Do you honestly want to 'settle down', Jay? That's not the life for you. We both know it."
She rose from the bed, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder, and folded her arms over her chest as she paced through her bedroom. "Can't you just be happy for me, Randy?" She asked, her voice threatening to crack.
"Sorry Jayden… I'll call you back when I let this all sink in, and when I'm not gonna jump at you about it, alright?" He asked, and she just shook her head.
"Yeah, Whatever." She spoke simply; folding the phone before cordial good-byes could be shared.
---
Randy paced through the locker room area, cell phone in hand. This was a situation entirely out of his hands, but he just had a feeling about this. The second the word married had fallen upon his ears something in his gut told him this was a bad idea, and even now, hours after the fact he couldn't shake it, sitting at backstage at RAW, waiting until his fight with John Cena. He was surprised however, when the Heavyweight Champion turned up in the room, chewing on a wad of gum, and cocking an eyebrow at him, as he stopped pacing to survey his once ally.
"What's eating you, Orton?" He asked, lowering his sunglasses for a moment as he spoke before pushing them back into his hair, keeping the blonde locks out of his face now.
Randy shook his head slightly, and turned away from the blonde again. "It's nothing man, you wouldn't understand…"
"Try me." The other man spoke simply, and sat down on a bench, shrugging his leather jacket off of his shoulders and folding it on the bench beside him. He folded his arms over his grey tee, and reached up after a moment to take the sunglasses out of his hair, putting them on top of the jacket.
"I said you wouldn't understand…" Randy spoke, sitting back down, across from 'Edge' and starting to lace up his boots.
"I'll tell you one thing, you go out to the ring without talking about it… You're gonna manage to either injure yourself, or Cena, and as much as I may not like the guy, I know Vince will have your ass if you lay out the champ, especially so close to a Pay-per-view. So you might as well tell me something and get it off your mind before the match."
"My best friend from grade school is getting married."
"And what, he didn't ask you to be a groomsman or an usher or the best man or something?"
"One better. She asked me to be her man of honour." He explained, and Adam shrugged, chewing his gum as he did so.
"So what? What's the big deal?" He asked, resting his right ankle on his left knee.
"I don't know man… I just have a really bad feeling about it… Jayden's not the type to get married, and I just don't trust it one bit. She's my best friend outside of this business and I'd never heard of the guy before today."
"You got a picture?"
"What does that matter?"
"You can tell a lot about a person by the way they look. You should know that much… You've been in this business for how many years? It's all about image…" The Rated R Superstar folded his arms over his chest, and leaned back slightly on the bench, smirking at the younger man before holding out a hand. "C'mon man. A picture."
Randy fished about in his bag for his wallet before finding it and pulling out the insert that he kept pictures of his family and close friends in, tossing it across at Adam.
"Alright… I know the first shot's your fami-"
"She's the blonde."
"In the family shot?"
"Yeah."
"Why's she i-"
"She lived with us for a year."
"Oh. I won't ask." The blonde said simply, and slid the picture out form behind the plastic covering, holding it a few inches away from his face and squinting. "Jesus. She's tiny."
"She was always small."
"I mean like… she could rival the women in my family when it comes to how small she looks. How old is she here?"
"We were in senior year."
"She skip a grade or something?"
"Two."
"Two?"
"Two." This time the word was punctuated with a nod, and the Legend Killer folded his own arms over his chest. "You're not going to figure anything out from that picture."
"I'll bet she writes." Adam added quickly.
"What the fu-"
"Glasses. The frames are too quirky for any other job. It's all in the personality of the glasses. She either writes, or acts, and since I haven't seen or heard of her, I assumed that she's a writer."
"She's a gossip columnist in LA."
"Told you I could figure her out."
"Then keep on going." Randy urged, leaning forward slightly on the bench toward him.
"I can tell you she's probably only marrying this guy because she doesn't know she has other options. Has she had a boyfriend before?"
"Yeah. Just one. I saw him slap her once, and I decked him. Broke three of my fingers, and his jaw. It was awesome, really…"
"So this is quite literally her second boyfriend. You, her supposed best friend have never even heard of the guy before today, let alone met him, and she wants you to be her man of honour. Before you even meet the guy, you say no, because you don't approve, and manage to insult her thinking she's only doing this because she got herself pregnant."
"That pretty much sums it up now, doesn't it, Adam?" Randy asked, rising from the bench and making his way to the locker room door, pushing it open and holding it that way. "Now if you're done chastising me, I'd like it if you left me alone so I can fight this match."
"Whatever man. I just call 'em like I see 'em. You gotta be at the gorilla position in five anyway." The blonde spoke, and patted Randy on the shoulder as he rose and left, Championship gold sparkling on his shoulder.
---
Randy found himself in a terrible position in the ring. He couldn't keep his focus, and Edge's words were replaying themselves in his mind, as John connected with a thundering right, knocking Randy off his feet. John leaned over him in a pinning situation, and lowly into his ear growled, "What the fuck's wrong with you tonight, man?" before allowing Randy the room to get his shoulder up at 2. Both competitors made their way to their feet, and Randy found himself irish whipped against the ropes, Turning and coming back only to be met by a shoulder block. He got up and bounced off the ropes of his own volition this time and the same thing happened. The third time, he stayed down, and John went for another cover.
"My best friends getting married, and Adam's inside my head." The count was only a one this time, before Randy pushed John off, and finished his comment, rolling out of the ring. Adam was right. The way he was performing tonight was going to end up with one of the two competitors injured, and he didn't want that. He was due for a loss by pinfall, but what the fuck did it matter now if it was a loss by count-out.
John could tell from where he stood that this wasn't something Randy wanted to ham up for the cameras, though he made the typical motions. John made his way out of the ring after him, only to chase him backstage, the match finally ending in a double count-out, a no contest. Once backstage, he made his way past Randy, angry about the end of the match, and shook his head. "You gotta keep that shit outta the ring man. You gonna fuck us all over with that."
Randy had no chance to respond, as John stormed off, and he made a turn himself into the locker room. Yet again, Adam was sitting there, Randy's cell phone in hand, smirking up at him. "Hey there. Just got off your phone with Jayden."
"What the fuck?"
"You should call her… and maybe next time not associate a picture with people you don't want anybody talking to…" Adam spoke simply, closing the phone, and tossing it in Randy's direction. The brunette caught the phone, and watched in a stunned silence as Adam left, pulling his shades down over his eyes, despite the fact that they were inside.
"Smug fucking bastard…" Randy let out, shaking his head as he sat down on the bench staring at the cellphone in his hands. Why had Adam suddenly taken it upon himself to try and fix Randy's relationship with his best friend? He had no idea. He could only hope that in making the phonecall that Adam had suggested that he'd get some sort of answer, but time quickly told him that that wasn't about to happen, as both Jayden's cellphone and home phone numbers went straight to answering machine.
The sickly sweet ring of a couple speaking together met his ears as soon as the home answering machine had picked up. "Hi, this is Jayden and this is Noah… We're not home right now. But you know what to do." The message was not what he'd've pegged Jayden to have on her machine but he shrugged it off, before speaking himself following the beep.
"Hey Jay… I know I may not be your favourite person on the planet right now, but… One of my friends called you not more than twenty minutes ago and suggested I give you a-"
"Hello?" Randy almost cheered when he'd heard the click followed by her voice.
"You are there… So you spoke to E-"
"Adam, yeah… You know, you're a real fucking asshole, Orton?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"You don't know?"
"Know what?" By this point, Randy was almost sick of surprises coming from her, especially when she seemed to think he knew about this one.
"The storyline. Adam said Vince wanted some kind of Hollywood storyline… Gossip… Rumours… Romance…"
"No… I don't know… How do you know about it…"
"Adam said you pitched me up as an idea…"
"Adam's a crafty son of a bitch, Jayden." Randy let out in a low tone, glaring at the door said blonde had vanished through not more than five minutes ago, and scowling at it.
"Well then, somebody let my name slip to Vince and showed him my website, and Adam just called me to let me know I've been hired. From your cellphone… How do you not know about this?"
"If you cared to watch the live show on TV right now, you'd have known that I just came back from a match with John Cena…"
"Oh…"
Things grew quiet at this point, even through her excitement at a new job prospect. Had the conversation from a few hours ago have not happened, she may have felt rather differently towards going on the road with her best friend as she did now, but nevertheless, there was no choice about it now. Randy knew that bringing up the earlier conversation was a bad idea, so instead he brought up the new topic.
"When do you start?"
"You're in L.A. in two weeks… That's my first show…"
"They're starting you that fast?"
"I know… Thank god for all that time I spent at your house…"
"It's still dangerous…" He couldn't help but worry about her. It had almost been his job since they'd met to worry about her, after having taken her under his wing. She was small. Much smaller than the other divas.
"I know how to take a bump, Randy…"
"Oh trust me, I know you do…" He sighed slightly. "Doesn't mean I'm not gonna worry about you…"
"Leave that up to my fiancé." She spoke in a bitter tone, and he recoiled slightly.
"Sorry." He quickly responded.
"Don't worry… We have two months to talk it over…"
"Yeah... Yeah we do..." He was about to say something else when he became suddenly aware that he wasn't the only person in the room, hearing the door close, and looking up to know that he definitely wasn't alone. "One sec." He offered quickly to Jayden, covering the mouthpiece of the phone as he looked up at Vince. "Yeah boss?"
Vince straightened slightly, eyeing Randy's phone, though as the Superstar made a move to close it, Vince stopped him. "Who is on the other end?" He asked, holding his hands in front of himself as he spoke. The suit he wore was tailored to make him look larger than he actually was, but it did it's job well.
"Jayden... The girl you hi-"
"I know who Jayden is, Orton. Don't assume that I'm a complete idiot, because thats your job. What the hell happened out there tonight? Your pinfall loss? Was an awfully goddamned long count to three if you ask me Randy..." Vince explained, his hands unfolding themselves as he stepped towards Randy.
"Is everything okay Randy?" Came the voice from his cellphone. Randy put it down on the bench and stood up, eye to eye with the boss.
At first, Randy glanced down at his feet, but then actually looked back up at Vince, offering his simple explanation. "I let some of my personal issues get in my way in the match... I'm sorry."
Vince laughed. "Sorry? Orton, do you know what you're even sorry for? We book the result of each match for a reason. You'll have enough time to be sorry over the next two weeks, because for fourteen days, you're suspended. All wrestling appearances."
Randy had opened his mouth at first to protest, but Vince began to speak once again. "Now put the girl on speakerphone... I need to talk to both of you."
Randy did as told, pressing the green handset button on the phone, catching only the end of Jayden's sentence, hearing her mutter the two words, "Stupid asshole." He snickered for a moment, but then the sinking reality that he was suspended for two weeks returned.
"Mouth, Miss Cochrane." Vince spoke softly, reminding her to keep her tongue. "Welcome to the company. Everybody will be ready to welcome you with open arms when you do arrive here."
"Thank you Mister McMahon..." Her voice rang from the phone, though it was mostly cut off.
"Now... You'll need to get to Stamford for your contract signing, and all of the legal proceedings, hopefully within the next few days."
"Whats the rush? I'm not on screen for two weeks..."
"No, you're not on screen, but you're going to be training. I'm having somebody sent to Los Angeles to help you get started." Vince explained and shot a glance at Randy, who was rather confused.
"Sir, if you just needed to talk to Jayden, I could've just given you my phone and given the two of you some pri-"
"Shut up, idiot. You're the one thats going to be training her."
At that, Jayden had given out a slight squeal of delight, but Vince's voice came back over to calm her down. "Mister Orton will be working personally with you... We'll shoot a couple of vignettes to explain his disappearance, and if you're not ready for the LA show, then we'll shoot a couple more. I understand the two of you have a history together, so it's good to start off with some sort of chemistry." At that he turned to face Randy, and reached into his blazer, handing over an envelope. "Your flight leaves in the morning. I expect your friend will meet you at the airport."
---
To Be Continued. Like it? Love it? Leave it? Let me know.