Part 1
2008
"Maria… Maria…"
Maria shook her head, smiling automatically at the cameraman. "Sorry, Roger, I zoned out there for a moment."
"I noticed." He grinned at her, glancing down at the LCD screen to review the footage. "Perfect, I don't think we'll need to do another shoot, this one should be fine."
"You sure?" John casually draped his arm around Maria's shoulders, oblivious to the shiver that ran through her slight frame. "I don't mind puckering up again." He made kissy noises by her ear, laughing when she lightly elbowed him.
"Put your lips away, John." She chided, turning to smack his chest with a limp hand; laughing when his blue eyes crinkled at the corner, the smile on his own handsome face making her heart give a painful little lurch.
He puckered them, bending down; still making the kissy noises. At the last minute, he pulled away, rolling his eyes. "You're no fun, you're supposed to kiss me back."
She was staring at his lips.
Roger shrugged when John looked at him.
***
"Give it up already and just GO there."
"It's not that easy, Mickie."
"Sure it is." Mickie shrugged, running a brush through her brown hair. "You like him, there's a really good chance he likes you. You walk up, ask him out and hope for the best."
"Gee, when you say it like that…"
"It's not that hard Maria." Mickie said, turning to stare at her friend. "If you don't say something soon, you might lose your chance. Good looking guy like John, he's not going to be single forever you know."
"I know."
"I mean, he's nice; easy on the eyes, funny… Charming, sweet…" Mickie watched Maria's face intently, not surprised to see the dreamy expression Maria was now sporting. "And his ass, it's just so… snatchable, you know? I could literally reach out with both hands and just SQUEEZE."
Maria was now frowning.
"I know a lot of girls who think the same thing I do, maybe-"
"OKAY, I GET THE POINT!"
***
"Hey John, got a minute?"
John looked up from his duffel bag –in which he was trying to stuff his gear- and flashed Maria a smile. "Sure kid, what's up?"
Ignoring the 'kid', she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her; chewing on her lower lip nervously. "I've been thinking and…" She trailed off to watch with an arched eyebrow as he made another attempt at folding his shoes into the bag. "Here, let me do it."
Holding his hands up, John stepped away from the bag. He watched in amusement as she began pulling his clothing and everything else out, not so amused when he seen she was folding them. "What are you doing? They're dirty."
"I know, I can smell." Maria wrinkled her nose. "But if you want everything to FIT, then you can't just stuff it in there."
Groaning, he moved to help her; watching her small hands seemingly make such short work of the job he had spent five minutes on. "I give up, women are the smarter sex."
"Well I could have told you that." She giggled, zipping the duffel bag up and patted the top. "There you go."
"Maria, I love you." He sighed gratefully. "So, what's up?"
"Oh…" She hesitated, having been mercifully distracted and was now back to the task on hand.
Asking him out.
What did she have to be nervous about? She wasn't ditzy like her on-screen appearances tended to suggest and she knew she was pretty. She had been told she was funny and a good listener, all those traits made her an attractive person, right?
Well, they hadn't done anything for her confidence.
"I was wondering if-"
"John, you ready?"
They both looked towards the door when there was a soft knock followed by a woman with dirty blond hair poking her head in. She hesitated when she seen Maria, smiling uncertainly.
"Yeah, Dee, hold on." John held up a finger, still staring down at Maria; his blue eyes intent. "Wondering if?" He prompted softly.
Maria slowly turned her gaze from the woman –Dee- back to him and shook her head. "Nothing, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you."
John started to say something but the words died on his tongue when she all but ran out, shaking his own head and inwardly sighed.
"Was I interrupting?"
He wrapped an arm around his cousin's shoulders, his mouth turned down into a frown. "No, I guess not…"
For a moment, he could have sworn she was going to ask him out.
"Damn…" He thought.
2009
"I should have listened." Maria cried, burying her face in the crook of her elbow.
Melina was thinking 'yes, you should have' but even though she had been treated like dirt for the past few weeks, she was a good friend. As a good friend, she didn't say what she was thinking. Instead, she just patted Maria's shoulder, rubbing her back and murmured nonsensical words.
"How could he just… I was…"
"Maria, let's go upstairs and we'll put in Casablanca, order pizza and drink cheap wine." Melina suggested, knowing tonight was for the pity party, in the morning it would be Dolph Ziggler bashing.
"I was *this* close to winning-"
Speaking of Mr. Ziggles…
Rolling her eyes while cursing silently under her breath, Melina tried pulling Maria out of her seat at the booth they were scrunched in. Why she had allowed Maria to come down to the hotel's bar/restaurant was beyond her, most of the show's Superstars tended to come together for a nightcap, winding down and all that.
So she should have been expecting Mr. Ziggles (she was never going to get that out of her mind) to show up sometime. What she HADN'T been expecting was him to have a busty blond on his arm, a woman who possibly used as much hair gel as Dolph himself did.
Well, she hadn't been expecting him to flout a floozy only hours after breaking up with Maria. She had always pegged Dolph for a sleaze, but Maria hadn't been keen on hearing it.
Maria was stiffer than a board, her large eyes filling all over again with tears as she watched Dolph and his arm candy walk up to the bar; apparently oblivious to her misery.
"Maria, wait!" Melina called when Maria got up and bolted, groaning out loud. A moment later, she was pouring her still full tumbler of vodka and orange juice over Dolph's head. "Pig!" She shrieked in her 'ring voice', making sure everyone's attention was on him before chasing after her friend.