Chapter Two
Admiration
Hazel felt nervous. Well, she always felt nervous. But that guy. Dean. He made her nervous. He was definitely intimidating, not afraid to show the muscles that practically bulged out of the shirt he was wearing. She had seen him before. God, had she seen him.
He moved in only a year after she did. She heard the annoying beeping of the moving van as it backed into the driveway. She had pushed herself out of bed and pulled open her curtains. After blinking away the sleep and the brightness of the sun, she saw him. Or rather, them. There was three of them. Three men that looked like they could very well hold their own in a fight if they needed.
She noticed Dean first. Though she didn't know his name at the time. He was yelling something at the other two as he backed into the driveway. Hazel was amazing he didn't hit the side of his house – he was half hanging out the window as he drove.
One of the other men, the largest with long black hair tied back on his neck, seemed to ignore the shouting and started unpacking his own car. The other man, a man with blonde and black hair, was yelling right back at her new neighbor.
Hazel dropped her curtain after that. The idea of a new person living on her street didn't really bother her. She was hardly around anyway.
She just never thought she was going to see him again. And she definitely didn't think that he would stroll right up to her and take her bag of food like they live together. He acted too familiar with her. It was strange, almost uncomfortable. She didn't know this guy! And he just waltzed around like they had known each other for years.
Of course she was thankful that he helped her. Hardly anyone on that street even acknowledged her. Well, to her face. Hazel was well aware of the whispers and rumors behind her back. She had favorites of course. Like the one the house to her immediate left thought that she was part of some crazy drug ring and was transporting drugs. Another rumor, she didn't know where it started, was on the run from the law for something.
She couldn't help the small urge in her to feed these rumors. Whenever she would arrive home, she would look over her shoulder and run into the house. Once inside, she would start giggling to herself.
She loved the rumors. It was much more exciting than her real story. Every once in a while, she would help out her brother in his band. Selling the merchandise, setting up equipment. Again, boring.
Hazel couldn't work. She dropped out of college and most places, even retail, started requiring some sort of degree to be able to work there. She had tried the fast food jobs, waitressing, anything that would hire her.
But then after a month or so, she would either quit or just get fired. She figured out easily that she wasn't one for work. She wasn't cut out for it. At least, not in that sense.
It took a while, but she found her groove. She was living in her brother's empty house, taking care of it and his animals as he was on tour. He gave her some money for helping him out at his shows, but she needed something to do when she was sitting at his house bored out of her mind.
So she started making things. Anything, really. She had seen some video online about DIY projects that you can do in less than an hour, and things just - escalated. She had her own online shop set up, a large inventory that took up a lot of the house, and requests for products flowing in.
She made enough to be able to hire someone to help her out, and move out into her new place. With the second pair of hands, it freed up more of Hazel's time. She started helping her brother again, loving the idea of travelling around the country. It was easy to create things on the road, and ship them to wherever.
Her life just, fell into a groove.
Her groove didn't, however, include the loud neighbor that seemed to want to talk to her all the time now.
Don't get her wrong, she's not against people. Not in the least, in fact – Hazel considers herself to be very friendly and wants to meet as many people as possible. But something about a guy that looks like he can beat up an entire football team just made her on edge.
Her jitteriness probably didn't help with the rumors about her being a drug addict.
Dean smirked as he moved across the street again. Hazel was sitting on her front porch, tapping away at her phone. She had seen him coming, but didn't want to raise her eyes just yet. He took the spot next to her, leaning back on his hands. Hazel put her phone next to her, and slowly turned to face him.
"So I gotta ask. Which of the rumors are true? Are you into drugs? Or a killer? Personally, I like the mysterious act, but can't help but be curious."
She admired that he got right to the point. A smile came to her face and she sensed a small bit of confidence in her. She took it and ran with it. "Which do you think is true?" Dean sat up straight, squinting his eyes as he looked her over.
"Don't see you as an addict. You could be a killer, you don't exactly look like one – but those are the ones you gotta watch out for. Should I watch out for you?" He grinned, raising an eyebrow.
"Hardly. I wouldn't know where to start with murder."
"Well usually you start by picking the victim." Hazel gave out a laugh, her feeling of intimidation slowly leaving her. He seemed, well normal. If you can call plotting an imaginary murder normal.
"You have a point there. But I help my brother when he is on tour with his band. Not as exciting, sorry." She shrugged, her hands coming to rest under her thighs.
"Ah. Anyone I've ever heard of?" Hazel shook her head. "Small band, then?" She nodded. "Going back to being silent now? I guess the only way to get you to talk is with murder." Dean laughed. Hazel blushed slightly. She didn't want her shyness to completely take over so she turned her head to his again.
"What about you? What do you do?"
"I'm a wrestler. With WWE." Hazel nodded slowly, trying to come up with anything she knew about it.
"The one with Hulk Hogan right? Or uh, what's his name … Sean Austin?" Dean held his hand to his chest, partially leaning into her.
"Please tell me you didn't just say that." Hazel laughed, giving him a confused look. "Steve. Steve Austin. You know nothing about wrestling, do you?"
"Uh, not really."
"Come to a match then. I go on a mini tour in a week. Come with me to a show. We have one not too far from here." Hazel brought her lip into her teeth and thought a moment. She supposed she could leave Katie with the orders for a bit. She wouldn't mind seeing a match, it would definitely be something new for her.
"Uh, sure. Would I be seeing you wrestle?" Dean grinned and nodded. He gestured for her phone which she hesitantly gave to him. He tapped quickly and pulled out his own. Soon it lit up with an incoming call, and she saw her number flash on the screen.
"I'll call later then."
Hazel didn't know why she was so damn excited.
This was not what she was expecting.
Hazel was squeezed in the front row of the stadium, her eyes wide. She had no idea where to look first. Her eyes scanned the crowd, reading all the signs being held up by the fans. Most she didn't understand, others she could kind of figure out.
The energy surrounding her was intense, it was similar to what she felt at Ian's shows. But with random chanting that she didn't get.
Those around her seemed to ignore her ignorance, too busy yelling and talking amongst themselves. Except for the girl sitting next to her. She seemed to be there by herself as well, but yelled and chanted along with the crowd. When Hazel first arrived, the two shared a few words, but nothing too detailed.
During yet another round of noises that seemed to mean something, she turned towards the girl. "This is going to sound stupid, but what does that mean?" The girl laughed, but Hazel didn't feel it was exactly at her.
"First time watching?" She smiled when Hazel nodded. "Don't worry, I'll fill you in."
Before the start of the show, Hazel had learned about a few of the wrestlers and the chants (even participated in the Yes chant – which was so far her favorite).
She had learned that the girl's name was Andy, and was there to support the Diva's. She had trained with most of them, but due to an injury had to forfeit her dream of becoming signed to the main roster.
Their conversation was cut short when the opening music to a wrestler started, and the show began. Andy had filled her in as the show progressed, exciting on most of the backstories of the feuds.
"Oh! This will be good. Turn around, this is The Shield's music. They come through the crowd." Hazel listened, turning to see the familiar three men march down the steps. Her eyes fell to Dean's instantly, but he looked on forward. His face was distorted into a snarl, giving off the intimating vibe again. Her lip pulled between her teeth again as she watched them move closer to her. They stopped right next to her, Dean directly next to her. The two others (Seth and Roman, she learned by Andy's whispering) jumped over the barrier. Dean finally turned towards her, and winked at her before jumping over himself.
Hazel's full attention was to the ring now. Her eyes didn't want to wander to the announcers, or the fans. But they stayed locked on Dean. There was a small altercation before a match started. Dean stood at the edge of the ring, his hands gripping onto the ropes as he shouted at Roman in the middle of the ring.
He was, well, terrifying. An air about him filled the stadium that she hadn't noticed before. Fans just couldn't help but look at him and cheer for him. He was nothing like the guy who she talked to most of the week before.
"Is that who you are here to see?" Hazel tore her eyes away from the ring and nodded to Andy. "Are you guys, like, together?" Hazel was embarrassed by how quickly she shook her head.
"No, no. He's my neighbor." Andy nodded, smiling.
"I only asked because of how you were staring at him."
"And how is that?"
"Admiration, mostly." Andy turned back to the ring, and yelled in excitement when Roman turned and tagged Dean into the match.
Hazel watched with admiration.
Have I mentioned how much I love writing this story yet? 'Cause I really do. Thank you for the follows, favorites, and the review! Please let me know what you think and if there is anything you want me to include :)
