Chapter Two:
Miserable At Best
Mayday Parade

March 31, 2009.
Magazine Section, Wal-Mart.
3:31 PM.

It was the beginning of a 5-day supposedly no-WWE work vacation for the stars; and yet, Randy had been sitting on this horrid plastic chair for the past one and a half hours and it was clearly beginning to hurt his backside. But nothing would stop him, a fans' superstar, from giving off a megawatt smile and an autograph to the next fifteen-year old girl who'd squeal 'OMG, Randy Orton!'

Truth be told, the man would rather be back at the hotel gym pumping some iron instead of sitting there with a dying out pen still signing a multitude of pictures, jackets and, oddly enough, body parts.

It wasn't that he didn't want to be with his fans. It was just that he was still hung over from partying with pizza and beer with John, and the mere fact that his lone 3 hours of sleep was practically invaded by images of Riz.

"How many more fans to go, Kiara?" he asked his personal assistant as he sipped his water.

"You've got… two teenage girls, a little boy and a teacher with her whole class with her." Kiara replied, counting the number of people still left standing behind the barriers.

Randy's eyes widened. "Her whole class?" he whispered.

"They're little kids, Mr. Orton. I think you'll be alright." Kiara smiled.

He sighed. "Bring it on!"

The two teenage girls, as usual, asked for his autograph on some random picture they printed out. The little boy, on the other hand, reminded Randy of himself when he was young: a bit troublesome, somewhat naïve, pure adorable and already a looker for the ladies who were mature enough to stop believing in the male cootie theory.

After a couple of pictures and a high-five with the kid, Randy moved on to his last task for today's signing: the class of midgets. The first one that came up to him was a little girl with her hair up in those high pigtails and her thumb in her mouth. She had the most adorable baby blue eyes and she seemed more of the shy type.

"Hey there, little girl. What's your name?" Randy asked.

She took her thumb out of her mouth for a while and said, "Hannah." before placing it back in.

"Hi there, Hannah. My name's Randy. Would you like to come here and sit on my lap?" he asked and smiled at the little girl.

Hannah went under the table and popped up in front of Randy. He chuckled at her little act and placed her on his lap. He asked, "So, where's your teacher, Hannah?"

"Ms. Aaaaar-seeeeeee!" she screamed over the multitude of kids that were swarming the area. Well, just about fifteen.

From within those fifteen kids, a young woman stood up, obviously from crouching down and attending to one of the kids, and needless to say, she caught Randy's eye. The near anorexic thin woman: sporting casual jeans, chucks and a tee, standing five-foot-four, with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes, walked towards Randy while carrying a three-year old boy.

"Hey!" she said enthusiastically, extending her hand out for a shake. "I'm RC, their teacher. Today's their field trip and most of them watch wrestling, so I brought them here. Tyler over here, however, got a little teary because he's tired."

Randy chuckled, shaking her hand. "Well, as you know, I'm Randy Orton. And I think while you were calming Tyler down, this little tyke walked over to me!" he said, bouncing a giggling Hannah on his lap.

RC laughed. "She may look shy, but she's got the confidence of a twenty-five year old."

"I see that! Now, where are the other kids?" he asked.

"Here! They're fifteen. Plus Hannah, so that makes them sixteen. Here's, as you know, Tyler. And, in order, are: Samantha, Jessica, Franco, Lucas, Gabriel, Ted, Kylie, Isabella, Max, Carl, Zack, Feliciano and Randall." She said as she pointed to each one of the kids surrounding her.

"The name is Randy, Ms. RC! Not Randall." Young Randy said as he snorted a bit.

Randy laughed at the familiarity of the attitude. He himself carried that hate for being called 'Randall'. "Well, boys and girls, who wants an autograph from me, huh?" he asked.

All sixteen kids got a piece of paper or a picture for him to sign. Of course, young princess Hannah and mini-Randy got special dedications for capturing Randy's heart. After all the papers have been signed, the kids took their place beside Randy for a special picture taken by RC.

"Ok, one… two… three… SMILE!" she said as she clicked away on the digital camera.

"Well, we'd best be heading off now so you can also get some rest, Mr. Orton." RC said happily. "Ok, kids, time to get into the bus! Let's go!"

"Bye, Mr. Orton!" they all waved and smiled. Randy waved back.

All the kids formed a straight line like all good little boys and girls did, and with the help of the bus driver, they filed into the bus one by one. Once RC was able to make sure that all the kids were present, she nodded to herself and got ready to board the bus. Midway through climbing the stairs, she heard her name being called out, "RC!"

She spun around to see Randy running over to her. "Hey! What's up?" she asked, noticing his pace.

"Here." He handed her a folded piece of paper before turning his back and running back inside Wal-Mart before the fans and sports-paparazzi saw him outside without security.

RC took the paper and eyed it cautiously before shoving it into her pocket, turning back into the bus and walking inside. The bus door closed with a hiss and soon, the bus was on its way back to the school. All of the kids dozed off on the way back which was good for RC. She didn't have to deal with motion sickness and boredom from them.

As she sat up front the bus, just behind the bus driver, she dug into her pocket and fished out the note Randy had given her. She opened up the half-folded sheet and read what was scribbled on it.

Thanks for bringing these kids. Hope maybe one day, I can go visit you guys. Call me when I can come over. Thank you so much. And you, stay beautiful.

Randy (not Mr. Orton)

She smiled at the note and found Randy's number squiggled at the bottom of the paper. Immediately, she saved the number in her phone before dozing off in the bus herself.

Meanwhile, back with Randy who was now already in his hotel room, he found himself rather distracted since his thoughts were keeping him occupied. He was sitting there on the couch with some random rock music video playing on the tube and he was thinking about that autograph signing he'd just done.

Where have I seen her before? He asked himself warily. Her face was familiar; even the way she moved and spoke. It was all too familiar, but he couldn't connect her with any of his recent events and signings.

Maybe at some bar. But wait, she's too sweet to be in a bar. Maybe in another signing here. No, it's not that! He thought and thought some more, until at some point, he found himself getting a migraine.

Luckily, John had perfect timing and decided to ring Randy up. The Time Is Now rang from his phone and he was taken out of his little rendezvous with headaches. "Hey, what's up, man?" Randy answered his phone in the soberest way he could.

"Yo, dude, I've got something to tell you. And no, before you say anything, I can't do it over the phone. If it'll help with reasoning, it's about Riz. A'right? Now, meet me downstairs in the lounge at exactly nine o'clock. You've got one and a half hours to prep yourself. So, yeah. There. I'm out!"

John talked so fast and didn't allow Randy to interject before he put down the phone and Randy was left with no choice but to go down later on. He was wondering what the hell was John going to tell him about Riz. He did, after all, know almost everything about her already.

Then it hit him.

Awhile ago, during the signing, during the kids' time with him, he realized he hadn't though of Riz. During the whole fifteen to twenty minutes that he was there and signing stuff for them, he never once had Riz pass through his mind. That made all the difference to him. There was something about that time…

The hardest part of living is just taking breath to say.
I know I'm good for something. I just haven't found it yet.

Shaking off all those thoughts, he decided he needed to cool himself down since he'd been thinking a tad bit too much for his taste. He stood up and walked to his bathroom, undressed and hopped into a very cold shower.

Sierra Lounge, Second Floor.
8:56 PM.

Randy trotted down from his hotel room to meet John in the lounge. There were minimal people in the lounge since most of them were out to dinner in the swanky restaurant on the third floor; so, it was easy to find John sitting on one of the black leather couches.

"What's up, Jay?" Randy asked as he plopped down in front of John.

"So, you showed up." John said as he placed down his glass of Zombie.

"Yeah. I was thinking of standing you up, but now that I see you're actually drinking a Four Seasons and alcohol combo, I can conclude that you're serious." Randy said. "Either that or you're simply turning gay on me."

John smirked and rolled his eyes. "I see you didn't forget your whacked humor. I'm serious here, man. I've got something you'd really be interested in…"

"Dude, if it's another lecture about how I should let her go, I swear, I'm going to shove that glass so far up your a-"

"Chill, Randy, chill for a while. It ain't about letting go. Swear on my favorite jersey." John said in attempt to calm down the man.

"Fine. Then what is it about?" the younger superstar asked.

"This has been with me for a while now, but I just never really gave it up. Riz's parents met up with me about a month ago and they wanted me to give you this…" John said as he handed Randy a box.

Randy took and opened it and saw the gift he gave Riz a year back. It was the white skates he had had customized for her.

I got to the point that I should leave you alone.
But we both know that I'm not that strong.

"I'm sorry for not giving it early enough, or on the day that they gave it to me, but I just thought that you weren't ready to see those just yet. Now, I'm just thinking you need them, Randy. She would've wanted those in your hands anyways…"

Randy felt the emotions start bubbling up in his stomach as though he were ready to barf any second. "John, I--… I don't know, okay? Maybe you should keep them… I mean… After all, you are her best friend." Randy said.

John shook his head. "No. I may be her best friend, but, dude, she loved you. She loves you. You love her. You gave that to her. It's only right you keep them…" said John.

"Why can't I let her go, John? Why? Just because I---"

'Cause I never got to say how you always made me feel like a star
How you made me special even when we were at war
I never got to say how much I really loved you despite all the hurt and pain we've been through
I never let it out, never dared to try. I was never invincible, I was never bulletproof
I was never all that strong just realizing
That I never got to say I love you.

Randy turned his attention to the lounge singer. Damn it, it's that song again… he thought; and silently he cursed at whoever was singing the song. He saw her and noticed immediately that she was the teacher he met earlier. What is she doing here singing that song?

"Randy, I---" John tried to interject upon hearing the song Riz had last sung for Randy and seeing his expressions.

"Just stop, John. Just stop." Randy said. "I can't take this anymore."

He stood up from where he sat, took the box along with him and ran as fast as he could to the elevators. He just ran. He didn't look back. As far as he could tell, he couldn't hold on to his self-control anymore. He needed her back.

Because these words were never easier for me to say.
I could live without you but without you I'd be miserable at best.

As he ran towards his room, he knew that there was no sense in running away from something you have to face. But right now, all he could tell himself was:

I'm not strong enough for this. No, Riz. I admit that I'm not. I fucking need you.

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