Oo-oh-oh, I can tell you're feelin' me,
The way you're lookin' at me.
The theme song of ex-WWE diva Kristal Marshall rang out through the arena hosting tonight's edition of Smackdown, where the voluptuous Vickie Guerrero was holding her wedding reception. All the lights were flashing pink, as the Smackdown divas started to make their way to ringside for a special announcement to be made by Vickie. Natalya, Victoria and Maryse went out first, Victoria and Nattie holding hands and laughing together, enjoying the show together.
First out, dressed in a dazzling deep blue baby doll dress which cut off mid-thigh was the beautiful blond bombshell, Michelle McCool. Holding her hand and next out was Eve, dressed in a simple yet elegant knee-length ivory dress which flowed around her knees. Following them was Cherry, dressed in black but making use of her signature polka dots as part of her neck strap.
Michelle could feel Eve shaking a little bit, they had talked about it before coming out; Eve was nervous as hell, as she was not accustomed to being in front of a live audience, at least not this big. She smiled comfortingly towards her friend, who threw a grateful smile back at her. Cherry took Eve's hand for comfort as Michelle broke free to wave to the fans and, of course, slap hands with some of the many who were reaching out for her.
Soon all the divas were at the bottom of the ramp, gazing up into the ring at Vickie Guerrero, looking beautiful in a wedding dress, a huge smile adorning her face. Michelle was conscious, as she slapped a few more hands, of Natalya and Victoria making snide remarks about her behind her back.
Vickie's voice rang out through the arena, barely audible over the booing that erupted as soon as her mouth opened. "As everybody knows, it is wedding tradition-" the booing was immense and Vickie cleared her throat before carrying on. "EXCUSE ME! This is my day!"
In the ring, Vickie looked helplessly on to her 'new husband' Edge. On the outside, Natalya shoved into Michelle and began laughing. Again, Michelle did nothing, she just looked on into the crowd, ignoring Natalya and putting a broad smile where her frown should have been.
"I have something to say," Vickie continued, bringing more heat to herself by the second. "As everybody knows, it is wedding tradition," the fans kept assaulting her and Vickie seemed on the verge of tears. "It is wedding tradition," the boos intensified tenfold once more. "How rude!"
Outside the ring, Natalya pushed Michelle and shouted some profanities. Eve stepped in between Michelle and Natalya and gripped onto Michelle's hand, reciprocating the comfort her friend had given her earlier. In the ring, Vickie soldiered on despite the intense hatred radiating from the fans towards her.
"It is wedding tradition to gather all the eligible bachelorettes and see who can catch the wedding bouquet!"
Natalya poked her head around Eve and smiled obnoxiously at Michelle and asked, "How's your back, bitch?" Referencing her unscripted attack from the previous week after a tag team match was her big mistake.
Michelle flipped and broke free from Eve, just as the cameras turned to the divas awaiting the bouquet toss. Throwing her body weight onto Natalya, Michelle ended up on the ground on top of her Great American Bash foe and began pummeling her fists into the third generation diva's face, who quickly covered herself up from the attack. Victoria stopped bouncing around in excitement and watched on in horror as the all-American girl attempted to rip her best friend apart.
"Excuse me, Michelle," Vickie's voice rang out again, "stop trying to ruin my day!" Whatever else was said, Michelle did not catch over the PA system. However, she soon felt two pairs of strong, muscular arms wrap around her waist and wrench her apart from Natalya. She flailed and tried to protest, but soon gave in and allowed Hawkins and Ryder to escort her into the backstage area whilst Vickie and Natalya had their wicked ways with the innocent Cherry.
Michelle was dreading going backstage, though, and took her precious time being thrown out of the ring area. She had just strayed away from the loose script the writers drew up for tonight; she had been supposed to wait until after Vickie had won her match against Cherry to take Natalya out and hype up for the PPV, but Natalya's taunting had been far too real for Michelle to hold herself back.
Still, it was all explainable and the most she would get was probably a warning, as Natalya had received the week previously.
. & . & . & .
A few hours later, an exhausted Michelle McCool slumped down into a chair in the Sunset Lounge in Charlotte and threw her head back. She tossed her small purse onto the table and discreetly kicked her stilettos off under the table to ease her aching feet. She had been dancing with Maria, Eve and a few random guys (as well as some male superstar friends) for almost two non-stop hours and the support, or lack thereof, in her shoes had forced her to seek rest.
Thirst attacked her throat, making it sore and dry, but she ignored it in favor of regaining some human feeling in her feet, which only seemed to be getting worse now she had sat down. Idly, she scanned the dance floor and smiled when she saw Eve and Maria dancing close together, giving the boys around them something to stare at as their glistening bodies ground into one another.
Eve loved to go out on the town. If something good happened to anyone she knew or herself, she went out and celebrated. If anything bad happened, she got over it by partying. If nothing happened, she went out anyway and made something happen. Michelle hadn't been used to it when she had first started her friendship with Eve, so she had declined her every time until she just felt plain bad for always making Eve give her the puppy dog eyes. Eventually, she had caved in and went out at least once a week with her friend, almost always after a Smackdown taping and occasionally after a house show. Although, she found house shows to be much more grueling than the actual tapings, as matches were longer and much more physical. Going out and partying after a house show was opting for a slow and painful death, or so it felt.
It seemed that her new friend Maria also loved to party, and the two looked good together. For the past two weeks, Maria had joined them on their post-Smackdown celebrations and had also hit the towns, invading every shop they could find. Their last foray into the shopping districts had caused a small argument, as Michelle had refused to stop for a bite to eat and the girls had eventually lost their tempers and stormed off to a Subway leaving Michelle to roam the shops on her own, which wasn't nearly as fun as shopping with her friends.
It had all been forgotten a half hour later when Michelle had found them a darling little boutique to venture into. Michelle had tried to buy the whole store, which had a fantastic collection and her friends literally had to drag her out by her hair.
As she had suspected earlier, Michelle had received an official warning from the head of the Smackdown creative team, Michael Hayes himself. It didn't matter; she had her revenge on Natalya and hopefully they could now move on and at least be civil with one another. Yeah, right, like that'd happen.
She jumped in shock when she felt a tapping on her shoulder and snapped her head to look up. There he stood before her, dressed in a plain black shirt buttoned almost to the top, but flashing a good amount of his toned chest, light blue jeans which were faded and some dark leather loafers. His bleach blond hair was spiked up and he wore a stupid little smile and staggered ever-so-slightly on the spot, which suggested to Michelle he was a little tipsy.
"Hi Ken," she said loudly, over the blaring techno music blasting through the club. Without giving a response, Ken threw himself onto the chair next to her and nodded his greetings back. It was a little awkward having him seated next to her so abruptly, as if they were friends.
They had been, once upon a time when Ken was on Smackdown previously. When Michelle had broken up with her husband, Ken had been there for a shoulder to cry on, she had broken down one day and confessed everything to him, yet she hadn't told her actual friends. That had been the beginning of their friendship, but soon Ken was drafted over to RAW and their friendship just somehow ceased. She didn't hear from him and when they worked inter-brand shows, they barely even said 'hi' to one another. It was a shame really, because even though Ken was arrogant, obnoxious and a nasty person both on screen and off, there was also a sensitive kind side to him.
But Michelle didn't want to be his friend again. Despite her attempts to contact him when he was travelling with RAW, he had always blanked her and it had actually hurt, because he was one of the only people who cheered her up when she was experiencing her hard times. If they became friends again, who knows if he would remain loyal or practically stab her in he back again?
She peered across to the dance floor and saw Maria and Eve dancing with two men she didn't know and smiled. Her eyes crossed over to Ken and she noticed him staring at her, opening and shutting his mouth like a goldfish. Quickly, she reached under the table and put her shoes back on in record time.
"Michelle," Ken started, but instead of waiting to see what he had to say, Michelle just smiled and stood up. She walked over to the bar and continued with her night out with the girls, ignoring that Ken ever even existed.
A/N: I am so sorry for the really late update. Life sucks sometimes, but I should be updating frequently from now on. Thank you to all the wonderful people who've read, alerted and made this story one of their favorites. And of course to my lovely reviewers!
Jojocheer28: Thank you! I love Jeff/Maria pairings, too. We'll be seeing Jeff in the next chapter! :D
Mrs.Kennedy: I know! I've always thought they'd make a great couple, to look at, at least haha. I'm glad you liked the last chapter.
Stevens: I 3 you.
WWEAngel: Thanks. You have good taste if you like the same people I do, hehe.
Berrycharismatic: Here it is, sorry for the wait.
Babyhardyzgal13: Thank you.