Just A Little Bit of Something
Chapter Two - Mae's Apartment
Mae finished out her shift at the bar as the brothers made their excuses to their friends, claiming they had a "family matter" that needed to be dealt with. Matt made sure that Mae's friend Carl would take care of her boss, and then he whisked her out of there, Jeff following at a slightly more subdued pace.
When they reached Mae's apartment, Atlantis was immediately on alert, her hackles up and growling at the two strange men escorting her mistress. But two words from Mae and she was sitting quietly, not having completely accepted the brothers, but not going to try to eat them either.
Matt ignored the dog at that point, trusting Mae not to let her use the boys for chew toys, but Jeff eyed her warily, and when he approached her, Atlantis raised her lip and stared at him, seemingly daring him to come closer. "She won't hurt you," Mae tried to assure the younger brother, but his answering stare was not convinced. Shrugging to herself, Mae flung open her suitcase and started tossing shit inside.
Twenty minutes later, everything she needed was packed. The rest Molly and Carl were going to ship to North Carolina for her later in the week.
"You ready to go?" Matt murmured, watching Mae glance around the tiny apartment. How she had managed to cram her spirit into that little place amazed him. The Mae Lancer he knew needed her space, and lots of it.
"Yeah," she answered quietly, clipped on Atlantis's leash and headed out the door.
***
The three of them managed to sneak the Doberman into the hotel without too much trouble – she was well-trained and surprisingly manageable that night. Sitting on Jeff's bed that she had claimed for her own, Atlantis would raise her head and snarl quietly whenever the previous owner of the bed came within five feet of her or Mae. Finally Jeff had enough.
"Jesus Mae will you call your freakin' dog off? I haven't done anything!"
"It's not me Jeff, she just doesn't like you for some reason. Imagine that!" Mae snapped in reply. Matt quickly smothered his grin, but was glad to see Mae still had her spunk.
"Tell you what Jeff, why don't you give me and Shorty here a few minutes to talk? Can you run to one of the girls' rooms and see if they can take a roommate for tonight?" At that request though, Mae wrinkled her nose.
"Aw c'mon Matt. I don't really want to spend the night with one of those bimbos. Especially bimbos I don't know. Just let me sleep here, I can take the couch."
"You're not sleepin' on the couch," the boys replied in unison. Whatever Jeff's feelings were about having Mae here, he wasn't a total jerk.
"You can take my bed, your mutt's already claimed it," he added before heading to the door. "I'm goin' for a walk."
As the door shut behind him, Mae turned to Matt and sighed. "He's a friggin' ray of sunshine, ain't he?"
"Well in all fairness, there are times you do seem to bring it out of him," Matt reminded her. Mae shrugged again and flopped next to Atlantis. A few moments of silence passed before Matt grew impatient.
"Okay baby-girl. Spill it. Where the hell have you been all these years?"
Knowing she would have to tell the raven-haired Hardy eventually, Mae unloaded about why she left Cameron, how she wound up in Philadelphia and what she had been doing the past six years.
"I just couldn't take it anymore Matty," she found herself whispering. "I couldn't take what he was doing to himself and what it was doing to me. I mean every time – " Mae couldn't go on any for a moment as her voice seized up in her throat with memories.
"Every time he used, every time he went out chasing his next high, every time he would fall off the wagon when the withdrawals would hit him, it all killed me a little more each time. I don't know how you did it," she finished, turning her head to look Matt in the face. "How did you stick with him through all that? Through everything he was doin' to himself?"
"I didn't."
"What?" Mae shot up to a sitting position, Matt's answer she could not believe.
"I wasn't there Shorty. I didn't stick by his side like I should have." Mae could see the guilt and pain clearly etched on her best friend's face. "He was crashing again, big time, and I had just had it. I kicked him out of the house and told him he couldn't come back until he was clean for good. Everyone told me I was doing the right thing, that he needed to want to quit and I couldn't just pick him back up every time he fell short. But it was hard, oh baby-girl, it was the hardest thing I think I've ever done." Mae wrapped her arms around Matt in sympathy, sharing that same guilt in her own soul.
"And he's clean now? He's done with all that?" she whispered, hardly daring to believe it herself.
"Clean as a whistle," Matt promised, and he didn't miss the quiet sigh of relief that emerged from the tiny brunette's lips. "Hun I wouldn't bring you with us if he was still using. I was pretty sure that was what drove you off in the first place, ya know." Mae nodded silently, glad of his reassurances.
"I need to get some sleep," she thought out loud. Matt smirked and pulled back to chuck her under the chin.
"Okay you get ready for bed, I'm gonna go find the boy wonder and make sure he isn't trying out new moves off the diving board again. Safe to say Vince was not happy when he got that particular phone call from hotel management." Mae giggled at the thought and watched Matt take his leave, before turning to the bathroom.
***
Jeff was indeed by the pool, but Matt was more than slightly relieved to see that he was completely dry. Then he caught sight of his brother's face and knew he needed to start worrying again.
"Hey man, what's up?" Jeff glanced up as Matt came to stand next to him, concern in his eyes.
"Not a whole helluva lot, bro. Just wonderin' why she's here." Matt nodded and was about to answer when he heard Jeff continue, "And why she left."
The older Hardy took a deep breath and blew it out, taking a seat next to his high-flying brother.
"You know why she left, Jeffro," he replied softly, not wanting to push on a touchy subject, but knowing he needed to hear it. Fortunately, Jeff didn't lash out, but the defeat on his face wasn't something Matt wanted to see either. "You need to talk to her man. She's in a lotta pain right now. You dealt with your demons, but she wasn't around for that. To her, they still exist."
"Wait, she doesn't know I'm clean?" Jeff demanded, ready to rip his brother a new one, but Matt was unfazed.
"Yeah, she knows. But she hasn't seen it man. The only memories she has of you right now are ones where you're high and trippin'. I can tell her you're sober and healthy until I'm blue in my damn face, but it's not gonna make a shitload of difference until she sees it for herself." Jeff nodded, understanding what his brother was trying to tell him, but still wary of opening himself up to pain once more.
Matt sighed, and got up to leave, but had one last thing to say. "You still love her?" He got no response, but in all honesty, he hadn't needed one - he knew the answer. "Then man up and dig in, Superstar. Cuz you know she's worth it."
***
Mae was already asleep by the time Jeff came back to the room. When he glanced around, his brother was nowhere to be found, and his anxiety went up a little.
She's out cold on the bed, ya pussy, he hissed at himself. Just don't wake her up and you won't have to deal with all this shit right now! He took two steps toward the bathroom, Atlantis's head came up, the ears went back and she started growling again, effectively waking Mae. Fuck me.
"Lanis?" he heard Mae whisper, sounding only half-awake. "Whassamatter girl?" Then she caught sight of Jeff and relaxed. "Chill out." For a moment Jeff wasn't sure if she was talking to him or the dog, until Atlantis laid down with her head between her paws. Her eyes, however, never left Jeff's form.
"That dog hates me," he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face before looking at Mae. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you up." She shrugged.
"'S okay. I haven't been out that long. Where's Matt? I thought he went to find you?" Jeff shook his head as he made his way toward the couch.
"I don't know. He met up with me outside awhile ago, but then I assumed he came straight back here."
"Well," Mae groaned, flopping back into bed. "It was never that particular Hardy boy I was worried about."
Jeff's eyes narrowed as his temper began to flare. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"
"You figure it out, Jeffro." And she was, once more, fast asleep.
***
Mae woke up the next morning and didn't remember where she was for a moment. The sheets had a faintly familiar smell, combined with hotel-variety detergent, and she could feel Atlantis snoring away beside her. Rolling over, she caught sight of Matt's dark hair in the bed beside her, and the previous night came flooding back.
She moaned quietly and scratched her head, glancing over to the couch, where she noticed Jeff. Seeing him sprawled over the cushions, dark red-and-purple hair spread out around his head, Mae was hit with a powerful sense of longing and déjà vu. She couldn't count the number of times she had woken at the boys' house - usually hours before they rose, corpse-like from their tombs - and found them snoring away in various comical positions.
If she was ever in a good mood - rare that early in the day - she would get up and fix them all breakfast, but usually she just went and sat around watching television until one or both of the Hardy boys would grace her with their presence.
This morning, however, Mae was in no mood to leave her comfy resting place, so she dropped back to the pillow, succumbing to dreams once more.
Not two minutes later, Jeff's unconscious body rolled off the couch and he awoke with a start, cursing. Atlantis opened one eye, decided he wasn't worth it, and fell back asleep. Shaking his head at the temperamental Doberman, Jeff got to his feet and headed to the bathroom.
Upon coming out, he noticed Mae - previously having been too busy imagining ways to damage the couch to remember she was there - and her words to him last night sprung to mind.
"It was never that particular Hardy boy I was worried about."
What the hell was that supposed to mean? Matt did tons of stupid shit right along with me. Fuck, he thought of half of it!
"Don't think too hard, Jeffro," her voice interrupted him mid-thought. "No one likes brain goo on the carpets." He refocused on her face to find the wicked little grin he used to spend every waking moment with.
Six years ago he would have been able to snark back and forth with her for hours- it had seemed as easy and natural as breathing. Now he could merely chuckle awkwardly, before turning away. Christ, Hardy! Get it together!
Thankfully Mae seemed to recover faster than him. "Hey, you hungry?" Surprised at the offer, Jeff nodded quickly, not wanting to miss another opportunity to spend time with her. "Alright, I gotta let 'Lanis out, but I can meet you downstairs."
"The hell with that." And before she could get angry, Jeff stepped past her and waved the room service menu in her face. "Superstars get all the perks," he grinned. Mae rolled her eyes, but he could see the smile she was trying so hard to hide. "So, milady, what'll it be?"
About to rattle off her order, Mae cocked her head to the side and the wicked grin reappeared. "Let's see if you can remember," she challenged, sliding out from under the covers, revealing she had only been sleeping in an old wife beater and her underwear.
Oh holy Mother of - ! God hates me. A very cruel deity put a body like that with the mind of the woman I'm in love with and who doesn't trust me as far as she can throw me. Jeff had to quickly avert his eyes, otherwise he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to stop himself from throwing Mae back into bed, with him atop her, feeling every single line and curve. He forced himself to turn around and make it seem like he was busy going over the menu until the door shut behind him and then he flopped on the bed, inwardly groaning.
"The fuck - ! Dude, get off of me." Oops, wrong bed.
"Sorry man, forgot you were there," Jeff muttered, shoving his hair out of his eyes and sitting up. Matt rolled over and was about to smack his little brother upside the head, when he caught sight of his expression - one part shamefaced, three parts lovestruck - and knew immediately what had happened.
"Still only sleeps in a 'beater and undies, huh?" he snickered, not really feeling that sorry for Jeff at the moment.
"Oh yeah," the WWE champion sighed.
"She always did have a way of making you shut up in the morning," Matt continued, unashamedly ridiculing Jeff. Thankfully the younger Hardy regained some sense of self, picking up a pillow and bashed it into Matt's skull.
"You look sleepy Matt. What's the matter, didn't get enough rest last night?" Jeff pulled his arm back to sling the pillow again, when Matt roared to life and bulldogged him off the bed and onto the floor. And they continued grappling until Mae re-entered the room with Atlantis, this time with her jeans on from the night before.
"Some things never change, do they boys?" she drawled, watching them with both hands perched on her hips and one eyebrow cocked. "How's that breakfast comin' Jeff?" The youngest Hardy's slightly dazed expression - she chalked it up to his head hitting the floor one too many times that morning - told the story right there. Shaking her head, Mae swiped the menu and was on the phone in moments, rattling off her order as the wrestling match continued in the background.
Half an hour later, the boys were still rolling around on the floor when a knock sounded on the door, followed by, "Room service!" Mae stepped over the exhausted brothers and opened the door to accept the meal.
"When did you order that?" Matt groaned as the smell of fresh bacon called him from his prone position on the carpet.
"When you and Skittle-brain over here were busy re-enacting your childhood," she replied dryly, gently throwing a spoon at the other Hardy, still stretched out on the floor. "Hey, Rainbow Boy! Food!"
"Food? Where?" he muttered, lifting his head and shoulders up to catch sight of the steaming plates Mae was handling. Snickering, Matt gave him a hand up and the brothers swarmed the table. Thirty seconds later and they were stuffing their faces as Mae watched them out of the corner of her eye, a tiny grin on her face. Yep, some things never change.
Jeff glanced up for a second and caught Mae's gaze, making him smile around his eggs. She always had that motherly side to her that would randomly make an appearance, even when they were kids. Sometimes it was so irritating it made him want to tear his hair out, but every once in awhile it was really sweet. Like remembering exactly what their favorite breakfast was.
"I can't believe you remembered," Jeff muttered, gesturing to the plates with his fork, causing Matt to look up from the biscuits he was inhaling, warning bells going off in his head. And sure enough, a clouded look came over Mae's face and the grin disappeared as she focused on her own food.
"I remember a lot more than you think, Jeff," she answered quietly. Matt held his breath, waiting for his younger brother's temper to explode. Instead, Jeff's smile just faded and he got the same guarded expression on his face, nodding slowly and returning to his plate.
Shaking his head in frustration, Matt thought to himself, Idiots.
***