Sorry that chapter was so sad. Here's another sad chapter. :D (Sorry) Don't know what's up with the Adele theme, but I'm sure it will break at some point (probably next chapter).
CHAPTER TWO: RUMOR HAS IT
Las Vegas, Nevada
June 27, 2011
It's funny how things change. Last November I told Bryan I hated him and now I was the best man at his wedding. As per every ceremony ever, I was to hold the wedding band and walk the maid of honor to the altar. It was all so stuffy and traditional. It was weird to me, but for Brie and Bryan it seemed right. When I was done putting on my tux, I looked to Bryan.
He was straightening his tie for the ninth time. "Can you check on Brie and Allison?"
"Getting impatient?" I asked smiling. He tried to smile, but it went terribly. He was fucking nervous. 'No way,' I thought. "Dude, you should not be nervous. She already had your kid. Being married to her is so not a big deal at this point."
"I just want everything to be perfect." I couldn't believe he said that. I was gonna barf.
"Yeah, I'll check on the girls."
"Knock first. That's my goddam sister and fiancée in there, Punk."
"Whatever you say, man," I said, holding my hands up as I walked backwards out of the dressing room. I walked down the hall to the girls' dressing room.
"Knock, knock, ladies. It's the big bad wolf."
The door flew open. "What is it? Is everything okay?" Asked a breathless Brie in a skin tight white dress, yellow lilies in her hair and her hands. She was gorgeous.
"Everything is fine," I said forgetting why I was there. She smiled at me with that perfect smile, and my heart ached.
"You look good, Punk." She said, smoothing out my lapel. I missed her touch so much.
"Thanks. Bryan wanted me to take out the lip ring." I said, touching it now, feeling self conscious.
"No, it's fine. It's … you."
I smiled at her, feeling as if I should say something more, feeling like leaning down for one last kiss.
"I have something for you and Bryan! I almost forgot." She ran back in the dressing room and came out with two yellow lilies and a yellow silk tie slung over her shoulder. She proceeded to pin a lily on my lapel and throw the tie over my shoulder.
"What is this for?" I asked about the tie.
"That's so you'll match Allison." She said simply. I still hadn't seen Allison, but I'd definitely spot her in that color. "There. Now hurry and give this to Bryan." She said, handing me a pin and a flower. "I'll send Allison over when we're ready." She blew me a kiss before going back inside the dressing room, and as the door closed behind her I couldn't help but feel depressed. I wanted to call her name or… I didn't know.
I wandered back to Bryan in our dressing room and pinned the lily to Bryan as Brie had done it to me. It felt like a transfer of love. A transfer I was always in the middle of and never on a receiving end.
As I finished up, I told him, "Don't be nervous, man. You'd never guess how much she loves you." He looked up at me with bright eyes and took me in a massive bear hug. I couldn't help but laugh. "Cool it, man. You're crushing my flower." We both burst out laughing after that and he let me go. I put my hands in my pockets and looked at him, warring with my emotions.
"Are we cool?" Bryan asked abruptly.
"I feel like I should be asking you that." I said darkly.
"Yeah, except… I'm with Brie. I'll be okay. I'm worried… about you."
I was taken aback. I just didn't know what to say.
"We're all worried about you."
"Don't be."
It was true that I could have kept fighting. I let him win because I knew she would be better off that way. In that moment I couldn't have been better. It was a shining moment of love in a pretty dark life. And Brie's voice echoed in my head less these days, but the tone had certainly changed. 'I love you,' she had said to me as she lay in my arms, potentially carrying my baby girl. When I showed up to her house in Portland I knew she needed more than I could give. I guess I could have at least tried, but it was a lost cause now.
"Hey, it's time." Said a fresh young face surrounded by flaming locks. She wore a flowing yellow dress and a bright smile. This was Allison. She looked nothing like Bryan, and there was an air of calm around her I had never felt before. Just her presence was enough to stop my racing thoughts. "Punk, you don't have your tie on. Bryan, go take your place, we'll be all of a minute."
She turned to me again after her brother left. "I was told to call you Punk even though your name is Phillip. Is that right?"
"Yeah. I prefer it." I replied. She smiled and shrugged. I just watched her as she stood there. She was so… interesting.
When she started to put on my tie, I didn't argue. She was magnificent, edging on regal. I'd let her do whatever. She started by flipping my collar up and wrapping the tie around my neck with her long pale arms. "I've heard a lot about you, Phil Brooks."
Her voice was so clear. I didn't respond. She knew I was listening.
"I don't know what to think about some of it yet. Brie's tales of you were often… brief. I understand why. She is as confused about you as I am." She tied the double Winsor knot with practiced hands. It said 'finishing school' to me. "If I were Brie, I would not have forgiven you so easily. Then again today is a direct result of you. Do you know that?" She said, finding my eyes. Her eyes were gorgeous almond shaped, baby blues.
"I know that."
She looked down and unbuttoned my jacket to properly place the tie inside. "Are you familiar with A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens?"
I shook my head 'no'. I though she might be disappointed, but she wasn't. She seemed pleased at the opportunity to teach me something. She finished dressing me and put her hands on my shoulders. My hands went to hold her waist, and then hesitated. It was built in reaction. 'I probably shouldn't touch her like that,' I thought. She had noticed the movement, but didn't say anything.
"In A Tale of Two Cities, a man sacrifices himself for the man his woman loves. He goes to the guillotine in his place, and he says 'It is a far, far better thing I do now than I have ever done.' Do you understand why I am telling you this?"
I looked to my feet. I couldn't believe I was fight tears. Whenever I found myself fighting tears, I got pissed at myself. She leaned in close and said, "Punk, it is a far, far better thing you do that you have ever done. You go to a far, far better rest than any you have ever known. Today you die, and tomorrow you will start a new life. You have to promise me that. These people I love, do not ruin what they have."
There was a moment of silence.
"A new life, huh?" I finally looked at her again. Damn, she was gorgeous. She smiled.
"Yes, a new one, in which you will live more, love more and have more sex." She giggled, I did too.
"I think I can agree to that." I said, taking a deep breath.
"Are you ready?"
I nodded and gave her a half-hearted smile. Honestly, I did feel better. No one had ever given me a talking to like that before. It felt like part insult, part compliment. I knew Allison was Bryan's sister, but it seemed like they ran in completely different circles. Who was this chick? Where was she from? Why did she speak the way she did? Why was there so much purpose in everything she did? It was odd. It was refreshing. I realized, as she took my arm, that I had to know this girl.
I let her go at the end of the isle, and kissed her cheek. She looked at me in surprise, cheeks growing pink. The first sign of weakness in her cool, collected demeanor. I smiled at her from next to Bryan and she politely smiled back.
Brie made her grand entrance and the short guest list stood. As far as I could tell there was some family there, a couple other wrestlers; Miz, Cena, Paul 'Big Show' Wight and Mark.
She walked down the aisle. She and Bryan said their vows. Kissed. Cried. I gagged.
Then it was to the party, and everyone was invited to that. The guest list for the reception was longer than the WWE's roster. I was invited to ride in the limo. Invited by Allison. I started to think that maybe she was as interested in knowing me as I was her. Then I dismissed the thought. Until I walked outside and she was smiling at me from the limo's sun roof. I smiled back.
"There appears to be a very, very comfortable seat next to me that is unoccupied. Would you like it, Sir Punk?"
That made me laugh. "Sir Punk," I snorted, walking to the limo, hands in my pockets. "Sure, I'll take it." I opened the door to find her with a champagne flute in her hands, sipping from it. She and I were the only ones in the limo so far.
"So, why do you talk like that?"
"I am a writer. I write historical fiction, and it helps me to think and speak in the same dialect I am currently writing in." She giggled. "Look at me ending a sentence with a preposition. I am already tipsy. Please, take this," she said, handing my the champagne. I smiled at that. She was a girl that knew her limits. Or should I say girl? She seemed so sophisticated.
"Question two…" 'Maybe I shouldn't ask,' but hey, she was tipsy. "How old are you?"
She gasped and covered her mouth before giggling. "I am a young twenty-six. Don't you know not to ask women how old they are?"
"Yeah, I almost didn't ask."
"Is there a question number three?"
There was, but I usually waited until I knew a woman better to ask it.
"Yes, but it is even less appropriate. So it will wait."
"No, ask now. I am impatient to know." She made a pouty face. Maybe not so sophisticated. I smiled and leaned into her.
"You will just have to wait, Miss… Are you a miss? Or are you a misses?"
"I am guessing that is not question number three, but I'll answer it. I am divorced. I have been for three years now, and I am not looking to get married again any time soon. I think that was too much information." She said, cheeks growing pink again.
"No, it wasn't. It answered a lot of other consequential questions that may have sprung from the first one." I asked myself, 'did I just sound like her?'
I felt myself not speaking down to her, but speaking up. I found myself speaking down to people quite a bit, but she made me feel the need to display my vocabulary, sentence structure. I felt like that could get exhausting after a while, but I was guessing I'd rarely see her after tonight. I would see her at Elizabeth's birthdays and her christening, but other than that…
"So, what is question number three?" She asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"Like I said, I'm not telling you. I might never tell you." I teased.
"You are killing me. I must know." She said, leaning into me.
"Never." I said, leaning in too; our faces coming close.
"Tell me," she breathed into my ear. I melted.
"Tonight. Later tonight, I'll ask. Agreed?"
"We have an accord. Don't break it."
"I won't." I said, right in her ear.
She licked her lips. "Good."
"Good, indeed," I smiled.
"What's up, guys?"
We looked over to a grinning Mike Mizanin, standing at the open limo door, and smiled at each other. Tonight was going to be fun.
A/N: Note. Punk hasn't forgotten about Brie, but he's finding Allison to be very distracting. Please, review!
