A/N: Thanks for all the feedback. This story is hard to write because I definitely have a difficult time keeping them apart from each other, it's like an impossible mission. Hope you enjoy, and leave a review if you can! :)


Day 15

"Thanks for helping me, man."

"What's a best friend for?" Dave shrugged.

Chris looked over all his things, "I can't believe I have to put all my stuff in storage, this is pathetic. I officially have no place to live, I am homeless."

"Dude, I think you're over-blowing it just a little," Dave scoffed, "you're only homeless until your picky ass finds an apartment you like, or whatever you want to get."

"Yeah, apartment, I mean, I don't expect to use it much since I'm going to be touring for a while. It'll just be a place to crash in between gigs," Chris shrugged, glancing back over his things. "You're right, this is only temporary."

"Yeah, so no worries. Have you decided on where you're going to live?" Dave asked. He knew his friend probably wouldn't want to stay in Connecticut. It was a small state, and an even smaller area where he would probably run into Stephanie more often than not.

"Anywhere but here," Chris chuckled to himself, "I was thinking New York, but then, a lot of the stuff I've been doing has been going on in LA, so that could be another spot, plus it would be really far away from Stephanie, and anything wrestling related."

"Are you really that eager to get away from Stephanie?" Dave wondered. If he was honest, and he'd told this to Chris right after learning of the breakup, he thought this breakup was stupid. Stephanie was perfect for Chris, the perfect foil to his personality. She kept him grounded when he decided to float above the clouds. He never thought he'd meet anyone who could tether Chris, but that was what Stephanie did. It was just such a shame that Chris's dreamer brain had to float away again.

"Not really, I mean, yes," Chris said, correcting himself and causing Dave to raise and eyebrow, "don't give me that, I'm still getting used to this entire thing. Stephanie and I have barely been broken up two weeks, I'm still getting used to this entire thing."

"Yeah, I think the truth is always the first thing out of your mouth, especially knowing who I'm talking to," Dave told him and Chris rolled his eyes, shutting the storage unit with a loud bang. "And there's you taking out your anger about the entire thing."

"I'm not angry," Chris told him, dusting off his hands. "It was a mutual thing, we both decided that it was time to end it. I mean, we just wanted different things."

"And you couldn't compromise?"

"What is this, time to lecture me?" Chris asked angrily.

It wasn't like he necessarily wanted to break up with Stephanie, but if she couldn't understand his desire to make Fozzy a success, he couldn't be with her. Fozzy was important to him. It was important to him to try and make the band as successful as he could. It was a huge step signing with Century Media, and he wanted to build on that, and to do that, he had to get Fozzy's name out there, he had to go on tour, he had to gain fans. Stephanie kept acting like Fozzy was just something he did for fun when it was something more than that. If she couldn't see that, he couldn't be with her.

"Not lecturing you."

"You're supposed to be my friend, Speewee," Chris reminded him.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to just be your friend when you were with Stephanie for nine years," Dave reminded him. "I kind of got to know her too over that span of time. So I consider her my friend as well."

"Well, you aren't going to see her anymore, are you?"

"And why wouldn't I?" Dave asked him. "I just told you she's my friend, and since you guys have been together, she and I have gotten close because she's always been with you, so if she wants to talk to me or invites me to something, I'm not going to snub her."

"You should."

"Why? Because the two of you are so stubborn that you can't see that there was an easy solution to your supposedly big problem?" Dave just had to come out and say it. He loved Chris and Stephanie, but they were both being idiots. Maybe he should stage some kind of intervention for his friends, or just lock them in a room together until they either killed each other or started making out. It would be one of the two for sure.

"She didn't support me!"

"That's a load of crap and you know it," Dave told him, "that woman has been by your side for nine years."

"She kept thinking that Fozzy was a side project, something I just did for fun when it's not. If she can't even see what's important to me then why am I with her? I mean, why was I with her? She just didn't get it, she didn't get what this was, and besides, we're just going down different paths right now. It was easier when I was wrestling because we were in the same place, we saw each other all the time, but it's different now. I have my things, she has her things, and we've just been leading different lives."

"But eventually, you're going to go back to wrestling, you always do."

"I did because of her," Chris admitted. "Sometimes I didn't even want to go back—"

"Oh, don't give me the 'Stephanie made me do it' speech, it didn't work when you started getting pedicures, and it's not going to work now," Dave just looked at him and Chris made a face. "You went back because you love it, and you know and I know you're going to go back at some point. Are you prepared to see Stephanie with another guy?"

"Has she said something to you?" Chris stared hard at Dave.

"Let me take a picture of this moment," Dave pretended to have a camera and clicked it, "this is you being paranoid, but you know that Stephanie is free to date and sleep with whatever guy she wants to. And Stephanie is hot, and only getting hotter with age. If you think she's going to stay single long, you're delusional, man. Someone is going to come and snatch her up."

"She's not going to do that two weeks after we break up," Chris said, but there was a catch in his voice. He'd dutifully ignored the thought that Stephanie would be with another man. They'd been together so long that the thought turned his stomach. There'd been plenty of men who had been interested in her over the years. He'd never been the jealous type, but there was something about Stephanie that made him wary of other guys.

"Chris, come over here, there's someone I want you to meet."

Chris's ears perked up as he heard his name being called. Stephanie was several feet away with some guy. He was good-looking, sandy brown hair and he had that debonair air that most of Vince and Linda's friends had. He excused himself from his conversation with Shane and walked over to Stephanie. Before he could even think, he wrapped his arm around her waist, curling his hand possessively against her hip.

"What's up?" Chris asked Stephanie, leaning over to kiss her temple. It wasn't meant as a marking of his territory, so to speak, but it was certainly almost felt that way.

"I just wanted to introduce you to Foster, he's an old friend of Shane's from high school. I haven't seen him in years, and we were just catching up. Foster took me to my winter formal my sophomore year because my date canceled on me at the last minute."

"I felt so bad for her, I told her I'd take her, I had to borrow one of Shane's suits since I was over at his house, but we had fun, didn't we?" Foster laughed.

"Yeah, you were actually more fun than my original date ever was," Stephanie joined in on his laughter. Chris did not. "Foster is thinking about moving back here, my dad told him if he wanted, he could have a job in our marketing department."

"I'm still looking around, but it's a nice offer, I might have to take him up on that."

"You should, Shane would love having you around to get into trouble with again," Stephanie joked with him.

"Speaking of him, I'm going to go catch up with him while he's free, I haven't seen Marissa around, is she here?"

"Yeah, she's just busy with Declan, you know how babies are," Stephanie said. "I'll talk to you later though."

"Bye, Steph, nice meeting you, Chris," Foster waved.

Stephanie turned to her boyfriend and smirked, "You are the most obvious man in the entire universe."

"What are you talking about?" Chris acted aloof.

"You don't have to be jealous of someone I went out with one time and only because I was a pathetic girl who had no date," Stephanie squeezed his hand. "I appreciate your adorable jealousy though, acting all possessive, just don't get too possessive over me, then we'll have a problem. I'm an independent woman, and I don't need a man."

Chris laughed, "I'm not possessive, you're crazy."

"Just about you," she leaned up to kiss him.

"Maybe not, but it's inevitable," Dave shrugged, "how are you going to deal with that?"

"Like an adult, I love Stephanie, but she's not my girlfriend anymore, so any choices she makes, those are hers, I'm not going to interfere," Chris said, but his words rang false because he kept thinking about how he would absolutely want to interfere if she found another guy.

But he couldn't and wouldn't do that. Stephanie deserved better than an ex-boyfriend who couldn't let go. He was right when he said they were going into two different directions. She would always love the company, and he loved his band. There wasn't really any middle ground to be found right now. He wanted to work on Fozzy, and maybe that would be easier without a girlfriend to answer to. It wasn't like Stephanie controlled what he did, but he wouldn't have to worry about going home constantly to spend time with her. He had no home now.

"You sure about that?" Dave asked as they finally started to leave the storage facility.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Chris told her, "I want her to be happy, that's all. If she's happy with another guy…that's great. I'm a tough act to follow though."

"Uh huh," Dave shook his head. These two people were so damn stubborn. He wondered what Stephanie was going through. Probably the same thing knowing her. She was just as headstrong and she'd probably convinced herself that this was the best course of action as well. The both of them made his head hurt. He'd been friends with Chris since they were young, but sometimes he couldn't get inside Chris's head.

"What is that for?" Chris asked.

"You don't want anyone to follow you, let's face it, the second she gets a boyfriend, you're going to scope him out, and what if it's someone you know, I mean, you know better than anyone how many guys in the company have been drooling over the shot to date her."

Chris frowned, "She doesn't want anyone in the company." Stephanie had never shown any interest in any guy in the company. Sure, he knew there were some opportunistic bastards who saw her and saw what she could do for them, it was only natural. Stephanie was a naturally wary person though; she had been when it was him. She knew which guys to avoid though, she wouldn't find herself with someone less than deserving of her. But then…nobody deserved her, Stephanie was a special person and no man deserved her.

"Well she didn't when she was with you, but you're not together anymore, so what's stopping her, nothing."

Chris didn't speak for a second, but then said, "No, no, she isn't attracted to anyone there."

"You say that now, but I'm just warning you, Chris, it's going to happen at some point, are you prepared for it?"

He didn't say anything, but no, he wasn't prepared for that.