"Matt, tell her she's being unreasonable," Amy instructed as she tapped his arm.
Matt was in the driver's seat of his rental with Amy sitting across from him, and their bodies were swiveled in the direction of the backseat, where Stephanie was splayed out like a Persian rug. Her face was squished against the seat and her hair strewn all about, a display meant to prove her final decision had been made - - she wasn't planning on stepping a single foot inside the arena. A full five minutes had passed since Matt pulled into the parking space in front of the venue and turned the car off, and now all they were waiting for was Stephanie to exit the vehicle. After two failed attempts to pretend they were leaving her, she still hadn't risen from her sanctuary, so they bypassed that plan and put their savvy speaking skills to the test to smoke her out with words.
"Steph, you're being unreasonable," Matt said, evoking a tiny shove from Amy.
"I didn't mean in those exact words!" she hissed, as if Stephanie couldn't hear their conversation. "Talk to her naturally. Come on, I know you have a way with words when you want to."
"Okay, all right, fine," Matt held his hands up and cleared his throat before turning towards the backseat again, "Hey, Stephanie, don't you want to go inside and see if Chris is here?" he questioned, as if it was the most appealing offer to ever be extended.
"No..." Stephanie moaned before grabbing her jacket from the floor and tossing it over her head to cover herself.
"Oh my gosh, why would you mention him? You just made it worse," Amy shook her head, but the corners of her mouth, threatening to expand into a full-blown smile, gave her away.
While it wasn't amusing that her friend was hurt, she did see the humor in Stephanie's dramatization of her weekend excursion. Her behavior while away hadn't been stellar, and Amy had attempted to stop her from participating in actions she might later regret, but Stephanie was a woman sparked by spontaneity. Granted, few people knew the detail of what she engaged in with the charming man from the golf course, but Stephanie assumed it would only be a matter of time before it made the rounds to Chris, and she couldn't face him. Foolish decisions had been so much easier to make when she didn't have someone sitting her down and speaking the truth about why she was putting herself at risk by doing them.
Whether based in truth or not, Stephanie wasn't certain Chris thought much of her anymore to begin with, and any positive feelings left over would dissipate when he heard about her latest outing with Amy. Stephanie's urges had taken over, impulses she couldn't control, and instead of accepting Amy's sensible advise and bowing out when she had the chance, Stephanie thrust herself right back into a downward spiral. Of all the places she was prepared to be right then, work was the last spot she ever would have chosen, and that was the reason she remained tucked away in the backseat of her friends' car. It served as a spectacular hiding place, maybe even for the remainder of the night.
"You know you're more than welcome to hang out in our locker room for the rest of the day," Amy perched her chin beside the headrest of her seat as she addressed the ever-sulking Stephanie. "You don't have to see Chris if you don't want to, and I'll even make sure he doesn't get his feelings hurt in the process. I can just say you're sick and don't want him to catch the cold you have."
"He'll hate me even more than he probably already does if he finds out what I did," she mumbled.
"That's crazy and you know it. Chris could never hate you, and if he did, which he doesn't, but if he did, why would he go out of his way to keep you safe? He tries everything to take you out of this party lifestyle you're so attached to, and someone who didn't care would never put in that amount of effort," Amy pointed out. There was a fine line between experiencing sorrow and plain old feeling sorry for oneself, and Stephanie was beginning to cross over into the latter. "Stop it with all this moping and let's go inside."
"Fine, but I'm wearing my shades," Stephanie grumbled.
Her jacket slid off her head and landed in a puddle beside her as she reached into her purse and retrieved a pair of rather large sunglasses. While sliding them in place, Amy smoothed down some of her unkempt strands of hair that had been ruffled during her session of bemoaning. Amy just so happened to glance out the back window and was greeted by the sight of the subject of their conversation. Not only had Chris spotted them, but he was headed right their way, and Amy saw fit to warn Stephanie.
"Don't freak out, but Chris is coming over here," she said, thinking the announcement wouldn't be a big deal but, instead, finding how superbly wrong she was. Stephanie snatched her jacket and tossed it back over her head, like a protective tarp, before diving down on the seat and assuming the position. With Chris approaching rapidly, Amy tapped Stephanie's exposed arm. "I don't mean to be rude about this, but don't you think if you start covering yourself up, and generally acting like a weirdo, it's going to make Chris a lot more suspicious than if you would just act natural?"
"No," Stephanie argued before adding, "tell him I'm really, really sick and can't talk."
Two paces more and his knuckles were rapping on the door as he waved at Amy and Matt. They returned the gesture and, when Chris's eyes traveled towards the back seat, Amy pushed her door open and stepped out. A frown was already wrinkling his brow when Chris spoke his first words to her, "Isn't Stephanie back there? I thought I saw her in your car."
"Yeah," Amy paused to clear her throat as Matt got out of the opposite side of the vehicle and began pulling his bags out. "See, the thing is, she's really sick and doesn't want to get you sick, so she was trying to stay away from everyone."
"Then wouldn't she travel alone or with her family instead of you guys?" he asked. His line of questioning was innocent enough, but Amy didn't like dodging curve balls, especially when she wasn't the person who deserved the third-degree. Sick of the run-around, she redirected Chris's attention where it really belonged.
"I'm not sure, but you can ask her," she pointed at the back door, and Chris pulled it open. Stephanie - - being privy to their conversation - - had been on guard, and the second the warm, sticky air of the outdoors swirled inside, she clutched her purse and bolted from the car. Jacket still covering her head, she motioned to Amy and put on her best flu voice.
"Hi, Chris, I'm not feeling good, so I've gotta run. Come on, Amy," Stephanie urged.
Amy started towards Stephanie, but made eye contact with Chris as she passed, and noticed a flicker of rejection burning in his gaze. Just as she predicted, his feelings were inadvertently hurt, and it was all because Stephanie couldn't find a way to set the nonsense aside. Chris never would have had any clue what had taken place during her weekend if she wouldn't have eluded to it, and Stephanie was only drawing extra attention to herself for no logical reason...or was she? That was the moment the light bulb clicked on inside Amy's head and, suddenly, it all made sense.
Amy waved to Matt and called out that she would see him later, which he responded to by blowing her a kiss. Both men hung back while she fell in stride beside Stephanie, but Amy was too distracted to worry herself with making conversation. Stephanie admitted to her during their breakfast in Connecticut that she liked having Chris douse her with attention and that it made her feel special to have him looking out for her. Being the intelligent woman she was, Stephanie must have been aware she was drawing excess attention to herself by behaving as outlandishly as she was, which only made sense if she was trying to accomplish one thing - - she was indirectly leading Chris to herself.
Mystery solved.
Chris shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at the ground while he unconsciously gnawed his bottom lip. In the wake of the women's retreating figures, he couldn't shake the odd vibe Stephanie presented. He had seen her sick before, and it hadn't sent her scrambling to evade him in the past, so there had to be a hidden motivator. Matt cautious eyes were already on Chris when he faced forward, probably expecting Chris would have a barrage of questions lined up and, in fact, he was absolutely right.
"Is Stephanie okay?" Chris thumbed behind himself, but when he turned back to check, the girls had already disappeared into the arena. "It's fine if she's sick, but she was acting a little weird."
"She's, uh, goin' through some stuff, from the sounds of it," Matt shut his door and walked around the car as he and Chris headed towards the arena. A growing cluster of fans were screaming their names from behind the metal guardrail off to the side of the lot, and they each made it a point to wave as they continued inside.
"What kinds of stuff? Did she not want to talk to me?" Chris asked. That assumption pained his heart more than he cared to admit, because there never existed a time when he hadn't been interested in seeing Stephanie. She was always the highlight of every show he attended, and to think he harbored unrequited feelings was a massive shot to his pride.
"Naw, no, it wasn't that," Matt readjusted the shoulder strap of his bag. "Listen, if I tell you what's goin' on, you can't say anything to anyone, especially not her, but I know why she's avoiding you. Stephanie talked to Amy about it on the way here, and she expected us to keep it a secret, but I'll tell you as long as you won't go blurting it out."
"Dude, I'm not a child, I can keep a secret," Chris chuckled.
"All right, well this is what happened with her and Amy when they went to the golf course last week..."
In the time it took Matt to offer an explanation to Chris, Stephanie and Amy scuttled to the broadcast table in the near-empty arena.
"Explain to me again why we're hiding out ringside," Amy turned to Stephanie, who was slouched down in her fold-out chair with her feet resting atop the announce table.
She seemed so relaxed it was hard to believe she was the same basket case who had just come in from the parking lot with her jacket hanging over her head. Stephanie met Amy's gaze for a couple seconds before turning back to the in-ring action. A couple of the agents were coaching the females and, in doing so, providing entertainment that was a welcome distraction for Stephanie. When the women were on their game, it was a fascinating sight to behold.
"Because we have to avoid you-know-who, and I don't think he comes out here often before the show starts. Besides, my dad is holding a talent meeting in a little while, so Chris will probably be sitting in on that, and I can steer clear out here," she said, still studying the bustle inside the ring, and Amy burst into uncontrollable laughter before she could stop herself. Stephanie turned sharply, frowning her confusion, "What's so funny?"
"You are," Amy replied before slapping her knee and hunching over for another round of giggles.
"Why?" Stephanie asked, more bashfully than she cared to be.
"Nothing, you're just so totally obvious," Amy wiped her watery eyes as she came down from her laughing spell. "Let's be real right now. We need to see here with one another," she said, using the index and middle fingers of her right hand to signal between her and Stephanie's eyes.
"We are right here," Stephanie returned the action.
"No, we're not. I know what you were doing back at the car, and all I want is for you to admit it."
"Admit what?"
"The innocent act doesn't work on me, Steph," Amy smiled and tucked some hair out of her face. "You acted weird in front of Chris on purpose because you knew it would make him worry and seek you out. I remember you saying how much you like that he cares about you, and all this pretending to be sick was a ruse to make him chase after you out of concern, wasn't it?"
"What? No..." Stephanie's adamant denial came flooding in as she shook her head and folded her arms. She frowned at Amy as if she was speaking a foreign language, but the longer their stare-off continued, the more Stephanie crumbled until, finally, she resigned herself to the truth. "Fine, you caught me, but I need Chris's help. I always feel bad after I do stupid stuff, and I know he would make me feel better. When I'm with him, I feel like I can do anything, but when I'm alone, I feel...expendable."
"Expendable?"
"Yeah, you know, I just feel like it doesn't matter what I do, because nobody really cares. When Chris is with me, it isn't like that, because I know he cares. I can see it every time he looks at me, and it's nice having that with him."
Amy wanted to understand her explanation, but a few parts were difficult to wrap her mind around. "So, why is it that you don't think your parents care? Vince and Linda are always trying to keep you safe and get frustrated when you do crazy stuff, just like Chris does."
"No, my mom won't talk about it, and Dad only gets mad because he's afraid I'll make him look bad. Work is all he ever pays attention to anyway," Stephanie said, and there was a definite shift from melancholy to a more resentful side of her. Amy noticed it right away but didn't care to interrupt when Stephanie was on such a roll. She figured it better to allow her to vent and interject later, when tensions weren't running so high. "Did you know my parents used to leave Shane and I home with a nanny more than half of every single week when we were younger?"
"Wow, no, I didn't," Amy said.
"Yeah, that's because they never admit it, since they don't want anyone to know they're not perfect. They pretend to be these model parents who care so much about their kids, but where were they when I needed them?" Stephanie demanded, tears brimming in her eyes. She blinked them back and slid her feet off the table to sit up straighter in her seat. Amy felt guilty for hitting a nerve she hadn't meant to go anywhere near, but once suppressed emotions came tumbling out, they couldn't readily be halted. "I was all alone except for a nanny and a chef, that's it. I tried to call them at work, and even begged them to come home a bunch of times, but they were always busy. My parents can say they love me all they want, but I've been abandoned by them for almost my entire life."
"I'm so sorry, Steph. Geez, I just...I wish I had the words to say, but I don't think anything I do can make things right. I hope you know I really care about you, and so do lots of other people," Amy rambled, wanting to do anything to wipe the look of hurt from her face. "I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but I'm sure your parents love you, and I think they did the best they could at the time. I really wish you would talk to them about it, because they would have a lot more insight on the situation than me. Do you ever talk about it with Shane?"
"Not anymore, because he says I'm being dramatic, but I'm not. It hurts."
"Oh my goodness, Steph, you're seriously breaking my heart right now. I have to give you a hug," Amy remained seated but engulfed Stephanie in a genial embrace. When they pulled away, she found a more hopeful version of Stephanie awaiting her and rejoiced in that. "I know you might not agree, but I think talking to Chris about this would do you a world of good. He understands you in a really special way, and I know he'd have a lot more words of wisdom than I do. Just talk to him straight from the heart, and I know that sounds cheesy but, really, you should."
Managing a smile, Stephanie nodded her acquiescence, "I'll find him after the show. Will you and Matt go to dinner with Chris and I if they both agree to it?"
"I'm there."
"Thanks. You're so good to me."
"Hey, what else are friends for?" Amy quizzed before they rose from their seats and headed for the backstage area. Stephanie was hopeful about delighting in some alone time with Chris, because there was plenty to talk about.
A compelling night lay ahead.
