Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Kayla.
A/N: Special thanks to Bingobaby for the review, and thanks to everyone who read and added this story to alerts/favorites. I really appreciate it. Everyone else, please review, review, review! (=
"I still can't believe I had my first match!" I squealed as I hung out with Randy in his hotel room. The adrenaline was still rushing through my veins and I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I wanted to, so I opted to relax with Randy for awhile.
"Relax; it's over and done with. Time to move on." He said in a slightly annoyed tone. He was acting strange and I couldn't tell what was up with him.
"Did I do something wrong?" I questioned, watching him closely as if I could find the answer in his face.
"Not really."
"That was convincing." I answered sarcastically. "Why don't you try again, and this time, tell the truth."
He looked at the pale blue carpet below us and shook his head.
"You're not planning on hanging out with those freaks are you?"
My eyes widened at the question; was he really upset because I spoke with some people he didn't like?
"I don't know…maybe, why?" I answered sheepishly, trying not to get into any sort of altercation with him.
"I don't want you to."
I cleared my throat before bringing my gaze up to meet his eyes. Enough was enough; yes, he was my friend, but that was all and if I wanted to make more I didn't see a reason I couldn't.
"Nothing for nothing, but the problems you have with them don't really involve me. I don't see any reason why I shouldn't associate with them."
Randy shot me a glare so cold, that it sent shivers down my spine.
"Fine; do what you want, but you should know they only want you to hang out with them so they can see which one you'll sleep with first. I guarantee you they already have bets on the table."
Suddenly I felt my blood beginning to boil. Who did he think he was? I wasn't going to let him talk to me like I was some kind of high school tramp who slept with every guy I could possibly get my hands on.
"For your information I don't plan on sleeping with anyone here, especially one of them. I don't know what kind of girls you're used to dealing with, but I don't appreciate the way you just spoke to me as if I were going to jump the first guy that gave me an offer."
His gaze softened as I spoke, and he began to realize how hurtful his words were. He made his way over to me, wrapped a muscular arm around my back, and pulled me close to him.
"I'm sorry Kay; I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I just wanted to protect you. I know those guys, and I know how they are; they want one thing and one thing only. You know, John didn't finish the story earlier; after Jeff spent the night with that friend of mine he didn't even bother to call her. She left his room the next morning alone, and he didn't even make an attempt to speak with her again. It was all a game to him; he needed to see if he could get the girl I was after, and when he did he realized he didn't want her after all."
I looked into his eyes and realized how sincere he was being. All of my anger towards him vanished immediately, and all I had left was sympathy for him. I didn't know if he was in love with that girl; hell, I didn't even know if he was with Sam at the time, but all that mattered was that he cared about someone and had her taken away by someone who didn't even want her. At that moment, I vowed to stay far away from that group of guys; I didn't care how sweet they seemed, or how their accents made me weak in the knees, all that mattered was my friend didn't like them and neither did I.
"You know, they thought I was your girlfriend." I spoke, almost in a whisper. Randy chuckled as his eyes met mine.
"What'd you say?"
"I told them you're married."
Randy smiled as he pulled me close once more. I grinned back before letting my eyes meet the floor again. There was something that had been on my mind all day since I met the guys, and I knew I just had to find out the answer.
"Randy, you love Sam, right?"
"Of course, I wouldn't have married her if I didn't."
"Well, when I told them you're married, one of the guys said that never stopped you before; what'd they mean by that?"
His eyes grew wide, and I couldn't help but compare him to a deer in head lights at that moment. I felt his body tense up against me, and the smile faded from his face instantly.
"Oh, you know how it is; he was just trying to throw me under the bus." He answered unconvincingly, his voice shaking as he spoke. I nodded slowly before standing up.
"Well anyway, I better get back to my room; I've got to get some sleep after the day I had."
"Yeah, I should call Sam anyway; you were great tonight Kay."
"Thanks, so were you." I said as I hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek.
"So call me in the morning."
"I will; goodnight." I said, as I closed his door behind me and made my way into the dim hallway. I was still too excited to sleep, so I decided to tour the hotel. I pulled my ipod out of my pocket and shoved the ear buds into my ears while searching for something to listen to. Unable to decide on a song, I put it on shuffle and smiled as the first song rang into my ears.
"Fate is an elegant, cold hearted whore. She loves salting my wounds yes she enjoys nothing mooore." I sang along quietly with The Spill Canvas as I made my way through the hotel hallway toward the vending machine. I didn't know where I was going; I just knew I didn't feel like sitting around doing nothing. I turned the music on full blast and continued to sing along as I made my way over to the soda machine to get a drink. I shoved my hand deep into my pocket in search of money, and grinned when I finally found it. I put it into the machine and pressed the Powerade button. When my drink wasn't dispensed, I proceeded to push the button incessantly; becoming more and more frustrated by the minute. When the drink still would not fall, I gave up and pressed the button that would return my money. Annoyed that the machine refused to reimburse me, I turned quickly, crashing into someone in the process and falling to the ground.
I pulled my ear buds out of my ears and looked up to see a rainbow haired man standing above me.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"Sure you didn't." I snapped, not letting him finish his sentence. He extended his hand down to me to help me up, but I coldly rejected it as I rose on my own.
"The machine's not working for ya huh? Here let me give it a shot." He said, and before I could interject, he pounded his fist against the machine causing my drink to fall to the bottom. He reached in and grabbed it.
"Here ya go." He said with a smile.
"No, keep it; I'm just gonna go back to my room." I said callously as I stormed off toward my room. Before I got half way down the hallway, I felt his cold hand gripping my wrist.
"Did I do something to offend you? Just this afternoon you seemed more than cordial towards me; what happened?"
I shrugged as he held my wrist firmly, waiting for an answer.
"It's Kayla, right?" He asked as I nodded. "Look, I don't want to start on the wrong foot; we're going to be working together, so we should be able to communicate. If you're giving me the cold shoulder because of Randy, I think you're being ridiculous."
For the first time, our green eyes met and I felt like I could see into his soul. It's unexplainable, the feeling that came over me as I stood in that abandoned hallway locking eyes with Jeff Hardy. At that moment, I wanted to open up to him; I wanted to tell him that I would love to be friends, I would love to get to know his clique, and I would love to spend time with him. That, however, was not an option as my stubbornness took over and I squinted my eyes at him.
"Don't pretend like you know me, because you don't." I sneered, as I tried to pull my arm out of his hold unsuccessfully.
"I'm not pretending to know you, but I do know Randy and I'm willing to bet he's forbidden you from talking to us."
"Contrary to what you think, I don't take orders from Randy, or anyone else for that matter." I scoffed as his comment as I once again tried to pry my arm from his grasp. He shrugged as he moved his eyes to my ear buds which were now blaring with the sound of Carrie Underwood.
"Carrie Underwood huh?" He asked with a smirk, as I quickly shut off my ipod. I rolled my eyes as I finally freed myself of his grip.
"Aw, come on; give me a chance to prove I'm not that bad of a guy. How can you have an opinion of me when you've only listened to Randy? John likes me, ya know."
I chuckled at his reasoning; of course John liked him, John likes everyone!
"Maybe some other time, I really need to get back to my room." I mumbled as I started to walk down the hall.
"So I'll walk you; it'll give us a few minutes to get to know each other."
I realized he was never going to give up, so I figured I would humor him and let him walk me to my room.
We walked slowly, in complete silence at first, neither of us knowing what to say to the other.
"So, I watched your match today; you're really good. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for your partner; if they had you tagging with someone a little more talented, maybe a certain enigma, you may have been able to showcase your skills a little better." He said with a grin as he watched my face for a reaction.
"I think Randy did fine." I mumbled, not knowing what to say to him. There was talk of a romantic storyline starting between Randy and I, and I could not imagine Jeff in his place. Randy and I fit together, we were both so conventional; Jeff on the other hand was so eccentric. We were polar opposites; there was no doubt about it.
"That's because you haven't worked with me yet." He said, shamelessly tooting his own horn.
I rolled my eyes; I couldn't see what that girl saw in Jeff that she hadn't seen in Randy. Jeff seemed self centered and egotistical, and Randy was- well Randy was exactly the same.
"You know, if you really want me to consider talking to you, you really should stop insulting Randy. He is my friend, remember?"
"You're right, and I'm sorry; let's start over." He said as he extended his hand to me. "I'm Jeff."
I smiled as I debated giving him the benefit of the doubt and finally took his hand.
"Kayla."
"So, where are you from? I noticed your accent."
"I'm a Jersey girl, born and raised." I said, proudly before it clicked; I don't have an accent. "What accent? You're the one with the accent."
He laughed at my statement. "I think you're mistaken, but anyway, I'm from North Carolina."
As we made our way through the hallways, we kept our conversation to general topics; the matches of the night, how I became involved in wrestling, and how he and Matt got themselves into the business. I had to admit, talking to him wasn't dreadful; I even managed to laugh a few times throughout the conversation.
We settled into the hallway outside of my hotel room door and sat for over an hour talking about everything. We talked about the business, our families, our friends, and our taste in music.
"I really think you can tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to." I confessed, as he proceeded to search through my ipod.
"Wow, your taste in music really is diverse." He stated, scrolling through my list of artists.
"Yeah, I like a little bit of everything." I agreed, as he handed me the ipod back. "I might have to borrow that one day to steal a few songs."
"Okay, feel free." I replied, smiling at him.
I stretched my hands high over my head and yawned; it was getting late and I hadn't slept much in the last twenty four hours.
"I should get to bed." I explained, as I rose to my feet.
"Yeah me too; well it's been fun. We'll have to get together again." He said with a grin.
"Yeah, I'm sure we'll run into each other."
"Definitely. Well, goodnight then." He said as he leaned over to kiss me on the cheek.
"Goodnight."
As he walked away, I pushed open my door and made my way into the room. The bed looked warm and inviting, and it took everything in me not to collapse into it fully clothed. I stripped my body of my clothes and shrunk into the soft bed, thoughts of my conversations with Jeff racing through my mind. I decided it would be best to keep my encounter with Jeff a secret from Randy; what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
