I'm back with another chapter for your reading pleasure! I want to thank Reeceand loony ninja for their kind reviews:)
Note: This chapter takes place about a week and half after Randy and Katharine's first meeting.
Disclaimer and all that good stuff...now on to the story!
Chapter Four: Judgment Day
There was nothing left for him to do but face up to the consequences of his actions. Randy knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but when he spoke to Vince McMahon he was going to take full responsibility and all of the blame. Regardless of what JBL had done to him in the ring, he had intentionally provoked a fight and there was no denying that. He could only hope that he would still have a job once this was all said and done.
Vince had come to find him some time later after the fight and informed him that he needed him to come to WWE Headquarters in Stamford the following day. Randy had simply nodded, knowing that the boss was far from pleased with him and that he was going to have a lot of explaining to do.
Randy spent the night cleaning up after his injuries and trying to calm himself down as he booked an early flight out to Connecticut the following morning. No matter what happened, he needed to remain in control of his emotions and not do anything to upset his boss any further.
It was very hard for him to stay calm while he was sitting across from Vince McMahon in his office that day, however. It was almost as if he was ten years old and had been sent to the principal's office for playing too roughly during recess; the only difference was that the consequences were much worse now than they would have been then.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Randy?" Vince asked, his voice not betraying anything that he was thinking.
Randy took a deep breath. "The fight was my fault, sir, and I apologize for it. I was angry that John was fighting me stiff in the ring and I lost my cool. I take full responsibility for what happened and I am truly sorry."
He could see the chairman's expression soften faintly. "What is going on with you, son? I've known you since you were young and you have turned into a good man, but lately it's like you're a different person than the boy that I hired four years ago."
How in the world was he supposed to answer that? Randy felt like a different person, someone that he didn't even recognize. He had no idea how he changed so much, and even worse, he didn't know who he was anymore. There was no way he could make up some answer to that question, so all he could give was the truth. "I don't know," he answered quietly.
Vince leaned forward and looked him square in the eye. "I have faith in you, Randy. We all do, but you need to show us that our faith has not been misplaced. You need to get whatever is going on with you under control and I'm going to give you the time to do it. After your match next week you will be suspended for sixty days, during which time you will take anger management courses and seek counseling. Once the sixty days are up, I will give you another chance."
Randy heaved a sigh of relief. He still had a job. Granted, he was suspended for some time and was being sent to a shrink, but he still had a chance to make things right. He nodded his head slowly. "I understand, sir. Thank you for giving me a chance."
"Don't make me regret it."
"Never," Randy replied earnestly. There was no time for games anymore because he was walking on thin ice. He knew that he had to get things under control before he lost the life that he had worked so hard to build for himself. He was going to make this right. The only problem was that he had no idea how to do that.
Katharine stared at the application in her hand and bit her lip nervously. One of her professors had given it to her in class today, saying that it would be a good opportunity for her and that she could consider doing it. It was an application for a short story contest, sponsored by the New York Post and open to aspiring writers and journalists. The grand prize was five hundred dollars, publication of the story in an upcoming issue of the Post, and consideration for an internship with the company. It was everything that Katharine had ever wanted and yet she was terrified. She didn't even have a story written yet to submit and her piece needed to perfect.
Katharine closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch. This was her chance and she was hesitating in jumping for the opportunity because she was afraid of failure. All her life she had been told she wouldn't make it and wouldn't amount to anything, and now here was her opportunity to prove everyone wrong. She needed to believe in herself but she didn't know how to do that anymore.
She hadn't always been so insecure, but that was before life had gotten the best of her. Katharine tried her hardest not to let her troubles, both past and present, get her down but it was impossible not to sometimes. She knew there were people out there who had it much worse than she did so she tried not to pity herself too much.
All she wanted was someone to believe in her. Kellie did but it wasn't the same. She wanted someone to think the world of her, to care for her more than life itself. That was what had been lacking in her life in recent years. She needed more than just what one friendship, as great as it was, could provide. Her friend understood that because she felt the same way, too. Part of the reason that they were so close was because they had gone through similar experiences and could relate to one another. However, the problem with a friendship like theirs was that they were both too haunted by their old demons to focus too much on their future.
It felt like she was struggling to get by nowadays. Even though she was able to keep up with her bills and school work, Katharine wasn't living. She was just going through the motions, absently letting life go by while she closed herself off. Her writing was the only escape from the protective shell that she had created around herself, and that was why she needed to go forward with the story contest. She needed to seize life's opportunity for once in her life and succeed for herself.
Katharine needed to take the advice that she had tried to give Randy a week and a half ago. She needed to stand up for herself and take control of her own life because she couldn't take living this way anymore. It didn't hurt to enter this contest, and if her work didn't make the final cut at least she had the satisfaction of knowing that she tried.
She sat up and opened her eyes, staring once again at the application in her hands. She wondered where Randy was and what he was up to. Hopefully he had been able to work through whatever problems had been bothering him that night at Sal's.
Her eyes drifted over to the small table in the corner of the room where she and Kellie kept all of their important things, such as bills and letters from school. The napkin with Randy's number was still there, and even though she still wasn't planning on calling him she couldn't bring herself to throw it away. That piece of paper was a reminder of the one night that she had been able to forget all of her troubles and had been able to just enjoy the moment. It also reminded her of all that could go wrong if she let her guard down too soon.
Her introverted nature was screaming at Katharine to protect herself and to forget about Randy, but her instincts were telling her otherwise. She knew that she was nowhere near ready to seek another relationship at this point in her life, but that didn't mean she couldn't be friends with a man. Despite her insecurities, she knew that he had to be interested to some degree if he had gone to the trouble of giving her his number.
Katharine felt her temples beginning to throb and she sighed, frustrated at the fact that her mind refused to shut down and let this go. "That's it," she muttered to herself as she got up from the couch and went over to the table. She gingerly picked up the napkin and stared at the seven numbers written on it. "Just do it, Kat," she urged herself. "You know you want to."
Before she could change her mind, Katharine picked up the telephone and dialed the number. It rang a few times before Randy's voicemail picked up. She was slightly relieved because now she could leave a message and see if he was interested enough to call back.
"Hi Randy, it's Katharine from Sal's," she said after the tone beeped at her to record her message. "I decided to call and see how everything at work was going for you. Anyways, I hope all is well with you. Give me a call back or stop by to see me at work anytime if you want. Take care."
She hung up the telephone, then stood motionless by the table for a few minutes. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. It had been a week since she had seen Randy last and she doubted that he would return her call, but at least she couldn't say that she had been too chicken to try. It was a fairly insignificant action, but making that call had been the first step that Katharine needed to take in order to change her life around.
That was a fairly short chapter by my standards and I know it was filled with lots of thinking, but it's necessary in order to understand where Katharine and Randy are coming from. The action picks up again in the next chapter so stay tuned...!