It had been difficult but necessary. Paul had avoided speaking to or about Stephanie and eventually it had helped. He realised that he was obsessed with her but deliberately staying away had eased the feelings and the desire for her that were burning inside of him. He had even found himself thinking about Stephanie during sex with Trish and he felt guilty, that was just plain wrong and he knew it. Now he was backstage and on tonight's Raw the storyline with Stephanie getting the General Manager job was going to begin. Paul was excited for it, he had not only created this storyline to get close to Stephanie, he actually believed that it would be good. Another benefit was that eventually he would spend less TV time acting the part of the man in charge and more time as a wrestler which was something that he wanted.
Also he felt a little nervous tonight which definitely was not something that he was accustomed to. There was only one person that he could think of who made him feel that way and she was going to walk into the office at any moment now. The boss was always at the arena in plenty of time for the show on the rare occasions that she showed up. Now it was going to be a regular thing and Paul was not sure how he felt about that. She had left him in the COO position that her dad had given to him before he retired. He was young for such a position but the old man had shown faith in him and he was doing a good job. This was not arrogance this was fact, the ratings were high as was morale in the locker room which were the two main things that he needed to concern himself with which meant the boss had no reason to lack faith in him. It was not that he thought that she lacked faith or doubted his ability, it was just that you never seemed to know where you stood with her. It was hard to explain, it was just very unsettling. Paul smiled as he thought that she must be very hard work for her husband. Paul had never met the guy but he had seen the expensive silver wedding ring that she wore.
So infrequent were her visits to the arena that there was no office for her, she would work out of Paul's. He figured that this would change soon enough now that she was going to be here every week. It would only be for Raw of course, there was no way she would make an appearance on Smackdown that was for sure. Paul shifted nervously on his feet and his wife giggled from her position standing next to him as they both waited, "Look at you. You look like you're about to go into the principle's office."
Paul laughed as that was close to how he felt. He assured himself as much as Trish by boasting, "Don't be stupid, she doesn't make me nervous. No one does." Trish sniggered, "Right. Your tie isn't straight." She laughed again as Paul instinctively checked his blue tie with his hands and he realised that she had got him. "Bitch," he moaned playfully. Trish was laughing as the door opened and the boss walked in.
She looked at Trish for a half second as though she found laughing to be inappropriate which left Trish feeling very uneasy before speaking to Paul, "Paul, good to see you." There was not much in the tone to confirm that the statement was true but the hint of a smile helped. There was also no trace of an Italian accent despite her heritage although Paul was aware that she was fluent in Italian as he had heard her going at it with someone on the phone once, presumably her dad.
Paul offered his hand and it was shaken firmly and he made sure that got the Italian pronunciation of her name perfect. "Hi Laura, good to see you. How was your flight?" Paul considered that although she often seemed cold she was definitely beautiful. She had long, straight jet black hair which almost reached the middle of her back and green eyes which formed a contrast that seemed to draw you in and make it hard to look away from her. Her skin was naturally dark due to her Italian heritage and the expensive black suit, light grey blouse and silver necklace and watch she wore only made her look more attractive to him. Paul had never seen her in anything other than a suit but he imagined that her long legs must look great. That thought sent him back to thinking about Stephanie whose legs definitely did look great. There were beautiful women everywhere but Paul would not allow himself to think about Laura that way. Thinking it about Stephanie and Trish was more than enough to try to deal with.
Laura's tone conveyed disinterest in response to Paul's question, "Long," before she moved on to Trish. Trish held her hand out to the woman who was at least three inches taller than her, "Hi Laura." Trish also nailed the strange pronunciation on what was actually her first attempt at it when speaking to her boss, much to her own surprise. The previous limited number of occasions that Trish had spoken to Laura had only been to answer a question in a meeting, there had never been an introduction. This made Trish wonder if using her first name had been a mistake and she was still no closer to an answer on that after the handshake and the response, "Trish."
Apparently that was as close to pleasantries as it was going to get as the next thing Trish heard was, "I read your script on the flight. Not bad." Trish smiled, "Thank you," and Paul offered helpfully, "We can read through it again if you like?" Laura turned to him, "Why? You know what to say don't you?"
There it was again, almost causing Paul to smile, her uncanny ability to make people, even himself feel uneasy with only one sentence. He did his best to sound casual, "Of course. I just thought you might like to go over it again?"
"No thank you."
Trish felt awkward too and she tried to fish for some praise on what was now being made out to be her work, "So Laura you uh... liked what I wrote? I put a lot of thought into it and the creative freedom it will give us will be great. I know you mentioned to Paul that you wanted to be on TV more and the fans will mark out big time when you appear. They always do when..."
Laura appeared to lose interest as Trish rambled, "Yes I like it. I wouldn't have agreed to be here tonight if I didn't. We're missing someone." Trish had hoped to get some kind of indication on when her promotion was going to happen but that obviously had not worked out at all, "You want me to get Stephanie in here?"
Laura turned to Paul, "No. Paul will get her in here, he's in charge of the talent and you're in charge of creative Trish. Unless I've missed something?"
Trish felt brave, "I'm not in charge of creative yet. I was hoping to talk with you about that." She was pleased that this raised another hint of a smile from Laura although what kind of smile it was and the meaning of it remained unclear, "Don't worry I haven't forgotten about you, we'll talk in due course."
"I'll be right back then," Paul headed off to find Stephanie. He was happy to leave Trish with Laura, the conversation had been more awkward than he had imagined. He was not sure if that was intentional on Laura's part or if it just happened naturally when she spoke to people who worked under her. Paul dismissed Laura from his head and concentrated on Stephanie instead. He was anticipating having to send someone into the women's locker room to fetch Stephanie again but as he walked along the hallway towards it he saw Stephanie approaching and she was already dressed in her ring gear. She smiled as she saw him and Paul was sure that his heart missed a beat. How could anyone be this beautiful? It was actually ridiculous. Added to her natural beauty was the ring gear that she was wearing. She looked amazing in it. Paul wanted so badly just to kiss her and see what happened but how could he? He was married and even more importantly he figured that Stephanie had no interest in him.
On that he was very much wrong. Stephanie did not have the same burning desire that Paul did but as they approached each other she admitted to herself that she most definitely found him attractive. In fact he was one of if not the hottest guy she had met in her life but he was also her boss and he was married. It was not appropriate to think about him in that way especially when he was being so kind to her and giving her this incredible opportunity. Well, Trish had actually written it but Paul must have backed it. This was so crazy, she was living the dream and it was better than she could have ever imagined.
They both smiled as they reached each other in the hallway and Paul greeted, "Stephanie I was looking for you." He liked the way that she always seemed shy, almost nervous and this was still the case now as she replied, "You were?" As much as Paul liked the nervousness he knew someone who definitely would not, "Yes I was. You need to come and meet the boss." He began to lead the way and Stephanie strode alongside him as she babbled excitedly, "She wants to meet me? Oh my god. This is so great..."
Paul stopped walking and Stephanie again followed suit, "Stephanie, Trish and I think that your enthusiasm is great but..." Stephanie beamed as she interrupted, "You do? I can't help it, this is all too good to be true..."
Paul spoke a little firmer to make sure that she listened, "You can't go in there like this. You need to act calm and professional if you want to impress Laura, and impress her is what you need to do. Also for god's sake pronounce her name correctly."
Stephanie smiled as they continued walking again, "I can pronounce her name don't worry and I'll act a professional as I can. I can't wait to meet her." Paul noticed that the enthusiasm was bubbling over again after just two sentences, who knew maybe Laura would like it? He doubted it but stranger things had happened, maybe. He decided to leave Stephanie to handle herself and he would only step in if things went badly. At least his storyline was going ahead and he would soon be in a rivalry with Stephanie's character which meant spending a lot of time with her on and off the screen. As they reached his office Paul told her, "We're here. I'll introduce you."
"Thank you. I'm so excited!"
Shaking his head slightly as he opened the door Paul led Stephanie in. Laura was the only person in the room and she was drinking a cup of coffee. Paul forgot about his introduction, "Where's Trish?" Laura drained her drink and set the cup down on Paul's desk, "She has work to do, as do we." It was the next thing that happened that stunned Paul even more than it did Stephanie. Laura walked over to Stephanie and smiled as she offered her hand, "Laura Molinaro. I'm very pleased to meet you Stephanie. I've seen some of your work and I'm very impressed, with your mic work especially. Raw talent such as yours is something that this company needs more of."
Stephanie had shaken the hand and blushed, "Thank you so much. I'm delighted to meet you. It's such an honor, thank you for this opportunity. I won't let you down."
Paul had been wondering if Trish had put something into Laura's drink and as Stephanie began babbling enthusiastically he waited for some kind of negative response but instead Laura enthused, "This. This is what I want your character to be when you get the General Manager position. At least to begin with I want to see your character exactly like this." Stephanie was nervous, shy and star struck but she was also a smart woman and she quickly replied with confidence that she did not really feel, "I was actually in character. I wanted to see what you thought."
Knowing that this was a lie Paul closed his eyes as he expected Laura to see it too but he heard a laugh and then, "That's very good. I'm looking forward to working with you." Paul was about to say something but Laura had continued, "I have a segment to film as do you Paul so I suggest that you get on that. We'll talk again Stephanie." All that Paul got was a slight nod and with that Laura left the room and closed the door.
Paul looked at Stephanie and laughed, "How did you do that?" Stephanie shrugged and smiled, "I don't know. I just seem to impress everyone around here by being myself."
Paul managed to hide his smile as he thought that she was right. She had impressed him even without her stunning beauty and she had managed to make Trish warm up to her. Even more remarkably she had impressed Laura. At least it was not going to be a tough task to keep Stephanie's storyline going. If only she felt anything for him and if only he was not married. It was so frustrating, the woman drove him crazy. "Let's read through the script together," he offered but Stephanie said, "I don't have any lines tonight, I just have to stand there and look shocked."
Paul handed her his script with a smile, "Right, of course. You can help me then." Stephanie did not know why she was so tempted to kiss him as she took the script and looked up into his eyes. "Okay."