Chapter 7
"Ladies and Gentleman, at this time please turn off all electronic equipment and return your seat to its upright and locked position and prepare for landing."
Trish jumped at the announcement and slowly pulled herself from her nap. Her head was still pounding from her three day vacation. She pulled out another round of Ibuprofen from her purse and let the two pills slip down her throat while finishing her water. Needless to say, her small vacation didn't go the way she had hoped. Touching down in Florida was actually a much needed and welcomed escape from reality, though she knew these next three weeks were going to be tough from a schedule perspective.
She thought back through all the arguments that occurred this weekend. The first argument started with her mother early Wednesday evening. She knew her mother would be angry with Trish not telling her the huge news of joining the WWE full time again. Though, once she was finished yelling, Trish calmed her down by talking about the problems between her and Ron. And her mother was well aware that the two of them were having issues, but she didn't think them to be as serious as they actually were. From that point forth, she was more sympathetic. She also insisted on pulling the family together for a dinner Thursday night, as she realized Trish would be absent for future ones due to her traveling.
By the time Trish got home from her mothers, it was near 8 PM. And unfortunately, the arguments didn't stop there. When she got home, she informed Ron about the conversation between her and her mother. Everything was fine until she mentioned telling her about their problems. He instantaneously blew up at her. He was so angry that she was airing their issues to people who had no right to know about them. Well, then of course, Trish fought back against his statement. She was so close with her mother and tells her everything. So Trish didn't see it that way. Family should have a right to know of any problems they are having. So, of course, Ron then wanted to know how many friends of theirs knew about their problems…which then stemmed into how many of "Trish's wrestling friends" knew about their problems. They fought well past midnight before going to bed angry with each other, Trish so angry, that she slept in the spare bedroom.
Trish and Ron had gone through most of Thursday not speaking to each other. Thankfully though, Ron was at work while Trish went to the yoga studio to see how things were going there and to make sure her partner had everything under control. They put on happy faces when they arrived at her mother's for dinner. The dinner went smooth for the most part. Of course when she told her sister's she was back full time with the WWE, they were angry at first, but then slowly came around. Trish made sure not to mention anything about her problems with Ron in front of him. But she was able to pull each of her sister's aside and promised to elaborate on everything soon.
Trish was able to spend some time alone with her sisters on Friday. They had gone to the mall in the morning, shopped till lunch time and had a nice lunch together. She was able to catch them up on everything that had been happening with her and Ron. It was nice to talk to them in detail about things. They obviously both knew Ron very well since he's been in their lives for so long. It was nice to hear their opinions on things and was such a relief to hear her sisters say that Trish wasn't at fault for any of it. Obviously she knew that she wasn't perfect, but the things Ron was getting angry about were a little outrageous in her opinion.
After spending time with her sisters, Trish went back to the yoga studio to lead a class and to get her personal workout in. When she got home later that evening, it was around 5 PM and she was surprised to see Ron at home. This of course turned into another argument between the two. He was angry because he took a half day to spend some time with her and she wasn't home. Of course, Trish's defense, though perfectly logical in her eyes, was not the taken the same way by Ron. She had forgotten to put on her fortune teller hat that magically told her that Ron was taking a half day…since he never mentioned it to her. Her cell phone must have fallen into a vortex as well cause she never received a call from him either!
So here she was, landing in Jacksonville FL for the start of her crazy travel schedule. As she turned her cell phone back on, her phone was blowing up with text messages and voicemails. She scrolled through the text messages. The first one was from Amy Dumas.
'Bitch! Why didn't you tell me you were returning full time! And answer your stupid phone!'
Trish chuckled, thinking to herself, 'Looks like Ames was watching Smackdown!' As she scrolled down through the rest of her text messages, she realized most were from her former diva friends: Lisa, Mickey, Maria, and Lillian. As she scrolled through she recognized a text from an unknown number. As she read the text, she smiled instantly.
'Trish, its Randy. Hope you dont mind, got ur # from John. Call me when you land. Was thinkin we should travel together?'
She immediately dialed Randy's number, "Hey, it's Trish. I got your text message…where are you at?"
"I know it's you goof. Still at the airport…I'm working on grabbing a rental. I assume you got my text. So what do you think about my idea to travel together? I mean, we're both booked for Raw and Smackdown, and I travel alone, so I thought we'd just save some cash traveling together…and I'm not going to lie, I think we would have a pretty fun time."
"What a convincing argument! Yea, Randy, that sounds like a good idea to me. I literally just landed. Wanna drive around to pick me up? By the time you're through the line, I should have my baggage."
Within minutes, Randy pulled up to passenger pickup in a Chevy Malibu. He jumped out of the car and quickly put Trish's luggage in the trunk. He smiled at her and opened the door for her.
"I was worried we weren't going to fit everything. I know some of the divas have troubles traveling light."
"Well, it doesn't take much for me to look good, so I don't have to pack a lot. But I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting a Malibu. I thought Hunter and Flair taught you how to travel in style?"
He chuckled as he jumped back in the car and started driving. "Easy killer…it was all they had. I also have a daughter to provide for now? Anyway, I was thinking we could stop at the arena first, drop our crap and maybe grab a quick bite to eat?"
Trish smiled and nodded as she enjoyed the warm Florida weather, "I'm good with that."
"So how was your vacation?"
Trish groaned "Three days of fighting. How was your Thanksgiving?"
"It was good. I got see my little girl for three full days. It doesn't get much better than that. So I assume you and Ron had another argument?"
Trish nodded, she really didn't want to discuss it or even think about it anymore at the moment. She had just gotten her headache to go away. She looked at Randy and just gave him a kind look that insinuated she didn't really want to talk about it. He understood and decided to change the conversation to a lighter topic.
"I hope you don't mind, but we may have some company when we head to lunch. I normally go with John and sometimes a few other guys tag along."
"I'm good with that."
They pulled into the arena and separated while they put their bags in their dressing rooms. Twenty minutes later, Trish was back out at the car, in her workout gear, waiting for Randy. She looked to her right as she heard the door to the arena open and out came Randy with three other Raw boys: Nick, John, and Matt.
Within seconds of seeing Nick he ran up to her and embraced her in a hug, completely pulling her off her feet. "Oh I love me some Stratusfaction! When I heard you were back I almost did a back flip!"
"Hey, don't be greedy there cheerleader boy, my turn!" John picked Trish up next and gave her a huge hug, "This is my girl!"
"I feel like I need to get in on this action too!" Matt said as he came up and mimicked what John and Nick just did. Trish started giggling uncontrollably.
"Ok, ok guys…geez, have you never seen a pretty lady before? You're scratting all over her for God sakes!" Everyone turned and gave Randy a weird look, but John of course was the first one to call him out.
"Scratting? Can I have the official definition of that?"
Randy chuckled, "If you had a little girl and watched the movie Ice Age, you would understand completely what I was talking about!"
Nick glanced at Randy's rental then glanced at all of them. "So, who's driving? Cause grandma here ain't fitting us all in this Malibu!"
Matt laughed, "Dude, I'll drive…I got an Explorer. Though getting to possibly sit next to Trish in the tight back seat of a car doesn't sound too bad to me right now…"
Trish laughed, she never really got to spend too much time with Matt, but she got to do one skit with him and Snooki for Wrestlemania last year and he was hysterical while they tried taping. What's funny though is his character, Zack Ryder, is very similar to Matt's actual personality. And she already got to know Nick back when he was with the spirit squad, though the WWE Universe now knows him as Dolph Ziggler.
Trish was sandwiched in the back of the Explorer between Nick and Randy, since John pouted until he got shotgun. She chuckled to herself imaging them squeezing into the back of the Malibu. It was tight enough in the back and that was in a full size SUV.
The group stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant before continuing onto the gym. Trish was actually very grateful that she was able to ride with them. Being away for so many years, she wasn't as sharp on the gyms close to any of the arenas any more…not to mention restaurants.
They arrived back to the arena around 3 after working out. Everyone was anxious to go meet up and plan their matches for the night. Trish was very eager to find Beth. She was set to have a match against her tonight. And though she's worked with Beth in the past, Trish felt Beth had a bit of attitude the last time they talked. She understood that though everyone was friendly towards one another, they are also competitors. And right now, Trish was back in the spotlight that Beth had worked so hard to achieve.
She also assumed that some of the other divas may not have a warm welcoming either. By coming back and being put in this storyline, she may have inadvertently taken a title shot away from an eagerly awaiting diva.
As she walked into the Diva's locker room, she found Beth, as well as Brianna and Stephanie, know as the Bella twins. "Hey, I was hoping I'd find you in here."
Beth looked up and realized Trish was talking to her. "Hey Trish, yea I'm glad you found me."
Trish picked up on her fake enthusiasm quickly, but continued to keep the conversation friendly. "Oh good! So, I was wondering if you wanted to toss around some ideas for our match tonight?"
Beth quickly brushed her off, "No, I think we'll be fine just calling it out there. I mean, we're both professionals here and we're both already experienced. So I don't see a reason to."
Trish nodded, "Ok, I'm fine with that. There's no interference scheduled correct?"
Beth shook her head, "No, I don't think the interferences start coming into play until next week."
"Ok, then I'll just see you in the gorilla before the match."
Trish quickly grabbed her ipad and cell out of her bag and abruptly left. She was a little irritated that Beth obviously had issues with her returning. She had picked up on them last week, but decided to write them off. However, after her break, she's sick of putting up with people's shit. You would think she would appreciate that she got to work some matches with a more experienced diva. She also felt the dirty looks coming from the Bella Twins. And she wasn't quite sure what beef they had with her, but she also wasn't going to lose any sleep over it.
Trish spent the next few hours, catching up on emails, text messages and returning some calls. "Ames, I'm sorry I didn't let you know sooner! It was just so last minute!" she spoke into the phone.
"Ok, I'll accept that as your excuse, but I'm not letting you off the hook till you tell me why. I knew you'd miss it! How does Ron feel about it all?"
"Honestly, Ron is the reason why I'm here. We're having problems and agreed we needed some time apart. But….I can't lie and say I didn't miss it. But it's so different now. I'm considered a veteran…and that's just weird to me. And I miss the old crew too. I can remember back when it was me, you, Adam, Chris, Jason, Matt and Jeff. God I miss those days!"
"I'm sorry to hear that…do you think you and Ron can work out your problems? To be honest, I miss it too…but I'm not sure I would like how different it all is."
"I dunno Ames, some days I think we'll be fine. Other days, not really. Please come back! Come back for a return! Let's show these diva's how it really should be done! We can room together again, and travel all around together. We'd have so much fun!"
Amy laughed on the other line, "I can't Trish…I actually enjoy not travelling! Who are you travelling with now? Yourself?"
Trish made a face at Amy, though she knew Amy couldn't exactly see it, "Very funny! I actually started traveling with Randy."
"Randy? Really? There's one I wouldn't have guessed. How did that come about?"
"We just started talking my first day back and seemed to hit it off. He's really changed Amy. It's hard to believe honestly. What about a Wrestlemania return? Can I talk you in to that one?"
Amy laughed again, "You're relentless! Ok, I'll think about it. See, I told you back in the day Randy wasn't so bad! You just had to get to know him!"
Trish smiled, "Ok, you're right…like always. But, hey, I hate to cut us short, but I gotta go get ready. It takes a little more time for me to look as young as these other divas. Make sure to watch for me tonight"
Amy laughed on the other line, "You're still the best though! Just kick them in the teeth! Alright, see you later! Keep in better touch please!"
"Will do…I promise. Bye!"
As Trish rounded the corner to the dressing room, she ran right into Randy. "Hey, I was looking for you everywhere. You're a hard woman to track down. I thought you'd be in the dressing room."
"Yea, I didn't receive such a warm invitation earlier today, so I've been hiding out, catching up some things."
"Oh really? Screw them! Who cares what anyone says or thinks…they're just pissed because they're losing TV time to you. So, I noticed your match is set right before mine. Do you want to take off for Tallahassee right afterwards or do you want to grab a hotel here and leave in the morning?"
Trish smiled. It was nice actually getting to travel with someone. Though she missed Amy and the other girls so much, Randy was doing a good job of making up for it.
"I say let's just drive tonight. Its only a 2 and half hour drive right? That way, we don't have to get up so early tomorrow. If you're tired, I can drive."
"No, I can drive no problem. I won't be tired. I usually stay up pretty late anyway. That works for me. Meet me outside the locker room? I'll need about 15 minutes to shower and change."
Trish nodded, "No problem! Good luck out there tonight!"
