Chapter Seven:
Two in the Morning
New Kids on the Block
April 5, 2009.
Wrestlemania 25.
Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
12:56 PM.
"Okay, Randy. We've gone through this twice. Just sign this contract and you will be set to lose the title to Dave tonight. You will be given twenty minutes for the match." Vince said as he placed a pile of papers in front of Randy. "The contract came a bit late. You and Adam were supposed to have a No Holds Barred tonight, but due to his injury, he is unable to compete."
Randy nodded and signed the contract sealing his fate for tonight. "When will Adam be back? What happens to our storyline then?" he inquired.
"Adam's out indefinitely. Your storyline will be cancelled. Since the Orton-Edge feud was a very strong one, we'll twist it quickly with the addition of Batista. Now, you two will be battling it out, but you won't be winning the title back anytime soon, son." Vince explained to the disheartened superstar.
Randy pursed his lips and nodded gently. Vince noticed the prodigy's disappointment and saw the moment fit to dismiss him. "Randy, you may go now. I'll see you later." He said in his gruff voice.
The younger man stood up and shook Vince's hand before leaving the office. He walked down the hallway from the chairman's office to the Men's Locker Room and ran into Paul Levesque carrying little Aurora in his arms.
"Unca 'andy!" Aurora squealed upon seeing her, similar to Hillary, favorite uncle.
"Rory!" Randy said and took the toddler from Paul's arms. He threw her up in the air as her little black HHH shirt exposed her tummy. "Now, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be home with mommy and Mishy?" he asked, referring to Steph and little sister, Murphy Claire. MC evolved to Missy and Aurora's lisp turned it into Mishy.
"Dada has a big game with Unca Show. I came to watch. And 'illary's 'ere, too!" she said as she played with her uncle's nose.
Randy turned to Paul and help out his hand for them to shake. "Hey, man. Good luck with your match. I heard Show's pumped up and running." He said, his voice a bit nasal from Aurora squishing his nose with her small hands.
"Luck to you, too. Dave's not really the animal anyone wants to mess with." Paul said with a chuckle.
"Unca Davey's an a-mee-nal?" Aurora said, almost getting lost at the idea of her big uncle being something like the little goats she met at the petting zoo.
"Uncle Davey's a huge hippo with purple skin and little blue toes." Randy said.
"Oh." Aurora said as her eyes went wide and her little mouth curved into an O-shape.
Paul laughed. "C'mon, pipsqueak, your Grampy's probably looking for you, already. He said he had a surprise for his Aurora." He said and took his daughter back from Randy. "Say bye-bye to Uncle Randy now."
"Bye, Unca 'andy." Aurora said and kissed Randy on the cheek. Father and daughter walked on to the chairman's office as Randy continued his walk to the locker room.
It wasn't long before he ran into another parent-daughter combination in the arena hallways. Trish and little Hillary were on their way to catering when they saw Randy walking all by lonesome. "Unca 'andy!" Hillary squealed and ran to her uncle's arms.
He crouched down and caught her in a tight hug. "Hey there, Ri-ri. How's this little princess doing?" he said and smiled.
"I'm okey-dokey! Momma an' I are gonna go eat san'wich at Caterin'. Wanna come wit' us?" Hillary replied and let out the toothy grin none of her aunts and uncles could turn down.
"Well, if it's okay with Mommy…" he replied and averted his eyes to Trish who nodded with a smile. "…I guess I'll be having sandwiches for lunch with you then!"
"Yay!" Hillary cheered. Then, she cupped her hands around her mouth and whispered into Randy's ear, "Ask Momma tuh' go get us ice cream."
Randy chuckled, "I'll see what I can do. But first you have to eat your sandwich, deal?"
"Deal!" she replied and locked pinkies with Randy.
"Come on, you two. I hear ham and cheese on wheat toast calling out to me already. Let's get to Catering before Dave finishes off all the good stuff." Trish said and laughed at the memory of The Animal finishing off all the sandwiches in Catering before anyone even got a crumb.
"Oh-kay!" Randy and Hillary said in chorus.
As they were making their way half-prancing to Catering, Randy was telling Hillary the same thing he told Aurora earlier. He was indoctrinating her on the fact that Dave was a huge purple hippo with blue toes. Hillary absorbed every single word her uncle was telling her and made a mental note to pat her Uncle Davey on the head when they see each other.
Trish got them each a Ham 'n' Cheese sandwich from the trays in catering. She grabbed two cans of Pepsi and a juice box from the drink stand, as well. Randy and Hillary were already sitting in one of the booths and were waiting for their lunch to come.
"Uncle 'andy, how was your date wit' Cinderella?" Hillary asked with gleaming eyes as Trish sat down beside her and eyed Randy. "Cinderella? Is there anything you're not telling me, Randy?" she asked.
He chuckled and replied, "Do you remember RC? The teacher slash lounge singer slash girl from the musical?"
"Yeah. What about her?" she asked as she cut Hillary's sandwich in half and placed it on her plate.
"Long story cut short: after I brought Hillary home from the playschool, I took her out on a date. The kids watched Cinderella that morning to they dubbed me as Prince Charming and her as Cinderella. So, there…" he explained then took a bite out of his sandwich. He had this goofy smile on his face which simply didn't match the half-chewed bread in his mouth.
"How di' i' gooooo?" Hillary pushed on and asked. Trish smiled at Randy's happiness.
"Well, it went so well that Cinderella said she'd go out with me again." He proclaimed and smiled. Little Hillary cheered on, almost spilling the contents of her juice box in the process.
They finished their sandwiches while Randy went into detail about the previous night with Trish. He told him everything that happened from the moment he picked her up a little too early at her house to the 30 second walk back to her front door. He couldn't help but feel a bit giddy.
Trish, on the other hand, could merely smile at the younger man. He was having the time of his life and he was rebuilding his heart. It felt good seeing him as happy as he was.
"Alright! Now that the sandwiches are gone, let's go get some ice cream!" Randy said as he swung Hillary on his back and jogged off to the ice cream stand at the far end of the room.
"RANDY! I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT ICE CREAM!" Trish screamed as she ran after them.
Randy's Hotel Room, Room 819.
11:48 PM.
Randy's frustration over having to lose the title to Dave tonight was not treating him well. He had put on a sour face from the moment he had been escorted from the ring to the second he closed his hotel room door. Hitching a ride back to the hotel with John was the smartest move he had done all day. Even if John was a chatterbox at heart, he understood how Randy felt and kept quiet.
Hoping he'd be able to find a listening ear, he grabbed his phone and dialed Raia's number. While it was ringing, he flopped down on the couch and silently prayed she would pick up.
"Hey there." She picked up. "I saw the show on PPV. I kind of thought you would call. How are you?"
"I've been better. Losing the title isn't the best feeling in the world. Vince said I wouldn't be able to hold onto some gold for quite sometime. This sucks." He replied bitterly and pursed his lips.
"It's not that bad, Randy. I'm sure there are silver linings to the situation." She said. Suddenly, there was a little cry in the background. "That's Tyler probably having a nightmare. Would you like me to call you later on or do you want to wait a few while I ask him what's wrong?"
"I'll wait. It's okay." He replied.
He could hear her going into the room and asking the little boy what was wrong. Tyler audibly hung onto Raia and complained about monsters under his bed. Randy remembered himself having the same fright back in the day. Then, you could hear Raia whispering little words of comfort and putting Tyler back in bed.
Hush, little baby, don't say a word…
He heard her sing a lullaby for the little boy. It reminded him of his own mom. Whenever he and his sister had a hard time sleeping, they'd run to their parents' room and she'd sing them to sleep. When their little brother stepped in, though, he and his sister had outgrown the lullaby.
Now, he remembered how it felt being sung to sleep. He felt sleepy just listening to her sing through the phone, but struggled to stay awake. He really wanted to talk to her. She seemed to make him feel better after a rough show.
…So, hush, little baby, don't you cry. Daddy loves you and so do I.
He heard her pick up the phone from the nightstand after hearing her kiss little Tyler goodnight. She shuffled out of the room and brought the phone back to her ear. "Still there?" she asked.
"Half-asleep, but I'll live." He joked and smiled, breaking his sour face reverie.
She chuckled and replied, "Little boys, insomnia and monsters under the bed."
"What's the little tyke doing there at your place, anyways? It was weird hearing you sing 'Daddy loves you and so do I' to him. It was like you were the mommy." He said and laughed. "You're getting old."
"Ha. Ha. His parents went to Maui for a business trip and couldn't bring him along. There was something about the company not wanting any kids on the trip. So, they left him with me for today. He'll be off to his grandma's tomorrow after school, though." She explained.
"I should get my folks to go on a second honeymoon and leave me with you." He flirted.
"Not working, Randy. Not working." She said with a smirk.
"I'm without title now anyways so I might as well grab a case of beer and while the night away." He said, his mood instantly shifting back to his sour state.
She sighed, "Look at it this way. If you're not the champion, you have more free time to do the things you didn't get to do. You could train more and be ready to get that title when you do get the chance, and, in broadway lingo, all the more you can be ready for the next big revival."
He laughed at the metaphor. "You know, you have a strange way of making me laugh when I don't want to. It kills me sometimes." He admitted.
"Don't go dying on me, though. Then I wouldn't have anyone else to kill." She joked.
"Hey, speaking of killing, are you free tomorrow?" he asked.
"Why, are we going to go rob a bank and kill someone? Mafia!" she said, getting a bit high.
"You're crazy. Did you know that?" he said and laughed at her reaction.
"Yeah, actually I do." She laughed. "So, what's up tomorrow?"
"I never got to watch Step Up 2: The Streets when it came out. Maybe if you had a few hours free on your watch, I could drop by your place with a DVD in tow." He asked with a little less stutter now.
"That's awesome! I've been dying to watch that, too!" she said, bringing a smile to Randy's face. "I have 2 PM to 6 PM free. I'll be coming from the playschool. 6 is rehearsal though."
"Great! I'll pick you up at the playschool at 2. I've got a houseshow afterwards, too, anyways." He said and smiled.
"Sure. Say, it's almost two in the morning. We'd better get some sleep. I have to be up in a few hours." She said politely. "I'll see you tomorrow, though, okay?"
"Tomorrow it is." He said and they bid their goodnights. Residing to their own beds, they fell asleep knowing that staying up this late was worth it.
It's two in the morning, girl.
What do you want to do?
So, this update took like too long to be posted and it's even a bit boring. It's been crazy around here, though, so update time is scarce. Final Touches will hopefully be updated soon. Thank you for your support!
SnowAngel2009 - always keep that writing spirit alive! You never know when inspiration will hit you.
sweetcandyfun - I'm sorry I haven't gotten so much time to actually write stuff. I think you know why? Please keep me away from MSG. Lola says it's bad. haha! Lola's girl. Thank you for the support!
-veracruzortongal
