Lita sighed at the scene she had been witnessing for the last half hour. Trish was in a complete panic even after Lita, her other bridesmaids, and mother tried to reassure her that everything was fine, but fine wasn't good enough for her because it had to be perfect. It wasn't that she was getting cold feet, she was more worried about how the wedding would go than she was about the actual marriage. The blonde knew Randy was the one for her and was pretty confident the marriage would work out, but her feelings about the wedding was a whole different story. She claimed she spent so much time and effort in the planning that she would be so upset and not able to enjoy her own wedding if it wasn't perfect.
Lita rolled her eyes and walked over to Trish when she decided she finally had enough. She knew this was Trish's day, but she was really getting on her nerves and she knew she wasn't the only one feeling that way. Even the bride's mother told her she needed to stop being a drama queen. The redhead, along with everyone else, was glad the wedding was today because that meant Trish would finally stop being such a bridezilla.
"Listen to me," Lita began to say when she was standing in front of Trish who glanced at her maid-of-honor for a moment before continuing to verbally express how angry she would be if something went wrong. "Hey," she said snapping her fingers in front of Trish. "I'm over here. Stop talking, look at me, and listen to me."
Trish did as she was told and she looked very anxious and even a little irritated.
"Take a deep breath. Breathe in, breathe out." Trish listened to the instructions Lita was giving to her and repeating while everyone else present in the room was glad it seemed to be working.
Lita continued once she felt like Trish had calmed down some and was actually going to listen to what she had to say. "You look so beautiful. Your dress is gorgeous. Your hair is flawless. Your makeup, your jewlery, everything looks amazing. As for everything out there," she pointed near the area a few feet away where the wedding would be taking place in a few minutes, "that is perfect too. I saw how hard you worked for this day to be the best from when you picked out this venue, the theme, the flowers, every thing. Every little detail looks amazing. You did great. You did the best. Your hard work paid off. All you can do now is calm down and take my word for it that this will be a pretty damn great wedding and have fun. It's your day after all."
"You forgot the dance," was the first thing Trish thought about and expressed when Lita was finished with her mini speech. "Is that not going to be perfect?"
Lita was torn between laughing at that comment she should have known was coming and groaning because she was also frustrated at the same time. She did neither.
"That falls under every little detail, sweetie." Trish was about to say more, but Lita spoke before she could. "No," she shook her head. "Clear out your head and breathe. Don't think about anything except for, maybe, you know that man out there you're about to he's not perfect, not by a long shot and he has problems. I mean, he even..." Lita trailed off when she saw the frown on Trish's face. "We all have problems," she quickly said before changing the subject. "I promise you that everything is going to be wonderful. You can kill me or whatever else you want if it's not what you dreamt of."
"Maybe I'll punch you, I can't kill you because then I'll get stuck with a kid when I just got married," Trish joked, "I don't want that."
Lita said nothing for a moment, merely staring at the bride instead before she finally spoke up. "Glad you're feeling better."
"That is why you're my maid-of-honor," Trish said as she ignored her friends remark. "You're right. I did a great job. I did the best. I'm not going to worry about that any longer. Everything looks perfect out there. Everything is going to be amazing. This is my wedding, damn it! And I'm going to enjoy it and not stress!"
"I think I speak for every one when I say thank you Lita," Chelsea started to say which made Trish and Lita turn their attention to her. "Trish," she said focusing her attention to the blonde, "I was so close to hitting you upside your head. I am so happy this whole thing is coming to an end." The three continued with a conversation which was why they missed it when someone opened the door.
"Wow," John said from his spot in the doorway when he opened the door slightly so he could tell the women the ceremony was about to begin.
Dawn seemed to be the only one who heard John and became aware of his presence. She was about to ask him what he wanted, but before she could do that, she noticed that he looked captivated by something, or more accurately, someone. She followed his gaze and saw he was staring at his ex-girlfriend. The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head at his behavior.
"John, is there something you need?" Dawn asked after she looked back at John who finally snapped out of it. Everyone else turned to see who Dawn was talking to and that's when they all realized he was there.
"Um, yea," John said while trying to get his thoughts together. He was trying his best not to go back to staring at Lita who Dawn observed was now doing the staring. "I just wanted to give you all a heads up that the ceremony is about to being in... I guess it's three minutes now."
"Great. You can leave now."
John was taken aback by Dawns sudden attitude. She looked very impatient and annoyed and he was almost positive her attitude was directed towards him. "Um. Okay." He tried his hardest not to glance at Lita, but failed with the attempt. Their eyes met for a quick moment before the redheaded woman quickly looked away from him. He shook his head before turning around and leaving.
Dawn didn't miss any of the silent interaction between the former couple. She knew it wasn't any of her business, but she did not like this one bit at all especially after what Lita admitted to her the day before. She didn't know what was going on with those two, all she knew was that this could potentially turn into a bad situation with her friend ending up with the short end of the stick once again.
Mickie sat around waiting for the ceremony to commence just like the other guests. She was impatiently waiting for the beginning so it could end which meant she wouldn't have to see Lita any more or worry about John being around his ex-girlfriend who, she now knew for sure after confirmation from the redhead herself, was the mother of his child. She was so pissed off during her whole conversation with Lita, but she couldn't stop thinking how this was something else that she would be keeping from John which had the potential to end their marriage. So now there were two secrets she was going to make sure went to the grave with her. Mickie was going to make sure John never found out the truth about Anthony and never found out something she was keeping from him for months now. It would not be good for her if he found out either of the two pieces of information.
The former diva shook the thoughts out of her head as she looked around the area. Mickie thought everything looked nice even though the theme wasn't something she would consider, but she liked the under the stars vibe going. It worked well.
It wasn't long until the ceremony finally began with the procession starting. Mickie knew she was biased, but she didn't care, she thought John looked the best. Soon enough, Lita came into view and Mickie rolled her eyes and looked away when that wasn't something she wanted to see. She decided her husband was a better view than that horrible excuse of a woman. Asshole, Mickie thought to herself when she saw the best-man was legitimately staring at the maid-of-honor. His gaze never left the redhead, not even for a quick moment until the groom nudged him when he noticed Mickie was glaring at his friend and looked very angry and he saw why.
Mickie glared at both John, who sent her a smile after he came back to reality, and Lita, who was pretty oblivious by what was going on, before she looked back at the aisle. Anthony, who was the ring-bearer, came into view and she had to admit he looked very adorable. Mickie thought it was a good thing for the little boy he looked more like his father than he did his mother because then, he would have image issues. It was a shame about that red hair though.
The brunette did feel a little bad when she thought about how mean she had been acting towards Anthony. She knew it wasn't Anthony's fault he was a result of a night of infidelity, but for her, he would always be a symbol of that night. He would be a symbol of the night her husband cheated on her with her ex and that was when all sympathy left. She knew it wasn't his fault, but he was a huge reminder and just got angry every time she thought about it especially with it being confirmed yesterday.
The pregnant woman realized she had zoned out completely on the entire ceremony when she heard clapping and cheering around her. She looked up at saw how happy the newlyweds looked. They better hope some whore doesn't meddle in their marriage, Mickie thought to herself while looking at Lita with pure disgust.
She became even more furious when the couples first dance turned into that planned dance with the bridal party. She noticed that both John and Lita looked very awkward with one another at first, but then they got over it and then started to laugh and smile and looked like they were having fun. She had a feeling something had to have happened for them to suddenly act uncomfortable with one another even if it was for a couple of minutes when they were okay with each other the last couple of days she saw them interact. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what that was about.
"Thanks for not breaking my foot," Lita joked right after the group dance was done with. "You only stepped on my feet like five times. Good job."
John rolled his eyes. "You stepped on mine too so I guess I should thank you for not breaking my foot either."
"At least you didn't knock me down this time," Lita said as she ignored his statement.
"Hey, you were not innocent in that either. If your feet weren't in the way, then I wouldn't have fell and knocked you over."
"If my feet weren't in the way? You sound stupid. Own up, Cena. Hundred percent your fault." John was about to reply to that, but someone else spoke up before he could.
"As much as I hate to interrupt," Dawn said as she did just that and the two looked over to see she was now standing right next to them and loooong right at the man. "But I need to borrow John for a second," she said glancing between the two and then focusing her attention back on John. "I need to talk to you. Shall we?" She didn't wait for him to respond as she took a hold of his arm and began to drag him away. Lita had an inkling she knew what that was about. She didn't have time to think about that when Chelsea and Victoria came over and started to talk to her.
"Leave her alone," Dawn said once her and John were away from everyone else on one side of the room.
"What are you talking about?" John asked in confusion.
Dawn rolled her eyes. He couldn't be this dumb, could he? "Lita. I'm talking about Lita. She told me what happened yesterday." John winced at that because he was trying to forget about that and now someone other than him and Lita knew about it. "And she seemed to be pretty messed up because of that."
"I don't know what's going on in that mind of yours and usually I wouldn't care, but I will not let you mess with my best-friends head. I don't know what the hell is going on in that head of hers either. It's a very confusing puzzle up there, but I know enough which is why I'm asking you to back off and leave her alone."
"Nothing is going on," was all John said before Dawn cut him off and resumed.
"You're married for crying out loud. Does that mean nothing to you? You have a wife, who is seven months pregnant by the way if you forgot about that. I don't know where your feelings for Li stand and please don't tell me because I think it's better for me not to know. I can tell your marriage with Mickie is a little on the screwy side, so don't bring my friend into it."
"You're probably feeling mixed emotions and confused about a lot lately and that's okay because we all go through that. That's what life is. But that doesn't mean you can take my friend down with you. Just... She's..." Dawn trailed off and shook her head before looking away from John.
The brunette woman sighed before looking back at the man and continuing. "If you want to be friends with Li, then go ahead and be friends. But just keep it at that, please. Don't send her any mixed signals. Don't do something stupid like kissing her again. And if she's the one sending you mixed signals or whatever else, then back off, create some space. She's already so conflicted about..." She trailed off and shook her head once again when she realized she could possibly have revealed what Lita told her about being confused of how she felt about John. Dawn knew Lita was still playing around with the idea of telling John about Anthony being his son even though she kept saying she wasn't going to.
"Just keep it as friends and if you don't think you can do that, then you two should just go back to pretending the other doesn't exist. Save yourselves from drama. Mickie doesn't deserve any of this either nor do your daughter and son. Children can very easily be brought into their parents mess."
"My what?" John asked very puzzled at the last word that left Dawn's mouth.
Damn it. Dawn tried to hide the grimace from showing on her face when she became aware of what she just said. "Your daughter or son," she quickly said hoping he would buy that.
"You know we're having a girl."
Dawn shrugged. "I guess I forgot. That's not the point. Just don't do anything foolish." She left before John could say anything to her. That was a close call. She felt John and Anthony had every right to know about each other and have a relationship which was why she hoped Lita would tell him the truth. But, at the same time, she knew how much of a mess the truth coming out could be.
"You need take a picture of Anthony and John together," was the first thing Dawn heard when she rejoined Lita who was currently talking with Chelsea. Victoria left the two not long ago. "I saw them together earlier and they look so cute. You can tell they're father and son."
"What?" Both Dawn and Lita asked in surprise with the latter continuing. "What are you talking about? Why would you say that?"
"Oh," Chelsea said when she realized what just left her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud and no one seems to be listening to us," she said as she looked around them and found that to be true. She saw how shocked the two in front of her were. "I don't remember who, but one of you let it slip at the spa when you were all drunk and everyone else confirmed it and... I won't tell anyone, I promise. It's none of my business. I was just saying how sweet they look. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up." With that said, she left.
"I guess that makes two who now know," Lita said as she watched Chelsea disappear to another spot in the area.
"Someone else knows?" Dawn asked which caused Lita to turn her attention to her friend. "Who else knows? What are you... Oh no," she shook her head when it all came to her. "Mickie." That was more of a statement than it was a question. Lita simply nodded. "That's why she looks like she wants to kill you even more now."
Lita nodded before looking around to make sure no one was near them to hear what she was about to say. She told Dawn about her conversation with Mickie the evening before.
"Well, at least the two who know are willing to keep your secret safe," Dawn said after she took in all Lita just told her. "I still think you should tell him."
Lita rolled her eyes. "I still don't care," she said as she turned her focus from Dawn to the rest of the area. That's when she spotted John and Anthony with one another. The little boy was smiling and laughing and looked very happy with his father. "But maybe you're right." She couldn't help but to feel guilty whenever she saw the two together and saw how well they got along and how close they seemed for only knowing one another for a short period of time.
"So what did you need to talk to him about?" Lita asked as she tore her gaze away from the father-son duo. Dawn told her the truth. "You weren't a bitch, were you?"
"Not totally. I know it's none of my business, but you're my best-friend and I don't want to see you get hurt again."
Lite let out a tired sigh as she looked back to where John and Anthony still were. "I know."
John decided he needed a break from the wedding inside which was why he stepped outside for some fresh air. He was surprised when he saw someone else out there who looked to be in deep thought about something.
"I guess you needed a break to, huh?" John said when he approached the Lita who jumped a little at the sudden interruption.
"Yea," Lita answered when she looked back at the view in front of them after she saw one of the people consuming her thoughts was now standing right next to her. "It's kind of like a mini reunion in there and everyone is like, 'oh my God Lita. I didn't know you had a son. You didn't seem like the mother type. When did this happen?' and some other stupid shit I don't feel like dealing with."
"I guess you should have known that was coming."
"I guess, but it's still annoying."
"I bet."
It fell into silence between the two for a while with Lita arguing with herself once again whether or not she should tell John the truth. If she was ever to tell him the truth, then it would be better to tell him in person rather than over the phone and she didn't know when the next time- if there was a next time in the first place- they would be face to face again. Maybe telling him at the wedding was a horrible idea, but then again, maybe he wouldn't lash out on her that much since they were in public. Yea, she was definitely a coward.
Lita looked up at John who looked at her at the same time. She took a deep breath before she spoke. "I need to... There's something you should... I..."
"What's wrong?" John asked with concern present on his face and voice. "You okay?"
"It was great getting to talk to you again," Lita said as she chickened out. "You know after the whole initial awkwardness and what not. I'm glad we actually talked like normal and it was nice just, you know, catching up." It's better if he doesn't know and this is hardly the place to tell him. Idiot.
John nodded in agreement. "It was. We were friends before too, I don't understand why we can't be even now."
Because it's complicated you big dummy, Lita thought to herself but said nothing as he continued.
"I would like to stay in touch with you if you wouldn't be opposed to that. Plus, Anthony is a great kid. I know it's weird because I haven't known him for long, but I just feel this connection with him. I would like to see him again if you wouldn't mind. What do you say?" Lita said nothing so John spoke up with a smile present on his face. "I am his Uncle John after all and I do think he likes me better than he likes Randy."
No you're not you dummy! You're his dad! Lita wanted to say no because she knew it was a terrible idea, but he just had to bring up Anthony who she knew would possibly bug her about John when they were back home. The redhead simply nodded in response because she didn't feel like she could say anything at the moment.
"Great," John smiled. "Your flight is at midnight right?"
Lita nodded once again. "It seemed like a good idea at that time. Now I'm regretting it. Anthony is going to be so cranky. I knew I should have taken Trish up on her offer of staying at the house even though her and Randy won't be there. But I just wanna go home too."
"I understand. Mickie was the same way which is why ours is pretty late too and not tomorrow."
It became quiet between the two once again before Lita spoke. "I think the reception is about to end pretty soon so we should go inside." She left before John could reply to that.
John watched as she walked off and the conversation he had with Dawn earlier began to replay in his mind. Maybe it wasn't possible to be just friends with his ex, but he was going to try because he did miss her. The last two weeks just reminded him of their time spent together years ago and everything he loved about her. Yea, he was in trouble.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Special thanks to Kay (welcome to the dark side if this is the same Kay, lol), my time is now, G, Sonib89, Guest(s), therealchamps, and Wolfgirl2013. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)
I understand some of y'all thinking Lita just let Mickie say whatever she wanted about Anthony and I know it's just a story, but I was not about to have her hit a pregnant woman. I save that kind of wickedness for the evil characters. Even Mickie wouldn't have done that if Lita were the pregnant one because she's just supposed to be sort of a biatch, not evil.