Chapter 11 - One Week To Go
Ring ring! Ring ring! Ring ring! Ring….
"Oh my freakin' God!" Lita exclaimed as she finally retrieved her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans before sitting back down on the carpeted floor with her legs crossed.
"Prank call again?" Vikki inquired as she looked up at her best friend from the pile of T-shirts she was currently folding.
"Like clockwork they come every single freakin' day," Lita sighed as she flipped open her phone and checked the missed call "5pm every single day from this stupid unknown number and then wait for it…"
Lita held up her finger to pause both herself and Vikki before the silence was interrupted by the beeping of the red head's cell phone again.
"Followed by a stupid pointless message from this same unknown number," Lita continued as she pressed the buttons on her cell phone to open the message before turning it around so Vikki could view the small screen "With absolutely nothing in the message content except this stupid pointless star."
"Well, technically Li it's an asterisk," Vikki said with a smile.
Lita simply cocked an eyebrow at her friend.
"C'mon Li," Vikki continued before Lita could comment "I mean yeah I bet it's super annoying but other than that it's not really doing any harm right? Just a heap of messages, some prank phone call and some flowers to Heidi. I mean it's hardly something to be worried about. It's probably just some stupid kid trying to mess with you. He probably doesn't even know who you are. He just picked a random number and decided to mess with you because he's not getting laid and therefore has nothing better to do."
"Yeah but Randy's been getting the texts and the phone calls too Vik," Lita continued, contesting the point she was trying to make as she returned to the pair of jeans she was folding "His are less frequent, and therefore less annoying than mine, but still."
"Well yeah that's weird," Vikki admitted with a nod of her head "But like I said, the messages and phone calls aren't really doing any harm. The flowers also didn't do any harm. Yeah it was weird they were Heidi's favourite and all.."
"Yeah really weird!" Lita emphasized.
"But I mean kids can find out anything on the internet these days," Vikki continued, trying to prevent Lita from freaking out again over the issue of the mysterious asterisk "I mean it's not exactly like your family isn't known all around the world. There are some crazy fans out there Li, you should know that now. He's probably just some die hard Randy Orton or Lita fan."
"I guess," Lita shrugged, not being able to argue with what Vikki had said.
She had definitely had her fair share of run ins with crazy WWE fans over the years. Especially when the public had found out that her and Randy were dating for real outside the world of the WWE. There were death threats from Randy's female fans, there were stalkers outside her and Randy's house, there were people waiting in the arena parking lots trying to nab a photo of her all because she was dating Randy Orton. Thankfully it all ended when the public found out that she and Randy were expecting Heidi Maree Orton. It was one thing to make death threats to a woman who was dating your celebrity crush, but when she was carrying his baby? Yeah, it all stopped after that. It was funny, but after that incident and especially after retiring from wrestling, Lita had almost completely forgotten about the craziness that comes from being a 'celebrity', or at least just someone in the public eye. It had been a really long time since she'd had to deal with fans. Thank you isolated, couldn't care less Louisville, Kentucky.
"I guess that does make sense," Lita inquired, rolling her eyes at Vikki's explanation "And why did you just assume it was a 'he' and not a 'she'?"
"Because a 'she' would have come up with a much better way to mess with you my dear," Vikki replied with a smile and wink in Lita's direction "What does Randy think about all this?"
"Much the same as you apparently," Lita answered "He did say that I should contact my cell provider to try and track the call and get the number blocked though."
"Which is a very good idea my friend," Vikki replied "Then you wouldn't have to deal with the phone calls and the messages anymore. How come you haven't done that yet?"
"I don't know," Lita shrugged "I guess I never got around to it."
"Well, you should definitely do it as soon as you find some time Li, so at least you can put your mind at ease and not have to worry about it anymore," Vikki continued before her eyes once again scanned the room they were currently sitting in the middle of "So explain to me again why you and your daughter are, well in your words 'packing' and in my words 'completely trashing the hell out of your house'."
Lita laughed as she looked around the room at the carnage. Lita and Heidi had tried to make their packing systematic this time and instead of leaving lots of little junk piles of stuff to be packed in various rooms around their Louisville home, they decided to make one big junk pile in the centre of the house. The living room where Vikki and Lita were currently situated. Vikki had been helping her pack all day. Well, really Vikki had been helping her sort out the junk piles and try to fit as much as possible in a regular sized suitcase.
"Well seeing as Heidi and I are joining Randy on the room this whole year we decided to start it all off with spending the entire summer on the road," Lita explained.
"You do realize that you can come back to your house within the next 12 months though right?" Vikki asked, looking at her friend like she was utterly out of her mind.
"Yes I realize that," Lita replied with a shake of her head "Heidi and I just decided it would be nice to just actually live on the road for a while with Randy. I mean it's only going to be for the summer starting with Mania and then we'll be normal people."
"My dear," Vikki commented as she reached out and touched Lita's knee "You and that daughter of yours will never be normal."
"I heard that!" Heidi exclaimed as she suddenly entered the room trying to carry a very large cardboard box above her head.
"Will never ever be normal," Vikki commented with a shake of her head.
"Heidi!" Lita exclaimed as she caught sight of the very large box.
"Mom!" Heidi exclaimed teasingly back at her mother as she placed the box on an empty space of carpet on the floor, before resting her hands on her hips to admire the state of the room.
"Are you planning on travelling with a cargo ship Li?" Vikki asked with a smile.
"Well I wasn't but apparently Heidi had a couple of cargo ships in mind," Lita replied as she cocked an eyebrow at her daughter "Are you planning on taking both the cars in the driveway to transport your stuff to the arena sweetheart or shall I call a removalist?"
"It's not even that much stuff Mom," Heidi replied nonchalantly as she waved a hand at her mother "Just the necessities."
"And when exactly did 6 handbags become a necessity my dear?" Vikki inquired with a small laugh as she pulled herself up onto her knees to peer inside Heidi's box.
"I have very very nice handbags thank you very much Vikki," Heidi said, defending her box "And I just couldn't decide between all 6 of them."
Lita exhaled a deep breath as she also brought herself to her knees and peered inside Heidi's box before she turned to face Vikki.
"Hey, don't look at me Red," Vikki said, throwing her hands in the air "Your daughter. Your handbag problems."
"Heidi if you're planning on actually making it to RAW tonight you had better get your butt in check because we are leaving in 1 hour," Lita explained to her daughter as she finally locked eyes with Heidi's baby blues "And by the looks of this room I'd say you still have a hell of a lot of work to do."
"Is it 5pm already?" Heidi exclaimed with wide eyes as she glanced down at her watch and gasped, "Fuck!"
"Language," Lita warned as she glared at Heidi.
"Children these days," Vikki said mocking her best friend.
"Shut up Vik," Lita said without even looking at Vikki, but rolling her eyes instead.
Heidi couldn't help but let a small giggle escape her lips.
"And you," Lita said pointing at Heidi "Go upstairs and get your suitcase and hurry up and pack. You've got 1 hour."
"Mom, half the stuff in this room is yours," Heidi stated.
"Nice try but I don't remember wanting to pack 7 pairs of jeans and 8 pairs of knee high boots," Lita replied with a smirk at her daughter "1 hour!"
"Otherwise me and Mom are leaving without you," Vikki replied with a smile.
"I have a good mind to leave both of you here," Lita replied as she turned to face her friend.
"Ha ha," Vikki replied sarcastically.
"Mommy can I please borrow your blue suitcase?" Heidi suddenly interrupted.
Lita turned to look at her daughter who had the puppy dog eyes out already.
"Heidi you have like 5 suitcases in your wardrobe!" Lita exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah but your blue suitcase is the nicest," Heidi explained, her voice getting all high and whiny "And it's so sturdy and durable, so you know it's not going to break while we're travelling."
Lita rolled her eyes and turned to face Vikki.
"See what I have to deal with?" Lita asked, pointing to her daughter.
"Don't you talk to me about whiny daughters," Vikki replied.
"Hey!" Heidi exclaimed in her own defense.
"How else do you think my newly 16 year old Maggie managed to get Christian to let her and her girlfriends head up to the Hamptons for the start of summer vacation?" Vikki continued, both she and Lita completely ignoring Heidi's defensive outburst.
"Ouch!" Lita replied as she winced "Pricy?"
"Not for Maggie no," Vikki replied "All expenses paid courtesy of the Bank Of Daddy."
Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
"I got it!" Heidi exclaimed, before either Lita or Vikki could even register that the doorbell was ringing.
Before Lita could even say another word, Heidi had already started her run to the front door.
"Heidi you need to go upstairs and pack!" Lita called after her daughter "You only have 1 hour you know!"
"She ain't listening Mommy," Vikki replied with a smirk in Lita's direction.
"Why are you even here?" Lita asked as she raised both her eyebrows at her best friend.
"Because I'm the only friend you have that would actually let you subject her to such packing torture," Vikki replied as she handed over the pile of folded T-shirts to Lita "Which pretty much means that I'm the only friend you have without a brain."
Lita just laughed in response as she accepted the T-shirts and placed them in the black suitcase sitting next to her than was thankfully almost full and ready.
"It's a package for me!" Heidi exclaimed excitedly as she finally make her way back into the living room with a happy skip in her step.
"From who?" Vikki asked, turning her attention towards Heidi "Because that is a super nice looking package."
Heidi was currently carrying a very large shallow white box. There was a large black silk ribbon tied around it and secured in a large black row right on the top and centre of the box. It was a pretty fancy looking package.
"There's no note on it," Heidi commented as she flipped her box 360 degrees to get a good look for a note of some kind "No note on it anywhere."
"Who delivered it?" Lita inquired, growing a little suspicious about the box her daughter was currently carrying.
"A guy from that dress shop at the mall," Heidi explained as she started undoing the large black bow on the box "He was wearing his cute little red uniform and he was driving the shop's little red van….Oooo! Maybe it's a dress then?"
"A dress from a dress shop? Are you sure Heidi?" Vikki exclaimed sarcastically.
Heidi shot Vikki a pouty glare before her eyes returned to the box in her hands.
"Maybe it's a dress for Mania! Oo… I'm going to go and try it on! I can't wait to see what it looks like!" Heidi exclaimed before running upstairs clutching the box to her chest.
"Did you buy her a dress?" Vikki turned to ask Lita in a hushed whisper, assuming that this was a surprise present courtesy of Heidi's mother.
"No," Lita said shaking her head "And I'm pretty sure Randy didn't either."
"Maybe one of the divas?" Vikki suggested.
"I doubt that any of the divas is that generous or thoughtful especially when they're all still stressing over what dress they're going to wear for Mania," Lita replied "And Heidi already chose that red dress remember?"
"The short one shouldered red dress?" Vikki asked, recalling The Great Dress Parade in the divas locker room not too long ago in search of the perfect dress for Heidi's Wrestlemania debut.
"The same one," Lita replied with a nod "Dawn wasn't happy with the choice but settled with the fact Heidi asked her to go shopping for some shoes to match the dress."
"That daughter of yours is smarter than I thought," Vikki commented.
"Even smarter that she managed to wrangle Randy into giving her his credit card for the trip," Lita said with a small smile.
"Genius," Vikki nodded "Now why didn't I think of Christian's credit card when I went shoe shopping for Mania?"
"You went shoe shopping for Mania without me?" Lita gasped.
"Oh shut up you," Vikki said rolling her eyes "I couldn't get you near a shoe shop unless the shoes were made out of food."
"If you could find me a shoe store where all the shoes were made out of ice-cream right now I would go shoe shopping with all the divas for Mania," Lita laughed.
"How do I look in this fabulous dress?" Heidi Maree suddenly exclaimed from the top of the staircase, drawing Lita and Vikki's eyes to her.
Lita's breath hitched in her throat but it wasn't because of how beautiful her daughter looked. Heidi look exceptionally stunning in pretty much anything she wore. It was a known fact and Lita now knew it all too well so it didn't really surprise her anymore. Lita's breath hitched, in fact, at the sight of the dress Heidi was wearing.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing Li?" Vikki asked, her voice hushed and actually a little shaky.
She could see it too. Lita had been hoping she was seeing things. That she was drawing a comparison when there really wasn't any there at all.
"It's not my…," Lita started, her voice hushed also, her eyes never leaving the dress.
"No, but it's exactly the same," Vikki interrupted, knowing exactly what Lita was going to say, "Only it's black."
It was exactly the same as the dress that Lita had worn 17 years ago when she had married the love of her life, Randy Orton. The top half of the dress was strapless just like Lita's wedding dress. It fitted Heidi's flawless figure like glove with it's corset style bodice, just like Lita's wedding dress had fit her 17 years ago. At the hip line the dress simply flared out and touched the floor, brushing the carpet around her daughter as she spun around on the spot for Vikki and Lita to get a good look at the dress. The light caught each and every one of the diamonds encrusted into the dress's bodice, just like when Lita had walked down the aisle 17 years old in Fort Lauderdale on the New River. Vikki was right. The only difference between Lita's wedding dress and the dress Heidi was currently in was that Heidi's was black.
"It's identical to mine," Lita gasped, still whispering as she exhaled a sharp breath that she hadn't even realized she was holding in as her eyes fixed on the dress.
"Well, what do you guys think?" Heidi asked again, a wide smile on her face as she once again twirled on the spot "It's such a beautiful dress. I just love the cut and it fits really well. Is this your doing Mom? Cause I know that Dad would have never been able to get my size exactly right, and how many other people know that I'm a 3 and ½?"
Lita didn't reply to her daughter's questions. Her eyes were locked in a stare on the dress. A million things were running through her mind but she couldn't make sense of any of them. This didn't make sense. The dress just showing up didn't make sense. The fact that it was that dress, just in black, didn't make sense. It was actually freaking her out.
"Heids was there anything inside the box that said who the dress was from?" Vikki asked, breaking the silence.
"Mom are you OK?" Heidi asked her mother as she finally noticed the blank stare on Lita's face.
Lita shook herself out of her thoughts.
"Yeah I'm fine," Lita quickly brushed off.
"So, the dress isn't from you or Dad?" Heidi asked, a look of confusion on her face.
Lita simply shook her head as she finally looked her daughter in the eye.
"Dad and I didn't buy you that dress Heidi," Lita replied, a vacant expression on her face.
"Was there anything else inside the box?" Vikki said repeating her question.
"Oh, there was a little tag ontop of the dress when I opened the box," Heidi suddenly remembered as she dashed back into her room around the corner to retrieve it "But I mean there wasn't really much on it."
"What do you mean?" Vikki asked, confused by what Heidi meant, "What was on it?"
"Well, actually do you remember when we were having that dress party in the divas locker room a little while back trying to find me a dress for Mania?" Heidi called, whilst still searching her room for the tag she was referring to.
"Yeah," Vikki replied, calling out to Heidi up the stairs.
"Well," Heidi continued as she finally emerged back into view at the top of the stairs "It's exactly like that."
"What do you mean?" Vikki asked, still confused as to what Heidi was actually talking about.
"Exactly that," Heidi replied "It's got no writing at all on the tag except a little star thing."
"A star or an asterisk?" Lita asked, her eyes suddenly growing wide at what was being uncovered.
"An asterisk," Heidi confirmed "Asterisk. That was the word I was looking for."
1 hour later…
"Li, you should tell Randy," Vikki said for what seemed like the millionth time as they sat in Lita's car waiting for Heidi to finish getting ready to head to the arena.
Lita sighed.
"Vik I can't," Lita replied as she placed her hands on the steering wheel infront of her and then turned her head to face her best friend "Not with Mania a week away. He's one week away from the biggest match of his career. He's one week away from a headlining match at Wrestlemania."
"I don't exactly think he'll mind Li," Vikki sighed "Scrap everything I said earlier about the asterisk star thing. This is getting weird now. I mean yeah the daffodils were a little freaky and the prank calls and texts are super annoying but back there with the dress?"
"I know about the dress Vik," Lita sighed as her eyes wandered to what she could see through the windscreen. The beautiful house she shared with the man and the daughter she loved more than the world "But what if that's nothing too and I risk telling Randy and then stressing him out and worrying him before Mania for absolutely nothing?"
"The dress was identical, Li," Vikki emphasized "Identical in every single way to the dress you wore on your wedding day."
"I know Vik," Lita sighed.
"Don't you classify that as getting a little beyond freaky and stalkerish?" Vikki asked "This is getting scary Li and you need to let Randy know before something even scarier happens."
"You're right," Lita nodded "You're absolutely right."
Lita sighed again as she turned to face her friend.
"You're right," Lita repeated "This is getting beyond freaky and stalkerish, but I can't do this to Randy right now."
"Li….," Vikki sighed.
"I'll tell him straight after Mania," Lita interrupted her friend before she could say anything else "The moment Mania is over I'll tell him all about the dress. I promise I will, but for right now I don't want to distract him."
Vikki sighed as she looked at Li before finally nodding in agreement.
"Fine," Vikki said forcing a small smile "Tell him straight after Mania then."
"And you won't tell anyone about this right?" Lita continued, "I don't want word to get back to Randy. I want to be the one to tell him and I'll tell him after Mania."
Vikki held her tongue for a moment before she finally nodded in agreement once more.
"Fine," Vikki repeated, "I won't tell anyone until after Mania is done, especially not Randy or my big mouthed husband."
Lita smiled at her friend's last remark.
"Thanks," Lita replied.
"OK whatever," Vikki said rolling her eyes "Now where the hell is that daughter of yours cause we are going to miss the entire show at this rate."
A/N: Hey guys! I got this chapter finished as soon as I possibly could! Hope you guys liked it - there was and there wasn't a lot happening in this chapter. It was almost a filler but there were a lot of important things that were happening which I hope you all were paying attention to because things are about to get really interesting from here on in. Look out for the next couple of chapters – one chapter that I decided to split into two parts: Chapter 12 – The Biggest Tragedy On The Biggest Stage Of Them All PART 1 & PART 2. These are the chapters I have been dying to write so I am super excited that I have finally reached them! Hope you all are still enjoying this fanfic and if you are (or if you aren't) please READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! I am dying to know what you think of the story now that it's just in the early goings! PLEASE READY AND REVIEW! And until next time, God Bless, Mrs Bridget Orton xoxo