As Phil, Kelly and I got out of a cab and into the car rental dealership; Phil went up to the desk and talked to the person behind the desk. Kelly looked outside, "Wow this rain is crazy." She said looking out the window as thunder started to rumble lightly. Phil walked back over and his cell phone began to play his theme song. He put the phone to his ear and walked away again. "I love weather like this, it's so unpredictable." I said almost in a whisper as I stared out the window as well.
Phil walked back over, "Hey guys that was Matt on the phone, we are going to check in to the hotel and chill awhile, the house show has been cancelled because of the rain." He said looking a bit disappointed. I sighed, I was really disappointed, I just got into the ring the other day and I was itching to get back into it. Phil twirled the keys on his index finger and looked at us. "So are we going to make a run for it?" I laughed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah man definitely." We ran to the door and he looked outside before we ran. "Ok guys it's that big dark green one right there." He said pointing across the way. We opened the door and ran for it.
As we ran through the rain I couldn't help but smile. The people that I watch on TV every week are actually the people I work with now. I was enjoying every minute of this. Phil unlocked the driver's seat and leaped up into the driver's seat. "Open the door Phil." She begged. He laughed as he attempted to unlock it and after a few seconds he did. She jumped up into the passenger's seat and I got in the back seat. Phil started the van. "Damn, I hope I can get to the hotel in this weather." We pulled out of the airport and onto the highway. I tried to look out the window but it was raining so hard you could hardly see the yellow lines on the road. "Still like this weather Tim." Barbara laughed to me. I nodded excitedly, "Yeah this is awesome!" I screamed over the rain pounding against the roof of the van. Phil was nervous about driving in such a hellacious storm. He was looking directly at the road and I could almost see his heart beating through his T-Shirt. After a few minutes of silence, we pulled into a very wet and thankfully very empty hotel. "There's Matt's rental car, Barbara pointed out and the van pulled to a haul. We each got out simultaneously and bolted toward the door. Barbara got there first, and Phil and I ran to the door at the same time, like something you'd see in a three stooge's movie.
I ended up letting him get in first and I sighed. "Hey guys about time you got here." I heard Matt call as he walked down the large stairway. He met up with us and looked at the expression on Phil's' face. "I see you were a bit nervous, driving in the storm." He looked shocked. "What no way, I wasn't nervous." Barbara and I both scuffed, "Anyway, guys a lot of the guys are getting situated…Where are the bags?" he asked confused. I rubbed my eyes laughing at the irony here. "Oh man you've got to be kidding me." Barbara scowled. "Don't worry Barbara Tim and I will get the bags. " I nodded agreeing with Phil. We rushed outside and opened the trunk of the van; I got my bags and Barbara's bags. The wind was howling like a wolf at the moon... Phil got his bags and slammed the trunk closed. We hauled everything into the Hotel lobby; we dropped them on the floor in exhaustion. I don't know if it was the extra baggage or trying to escape the downpour but we were exhausted. "Thanks guys." Barbara said cheerfully picking up her bag and walking up the stairs with a key.
"Yo, Tim your rooming with me man." Matt said throwing me a key. I caught it and nodded rescuing my bags from the floor. Matt led the way up the stairs to drop my stuff off. "Hey, when you drop your stuff off we're going to probably chill in the lobby and later get some grub, you in?" he said getting to the conclusion of the stairway. I nodded approvingly, we walked into the room and I tossed my bags in the corner with little to no force. I looked out the window at a tree, which looked like it was going to snap in half by the wind. Something about it made me think of Jen and Cliff, I wondered if they would ever forgive me for lying to them. I hoped that they would forgive me someday but if they didn't, I wouldn't have blamed them. I reached in my pocket and put my cell phone on. I sat on the bed and dialed Jens cell phone.
"Hello" I heard from an out of breath Jen. "Hey" I said clearing my throat. "I'm so glad you called again. How's the WWE?" I felt a wave of shock run through my spine. I thought I heard her wrong. No way could she of said that. "What?" I managed to get out. "Jason and Jasmine saw you jump the railing and stuff at there Philly event. "They were there?" I said shocked that I didn't think that they would be there. "Yeah and they said that if it were fake they would've brought you through the crowd not up the ramp." She said almost coy. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but you have to make them swear they aren't going to tell anyone." I said scared. "Don't worry I already did. See I know you better then you know yourself." I sighed a sigh of relief. Thankfully I knew I could trust her. "So I heard my dad questioned you." I said leaning back on the bed. "Yeah but I cried and said I didn't know where you were and stuff." I laughed when she said that. "Wow you're good." I said impressed. "So what happened?" she asked curious. "I got knocked out in a back ally by a few fans and they checked and made sure I wasn't dead and I got talking to them and we clicked. " I explained I couldn't even believe it myself. "Who, Who did you talk to." She blurted out anxiously. I laughed slightly. "Well I've talked to a lot of them, you don't watch wrestling you wouldn't know any of them but tell Jason and Jasmine that I met Vince McMahon and that me, Matt Hardy and Phil Brooks AKA CM Punk have become friends." I said in a single breath, I could hardly contain myself. "So any girls there you like?" she asked me in a quiet tone, "I smiled thinking of Barbara. "Yeah there's one that I'm kind of into but I doubt anything will happen," I said a bit disappointed. "Oh" she said in a much upper tone. "I looked at the door and heard the guys downstairs. "Hey I'll talk to ya later sweetness, let the guys know I'm ok but only them." She agreed and we hung up.
I then walked downstairs as the thunder rumbled loudly and a flash of lightening appeared in the window, I saw a trashcan roll by as well. I walked into the lobby and saw Matt, Barbara, Ashley, Bob Holly and Mark Calloway (Undertaker) sitting at the table. Phil was in the doorway with his camcorder filming the chaos on the outside. "Phil shouldn't you come in, so you don't get struck by lightening?" He laughed at me and looked through the eye piece again. "This is some great footage!" he yelled. A piece of a swing set flew by from a near by house. Scraps of paper and other pieces of garbage flew by as well. He came in and went into his backpack which was next to the door. "I need more tape." He announced to the group. "Found it." Suddenly a 2X4 hit the window hard. making everybody jump. Phil inserted the tape and went outside. I watched him from the doorway; I didn't think anybody else was into storms like me. Mark just shook his head. "That boy is going to get himself killed." As Mark said that Phil was walking back to us, he then stopped and started to play with his camera which apparently went off, as he was doing something with his camera. The wind was blowing his hair into his face and he didn't even realize that something appeared behind him. I saw a big contraption hitting the ground with force and the wind picking it up and dropping it every few steps. I tried to call to Phil but he wasn't watching me. I ran and tried to fight the wind and when Phil saw me I grabbed his arm and wrestled him to the ground with force. The contraption landed on our feet as I had my head down and so was Phil after realizing why I Just wrestled him to the ground. The large metal contraption bounced once again and crashed through the window of the hotel.
I got up and helped Phil to his feet as we covered our heads and ran inside. Mark and Bob lifted the large contraption as Matt was taking Ply wood from a hotel employee and putting it in front of the window. We looked down at the contraption and appeared to be a large steel sink. I looked at it in confusion. "Oh that belongs to old Peggy." An elderly male hotel employee insisted. We just started at him in confusion. "The lady that lives across the way has birds and had a sink outside so she can bathe them without messing her home up. She died long ago; I guess her children never moved that old sink. "Well I guess Mother Nature did it for him." I laughed. They got the wood up against the window and sat back down. "Well that was excited I sighed looking at everybody who smiled nervously.