CHAPTER TEN

In her rush to escape the scene of her embarrassment, Willow wasn't paying attention to where she was going and didn't stop moving until she ran straight into a wall. The impact of her collision sent the petite young woman to the ground in a heap and she was left on the floor. She was so distracted that she failed to notice that the "wall" was in fact another person and they were staring down at her with a mixed expression of confusion and surprise. When they realized she wasn't getting up, their face changed into one of concern and they crouched on the floor beside the distraught girl. "Hey, are you alright?" Willow's head snapped up when she noticed someone was speaking to her and her own bright green eyes automatically focused on theirs.

With a start, Willow realized that she was staring at an admittedly attractive man with facial hair shaved into stripes and...brightly colored hair?! In her shock she was unable to respond and simply gave him a dazed look. Jeff Hardy was almost immediately entranced by the redhead in front of him. When she looked up he could tell right away that she was very pretty and her face was bright red with what he assumed was embarrassment for running into him. She still wasn't speaking with him so he took the initiative to try and get her to respond. "You don't have to be that embarrassed to find me attractive." His words were paired with a warm smile to show that he wasn't being serious, however in her addled state Willow failed to notice that he was joking.

Quickly jumping to her feet, she stared down at him with fire in her eyes. "What is it with you people and your egos?" He slowly rose to his own feet and looked at her with surprise which she took to be annoyance, and that only incensed her further. "You don't have to look at me like that just because I don't think you're hot, Mister! I made a huge mistake signing that contract. Buffy and Xander were right, I never should have left Sunnydale! Goddess, what am I going to do? Now I'm stuck here for six months and knowing how karma has it in for me, I'm going to get stuck with one of you...you...stupid egomaniacs! What did I do so wrong that I'm being treated like this? I helped save the world!" Even in her anger she could tell that she had gone too far with that statement and back peddled quickly.

"Saving the world by...uh, recycling! Yeah, I recycle! Go environment!" She was so far gone into her rant that she didn't notice Jeff staring at her with huge eyes and instead of focusing her gaze back on him, she studied her surroundings and realized that she had gotten lost despite her best attempts to stay in familiar territory. "Great! And now I don't know where I am. How the...How am I going to find that guy...Glen's dressing room? My uncle has to be worried about me. Unless they're still talking. Crap, he's not even going to be looking for me! This is just too much." She paused again and turned her eyes to the ceiling in desperation. "Goddess, if you show me back to that room I promise I'll never smoke again."

Her eyes lit up in recognition and a smile slowly crossed her face. "That's why all this is happening! It was that fucking cigarette!" Suddenly she froze and her own eyes grew to the same size as the brightly haired man's who was still staring at her in complete bewilderment. The realization that she had just used one of the worst swear words was enough to stop her completely in her tracks and she finally turned to look at the man who had started her rant in the first place. "I don't usually swear like that. Oh! And I'm not even a smoker, I just tried it because I was so stressed, y'know?" Once again she stopped, unsure about why she felt the need to explain herself to this guy. It was his fault she even swore in the first place, if he hadn't been such a jerk she never would have gone into that babble.

That thought caused her to level another glare at him but this time it was half-hearted. Willow sighed as she contemplated her irrational thought pattern. Of course it wasn't his fault, she had sworn all on her own. Blaming him for it would have been too easy. The look she was sending him disappeared and was replaced by an expression of defeat. All of a sudden her green eyes began to well up with tears and it was all she could do to prevent herself from beginning to sob. "What am I doing here? I just want to go back home. And now I yelled at you and it's not your fault even if you were being a jerk. You must hate me!" Jeff began opening his mouth to tell this very peculiar girl that he didn't hate her when the familiar voice of Glen Jacobs echoed down the hallway.

"Willow? Willow Rosenberg?" The younger of the two Hardy brothers looked down the hall as 'Kane' approached the pair. He had changed into his costume during the conversation with Theo and was now practically unrecognizable to the girl who had only met him for the first time a half hour earlier. Willow stared at him in terror and only began to relax when the familiar form of her uncle appeared from behind the scary giant. "Hon, what happened to you?" He had noticed the tears in her eyes and only now realized that she was standing with Jeff Hardy. Not knowing the facts of the situation, he assumed that the rainbow-haired man had done something to make his niece cry. "What did you do to her, Hardy?!"

Yet again the man was opening his mouth to respond when he was cut off, this time by the girl he now knew was named Willow. "He didn't do anything, it was me. I was just yelling at him for no reason because...well, there wasn't a reason so I don't know. Then I was lost and didn't know where to find that dressing room and this whole night has been really terrible. Can we go? I know you wanted to stay for the show but I just want to leave." Despite the weight of the situation, Theo couldn't stop himself from busting into a loud laugh which resulted in his niece giving him a wounded look. Before he could verbalize that he didn't mean any insult, she turned and once again was speeding down the hallway, away from a situation she wanted no part of.

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For the second time in one day, Willow found herself staring down a long hallway with absolutely no clue where she was. After running away from her uncle because of his hurtful actions she had made an adamant decision not to turn around and re-locate him, at least not right away. For the moment she preferred making the immature choice of avoiding him despite knowing it was the wrong thing to do. Willow was just about to consider going to find him when a pretty, slim woman in her twenties fell into her line of sight and made her way towards the redhead. "Darling, I don't think you're supposed to be back here. If security sees you they'll...." Not in the mood for being polite, Willow cut her off before she could finish.

"First of all, don't call me darling. Second, I don't think security would mind seeing me back here. I have a pass..." She revealed the laminated card to the strange woman before continuing. "My uncle, jerk though he may be, works in the sound department. And I might not be starting yet but I did sign a contract to become one of those females who accompany the egomaniacs to the ring. Valets, I think?" Even in her frustration she sighed and offered this stranger a clearly forced smile. "I'm not myself right now, usually I promise I'm a lot nicer. I'm a nerd, y'know? I've just had probably the worst night of my life and I really am sorry for being such a bitca." Willow made it through the entire tirade without taking a breath and offered her hand to the woman who was now looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Willow Rosenberg, babbler extraordinaire." Finally the blonde woman was allowed to get another word in, and instead of appearing angry for the new girl having snapped at her, she offered a warm smile and shook the hand offered her. "Eleanor Radley, stylist to those 'egomaniacs' you just mentioned. Rosenberg, you said?" Instead of verbalizing her response, Willow simply nodded and was surprised to be rewarded with a sparkling grin. "I also work with some of the divas and wouldn't you know it, I just got word that I'll be arranging the new girl's wardrobe. I won't even insult you by asking what you think this girl's name is. Welcome to my list of projects, D." At the use of a single initial, the redhead's expression became confused and even slightly nostalgic as Faith came to mind.

"Nice to meet you, Eleanor. But...D? Where did that come from?" The blonde looked at her as though she was mentally handicapped. "Call me Ellie, I can't stand my first name. In fact, I don't like using anybodies real first name so I use pet names. And since you don't respond well to being called Darling, I shortened it to D. You should feel honored that I was willing to compromise." Ellie gave Willow a playful wink and, despite being just slightly irritated at the nickname, Willow couldn't help but offer a genuine smile in return. This woman reminded her of Buffy as well as Faith and although it made her feel just a bit homesick, it also helped her feel more at ease and for the first time that evening, Willow felt that maybe everything would end up alright.