By the time Alex and John made it inside Randy was already out of sight. After checking his bedroom John concluded that Randy was in the games room and ran up to check. Sure enough John found Randy playing Judge Dredd and looking as if he was on a real shooting spree. He was holding the neon blue plastic gun as if it was real and the determined look in Randy's eyes gave off the air of a mass murderer. Shuddering John had no doubt in his mind that, to Randy, the target was Dr. Andrews.
Not a word passed between the two friends and John wondered if Randy even realized he was in the room. Randy was so focused on his game that John didn't dare speak, if Randy focused on the game he didn't have to focus on his injury. Eventually Alex joined the two men and handed John a plate, she'd made lunch, a chicken salad.
"Dall," Alex said gently, causing Randy to spin around aiming the gun at his friends. John and Alex jumped slightly, momentarily forgetting that it was just plastic.
"I told you I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" Randy hissed.
"Neither do I, I just bought you some lunch," Alex rushed out holding out a plate.
"I'm not hungry," Randy muttered turning back to his game.
"Come on Orton you've got to eat." John reprimanded his friend, who in response turned around grabbed a fork and put a small amount of salad on it before shoving it in his mouth,
"There! I ate, are you happy now?" The man hissed dropping the fork on the plate.
"Dall…" Alex started only to be stopped by John.
"Leave him, I don't want to but, he knows that, if I have to, I will force feed him again," John sighed sitting down and beginning to eat.
"Again?" Alex asked playing with the food on her plate.
"Yea," John explained glancing at his friend to see if he would bite. Randy's face was getting red and his hands were going white as he gripped the plastic gun tighter.
"Pray tell?"
"Dall got suspended a year or so ago. It was his third time for the same offense; he should have lost his job."
"Cena!" Randy growled,
"What's that got to do with force feeding him?" Alex asked.
"Cena, tell her and you're dead!" Randy growled finally making eye contact with his friend. The last thing Randy wanted was for Alex to know about that part of his past and get scared. If she knew what he'd been through, there was no way she would stick around and Randy didn't know what he'd do if she left.
"Hey, if you won't entertain her I will. Anyway, Randy was given an option; lose his job or rehab. Of course, a couple of days later, he showed up on my door step completely strung out."
"CENA!" Randy hissed spinning around and aiming his plastic gun at John. John simply raised an eyebrow and turned back to Alex,
"Anyway, the dumbass wouldn't go to rehab but knew he had to get off the drugs. So he came to Cena's rehab clinic," John smirked at Randy who scowling swung the gun at his friend's head.
Ducking John swore slightly as the plastic weapon came so close that it rustled his hair. John hated it when his friend was in one of his moods. Randy got like this whenever he needed
surgery. It was like he was in withdrawal again. Randy hated being angry as well, he hated the way he felt but he figured it was his life he could be angry if he wanted to.
Picking up the plastic gun by its cord Randy returned to his game. He knew that once Alex processed what John had told her, followed by his anger she would ditch him as fast as humanly possible. There is no way that Alex would stay with an ex-druggie and someone with anger issues. Randy waited anxiously for Alex's disgusted departure then he heard her softer laughter echo throughout the room,
"You know you would be a lot more endearing if you weren't such a big baby. He barely touched you… Anyway you deserved it!" Alex laughed at John, who was sulking about Randy lashing out.
Alex had been slightly taken back by Randy's outburst but the drug history didn't faze her. She'd seen plenty of that and knew people could change their lives. There was nothing to show that he was using, he even had issues with taking over the counter pain meds. The anger outburst was expected as well, Randy had warned his friend and it's not like the weapon actually hit John, it just skimmed the top of his head.
Alex looked around the room ignoring the slightly amused look on Randy's face and John's pouting. Spying a machine in the corner Alex smirked,
"John?"
"Hmm?" The man acknowledged still rubbing his head.
"Why exactly do you have DDR?"
"It's a fun game and I happen to kick ass at it," John shrugged. Alex looked the man up and down with a raised eyebrow before bursting out laughing,
"Hey, I happen to be a good dancer!" John pouted.
"I've seen you attempt to dance on TV and I'll just leave it at that," Alex laughed and looking over at Randy, saw a slight smirk on his face,
"Alright, it keeps me fit and flexible," John shrugged causing Randy to let out a snort of laughter. While Randy was still focused on his game he was clearly listening to the banter and beginning to relax a little. Alex quickly realized ignoring him and bantering with John was a good plan.
"Yea right! I've seen you wrestle, you are neither fit nor flexible," Alex taunted; she had the game herself and knew she could easily kick John's backside.
"Oh really? I bet you couldn't dance your way out of a paper bag," John smirked.
Taken back Alex demonstrated some dance moves she learnt after years of dance class.
"Alright then," John announced doing an over exaggerated dance move, "I challenge you to a dance off!"
"Johnny, that move right there proves that you cannot dance!" Alex said laughing.
"Johnny? No one calls me Johnny!"
"I do," Alex smiled.
"Hey, if she can call me Dall she can call you Johnny," Randy pouted still focusing on his game.
"Do you accept the challenge Lex?" John asked still pouting.
"Hell yea!" Alex smirked rolling her eyes at the pouting. She sat down on the couch and watched as John pulled the DDR machines away from the wall and set them up. Randy also watched and began to think.
He wanted nothing more than to get completely piss drunk and forget his worries. Whenever the boys would play DDR at John's house they would have a few drinks, after all there was no better way to play than drunk. John kept a fully stocked beer fridge in the games room for such an occasion so while Alex and John were talking smack to each other Randy went over and grabbed three bottles.
"Wait, before you guys start you're missing the most important ingredient… BEER!" Randy smiled handing John and Alex a bottle each.
Randy decided he was over his massacre; after all there is no fun in shooting people if they just keep coming back to life. A couple of hours and a lot of beer later Randy was getting dizzy watching his best friend and the girl, he hoped would be his girlfriend, dance to dead heat after dead heat.
"Why do you call me Dall?" He asked lying down. With her face turned no one could see Alex blush but the alcohol was making her relax.
"You're my nephew's favorite wrestler and he can't pronounce Randall so he calls you Dall. It just kind of stuck," Alex finally admitted, stepping off the machine for a drink break.
"And let me guess he calls me Johnny?" John asked after several hours of his new nickname.
"No, for some crazy reason my one of my other nephews is obsessed with you and he calls you Johnny," Alex sighed before gulping down half a bottle of water. There was silence while John and Alex got their breath back before Randy finally asked,
"Wait, why does he call me Randall not Randy?"
"Umm… Ah… So Johnny care for another game?" Alex asked quickly changing the subject.
The truth was at Alex's house Randy was already like family. They spoke about him like he was in the room. Of course, Alex didn't dare mention that the mystery man in her life was none other than the man her entire family seemed obsessed with. She had no idea why her family was so obsessed with Randy and even John. All she knew was that her seven year old nephew, Jameson, was in love with Randy and what had started as pleasing him had turned into a household obsession.
The same thing was happening with her 6 year old nephew, Dylan, he was obsessed with John, Alex had no idea what the boy saw in John. If Jameson and Dylan knew that she was staying with Randy and John they would go out of their minds, and absolutely insist that she let them come and visit. Of course if any of her family found it out they would all invade.
Alex sighed in relief as John and Randy dropped the subject. John and Alex decided on a first to five DDR final. It took them close to three hours to finally declare Alex the winner. Despite it being a 5-4 win Alex wasted no time rubbing her victory in John's face. As punishment for losing John had to clean up the games room, which was now a mess of beer bottles and pizza boxes.
During the evening they'd stopped their game briefly and ate in silence after Randy had ordered pizza having gotten bored of watching the two compete. Unknown to his competing friends Randy had barely eaten half a piece before continue his pursuit of unconsciousness.
Flopping down on a spare couch Alex looked around, the clock on the wall told her it was just after 10pm. They'd been 'dancing' for 7 hours and Alex was exhausted.
"Hey, when did Dall fall asleep?" Alex asked looking over at the sleeping form on the other couch.
"I don't know… Want a drink?" John asked heading for the bar.
"Water please," Alex responded rubbing her legs, which were feeling like jelly. Alex was surprised at how well John could move after such an aggressive work out.
John opened the usually fully stocked fridge and stopped dead in his tracks. Sans for two remaining water bottles, the fridge was completely empty. The man was confused; he'd restocked it that morning from his supplies in the garage. He'd even made a mental note that his supplies were beginning to run low.
"Hey Lex, how much did you have to drink?"
"I don't know, four bottles? Why?" Alex shrugged,
"I had about the same but the fridge is empty. I only restocked it this morning." John and Alex turned to Randy and could easily tell where the supply had gone.
"Oh man, he got into the tequila too? I was saving that!" John sighed upon spotting a near empty tequila bottle, "why don't you go down and watch a movie, feel free to take any of my DVDs. I'll make sure he doesn't choke to death on his own vomit."
"Maybe I should stay," Alex suggested.
"You've never seen Randy drunk have you? Trust me when he wakes up you don't want to be anywhere near him," John replied turning Alex in the direction of the door, "goodnight."
"Night," Alex sighed heading down to her room.
Alex had been around drunken people plenty of times, she'd even been one on numerous occasions. But, if John was trying to stop her from being around when Randy woke up he must definitely not fall into the fun drunk category.
John looked around the room and decided to clean up, he placed an empty trash can next to Randy and began to pick up the bottles scattered around the room. After a few minutes John heard the unmistakable noises of Randy stirring,
"If you can't make it to the bathroom use the trash can… Just don't puke on the carpet!" John warned his friend. As soon as the words came out of John's mouth Randy was on his feet and rushing to the bathroom at the end of the room.
John threw the last empty bottle in the bin and followed his friend. He leant against the wall as Randy emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet.
"I don't want to hear it," Randy muttered wiping his mouth and flopping on the floor, "you did the same thing when you found out about your injury," Randy attempted to defend himself when John didn't say anything. He was quickly becoming angry, without uttering a word John could say more than Randy's father could by yelling at him.
"No, I went out and had a couple of drinks with a couple of friends and came home completely sober. I did not get so drunk I passed out on the couch while my best friend entertained my girlfriend," John finally explained as Randy threw up once again.
"She's not my girlfriend," Randy muttered wiping his mouth,
"Whatever. What is up with you lately?" Randy looked at John as if he was an idiot, "Yea, you got a horrible prognosis but you know better than to drown your sorrows in a bottle."
Randy didn't usually play the role of the angry drunk but with everything that had been going on and John acting as if he was his father or something Randy was at the end of his tether,
"You're not my father so stop bloody acting like it. What I do is none of your business,"
"You're in my house it's my business, better yet, you're my best friend it's my business!"
"Well I guess it's time to change that," Randy replied pulling himself to his feet and king hitting John sending him to the floor.