Chapter Thirteen (part 2). Two Days, Three Fights.
I was waiting for Randy to get back. I hadn't left the room all day... too scared in case Adam was there. I had flicked through awful daytime TV all day; chat shows, sentimental bullshit. I got up and went through to the 'guy' room. I saw my guitar and smiled. I sat on the floor wearing some PJ bottoms, a black vest and my fluffy dressing gown. My hair was messy but I didn't care. I managed to scrub my face enough that all the dried eyeliner and mascara came off my cheeks. It was getting late now... I didn't worry about Randy. I knew Dave was there so I tried to forget about it. I stroked the guitar case and outlined my drawn on name with my finger. I opened the tabs and lifted my guitar out... the bottom E string had broke; I had spares in my rucksack. I got up and went back into the bedroom and rummaged through to find a new E string. I jumped when my phone rang...
"Riley." I didn't recognise the voice.
"It's Dave" I blew a sigh of relief.
"Dave! Hi! How was the match?"
"We won... thanks to Jeff" Jeff... I sighed and shook my head. I was annoyed, Jeff never listened to anyone. He was a completely free spirit... I did admire him for it, but he went against mine and Randy's beliefs.
"Jeff... oh that's good" I hesitated.
"Yeah, look I can't seem to find Randy" My heart stopped. I had to pat my chest to remember to breathe, was he ok?
"What? Where is he? When did you last see him?"
"I last saw him talking to Jeff... then he sloped off... I asked Jeff but he just said forget about it... I'm nearly back at the hotel now, but he should have been in the car with me and well he isn't" I started to panic... What if Randy had buckled? Realised this was too much?
"Dave, do me a favour... keep ringing him and look in the bar when you get here..."
"Will do. Sorry I thought you needed to know..."
"I did, thank you" I hung up. Randy where are you? I thought the best thing to do was not to panic. So I took my E string and walked back into the other room... oh where was he? I sat on the floor and pulled my old string out of my beautiful acoustic. I sat there looking across the room; I threaded my new E string in and began to tune it. I sat thinking about Randy, was he ok? I shook my head and strummed some random chords. I played as loudly as possible... even though it was late. I needed to lose my thoughts... I began to strum Nirvana. Where did you sleep last night?
"My boy, my boy, don't lie to me
Tell me where did
you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun
don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through" I
remembered Kurt Cobain's voice, soothing and wonderful to listen to.
I began singing louder, trying to forget everything. I began to cry,
I couldn't control my thoughts, I made everyone so angry and hurt. I
began singing like Kurt; my lungs breathing in deeply. My throat
began to hurt, I eventually let go of my guitar and sat there crying.
I had lost so much already, I couldn't lose Randy, the one person who
was keeping me stable. My phone began buzzing. It was Dave...
"Hello Dave..." My voice sounded sad, like I had been crying.
"Riley... oh God you ok?"
"Yeah Dave, sorry, just being silly... have you found him?"
"I've found him..." I breathed a sigh of relief, but where was he? What was he doing?
"We're in the bar downstairs, he's pretty lagging... I'm gonna bring him up, we'll be a couple of minutes ok?"
"Ok... thanks" I hung up again. I didn't know why, Randy said he would be back straight after, had someone said something to upset him? 15 minutes later there was a knock at the door. Dave was holding Randy up... I held the door open and Dave put Randy on the bed.
"Thanks Dave... I'll look after him... Thank you, for everything" He smiled and squeezed my shoulder. I closed the door behind him. I ignored Randy and went back into the other room; he mumbled something as I walked past. I was slightly annoyed with him; getting drunk was never the answer. I went and sat down by my guitar, I heard him get off the bed and stumble in. I began strumming again; he collapsed down next to me.
"Ri...erly..."
"Mmm?" I could smell the alcohol on his breath, whiskey. It was so strong I turned my head away as I was about to gag. He moved closer. "Randy... why did you do it?" He shook his head.
"I haven't... haven't... done, done anything" I sat there, tears strolling down my face. "Ri... please don't... don't cry" He stretched out his arm and put it around me, I stood up as he did. I walked into the bedroom and grabbed two pillows and a cover at the end of the bed. I set up the couch for myself; throwing two pillows at the end and the light duvet cover over it. I went over and pulled Randy up, holding his weight on my shoulders. I placed him on the bed and swung his legs around. I pulled his shoes off and undone his jeans button. He was half asleep already.
"I love you Ri..." I stopped and looked at him. He passed out soon after; I screwed my mouth up and put the duvet over him. I sat on the edge of the bed and stroked his face; he snuggled into my hand and was dead asleep. I got up quietly and got on the couch, I sat. My eyes were sore from crying again. I wiped them a couple of times and lay down on the big velvet sofa. It was actually amazingly comfortable; I looked over at Randy... I had laid him on his side in case he was sick during the night. It was nearing 12:30; I laid there twiddling with my hair. I left the curtain open a little bit, there was a full moon. The light was shining on my face; it was the same two and a half years ago.
I lied on the floor, a full moon... my face bruised and a huge gash at the back of my head, my ribs aching and my insides hurting... It was a week or so after Adam had threw me down the stairs, I had lost everything... I lay in the empty hotel room in Toronto, waiting to catch the plane home the next day...I was high above ground level... low on the hotel room floor. I laid there... tears had been strolling down my face all week, non stop. I rubbed my stomach, the place were... they used to be. My baby... they were taken from me. I cried harder, blaming myself... I looked up the moon... I shivered.
I woke up; it was early morning still, 4am. I looked over at the bed; Randy was still lying on his side, mouth open. That was weird. I had just seen myself those two and a half years ago. I was 23 then; young, confused. Now I was 26. I wasn't prepared to give up yet, although I was angry at Randy, I couldn't blame him, he had gotten involved in something so deep... it must be hard to take in. I turned over, facing Randy. I soon fell back asleep.
My eyes opened... I squinted; there was a ray of light shining on my face, and on Randy's. He was sitting down, crossed legged in front of me. He shuffled forward as soon as he saw my eyes open, he looked rough... red eyes, messy hair and just generally tired. He was only wearing his boxers. I saw bruises on his chest from last night's match.
"Hey you..." I said smiling, my eyes closed. I opened them again, he smiled briefly. He sighed a few times... I rolled on my side and looked at him. I stroked his face quickly; he took my hand and held it against his chest... his heart.
"Feel that...?" He didn't sound too good. I was trying to feel the rhythm of his heart; I put my other hand and his other hand on my heart. We were synched, my heart was beating with his. I nodded. I sat up and turned my pillow over, cold side up. I shuffled as far as I could to the back of the sofa. I patted the spot next to me. Randy stood up and sat down... I shook my head and patted the pillow. He laughed and turned over facing me, putting his legs up. He had brushed his teeth so the stench of alcohol had gone. We were face to face. My eyes were hurting still. The sun wasn't shining on my face anymore so I wasn't squinting. Randy had the sun on half of his face, making one of his eyes squint, although slightly bloodshot, it looked beautiful, bright blue. He put his hand on my cheek, it wasn't bruised anymore. He stroked it, he looked upset.
"Riley... let me explain..." I nodded my head; I wasn't going to stop him... I wanted to know how he was feeling, what he was thinking. He took a deep breath and began.
"Last night... Jeff told me... he told me he loved you. I didn't know what to think, I thought maybe he loved you more than I did..." I gulped... "Then I realised when I was back in the locker room that was impossible. I can't describe how much I love you... it's strange. But Ri... I couldn't stop thinking about... about Adam, throwing you down the stairs, him hurting you, your baby" I looked away, down at my feet under the cover... anything to avoid looking in Randy's eyes; his beautiful eyes. "Ri... you are the most beautiful person I have ever met. It's disgusting you were hurt like that... inhumane. I can't stand the thought of you being alone, of you being scared. It frightens me..." He looked away; there were tears in his eyes. "I just... just couldn't take that last night. I came back to the bar and just sat with a bottle of Jack, drinking shot after shot... thinking of you, Edge... everything... the fact is, I have been hurt... but that doesn't matter..."
"Randy... tell me" I was stern, I had told him everything now I needed to know about him. He nodded without complaint.
"Ok... I was engaged, getting married three years ago. The week before the wedding we were together, happy. Then I realised something wasn't right. She kept avoiding me of a night time. I followed her to this bar, me and John as we were in St. Louis for the wedding, John my best man, I sent him in... She was in there... with another man. I don't know who he was; I took off my sunglasses and walked over to her with a bottle of champagne... I told her what a beautiful bride she would be someday and gave it to her. She tried running after me, saying it was a big mistake. I told her no, it wasn't… I could never love someone who lied to me. I've never seen her since..." He sounded sadder; his voice becoming slightly croaky. I put my hand on the back of his neck, we began kissing; both our eyes teary, I could still taste the alcohol on his breath, but at least it was subtle. I realised we both had been hurt. I forgot about everything, all that mattered was that I was with the person I loved most in the world. We eventually stopped, still pecking each other every now and again. I was still shocked that Randy hadn't wanted to go further, we had fondled... but nothing more. This made me feel good. I wasn't a huge sexual person ever since Adam, I had needs... but so far Randy was pushing all the right buttons. He talked more about his ex-fiancée, me listening and nodding every so often. It was only 7am... we had been talking for about an hour and a half. Randy was hung-over and tired. But if he didn't like liars, I needed to tell him the next bit.
"Randy…"
"Yeah?"
"Something happened when I was staying with Matt and Jeff…" I could feel his heart beating faster and faster. He gulped. "That night at the party, we kissed… but then I imagined it was you I was kissing, you who I was with. He knew I didn't want to be with him so he stopped. I'm so sorry; I thought you weren't going to ask me out…" Randy gulped and looked down, looking at my slender body.
"It's ok Ri, its ok" He held me close, not daring to let go. We fell asleep again... both our heads next to each other and our hands joined.
Me and Randy jumped, as his phone rang. I'm Broken by Pantera blasting... Randy rolled off the sofa and crawled to his jeans pockets. He pulled his phone out and answered.
"Hello?" He coughed and coughed again.
"Randy? It's John"
"Oh hey John... how's things?"
"Ok man... me and Maria were wondering how you and Riley were doing?" Randy looked over at me and smiled. My hair was over my face and I had my hand on my cheek.
"We're doing just fine... How are you both?"
"Yeah... not so bad. Maria was wondering what's going on with their match tonight... we aren't fighting tonight but... Beth and Melina are bringing John Morrison and..."
"And who?"
"And..." John was nervous, Randy sighed.
"John... who?"
"Edge." Randy froze, almost dropping the phone. I lifted my hair behind my ears and sat up.
"Randy... what's wrong? Randy?" He was still... I heard John's voice I went and sat next to Randy, rubbing his legs as they were both up, his knees to his chest.
"Him... seriously?"
"That's what I was told... Morrison and Edge are going to be backstage..." Randy passed the phone over to me, and sat there biting his thumb. I raised an eyebrow.
"John? Hello. What's wrong?"
"Hey Riley... well tonight, you and Maria vs. Beth and Melina..."
"Yeah...?"
"Well John Morrison and… er… and Edge are going to be backstage..." I froze, tensed up. Randy sat and looked at me; he wrapped an arm around me.
"So you and Randy are going to be there waiting... for me and Maria... while we kick those bitches' asses? What a great night this is going to be..." I smiled. That was it, I wasn't scared anymore. I had my friends and my Randy. Randy looked at me confused...
"Riley... It's Maria... I miss you hon. I hope you are feeling okay! Me and John stayed in all day yesterday... ready for tonight! We are going to be brilliant hon!"
"I know Maria... I know. What time you guys leaving?"
"Well at around 5... We don't want to be there too early so we will see you soon!"
"Thanks Maria... see you both soon... hugs and kisses" She giggled and hung up. I sat there... I was worried, nervous. He was going to be so close again, but I looked at Randy and smiled, my eyebrows lifted. I was happy... Adam was going to see how happy I was with Randy, something I never was with him. I shuffled on to Randy's lap and we sat there holding each other. He has his head on my chest. He started to lift me up...
"Randy... what are you doing?"
"Nothing..." He winked and threw me on the bed... His legs looked amazing, bulky and sexy. I giggled. We sat there teasing each other and kissing. It was nearly 1:30 after ages playing on the bed. I went and showered and changed first, then Randy. We ordered some lunch which was basically evolved around yoghurt and fruit. Randy had an apricot yoghurt... he dribbled it down his face like a baby. I was in stitches, he sat there laughing, yoghurt down his chin. I leant in and kissed him... Raspberry and Apricot... Randy and Riley. I giggled when he tried licking his chin; he wiped it off with a napkin and finished it. We grabbed our gear, both our iPods, phones etc. And put it all in our rucksacks, I was wearing bootleg navy jeans and a Metallica skinny t shirt with my biker boots, very biker girl. I put on a pair of Randy's shades. He laughed; he put a Black Sabbath t shirt on, bootleg fit jeans, his leather jacket and another pair of shades. I grabbed my phone out of my rucksack and took a photo of us. We looked great... silly but great. We both laughed when we looked in the mirror. We grabbed our stuff and left. Holding hands all the way, there were a few fans outside the hotel... me and Randy stopped and posed for photos. A few with both of us in looking like complete idiots. The fans loved us, they were cheering and grinning. We left the hotel at 5... Arriving there half an hour later. There were more fans. Me and Randy took a great few photos, doing similar poses in each one. We posed with one boy, 18 or so. He was ecstatic... Randy was on one side, me the other. We both pointed at him, our shades on with a cheesy big grin. We saw the photo and told him to post it on WWE forums and we would use it... he smiled a huge grin and me and Randy walked on; signing and taking photos. We eventually reached the back door at around 6... Quickly getting to our locker room shared with Maria and John.
"Riley! Randy!" Maria jumped on us, hugging us both tightly. John gave me a big hug and Randy a manly hug. We sat and talked about yesterday night... John said Dave told him about it. John never mentioned Randy drunk last night... only me, Randy and Dave knew about that. I thought that was kind of good. John took me to one side while Maria and Randy talked about random things...
"Riley... I need some help..."
"Anything I can do, I will" He grinned, gripped my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"Ok, I need you to take Maria to this spa place I have booked as a surprise... while me and Randy go and look for a wedding ring" I grinned, I was delighted, a spa away from everything would be fantastic.
"That's not a favour John! That's a present!" He smiled...
"So you'll do it?"
"Defiantly!"
"Thanks Ri... you're a star!" He gave me a quick peck on the cheek and we returned to Maria and Randy... Maria looked shocked all of a sudden. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. Oh God... What had Randy told her?