Thank you very much to nic-002001, Jojo Barrett, TwinPhoenixOfDark, charmedbyortonbarrett and the anonymous reviewer! I greatly appreciated all of your wonderful comments and I'm very glad to see you all enjoying the story. This next chapter's for you guys!
Chapter 25: Fallout
Her eyes fluttered open, there was something tickling her nose and now she couldn't get back to sleep because of it. With much regret, Riley opened her eyes and tried to focus her eyes on whatever was tickling her nose and causing her to not be able to remain in dreamland.
Giving up on focusing with her eyes, Riley reached her hand up and brushed it against her nose, moving whatever it was that was bothering her away from her face. She let out a sigh as she stretched her arms into the air, hearing a small crack from her bad shoulder. She grunted at the sound but shoved the covers to one side, moving on with her day.
Her fingernails raked across her skin as she ran her hands down her sides, scratching off the previous night's itches as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, slowly making it to her feet. Riley stumbled slightly but managed to remain standing as she bent over, her fingernails still raking over her body, this time over her thighs.
Just as suddenly as her anger towards Wade arose the night before, Riley could feel her stomach disagreeing with her. The uneasy feeling deep in her gut was instant and Riley knew she didn't have much time to make it to the bathroom.
Covering her mouth with her hand, Riley dashed towards the bathroom, her legs barely holding her up as she darted around the bed, over her suitcase and finally through the bathroom door where she collapsed to her knees in front of the shiny white toilet bowl and letting everything out of her stomach with deep, painful heaves.
Her eyes filled up with water as she continued to heave, once, twice, three times a puker as everything left in her stomach traveled upwards, through her throat and out her mouth, landing with a splash in the toilet water below. After a few more heaves, and hardly anything else coming out, Riley relaxed her body, leaning her one arm on the side of the toilet seat, her face poised and ready in case she needed another go.
"Fuck." She muttered, her chest moving up and down at a rapid pace. She was trying to breath deeper, trying to calm her body down so it wouldn't feel the need to barf once again.
"Riley!" The door to the room clicked and then opened.
Letting out a sigh at the sound of John's voice echoing into the hotel room, Riley used the toilet as leverage and hoisted herself to her feet. She heard the hotel room door slam shut and wandered out of the bathroom just in time to spot John Cena standing over the tiny table with a plate of breakfast food.
She clutched her stomach and tiptoed out of the bathroom, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. John glanced at her and flashed her a smile as he leaned the Diva's title belt against the wall at the back of the table. He was trying to be supportive, wanting to be a good friend but at the sight of the belt, Riley's stomach disagreed once again.
John's smile faltered as she turned on her heel and jogged back into the bathroom. He cringed at the sound of her heaves and let out a whimper as the sound of her stomach contents hitting the water in the toilet. It didn't matter who it was or why it was happening, people throwing up was never something he wanted to hear.
"Riley?" Now his voice sounded timid, scared almost.
She leaned her forehead against the back of the toilet seat and let her face hover over the opening. She twitched at the sudden feeling of John behind her and the hand he placed on her shoulders.
"Fuck my life John." She groaned and he let out a quiet chuckle.
"Come on now Riley, it can't be that bad." He smiled at her.
She tilted her head away from the toilet bowl and dropped onto her butt against the vanity next to her. Her back was hot and the cool wooden side of the vanity felt wonderful. She leaned against John, who struggled to sit next to her, his own back against the same vanity. He had his arm draped over her shoulders now, her head resting against his collarbone.
"I feel like if I barf one more time, my actual stomach will come out and then we can watch that go down the toilet too."
"Thanks for the mental picture." John shuddered at the thought.
"In my head Mr. Stomach is waving goodbye to me with a smug little smirk on his stupid stomach face."
"You have a weird imagination Riley."
"I know."
"On a lighter note, Wade's looking for you." John stated, trying to peak Riley's interest, maybe even brighten her day.
"That's wonderful, please tell him where not to find me." She replied, her tone didn't sound happy at all.
"But he wants to see you."
"Well that makes one of us."
"What do you mean? Like you don't want to see you?"
"Oh give the man a prize. Fuck me John I feel like shit and I don't think I want to be here anymore."
John gave her shoulders a comforting squeeze before gingerly moving his body in an attempt to make it to his feet. A few minutes of struggle later, John stood over her, offering his hands. She reluctantly took his hands in hers and let him hoist her to her feet. She hesitated with her hands in his for just a few seconds before letting go and making her way into the hotel room where she flopped into one of the two chairs at the table.
"What's wrong?" He shouted after her, following her lead and wandering out of the bathroom only to sit in the other chair at the table.
"It's been like three weeks at least since I haven't thrown up during the day. It used to be like a little thing and I could just pretend I had to pee, barf a little and then go back to doing whatever it was I was doing at the time and Wade didn't have a clue. A few days ago it really started to hurt though. Like every time I barf it hurts way more. Today it felt like my insides were being ripped out and shredded."
"And you haven't thought about maybe seeing a doctor-"
"In my defense John, when I used to take my medication I barfed too. I mean it was never this bad but I did it!"
"Okay and once again, you haven't thought about maybe seeing a doctor?"
"Yeah, I thought about it. I hate doctors. I don't want to go there and find out that there's something else wrong with me, I'd rather just live in my ignorance and pretend that it's a case of the flu or just really bad side effects from my pills!"
"Come on Riley, you know that's not really fair to you! What if you're seriously sick or I don't know, have you thought that maybe you could be pregnant?"
Riley's eyes bugged out of her head as she stared at John. There was no way, not even a chance that she would have let anything happen to even lead up to a possible pregnancy. John raised his hands in defense, it was just a suggestion.
"Sure John, that's exactly what I am, I'm one hundred percent pregnant!" She shot back, dropping her fist to the table and reiterating her point with a loud bang.
"Come on Riley, it was just a suggestion. You've been really moody lately and you keep telling me you're always throwing up, maybe it's morning sickness, maybe you're moody because of hormones. It was a suggestion Riley, maybe you should take it seriously though and see a doctor."
"I don't like them and you can't make me go." She whined, moving her head down, resting it on top of her fist on the table.
"Well, okay I can't make you go but I can go with you if you want. Oh hey or maybe your boyfriend would be willing to go with you too, ever think of that?"
Riley just stared at John now as if she was a child being told she was being stupid. There were simple solutions right in front of her eyes but she wasn't taking them. Riley was being stubborn and John was growing tired of it.
"You can fuck right off John." She rolled her eyes, lifting her head away from the table.
She scooted off the chair, grabbing a muffin off the plate of food before crawling back into her bed, pulling the covers up to her waist. John sat at the table and watched her as she devoured the muffin in a minute flat. Maybe it was the fact that she just emptied out her stomach, maybe she was indeed pregnant, either way, he had never seen anyone eat a muffin that fast before in his life.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Randy Orton was out wandering the halls of the hotel. He had already been down for the continental breakfast and now he held onto a Styrofoam cup of coffee as he leisurely made his way back to his very own hotel room. He wandered down the hall towards Wade and Riley's room and paused outside the door, lifting his free hand up to knock.
A few seconds later, Wade appeared in the door, fully dressed in a light gray t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. Randy glanced behind him into the hotel room, looking for Riley obviously, but Wade made a move to close the door. Randy threw his hand back out in front of him and caught the door before Wade could securely shut it.
"Where's Riley?" Randy asked, his tone laced with bad attitude.
"Not here." Wade replied simply, not giving him any more information that he needed.
"Where is she Barrett?"
"She's not here now is she?"
"Where did she go?"
"She left last night. Maybe you should ask your friend Cena." He snarled, moving his arm again in an attempt to shut the door.
Randy gave in and let the door slam shut in front of him. He turned around and contemplated the idea for all of two seconds before breaking out into a brisk walk towards John Cena's hotel room. All he wanted to do was see Riley.
He was about fifteen feet away from the hotel room door when he picked up their voices. Riley sounded angry, John sounded frustrated. He slowed down his pace and tried to quiet the sound of his footsteps as he approached the door.
Ears poised and eyes open, Randy leaned against the doorframe and listened carefully. They certainly weren't trying to be quiet by any means. If they were they were doing a terrible job at it, Randy could hear every word that was exchanged between the two of them.
"It's been like three weeks at least since I haven't thrown up during the day. It used to be like a little thing and I could just pretend I had to pee, barf a little and then go back to doing whatever it was I was doing at the time and Wade didn't have a clue. A few days ago it really started to hurt though. Like every time I barf it hurts way more. Today it felt like my insides were being ripped out and shredded."
Randy tensed at her admission. He had somewhat noticed a slightly different Riley but he had no idea she was throwing up although he was somewhat pleased that she was hiding it from Wade. Maybe they weren't as picture perfect as he originally thought.
"And you haven't thought about maybe seeing a doctor-"
"In my defense John, when I used to take my medication I barfed too. I mean it was never this bad but I did it!"
He lifted his coffee cup to his lips and took a large sip, feeling the hot liquid travel down his throat. As he finished swallowing, one of the housekeeping staff wandered down the hall. She gave Randy a funny look but then again he was creeping outside a hotel room door.
"What? This is good stuff." He hissed quietly at her, hoping the hall would go back to being silent within seconds, he didn't want to miss another word.
He had been half listening as the hotel staff kept walking, purposely making as much noise as she could. Randy settled a glare on her back, wanting nothing more than for her to stop walking and be quiet. She rounded the corner shortly, he had clearly missed part of the conversation taking place inside but he caught the important part.
"Sure John, that's exactly what I am, I'm one hundred percent pregnant!"
Randy nearly dropped his coffee at her confession. That was something he never even thought about. Now suddenly there was something he knew about Riley that no one, besides John Cena, knew. He took another large sip of his coffee before pushing his body away from the doorframe and continuing on his way. There was no need for him to bother her now, he knew where she was and he knew what was going on.
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