At that moment Roman's phone began to ring, and as if knowing who it was he picked it up "Hey" he stopped to listen "You're kidding? He did what?" Eliza knew it was Lynn and as he motioned towards his car to indicate he was going to leave she nodded then watched as he walked towards his car. She watched the car drive off without so much as a goodbye, or a hug from Roman only a half wave as he drove down the road.
"Great..." she mumbled, turning to walk back to the house she needed to talk to Mariana and hopefully help her out the best she could. Opening the door Eliza stepped inside and shut the door when Mariana barreled down the stairs with fresh make up and hair up in a bun "We're going out." she said flatly.
"Where are we going?" Eliza asked watching as Mariana slipped on her shoes and grabbed the keys that hung on the hook by the door.
"We're just going out. I need to get away from this. Even if that means we go for a drive. Just somewhere." pulling onto Eliza's arm Mariana ushered her to the car without a protest or argument from Eliza. She wasn't going to hear any of it.
"Are you sure you want to go out with me?" Eliza asked feeling silly for asking, but it was her who told Roman to come over in the first place.
Sitting the driver's side Mariana smiled briefly "You're my best friend. I can't stay mad at you, and I feel bad for putting you into such a shitty position so we're going to have a girls day and then after that we're going drinking."
"Okay..." she hesitated while buckling herself into the passenger side; she had a bad feeling about this.
"Liz, trust me." She mumbled, white knuckles shone across the steering wheel as she turned dramatically causing the tires to squeal under the pressure of the vehicle lurching to the side.
"If you drove like a normal person I would." Eliza replied grasping onto safety handle above the door. It wasn't the hurt, nor the frustration that caused Mariana to drive such erratically, it was more a common occurrence, and how she had managed to pass her driver's test was beyond Eliza.
Huffing aloud Mariana looked to her side, taking note of Eliza's form of safety "Really Liz? I'm not that bad at driving that you need to hold onto something so flimsy."
Ignoring the words Eliza looked on "Where are we going exactly?"
Shrugging her shoulders softly Mariana scanned the area "We could venture to some dive bar where no one knows us and just drink to everything that comes to mind."
Raising her eyebrow as she began to shake her head, Eliza pointed to the digital clock on the console "it's almost one in the afternoon, Mariana. I'm not drinking right now."
"But" she pouted "You just ruined what I had because you couldn't keep your mouth shut, Liz. You owe me this." She snapped quickly from the soft spoken clearly not hurt Mariana to a spit fire who wasn't going to take no for an answer.
Rolling her eyes towards the buildings, she glanced back to Mariana "Fine, one drink. That's it. Then I'm going home, finding out how Roman is and then try to figure out what I'm going to do now that I have a spot open for July."
"One drink" Mariana pointed her index finger from the steering wheel "Then I will drive you home, and I will go on without you."
With the silent agreement between the two, Mariana found a bar nestled in between a convenience store, and a thrift shop, it was exactly what was promised. As they entered the musty bar that still had the faint bit of smoke that seemed to have made its home in the walls they were greeted by a wired red head that looked as old as a grandmother, but by the way her subtle twang of an accent and the sickly sweet tone made them think otherwise.
"Sit wherever you like Darlings, I'll be with you in a second." She smiled a very tooth decay ridden smile then bounced back towards a group of elder men who were clearly not there for the lunch special.
"This is perfect!" Mariana bounced towards the only clean table available and made herself at home as she slumped against the well-used and for that well-loved booth.
Eliza, skeptical as she was followed wearily behind Mariana who already had the menu open "You really want to eat in here?" she asked taking a seat across from Mariana who smiled bright at the variety of options.
"Why not?" she replied without looking up from the menu "It's not like I'm going anywhere else, so we might as well grab something while we're here."
"Right…" Eliza sharply said, before continuing on the 'you could get food poisoning' the waitress bounce over towards the two with a pen and pad of paper in hand.
"So, what can I get'cha?" the accent seemed to have been thickly layered on, as if it may actually have been a fake all along.
Placing the menu down Mariana crossed her hands over the menu "We'll get nachos, and a pitcher of Molson. That work for you?" Mariana glanced at Eliza who merely shrugged her shoulders, smiling by the answer she focused back on the waitress "I guess that's it."
"Alright" the subtle twang of an accent came out in full as she though the woman was chewing a piece of frozen molasses.
The both watched as she walked back over to the bartender, and placed the order. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but Eliza knew better when Mariana became fixated on the little things, like the scratch on the table that said something before someone scratched out the words.
"So, what's really going on?" Eliza asked cautiously.
Glancing up Mariana sighed "How could you do that to me?" Her eyes held the same pain when Travis had spilled the truth to Lynne.
"What do you mean?" Eliza tilted her head in confusion.
Sighing again, Mariana sat up straight so that her back hit the rickety booth making it shake "You know what I mean. You knew Travis was there, yet you tell Roman to come over anyway. What's up with that? I thought you were a friend, but the first chance you got you just fuck me over." The frustration consumed Mariana as she spoke the words and clearly it was something that was bugging her as she grabbed a napkin only to begin to tear it apart bit by bit, leaving little flakes of napkin on the table.
"I thought he left, Mariana. After I got ready and left you were both gone."
"Seriously though…" her voice rose slightly "be a friend and talk to me before you invite you fuck boy over to screw what I had. You know how great Travis was? He knew me, unlike you." Her tone became bitter as she an index tapped feverously again the wooden table.
"Mariana, you need to calm down and see it from my point of view. It's honestly all pretty messed up." Eliza fought back not letting Mariana get under her skin.
"You know what?" she suddenly said smacking her hand onto the table "You are just out for yourself. It's always been about Eliza, and never one." She raised her index finger "Not once have you had my back…"
Taken back by the sudden comment Eliza began to laugh "Are you serious? Mariana look who's talking! You have everyone revolving around you. Heck, I bet you wanted me to see you with him. For all I know this was a plan to get the attention back on yourself because you can't handle the thought of someone besides you happy." The words spewed out and with every word Mariana grew smaller as if strips of her lies came out into view. "And on top of that" Eliza continued sitting straighter in the seat "You knew about the party yet you still called. Who does that? What kind of psycho are you who would call, let alone be with someone who is getting married."
Her brows furrowed together in anger "You know what, Eliza?" she whispered when the waitress came back with the plate full of nachos and a pitcher of beer in the other hand. With a small smile the waitress turned back to the group of men at the bar.
Suddenly not feeling hungry or thirsty Eliza waited for the response from Mariana who instead of continuing what she was going to say stuffed a bunch of chips into her mouth.
"Well…" Eliza said feeling more annoyed then happy to be in a dingy "What were you going to say?"
Taking a deep breath in, Mariana said confidently "I think you should find another roommate. You showed your true colours and I don't think it's going to work when I can't even trust the person I live with."
"What?" Eliza laughed out loud "Are you serious? Mariana come on and grow up." She continued to laugh at the preposterous realization Mariana had.
"I'm serious, Eliza. I can't live with someone who I can't even fucking trust." Pushing the plate away and moving out of the booth Mariana looked down at Eliza "I'm sick of you and your perfect life. I'll stay with my sister until then. You better be out of my house within the week."
Shaking her head, Eliza sat unsure what to say it was clear Mariana was serious about what she was saying and even though no emotion came through Eliza could see the hurt and betrayal caused by her and her alone. Remaining silent Eliza watched Mariana walk out of the bar to leave her with the uneaten nachos and untouched beer. Slouching forward so her hands cupped her face, she groaned inwardly. How could something so little blow up in her face to the point of being homeless?
"Looks like you could use a friend…" she heard a voice say along with the sound of someone sliding in to the seat across from her.
"I'm sorry?" she looked up to see Dean sitting across from her with a concerned look across his face "Are you stalking me?" she asked annoyed.
Laughing softly he shook his head "Would you believe me if I said I work part time at the place next door and generally come here for lunch?"
"Honestly?" she said wiping the strands of hair out of her face "No, I would still believe that you are stalking me."
Rolling his eyes, he picked up a chip and popped it into his mouth "believe it or not, I actually work while trying to get into wrestling. It's the only thing that keeps me sane." He paused looking at her, she looked tired, sad as if one word could cause her to crumble into millions of pieces "Are you sure you don't want to talk about what happened between Blondie and you?"
"Just some crazy drama happened, that's all." She replied grabbing a glass to pour the beer into.
Pausing momentarily to brush a hand through his hair, he asked "Do you want me to leave? I know every time we meet I generally do something idiotic, and…"
"No" she said breaking his sentence "It's okay, seriously. It's not like a can finish these by myself." If he left it would only be a minute before one of the burly men came over asking if she needed someone to 'help' her feel better.
Shrugging his shoulder as a smile appeared he picked up another chip "Okay, so what do you want to talk about?"
"Whatever you want to talk about." She asked looking at the pint in front of her; never had she been happier to have someone with her that had no clue what was going on. The remainder of the hour had turned out not as bad as she thought it would be. It was as if Dean was the cure to her could have been panic attack. When they had finished, he insisted on paying and as they walked outside to the have the bright sun he turned to her and said "I had a lot of fun, I know this may be going a little over board but if you ever just want to hang out, grab a beer or something call me" dipping into his pocket he pulled out a card and handed it to her.
"Okay." Was the only response she gave as she looked down at the crisp white card, with dark blue colouring around the edges.
"Awesome, I'll see you later then." He said waving briefly before turning towards a gym studio.
"Bye" she waved but Dean missed it as he opened the door to the building leaving her a lone once again. Smiling for the first time that day she walked back towards were the car once sat but only a vacant opening remaind. In the midst of the crazy day, she had broken up a relationship, got kicked out of her place and Dean didn't seem like that bad of a guy was it backwards day? Shaking her head, she walked down the road as she watched the passerby's walking, living their own life, in their own world as if nothing was going on. How she envied it.
The evening was quiet with Mariana not at home, and with Roman not calling her back she was left watching various shows as she looked over the photo's from a previous wedding she had attended. Smiling at the happy couple arm in arm, she touched it up the best she could then went onto the next photo. An hour had gone by with her mindlessly editing the photo's when her phone rang. Looking down at the caller ID to see Roman's name greeting her, she smiled.
"Well hey." she said grabbing the laptop off her lap to place it next to her on the couch.
"Hey, how's it going?" his voice was quiet as if he were in a public place.
"Not bad, Mariana is pissed but she'll get over it." she said avoiding the part where Mariana kicked her out.
"Yeah everyone is pretty pissed over here, and Lynn can't stop asking who the person was." he said even lower as he moved to another room.
"I feel so sorry for her..." Eliza began to say running a hand against the back of her neck.
"She wouldn't want to hear that." he laughed softly "she's pretty strong so i'm sure it's just a matter of time before she starts planning the worst for him."
"Are you ever going to tell her who it was?" Eliza asked before biting onto her nails, if Lynn found out it was Mariana who was associated with herself it could only go from bad to worse.
"Nah, to save her any more pain I just played dumb. But hey, this is the reason I'm calling you." he said as the sound of the door opening then closing.
"Oh? What's up?" she asked turning the television off.
Sighing softly, he said "Well, the WWE wants me to go on the road with them I'll only be gone for three maybe four months to start getting myself known backstage."
"Okay..." she said hesitantly
"And I just think it would be for the best if maybe we put a pause on what we have, you know?"
Shaking her head to grasp what he was saying she repeated "put a pause on what we have...Like break up and then expect me to just wait for you when you get back?"
"Something like that." he admitted.
"I'm sorry...I'm not going to be strung along like some lost puppy waiting for it's owner to come home. I understand you need to go on tour and that's cool but I'm not going to wait for you Roman. I'm sorry." her voice was strained as if the wall she had built around the day was finally going to come crashing down, letting the tears free flow in every direction.
"Eliza, come on. Wording it like that was not what I meant." he stopped as someone entered the room to speak to him. Eliza caught the 'you need to get off the phone, your sister needs you'
Before he could press his ear back to the phone to say his goodbyes, Eliza said "I can't promise I'll wait for you, Roman. When you get back to town call me." and with that she hung up the phone and threw it across the couch.
The gods couldn't give her a break, and instead of one thing it spiraled out of control to now her being alone, completely.