A/N: Thanks for the reviews for this one. I really do love this story and I can't wait to make it progress more, but baby steps I guess. I really hope you like this chapter, it was really hard to restrain myself in certain places, but I think I did okay. If you want, please review, they really help me write and the make my day, so leave one! :P
"So this place is nice."
Chris felt awkward and he couldn't quite explain why he felt awkward. Sure, he could throw out thoughts like, "You're out with your ex-girlfriend sitting across from you" or "I was the one that took her virginity" but those didn't really explain anything. Those things were in the past, they were no longer relevant to today. It was just…there was some strange energy going around this table and he couldn't put his finger on why exactly he felt that way, but feel it he did. He smiled a little over at Stephanie and she smiled back.
"It is nice," Chris told her, nodding his head as they all looked around. They probably looked like a bunch of weirdos, heads swiveling in every direction.
"Yeah," Stephanie said, then broke out of her tongue-tiedness. "So, how did you guys meet?"
Chris looked over at Jessica and smiled. He really enjoyed being with her. He thought they were good together and he did see a future with her. They were really compatible and liked many of the same things. She was also his type, Stephanie was the one that was atypical to what he'd liked actually. After her, all the women he'd been attracted to had been blonde and very petite. That would describe Jessica to a tee. Actually, he'd been thinking about asking her the big question rather soon.
"Well, I knew a few wrestlers," Jessica started. "And they were in town and invited me out to a bar and so I went because I lived in Minnesota and had nothing better to do."
Stephanie laughed, "So you lived there, does that mean you two live together now?"
"Yeah, we do," Chris said and he looked over at Stephanie to see if there was a reaction. He didn't want to hurt her feelings. He didn't even know if he was hurting her feelings with any of this. She seemed okay, but the two of them had never really discussed their future because deep down they both knew that the future was this big uncertain thing. Surely, though, she must have had thoughts of them moving in together or getting married or something to that affect.
"Oh, that's cool."
"I'm trying to get this one to move in with me, but she's stubborn," Tim said, jerking his thumb towards Stephanie.
Stephanie rolled her eyes and then grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers together, a move that did not go unnoticed by Chris. There was such an ease about the two of them. "I like my independence, sue me. I spent so much time being under my father's thumb that you can't blame me for wanting some freedom right now."
"See what I have to put up with," Tim said good-naturedly. "Was she like this when she was a teenager?"
"Yeah," Chris said fondly, glancing over at Stephanie and even though she was older now, there were still traces of that girl he loved so much that just knowing he'd be in her presence was enough to put a smile on his face.
"Good to know I'm not corrupting her then," Tim laughed, squeezing her hand.
"So back to you guys, you went out some place…" Stephanie said, prompting Jessica to continue.
"Well, this big doofus was there and he and another wrestler were like competing over me," Jessica laughed, "but I'm guessing Chris won that pissing contest because here we are. We just really hit it off."
"She almost knows as much about metal music as I do!" Chris said excitedly. "I've never been able to have a discussion about metal music with any of my other girlfriends, nothing like what I can talk to this girl about."
"Well maybe the other girls just didn't care for metal music," Stephanie said, implying herself and Chris knew it.
He turned to her, "Well, it's not to say that it was a bad thing or anything that they couldn't, I'm just saying that it's pretty cool right now that I can have an in-depth discussion about it, that's all. All my girlfriends have been great in some way or another."
"Hey!" Jessica said, slapping him on the arm.
"I'm just saying," Chris said, not even glancing at Jessica, his eyes still trained right on Stephanie. "I'm just saying that you know, everyone is unique and just because two people have something in common doesn't mean that I wasn't in tune with other girlfriends or whatever."
"Yeah," Stephanie said.
"So how did you guys meet?" Chris asked, changing the subject quickly because he could see Tim and Jessica just staring at them and wondering what was going on. He'd never told anyone about Stephanie. Jessica knew about his ex-girlfriends, but he'd never specifically mentioned Stephanie. There was that age difference still and people might thing he was some kind of vulture, preying on teenagers or something when it was nothing like that.
"College," Stephanie said, "you know how it goes. We had a class together, we got partnered up for some project and well, we really kind of hit it off and started hanging out when the project was over and then we just kind of fell into a relationship with one another. It was very gradual."
"But she just fell for the charm," Tim said sleazily.
"Yeah, or I was completely desperate," Stephanie said, "one or the other."
"Oh yeah, one or the other," Tim nodded as Stephanie leaned forward to give him a peck on the lips.
"So what was Chris like back in the day?" Jessica asked.
"How long have you two known each other?" Stephanie countered with her own question.
"Not even really a year yet," Jessica answered.
"Oh, well then, you don't know everything about him yet. He was a really big dork back then, I mean, he'd have to be to hang out with someone who was so much younger than he was, right, Chris?" she said teasingly. There was a gleam in her eye that he recognized and it warmed him inside. There was another little part of Stephanie that hadn't changed.
"I was not…I hung out with Shane too," Chris said, "you just loved to tag along with us."
"Yeah, I confess, I did. But Tim, you know how everyone and their mother hits on me today?" she said, turning to her boyfriend.
"Yeah, unfortunately, and unfortunately they're all usually bigger than me so when I tell them to cut it out, they pretty much laugh in my face and tell me to get lost and suddenly I'm transported back to grade school."
"Well, it was worse back then," Stephanie explained. "Wrestling was a lot…more of a free-for-all back then and the older guys had no problem hitting on me and they tried to, a lot, even the older ones."
"That's disgusting," Jessica piped in.
"Yeah, it was really scary sometimes when you'd get caught in a corner and some forty-year-old is trying to ask you back to his hotel room, like I would just go there and sleep with someone so they could get higher in the company. When Chris showed up, he was only a little bit older than I was and really sweet and he kind of looked out for me whenever I came around."
"That is so sweet," Jessica said, banding her arm around Chris. "So he like protected you from those guys?"
"Yeah, he did, he was a real friend," she said meaningfully.
"So are you glad he's back?"
"I am," Stephanie nodded. "It'll be nice to have my old friend back. Maybe we can hang out like we used to, without me being such a baby of course. I swear, I don't know how you put up with me half the time you were here before, I must've been so childish."
"You weren't childish at all, you were really mature," he told her.
"Yeah, right, I look back at how I used to be and I just cringe," Stephanie said, shaking her head. She didn't know why Chris had fallen in love with that version of herself. She had been so immature. She thought she was mature at the time, but now she was mature. Maybe it was a good thing Chris left when he did, before he saw that she was just a kid trying to be an adult when she really wasn't one.
"You weren't bad at all, give yourself some credit."
"I bet you were awesome," Tim said.
"Yeah, I wish," Stephanie laughed. "So what line of work are you in, Jessica?"
"I'm just in marketing, very boring," Jessica said. "I don't live the kind of lives you guys lead. Not that I'm too envious. I'm not much of a traveler, this one practically has to force me to go with him sometimes. I guess I'm really more of a homebody."
Stephanie found it hard that Chris would want someone who wasn't as apt to travel as he was. When he'd been gone, she knew that he wasn't going to be celibate, hell, she hadn't been celibate so she wouldn't have judged him, but she'd always pictured him with some jet-setting beauty type, someone who shared his love of travel. Or someone exotic, someone he'd met in some foreign country he wrestled in. Like maybe he'd seen someone in the audience who caught his eye and he just had to know who it was and followed them after the show. But maybe he was just attracted to something that wasn't so him. She wondered what he pictured her with, if it was someone like Tim or someone completely different.
Chris had seen her with someone like Tim, but maybe not so…white-collar. He knew she'd like someone funny and spontaneous as this guy seemed to be, but he was also so grounded and that wasn't something he expected. When he'd thought of Stephanie being with another guy, a guy that wasn't him, he saw her with someone who was just ready to take on the world, ready to conquer whatever came in his path. Maybe Tim was like that, but with him sitting there in his polo shirt and khakis, it seemed like Tim was the kind of guy that Vince would've introduced her too and told her that he was a very "nice boy" and that he was someone that he'd like to see her with.
"I don't think I could ever sit at home," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "That's why I don't think I'll ever have kids. Sit at home for nine months and do nothing but wait for a kid to pop out, no thanks. I have to be out there you know, just totally out there."
"The woman I love, ladies and gentlemen," Tim joked.
"Shut up, I guess I'm just a wandering spirit, you know."
"I know what you mean," Chris said. "Obviously, since I've been all over the world wrestling."
"Yeah, you do know what I mean," Stephanie said. "Not that there's anything wrong with being someone who likes to stay at home, I hope you don't think I'm trying to knock you or anything, Jessica."
"No, of course not, I have to hear it from Chris all the time about going places and seeing things. Some people are just content with where they are and I like to think that I'm one of those people, you know?"
"Yeah, I get that," Stephanie nodded, though she really didn't. The band for the evening started their set and Stephanie looked eagerly towards the stage and the dance floor set up in the middle of the restaurant. "Timmy…"
"I'll dance with you later, Steph," he said, "I have to get into the dancing vibe, you know what I mean?"
Stephanie sighed, but Chris spoke up, "I'll dance with you if you want, if that's okay with your boyfriend?"
"Yeah, fine with me," Tim shrugged. "Saves me from having to look like an idiot out there."
"Is that okay with you, Jessica?" Stephanie asked.
"Sure, no problems," Jessica smiled. "You guys should have a little alone time to catch up and everything since it seems like you guys were really great friends. You guys should recapture that."
Stephanie laughed, "Yeah, not sure about that, but come on, Chris, let's get our groove on."
"Don't ever say that again," he said, standing up and offering his hand to her. She took it gratefully as he led her over to the dance floor, where a few other couples were dancing. The band started to play a slow song and Chris chuckled. "Of course they would start that up right when we coming onto the floor."
Stephanie shook her head and stepped closer to Chris. She tentatively put her arms around Chris. "Yeah, just our luck."
"Come on, Steph, you can touch me, you know, you've pretty much seen everything there is to see about me, right?"
"My memory is hazy, sue me," Stephanie joked.
"I can give you a refresher course."
"I'm thinking the people sitting over there would take offense to that, just a little," he said as he pulled her tighter against him, making her have to band her arms around her neck even more. "Tim seems like a nice guy."
"Likewise with Jessica," Stephanie said as they fell into a silence as they continued to sway with the music. "She's a really nice girl, sounds serious with you two, what with the whole moving in together thing."
"Yeah, we are pretty serious. I've been thinking about proposing to her actually, just thinking about it, nothing set in stone or anything," Chris said quickly, though he knew not why he had to add that.
"That's nice," Stephanie said.
"You think so?"
"Well, I don't know her that well, but if you're happy with her, then you should do it."
"Yeah, I guess I'm just waiting for a sign, you know, something that tells me I'm supposed to be with her forever."
"You shouldn't believe in signs, Chris, you should just believe in yourself."
"Thanks for the advice, oh wise one," he said, sticking his tongue out at her.
"That's what I'm here for."
"I've really missed you, you know," he told her. "I wasn't lying when I said that before. Even if we're just friends now, I really could use you back in my life."
"Then consider me back in."