Dear Diary,
Why won't he go away? Paul just won't leave me alone after I told him about Joe and I don't like it, I want to be left alone to bury myself in my own misery if I so desire but it's hard to do when he's around.
Stephanie was unable to finish her diary entry as Paul got up from his seat on the couch and walked over to her ripping the phone out of her hands and throwing it onto the couch behind him so she couldn't fight him for it.
Turning around to face him Stephanie was angry, "what the hell do you think you're doing? That's my phone you just ripped out of my hands and I was in the middle of important business I will have you know."
Paul was undeterred by her anger, "yeah well whenever things get difficult you bury yourself in your phone so I'm removing the offending object so you can't bury your head in the sand and you have to face this thing head on."
"I am not burying my head in the sand, I was busy and you and your big nose just had to interrupt and stop me from doing my work."
He snorted, "sure, of course you were. I truthfully don't know what you were doing but I'm confident it wasn't work. We need to talk about last night though."
Shaking her head she was quick to dismiss the idea, "no we don't." The last thing she wanted to do now was to discuss what had happened between them the night before.
Frowning he shook his head, "you can't bury your head in the sand, we're meant to be playing husband and wife on TV tonight and we really need to clear the air and make sure we're on the same page so we actually look like a married couple and not a couple of people who can barely stand to be in the same room together."
"Paul, please don't do this, not now."
Squeezing her eyes tightly shut Stephanie tried blocking out the images of last night, the smell of his aftershave as he stood so close to her and the touch of his hands on her shoulders, oh God his hands were on her shoulders and she could feel the heat through her top.
Placing his hands on her shoulders Paul squeezed them gently, "I think we need to do it now so I'm going to lay my cards on the table. Steph I really like you, I think you're a beautiful, smart, funny woman and I know you're technically my boss and everything but I think I'm falling for you."
She stood there listening to everything he had to say and as soon as paused for breath she started beating his chest with her fists, "shut up, stop talking, just shut up." As she beat his chest with her fists the tears started flowing down her cheeks.
He moved his hands from her shoulders and just let her beat his chest, if it was going to help her get it out he was happy to take the punishment because she wasn't hurting him.
Waiting until the speed of her hits slowed down he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to his body to try and comfort her, "shhhh, it's okay."
Keeping her hands between them she buried her face in his chest.
When her tears dried up she slowly pulled away from him keeping her eyes on the ground, "sorry. You can leave now."
Sighing heavily Paul ran a hand through his hair, "stop pushing me away Steph. If you don't see me as boyfriend material then just tell me and I'll back off and we'll just be friends but talk to me, stop pushing me away and stop putting on a front that is clearly not you."
Wiping at her cheeks she stared at his face, his face was so honest, so open, "we can't be friends Paul."
He felt his heart breaking as she said those words and unbeknownst to him her heart was breaking too, "oh I see. Will we still be able to work together or should I speak to your Dad about changing the storyline?"
"No it's okay, I can work with you if you think you can work with me."
Nodding his head, "I can work with you. If you need me you know where I am, I'll always be here for you if you decide that we can be friends again."
Paul then walked out of her locker room and headed straight for his own to lick his wounds.
Once he had left the room Stephanie stood there staring at the door he had just left through as more tears fell.
Elsewhere in the arena Vince was in his office hard at work on the script for the evening when there was a knock at the door, "come in."
"Oh I'm sorry to bother you Mr McMahon, I'll come back later."
Lifting his head he placed his glasses on the desk and sat back in his chair motioning to the seat across from him, "no it's okay Joanie, what can I do for you?"
Taking a seat Joanie looked around nervously, "ummm I don't know how to say this. You know I am not one who normally complains but I feel that I just couldn't let this pass without it being brought to your attention. I had a run in with Stephanie about fifteen minutes ago and she said some not so nice things to me."
He knew his daughter was not enamoured with Joanie but this was going a little far, "what did she say to you Joanie?"
"She said I was an ugly bitch and that the only reason I had a job was because I was a circus freak."
"She what?" To say Vince was shocked was understatement of the century, "are you sure it was aimed at you and not somebody else? Or maybe it was a joke?"
Shaking her head she was quick to dismiss that idea, "no sir, she was definitely talking to me and by the look on her face she was not joking either. I don't know what I did to upset her or get on her bad side."
"I'm sure you didn't do anything, I'm sure she was just having a bad day but leave this with me and I will take care of it. Don't worry though, just because she is my daughter it does not mean I will tolerate this sort of behaviour any more than I would from anybody else"
Standing up Joanie smiled softly, "thank you Vince and I'm sorry for bothering you."
Waving his hand dismissively he turned his attention back to his papers waiting for her to leave the room.
As soon as she left the room a smirk broke out on Joanie's face, that was far too easy.
After Joanie had left the room Vince sat in his office contemplating the best way to approach it with his daughter but there was no right way so standing up from his chair he stalked out of his office in search of her.