Chapter 37

Later that evening, Velvet was still sitting in the gang's hotel room, blankly reading through a magazine that she really wasn't reading at all. The whole entire time, she was thinking about Chris and the way he had come to her rescue during her near suicide attempt. The way that he refused to let her go, the way he held her in his strong arms afterwards and the way he assured her that everything would be all right, those thoughts alone formed a smile on the blonde's face. Not to mention the fun she had with him earlier that day.

"Chris really does love me like he says, I can't believe it's finally true." she told herself, dropping the magazine. "I have to find him."

But before she could leave, she heard the hall door closing, followed by the muffled voices of Alex and AJ. Curious, the blonde had on a smirk and decided to eavesdrop on the conversation, pressing her ear to the door.

In the other room…

"Alex, are you sure that's what you saw back there?" the tiny Diva asked.

"With our own two eyes, babe. Chris and I were headed to check up on Mickie, and lo and behold, we see her walking off to somewhere with Jericho of all people!" he revealed, to Velvet's surprise.

On her side of the room, her eyes widened and a surprised smile grew on her face.

"I don't get it, though! What would she ever want with him? And he's busy having this fixation with Punk, so what would he ever want with HER?" AJ asked.

"Hmm. Well I don't know Jericho personally, but watching old wrestling tapes from over the years, I've figured out that the dude's pretty manipulative and sneaky, not to mention a near genius. Maybe he's using that manipulation to charm her, y'know, take her under his spell, if you will." Shelley explained.

"That is so true. Kinda like when Bowser placed Princess Peach under that horrible spell in Super Mario Brothers." the brunette replied, distant.

"And that was bad." he agreed, shaking his head. Then, he broke into a smile. "Princess Peach is awesome."

Velvet made a confused face and rolled her eyes, from the other room.

"Alex, focus!" AJ cried. "Now look, maybe this thing with Jericho's a huge misunderstanding. Maybe they were just hanging out or something…I hope."

"Yeah! I mean, we're talking about one of our best friends here, we can't think the worst of her. Look, the main thing we have to do is to bring her and Chris back together, even if they don't think that it'll work." he replied.

Velvet scowled and furiously shook her head in disapproval.

"You're right, baby! So what's the plan here?" she asked.

"Tonight, we make the reservations for the cruise, tomorrow, we separately inform both Mickie and Chris about the situation, and tomorrow night, they have their own little surprise meeting, and bada bing, bada boom, they're on the road to love once again." explained Shelley.

From the other room, the Knockout looked flabbergasted. "Cruise? What cruise? Well, no, those two can't make up!" she exclaimed. "If she's really hanging out with Jericho, then I give her my consent to! With her out of the way, that leaves Sabin for me, so she's happy with Jericho, I'm happy with Sabin, everyone wins! And then finally…we'll be together again." she sighed happily, sliding down the door.

Nobody knew that she was right behind the door, so right when the door bursted open, Velvet was bumped forward and fell over, landing on her knees and hands. "OW!"

Alex and AJ looked down at her.

She looked up at them.

"…How much of that did you hear?" he asked slowly.

"…What?" she asked innocently. "What are you talking about, I never heard anything about the cruise—oops!" she covered her mouth.

The couple looked at one another before flatly replying, "You're not going."

"Aw come on, why not?" she pouted.

AJ helped her up. "Vel, let's be realistic here. It's just lethal to have both you and Mickie in any area together for a long period of time. After what happened at Alex's birthday party, I don't want a repeat of that happening again during the cruise."

"Yeah, and since it's on a ship, you two may begin some intense catfight resulting in one of us being thrown overboard and then choking off of that salty-ass water, most likely being me this time. So don't do it." Alex added.

Velvet took a seat on the edge of the bed. "But that's totally unfair, you guys! See, my leg's getting better every day, and I deserve to get out of this place every once in a while. In fact, I never get to go anywhere anymore, it's always me, Star magazine, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and the Oxygen network day in and day out!" she complained. "I want to go on this cruise, not only to see Chris, but to hang out with you guys! To sail the open seas, to have a good time!"

He sighed. "Ok, here's the deal. You can ride with us on our way to the ship, April and I board on, and then you call a cab and use that to get you back here. That way, you get out of the house for about 25 minutes, and you get a tad bit of fresh air! Sounds good?" he asked, smiling.

The Knockout had a pissed-off look on her face and threw her pillow in his face.

Alex frowned. "Rudeness. Look, you either ride with us or stay here watching reruns of your favorite show, Rock of Love Charm School. Take it or leave it."

"This—this is so unfair, I'm not even going there to start a fight with Mickie, I just want to see Chris again! He loves me and I love him, and I need to remind him of who he really wants to be with! Me!" the blonde exclaimed.

Exasperated, AJ and Alex sighed.

"Velvet, you just don't get it. We're trying to set Chris on this cruise with Mickie, because we know that they still want one another, and as their best friends, we are going to make this happen for them." April replied.

"And with you, Mickie, and Chris all in the same area, you know that shit's about to go down. All we want is a nice, peaceful, relaxing cruise for them, and you will NOT ruin it. Therefore, you are not going. Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" Shelley asked slowly.

"Using movie references now, Lex? Chris Tucker would be ashamed of you." Velvet smirked.

"I—you-GAH!" Alex snapped, hastily pacing around the room. "April, you talk to her, my headache's coming back."

The tiny Diva sat next to her and smiled sweetly. "Let's put this in a way that you'll understand. We—as in Alex and I—are trying to bring Chris and Mickie back together. If you are there, they will grow apart. We—Alex and I—don't want that to happen. So that is why you will be here, in this room, staying out of their business. As long as we don't see you there, everything will be fine. Are we clear?" she articulated.

"I'm not a baby, I understand." she muttered.

"Good." she replied, patting her knee. "Ok, Alex, we better start on those reservations now."

"Yeah, where's the number?" he asked once they headed out.

Alone once again, a coy smile grew on the blonde's face while she said, "So as long as they don't SEE me, I'm technically still allowed to go on the cruise. Awesome, so I get to join in on the festivities after all! Haha, this should be lots of fun."