Chapter 43
"I cannot believe he's going through with this," Lucy groaned. "I mean, it's a great storyline and the PPV twist is going to knock everyone dead, but he's taking a big risk."
Spanky nodded. "I feel you, Lucy. But you and I have known Paul long enough that he won't back out of a match unless he's dead or close to it."
"He's going to do permanent damage to that foot if he isn't careful. It wasn't enough that Paul was told to make an appearance on Raw awhile back when it was in Austin and they put him in a match, where he ended up severing a nerve in his foot jumping down from the turnbuckle. He was off again forever for that, except appearances here and there. I just wish he'd reconsider this."
"Me too, Luce, but we're dead in the middle of a storyline and the PPV is a little over a week away."
"Can't they change this somehow?" she asked worriedly.
"I doubt they'd scrap the whole thing now, but I'm sure they'll make some kind of modification."
"God, I hope so," Lucy sighed.
"Don't worry," Spanky patted her shoulder. "Things have a weird way of working out as far as Paul is concerned."
-----------------
No matter how many people reassured her that things would be fine at the PPV, especially since Paul had seen no actual ring action since his "battle" with Spanky, Lucy still couldn't push it out of her mind.
"He wouldn't agree to go through with it if he didn't know what he was doing, Lucy," Shelly pointed out when they chatted on the phone. "And if everyone else seems to be all right with it, well…I'm sure they'll modify it somehow. Hey, come on; we all know some of this stuff is scripted."
"That's just it, Shell," Lucy responded. "It's scripted in most cases, but Paul doing damage to himself just so the company can increase buyrates or whatnot is utterly ridiculous. Permanent damage to the point where he can't even walk a straight line is hardly scripted."
"Well, even the most clueless know Vince is about the almighty dollar," Shelly snorted. "But why do I have a feeling that this whole PPV thing isn't the only thing you're concerned about?"
"You got me. It isn't."
"So what's going on?"
"He's talking about us going to--in his words, by the way--'to the next higher level.' "
"Oh my God! By any chance, does he mean…..?"
"I'm guessing that. Yeah. At least 'pre engaged' in his book."
"Wow! He is serious. So what's the problem? You're not worried about getting ragged on more about your age difference, are you?"
"Not really. I figured a long time ago if that didn't bother him, then I wasn't going to care either, no matter how you and Owen had raked me through the coals with that one. No, I'm concerned about Paul's family."
"Why? His mom already likes you," Shelly said.
"Yeah, but I'm not so sure about the rest of the crew."
"I wouldn't worry about it, Lucy. What happens, happens. I don't think the man would have stood around this long if he cared what everyone else thought. He didn't seem that type from the first time I met him when he came to the studio up here. I'm sure he's had run ins with the relatives like us regular folks do."
Lucy couldn't help but chuckle. "You know, Shell, you are absolutely right. If he's talking about going to the next level, then so be it. What anyone else thinks….pfffffffft! I'm not going to give a damn from this moment onward."
"There you go! And keep me posted about the PPV stuff too."
"Why? You have Spanky for that."
"Yeah," Shelly agreed, "but he only tells me about the boring stuff."
