CHAPTER 55:
The next morning, Nikki awoke to see that Johnnie was still asleep next to her on his side. She had slept with a long pillow between them in order to protect her growing belly from possibly getting kicked. She slowly sat up and looked at the clock on the wall which read 7:42am meaning she had slept for nearly 10 hours. She quietly yawned as she exited the bed and walked over onto Johnnie's side to place him in the center of the bed.
Nikki placed two long pillows around him to secure him, kissing his forehead before she made her way down the hallway. She knew that John wouldn't be there at this time since he usually got up at 6 to be in his personal gym that he had downstairs. Nikki slowly made the long trek down the staircase and was surprised to see John was up in the kitchen.
"John? What are you doing here?" Nikki asked. John chuckled. "Well it is my house" he said as he placed his newspaper down. "And a good morning to you too." Nikki went to take a seat from across him. "Good morning John" she said. "And yes I remember that this is your house. You got it for me nearly 3 years ago." John smiled. "Would you like something to eat?" he asked. "Sure" said Nikki. "I'm still kind of groggy but yes the baby and I could use something." John nodded as he got up and went to open the fridge. "Do you still like fruit salads? I know that now that you're pregnant again and everything I just wanted to make sure."
"Yes John I still like fruit salads" Nikki said as she smiled. John took out a precut slice of watermelon, a papaya, a small pineapple, a kiwi and 6 strawberries. "We'll share this ok?" he said. "Sure" Nikki said as she smiled. "So Johnnie is still sleeping?" John asked as he began to prepare their breakfast. "Yes" said Nikki. "I left him on the bed."
"You left him on the bed?" John asked surprised. "Yeah" said Nikki. "I always do that and I surround him with pillows so he doesn't fall." John nodded as he continued cutting fruit. Nikki sat at the barstool and watched her former fiancé cook for her. While she was still thinking about the pain from Randy and Seth, she was thinking about the happiness John had once brought her.
"Do you remember the day when you first asked me out for a date?" Nikki asked while she continued staring at his backside. John immediately stopped cutting their fruit. This was because he was cut off by her sudden question. "Is there something wrong?" Nikki asked. "No-no" said John as he resumed cutting. "I remember it too like it was yesterday."
July 2nd, 2012.
Nikki was standing backstage with her sister Brie who was waiting for Bryan to finish his match which was closing the show. "Any minute now sis" said Brie. "Oh have a little patience Brie" said Nikki. "I do" said Brie as she kept staring down the hall. "I just want him to come out ok." "He will" said Nikki. "But isn't he clashing up against Phil and John tonight?" asked Brie. "Well he has Chris Jericho as partner right?" said Nikki. "Yeah but he told me that AJ was going to do something rather…ominous" said Brie. "What the hell does that even mean?" asked Nikki. But before Brie could answer, Bryan approached them. "Hey baby" said Brie as they kissed. "How was it?"
"What do you mean how was it?" asked Bryan. "Did you not just see what AJ did out there? Man you've gotta thank Mark and Jane for writing her character to be bold enough to screw with our entire match like that. The girl practically set up a table and everything and then she planted one on Phil before pushing him on me, causing us to both crash through it! It was hella crazy! But also hella good!" "Interesting" Brie said. "And no baby we didn't. They didn't give us a mini TV like we asked." "No worries, we can watch it over again later" said Bryan.
"You two are so cute" said Nikki. "Thank you" said Bryan. "I'll take that as a compliment." Suddenly John appeared around the corner. He was holding an ice cold water bottle in one hand and his phone with the other. He had a white towel around his neck when he approached them. "Hey John?" Brie said confusingly. "Hello you guys" John said. "Hey uh Stephanie can we talk?" he asked. "Me? You wanna talk to me?" asked Nikki. "Sure" said John. "Come on." He motioned for her to follow him. "Behave you two" Brie teased and Nikki looked back at Brie, sticking her tongue out at her. The two made it inside of the cafeteria where he pulled out a chair for her. "Thanks" she said. "So what is it that you wanna talk about?"
He looked at her with those blue eyes as his smile widened. "I…uh…wow I guess I'm a bit nervous" he said. "I haven't done this in a while." "It's ok. Take your time" said Nikki. "Stephanie…I was wondering if you would like to go out with me some time" said John. Nikki smiled. "Sure John. I'd like that" she said. "Ok then well um great" John said as he accidently knocked over his water bottle. "Why are you so nervous for?" Nikki asked as she continued to smile. "I…" John trailed off. "It's ok. I'll get it" Nikki said as she stood up to get his bottle. "Here you go" she said as she handed him the bottle. "Thank you" said John as he took it from her. "And….here's…my…number" Nikki said as she reached into her front pocket and pulled out a black ink pen. She bent over and gently flipped over John's right hand to write her cellphone number.
"There you go" she said sweetly. "Since I know that you're left-handed, I wrote it on your non dominant hand." "How'd you know I was a lefty?" John asked as he smirked. "I pay very close attention to these things" Nikki said playfully. "Besides you're not the only one around here who has a crush." As she finished writing, she closed his hand. "You're hands are so big" she said. "Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace are you flirting with me?" John asked as he smirked. "I don't know John Felix-Anthony Cena Jr. Why don't you open your hand and find out?" Nikki said alluringly as she walked away. John quickly opened up his hand to see that Nikki had left her number in his hand alongside 2 hearts that in closed the number.
"By the way" she said from afar. "You can call me Nicole." John continued watching her as she sashayed away in the black and white 6 inch heels she loved so much. How tightly fitted her black spandex pants had fight her oh so well and that maroon crop top. It was quite a sight for anyone to see, especially for John. He continued smiling as she pulled out his phone and carefully added her into his contacts list.
"Yes I remember" said John as he walked over to table to sit Nikki's plate down in front of her. "I remember it like it was yesterday." "Me too" said Nikki. "Those pants I was wearing that day were way too tight. They were like 3 sizes too small." "Oh trust me I remember" said John. "Of course you do sicko!" Nikki teased. "You were totally checking me out." "To be honest I've been checking you out since that June…shortly after my divorce." "That's interesting" said Nikki. "I didn't think so." "Yeah I knew that I was interested in you for a while that year" said John. "But um of course I was still married and even though my marriage honestly fell apart long before then, I still just knew, you know?"
"I get it" said Nikki as she took a bite of pineapple. "This is really good John. It's so fresh. It's just how I remember you making it for me." "You're welcome" John said as he smiled. He got up from the table. "You're going to get Johnnie?" asked Nikki. "Yes" said John. "It's after 8 and that's when I usually get him up." Nikki nodded as she remembered that she needed to check her phone to see if Randy had sent her anything. Between the time she had fallen asleep and up until then she had completely forgotten about him.
"Shit!" she hissed as she got up from the table. She went into the guest room, to find John talking to Johnnie who was groggy. At that time, she carefully removed her phone from under her pillow to check her messages and she was not surprised to see that they were mostly from Randy. 20 missed calls, 10 voice messages and 11 text messages. There was also 2 missed calls from her mother as well as one voice message and 1 text from her. The only one she bothered to open was from Jojo:
"Nikki hey it's me. I'm just checking 2 C if everything is alright with you. I would like u 2 give me a call whenever possible."
The second one Nikki decided to reply to her mother:
"Nikki, are you alright?" You missed your flight last night. Please call me back."
"Mom, I'm fine. I just decided to stay a little while longer with John."
"Why are you still with John?"
"Mom…seriously?"
"YES SERIOUSLY -_-"
"Mom…."
"Nicole why the heck you couldn't tell me last night? I was so worried about you and so is Brie. Please try to catch a flight back as soon as possible. I know you're 32 and not 16 years-old anymore but you're always be my little girl and it still worried me that when you didn't respond to any of my messages."
"I'm sorry mom. You're right I should have informed you and the next time I will :-)"
"Ok because Randy has even asked me about you."
"He did?"
"Yes. He called me last night. We were very worried about you. What time you are gonna get back here?"
"Like 6-7pm."
"Ok good doll. I'll see you later ok. I love you and kiss the boys for me."
"I will and love you too mom."
"Is everything alright Nicole?" John asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something." "Or something" Nikki said as she turned off her phone. "Come on, let's eat. I've gotta get ready to bring Johnnie back home with me." "Are you bringing back with you over to Randy's place?" asked John. "No" said Nikki. "I'm going back to my mom's in Scottsdale." John nodded as the three made their way back downstairs. The whole time Nikki knew that Randy was going to be extremely pissed at her so she figured that perhaps maybe she could buy herself some time.
"So when would you like to go?" John asked as he sat Johnnie in a highchair. "Noon" said Nikki as she sat down to resume eating her breakfast. "Would you like some water, milk, OJ?" asked John. "Some milk would be nice" said Nikki. She turned her focus to her son. "Hi sweetie" she said. "Good morning." Johnnie laughed as he continued to suck on his pacifier. John walked back over and sat a glass of milk in front of Nikki and a Sippy cup in front of Johnnie. "Thank you" said Nikki. "You're welcome" said John as he sat down. He began to slowly feed their son some of his fruit after taking out his pacifier.
"So I never did get to ask you this" he said. "How are things going between you and Orton?" Nikki quickly swallowed her piece of fruit as she became caught off guard at his question. She could have told him what was really going on between them but she knew that there was a possibility that Randy's unstable anger could have a consequence on John if she wasn't careful. She didn't want to risk his life even though she and her unborn son are constantly in danger. It seemed foolish to an outsider looking in but in reality it is never really all that easy for someone to escape such a relationship.
"Nikki?" John asked. "Yes?" Nikki said. "I said how are things going between you and Randy?" John asked. "Oh…um…great" Nikki said quickly. "Are you sure?" asked John. "Because you seem kind of jumpy." "Well…I'm um…" said Nikki. "You know what? I won't ask you anymore about him ok?" John said understandably. "After all it really isn't my business isn't it?" Nikki took somewhat of a sigh of relief on the inside but of course whatever little comfort she had from that sigh quickly dwindled as she remembered that Randy had went through her phone and knows the secret she has on it as well as the fact that she was surely going to get it once she came back home. And then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Hey do you know where I could get a hold of someone's medical records?" she asked. "Um Nicole what kind of question is that?" asked John. Nikki briefly paused before resuming. "I…I was only asking" she said. "But yes I'm just a little bit curious as to how can I have access to one's medical records?" "Well for starters who are you trying to look up?" asked John. Johnnie started fussing again before Nikki could answer. "I think he needs a changing" said John. "Ok but before we do that…I'm actually looking for just an answer" said Nikki. "Just an answer? What do you mean?" asked John. "Well it doesn't have to be anyone specific, but like to know how one could look up another's records."
"Well you're going to need to first know their name and place of birth, date of birth stuff like that" said John. Johnnie then started to cry, causing John to stand up. "I'll be right back" he said. "He really needs a changing." With that John removed Johnnie from his highchair and carried him away, leaving Nikki alone to ponder her thoughts. She knew exactly what she was going to do now. And that was to leave Randy, problem was she knew that it wouldn't happen so easily.
A/N: Thanks to all of your reviews so far :-) As a heads up in the next chapter Nikki is going to have a very dark experience and you may skip it if you wish to.
