All of the people in this story are owned by Vince McMahon and the WWF, except for Melanie, Uncle Wes, and Michael.
If you would like to use my story, please ask me first.
Please review, I love feedback! Constructive criticism is fine, but no flames please.
Chapter 2: Secrets
"Mel, is that you?" Matt asked, a wide grin breaking across his face.
"In the flesh," she said happily, spreading her arms out to give him a hug. Matt caught her up in a big bear hug and spun her around.
"You look great," Matt said, finally releasing Melanie. Amy watched the scene guardedly, her arms folded across her chest. Matt turned to Amy and linked his fingers through hers.
"Melanie, this is Amy, my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you," Melanie said, shaking her hand. Amy smiled warmly and nodded.
"Well, I'll leave you all to get reacquainted," Vince said, starting to leave. Jeff quirked an eyebrow, excused himself, and walked briskly over to Vince.
"How did you know that we're all friends?" Jeff asked suspiciously.
"Melanie told me you were all friends in high school."
"Oh," Jeff said, a bit relieved.
"Why, what's wrong?" Do you have a problem with Melanie being your manager?" Vince asked.
Jeff shrugged, "I don't know yet." Amy, Matt and Melanie walked over to Jeff and Vince.
"So, how are the creative writers breaking us up?" Matt asked curiously. Looking uncomfortable, Vince glanced at his watch and said, "You should all get your scripts within the hour. Oh, sorry about what happened at your house. I hope the police find out who did it," he said with a wave as he walked off. Matt winced inwardly. *Oh, man, I'm in hot water now.* Puzzled, Amy looked at Matt and Jeff.
"What's he talking about?" Amy asked, worry filling her gaze. "What happened to your house?"
"You didn't tell her man?" Jeff asked in surprise. Starting to feel like a fool, Amy looked from Matt to Jeff and back again.
"Tell me what ?" she asked. Sensing they needed some time alone, Jeff cocked his head to the side, and motioned for he and Melanie to leave.
Jeff cleared his voice, "Uh, we'll see you guys in a bit, okay?"
Amy nodded distractedly, twirling a lock of curly, red hair around her finger.
He sighed, "I didn't want you worrying about it, so".. his voice trailed off. "All those power outages we'd been having at the house- is because someone cut our wire.
Amy's eyes widened, "Your telephone wire?"
Matt nodded, "This is the fourth time it's happened.
Amy gasped, trying to process everything that just happened in the past few minutes. Watching her face, Matt was beginning to realize that he had done more harm than good by not telling her.
"Why didn't you tell me? I mean, what bothers me, no hurts me the most, is that even Vince knew before I did. Jeff is like a brother to me and your more than that to me, but your still one of my best friends. What I'm trying to say, is I don't want to be the last to know, okay," she said intently, as she covered his hand with both of her own.
Matt nodded. "I realize that I made things worse by not telling you. That stressed you out more than if I hadn't told you. I imagine you felt pretty foolish too," he said thoughtfully. She nodded, smiling slightly.
"I think we need to be more open about communication," Matt said firmly.
"I whole heartedly agree.
"Here are your scripts for the show tonight guys," Shane said.
Meanwhile:
"So," Jeff said uncomfortably.
"Look, I know your not comfortable with me here, but I needed to be someplace where I felt safe, warm"..
"What do you mean," Jeff said looking at her sharply. "Is a criminal stalking you or something?" he demanded.
"No," she said, laughing. "Next to my family and Greg, you and Matt have always been the people I feel most at home with. I came here to start new, fresh"..
Jeff interrupted her, "Oh, did Greg get transferred here?"
"No, Greg was killed in a boating accident, while on duty."
"Melanie, oh man, I'm so sorry," Jeff said reaching for her. Melanie skillfully managed to move out of Jeff's reach. "It's okay, it's not your fault. He's been dead for 2 months now," she said, her voice breaking.
"Why didn't you call us? You know we would have been there for you," Jeff said, chiding her.
"I knew you had busy schedules and were well on your way to climbing the WWF ladder of success, and I didn't want to put more on your shoulders, figuratively speaking," she said with a small smile.
He put an arm around her. "You could never be a burden to us Mellie," he said affectionately.
"Good," she said, taking a deep breath, "because I'm pregnant with Greg's baby."
As Jeff and Melanie walked back to the verandah, they heard Matt say, "I should have known something was up, by the way Vince responded to my question about the story lines."
"We'll talk more about this later," Jeff said to Melanie as he tried to regain his composure.
"What's up?" Jeff said casually when they reached the verandah.
"Vince has Amy as my manager, along with keeping the story line of us being girlfriend and boyfriend." Melanie looked at Matt in confusion.
"Since we're dating in real life, Vince thought it would be easier to just put that into the story lines," Matt explained.
"But, we break up with you. Amy's going to come out looking like the bad guy in this. The whole thing is cockeyed. Take a look at the script," Matt said handing it to Jeff. Frowning, Jeff skimmed the script.
"Yeah, you're right, this bites."
"Stephanie being Vince's daughter and all, maybe she wouldn't mind helping us by trying to get the writers to change the script," Amy suggested hopefully.
"Oh, I'm sure she's got pull alright, but chances are, she helped write this," Jeff said pointedly, poking at the paper with his finger.
"Well, maybe we should just roll with it and see how it goes," Matt suggested. The others nodded in agreement. *Whew, tonight should be interesting,* Matt thought nervously.
Right before the match:
As the Hardys and Amy stood at the top of the ramp, Amy did not feel like smiling. *Darn it, I like working with both Matt and Jeff, I'm comfortable with them!* She thought angrily. As the roar of the crowd throbbed in her ears, Amy turned her attention to the many signs the fans were holding up. One in particular caught her eye: "Matt and Lita: is it the real deal or a storyline?"
"The real deal," Amy shouted, to the young, excited girl, with a smile. The young teen's mouth dropped open, but composing herself, she waved to Amy, grinning from ear-to-ear. Amy waved back.
"Turning to the guy next to her," the girl asked excitedly, "Did you see that? She really is involved with Matt and she waved to me! Isn't that like so cool!" the girl said, jumping up and down.
"Yeah, just peachy," he said sourly. "I'm sure you'll get a kick out of seeing me though, Amy dear," he said menacingly.
*This is it,* Amy thought taking a deep breath. They waited in the ring for their opponent's music to come on. The Dudley's music blasted on and Devon, Bubba and Spike raced down the ramp. Just as Jeff was getting ready to fight Devon, Amy stepped into the ring and took the mic from Lillian.
"Okay, Jeff, I gotta say this, your like a little brother to me, but your cramping my style. I mean," Amy emphasized, rolling her eyes, "Matt and I never have a moment to ourselves. What I'm trying to say is we want you to stay out of our lives in and out of the ring. Get a girlfriend, get , get a best friend, or better yet, get a life. I don't care, whatever floats your boat," she said coldly, crossing her arms. Amy's throat tightened up, *I can't believe I'm doing this, I love Jeff with all my heart!* she thought. Jeff looked as though he'd been stabbed through the heart.
"Is this true Matt?" Jeff asked softly. Unable to look him in the eyes, Matt hung his head in shame. "Fine, if that's what you want," he said quietly, with finality. Jeff started to walk away from Matt, but at the last minute he whirled around to face Amy, "Amy, you've been controlling him ever since you guys started dating. A puppet with all the strings attached," Jeff said bitterly. He looked towards Matt, "Matt, she has you whipped. You should have dumped her like spoiled meat a long time ago." Jeff turned around and walked away
"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Amy said to his retreating form, with her hands on her hips.
"Coward," Jeff threw over his shoulder as he jumped off the apron.
Handing the mic back to Lillian, Amy grabbed Matt's hand and said," Come on Matt, let's break this joint." The crowd, who had been silent the whole time, started chanting Jeff's name and booing Amy and Matt. Some of the fans even went so far as to throw their Matt and Lita signs onto the entrance/exit ramp. That's when Amy saw her, the same girl that had been so excited to find out that the Matt/Lita romance was more than just a story line, now looked crestfallen. Amy broke away from Matt and ran up to the girl. "Storyline," Amy said with a grin, pointing to the sign. She raced back to Matt, and feeling slightly better, laced her fingers through Matt's.
"Thank you!" the teenage girl shouted to Amy. Amy nodded to her and smiled.
"What was that all about?" Matt asked, curious.
"Oh, just a little bit of fan interaction, that's all," Amy said with a smile.
They made their way back to the locker room and found Jeff there, just pulling his team extreme shirt off. Startled, Jeff looked up, surprise in his eyes. "That sucked," Amy said bluntly.
"Tell me about it, especially when you're on the receiving end."
Tears filled Amy's eyes. She ran to Jeff and hugged him tightly.
"Oh, Jeff, I'm sorry."
"Hon," he said, putting his arms around her, "I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything. I know you didn't mean anything you said out there."
"I know, but I felt so bad saying all that garbage to you. I would never say any of that junk to you."
"Yeah, I don't like the fact that they made me like her whipping boy either. I'm the puppet and she's the one controlling all the strings. That's humiliating," Matt said in disgust.
"Not to mention, pretty one-sided. I wouldn't call that a fair relationship," Amy said gravely. "What should we do, try to convince the writers to put us back together?"
"No, the writers won't do it, it's too soon. As long as they don't do anything extreme with us, I'll go along with it, for now," Matt warned.
Just as if they were in the ring, Matt, Jeff and Amy lightly touched their knuckles together.
"Amy," Matt asked casually, "Are you very tired?"
"No, not really, why?"
"Meet me on the verandah in thirty minutes, " he said mysteriously.
Amy raised an eyebrow, "I wonder what he's up to."
"Who knows, but I bet you're dying to find out," Jeff said with a grin.
"You know I am!" Amy said excitedly, bolting for the door. "See ya later Jeff!" Amy tossed over her shoulder.
"Have fun Amy-girl," Jeff said, chuckling to himself.
"Ooh, looking good stud muffin!" Startled, Jeff turned around in surprise.
"I'm kidding," Nora reassured him, laughing. "Though you're not hard on the eyes, that's for sure," Nora said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"You know, I really should put my shirt on," he said distractedly, his lips inching ever closer to hers. "Aw, the heck with the shirt," Jeff said, tossing it on the bench, as he wrapped his arms around Nora's waist. Pulling her closer, his lips gently met hers when Jay and Adam walked in.
"Aw, look at the two love birds," they teased. Jeff released Nora and rolled his eyes. Nora blushed furiously.
"Dude, we heard about your girlfriend, and the fact that she's pregnant," Jay said.
Nora looked up at Jeff, a mix of confusion and disbelief on her face, "What are they talking about?"
Without thinking, Jeff retorted, "She'll be managing, not wrestling!"
8:00 p.m., on the verandah:
Amy walked out into the cool, evening air, dressed in red, velvet pants and a green, long sleeved velvet top. Over top her shirt, Amy wore an open black corduroy vest, which complimented the emerald scoop-necked top nicely.
"Hey, gorgeous," Matt whispered huskily to her from the shadows.
Startled, she jumped.
"Hey, I was wondering where you were," she replied with a smile. He pulled his down-lined denim jacket tighter around his shoulders.
"Waiting for you," he replied, taking her hand. "I have a surprise for you, close your eyes. As Matt led her down the wooded path, she asked mischievously, "What kind of surprise?"
Seeing the smile playing on her lips, Matt replied with a grin, "Oh, you're not tricking me into telling you anything. Okay, here we are. Now, no peeking. He put his hands over her eyes just to make sure Amy didn't peek. Taking his hands away he asked, "What do you think?"
She opened her eyes to find herself staring at the same frozen pond that she had seen earlier that day. This time though, the moon was full and bright, casting it's unearthly light on the surface of the pond, giving it the illusion of shimmering crystal. "Oh, Matt, it's beautiful, thank you!" She turned around and hugged him tightly.
"And, I brought these," Matt said, pulling out a pair of glossy, white ice skates from behind his back. Her hand flew to her mouth and she let out a little squeal.
"How did, where did you get them?" Amy asked in delight.
"From the gift shop, they rent them there," Matt explained. "Plus, I got a pair of black ones for myself," Matt said, holding them up with a grin. They idly skated around the edge of the pond for a while until Matt came up behind Amy and grabbed her around the waist.
"Hey, your going to make me lose my balance!" she said with a laugh.
"No you won't," he said, pulling her towards the center of the pond. "Besides, I was getting lonely."
"No, you weren't," she said, hitting him lightly on the chest, "we only started skating fifteen minutes ago."
"So, I lied," he said with a smirk, "but I did drag you over here for a reason," He tightened his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. He gently caressed her cheek with his thumb and with the other hand, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Amy linked her hands behind his neck. He tenderly kissed her on the lips, his one hand moving up to support her neck and the back of her head as he lightly dipped her. When he brought her back up, her eyes were shining and her face flushed. Breathless, she gently pushed back several strands of hair out of his eyes.
"Our first date," she whispered to him, lightly touching her forehead to his.
"May it be your last, Amy dear," a voice said menacingly.
Amy let out a piercing scream as the ice gave way beneath her.
Back at the locker room:
Feeling sick, Nora slowly sat down on the locker room bench. *Shoot!* Jeff thought to himself as he looked at her pale face. He thought she looked adorable when she was pale, but not when he was the cause of it.
"Hon, I know what that sounded like, but let me tell you the whole story.
Melanie and Greg married when she was twenty four, they've wanted kids for as long as I can remember. He enlisted in the Marines right out of high school. He died in a boating accident 2 months ago while on duty, and Melanie just told me today that she is pregnant."
"Wow, that's loaded," Nora said, her eyes wide. "Did he know she was pregnant?"
Jeff shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I hope she told him."
"Whew, that's a relief," Nora said, visibly relaxing.
"What's a relief?" Jeff asked carelessly, as he stood up.
"What, what, Jay and Adam said, I'm glad it wasn't true," she said carefully.
Jeff whirled around to face her, "You thought I was cheating on you and got her pregnant?" he asked in disbelief.
"No, I guessed you hadn't, I just wasn't sure," she said uncertainly, staring down at her hands in her lap.
"Man, I can't believe this, it's nice to know you think so low of me," he said bitterly. He slammed his locker door shut, and turned his back away from her.
"Jeff, we've only been dating for three months," Nora pleaded, "we talk a lot, but you don't say much about your past other than your brother and Father. "
"Whenever I have an interview, the interviewer always asks about our Mother, and I understand their curiosity, but I don't like to discuss it much outside of interviews, because it hurts too much," Jeff said, hiding the pain on his face away from Nora.
Nora could see his shoulders tense up though, "Oh, Jeff I'm so sorry," Nora said reaching out to put a hand on his bare shoulder. As soon as he felt her touch though, he jerked away from her.
"Look," he said through clenched teeth, "I did date Melanie pretty seriously in high school, but we never took it into the bedroom, and I value our relationship too much to put pressure on you or myself to go to the ultimate level."
Blushing, Nora smiled at him, "Thank you, I'm glad you feel that way about us."
"Jeff I just want to get to know you better, and if there's something you feel the need to ask me, go for it. Tactfully of course," she added gently.
"No, I don't have any questions for you Nora, just a statement. I used to value our relationship, but I'm not sure if we have one anymore," he said quietly. He walked away.
She buried her head in her hands as the tears began to fall.
"Oh, Lord, please don't let me lose him," she said softly through her tears.
If you would like to use my story, please ask me first.
Please review, I love feedback! Constructive criticism is fine, but no flames please.
Chapter 2: Secrets
"Mel, is that you?" Matt asked, a wide grin breaking across his face.
"In the flesh," she said happily, spreading her arms out to give him a hug. Matt caught her up in a big bear hug and spun her around.
"You look great," Matt said, finally releasing Melanie. Amy watched the scene guardedly, her arms folded across her chest. Matt turned to Amy and linked his fingers through hers.
"Melanie, this is Amy, my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you," Melanie said, shaking her hand. Amy smiled warmly and nodded.
"Well, I'll leave you all to get reacquainted," Vince said, starting to leave. Jeff quirked an eyebrow, excused himself, and walked briskly over to Vince.
"How did you know that we're all friends?" Jeff asked suspiciously.
"Melanie told me you were all friends in high school."
"Oh," Jeff said, a bit relieved.
"Why, what's wrong?" Do you have a problem with Melanie being your manager?" Vince asked.
Jeff shrugged, "I don't know yet." Amy, Matt and Melanie walked over to Jeff and Vince.
"So, how are the creative writers breaking us up?" Matt asked curiously. Looking uncomfortable, Vince glanced at his watch and said, "You should all get your scripts within the hour. Oh, sorry about what happened at your house. I hope the police find out who did it," he said with a wave as he walked off. Matt winced inwardly. *Oh, man, I'm in hot water now.* Puzzled, Amy looked at Matt and Jeff.
"What's he talking about?" Amy asked, worry filling her gaze. "What happened to your house?"
"You didn't tell her man?" Jeff asked in surprise. Starting to feel like a fool, Amy looked from Matt to Jeff and back again.
"Tell me what ?" she asked. Sensing they needed some time alone, Jeff cocked his head to the side, and motioned for he and Melanie to leave.
Jeff cleared his voice, "Uh, we'll see you guys in a bit, okay?"
Amy nodded distractedly, twirling a lock of curly, red hair around her finger.
He sighed, "I didn't want you worrying about it, so".. his voice trailed off. "All those power outages we'd been having at the house- is because someone cut our wire.
Amy's eyes widened, "Your telephone wire?"
Matt nodded, "This is the fourth time it's happened.
Amy gasped, trying to process everything that just happened in the past few minutes. Watching her face, Matt was beginning to realize that he had done more harm than good by not telling her.
"Why didn't you tell me? I mean, what bothers me, no hurts me the most, is that even Vince knew before I did. Jeff is like a brother to me and your more than that to me, but your still one of my best friends. What I'm trying to say, is I don't want to be the last to know, okay," she said intently, as she covered his hand with both of her own.
Matt nodded. "I realize that I made things worse by not telling you. That stressed you out more than if I hadn't told you. I imagine you felt pretty foolish too," he said thoughtfully. She nodded, smiling slightly.
"I think we need to be more open about communication," Matt said firmly.
"I whole heartedly agree.
"Here are your scripts for the show tonight guys," Shane said.
Meanwhile:
"So," Jeff said uncomfortably.
"Look, I know your not comfortable with me here, but I needed to be someplace where I felt safe, warm"..
"What do you mean," Jeff said looking at her sharply. "Is a criminal stalking you or something?" he demanded.
"No," she said, laughing. "Next to my family and Greg, you and Matt have always been the people I feel most at home with. I came here to start new, fresh"..
Jeff interrupted her, "Oh, did Greg get transferred here?"
"No, Greg was killed in a boating accident, while on duty."
"Melanie, oh man, I'm so sorry," Jeff said reaching for her. Melanie skillfully managed to move out of Jeff's reach. "It's okay, it's not your fault. He's been dead for 2 months now," she said, her voice breaking.
"Why didn't you call us? You know we would have been there for you," Jeff said, chiding her.
"I knew you had busy schedules and were well on your way to climbing the WWF ladder of success, and I didn't want to put more on your shoulders, figuratively speaking," she said with a small smile.
He put an arm around her. "You could never be a burden to us Mellie," he said affectionately.
"Good," she said, taking a deep breath, "because I'm pregnant with Greg's baby."
As Jeff and Melanie walked back to the verandah, they heard Matt say, "I should have known something was up, by the way Vince responded to my question about the story lines."
"We'll talk more about this later," Jeff said to Melanie as he tried to regain his composure.
"What's up?" Jeff said casually when they reached the verandah.
"Vince has Amy as my manager, along with keeping the story line of us being girlfriend and boyfriend." Melanie looked at Matt in confusion.
"Since we're dating in real life, Vince thought it would be easier to just put that into the story lines," Matt explained.
"But, we break up with you. Amy's going to come out looking like the bad guy in this. The whole thing is cockeyed. Take a look at the script," Matt said handing it to Jeff. Frowning, Jeff skimmed the script.
"Yeah, you're right, this bites."
"Stephanie being Vince's daughter and all, maybe she wouldn't mind helping us by trying to get the writers to change the script," Amy suggested hopefully.
"Oh, I'm sure she's got pull alright, but chances are, she helped write this," Jeff said pointedly, poking at the paper with his finger.
"Well, maybe we should just roll with it and see how it goes," Matt suggested. The others nodded in agreement. *Whew, tonight should be interesting,* Matt thought nervously.
Right before the match:
As the Hardys and Amy stood at the top of the ramp, Amy did not feel like smiling. *Darn it, I like working with both Matt and Jeff, I'm comfortable with them!* She thought angrily. As the roar of the crowd throbbed in her ears, Amy turned her attention to the many signs the fans were holding up. One in particular caught her eye: "Matt and Lita: is it the real deal or a storyline?"
"The real deal," Amy shouted, to the young, excited girl, with a smile. The young teen's mouth dropped open, but composing herself, she waved to Amy, grinning from ear-to-ear. Amy waved back.
"Turning to the guy next to her," the girl asked excitedly, "Did you see that? She really is involved with Matt and she waved to me! Isn't that like so cool!" the girl said, jumping up and down.
"Yeah, just peachy," he said sourly. "I'm sure you'll get a kick out of seeing me though, Amy dear," he said menacingly.
*This is it,* Amy thought taking a deep breath. They waited in the ring for their opponent's music to come on. The Dudley's music blasted on and Devon, Bubba and Spike raced down the ramp. Just as Jeff was getting ready to fight Devon, Amy stepped into the ring and took the mic from Lillian.
"Okay, Jeff, I gotta say this, your like a little brother to me, but your cramping my style. I mean," Amy emphasized, rolling her eyes, "Matt and I never have a moment to ourselves. What I'm trying to say is we want you to stay out of our lives in and out of the ring. Get a girlfriend, get , get a best friend, or better yet, get a life. I don't care, whatever floats your boat," she said coldly, crossing her arms. Amy's throat tightened up, *I can't believe I'm doing this, I love Jeff with all my heart!* she thought. Jeff looked as though he'd been stabbed through the heart.
"Is this true Matt?" Jeff asked softly. Unable to look him in the eyes, Matt hung his head in shame. "Fine, if that's what you want," he said quietly, with finality. Jeff started to walk away from Matt, but at the last minute he whirled around to face Amy, "Amy, you've been controlling him ever since you guys started dating. A puppet with all the strings attached," Jeff said bitterly. He looked towards Matt, "Matt, she has you whipped. You should have dumped her like spoiled meat a long time ago." Jeff turned around and walked away
"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Amy said to his retreating form, with her hands on her hips.
"Coward," Jeff threw over his shoulder as he jumped off the apron.
Handing the mic back to Lillian, Amy grabbed Matt's hand and said," Come on Matt, let's break this joint." The crowd, who had been silent the whole time, started chanting Jeff's name and booing Amy and Matt. Some of the fans even went so far as to throw their Matt and Lita signs onto the entrance/exit ramp. That's when Amy saw her, the same girl that had been so excited to find out that the Matt/Lita romance was more than just a story line, now looked crestfallen. Amy broke away from Matt and ran up to the girl. "Storyline," Amy said with a grin, pointing to the sign. She raced back to Matt, and feeling slightly better, laced her fingers through Matt's.
"Thank you!" the teenage girl shouted to Amy. Amy nodded to her and smiled.
"What was that all about?" Matt asked, curious.
"Oh, just a little bit of fan interaction, that's all," Amy said with a smile.
They made their way back to the locker room and found Jeff there, just pulling his team extreme shirt off. Startled, Jeff looked up, surprise in his eyes. "That sucked," Amy said bluntly.
"Tell me about it, especially when you're on the receiving end."
Tears filled Amy's eyes. She ran to Jeff and hugged him tightly.
"Oh, Jeff, I'm sorry."
"Hon," he said, putting his arms around her, "I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything. I know you didn't mean anything you said out there."
"I know, but I felt so bad saying all that garbage to you. I would never say any of that junk to you."
"Yeah, I don't like the fact that they made me like her whipping boy either. I'm the puppet and she's the one controlling all the strings. That's humiliating," Matt said in disgust.
"Not to mention, pretty one-sided. I wouldn't call that a fair relationship," Amy said gravely. "What should we do, try to convince the writers to put us back together?"
"No, the writers won't do it, it's too soon. As long as they don't do anything extreme with us, I'll go along with it, for now," Matt warned.
Just as if they were in the ring, Matt, Jeff and Amy lightly touched their knuckles together.
"Amy," Matt asked casually, "Are you very tired?"
"No, not really, why?"
"Meet me on the verandah in thirty minutes, " he said mysteriously.
Amy raised an eyebrow, "I wonder what he's up to."
"Who knows, but I bet you're dying to find out," Jeff said with a grin.
"You know I am!" Amy said excitedly, bolting for the door. "See ya later Jeff!" Amy tossed over her shoulder.
"Have fun Amy-girl," Jeff said, chuckling to himself.
"Ooh, looking good stud muffin!" Startled, Jeff turned around in surprise.
"I'm kidding," Nora reassured him, laughing. "Though you're not hard on the eyes, that's for sure," Nora said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"You know, I really should put my shirt on," he said distractedly, his lips inching ever closer to hers. "Aw, the heck with the shirt," Jeff said, tossing it on the bench, as he wrapped his arms around Nora's waist. Pulling her closer, his lips gently met hers when Jay and Adam walked in.
"Aw, look at the two love birds," they teased. Jeff released Nora and rolled his eyes. Nora blushed furiously.
"Dude, we heard about your girlfriend, and the fact that she's pregnant," Jay said.
Nora looked up at Jeff, a mix of confusion and disbelief on her face, "What are they talking about?"
Without thinking, Jeff retorted, "She'll be managing, not wrestling!"
8:00 p.m., on the verandah:
Amy walked out into the cool, evening air, dressed in red, velvet pants and a green, long sleeved velvet top. Over top her shirt, Amy wore an open black corduroy vest, which complimented the emerald scoop-necked top nicely.
"Hey, gorgeous," Matt whispered huskily to her from the shadows.
Startled, she jumped.
"Hey, I was wondering where you were," she replied with a smile. He pulled his down-lined denim jacket tighter around his shoulders.
"Waiting for you," he replied, taking her hand. "I have a surprise for you, close your eyes. As Matt led her down the wooded path, she asked mischievously, "What kind of surprise?"
Seeing the smile playing on her lips, Matt replied with a grin, "Oh, you're not tricking me into telling you anything. Okay, here we are. Now, no peeking. He put his hands over her eyes just to make sure Amy didn't peek. Taking his hands away he asked, "What do you think?"
She opened her eyes to find herself staring at the same frozen pond that she had seen earlier that day. This time though, the moon was full and bright, casting it's unearthly light on the surface of the pond, giving it the illusion of shimmering crystal. "Oh, Matt, it's beautiful, thank you!" She turned around and hugged him tightly.
"And, I brought these," Matt said, pulling out a pair of glossy, white ice skates from behind his back. Her hand flew to her mouth and she let out a little squeal.
"How did, where did you get them?" Amy asked in delight.
"From the gift shop, they rent them there," Matt explained. "Plus, I got a pair of black ones for myself," Matt said, holding them up with a grin. They idly skated around the edge of the pond for a while until Matt came up behind Amy and grabbed her around the waist.
"Hey, your going to make me lose my balance!" she said with a laugh.
"No you won't," he said, pulling her towards the center of the pond. "Besides, I was getting lonely."
"No, you weren't," she said, hitting him lightly on the chest, "we only started skating fifteen minutes ago."
"So, I lied," he said with a smirk, "but I did drag you over here for a reason," He tightened his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. He gently caressed her cheek with his thumb and with the other hand, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Amy linked her hands behind his neck. He tenderly kissed her on the lips, his one hand moving up to support her neck and the back of her head as he lightly dipped her. When he brought her back up, her eyes were shining and her face flushed. Breathless, she gently pushed back several strands of hair out of his eyes.
"Our first date," she whispered to him, lightly touching her forehead to his.
"May it be your last, Amy dear," a voice said menacingly.
Amy let out a piercing scream as the ice gave way beneath her.
Back at the locker room:
Feeling sick, Nora slowly sat down on the locker room bench. *Shoot!* Jeff thought to himself as he looked at her pale face. He thought she looked adorable when she was pale, but not when he was the cause of it.
"Hon, I know what that sounded like, but let me tell you the whole story.
Melanie and Greg married when she was twenty four, they've wanted kids for as long as I can remember. He enlisted in the Marines right out of high school. He died in a boating accident 2 months ago while on duty, and Melanie just told me today that she is pregnant."
"Wow, that's loaded," Nora said, her eyes wide. "Did he know she was pregnant?"
Jeff shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I hope she told him."
"Whew, that's a relief," Nora said, visibly relaxing.
"What's a relief?" Jeff asked carelessly, as he stood up.
"What, what, Jay and Adam said, I'm glad it wasn't true," she said carefully.
Jeff whirled around to face her, "You thought I was cheating on you and got her pregnant?" he asked in disbelief.
"No, I guessed you hadn't, I just wasn't sure," she said uncertainly, staring down at her hands in her lap.
"Man, I can't believe this, it's nice to know you think so low of me," he said bitterly. He slammed his locker door shut, and turned his back away from her.
"Jeff, we've only been dating for three months," Nora pleaded, "we talk a lot, but you don't say much about your past other than your brother and Father. "
"Whenever I have an interview, the interviewer always asks about our Mother, and I understand their curiosity, but I don't like to discuss it much outside of interviews, because it hurts too much," Jeff said, hiding the pain on his face away from Nora.
Nora could see his shoulders tense up though, "Oh, Jeff I'm so sorry," Nora said reaching out to put a hand on his bare shoulder. As soon as he felt her touch though, he jerked away from her.
"Look," he said through clenched teeth, "I did date Melanie pretty seriously in high school, but we never took it into the bedroom, and I value our relationship too much to put pressure on you or myself to go to the ultimate level."
Blushing, Nora smiled at him, "Thank you, I'm glad you feel that way about us."
"Jeff I just want to get to know you better, and if there's something you feel the need to ask me, go for it. Tactfully of course," she added gently.
"No, I don't have any questions for you Nora, just a statement. I used to value our relationship, but I'm not sure if we have one anymore," he said quietly. He walked away.
She buried her head in her hands as the tears began to fall.
"Oh, Lord, please don't let me lose him," she said softly through her tears.