Chapter 3
"What?" he questioned Brian, or Grandmasta Sexay as he was called, looking confused.
"Mah man Rikishi's gettin' married, you're invited." he nodded.
"Umm..Alright then." he blinked.
"C-ya!" Brian walked away, and Chris blinked again.
"God, I'm surrounded by weird, weird, people." he muttered, shutting the door and looking at the invitation. It was morning, around 8:30 am. He moved to Stephanie, and couldn't help but stare at her still form. He snapped out of it quickly, poking her lightly.
"Hey, wake up."
"Hum..?" she muttered, opening her eyes after the 5th poke. She yawned and pulled the covers over her head.
"Ooh no you don't, get up." he pulled the blanket off her and she groaned, sitting up.
"Meanie." she yawned.
"I've got to get you clothes that fit you." Chris said. He thought a moment. "I know, you stay right here, don't go out or anything."
"Um, OK." she nodded, lying down.
"DON'T go back to sleep either." he said as he walked away. She tossed a pillow at him and it hit, and as he left the room, he could hear faint laughter.
Walking down the hall, he knocked on a door. He knew she'd be up, she was always up early. The door opened and she came out, smiling.
"Chris Jericho, to what do I owe the honor so early in the morning? I thought your daily annoyance schedule doesn't have me in 'till later." she teased.
"Up early, just like usual. You'll never change, will ya Lita?" he asked.
"I'll change when you cross dress." she smiled.
"Speaking of clothing, can I borrow yours?" Lita looked at him like he was nuts.
"OK, Time to start waking up at 10..Chris, I'm sorry, I don't think my stuff would fit on you.." she trailed off.
"It's not for me, Lita." he smirked. "It's for Stephanie.."
"McMahon?" Chris nodded. "Don't you hate her?"
"I thought I did.." he trailed off. Lita studied him, leaning lazily against the door frame.
"You like her, don'tcha?"
"No!" She smiled at him.
"Right, Chris. Here, come on in, I'll get you some clothes." she said, walking inside her room, Chris following. Jeff was in the room, drying his rainbow colored hair.
"Hey, Chris." Jeff said, without looking up.
"Hey." he replied.
"Chris is borrowing some of my clothes." Jeff looked up then, and smirked.
"I never knew you were like that, Chrissy." he chuckled.
"It's for Stephanie."
"Ah, so you finally fucked her. Good job."
"I didn't fuck her--"
"Heh, waiting?"
"I don't even--"
"Chris, yes you do. Trust me." Chris rolled his eyes and took the clothes handed to him.
"Thanks, Lita."
"Don't ruin them." she warned. Chris nodded and quickly walked out of the room.
Entering his own room, he tossed the clothes on her bed. "All yours." She looked at the clothes.
"What, did you steal them from a room?" she questioned.
"I have connections." he said simply. "Get dressed." she shrugged, picking out clothes and walking into the bathroom. Chris took out the invite and read it over again.
"Rikishi's getting married, huh?" he said. "I wonder who the lucky lady is.." As mean as it was, it was kinda true. Rikishi wasn't the um..greatest guy.
"What's that?" Chris looked up to see Stephanie. His mouth dropped, seeing her in Lita's usual clothing, which looked well..great on Steph. "I really don't have the figure for this stuff.."
"Yes you do." he blurted, and silently cursed himself. She grinned.
"Well thank you Chris." she smiled, and Chris felt like melting into the ground and staying there. "So, what's that?"
"A wedding invitation." he gave it to her and she tried not to laugh.
"You've got to be kidding me." she giggled.
"Nope, and you're coming with me." he nodded. She looked at him.
"Hate to tell you this, but there's only one name, and it's yours."
"I can invite one person to join me, it says so on the thing." He grinned. "I was hoping you'd come with me. For uh..protection reasons."
"For protection reasons, right. Sure, I'll come along. I need a dress though." Chris motioned to the pile again. "Lita gave me one. I suppose she expected me to bring you along for some reason."
"Well, then I guess I have to go, huh?" she smiled. Oh yes, this was a very dumb idea..then again, wasn't Chris making an awful lot of those kind of ideas anyway?
***
"Hah, check this out Hunter.." X-Pac said, grinning. He handed him an invitation. "Found it in the trash." Hunter looked at it and saw it addressed to Steve Blackman. He read it over, then grinned.
"Jericho is probably gonna make an appearance, I bet." X nodded.
"With Stephanie..." Hunter muttered.
"Most likely, man."
"You thinkin' what I'm thinking?"
"Am I?"
"It's time to crash this party." he chuckled. "X, we gonna have some fun in 2 days."
"Alright!" he grinned.
"We'll see who wins this time Jericho.." Hunter mumbled under his breath.
***
"Does this look OK?" she questioned, showing him the dress.
"For the billionth time, you look fine. We're gonna be late, hun." he said, yawning.
"Fine, fine. Come on." she said, noting his impatience. Chris got to his feet, grinning.
"Great. Let's get a move on." Chris scanned his mind for gentlemen like actions. He extended his arm and Steph grinned and took it.
"Gonna get noble on me?"
"I plan on it." he said, opening the door.
"Well, don't be too uptight. I don't want to look like I'm going anywhere with a snob." she giggled. He smirked, though he wanted to comment..he didn't.
***
"Look, look!" Edge hissed, nudging Christian. Christian snapped awake, blinking.
"Is the marrying done already?" he mumbled. Edge rolled his eyes and turned his brother's head to make him look at Chris and Stephanie, who were walking in.
"Isn't that--" Christian said before being muffled by Edge.
"Shut up man, we can't look like we're staring." he berated his brother before letting go of his mouth.
"Sorry. But..you seriously think..?"
"Look for yourself." Christian watched their movements, then grinned.
"Oh yeah, it's almost painfully obvious."
"What is?" The two turned to see Matt, sitting behind them.
"Ah, yanno, the two love birds over there." Edge nodded.
"They finally got together?"
"Nah, but you can tell it'll happen..soon. Very soon." Christian said, grinning.
"Heh, surprised it hasn't happened yet is all." Matt nodded.
***
The wedding actually went through and the lady married Rikishi, which quietly surprised Chris. Who'd know the girl actually liked him? As mean as that was, it was true.
They were all brought to some hall, which was pretty fancy. Chris had a bad feeling though, and he didn't understand why. Shaking it off, like he should, he smiled a little when Steph took his hand and led him to talk to Edge and Christian, as they were waving him over and he hadn't even noticed.
"Lookin' sharp there, Chris." Christian commented.
"And wowsa, never saw ya shine so much Steph. The dress is great on you." Edge added, helpfully.
"Thanks." Stephanie said, smiling. "You're not so bad yourself." Edge flashed her his infamous Cheshire cat smile.
"So he's not here?" Chris asked, cautiously.
"Not a sign of the guy. Looks like you have a free evening of fun, dancing, and drinking wine. Haha, endulge, Chrissy. I mean, this stuff is FREE!" Edge chuckled.
"Uh..I think you had enough of this, Edge.." Christian plucked the wine out of his hand. "Let's have a seat, OK?" Edge nodded, obviously a bit drunk. "C-ya you guys."
"Well that was interesting." Stephanie blinked. Chris nodded.
"Shall we find a seat?" Stephanie pointed to the table where Lita, Matt, and Jeff were sitting. "That place OK?" Chris shrugged and the two walked over.
"Ah, Chris, so nice to see ya. You actually could look like a gentleman." Lita giggled.
"And you could pass for a normal woman." he shot back teasingly.
"Hey, hey, do I have to break you two up?" Matt said, with a fake tone of firmness.
"She started it." Chris pouted. Lita stuck her tongue out at him.
"Why don't you guys join us?" Jeff questioned. They pulled up two chairs and sat down.
"Great, now I gotta see you while I'm eating." Lita said. Oh, this girl was too much. She was one person that matched Jericho's wit.
"And the sight of you is any better?" he replied, grinning.
"I love ya too, babe." Lita giggled. That's how it always ended. They fought back and forth until they felt like dropping it.
"So what are they serving in this place, eh?" Jeff questioned. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry man." Matt smirked. Jeff shrugged.
The waiter came and got the order. It took 20 minutes for the food to come out, they ate. It was OK as food went.
But when the music began, Chris suddenly found himself nervous. He himself was really only decent at slow dancing, but slow dancing meant dancing with a girl. And Chris had kinda brought a girl, and that girl was Stephanie. When a real slow dance song did go on, Chris felt his heart leap into his throat. He watched as Matt took Lita out to dance on the floor while Jeff escorted Jackie, who was one of his friends. Chris sighed to himself, thinking all he had to do is stay calm and collected. Calm. Collected. Ca--
"Chris?"
"Huh?!" Chris jumped. So much for calm and collected. "Oh, I mean, yes?"
"Wanna um..dance?" she questioned. Chris smiled as best as he could, and nodded.
"Uh..sure! Come on." he took her hand, which was actually a first. He led her to the dance floor, and was slightly hesitant. She made the first move, wrapping her arms around his neck. He loosened up a bit and let his arms go around her thin waist. They began dancing, slowly, to the beat of the song.
"Awkward, isn't it?" she questioned lowly. Chris shrugged lightly. "It's weird.."
"Hm?"
"I thought you were a jackass before..but now..I'm beginning to think I'm wrong." Stephanie smiled.
"Um..thanks..I think." he blinked. Silence. "You're an OK dancer.."
"Was that a compliment or am I not sensing your sarcastic tone?" she questioned suspiously.
"It was a compliment." he nodded. "I don't feel very sarcastic now. Think I let it out when me and Lita were doing battle."
"You guys are one odd pairing of friends." Stephanie giggled.
"She's a great girl. Loyal as hell, one of my best friends even." he shrugged. "But she does have that quirk of trying to beat my incredible wit and ending up failing too."
"I dunno, looked to me like she beat you a few times tonight."
"I LET her beat me." he corrected.
"Right." she grinned, nodding. After the song, she excused herself to the bathroom, and Chris sat down.
The feeling of foreboding hit him again. Something was wrong, he just knew it. After 5 minutes, he stood and moved out into the hallways.
"Chris! Help!"
He turned his head to see X-Pac dragging her away.
"Let her go you fuckhead!" Chris shouted. He held a knife to her throat.
"Come closer and I'll fuck this bitch up. Hunter won't mind." X-Pac snickered. Chris couldn't do a thing but helplessly watch him drag her out. "You try to follow me and I swear this slut's gonna be headless in a second. We'll tell ya how she's doin' tomorrow, just coz we're nice. You'll know when you get it, fucker."
And he left, and Chris was shaking.
"Chris! What's wrong!?" Chris looked dumbly at Lita, who was looking at him in shock.
"Hunter got her, Lita. I couldn't do a fucking thing. Pac had a knife to her throat." he said.
"Shit." Lita said, moving to her friend. "She'll be OK, Chris. We'll get her back, and Matt and Jeff and Edge when he wakes up and Christian..they'll help us."
"I fuckin' failed her, Lita.." he said. "I promised I'd protect her. I knew something was wrong and I didn't act on it." Lita slapped him in the face.
"Oww! What the hell was that for?!"
"You were going nuts. Now calm down!" she berated him. Chris didn't want to calm down though..he fucked up and now Hunter had her. The part that was killing him the most..the part that even scared him...he actually gave a shit about Steph's well being. He was terrified at the thought of what Hunter could do to her.
And then he realized it. It hit him hard and fast. Every feeling he was literally tucking away deeply into his brain bubbled up into a flood of worried tears. Every ounce of him felt drained. It had to be the worst moment in his life; knowing he might never see her again and knowing he might never get to tell her what he knew all along but hid because his ego wouldn't allow it.
He loved her.
"What?" he questioned Brian, or Grandmasta Sexay as he was called, looking confused.
"Mah man Rikishi's gettin' married, you're invited." he nodded.
"Umm..Alright then." he blinked.
"C-ya!" Brian walked away, and Chris blinked again.
"God, I'm surrounded by weird, weird, people." he muttered, shutting the door and looking at the invitation. It was morning, around 8:30 am. He moved to Stephanie, and couldn't help but stare at her still form. He snapped out of it quickly, poking her lightly.
"Hey, wake up."
"Hum..?" she muttered, opening her eyes after the 5th poke. She yawned and pulled the covers over her head.
"Ooh no you don't, get up." he pulled the blanket off her and she groaned, sitting up.
"Meanie." she yawned.
"I've got to get you clothes that fit you." Chris said. He thought a moment. "I know, you stay right here, don't go out or anything."
"Um, OK." she nodded, lying down.
"DON'T go back to sleep either." he said as he walked away. She tossed a pillow at him and it hit, and as he left the room, he could hear faint laughter.
Walking down the hall, he knocked on a door. He knew she'd be up, she was always up early. The door opened and she came out, smiling.
"Chris Jericho, to what do I owe the honor so early in the morning? I thought your daily annoyance schedule doesn't have me in 'till later." she teased.
"Up early, just like usual. You'll never change, will ya Lita?" he asked.
"I'll change when you cross dress." she smiled.
"Speaking of clothing, can I borrow yours?" Lita looked at him like he was nuts.
"OK, Time to start waking up at 10..Chris, I'm sorry, I don't think my stuff would fit on you.." she trailed off.
"It's not for me, Lita." he smirked. "It's for Stephanie.."
"McMahon?" Chris nodded. "Don't you hate her?"
"I thought I did.." he trailed off. Lita studied him, leaning lazily against the door frame.
"You like her, don'tcha?"
"No!" She smiled at him.
"Right, Chris. Here, come on in, I'll get you some clothes." she said, walking inside her room, Chris following. Jeff was in the room, drying his rainbow colored hair.
"Hey, Chris." Jeff said, without looking up.
"Hey." he replied.
"Chris is borrowing some of my clothes." Jeff looked up then, and smirked.
"I never knew you were like that, Chrissy." he chuckled.
"It's for Stephanie."
"Ah, so you finally fucked her. Good job."
"I didn't fuck her--"
"Heh, waiting?"
"I don't even--"
"Chris, yes you do. Trust me." Chris rolled his eyes and took the clothes handed to him.
"Thanks, Lita."
"Don't ruin them." she warned. Chris nodded and quickly walked out of the room.
Entering his own room, he tossed the clothes on her bed. "All yours." She looked at the clothes.
"What, did you steal them from a room?" she questioned.
"I have connections." he said simply. "Get dressed." she shrugged, picking out clothes and walking into the bathroom. Chris took out the invite and read it over again.
"Rikishi's getting married, huh?" he said. "I wonder who the lucky lady is.." As mean as it was, it was kinda true. Rikishi wasn't the um..greatest guy.
"What's that?" Chris looked up to see Stephanie. His mouth dropped, seeing her in Lita's usual clothing, which looked well..great on Steph. "I really don't have the figure for this stuff.."
"Yes you do." he blurted, and silently cursed himself. She grinned.
"Well thank you Chris." she smiled, and Chris felt like melting into the ground and staying there. "So, what's that?"
"A wedding invitation." he gave it to her and she tried not to laugh.
"You've got to be kidding me." she giggled.
"Nope, and you're coming with me." he nodded. She looked at him.
"Hate to tell you this, but there's only one name, and it's yours."
"I can invite one person to join me, it says so on the thing." He grinned. "I was hoping you'd come with me. For uh..protection reasons."
"For protection reasons, right. Sure, I'll come along. I need a dress though." Chris motioned to the pile again. "Lita gave me one. I suppose she expected me to bring you along for some reason."
"Well, then I guess I have to go, huh?" she smiled. Oh yes, this was a very dumb idea..then again, wasn't Chris making an awful lot of those kind of ideas anyway?
***
"Hah, check this out Hunter.." X-Pac said, grinning. He handed him an invitation. "Found it in the trash." Hunter looked at it and saw it addressed to Steve Blackman. He read it over, then grinned.
"Jericho is probably gonna make an appearance, I bet." X nodded.
"With Stephanie..." Hunter muttered.
"Most likely, man."
"You thinkin' what I'm thinking?"
"Am I?"
"It's time to crash this party." he chuckled. "X, we gonna have some fun in 2 days."
"Alright!" he grinned.
"We'll see who wins this time Jericho.." Hunter mumbled under his breath.
***
"Does this look OK?" she questioned, showing him the dress.
"For the billionth time, you look fine. We're gonna be late, hun." he said, yawning.
"Fine, fine. Come on." she said, noting his impatience. Chris got to his feet, grinning.
"Great. Let's get a move on." Chris scanned his mind for gentlemen like actions. He extended his arm and Steph grinned and took it.
"Gonna get noble on me?"
"I plan on it." he said, opening the door.
"Well, don't be too uptight. I don't want to look like I'm going anywhere with a snob." she giggled. He smirked, though he wanted to comment..he didn't.
***
"Look, look!" Edge hissed, nudging Christian. Christian snapped awake, blinking.
"Is the marrying done already?" he mumbled. Edge rolled his eyes and turned his brother's head to make him look at Chris and Stephanie, who were walking in.
"Isn't that--" Christian said before being muffled by Edge.
"Shut up man, we can't look like we're staring." he berated his brother before letting go of his mouth.
"Sorry. But..you seriously think..?"
"Look for yourself." Christian watched their movements, then grinned.
"Oh yeah, it's almost painfully obvious."
"What is?" The two turned to see Matt, sitting behind them.
"Ah, yanno, the two love birds over there." Edge nodded.
"They finally got together?"
"Nah, but you can tell it'll happen..soon. Very soon." Christian said, grinning.
"Heh, surprised it hasn't happened yet is all." Matt nodded.
***
The wedding actually went through and the lady married Rikishi, which quietly surprised Chris. Who'd know the girl actually liked him? As mean as that was, it was true.
They were all brought to some hall, which was pretty fancy. Chris had a bad feeling though, and he didn't understand why. Shaking it off, like he should, he smiled a little when Steph took his hand and led him to talk to Edge and Christian, as they were waving him over and he hadn't even noticed.
"Lookin' sharp there, Chris." Christian commented.
"And wowsa, never saw ya shine so much Steph. The dress is great on you." Edge added, helpfully.
"Thanks." Stephanie said, smiling. "You're not so bad yourself." Edge flashed her his infamous Cheshire cat smile.
"So he's not here?" Chris asked, cautiously.
"Not a sign of the guy. Looks like you have a free evening of fun, dancing, and drinking wine. Haha, endulge, Chrissy. I mean, this stuff is FREE!" Edge chuckled.
"Uh..I think you had enough of this, Edge.." Christian plucked the wine out of his hand. "Let's have a seat, OK?" Edge nodded, obviously a bit drunk. "C-ya you guys."
"Well that was interesting." Stephanie blinked. Chris nodded.
"Shall we find a seat?" Stephanie pointed to the table where Lita, Matt, and Jeff were sitting. "That place OK?" Chris shrugged and the two walked over.
"Ah, Chris, so nice to see ya. You actually could look like a gentleman." Lita giggled.
"And you could pass for a normal woman." he shot back teasingly.
"Hey, hey, do I have to break you two up?" Matt said, with a fake tone of firmness.
"She started it." Chris pouted. Lita stuck her tongue out at him.
"Why don't you guys join us?" Jeff questioned. They pulled up two chairs and sat down.
"Great, now I gotta see you while I'm eating." Lita said. Oh, this girl was too much. She was one person that matched Jericho's wit.
"And the sight of you is any better?" he replied, grinning.
"I love ya too, babe." Lita giggled. That's how it always ended. They fought back and forth until they felt like dropping it.
"So what are they serving in this place, eh?" Jeff questioned. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry man." Matt smirked. Jeff shrugged.
The waiter came and got the order. It took 20 minutes for the food to come out, they ate. It was OK as food went.
But when the music began, Chris suddenly found himself nervous. He himself was really only decent at slow dancing, but slow dancing meant dancing with a girl. And Chris had kinda brought a girl, and that girl was Stephanie. When a real slow dance song did go on, Chris felt his heart leap into his throat. He watched as Matt took Lita out to dance on the floor while Jeff escorted Jackie, who was one of his friends. Chris sighed to himself, thinking all he had to do is stay calm and collected. Calm. Collected. Ca--
"Chris?"
"Huh?!" Chris jumped. So much for calm and collected. "Oh, I mean, yes?"
"Wanna um..dance?" she questioned. Chris smiled as best as he could, and nodded.
"Uh..sure! Come on." he took her hand, which was actually a first. He led her to the dance floor, and was slightly hesitant. She made the first move, wrapping her arms around his neck. He loosened up a bit and let his arms go around her thin waist. They began dancing, slowly, to the beat of the song.
"Awkward, isn't it?" she questioned lowly. Chris shrugged lightly. "It's weird.."
"Hm?"
"I thought you were a jackass before..but now..I'm beginning to think I'm wrong." Stephanie smiled.
"Um..thanks..I think." he blinked. Silence. "You're an OK dancer.."
"Was that a compliment or am I not sensing your sarcastic tone?" she questioned suspiously.
"It was a compliment." he nodded. "I don't feel very sarcastic now. Think I let it out when me and Lita were doing battle."
"You guys are one odd pairing of friends." Stephanie giggled.
"She's a great girl. Loyal as hell, one of my best friends even." he shrugged. "But she does have that quirk of trying to beat my incredible wit and ending up failing too."
"I dunno, looked to me like she beat you a few times tonight."
"I LET her beat me." he corrected.
"Right." she grinned, nodding. After the song, she excused herself to the bathroom, and Chris sat down.
The feeling of foreboding hit him again. Something was wrong, he just knew it. After 5 minutes, he stood and moved out into the hallways.
"Chris! Help!"
He turned his head to see X-Pac dragging her away.
"Let her go you fuckhead!" Chris shouted. He held a knife to her throat.
"Come closer and I'll fuck this bitch up. Hunter won't mind." X-Pac snickered. Chris couldn't do a thing but helplessly watch him drag her out. "You try to follow me and I swear this slut's gonna be headless in a second. We'll tell ya how she's doin' tomorrow, just coz we're nice. You'll know when you get it, fucker."
And he left, and Chris was shaking.
"Chris! What's wrong!?" Chris looked dumbly at Lita, who was looking at him in shock.
"Hunter got her, Lita. I couldn't do a fucking thing. Pac had a knife to her throat." he said.
"Shit." Lita said, moving to her friend. "She'll be OK, Chris. We'll get her back, and Matt and Jeff and Edge when he wakes up and Christian..they'll help us."
"I fuckin' failed her, Lita.." he said. "I promised I'd protect her. I knew something was wrong and I didn't act on it." Lita slapped him in the face.
"Oww! What the hell was that for?!"
"You were going nuts. Now calm down!" she berated him. Chris didn't want to calm down though..he fucked up and now Hunter had her. The part that was killing him the most..the part that even scared him...he actually gave a shit about Steph's well being. He was terrified at the thought of what Hunter could do to her.
And then he realized it. It hit him hard and fast. Every feeling he was literally tucking away deeply into his brain bubbled up into a flood of worried tears. Every ounce of him felt drained. It had to be the worst moment in his life; knowing he might never see her again and knowing he might never get to tell her what he knew all along but hid because his ego wouldn't allow it.
He loved her.