Back at the hotel, Amy put a pack of ice on her still throbbing hand and settled on the bed with the remote. After flipping through four old movies, three bad sitcoms and some really cheesy music video station, she turned off the television and stared at the black screen. Looking down at her hand, she could see that it was still bleeding slightly from under the bandage.
Her mind wouldn't stay away from that afternoon and from the look on Matt's face when it was all over with. Maybe, somehow, their pact would come true. Maybe they really could put the whole thing behind them.
The clock by her bed told her it was a little after one in the morning, but she couldn't sleep. She had to drive to the airport at eight that morning to go back to Florida. Matt and Jeff would go back to North Carolina and they would get on with their lives. Then in two days, she'd go to Houston, Texas for Smackdown!, where she'd have her second live match. From there, it was going to be a whirlwind of action, with live appearances in Texas and some publicity stuff in New York that would take up all of her weekend and half of the next week.
"It's a good thing this is a high paying gig," she muttered as she rolled over on her stomach, sleep finally catching up with her.
+ ~~ +
At the same time Amy was falling asleep in her room, Matt and Jeff were wide awake in theirs.
"How do you think Thursday night will go?" Jeff asked from the floor by his bed.
"Smackdown is going to be great. We'll be two time Tag Team Champs and our ratings will soar. It'll be awesome."
Jeff nodded. "We're already in fifth place in the WWF.com polls. That's pretty good, considering our competition. Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, Triple H, Mankind. Them are some odds, man."
Matt rolled over on his stomach and pounded his pillow lightly with his fist. "Sure as hell is. How high do you think Amy is going to go?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light and sound as if it didn't really matter to him. He heard Jeff chuckle lightly from his bed.
"I don't know. If she's a ho then she won't be too popular. But if she starts hanging out with some real good competition, like us, she'll soar. What she needs to stay away from is relationship storylines."
"Yeah. None of these guys in this business are good enough for her." His voice was heavy and carried a lot of extra meaning.
Jeff rolled on his back, wincing as his cut hand brushed across a snag in the pillowcase. "You still care about her, don't you?"
"Are you serious, Jeff? Of course I still care about her. We go back a hell of a long way. I really thought I was over her until I saw her again. I guess it's my own fault for letting her go in the first place."
Jeff was quiet for a second. Amy obviously still meant so much to him. Everytime he heard Matt talk like that about her, it pulled something in his heart. It was his fault things were like this, and no pact in the world was going to make the guilt he felt just vanish.
+ ~~ +
It was 11 p.m. Thursday night, and the spirits were high. Amy, Matt, Jeff, Jason, Adam, and Joanie were hanging out at some party about ten minutes from the hotel. Amy had consumed one drink too many, and everything seemed hilarious to her. Joanie was almost to the point that she was, and Jeff was long past drunk. Matt had only had one or two drinks, being the designated driver. Adam and Jason were most likely going to pass out on a couch or follow some girl back to her hotel room, so there was no need to worry about them.
Jeff was playing around with a cherry, making everyone laugh by trying o tie the stem in a knot with his tongue. All he'd managed to do so far was drop it into his drink and almost swallow it.
Finally Matt tried, unsuccessfully of course.
"Amateurs," Amy muttered, grabbing the cherry stem from Matt's tongue. She placed it on the tip of her own tongue and expertly tied it into a knot.
Everyone stopped and stared at her with wide eyes. "How did you do that?" Jeff asked, sounding more like "Howdiyodofat?"
"Well, when you're learning to wrestle in Mexico, you pick up a few tricks along the way."
She grabbed another drink and held it up in the air. "To a great night of wrestling," she said, smiling at everyone. They all raised their glasses and downed the drinks as Amy reached for another one.
+ ~~ +
Matt sighed and went around to the passenger side of the rental car to help his brother out. Jeff stood up, wobbling a bit on his feet, but looking mildly steady. He opened the back door of the car to help Amy out, only to hear her snoring rather loudly.
"Great," he groaned, leaning in and shaking her. "Amy, wake up."
"Fuck you," she grunted.
Sighing, Matt reached in and scooped her into his arms, then shutting the car door. "Fine. I'll just have to carry you in." She was light in his arms, but every time she breathed out he smelled the alcohol on her breath. She was going to have one serious hangover the next morning.
Jeff stumbled behind him as they made their way to the hotel room. Everyone was giving them weird glances and stares, but Matt ignored them. Hey, they deserved to party once and a while!
As soon as the door opened to their room, Jeff made a beeline for his bed, sinking down on the covers with a sigh. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Matt opened the adjoining door to Amy's room, turning on a light as he set her on the bed. He pulled the covers down and slid her under them, then covered her up.
"Matt," she moaned suddenly, sitting up slowly.
"What is it?" he asked softly, pushing her hair back and holding her face in his hands.
"I love you . . ." she whispered in a barely audible voice.
** Oh no, oh crap ** Matt thought to himself. She was drunk off her ass! What was he supposed to say to that?"
"It's okay, Amy, go to sleep."
Her eyes were closed, but she furrowed her eyebrows. "Sleep? I don't want to sleep."
Matt chuckled. "You need to sleep, Ames."
"But I'd rather . . ."
"What?"
Her body was starting to slump, but she still had strength enough to reach out and press her lips to his. For a second, he forgot who and where he was. All he knew was this familiar feeling, and the memories it brought back.
Then reality came crashing back like a blow to the head and he pulled away. "Sleep." He gently pushed her back on the bed and turned out the light.
"Stay," she murmured, grabbing on to his shirt. "Please don't make me spend another night alone . . ."
What else could he do? He took his shirt off and climbed into the bed beside her, trying not to think about what he was doing. She automatically turned around and found her way into his arms, her head burying into his shoulder. He sighed and closed his eyes. There was no way he was going to sleep tonight.
+ ~~ +
He woke up the next morning to the sounds of Amy emptying the contents of her stomach into the hotel toilet. He scrambled out of bed and went into the bathroom, wetting down a washcloth with cool water. He bent down behind her and pulled her hair off the back of her neck, then pressed the cloth to the flushed skin. If she even noticed his presence, she didn't acknowledge it at all. She continued to retch, and he held her wild hair back.
About fifteen minutes later, the heaving stopped, and she sank down on the floor of the bathroom, a moan escaping her lips. "God, what did I do last night? Drink the club out of business?"
Matt chuckled softly and pulled her to him. "Close."
She forced a tiny smile and looked up at him. "Thank you for staying with me last night."
He shook his head and waved it off with his hand. "Don't worry about it. I knew you would be in bad shape this morning."
She nodded and grabbed her stomach again. "Oh no. Not again."
+ ~~ +
Matt didn't go into his own room until around 11:30 that morning. Jeff was sitting on his bed, a cloth draped across his forehead, his skin still flushed.
"Hey baby brother. You okay?"
Jeff groaned. "Yeah. But I swear Matty, if I puke one more time I'm gonna do something drastic."
Matt laughed and sat down beside his brother on the bed. "That bad, huh? Sorry I wasn't here to help."
"Did you spend the night in Amy's room?" he asked.
"Yeah. She was in bad shape this morning."
Jeff nodded. "I don't remember anything about last night except for the cherry stem thing. But I guess she did drink a lot."
"She's better now. She realized that she had no makeup on, was half naked, and puking into a toilet and practically shoved me out of the room," he laughed.
"Did you guys make up last night?" Jeff asked, too worn out to make his tone suggestive.
Matt shook his head. "No. She was completely wasted and said she didn't want to be alone."
"Okay. I bet she kissed you at least once, though, right?"
His face reddening, Matt barely nodded. "How'd you know?"
"I have a lot of experience with being drunk. You always do things you really
want to do but don't have the guts to do sober. Did that make sense?"
Grinning like a madman, she thought about the week that was ahead of her. A week in Cameron with Matt and Jeff, back in their home. She never thought she'd set foot in that house after what had happened all those years ago.
Refusing to let memories of the past get her down, she instead concentrated
on the positive. Humming one of her favorite Pearl Jam songs, she threw the rest
of her stuff into a bag and went into Matt and Jeff's room to announce that she
was ready.